Skip Pitts, Guitarist on "Shaft" died NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Charles "Skip" Pitts, the longtime Memphis guitar player for Isaac Hayes whose distinctive sound helped define soul and make "Shaft" cool, has died. He was 65.
Tim Sampson, communication director with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, said Pitts died Tuesday in Memphis after a long struggle with cancer.
Pitts was responsible for the unforgettable wah-wah pedal guitar sound on Hayes' "Theme from Shaft," the `70s Blaxploitation film that remains a memorable moment in American popular culture – mostly due to the enduring popularity of the song. Pitts' 1971 riff was angry and bristling with menace, capturing a dangerous vibe that transcended the screen and translated to the streets of a tense nation.
He also was responsible the guitar line from The Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing," also a distinctive, influential moment in American music.
Schooled by neighbor Bo Diddley...
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming
Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
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