Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird is one of the most iconic rock songs ever written with a solo that every guitarist should try and learn. But how about playing its wicked pentatonic licks on the guitars it was originally written and performed on?
Well, that’s what YouTuber Tyler Larson has (sort of) done with his his friend and fellow guitar player Nathaniel Murphy at the Chicago Music Exchange.
It has previously been taken to the stage by Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr, and here, Larson takes the lead…literally.
“This is mad to think I'm playing this,” quips Murphy, who's armed with another of Rossington's beloved SGs. “It’s one of the most heard guitars in music.”
Larson, meanwhile, says he can smell the “ancient... important” history of the guitars.
“We don’t quite believe it,” he says, “We’re going to have to check the footage back later. It’s a true privilege.”
Larson also picks up Rossington's glass slide for a “sacrilegious” attempt at the song's haunting lead line. It's not a terrible effort. But he dares not play its solo proper.
Last year, it was confirmed that the Les Paul/SG would be loaned out for a series of A-list gigs, with Starr playing it for a second time just two weeks ago. And yes, he played Free Bird – something Larson feels unworthy to do fully here.
“Everybody told us that we were crazy to put the song on our first album, because it was too long,” Rossington once told Guitar World of the song's creation. “Our record company begged us not to include it.
And when it first came out, they did all kinds of awful edits until it got big enough that it didn’t matter anymore. But it’s not magic – it’s still just a song to us.”
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