I used to see him and Tbone in a band called Domino back in the early 80's- no one knew who they were really- we knew they were studio cats- they had a cover band that used to play locally in Westchester NY- it was quite a treat to see them up close- with very few people in the crowd we had front row seats to some of the best musicians in town- they were awesome- great memories

I played a gig with GE a while back. He is a monster. We were smoking buddies, since we had to stand outside to smoke. He did some amazing stuff on his old Telecaster, but I couldn't see it because I was standing behind him on stage. Thanks for doing a video on him, he's a really nice guy and a one of the best musicians ever.

One extremely cool thing about G.E.Smith is that he boosted the popularity of anyone he played for/with....he was so humble & he was married to Gilda, doesn't get much cooler than that. Very smart cool talented guy. I lived to see him on SNL. I always thought he was tripping because he was so above and beyond it all. There was no one like him. ♥

My introduction to GE Smith was exactly as stated in this video. GE Smith is absolutely amazing.

I totally agree with you; I had the same reaction to G. E. Smith when he was the SNL music director. I don't even know why, to be honest, but this man just oozed cool. Recently, I saw a long interview with him that totally reinforced my respect for him. All through the interview, he talked about the awesomeness of all the people he had worked with or otherwise interacted with throughout his life. He had nothing but respect and praise, and not an ill word for anybody. His humility with regard to himself was what cemented the idea for me that my admiration for him was not an exaggeration. He's a pro, and he's super cool.

I met him in Greenwich CT back in 2000, shook his hand and got his autograph. I was 14, it was so cool! I still have it.

Marc Maron interviewed GE Smith a couple months ago and it's one of those interviews where a dude is exactly and nice and generous and interesting as you hope he would be. Really great stories about being in bar bands, touring with Dylan, etc, etc.

Btw, the bass player was Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who was also a transplant from Hall & Oates. He was a fantastic bass player who unfortunately passed away in 2010.

I used to watch SNL for those little snippets of GE too. What a great player. There are videos of him describing various bands that came on to play. The Replacements one is Great.

Years ago I walked into Chelsea Guitars on 23st in NYC and who was sitting in there but G E.Smith. and I said, " Hey!!" And he said back, " Hey man." The absolute coolest dude on the planet

I love GE Smith! That guy had a big influence on me as a player! I always was watching him for what cool riffs and guitars he’d be playing on SNL! When they hand out sports teams to follow, somehow this kid from North Carolina ended up with the Browns. Years later, I made my pilgrimage to the North Shore and the Dawg Pound. Who did the Browns hire to play in and out of breaks and timeouts on the sideline? GE Smith! I loved it! The Browns got killed that game, but GE Smith was awesome!

GE Smith was always such a nice guy. Used to see him on the music row all the time back in the day. Great video.

I was around 10 myself when GE played SNL. He absolutely inspired me to pick up the guitar. Great riffs and vintage gear. Love him.

I’ve really come to appreciate GE Smith over the past few years. Amazing player and a legend in his own right. Cool you guys spotlighted him.

Great video! My friends and I used to stay up to watch SNL. I was always blown away by G. E. Smith. Talented guy!

Guys, Amish bass player was Tom "T-Bone" Wolk ! He and GE Smith had played together with Hall and Oates in the late seventies/early eighties and when GE got the SNL gig (that's a lot of acronyms in a row) he brought "T-Bone" with him. Amazing bassist. GE Smith is truly a guitar God in his own right.

He's the freaking MAN..... all time favorite... thanks for the video

I don't know what possessed you guys to do a video on GE Smith but I'm glad you did. He's a hidden gem and his playing is tighter than a bull's ass in fly season.

I saw him when I was teenager with Hot Tuna and it was an incredible experience

GE played at a small music venue in Boca Raton FL a few years ago that sat around 200 people. I was bartending at the VIP bar which is like 15 feet from the stage. My buddy Matt Schofield played with him and it was a great show. He was really nice to when I met him afterwards.

GE comes through town once a year or so and plays at a local theater. I've seen him 4 times. I had front row seats at the last show right in front of him. It was an amazing night! My family and I always hang back and talk with him as he's packing up his gear. So friendly and easy to talk to. All around good guy!

Thank you guys for bringing GE Smith to some folks who may have never heard of him. I watched SNL mainly to see him and the random guests that would sit in with the band. Thanks again gentlemen!

I missed a lot of golden era of SNL but when it went syndicated on Comedy Central in the early 2000s I used to watch it all the time. GE Smith was all class. He always played great parts and was always grooving.

Said it before: GE Smith = Legend ...

I discovered him like a year or so ago and I'm 17. I first saw the KZfaq video where he played Mike bloomfield's telecaster and I was instantly hooked on both Mike bloomfield and G.E. Smith's coolness and talent!

I'm 43, so I had the privilege to enjoy him on SNL. He was always incredible. He looks a lot like Willem Defoe. I'm glad you guys did a video on him!

Great topic! In addition to the Rig Rundowns, look for "Archives of American Television". I binged on G.E. Smith recently, and loved it. He is such a kind cat, and a great storyteller. He also strikes me as genuinely humble: in the setup to Eddie VH's tiny mistake, he raved, "you know, he really is a master".

G E Smith was such a perfectionist. I tried to find out about him from Bob Dylans 30th Anniversary where he was "seemingly" to directing all of the acts. He was so professional and yet so likeable. Why is he not featured on the 30th Anniversary album? Seriously underestimated and underpaid.

My favorite GE Smith quote occurs during his Rig Rundown on another channel and is in regard to taking vintage gear on the road. He says jokingly, "If a carpenter bought a hammer, used it a couple of times and was like, this is a really great hammer, I think I'm going to leave it at home..." Financial/wear/theft implications aside (for those of us that played bar gigs pre-beer bug), I always loved that line. If you're lucky enough to own something of value, that YOU value, use it. It deserves to be played. Even if it's a mental thing, if it gives you that extra few percent of comfort and confidence, rock that thing and play your best! SRV's #1 didn't look like that from the custom shop. :)

Great video guys. GE was a big influence on me. Watching him play vintage guitars, into Fender amps (with his reverb cranked) when the rest of the world was playing Kramer’s and Marshalls was life changing. In fact, he’s a huge reason I own TWO Fender reverb units - they were a huge part of his sound.

Awesome video!! Relived some great memories!! To this DAY I still play this little thing in A that I copied off GE playing it on one of the bumpers of SNLfrom like 1989. ALSO, about 2 years ago GE and Billy Squier played a show in a small theater in Peekskill NY, where it was just the 2 of them on stools playing one KILLER vintage guitar after another ('59 Les Paul, '53 Telecaster, '61 ES-335, '57 Tweed Deluxe etc) and they told the history of electric guitar playing different seminal guitar songs and telling fascinating stories (Crossroads, Spoonful etc and some Billy Squier songs). It was a Saturday night and I was literally leaning on the stage---they both sounded incredible!!! Such a FUN and totally UNIQUE show; one of the really cool moments was toward the end Billy thanked the crowd for not just yelling out for the (obvious) hits but made some requests for some of his personal favorites that aren't necessarily well known, awesome awesome night!!! Thanks GE!!!

Enjoy you all paying recognition to G.E. I was in a garage band as well and watched SNL and would be thinking that if you looked up "very cool" in the dictionary you'd see a pix of G.E. and not only that he posesed an EXTREM amount of musicality. The stuff would just gush out of him so comfortbly and the excellent players that were his band mates WOW. Best regards and thank you - Guys, Shannon

IMO G.E. Smith was one of the, if not the best things about that era of SNL

I got to see GE Smith with his own band at a Summer music festival in the early 90s. They were fantastic!

Because he makes all of the guitar faces? All kidding aside, he is an incredibly talented player… Extremely well rounded and versatile with all the best tones. Also a real sweetheart of a person.

GE is truly interesting to this 72 year old geezer. Thanks, guys. I really like your videos. Wish your shop was close to Minneapolis.

He recorded an album with SNL band that's really cool. Love G.E.!

G. E. Smith &LeRoy Bell’s recent release “Stony Hill, “ is incredibly tasty. All ears on deck

His rig rundown’s on Premier Guitar are awesome. He’s incredible. One of the best. His tele tone, so good.

I met GE at the NY Guitar Show, probably 1990 or so. He was looking at a table of Blackguards very closely. I walked up next to him, he showed me a Tele, and said "What do you think?". I answered "Slotted screws, the headstock scoop looks right...looks like a legit 51 to me". He smiled and said "A guy who knows!!". I gave him my card, as I worked for Converse at the time. I told him I would send him a few pair of All-Stars to match his guitars. He never got back to me. Elliot Easton was there, and I did send him some shoes. He walked me to Brian Setzer and said "Hey...this guy works for Converse, he'll get you sneakers!". Setzer answered "Sorry, I only wear Boots".

T-Bone Wolk was the bass player on SNL with G E Smith.....long time associate

Ge played st Sony hall small venue nyc right before pandemic and I had such a blast watching him play and tell stories .. duo he jam with was jazz piano player forgot his name. I was able to talk to him after the show and he such a great artist. He signed my guitar guard and reminded him of his gig with Jorma from Jefferson Airplane back when he played at bb kings place. He loves his Telecaster . Very talented and can also sing.. I be seeing hall and oates end of summer jones beach.. looking forward to see him again ge Smith. If you never seen him live u must! Another great talent I saw before the pandemic was jose Feliciano at the same theater. Small venues ..Ike small lounge seeing these two legends... blew me away

Now that I think about it... G. E. Smith and the SNL band was one of my earliest exposures to blues based guitar ever. Back in the early 90s I was a kid and hadn't still heard Eric Clapton or any of the other guitar greats, but I watched them on SNL.

Well this is amazing timing haha. A few days ago I went down a GE Smith rabbit hole. I was very young when he was on snl, so he was totally out of my radar UNTIL I was already on a rig rundown marathon the other night and came across this GE Smith. I was instantly mesmerized listening to him haha. I've now watch a bunch of videos of him. I showed him to my mom and asked her if she remembered him, she didn't know his name but did remember him on snl. We ended up watching his rig rundown together all the way through and now I got my mom watching rig rundowns! haha. Anyway really liking these hangin out and shootin the shit type videos, goes great with a fresh coffee! Keep it up!

My keyboard player in my first gigging band LOVED Hall & Oates in MTV heyday! Years later, I was reading a Modern Drummer article with Bryan Adams drummer Mickey ,who was drummer with H & O back in the day! Turns out , they( G.E and Mickey were actually all local players 20 mins from where I grew up) Played in a band in New Haven called The Scratch Band( Christine Ohlman( beehive lady) was one of the singers and would sit in occasionally with SNL Band. Ended up driving to Trod Nossel Studios where they had recorded some albums in the 70's and picked up the vinyl. A lot of the SNL vibe was from Scratch Band( dressed up like mobsters, blues classics, harp solos etc) Paul Ossola was bassist in Scratch Band and replaced T Bone when he went back to Hall & Oates! Enjoyed video boys!✌️❤️

GE Smith has a great video interview on how he was contacted and 'auditioned' for Bob Dylan -- basically Dylan would throw out a song (not usually his, but ancient) and they would start to play ... incredible .. and in other interviews, GE Smith just comes off as a cool and nice dude.

I remember seeing him all over the place on TV in the 80s ... fantastic dude too

G.E. Smith and the "Amish Guy " you described was T-Bone Wolk who has passed away. He was also another Hall and Oates band member who was also G.E's successor as SNL band leader and H&O band leader. G.E., T-Bone and the rest of the H&O backing up band from 1980-85 should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame as sidemen. During that period of time they were as good as any band in the world. Absolutely flawless. G.E. alone should be in that distinction.

He's one of the REAL cats!

GE Smith is one of my favorite guitarists

G.E. Smith & the Saturday Night Live Band is a must have for any G. E. lovers. Also, T-bone Wolk, check out his work on the early Live from Darrell's House.

I love watching YT vids of GE talking about anything. Whether it's the Clapton & EVH stories or listening to him getting into the weeds on something about some kind of gear, it like being a kid and you have that cool older person at some get-together that you end up sitting cross-leged on the floor with your jaw hanging open and your ears hanging on every word. The short breaks where GE would get featured for a hot minute on SNL got my attention, but where I got to really hear what he could do were things on PBS and early cable (this was the 80's and 90s) where they'd have some tribute to some artist or some such thing and there he'd be with some huge name.It doesn't (or shouldn't) take a geneus to figure out that when you keep seeing someone again and again to be the guitar guy and/or music director for the featured artist then pay attention to that guy. The "Amish" guy in the SNL band was Tom "T-Bone" Wolk. He did a bass column for "Guitar for the Practicing Musician" (if memory serves me). He was right up there with Will Lee for session work. There's a reason GE had him in the band.

Best signature tele ever. I wished they'd bring it back

I worked at NBC during those years and was lucky enough to see SNL in person several times... best inside thing during those days was Thursday's at 3p when they did blocking to get the camera angles right for the musical guest. Anyone working in the building could walk into 8H and see whoever was that week's musical guest up close and personal in a small audience... really cool and GE was always a highlight, but I knew him as the guy from all those Hall & Oats videos from the 80s. Also, I've seen Dylan many times, he was really good once, when GE was leading his band!!

My brother worked on a tour with GE. I met and hung with GE for a few days. Cool cat.... I grew up watching him on SNL also.

To me he was just the band leader of SNL then I went to a Danny Gatton benefit concert at the Bottom Line in NYC (1994?) and he was playing. He was electrifying and seemed to guide the whole show. One of the best live shows I've been to.

Love the Videos guys ! You remind me often of a mellow Version of Jay and Silent Bob !

Love my GE Smith Bridge!

Along with Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's band, GE Smith ranks up there as one of my favourite guitar players of all time. His subtlety and mastery of the instrument is so underrated and there are many guitarists who have never heard of him. I recommend that people listen to an amazing podcast interview he did on The Keep Calm and Rock On Experience - episode 18. kcropodcast.libsyn.com/episode-18-ge-smith

Yesterday I just watch Archive of American Television (AGAIN) interview with G.E. ,he's AMAZING.

Had to give a thumbs up for the Color Me Badd reference alone! :)

Outstanding guitarist; friendly guy with a sense of humor - and cute☺️

also, remember that Johnny Carson had Doc Severenson leading the band, and would have guests (like Buddy Rich) who would sit in ..

I just purchased a GE Smith Tele. I love the guitar. Best Tele I've played. Now my fav guitar and I have 30. Awesome guy and guitarist.

Awesome guitarist! And an awesome dude!

i saw Hall & Oates live in 1982. GE Smith stood on a 30 foot riser in the middle of a smoke covered stage while ripping that Les Paul to shreds... it was amazing... made this 10 year old kid beg for a guitar that Xmas

I definitely remember the name. I see a GE Smith full interview. Im going to check it out

I’m a half year late, but this video just came up in my queue. Because I watched this, another video came up called “G.E. Smith Full Interview“ and the channel is Doughboy. It’s a two hour and 12 minute interview with GE. I’m only 13 minutes in - and even though I only planned to watch the first 15-20 minutes or so, I think I’m in for the long-haul. The guy bleeds “cool”. Check it out If you want to know more about him in his own words.

I love G.E. Smith too!

The NPR series on KZfaq is awesome. Just need more of them.

I got to play his black les paul custom through one of his tweeds it was mind blowing!

I was also fascinated by GE Smith as a young guitar player. I always looked forward to the commercial breaks when they might show them for 10 seconds and leave you wanting to hear more. They should have let the band play a whole song on TV now and then.

Nice spotlight on G.E. Smith. He deserves it. Seems like a good, cool guy.

"When Saturday Night Live was good" I totally agree. 😀

I cannot believe how Baxter's SNL experience was so much like mine! That dependable thing of seeing GE (the spell correct says God) every week☺🙆💇💇‍♀️👩‍💼👱‍♀️

I worked at a shop in Virginia , we sold GE Smith a Larson Brothers acoustic . Cool dude , drove down from NJ in a rental car . The transaction actually took place at 2 am at the owners home . He brought cash . We had a customer , who attended GEs workshop in NYC . GE used to conduct workshops , Masterclasses , pre-CoVid . Our guy had been to 3 or 4 , tried to go every year .

Haha. Yes! GE Smith and the Saturday night live band!

GE is a great historian of music and guitars.

G E SMITH......ONE OF THE GREATEST OF THE GREATS...THAT BOY CAN PLAY THAT GUITAR FOR SURE.

Even in his H&A days his smile when playing always said to me “ I know something about music that you really should find out for yourself”...

GE Smith is awesome, I've been a fan since before I even picked up a guitar. I really dig his work with Hall & Oates, he was on quite a few of their albums in the 70's and 80's. Edit: I just now noticed that the bass player toward the end is T-Bone Wolk (RIP) he also played in Hall & Oates! GE and T-Bone had an awesome jam chemistry!

Well done guys, I love G.E! One of my favourites of all time. Glad someone else out there acknowledges his brilliance, one of the coolest mofos to walk the Earth 👌

GE got it going on...just really good overall performer.

Loved watching G E on SNL back in the day. Plus the show was actually funny back then.

GE is definitely a cool cat. If I had to invite someone over for a drink and chill...it'd be GE. I would love to hear his stories. FYI....he was married to Gilda Radner back in the early days of SNL....that's how he got introduced to Lorne Michaels.

I’ve been lucky enough to collect all 3 colors of the GE Smith Telecaster.

GE Smith is a perfect example of how dudes look better the older they get. That's cool!

I mostly saw GE on the Comedy Central re-runs in the late 90's and 2000's, but at that time we also had Jimmy Vivino in Conan's band. Once he took over the reigns from Max Weinberg, the show would go out to commercial and come back with Jimmy going to town, and he had a really solid gear collection, too. Considering that Conan's a guitar nerd and worked on SNL back in the GE days, I have to think he was going for the same vibe. I think Jimmy tried to make the Firebird his thing in the way that the GE was the most visible guy playing a Tele back then, but he'd switch it up pretty frequently too.

Ive ordered a Custom Shop 1960’s Tele because it looks like the one G.E.Smith holds in the American archives interview. One cool cat!

Why is he so cool? Just because. I love him playing the Bloomfield Tele too! And The Roots on Jimmy Fallon will often have cool sit ins these days. It's often great blues funk and r&b legends like Booker T. Jones or Clyde Stublefield (James Brown drummer) or Steve Lukather. They don't do it often but they really make it a treat when they do.

Paul Shaffer started on SNL too... he was the piano player for Bill Murray's 'Nick The Lounge Singer' skit in the 70's

There are some great acoustic performances by him on KZfaq. He's just a master and historian.

Love g e smith....HE rocks🤘🤘

Come on guys, MTV existed back then and GE Smith was a mainstay in Hall & Oates videos! You can't say you needed the Internet for that tidbit of information. Other guys weren't doing the R&B predominantly black thing back then? I could go on for days with names, but I'll just say that you were definitely not listening or paying attention to the cats who were laying down those lines in incredible R&B hits of the time. Oh, come on, you didn't recognize Tom Wolk, also the bass player from H&O and SNL?!?! What bubble were you in? Still, I give a big thumbs up for highlighting a great guy and master guitar player.

I really need to get down to NC and do some bourbon with you guys.

GE Smith and Leroy Bell have a great new album out. They call themselves Stony Hill. Check it out

the bass player was actually brought over from the Hall and Oats band as well. he is in the picture you use for the video in the background.

I agree completely

Did he have any parts in the blues brother movies??

My first guitar heros were Carl Wilson and GE Smith