"Calhoun Surf" is the first song I ever wrote.
It was 1978, and I was living in Minneapolis, not far from Lake Calhoun. I’d been wanting to start a band and had just remembered how much I liked surf instrumentals.
I knew I had to come up with something original because I didn’t want to be in a cover band. I’ve been trying to top this one ever since. The band I started as a result was called The Overtones.
Since then, I have recorded versions of "Calhoun Surf" with The Raybeats and Los Straitjackets. In addition, the song was recorded by The Ventures, which is the ultimate compliment (See the video below).
Recently, I undertook the task of writing tablature versions of all my songs. These will be available from my website, daddyogrande.com.
Below is the tab for "Calhoun Surf." I think it’s pretty unique that the actual artist has written the tab. So you can be sure it’s accurate to how I actually play the song live.
It’s fun and easy to play, so enjoy!
Los Straitjackets have been making their brand of raucous, instrumental rock since 1994 and have become known as one of the most dynamic and skillful instrumental bands on the planet. Their renowned live show is filled with mind-bending guitar theatrics, group choreography and fuzzed-out experiments in high-fidelity rock 'n' roll showmanship. Danny Amis, aka Daddy-O-Grande, dons his silver-and-blue lucha libre mask and plays guitar for the group.
It’s a soloing strategy that T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Albert King all used, and will instantly make your blues solos sound more pro – learn parallel pentatonics and you will set your playing free
“For me, it’s not enough to play an idea once and then move on. I’d rather develop my initial phrase and then morph it into 10 different, thematically connected ones”: Jared James Nichols shows you how to use call-and-response blues phrasing
