What a show! It was a beautiful Southern California night in Redondo Beach at the LobsterFestival. Who was I there to see? None other than the King of Surf Guitar, Dick Dale.I have always been impressed by the fact that Stevie Ray Vaughn played 13 gauge strings on his guitar. Well, I found out on this night that’s nothing. Dick Dale’s smallest gauge string (high E) is 18 and they go up from there reaching up to 60+ gauge strings. Whow! It was a terrific show. He played a large variety of songs and styles from his own well-know songs, those of many other artists, and a few new ones, to everyone’s delight. If you ever get the chance to see him, do not let it pass you by.
In case you did not know, Dick Dale invented the surf guitar sound in the 1950’s. He also plays a right-handed Strat left-handed. He does not change the string configuration. So he plays it upside-down and backwards, high E string on the top. By transposing the chords in his head he created his very unique sound.
