Cape Cod Acoustics
  • Home
  • Your Lessons
  • Performance services offered
  • About Gene
  • Contact
  • Guitars, Ukes & Accessories
  • Acoustic Guitar Blog
  • Tips for guitarists
  • Guitar Gallery
  • More...

"I've Got a Name"

11/14/2013

0 Comments

 
My buddy from Australia, Tony Obermeit often sends me good suggestions for subjects for this space and he recently suggested writing about the habit some guitarists have of naming their guitars. There is a very active thread going on one of the guitar forums about this. I read through it and to be totally frank, I think it is kind of silly. But hey, that’s just me. Over the many decades I’ve played I’ve owned some very nice guitars that I had something like an emotional bond with but it never occurred to me to give them a name. This may be because being a professional musician I can’t help but view my guitars as tools – very nice tools, yes, but tools nevertheless.

But the naming of inanimate objects had a long-standing tradition. Boats probably have been given human names for as long as people have gone to sea. I get that. A boat can seem to almost come alive as it melds with the ocean, taking on a life it does not display when at rest. Giving a boat a name may also be a tribute to a loved one and its beauty and graceful movement may bring to mind a special person.

Is it so different with guitars? I once read that modern guitar body design (going back a couple hundred years) was meant to imitate a woman’s body. This always brings a smile to my face when considering the wider lower bout and narrower upper bout of a guitar, an attribute that is hardly considered desirable by women these days (!) but perhaps that was not the case two hundred years ago?

In any case, I can understand why someone would attach a human, physical aspect to a guitar. Just like a boat, while often pretty at rest it seems to come alive when controlled (played) by the owner. And just like a boat, it responds to its environment. Sometimes being at the helm of a boat gliding along on a sapphire blue sea is sublime, just like those moments when you play a piece of music that comes out close to perfection.

There is a sign at one of my favorite places in the Caribbean, Ti Kaye resort on St. Lucia, that warns bathers: “Sometimes the sea gets angry, as we all do.” That angry sea can make boating a frustrating and unpleasant experience. Boat handling becomes a very personal challenge at those times and it can seem like the ocean and the craft itself are conspiring to make you uncomfortable at best. So it is with guitar playing at times, too. That well loved guitar can seem contrary and frustrating on some days, almost seeming determined to rebel against your best efforts. I played that song so well the last time I tried it, you think. Why is it so bad today? It must be the guitar’s fault that it sounds awful! (My usual solution to this is to change the strings – which always makes my guitar sound better – or just put the damn thing down for a while and come back to it later!)

My best guess as to why people give human names to their guitars is that for many of us, some of our most rewarding and yes, emotional experiences take place while playing. The more it happens, the more we attach emotional, almost human values to something that is really nothing more than wood, steel and glue. But like humans themselves who are just various organic materials, it is the sum of those parts and most importantly, something essentially indefinable that makes us bond. So who am I to judge those who call their guitars by name?

Peace & good music,

Gene

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Gene Bourque

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed