Staff
Pure Guitar’s founding Editor in Chief, Jas Obrecht grew up near Detroit’s Ford Rouge plant. By second grade he knew he wanted to be a writer, and he began playing guitar in eighth grade. He attended the all-boys Jesuit high school in Detroit, and did his undergraduate work at John Carroll University and graduate work at Ohio University.
In 1978, Jas moved to the San Francisco area to become an editor for Guitar Player magazine. His first major interview was with Eddie Van Halen, also doing his first interview. During his twenty years at the magazine, he wrote dozens of cover stories and freelanced for Rolling Stone, Living Blues, and many other publications. His books include Rollin’ & Tumblin’: The Postwar Blues Guitarists and My Son Jimi, co-authored with James “Al” Hendrix. His favorites among the liner notes he’s written are Robert Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues, Blind Willie Johnson’s Dark Was the Night, and John Lee Hooker’s Anthology – 50 Years. He recorded and produced the Young Buckethead series of DVDs and CDs, and in 2010 launched the Jas Obrecht Music Archive at www.jasobrecht.com. Today, he says, he’s as passionate about the guitar as he was when he unwrapped that Sears Silvertone archtop on Christmas morning, 1965.
Jas Obrecht's Posts
Busking – the tradition of playing in public for tips – goes back centuries. Many revered blues musicians began by playing on the streets – Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, B.B. King and Robert Nighthawk among them. So …
In three months’ time, Jimi Hendrix went from being an unknown musician to the leader of the Experience and the talk of the town. Here’s how.
Recorded in a single session, Texas Flood brought the blues roaring back to life and made SRV a star. Here’s the story from those who were there.
The legendary bassist talks about Bob Marley and The Wailers, Peter Tosh, spirituality, equipment, and his life in the forefront of reggae. With interview audio.
The little-known story of how European-based parlor guitar music from the 1860s influenced the creation of the blues.
The evolution of a slide-blues classic, from its origins in the 1930s to its masterful recasting by Robert Johnson and Elmore James to its many covers today.
Album Review: Elliott Randall explores new directions, delivering a dozen evocative, cliché-free instrumentals played with heart, soul, and skill.
Even if the band had never released another record, Eddie Van Halen’s place in rock guitar history would have been assured – his playing in 1978 was that groundbreaking. His sheer speed, unusual note choices, inspired finger tapping, kamikaze whammy …
Ready to leave behind your everyday world? Fancy a magic-carpet ride to a land of mystery and intrigue, where belly dancers undulate and sari-clad beauties sway to the cliché-free, can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head sounds of a guitar-slinging swami? Yeah? Well, then, we’ve got …
Print and audio: Our 12,000-word conversation covers songwriting, spirituality, heroes, and the anatomy of the EJ Signature Stratocaster.
Our new breed of guitar magazine blends literate, in-depth journalism with the tech advancements available to online and mobile app users.
Portions were used as voiceovers for the film Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet. With Jason’s blessing, here is the complete text and audio.
Comparing Mike Bloomfield’s and Johnny Winter’s stunning guitar performances on Dylan’s song about a legendary blues road.
The life and music of the Mississippi Delta bluesman who taught Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson and was rediscovered in the 1960s.
An audio and print interview with the man who rediscovered Son House and guided his career in the 1960s and ’70s.
