A forum to discuss anything and everything Lenny Breau, that little known guitarist from Canada who is considered to be, by most great guitarists, the greatest guitarist ever.

Tragically, Lenny was killed..murdered, on the roof top of his girlfriend's apt. building in LA in 1984. Police said it was drug related, quite possible given Lenny's penchant for "mental stimulation". Lenny was such a druggy that he use to raid people's medicine cabinets for pills, any pills, whenever he went for a visit...one time, he took estrogen pills and pissed blue for weeks!

Lenny Breau (August 5, 1941 – August 12, 1984)
Born in Maine, he moved to Saskatchewan and eventually Winnipeg at a young age. His father Hal Pine and mother Betty Coté were country music artists and Lenny played with the family band until he fell in love with jazz. Randy Bachman grew up down the street from Lenny in Winnipeg and learned his guitar chops from hangin with Lenny.

One of the fore-fathers and true master of the 7-string guitar. Inventor of the 12-Fret(Octave) Harmonic Tap Technique. Pretty much Chet Atkins's adopted son, or at least, Chet thought of him as a son...Lenny actually named his son Chet...

One of the coolest things I learned about Lenny is that he use to bring his guitar to school so he could play at recess..he would lug his guitar for miles just so he could have 5 minutes with it in between classes...he was the best...the definition of a purist.

There's a very good documentary about his life titled "The Genius of Lenny Breau" produced by his daughter Emily Hughes..I saw it one night on TV Ontario and fell in love with the guy.

If I ever find the guy..or gal....responsible for his death, I have a few words for him/her.

Btw, there's another Lenny Group on Facebook called "Bringing Lenny Home" dedicated to solving his murder and returning his body to it's rightful home, check it out!

SL Sheehan (read less)

A forum to discuss anything and everything Lenny Breau, that little known guitarist from Canada who is considered to be, by most great guitarists, the greatest guitarist ever.

Tragically, Lenny was killed..murdered, on the roof top of his girlfriend's apt. building in LA in 1984. Police said it was drug related, quite possible given Lenny's penchant for "mental stimulation". Lenny was such a druggy that he use to raid people's medicine cabinets for pills, any pills, whenever he went for a... (read more)