Derek Bailey (January 29, 1930 – December 25, 2005) was a free improvising avant-garde guitarist. The most noticeable feature of his style is what appears to be its extreme discontinuity, often from note to note: there may be enormous intervals between consecutive notes, and rather than aspiring to the consistency of timbre typical of most guitar-playing, Bailey interrupts it as much as possible: four consecutive notes, for instance, may be played on an open string