Updated: August 15, 2023
Born: July 9, 1947
Randy Resnick is a guitarist who has played and recorded with many blues and jazz luminaries, such as Don "Sugarcane" Harris, John Lee Hooker, Red Holloway, John Mayall and Freddie King. He was developing a tapping style in the early 1970s. He published a CD of his own music, "To Love", in 1995, featuring musician friends from Tower of Power, Herbie Hancock Monster Band, and Tom Waits.
In October 2012, Randy played with Canned Heat at blues festivals in Bergerac and Avignon, France.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he began his career playing in Minneapolis clubs, moving to Los Angeles in 1968. There he met drummer Paul Lagos who was working for the band, Kaleidoscope. Lagos eventually introduced Resnick to Canned Heat bassist Larry Taylor and violin player Don "Sugarcane" Harris. The four musicians formed a band called Pure Food and Drug Act, based on Sugarcane's blues/jazz violin and singing. It was during this period that he developed his tapping technique. He has been recognized by the great guitarist Ted Greene, who called him '"one of the real legends of the L.A. guitar scene" and by Lee Ritenour in Guitar Player Magazine
Gear
Fender Stratocaster
Yamaha YAS-480 alto saxophone
Yanagisawa SC-WO10 curved soprano saxophone
Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer
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John Mayall, in Guitar World:
I’d also have to give a nod here to another favorite of mine who is not that well known, Randy Resnick. He had a remarkable style that enhanced all of the songs we played, and took me to new places."
Ted Greene: "one of the real legends of the L.A. guitar scene"
Lee Rittenour: "Randy Resnick was the first guitarist who used these techniques [tapping] for his entire style. That was at the Whiskey in Hollywood."