Every Monday night in NYC you could go to The Bitter End, or Terra Blues in Greenwich Village, and hear Gordon Gaines, a true master of the guitar.

Gordon spilled his soul out into every note he played.

Everyone who met him was touched by the soulful way he played,
and his fun, easy going nature.

Gordon left this world on May 2, 1997 to jam with Zappa & Hendrix in heaven.
Rumor has it Stevie Ray is there also.

He is terribly missed by everyone who knew him.

I met Gordon Gaines in 1983.

My roommate Tom Walker was a childhood friend of his, and I met Gordon when he came to visit our apartment.

I had heard about his great guitar playing ability years before, as his reputation had preceded him.

I listened to a studio tape he brought over and I immediately thought his guitar playing was brilliant.   We began a casual friendship that lasted until his, far too early, departure from this planet.

At the time I was the sound engineer for a jazz ensemble group called the Spirit of Life.
One day Gordon showed up at a rehearsal for the band.

I got to work with him at a few of the Spirit of Life gigs which was a great privilege.

That led him to ask me to engineer sound for him for a few dates for a great band he was in called "NITELIFE".

Over the years I got to work with him now and again. It was always fun.

I also went to many of his Bitter End and Terra Blues gigs in NYC.

I didn't get to see him often enough, now I wish I had made more of an effort to.

The day of the picture below, we literally bumped into one another in Greenwich Village and shared a pizza.

He had a wicked sense of humor and we used to laugh our butts off whenever we got together.

I remember times that I would see him on the street and he would ask me if I was coming to the Monday night show. 

I told him I couldn't go to the show because I was too poor at the time. 
He would tell me to just show up, and that he would take care of me. 

When I showed up he would plop me down in front of the stage and tell the waitress to keep bringing me beers until I fell over!

I was always grateful of him doing that so that I had the the privilege of seeing him play.

He was always very cool with me, and he was always appreciative of how I loved his music.

One thing that has struck me in the many letters I have received, is how so many peoples experiences mirror my own.

Everyone seemed to marvel at Gordon's effortless, frightening guitar playing, and all seem to be in awe of his talent.   Gordon himself was always modest about his playing saying things like "I'd sound better if I could stay in tune!"

He was always in tune to my ears.

Gordon truly "played" the guitar meaning that he was playing with the instrument, always having fun with it.  The guitar was just a tool of his personality and his wicked sharp wit.  He dominated the guitar with an effortless ease.

Something I noticed about his playing, and his guitar solos, was the intense thread of concentration he had through them.   When you first heard him solo sometimes it would seem like he was just brilliantly flailing away in a psychotic mode.

But soon you realized there was much more to his playing than just techno guitar speed.

I compare him to Frank Zappa, one of Gordon's many musical influences.
Gordon was one of the first people I knew who really "got" what Zappa was all about.

Frank Zappa, who was a far more brilliant guitar player than he was ever given credit for,  would play these long meandering solos that would seem to go on forever.
It seemed like Zappa was just lost in the sound of his own playing, and that it was just a sonic exercise in his own technical ability.

But Zappa's guitar playing was much more than that.  If you truly listened you'll find that Frank always knew exactly where he was going in his solos.  He always knew how to take it as far out as he could, yet he always managed to sum it all up and bring the listener back home.

Gordon also soloed like that. He wasn't just aimlessly flailing away with meaningless guitar pyrotechnics.  He always knew where he was going when he played.

His guitar solos told a story, they spoke to you.  They seductively drew you in to follow them along from a structured beginning, through intense guitar aural aerobics, back to a theme which drew you home.  Not many people can play like that.

Gordon always knew where he was when he was playing, where he was going, and how to effortlessly to get back home to the root of the song. 

That thread of musical concentration was just a part of his brilliance.

It's also worth mentioning that Gordon played many other instruments including bass & keyboards.  He was also an excellent songwriter, producer, and a great singer as well.