British rockers Graham Coxon and Johnny Marr have paid tribute to legendary guitarist Bert Jansch following his death on Wednesday (05Oct11).
The pioneering folk musician passed away at a hospice in Hampstead, north London after a two-year battle with lung cancer.
Jansch was a major influence on a stars including Neil Young, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page - and following the news of his death, Coxon shared his memories of meeting Jansch backstage at a gig in Oxford, England.
In a series of posts on Twitter.com, he writes, "A sad day. When I first bought my martin om28v (guitar) i took it along to watch bert and davy graham play in oxford. i went backstage pre show where i was persuaded to play a couple of songs at half time. i agreed but was frightened of course.
"I was tuning this lovely new guitar. i was a little panicked and asked bert "how the hell do you tune a B string?". he said 'you can't' with the faintest hint of the wryest of smiles... R.I.P dear bert."
Former The Smiths guitarist Marr also paid tribute to Jansch, telling Bbc 6 Music, "Playing with Bert was like a long walk through the woods. Mysterious, ancient & natural. Leaves would fall but the sun could come out, too."