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A few big questions

2/13/2019

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How do our listening tastes evolve over time? What effect does personal experience influence have over what we find compelling? Is it possible for a musician to let go and appreciate what he or she hears compared to the average person who has no frame of reference to how that music is made? For the hard-core guitar geek: As guitar players are we able to divorce ourselves from the oft asked question (“could I play that?”) or even learn to appreciate or (gulp) like something that has no guitar playing at all?
 
Each one of those questions is probably worthy of an entire blog entry on its own. Back when I was the editor of On The Water magazine my publisher (also an editor) taught me to thoroughly examine each point made by a writer and not be blown away by massive amounts of information or outright BS. Once I sent him a feature I had written and was quite proud of, but he rejected it because he said I hadn’t fully expanded on the many good points he said I’d made. He was right. I rewrote it. He would probably flinch at the attempt I’m about to make to tackle those questions above. Oh well. I don’t work for him anymore, ha!
 
There’s no question about the evolution of musical taste, not to anyone who’s seriously into music. From a player’s perspective I think the trick is to keep what you need or like as you move on and learn to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. The certainty of youth gives way to many-layered reality. But I’ve noticed something curious over the last decade or so. I know some very good local musicians who see no need to evolve and seem to be perfectly happy playing popular music from a generation or even two, before. Part of me finds this to be a bit lazy but hey, they get work and the audiences don’t seem to mind hearing the same songs over and over. The better ones know which side the ol’ bread is buttered on – they will keep playing those old nuggets – but when they are playing for purely their own enjoyment they often spring some pretty amazing music on their friends. One bass player I know (he is also a fine guitarist and mandolin player) is fine with playing in a couple groups whose entire repertoire is semi-acoustic oldies but he also pays plenty of attention to the latest crop of young singer-songwriters and does a great job with covers of their stuff. You’ll just never hear him play that music at the local watering hole. I suspect that there are plenty of serious and semi-professional players out there who do the same. They are evolving but in a quiet way. Pragmaticism wins again. This is not a criticism; I do that myself!
 
Taste. Likes. What we find compelling again and again. This is one of the joys of music I think. Quick example. Way back when I was in college the first Crosby, Stills and Nash album was released and for a period of a few months “Suite for Juby Blue Eyes” was absolutely inescapable. I loved it then and I love it today! And here’s why. That song has reappeared countless times at pivotal moments in my life, almost like a soundtrack. Every time I hear it a rush of emotion comes over me, recalling good times with dear friends, road trips to beautiful places and much more. I’m sure we all have songs like that. Sometimes we even have the joy of remembering a song or an album that we loved years ago but has slipped our minds. Last summer I rediscovered the classic Little Feat album “Let It Roll,” which was released back in 1988. I positively loved that album for a while – I defy anyone to sit still while its playing. It became my go-to album last summer when I sat out on my back deck in the evening after finishing teaching, slipping on a glass of Petron Anejo. Man, does that make me feel good (not just the tequila!). 
 
One of the standard raps I give my students goes something like this:
 
Guess what? Now you’re cursed! Your days of going to a music show and just sitting back and enjoying what you’re hearing are gone. You’ll be sitting there asking yourself – what chords is the guitarist playing? What kind of guitar does he have? 
 
OK, I mean this totally in jest but for many budding guitarists it’s a real thing. Not a bad thing, just a reality. What I’ve found over the years is that it’s certainly possible to note those things but then if the performance is really outstanding the music can take me to an emotional depth that non-players just can’t understand or appreciate. If the performance is not that great, I can always go back to focusing on those chords and the guitars. So I think this is a win-win!
 
My last question bumps into a lot of issues, not the least of which is ego. I’ve written about the pitfalls of ego-based music making many times in this space. Hopefully, our ego allows us to accept and appreciate a wide range of music that it totally unrelated to guitar playing. There is a great article in the latest issue of Fretboard Journal magazine that profiles the amazing flat-pick style guitarist Molly Tuttle. If you haven’t heard Molly, check her out, I guarantee you will be blown away. When the interviewer asked her who she listens to, who’s on her Spotify play lists, she rattles off many of the people you’d expect but also included are 2Pac and Thugz Mansion. Wow. “I try to stay open to everything,” said Molly. 
 
But hey, she’s young. I’m not going to be exploring hip-hop any time soon, OK, never, but Luciano Pavarotti singing “Nessun Dorma” slays me every time, without a guitar in sight. There’s plenty of classical music I feel that way about. All I’m saying is, take Molly’s words to heart. 
 
Peace & good music,
Gene
 
 

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John and Steve and the voice of experience

2/11/2019

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My two passions beyond my wonderful family and friends are guitar playing and fishing. Both of those last two things have brought me untold hours of joy with occasional bouts of impatience and frustration. But never boredom! So when I discover songs that combine both those things I’m a happy guy. For example:
 
“Fishin’ Blues” by Taj Mahal. Been playing that one for years but I probably don’t do it justice compared to the great Taj. Super fun to play though with some worldly wisdom that is obvious but complex too. 
 
“Many fish bite if you got the right bait!” Yup. Words to live by, folks! 
 
I recently discovered a positively wonderful tune by John Prine, “Fish and Whistle.” God, I love John Prine’s music. Oh so deceptively easy from a musical perspective but oh so deeply layered and occasionally hilarious lyric-wise. 
 
I’ve come to believe that the two living masters of the Americana/singer-songwriter genre are John Prine and Steve Earle. Sometimes I have to warn students about what they will hear from those guys if they are unfamiliar with them. Neither has a voice that’s immediately easy on the ears and occasionally I’ll have a student who just can’t get past that. With those folks I’ll encourage them to listen to other artists covering their material, like Bonnie Raitt’s classic cover of Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.” Quite a few of the legendary Texas singer-songwriters are like that too, people like the late, great Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. But most of my students – the adults, anyway – learn how to listen to those artists because there is so, so much more to their music from a poetic standpoint. 
 
All of the musicians I just mentioned employ basic chords and strum or finger patterns so their music is do-able by the vast majority of guitarists, even those barely past the beginner stage. Sure, it’s fun and challenging and ultimately beautiful and gratifying to delve into the guitar styles of “better” guitar players (whatever that really means…) like James Taylor, Paul Simon, and the myriad younger players who employ open tunings. I am attracted to those complexities most of the time but I came to realize that the guitar stylings of writers like Prine and Earle are really just frames on their lyrical paintings. The same could be said for Dylan. 
 
So what makes the lyricism of John Prine and Steve Earle so compelling? I think that’s easy to answer: life experience. Both of those writers have seen more than most of us ever will and have the ability to convey what they’ve lived. John Prine has had more than the average amount of heartbreak, from what I’ve read, and he survived a serious bout of cancer, which is why he tilts his head when he sings. Steve Earle survived serious drug addiction and spent time in jail, which he credits for being the reason he’s still with us today. Steve has also loved and lost. Read up on his relationship with the fabulous country singer-songwriter Alison Moorer. Plenty of fodder there for plenty of songs by both those guys, songs that come from real experience and not some contrived down-home persona that I see these days from some of the young bearded, flannel shirt wearing, floor gazing exponents of retro country and Americana. I’m talking to you, Shakey Graves and Father John Misty!
 
And now, a shift of gears. 
 
As I mentioned in a recent post, my gear quests over the last couple of years have shifted more and more toward finding the BEST sounding amplifier designed specifically for acoustic guitar. After trying and becoming quickly dissatisfied with a bunch of expensive and generally well-regarded amps of this type (Schertler, AER, Henriksen, others….) I bought an ACUS Oneforstrings 8 and it may be “the one.” I’ve been using it every week at my regular gig at the Daily Brew Café in Cataumet, MA for the last two months and I couldn’t be happier. The sound is pure and sweet, it has plenty of power, is relatively light weight but solidly constructed, and has all the features I want with three independent channels for guitar and/or vocals. Plus its wood casing is beautiful and an eye-catcher. Just yesterday a woman musician I used to play with came in the Brew and she remarked at how wonderful it sounded, clear and lush and natural without being overbearing. This Italian-made amp is not easy to find; they only have a few dealers in this country but I’m so glad I took the recommendation to buy one from a member of one of the guitar forums I visit regularly. Quite pricey, yes, but if you’re looking for the best, purest acoustic sound I highly, highly recommend this amp. I do still have a Bose S1 Pro that I like primarily because of its built in battery and overall good sound but it can’t hold a candle to my ACUS. I’ll keep the Bose for those outdoor gigs I get like beach weddings where power is not available.
 
My relaunch of my web store is progressing. I still have some important details to attend to regarding platforms and shopping carts, plus getting good detailed images to use but I’m hopeful it will be up and running in the near future. I’m very psyched to be able to offer a less known but fantastic guitar line and cool and useful accessories that you won’t find at your local guitar super store or via the mega music sites. Stay tuned.
 
Peace & good music,
Gene
 
 
 
 
 


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Tales of NAMM, conclusion

2/7/2019

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The back of that McPherson was spectacular too!
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Martin custom shop Excalibur HD-28. Yours for $20k
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Martin custom shop D "Homeward" Spectacular inlay work!
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Back of the Martin D "Homeward"
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Hanging with Dana Bourgeois, one of the great guitar builders of our time
PictureA $30,000 McPherson. Best sounding acoustic I have ever played!
Continuing the story of my adventures at the NAMM show a couple weeks ago. Here are some images of what I saw (and played!):

 



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​As I sat in LAX airport waiting for my plane to begin boarding I perused the catalogs and materials from the many companies I spent time with. While I only spent one full day at the show and only saw a small fraction of what was on display I felt I had a good overview of the current state of the musical instrument business. Some of the things I learned surprised me, some not so much. Here are a few reflections from my notes.
 
This is truly an amazing time to be a guitar player. There are a dizzying array of options for both the beginner and the experienced, professional player. This is great! But if I was the owner of one of those companies I’d feel more than a bit stressed out. The competition is coming from literally everywhere in the world. The famous American guitar companies have to be feeling the pressure from the Far East as never before because gone are the days when a guitar coming out of that area was inherently inferior to the American brands. Yes, there are still some cheapo’s that are pretty bad but the vast majority are good; some are excellent and rival or even surpass what’s being made in this country – for a fraction of the cost. I’ll always be loyal to Martin guitars; they were my first love and still hold my heart but if I were contemplating a big investment in yet another professional quality guitar I would be hard pressed to ignore some of the better Chinese-made instruments. In fit, finish, looks and most importantly, SOUND there are some clear winners. What I find interesting is that the stigma of going on stage with a Chinese guitar has largely disappeared. Not long ago, no serious player would do such a thing but not today.
 
So what are the American companies doing to counter this? From what I can see they are focusing on re-styling or “re-imagining” (in Martin parlance) existing models. Or redesigning guitars from the inside, out. See Taylor’s new “V-bracing.” The danger there is that the companies are banking on older players with disposable income will take notice. I feel that it’s too early to tell if that will be the case. Just how many $4000+ guitars will a middle-class Baby Boomer buy? Time marches on…none of us are getting younger… 
 
And a bit more troubling – how about that be-all and end-all guitar from Martin or Taylor or Gibson of a few years ago that is suddenly not quite so special anymore? The fact is, right now in this country at least it’s a buyer’s market for perfectly fine and very nice but common and standard models from those companies, and others. Will the higher end guitar buyer suck it up, accept that their guitar that was oh-so-special a few years ago has plummeted in value and jump at the current latest/greatest? Again, time will tell.
 
Another observation. The world of electric guitars is RULED by pedals! Players routinely do gigs with pedal boards holding dozens of sound-altering devices. The starting point is the guitar and the end point is the amp but what comes in between is much more important it seems. This is not news of course; electric guitar players have been using pedals for decades but now it seems that the pure sound of a fine electric through a warm and sweet tube amp is passé. Lots of pedals do cover up a multitude of sins, with some players anyway. Now the pedal frenzy is coming into the world of acoustic/electric guitars with a vengeance. For my part, just a bit of reverb and a bit of equalization are enough. But hey, have fun. Grab a few pedals and have at it. It’s supposed to be fun, right?
 
At the NAMM show you could find both software and hardware to make studio quality recordings for a fraction of the price similar devices were not long ago. I think this is great! In some cases the options on these devices and the software used with them can be quite daunting to an old dog like me. I still would like to do some more home recording. Haven’t done much in the last couple of years but if I could just find some smart and tech-savvy youngster to help me out I’d be much more inclined to dive into this new world. My recording software is archaic by today’s standards, unfortunately. Might have to step up to some of the new stuff though. Anyone out there want to help me?
 
And finally, my lasting impression of the show will be the wonderful enthusiasm, friendliness and love of making music that permeated every moment I was there. As I wrote to my wife while I was there: I’m with my people! I’m on the fence about whether I’ll attend the East Coast summer NAMM show in Nashville this summer as I’ve been told it is quite a bit smaller than the annual show in Anaheim but who knows? Embarrassed to say, I have never been to Nashville and I’m only a few decades overdue. It could be a great excuse!
 
Peace & good music,
Gene

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Tales of NAMM, part 1

2/2/2019

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Well, a week’s gone by since my trip out to the West Coast for the NAMM trade show and what an experience it was. In my previous life in the recreational fishing industry I attended the annual industry trade show, which I always thought was huge but the NAMM show at the Anaheim Convention Center near Los Angeles dwarfed it. What follows is a recounting of my whirlwind trip (with a detour to Vegas on the way back!), what I saw, what I heard, what I learned – and how it will affect my music from a business perspective in the months and years to come.
 
This was my first trip to the Los Angeles area and only my second time in California I’m somewhat embarrassed to say. I had heard and read that the general L.A. area is huge and congested but I had no idea….. My plane was an over an hour late landing so I was forced to deal with the legendary traffic to get to my hotel. One hour and forty minutes in an Uber to go 22 miles! Ugh. The convention center all the surrounding hotels are all about Disney (!) with the original Disneyland literally across the street. Even though we took our kids to Disney World three times when they were young I’ve never been much of a Disney cultist as so many are and it was pretty tough to avoid the pervasive Disney vibe at my hotel, but fortunately there were plenty of NAMM show attendees staying there too.
 
I knew from my fishing biz trade show days that it’s a very good idea to pick up your show entry badge the day before the show officially starts to avoid the crush of attendees doing the same on the opening day so I grabbed another Uber and headed over. Huge doesn’t even begin to describe what I found. Just about every company who makes anything related to the creation and performance of music was there. The show is for members of NAMM only; consumers may not enter. Even so, I was told to expect 8,000 – 10,000 attendees the first day. 
 
Music was being played everywhere on multiple stages both outside the convention center, inside, and at adjacent hotels to pump attendees up for the opening the next day. I got my badge and stopped to hear a couple bands and they were great. A gig at the NAMM show is very prestigious as many of the movers and shakers of the music business are always there to check out talent.
 
Having studied my show listings online before the show I had a game plan for the next day, which is vital at huge trade shows. My main objective was to connect with distributors I already use and see some of their guitars first hand that I’ve yet to play, but also to discover smaller, innovative companies whose products I can really get behind when I relaunch my web store in the next few months. I succeeded in that way beyond my hopes – but more on that later!
 
The next morning I arrived about a half hour before the official opening of the main show area as I knew that a smaller wing of the convention center where many of the boutique guitar makers where located would be opening a half-hour earlier. Entering that area (with many, many others) I first noticed the booth for Dana Bourgeois Guitars. There were about 20 guitars on display and while I didn’t intend to buy one it was a great opportunity to try out a few. And Dana himself, one of the most well-respected luthiers in the world was sitting there. I had a wonderful conversation with him and learned a lot about his instruments, construction techniques and his general philosophy of guitar building. While I as there, James Olsen (maker of James Taylor’s guitars) wandered in and gossiped a bit with Dana as I sat there! Dana could not have been nicer and invited me up to his workshop in Lewiston, Maine for a tour. I hope to do that, even though it could be severely dangerous to my bank account!
 
I then proceeded over to McPherson Guitars. I knew of them and their great reputation but had never played one of the somewhat strange looking instruments they make. I played a couple and I have to admit, one of them was the best sounding steel string acoustic guitar I’ve ever heard. But, it should be. For $30,000. Again, not in my budget but very cool to play and admire the amazing workmanship.
 
I tried a few Santa Cruz Guitar Company models at their booth but frankly was not overly impressed although they were certainly nice guitars. Didn’t care for the neck shape, but that’s a personal thing of course. Larivee Guitars of Canada had a very impressive booth with many handsome guitars but time constraints did not allow any playing of them. There were lots of people cramming into the Collings booth and a concert/demo was going on by a couple of their pro staffers. Great playing, handsome guitars, great sounding but nothing that stopped me in my tracks.
 
Then it was time to head upstairs for the opening of the main convention center floor. Imagine thousands and thousands of excited music geeks rushing into the huge hall! Within ten minutes the noise level was pretty severe. Electric guitars, drums, keyboards, brass instruments and much more, all competing for attention. To their credit, some of the companies had small sound booths set up which helped a bit but the reality was that it was very tough in certain areas to get a good idea what an acoustic instrument really sounded like. But I tried!
 
My two main distributors have premium higher end imported lines that I’m considering buying. But the buy-in is pretty heavy, money-wise for both so even though I had a good introductory overview from salesmen at both companies I need to think more about that level of commitment. However…. I discovered a WONDERFUL company that is importing very, very fine acoustic guitars and ukuleles, setting them up and inspecting them thoroughly and they were looking for new dealers. I was about as impressed as I have ever been with an imported guitar and these instruments compare and in many cases exceed similar instruments from the American companies we all know for about 1/3 the cost! I bought three. They will arrive next week and I’ll be listing them soon. I’m more psyched than I’ve ever been about being involved with this company.
 
I also began a dealer relationship with a company that makes hand-made guitar and ukulele straps right here in the U/S., all superb in construction and looks and very reasonably priced. I found a great, small company making guitar maintenance supplies of superior quality and some other items that I’ll be offering soon. 
 
I’ll post some other stories and pictures of the NAMM show plus an overview of the “state of the union” of the music instrument industry in the very near future. Suffice to say, it was a fantastic experience and now I’m considering attending the somewhat smaller summer NAMM show this coming July in Nashville!
 
Peace & good music,
Gene

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