http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/chuck-berry-rock-roll-innovator-dead-at-90

Just saw the story. The first inductee into the Rock Hall of Fame is gone. Like a lot of kids back then, he was one of the reasons I started playing guitar. I got to meet him twice when he played in Cleveland. Duck walk with the angels, sir.

Amen Eddie. When I was 12 in 1958 I went to bed every night listening to all night radio stations. Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis were burned into my soul then. I still listen to them.

A good musician and a true musical character .

R.I.P.

Big Man

RIP real king of rock n roll!

First song I ever played in a band was Maybellene. He was the man!!! RIP

Very much a top-of-the-"A"-list entertainer, innovator, songwriter and musician. Popular music as we know it would not exist without him. RIP

Rest in peace Chuck. Thanks for the music.

He gave us the first R&R sweetheart, "Sweet Little 16", the first R&R guitar hero "Johnny B Goode", the first R&R car songs, "Maybellene" and "No Money Down", was a first class showman, singer, and songwriter.

IMHO Berry and Presley were the two most important people in early Rock & Roll. Everyone who followed owes them a debt.

RIP Mr. Berry. The music in heaven will be a little better tonight.

Insights and incites by Notes

Pretty much played to his grave. The wife and I last saw him perform a few years ago here in the STL.

The Beginning of Rock 'n Roll.

Day One.

Key signature says it's in C. Music says it's in A. Doesn't it? No sharps, no flats... First notes a root and 5th of A?

chuck in pittsburgh

Chuck Berry's unforgettable moment at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

A sad loss. RIP, Chuck Berry.

Nah, it's clearly in E major, 'cuz it's played by an "E-Guitar".

That reminds me of that horrible pun-based joke.

In what key is someone before they turn 21?

A minor.

Eddie,

I am sorry. I did not put the key signature. It is actually in Bb (original key) though a lot of people play it in A.

In the movie Back to the Future it leads to one of the great misleading musical quotes of all time, when Marty tells the band it's in B. Again, it's actually in Bb.

Don't know how he did it really. There's a lot of stuff flying to keep your head on straight in that key. Tricky. He was a great player.

Great story. When he played here once, he had called ahead to have the local union arrange for a back up band and it happened to be all guys I knew very well. When I saw them the next week, they said it was a NIGHTMARE trying to follow him. Just for no reason in mid song he would change key. They told me that at one point he played an intro and then did a totally different song than what the intro was for and was not anywhere on the set list, which he did not follow at all anyway. Fortunately 75% of his stuff was exactly the same kind of vamp with different lyrics. At one point he was doing My Ding-a-Ling and in mid verse he popped out into Maybeline with no notice.

They wondered if he did it to make the backing band look bad so he looked better.

The first song I ever learned on guitar was Johnny B Goode... still can't play it right.

You see the documentary that Keith Richards was in and produced about a concert with Chuck Berry? Chuck jumped all over him for not playing on of his licks correctly...a lot of the film was contentious but still very entertaining.

Haven't seen the film, but I did see a clip of Keith telling a story where Chuck punched him in the face for touching his guitar!

A lot of people think of Chuck as a guitar player, and he was. More think of him as a singer, and he was. But what I appreciate most is his songwriting.

He wrote R&B (not what they call R&B today) songs with lyrics that crossed the line and could be appreciated by the rock, race and country markets (as they were called back then).

Who can forget Chuck trying to catch up with women, Maybelline, and later Nadine.

Add Johnny B Goode, our first rock guitar hero.

And girls, we love to sing about girls, (after all females are intoxicants), Sweet Little Sixteen and Little Queenie.

And don't forget the car songs, No Particular Place To Go and No Money Down.

And he mixed them all up too. Chasing Maybelline and Nadine in cars, couldn't get the seat belt off his date in No Particular Place To Go and so on.

And he helped usher in Rock and Roll with Roll Over Beethoven, and School Days - "Drop the coin right into the slot. You wanna hear something that's really hot".

These were lyrics that fit the times, crossed cultures, mixed the rock, race, and country markets, and did their part to bring the next generation a little more tolerant and understanding of each other.

Thanks Mr. Berry. The world is a little better because you were here.

Insights and incites by Notes

And don't forget that he played with his Ding-A-Ling. Right there on stage!!