Rick Brewster Ranks # 5 in Top 50 Oz Guitarists
“I’m In Great Company,” Says Guitarist Rick Brewster, On Being Named One Of The Five Greatest Australian Guitarists Of All Time, By Australian Guitar Magazine.
Rick Brewster, along with Ian Moss, Tommy Emmanuel and Chris Cheney was recently named one of the Top 5 Greatest Australian Guitarists by readers of Australian Guitar Magazine.
Rick Brewster was pleased to see Angus Young at the number one spot.
“Angus was a big influence on my playing in the early days,” said Rick Brewster. “ It was his exceptional sense of melody and timing that inspired me. It’s a huge honour to be up there with him. I feel like I’m in great company … he was the first guitarist I saw that really motivated me to learn.”
In 1975, less than a year after forming in Adelaide, The Angels joined AC/DC on a now legendary tour of South Australia. In a Port Pirie motel room, after the first show of the tour, Rick Brewster and Angus set up a practice amp, plugged in and jammed.
What did they play? “Twelve bar blues,” said Rick, “I was totally in awe of what he could do on a guitar. We just jammed.”
Was Rick Brewster surprised to make the Top 5?
“Of course. Over the years I’ve become known as “the guy who just stands still and does nothing”. Who would have thought, after 35 years of it, I’d be singled out for such recognition?”
So how did Rick Brewster become the guitarist who famously never moves onstage?
“It was partly a reaction to Angus and every other lead guitar player I’d seen. They all ran around the stage, leaping about. I tried it, felt monumentally awkward, and decided to do the exact opposite. When I was a teenager learning classical piano my father used to say to me, “Let the fingers do the talking … .” Standing still is how I’m most comfortable playing.”
Rick and John Brewster’s signature nik-nik riffs were born out of a frustrating, but ultimately fruitful, search in the mid-70s for a unique sound for The Angels, and Rick’s symphonic lead guitar solos evolved from his classical background and his father’s second piece of sound advice, “Make the melody sing.”
“I came to playing lead guitar from the left,” said Rick. “When we started this band, John was already playing guitar and I knew the basic chords. We needed a lead guitar player and I put my hand up. I had never played a solo and never had a lesson, so I was writing classical solos in my head and then working out how to play them on guitar. In a few months, I went from playing classical piano and washboard to lead guitar in a rock band.”
You can read the article by following this link.