Nigel Tufnel
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Nigel Tufnel (1945-) is the fictional lead guitarist of the rock band Spinal Tap featured in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. He is played by actor Christopher Guest.
Nigel's hobbies include collecting guitars; particularly noteworthy is his un-played unlooked-at foam green six string Fender Bass VI. He also has Gibson Les Paul 1959 model, whose acoustic properties and "flame" he praises. He also plays mandolin, piano, and does backing vocals. He is currently writing a classical piece in D minor which he claims is the 'saddest of all keys' and is provisionally entitled 'Lick My Love Pump'.
Nigel has a great love for Gumby, carrying a figurine in his shirt pocket and wearing Gumby shirts frequently. He is also a self-proclaimed 'fish nut', liking cod and canned tuna because it has 'no bones'. Nigel currently sits on the Editorial Board of his preferred in-flight periodical, Car and Driver.
Tufnel was born in Squatney, East London. He got his first guitar from his father at the age of six, a sunburst 'Rhythm King'. His life changed when he met David St Hubbins (played by the actor Michael McKean) who lived next door. They began jamming together in a toolshed in David's garden, influenced by early blues artists like Honkin' Bubba Fulton, Little Sassy Francis and particularly Big Little Daddy' Coleman, a deaf guitar player, and wrote their first song, (Cry) All the Way Home. Before long they had formed the Thamesmen and the rest is history.
Tufnel has stated that if he wasn't in the music industry he would like to either enter the field of haberdashery or become a surgeon: 'I like surgery'.
Tufnel's work outside Spinal Tap includes his appearance on the 1979 album "Lenny & Squiggy sing Lenny and the Squigtones", released on Casablanca Records. Lenny & Squiggy were fictional characters on the TV series Laverne & Shirley, and Lenny, like Spinal Tap's David St. Hubbins was played by Michael McKean.
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[edit] Soloing techniques
- Using a violin (as opposed to a violin bow, as made famous by Jimmy Page) to play his guitar
- Playing another guitar with his foot
- Classical music inspired solos
- Hair popping
- Facial harmonics
- Turning amps to 11, which is 'one louder' than 10
- Playing another guitar from a distance using horseshoes (as in the Return of Spinal Tap)
[edit] Quotes
- "You can't really dust for vomit."
- "These go to eleven."
- You would, though, if it were playing, because it really... it's famous for its sustain...I mean, you could, just hold it....
- "I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really it's like a Mach piece."
- "What are the hours?"
- "It's like how much more black could this be? And the answer is none, none more black."
- "What's wrong with being sexy?"
- "We've got Armadillos in our trousers. It's really quite frightening."
- "In D minor which I always find is really the saddest of all keys."
- "(When asked what his D minor song is called) This, this is called 'Lick My Love Pump'."
- "If I wasn't in the band I would probably be working in haberdasherie."
- "(When describing something black)It's like space without the stars."
[edit] Trivia
- In September 2002 the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary included the entry: "Up to eleven: Up to maximum volume", a reference to Nigel's amplifier that had controls that went beyond the usual maximum setting of 10.
- In homage to Nigel Tufnel Marshall Amplifiers released a version of the classic JCM 900 amplifier head with controls from 1 to 20. The advertising material featured Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel saying "That's nine more, innit?"
- In 2006 Tufnel appeared in an American television commercial for Volkswagen.
[edit] External links
- The Ultimate Spinal Tap Discography - an illustrated guide to Tap's albums (both real and imagined)
- The complete This Is Spinal Tap script
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