Alex Chadwick, Chicago guitarist, plays 100 riffs in under 13 minute Youtube video
Chicago guitar salesman Alex Chadwick takes YouTube viewers from 1950s hit “Mr. Sandman” through surf rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen, alternative, grunge and modern rock, playing the catchy guitar riffs from an even 100 songs without a break or even, seemingly, a breath.
“The reaction has been overwhelming,” Chadwick told msnbc.com. “I don’t think anyone here expected it to take off the way it did, and we’ve had a ton of positive feedback.”
Chadwick played the medley on a 1958 Fender Stratocaster that belongs to the store where he works, The Chicago Music Exchange, which helped him put together the video and features it on the store’s page. The store specializes in new and vintage guitars, basses and drums.
Chadwick acknowledges that he wasn’t the first to take on the “100 riffs” idea. Earlier versions didn’t arrange the riffs chronologically, making Chadwick’s a fun musical history lesson.
“I ruined a few good takes just by knocking over the slide I had to use on a few tracks, and I completely missed one of the re-tunings on one take,” he said. Since he’s a practiced musician, his fingers weren’t sore after the marathon session and all the practicing that led up to it, but admits “my shoulder was pretty destroyed after weeks of running through the tunes.”
2011 Rolling Stone cover featuring their list of 100 Greatest Guitarists / Rolling Stone
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