Charles Pitts
April 7, 1947 – May 1, 2012
Charles Pitts was a Memphis guitarist whose style of playing has prompted many sources to include him on the list of the architects of funk and soul guitar. By the time Pitts was just 11 years he had picked up the guitar and was learning on the street corners around his Washington DC neighborhood. One of his early teachers was none other than neighbor, Bo Diddley, who offered the boy tips on how to play. His other early sources of inspiration came from the likes of James Brown and Otis Redding who he saw perform at the Howard Theater which sat next door to a hotel his uncle owned. Pitts eventually became a session player for Stax Records, playing on records and/or performing live with Wilson Pickett, Gene Chandler, the Isley Brothers, and Rufus Thomas, to name s few. In 1971, Pitts came up with the iconic “wah wah” guitar sound that helped make Isaac Hayes‘ “Theme From Shaft” one of the most iconic songs of all time. He went on to play with Hayes for nearly 40 years. In later years, his riffs were been sampled by the Beasite Boys, Eazy-E, Massive Attack, and Dr. Dre. Charles Pitts died of cancer on May 1, 2012. He was 65.
Thanks to Paul Bearer for the assist.