Bruce Springsteen "Glory Days" Video & Right Hand Technique

[NedRyerson]

Sitting in a restaurant and the "Glory Days" video came on (I know..."video." How quaint). As a child of the '80s, I'd seen this video countless times when the M in MTV stood for "music." I owned "Born in the USA" on cassette.

I never paid attention to his playing until now.

His right-hand technique seemed super-aggressive. Is that normally how he plays? And on a Tele, that just seemed like a path to injury. The song isn't some Hetfield-esque bridge-humbucker chugger so it just looked out of place.

I get that, for the shoot, they were all syncing/pantomiming and not playing live, but it just looked jarring.

 

[Rick]

When I first heard springsteen, I didn't understand a word, or why people liked him ... then I saw him in concert, totally changed my mind, realized he was great. I wouldn't strum that way, but the guy knows how to present a song and get you to like it. Guy's a genius when it comes to performance. Get the audience excited.

 

[Hodgo]

I just watched a quick clip of him playing it live, sure seems like he hammers it! But who knows how much of that is actually making it through the mixer. Could be hamming it up in both instances.

 

[TBurst Std]

Most likely the mute switch is on the mixer with a classic post it on it saying Do Not Touch. There’s a hired gun back stage to support Little Stevie.

 

[mayfly]

I heard a story once from his guitar tech that when he took over the gig the intonation on that telecaster was completely out of whack. The guitar would not play an in-tune note no matter what! Turns out that the previous guy had done the intonation using a tape measure. Anyway, he got the guitar to play in tune with some massive adjustment. When he told Bruce about it, he said "huh - never was a problem before"...