playing with Arturo Valdez.

The journey back to Los Angeles was a bit of a pisser to say the least; it really is no pleasure to fly these days and having to change flights and travel into London didn't help.
We had a very pleasant drive from Great Finborough then the inevitable wait in the queues in the airport, the bother of the security check, the wait for the flight, the change of planes in Washington DC, the delay there and another long flight so – it was good to be back in Los Angeles.
The first thing I did the following day – we didn't get back till after midnight – was to go to El Compadre restaurant on Sunset Boulevard for some Mexican food. The waiters, as usual, were kidding me and asking if I would like some tequila but I am not an early in the day drinker any more; I used to have a lunch time drink sometimes when I lived in England but not here; I know what alcohol does to you in the sun.
After El Compadre I popped in next door to see Arturo Valdez the guitar maker also known around the world as the guitar repairman to the stars. He has worked on thousands of guitars owned by people such as John Lennon, Eric Clapton and John Denver. He also worked on one of mine.
A good friend of ours died last November and she left me her old guitar; I think the guitar, a Spanish one, is around 50 years old and the case has luggage labels from some very old airlines and ships on it.
When I tried to tune the guitar the keys crumbled in my fingers so Arturo put new keys onto it for me and changed the bridge. Now it sounds absolutely wonderful.
So I needed a new string for it and went into see him and he thanked me for a catalogue of the Eric Clapton Auction recently at Bonhams & Butterfields on Sunset I had given to him before we went away.
We got to talking and he showed me some guitars and I had a little play on a jazz guitar he had just made and then he asked me if I liked flamenco guitar playing and of course I said 'yes.'
He put the padlock on the shop door and we went into the back where he showed me a wonderful flamenco guitar which seemed to weigh less than a pound; he had made it from cedar wood.
“Sit down” he said and I sat in a chair close by his chair where he proceeded to play the guitar.
It was like sitting with Segovia; I sat there mesmerized by the dexterity of his fingering and the sound emanating from the instrument. As he played he also smacked his nails on to the body of the guitar which made it sound as if someone else was doing it; when he finished playing the first piece he handed the guitar to me!!!!
Now what was I going to do with it?
I played a few plinkety plonk chords – it was probably like Tiny Tim following Eric Clapton at the Albert Hall but I played. Not with the adeptness as he but I played for a little while.
After his next piece he handed it to me again and this time I played and sung I Will the Beatles song; it's a little high for me to sing quietly but I got away with it.
Each time he took the guitar back he played even better; one of the pieces was classical and when he handed it back to me again I played and sang Crossroads Blues; it's only 3 chords and I can sing it quite well.
He was impressed with my voice and mentioned it to me when I saw him again.
So it was good to be back in Los Angeles – as I walked away I wondered if I could ever grow my finger nails that long let alone even play half as good as he plays.
I couldn't get a picture of Arturo but he is on the internet at http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/arturo-valdez being interviewed and he plays too!!