Dick Dale dead at 82

[Supersonic Scientist]

The King of surf just rode out on his final wave...RIP DD

https://guitar.com/news/dick-dale-dead-at-82/

[rcarlberg]

Wow, that's too bad. I made a couple Dick Dale compilations just a couple months ago. His style was based on Turkish oud music -- which he also played -- transcribed for Telecaster with lots of reverb. Even the scales he used were very Turkish.

[Vic2012]

RIP

[GuitarGeek]

Wow, that's too bad. I made a couple Dick Dale compilations just a couple months ago. His style was based on Turkish oud music -- which he also played -- transcribed for Telecaster with lots of reverb. Even the scales he used were very Turkish.

AHem! That should be Stratocaster. Dick was a Strat user, and even insisted that if you weren't playing a Strat, you weren't really playing surf music.

The strings he used! He used something like a .13 or a .14 for a high E string. I must have been a real bad ass to be able to bend those strings!

I saw him in concert circa 1994. It was a great show. He came onstage and said that he'd just gotten back from Australia, "Where they say Dick Dale is louder than Motorhead!". I think afterwards I accosted him for a guitar pick, can't remember if I still have it or not.

[mnprogger]

81 actually (born May 4, 1937).

rip to the Surf-Rock legend.

[notallwhowander]

Wow. I wouldn't have guessed when I saw him last autumn. He rocked.

R.I.P. Dick Dale

You earned your place in Guitar Valhalla one fuzz-drenched swipe of a pick at a time.

[Superfly]

A true innovator on the guitar. That's something you can't say about a lot of people. The word legend is quite appropriate here. Ride the wild surf, Dick. RIP.

[dropforge]

A true innovator on the guitar. That's something you can't say about a lot of people. The word legend is quite appropriate here. Ride the wild surf, Dick. RIP.

[Fracktured]

RIP. An original.


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[GeneTull]

Sad news. He was very fit and active up through his early 60s, when he played at those summer festivals with 1990s-era alt.rock acts.

[Garden Dreamer]

RIP Mr. Dale. His 90's albums contained some face-melting surf shredding.

[JJ88]

Best known for 'Miserlou', I guess, especially after its use in Pulp Fiction soundtrack. 'Let's Go Trippin' was another surf staple- see The Beach Boys' cover of it.

RIP.

[proggy_jazzer]

He was also a huge influence on Hideyo Moriya of the California Guitar Trio, and the group covered at least three DD/Ventures tunes I can think of: Misirlou, Walk Don't Run, and Pipeline. Definitely an identifiable voice on guitar. RIP

[nycsteve]

RIP. Legend.

[davis]

I have most of his releases and a bunch of live bootlegs. PM me for copies of bootlegs.

[spellbound]

Rest in peace, Dick Dale. I grew up listening to his music, and later, in 2006, had a chance to see him play at Lake Tahoe. He will be missed.

"If you ever bought an electric guitar and imagined playing it like Dick Dale, you were on a certain path to eventually recognizing your own idiocy. You might learn some stuff, play some stuff. But you were not going to play like Dick Dale. Just no. Never." - David Simon

[spellbound]

[progmatist]

He was even credited by Sam Dunn as one of the forefathers of Heavy Metal.

[Baribrotzer]

His style was based on Turkish oud music -- which he also played -- transcribed for Telecaster with lots of reverb. Even the scales he used were very Turkish.

After that comment, it's hard to hear it as anything other than Middle Eastern music, but played as rock 'n roll.

[spellbound]

Whatever you want to call it, it didn't sound like that until Dick Dale played it.




Still proud to be a Dickhead.

[GuitarGeek]

He was even credited by Sam Dunn as one of the forefathers of Heavy Metal.

Dunn was simply following up on Dick's own comments. Dick wasn't shy about telling you what he invented, innovated, founded, etc. He did a roundtable thing in Guitar Player back int he mid 90's, with like three or four other "surf" guitarists, and at one point, the guy moderating the discussion asks "What's the definitive surf rock record". Dick's answer? "Any of my last three albums, because they're the best I've ever done".

After that comment, it's hard to hear it as anything other than Middle Eastern music, but played as rock 'n roll.

Misirlou is actually an old Middle Eastern folk song. The earliest known recording was done by a Greek performer in 1927. Dick just souped it up a bit.

I read once that he was of Lebanese, Polish, and Belarusian descent, and according to Wikipedia his uncle played the oud and taught young Dick how to play the tarabaki, a Middle Eastern percussion instrument. So it make sense that sort of music would influence what he did later on when he plugged his Strat in and started cranking it up.

I also read once that he performed regularly at a ballroom in Southern California where, in order to be allowed to do these shows, the city council or whomever has the authority to veto such things, forced a dress code for the audience on him. So everyone what had to wear dress clothes and ties and everything. They even had to have someone with a table full of ties in case any guys showed up without one, they could give them one to be allowed into the concert, or dance, or whatever you want to call it (I remember commenting about an interview Syd Barrett did once where he said Pink Floyd had only played "a few concerts", and someone pointed out he was probably drawing a distinction between a "dance" and a "concert").

[moecurlythanu]

He was even credited by Sam Dunn as one of the forefathers of Heavy Metal.

It's bad form to insult the deceased. Mr. Dunn should remember the old adage: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

[Lopez]

Misirlou is actually an old Middle Eastern folk song. The earliest known recording was done by a Greek performer in 1927. Dick just souped it up a bit.

I read once that he was of Lebanese, Polish, and Belarusian descent, and according to Wikipedia his uncle played the oud and taught young Dick how to play the tarabaki, a Middle Eastern percussion instrument. So it make sense that sort of music would influence what he did later on when he plugged his Strat in and started cranking it up.

I've always contended that all instrumental surf music is a variation of "Hava Nageela."

[davis]

Still proud to be a Dickhead.

Me too

[Buddhabreath]

RIP Dick you were a true original.

"'I have to perform to save my life’: Medical bills kept rock legend Dick Dale touring till the end".

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...=.379d6b58c739

How sad we live in a society where this totally unnecessary situation is tolerated. For shame!

<edit> if you're even remotely a "dickhead" and don't know about his long-standing health issues, take a look at that post article. Wow, what a trooper and tough old bastard he was. My next drink is in your memory dickie boy!