The Guitar Man

"The Guitar Man" is a song written by David Gates and originally recorded by the pop rock group Bread, of which Gates was a member. It first appeared on Bread's 1972 album, Guitar Man. The song is a mixture of the sounds of soft rock, including strings and acoustic guitar, and the addition of a wah-wah effect electric guitar, played by Larry Knechtel. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The song was a number-one hit on the easy listening chart, the third for the band on this chart (following "If" and "Baby I'm-a Want You").
The melody of the song is complex and is played by using 12 different chords, which is a rather high number for a pop song.

The song has been covered by David J on his 2003 album Estranged, Cake on their 2004 album Pressure Chief, Starflyer 59 on their 2007 vinyl collection Ghosts of the Future, and Bobby Bare, Jr. on his American Bread EP. Hank Marvin released his album Guitar Man with a cover version of the song.

Personnel (Bread version)

• David Gates - vocals, bass
• James Griffin - guitar, keyboards
• Larry Knechtel - keyboards, lead guitar
• Mike Botts - drums

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1972 (U.S.)

References

• The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996