Guitarherobit: Bert Weedon

There's a lot of love online right now for Bert Weedon, who died yesterday.

Although a formidable musician with a body of recorded work which would put Aesop's ant to shame, Weedon's greatest gift to music must surely be the Play In A Day books.

The name was an inspired and forgivable piece of marketing bluster - you weren't going to be able to play in a date; not like Bert, and not to any recognisable standard. But the books would give you enough basic skills to encourage you to keep going and - as the makers of motivational posters and authors of works about moving cheese will tell you - selling a promise of a quick fix is a great way to get people started.

How many people who play now were given a boost into taking the first step by the promise on a book cover? And how many people did they go on to inspire?

Teachers are important - that's something as a society we're scandalously bad at recognising. And Bert Weedon was a great teacher.

Some nice Weedon-related things amongst the many published in the last 24 hours:
Music Radar republishes a 2002 Guitarist interview with Bert
DigitalJournal places Weedon in the ranks of people who aren't household names, but should be
The Daily Telegraph obituary gives a solid account of 91 years well-lived