Thursday, July 19, 2012

Remembering Deep Purple’s Jon Lord



Even though he’s a “mere” keyboard player of the pioneering Heavy Metal band Deep Purple, did Jon Lord manage to compose one of the most iconic guitar riffs in heavy metal history?

By: Ringo Bones 

Jon Lord passed away last July 17, 2012 aged 71 marking another sad day in the Heavy Metal Music world. Though he left a legacy that would certainly last as long as the Classical works of Mozart and Beethoven. As every under-40 guitarist today who’s getting formal music education, Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water is a much-do in any Heavy Metal guitar masterclass. 

Even though he’s a “mere” keyboard player for Deep Purple when the band started in 1968, Jon Lord managed to compose the most iconic Heavy metal guitar riff of all time – i.e. the main riff of Smoke on the Water. Like many iconic musicians of the 1960s, Jon Lord managed to combine the intricate structures of Classical Music and the immediacy of African-American Blues with the visceral impact of Heavy Metal Music. Making Deep Purple stand out against band that merely want to kick-ass by playing as loud as possible without any musical finesse.