Guitars bond greats in ‘It Might Get Loud’

The guitar has become almost as much a symbol of goodwill as the peace sign or the clasped handshake, yet there was still some doubt lingering in the cosmos above a soundstage on the Warner Bros. lot in January of 2008 when Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White came together for a six-string summit.

“It was nice to have a bold idea like that,” noted Davis Guggenheim, the director of “It Might Get Loud,” a documentary about the electric guitar that focuses on the aforementioned cross-generational trio. “But when it finally happened, I felt a little panicked and wondered, ‘Maybe they’ll storm off. Maybe they’ll get mad at me. Maybe they’ll have nothing to say.’”

Fortunately for Guggenheim, his collaborators and an eager guitar community, there was no ka-bonging of Les Pauls over heads in anger. Instead, after a brief feeling-out period, the three connected like old school chums and proceeded to exchange both pleasantries and toasty riffs.

Page, Edge and White clearly are three deities of the ax, but bringing them together for “It Might Get Loud” helps to illustrates the larger reality that when guitarists gather, even if they haven’t met before, they become close friends almost immediately.

“Like any other human being, sometimes it doesn’t happen,” said Thomas Tull, the producer of the film and an accomplished player in his own right. “But there is an unspoken language and an interest. There is that camaraderie. You try to chase that elusive, perfect sound. You at least have that shared context with another guitarist, everything from gear and equipment to sound.”

Transcending ego
The three guitarists were chosen because each represents an era. Page, who is also an associate producer on the documentary, needs no introduction. His legacy, topped by the Led Zeppelin years, has inspired scores of actual guitarists and even more of the air variety. The Edge (real name: David Evans) is U2’s sound architect and gadget aficionado. Jack White is best known for his work in the White Stripes, and his guitar work is deeply rooted in the rich mud of American blues.

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Although they had met each other in passing before, relationships among the three did not exist until the filmmakers got them all together on a soundstage after an elaborate plan was devised and carried out to make sure they all arrived separately.

“I did not want them to talk beforehand,” said Guggenheim, who also directed the Al Gore film “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Egos certainly exist in music, as in all other creative endeavors. But there is something about the guitar that causes players to put aside any chips that may be residing on shoulders, let down their defenses and open up their hearts and minds.

Jorma Kaukonen has seen this phenomenon occur more times than he can count. He was the lead guitarist for Jefferson Airplane in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, as well as the offshoot band Hot Tuna with bass player Jack Casady (they’re still at it today). But he began playing as a teenager in the ‘50s. And since shortly after 1989, he has run the Fur Peace Ranch, a camp in Ohio where devotees gather to pursue their passion for the guitar through instruction and informal jams.

“No instrument says community like the guitar,” Kaukonen said. “The intrinsic personality of the instrument transcends genre. The guitar, by its nature, is filled with personality and imperfections that all players share.”

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