Hi all,
I've been a Ritchie Valens from a long time back - and I've always felt that his guitar playing was the more overlooked aspect of his career. I'd heard it said that he was a very good player for his age, and that some people considered him a better picker than Buddy Holly himself who he obviously toured with. I'm working on researching this further for a project. I don't know if any of you can help me but here are a few questions:
1. On Ritchie's records, which did he actually play the lead riffs. To the best of my knowledge, Rene Hall (the early Wrecking Crew guy) played all the leads on "Come On Let's Go" but it was really Ritchie on the lead for "Donna" and "La Bamba".
2. As per 1 above, what about some of the other Rtchie tunes like "Ooh My Head", "That's My Little Suzie", "Hi-Tone", "Bluebirds Over The Mountain" and "The Paddiwack Song" - did he play the solos on those?
3. I think it's indeed Ritchie on lead on "Malaguena" and "Big Baby Blues"
4. What his rig like? I know he had a green semi-homemade Sears Silvertone flavored thing, and a white Harmony acoustic. Later on once he got famous, he had at least one Fender Strat (black and sunburst) and some kind of Gibson ES-175 thinline. What about amps??
Any helps is greatly appreciated - like books, articles, interview, contacts etc.