Blog Posts

Tales of NAMM, conclusion

2/7/2019

0 Comments

The back of that McPherson was spectacular too!

Martin custom shop Excalibur HD-28. Yours for $20k

Martin custom shop D "Homeward" Spectacular inlay work!

Back of the Martin D "Homeward"

Hanging with Dana Bourgeois, one of the great guitar builders of our time

A $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!):

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

0 Comments

Tales of NAMM, part 1

2/2/2019

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

A New Year's resolution that I WILL keep!!

1/1/2019

2 Comments

Back in my days as the editor of On The Water magazine I had a few basic rules that I made sure our freelance writers knew not to break. One was: no “looking back at the past year” stories that seem to be an easy way to fill pages in many magazines and newspapers at this time of year. It just seemed kind of lazy. So, I won’t go in that direction here, either. However…

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know I like to relate things large and small that have influenced me musically and as a guitar teacher. Some years there are a lot of things, some years very few. My hope is that anyone reading my ramblings will find some little thing to take away that may open their eyes and ears a bit or make them a better guitar player. Taking it a bit further, I think it’s often a good and healthy exercise to question our beliefs and our standards. That can definitely relate to music, both the making of it and listening and absorbing what’s being heard.

For quite a while now I’ve been trying to step back and make value judgements about my own long-held musical ideas and beliefs. In many cases I feel the need to boil down what I’m hearing and try to figure out just where the writer was coming from. If I’m successful at that I feel I can decide about whether a particular artist or even a genre is worth investing my time in as a guitar teacher.

The ease of access online to almost limitless types of music and those playing it is a double-edged sword. As a guitar teacher I certainly appreciate being able to hear and analyze just about any song recorded in the last 50 or so years. I’m constantly searching for new artists whose music is worth exploring and if one of my students requests a song or music by an artist I’m not familiar with I can quickly and easily find that person or song. Hopefully, that artist or song has something in it that will be of value to not just that one student but many. If that’s the case then it’s certainly worth the time and effort to learn and chart out that song – and maybe others by that artist who is new to me.

Where it gets sticky is how I try to balance the student’s interests and tastes with my beliefs about the value of spending time learning songs that I sometimes feel are a waste of a student’s valuable learning time. In the last year (here I go with the “in the last year” thing!) I’ve come to the conclusion that there is depressingly large amount of disposable, derivative and calculated pop music being foisted on younger listeners. I’m pretty sure that my dad and other good musicians of his time said pretty much the same thing about the Beatles and the Stones and Motown that were a huge part of my youth, musically speaking. But at the risk of sounding like the old guy that I am, things are different now.

Look, it’s all about making money; I know that. Always has been. To my ear and mind the primary difference now compared to a generation or so ago is that the vast majority of what I hear from people like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran is written, arranged and recorded to sound as much like what those artists have done BEFORE as possible. No chances are taken, no boundaries are pushed. After their first couple of albums the Beatles were all about taking chances and pushing boundaries. You could say the same about many of the pop artists of that time. That is the difference between then and now. Not all the artists of my youth were new and different with every new release. Some were imitative and derivative and in some cases, just downright bad. But the I still maintain that the possibility of originality was much, much more in the forefront than it is today.

Does any of that matter if you’re a young person who just wants to bang out a Taylor Swift song? Probably not, and if Taylor did try something radical and different – OK, maybe even just a little different – she probably wouldn’t sell very many downloads. The way things are, her music and Ed Sheeran’s and many other pop songwriters we could name is rather like the last meal you had at a fast food joint when you were really, really hungry. Satisfying, maybe even damn good at the time but ultimately forgettable. It served the purpose and need at the time, and that’s about all. But you knew what to expect when you went into that fast food place and they didn’t disappoint you, so it’s likely you’ll go in there again at some point. Today’s music industry knows and understands this; counts on, actually.

So how does all this relate to me personally? Well, I’ve come to a decision, one that’s likely to cost me a few students.

One of the things I do at the first lesson a student takes with me is give them a form to fill out, which I call my Student Profile. I ask them to answer a few basic questions about their previous musical experience, contact information, etc., and also who they like and listen to. In the past year or so most of my younger students (especially girls) will put down the previously mentioned artists.

I go to great lengths to try and present music to my students that they are going to know and enjoy playing. I also ask them to keep an open mind. I’ve always felt that I can demonstrate various techniques and musical concepts using just about any kind of music. Focusing entirely on acoustic guitar method eliminates some genres such as hard rock, which is fine by me. Been there, done that, don’t need to do it again.

The fact is, I really don’t like Taylor Swift. Or Ed Sheeran, very much. Or most of the “Bro Country” guys. Or pretty much any singer who depends upon AutoTune to sing in tune. So – beginning immediately I’m not going to teach that music anymore. I may be shooting myself in the foot, teaching-wise but I also feel a strong obligation to stay true to what I feel is worthwhile from a learning perspective. If I can’t muster enthusiasm for a genre or the music of a specific artist, I can’t convey enthusiasm when I teach that music and a big, big part of my job is being a cheerleader. I think I’m a pretty damn good one most of the time and I don’t want to lose that skill!

There are other guitar teachers in the area who I’m sure are very much ready, willing and able to teach Taylor and Ed songs. Bless their hearts, as my grandmother used to say. Who knows? Maybe the next Taylor or Ed will emerge from ol’ Cape Cod thanks to the efforts some local guitar teacher. But it won’t be me.

Peace & good music (with emphasis on “good”),
Gene

2 Comments

Joyful music!

11/30/2018

0 Comments

I don’t know, maybe it’s because of the season, when we’re encouraged to be joyful via songs, commercial messages (plenty of those) and images of jolly old St. Nick but lately I’ve been thinking about the basic pleasure – the joy – of making music. What is it in our genetic makeup that makes the playing of music just feel so good? Does it have something to do with music being a form of communication, one that conveys emotion better than basic verbal communication? I may be over-thinking this….

But in the last week or so I witnessed two very different but equally joyful displays of music-making. One was by a local band who have a very nice following and play lots of up-tempo well-known songs by people like the Eagles, Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Jimmy Buffett and the like. They only play out on an occasional basis but a couple of the members play in other, smaller groups that are also popular in the area. Are they slick and professional? Hell, no. They are all good players but they hardly ever rehearse so things like counted-off intros and tight outros are hardly ever a major concern. No set lists are in sight; they just kind of move from tune to tune at the whim of whoever happens to think of another song when they finish one. They also have no hesitation in throwing down a few beers while they are performing and probably a few before they start.

The result? The room was packed and EVERYONE was having a great time. The enthusiasm that was coming from the band was a big, big part of this. In a nutshell, they just love to play and that love and yes, joy, transcended any slight glitches in the music. I had a great time (a few margaritas may have had something to do with this of course), the band had a great time, the people listening had a great time. Mission accomplished!

At the other end of the musical spectrum in terms of pure chops were the group I heard Sunday afternoon at a house concert in Wood Hole. The group was comprised of pianist Gordon Webster, a stand-up bass player, rhythm guitarist, clarinet player who doubled on alto sax and a woman singer named Tatiana Eva-Marie. They played straight-ahead traditional jazz, swing and a bit of gypsy jazz. To say they were fantastic would be an understatement, especially Webster on piano (who served as the leader and introduced most of the tunes) and Tatiana Eva-Marie. Now, you would think as I described the type of music they played that they would be older musicians, well versed in this type of jazz that was popular in the 1930s and 40s. But no – the oldest was Webster, who may have been all of 50 but I doubt it. All the rest of the players were in their 20s and 30s! How could they be so great at this seemingly archaic form of jazz?

Love of the music. And joy. From the first note, the smiles never left their faces (well, OK, maybe not the clarinet guy, which would be tough to play with a smile on one’s face!). High energy and watching the musicians watch each other, smiling in appreciation of what was being played. Loving the experience and grateful for the opportunity to convey their love and joy.

But it came to me on the way home: that joy from hearing and playing at such an advanced level was really no different than the joy I saw on the face of the guy in that local band, “pilgrim” hat perched on his head as belted out “Take Me Home, Country Road” with a big grin on his face – and the whole bar sang along.

Over the years I’ve known a few musicians who were great players but sadly had lost the capacity to play with joy. This is usually an ego-based problem and it comes out pretty quickly that those players viewed playing music as some sort of competitive exercise. Unless you are auditioning for a major symphony orchestra or to take over for a musician in a famous band, viewing music making as a competition is a bad road to follow. Don’t even get me going on The Voice, American Idol and their ilk, which I despise. When a younger player reaches a point that may lead to playing professionally or “seriously” whatever that may mean, it is pretty easy to begin stacking his own playing against others. Ego and value judgements can begin to take over and inevitably the pure joy of playing often diminishes in direct proportion. In a few very sad cases I’ve even known players who quit playing altogether because they could no longer find the joy.

As the years have gone by I’ve found that I get great satisfaction, even joy in smaller musical accomplishments. The big picture in terms of my playing has become less important compared to how I looked at things years ago. That’s not to say I’ve gotten slack about how well I can and SHOULD be playing. I still want to play as well as I possibly can every time I pick up the guitar. It’s just that my standards for attaining some level of joy have changed.

So if you happen to hear me playing out somewhere and you notice a smile on my face it’s likely it’s there because I happen to like the way the chords fit together in that song, or a turn of a phrase in the lyrics touches me, or perhaps I’m reminded of something that happened long ago related to that song. And as long as those kinds of things keep happening when I pick up my guitar I’ll keep playing. Always with joy, I hope.

Peace & good music,
Gene

0 Comments

Ode to The Brew

11/11/2018

0 Comments

One thing that all working musicians crave is a steady gig. Many years ago when I played in many bands of various sizes we would sometimes be able to lock up four or five nights over a period of a month or two but usually it was a case of hoping the owner would agree at the end of the night to book us again in the not too distant future. About 20 years ago when I fronted a quartet we had a good and long-standing relationship with a bar/restaurant that resulted in work almost every weekend for a couple summers, plus New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, in spite of the best efforts of the woman who owned the place, it was just too far out of the way for many people and she finally gave up and sold the place.

So just about every weekend for the last eight years I’ve been happily ensconced and grateful for my regular mornings at the Daily Brew Café in Cataumet here on Cape Cod. I’ve mentioned this place numerous times in this space but as I was driving home from my regular Sunday gig today I was reflecting on just why playing there has been such a joy. Some of these incidents I’ve mentioned in this space before, so if you’re a long-time reader please forgive me.

I have many wonderful memories of playing at the Brew. I’ve been there long enough that I’ve actually watched some of the kids of regulars all but grow up; this is very gratifying. Getting to know new people, both off-Cape visitors in the summer and the regulars who frequent the place in the off season has been just great.

For example, at the beginning of my tenure there was a young family that came in regularly with a toddler son. He was always enthralled with the music (as almost all kids are!) and when he reached the age of about four his parents bought him a ukulele for Christmas. He was very excited to show me it and I suggested he bring it the next time they came in. Sure enough, he did, and although he really didn’t know how to play it, he could “play” it, if you get my drift. I plopped him on a stool beside me and we wailed away on “The Wheels on the Bus” to his heart’s content. He loved it, his parents loved it, and all the patrons thought it was just about the cutest thing ever. I haven’t seen them in a while, they may have moved away, but I’m betting he is still having fun with that uke or maybe even a guitar!

On the other end of the age spectrum was an older lady who used to come in frequently. One day she approached me and said, “You know, I used to perform too!” She pulled an old black and white photo from the 1950s of herself in full cowgirl regalia, holding a very nice Gibson F-hole guitar. She explained that she toured all over the mid-West and the South for many years, complete with a stage name (something cowgirl oriented, but I forget….). She complimented me on my playing and said she still had her old outfits – and that old Gibson – but would never, ever part with either. I asked her to bring the guitar in for me to see and play and she agreed but she has yet to do so. I hope she does.

Another time a couple slightly younger than myself came in, listened intently and clapped after every song, something that doesn’t happen all that often as my function at the Brew is to provide pleasing background music (which I’m fine with, for the record). When it was time for me to take a break they told me how much they’d enjoyed my playing and the man introduced himself. It turned out he was a pretty well know acoustic rocker from southern New Hampshire who was visiting the Cape. I knew him by name and reputation but had to confess I had never heard him play. He then said the nicest thing: You know, he said, I can bang out songs all night long but I could never carry two sets of all-instrumentals like you do. Great job!

This was very gratifying, to say the least. He does play on the Cape on rare occasions and one of these days I’ll catch his act.

Actually, he kind of caught me off guard as I can almost always pick out guitar players who are listening to me. They have…..that look. Usually they are very complimentary, sometimes they don’t say anything, and I have to admit that sometimes (and I include a couple locals in this) I know they’re thinking something along the lines of: N’eh, he’s not so good. I could do that.

I got over being annoyed with that long ago because quite frankly, I’ve got a gig. And they don’t. End of story.

Sometimes I’ve misread those types, however. Not long ago a guy came in by himself and stayed for quite a while, studying my playing carefully but with something akin to a sneer on his face. Hoo boy, I thought. At least he bought some coffee and a sandwich so I fulfilled my part of the deal. But when I took a break he came up and said:

“That was really good. I mean it. I think you’re a really good guitar player.” I thanked him sincerely. But the strange part was, that sneer never left his face. Go figure. I haven’t seen him again however.

Another really great aspect of playing at the Daily Brew has been getting to know quite a few of the local musicians that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. That’s because I just don’t frequent the bars that have live music as I once did. But there is a small but very active bunch of players in the area who frequent the Brew and I’ve actually played with a few of them a couple times in the last year or so. They are good, solid players and just love doing it and that’s good enough for me. I really like playing with them and hope to do more of that over the winter when playing music in someone’s living room and downing a beer or two can help us all get through the long Cape Cod winter. If not for the Brew, I might never have met them.

But the best part of playing at the Daily Brew is their wonderful staff and especially the owner, Kathy Hickey. Kathy runs a tight ship and she hires great people. She also has a deep love of many kinds of music (she’s a terrific singer herself, although she’s reticent to admit it for some reason!) and a sincere respect for ALL musicians, something that is sorely lacking in most restaurant and bar owners. She took a chance on me in the beginning when I was determined to develop a solid play list of instrumentals and it took a year or so craft some dependable set lists. I had always depended upon singing with the acoustic or playing lead and rhythm electric in the bands over the years. The result is – and I’m not bragging here, really, but – I know I’m playing better now than I have in my entire guitar playing life. And I have the steady gig at the Daily Brew (and Kathy Hickey) to thank for that.

So as we approach the Christmas season and I begin throwing some seasonal songs into my set lists, if you’re anywhere near Upper Cape Cod, do stop in at the Daily Brew on Route 28A in Cataumet. If you can come by on some Sunday morning you’ll hear me. Other times you just may find me sitting at a table with a friend or two, eating wonderful treats I should not be eating and drinking the BEST coffee around. In any case, I promise you’ll be glad you did.

I am very fortunate and grateful.

Peace & good music,
Gene

0 Comments

Back in the swing of things....

11/9/2018

0 Comments

This and that today. Finally back in the swing of playing and teaching after our two weeks in Italy. I was afraid the ol’ fingers would take some breaking in but miraculously I managed to play pretty well last weekend at the Daily Brew and got through a couple dozen or so lessons this week so all is well. Whew!

So….

I know I’ve complained about this before in the space but why the heck is it that guitar manufacturers make so few decent but budget-priced acoustic guitars for lefties?! Right now I have a couple left-handed students, which is a challenge from a teaching perspective but a fun challenge too. The issue is their instruments. In both cases the guitars being used are barely passable at best. One guy took my advice and bought one of the X-series Martins, a dreadnought, from one of the big on-line retailers and it came through with a set-up that made it all but impossible to play, a poor example from this otherwise reputable company. He ended up sending it back but frankly I was a bit embarrassed to have recommended the guitar when I saw it. There are a few inexpensive models out there from companies like Yamaha and Alvarez, but very few. Otherwise, lefties are pretty much left with only very expensive instruments to choose from; in most cases a beginner is not prepared or inclined to pay well over $1000 for a guitar in the beginning. I get it – the left-handed guitar market is small, even smaller in the world of acoustics vs. electrics. But I think the makers of the higher quality Pac Rim instruments are missing the boat on this market. My brother is left-handed and I well know that the world is stacked against lefties in many annoying ways but I also know that crappy guitars will never inspire a player to go to the next level when it comes time to commit to playing in the long term.

I continue to be excited about a lot of the new music I’m hearing, as I have been for a few years. Of special interest is a group from the Boston area called Darlingside. Fantastic songwriting, playing and especially singing with three tenor voices that are incredible. Check them out. I think they have a very bright future. I’m also psyched for the new album that is coming out in a couple months by Mandolin Orange. They just released the first single from that album and it sounds great.

Finally bit the bullet and worked out a song by the immensely popular Ed Sheeran for one of my young students who loves his music. OK, I am a cranky old guy once in a while (maybe more than once in a while!) but his music has always sounded contrived and disposable to me, at best. But hey, a gazillion starry eyed young women can’t be wrong, right? Anyway, “Photograph” is now on my list of songs for students. Get over it, Gene!

I was reminded yet again that a skilled luthier is worth his weight when my regular guy, Fran Ledoux of Bay Fretted Instruments worked his magic on a 30-year-old Yamaha for a friend of mine. She was a student way back when and her guitar was at that time one of the top-end guitars from that maker. But 30 years of brutal variations in our Cape Cod humidity did its worst and that Yamaha had become almost unplayable. I tried to adjust it as best I could but it was way beyond my skills to fix. Fran managed to return it to Martin specs, action-wise, dressed the frets and re-glued places as needed and now that old guitar is almost as good as new. I’m sure my friend will begin playing again, which is great – she used to really enjoy it. Many people set themselves up as “luthiers” with little or no training or experience. Fran studied guitar making and repair at a highly respected school many years ago and time has only made him better. He is having some health issues now and I fear the day when he’ll retire. We are very fortunate to have him in the area.

My winter project is going to be transferring all my repertoire to an Ipad to use when I gig. Been meaning to do this for a few years. Lugging around a big notebook with lead sheets and lyrics is just silly with the technology that’s available now. I have tried OnSong in the past but gave up. I’ll probably revisit that site and buy an Airturn pedal for use when performing. A big project for sure – I have upwards of 300 songs in my repertoire and the time has come.

And on that note, I began practicing my (gulp) Christmas songs this week. Some came back easily, some are lost in the depths of my sketchy memory. As I’ve said before about this time of year, one of the big problems with Christmas songs is that everyone knows them! So….if you screw up, there is no hiding behind fills or random changes as you can sometimes do with less familiar songs. Gotta get to work, it will be time to crank them out before I know it. I did come up with a nice arrangement last year of the “Peanuts” Christmas tune, “Christmas Time is Here.” That will be the first big challenge as I’ve totally forgotten it! I try to add one or two seasonal songs to my list every year and need to get going on that, too.

Also now looking forward to the big NAMM show in Los Angeles in January. I have something of a game plan, which I can’t reveal just yet but my hope is to launch a new and different site for acoustic guitarists in the not too distant future. Watch this space for news!

Peace & good music,
Gene

0 Comments

Italy! Buona Musica!

11/2/2018

0 Comments

Back from two amazing, wonderful, breathtaking and life-changing weeks in Italy. I won’t bore you with details of our trip unrelated to music (but if you’re a Facebook friend of mine, I surely will!). No, I want to write about the music we heard or more accurately, experienced.

Italy of course has a musical history that dates back thousands of years. One of the great aspects of this is that Italians have not forgotten this fact. Not only do they celebrate their own musical heritage but also embrace the music of many cultures and make it their own. At the top of this long list in recent times is American music. More on this later.

Our trip – the third visit to Italy in the last ten years – was focused primarily on the island of Sicily, which is unique in the Italian experience as it has been occupied for over 2500 years by many cultures, all of whom left their mark in many ways. Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, Spanish and modern Italian influences abound. Here are a few of the musical moments we experienced related to those cultures.

We began our journey in the city of Catania, the second largest city on the island. The opera house there hosts world class performances of opera (Bellini was born and raised there so his operas are often performed) and symphonic presentations. We had just missed the last tour of the day but a sweet young Italian young lady allowed us to “sneak” into the hall to at least view the place. It is almost impossible to describe the beauty of this place. A few musicians were warming up on stage for a rehearsal that was scheduled so we had the briefest taste of the sound of the hall. Magnificent acoustics only begins to describe what we heard. The concert season throughout Italy begins in the Fall and runs into the Spring and all performances are sold out well in advance. If you are ever contemplating a trip to Italy and would like to experience an opera or symphonic concert in one of these spectacular halls, keep this in mind. We also visited the Palermo Opera House, which was equally spectacular.

As we ate dinner in a great restaurant one night a roving band of musicians playing guitar, recorder, clarinet and hand percussion entered and began singing and playing lively Italian songs. Yes, it was a bit “tourist-y” but we loved every minute of it and made sure we tipped a few Euros when they were leaving. The grins never left our faces (the fine Sicilian wine may have had something to do with this!).

Pretty much everywhere you will find accordion players on the streets and in the piazzas playing for tips, sometimes by themselves and sometimes with others. We heard many and they were all great. In one town (don’t remember which….) one of them was playing the theme to The Godfather, which was kind of funny and my guess is a bit bold, considering that the Mafia still holds much sway in many parts of Sicily! On another occasion we heard an accordion player with a guy playing something called a “boxo basso.” This is apparently a real instrument, not something homemade, which featured a large wooden box with an opening for volume and the neck of a stand-up bass attached to it on a large hinge. It only had one thick string but by moving the neck back and forth, stretching the string, and the player moving up and down the neck the notes would change. In other words, it was played entirely by ear and the guy playing it had a great ear, to say the least! They played some traditional Italian folk music and sounded great.

In the evening you could find guitarists in many of the piazzas in just about every town. And here is where the American influence becomes most apparent. Without exception, they were ALL playing American rock, blues and singer-songwriter tunes. Sometimes there would be two playing together. Here was a big difference from our previous trip three years ago. With more and more high-powered battery-operated amps available, some of these guys (and girls!) were LOUD. Some of them were quite good, some not so much but all played with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the use of loopers has reached epidemic proportions with some of these performers and that combined with heavy distortion with electric guitars made for a kind of annoying evening at an otherwise wonderful outside restaurant in Taormina, but so it goes I guess.

Although not a musical performance exactly, we went to a wonderful puppet show with recorded music (medieval instrumental songs on whistle with drum) in Cefalu, which along with many places in Italy has a rich history of very elaborate puppet shows that go back many hundreds of years. Although spoken (shouted!) in Italian, after about half the one-hour show I was able to follow the story, which involved a hero vanquishing his Saracen foe for his king and rescuing a captured priest. Much sword play, heads cut off, the flying Devil repelled, scary monster fought and killed in a dungeon, evil advisor to the king defeated. All hail the knight Renaldo! Lots of fun and well-staged. The kids in the audience, most likely more enthralled by Xbox where not overly impressed but the adults thought it was great!

Our trip concluded with three nights in Rome where we heard more street rockers, a cool gypsy band in Piazza Navona and of course more accordion guys. But the highlight of the entire trip music-wise was an evening at a small jazz club. There we heard a trio – electric hollow body guitar, tenor sax, stand-up bass – who were positively world-class jazzers. They played a wide range of jazz, from swing standards to bossa nova to pyrotechnic bop and I said to my wife, son and his fiancé that I thought it would not be possible to better players ANYWHERE. The guitarist was a joy to watch and hear from a few feet away. Incredible chops, perfectly constructed solos, prefect back-up for the sax player. I spoke with them briefly when they were on break and they seemed like great guys and were truly modest and grateful for my gushing comments on their playing. We stayed for two sets and I could have listened all night.

Which gets me to my final thoughts. As we have seen and heard in our previous trips to Italy (and I suspect the same is true throughout Europe), American jazz is loved by Europeans, both young and old. It makes me sad to know that the same cannot be said for most Americans, judging by the difficulty of finding jazz outside of limited numbers of places in big cities in this country. Jazz is truly American music and one of our finest exports. Europeans seem to want to understand the American psyche in many ways, and we made it our mission everywhere we went in Sicily and rest of Italy to let them know that what they are witnessing in the States today on a social level is NOT what “made America great.” But our music? That is something that we can be proud of. I know I am. And what a wonderful way to build bridges.

I’m not sure when I will be able to return to Europe. Soon, I hope. And when I do I’m confident that in some piazza or tiny bar or restaurant I will again hear some unknown player with monster chops embracing one of the most enriching forms of American culture, our music.

Ciao! Pace e buona musica,
Gino

0 Comments

The magic number ???!

9/23/2018

0 Comments

Had a bit of a revelation recently related to single note playing, specifically, just how fast one should try to be? Or needs to be. For the last few months or maybe a year I’ve been trying to count how many notes and at what speed a guitarist might play in the various phrases in a solo (improvised) or in a melody, all in relation to the overall beat that is generally defined as beats-per-minute (BPM). This led to something fairly significant.

Why did I do this? A few years ago I started giving some of my students single note exercises using a first position diatonic scale in G Major, beginning on the low E string (open) and ending on the G at the third fret on the first string, 2+ octaves. This utilized all six open strings, with strict 1st position fingering. In conjunction with this exercise I also used one-octave chromatic scales in 1st position, beginning on the (open) low E, A, D and G strings. These used all four fingers of the fretting hand. The whole idea with these scales was to play them rhythmically, very slowly at first, lowest note to the highest and then in reverse, gradually increasing the speed – but only to the point that they could be played cleanly and with no hesitation or stopping between notes or strings.

Exciting? Hell, no. Borderline annoying to spouses who were forced to listen to them according to a few students. But valuable in many ways, as long as they were played correctly and with good technique. Some students did quite well with them and I’m sure their single note playing improved because of these exercises.

However, it became apparent after some time that in spite of my encouragement that they use these scales for warm-up whenever they sat down to play, very few were doing that. Why? That was the question.

Scales are not exciting for most people, myself included. They can also be somewhat detrimental to the creative process if one is trying to learn to improvise: it’s way too easy to slip into scale-wise movement when trying to create an improvised solo and then they sound like what they are – scales! – even when each note is technically correct, in terms of the key the song is in. But ultimately there must be a reason that many, many fine musicians spend a lot of time on scales at some point in their learning of their instrument.

In one of those light-bulb-goes-on-over-my-head moments, it came to me that I was most likely leaving the practice of those scales way too open-ended with my students. Just advising them to start slow and gradually increase the speed was much to nebulous. What they needed was a set goal that was well-defined. That’s when I asked myself a simple question. What is the most commonly used beats-per-minute designation? Is there one? And if not, could I come up with a way to define a starting point that could be expanded upon to cover most of the commonly used speeds used by guitarists playing single-note passages or phrases?

It turns out the magic number is 80 beats per minute and I base this statement on listening to many guitarists playing a wide range of single-note phrases, from folk and country to blues and jazz.

My new exercises for students still involve staying in 1st position but instead of using G Major, I now use C Major, beginning again on the open 6th string (low E) and the highest note is the G on the 3rd fret of the 1st string. This way the scale is a bit easier than the one I used to use in G Major because there is no need to use the little (4th) finger on the 4th fret of the 4th string to get the F# that resides there; F Natural on the 3rd fret of that 4th string is easier for most people to play when trying to attain a smooth sequence of notes through the scale.

First, I have them set a metronome for the 80 beats per minute speed. If they do not own a metronome I have them download one of the many free metronome apps to their phone that are available for both IPhone and Android formats.

I give them a diagram of the neck in first position showing the location of the natural notes (Key of C Major) that includes both open strings and fretted notes to the 3rd fret on all six strings. I explain that any note on the first fret, regardless of the string, should be played with the 1st finger, 2nd finger on any note on the 2nd fret; 3rd finger on any note on the third fret. Then we play the sequence a few times, lowest sounding note (low E) to highest (G, 3rd fret, 1st string) and then in reverse. Interestingly, often times students with skip the open strings by mistake the first couple of times they try the exercise. They immediately know something is wrong however, because the oh-so-familiar sound of the Major diatonic scale will not be right. I always tell students to think of the nut on their guitar as their “sixth finger” – it is playing those notes (the open strings) for you! But instead of you pressing down to divide a string and generate a tone, your ”sixth finger” is pressing UP! This seems to help in most cases.

The hard part for most students once the location of each note on each string is located is the other hand. I know some experienced guitarists would vehemently disagree with what I’m about to say, but I feel very strongly that alternating the pick is vital to playing in a smooth and steady manner and especially if one is hoping to build up speed. Strictly alternating with this scale means that sometimes a player will move from one string to the next with a downstroke and sometimes with an upstroke. I’m not going to get into the debate about this, I just know it works for me and for many great players I’ve observed.

After the student can play this scale from lowest to highest to lowest, one note per beat, three times without stopping and without mistakes, at 80 BPM, we go to the next step: TWO notes per beat. If you read music, this means the entire sequence in 8th notes (assuming 4/4 time). When that can be done through the sequence FIVE times without stopping and with good, clean tonality we move on to the final step: FOUR notes per beat (16th notes in 4/4/ time).

This final step is intimidating to a student the first time he hears me play at that speed. But in actuality it is not really as fast as one might think. How do I know this? When the student is ready to attempt this speed, I demonstrate it both with the metronome on – and, with it off. With the metronome on it sounds very fast indeed but when I turn it off, that speed suddenly becomes a bit more reasonable. If you’ve stuck with me this far, try it and you’ll see what I mean.

After conquering all this to a decent degree, we move on to one-octave pieces of the scale and work on those so the student has a sense of shortened phrases. So far, with a number of my intermediate and advance level students this scale work has shown great results when we work on specific single-note phrases between chords, melodies, and improvising in songs.

The take-away here is that instead of practicing scales aimlessly it makes more sense to have a reference point and for me, 80 beats per minute seems to be just about perfect.

Peace & good music,
Gene

0 Comments

In the waning days of summer....

8/28/2018

0 Comments

Yup, another one of those random blog posts today, folks. Pickin’ up the pieces, so to speak. Summer is winding down here on Cape Cod and there has been a noticeable drop in tourist crowds as many have returned home with school starting earlier and earlier each year in many places. It is nice to be able to have a reasonable expectation of finding a parking place downtown, or even short wait at a restaurant. Make no mistake – we love the fact that tourists come here from far and wide and spend plenty of money. We’d be in a world of hurt if they didn’t. But is sure is nice to feel like I’m getting my home town back.

Random thing #1. I watched an excellent, albeit a bit long documentary the other night on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. It is called “Fifty by Four: Half Century of CSNY.” I always loved that band and still do. I saw one of their reunion tour concerts about 10 years ago and while not youngsters by any means they could still “bring it” when they had to. Then about a year and a half ago I saw David Crosby doing a solo show and he was great. The documentary goes into great detail about the well-chronicled break-ups, romantic entanglements, macho posturing, drug use, etc., but two things intrigued me the most. One was extensive commentary by the sound engineer who recorded their first two albums. He basically said that there was a huge amount of creative freedom in the studio, which led to some timeless, fantastic music but also many head-butting sessions between Steve Stills and Neil Young. The other thing that I found absolutely fascinating was the extensive concert footage showing the jaw-dropping collections of guitars, mostly Martins, used by the group over the years. Anyway, if you have Amazon Prime you can easily find this documentary and it’s worth your time if you are a fan of CSNY.

Random thing #2. About a week ago I played a private birthday party for the wife of a former student. This in and of itself is not a big deal, I play private parties fairly often. But this one was on a boat! The former student had chartered the 63’ power catamaran, which sails out of Hyannis harbor. Having never done a gig on this boat (although I have on others) I made a point to do as much research as possible about details like power supply, where I would be setting up (inside the cabin) and even contacted a local musician who has a regular weekly gig on the boat for one of their sunset cruises. The boat owners and the captain could not have been nicer and although the space was cramped I did manage to situate myself so I would be heard. Of so I thought, until the boat cleared the harbor and big diesel engines began to roar. Oh well! Things got even more interesting when we turned around and headed back into four to six-foot chop. My speaker stand almost collapsed on top of me – I was sitting on my folding stool, which was the best strategy as there was no way I would have been able to stand up and play. Only one thing to do: crank it up, shout out as many Jimmy Buffett songs as I could think of and keep smiling! A good time was had by all, or so I was told. As I was driving home it came to me that I should have broken into the second verse of the theme from Gilligan’s Island:

“The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed! If not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow would be lost! The Minnow would be lost!”

But I doubt if anyone would have been able to hear me. In any case, it was kind of an adventure and one more story to file under “The Reality of Being a Work-a-Day Musician”!

Random thing #3. It’s taken about six months of use but I’m finally getting comfortable with my “drummer” – my Boss DR-01 rhythm box. If you’re unfamiliar with this device, it is a programable drum machine that is designed specifically for use with acoustic guitar or piano. Instead of having a drum set heavy mix of available pre-sets, the instrumentation available is quite a bit more organic sounding, featuring congas, cajon, bongos, timbale, cow bell, claves and much more. There are many dozen pre-sets of various combinations of instruments and you can tweak these presets in terms of tempo, meter and volume. You can also start from scratch and create up to 48 “favorites” which will be saved. It took me quite a few hours of experimenting to fine tune things like tempo and exactly which “favorite” I had created sounds best with a particular song or genre but I’m pretty pleased with the results. I use the device as subtly as possible; in some cases it’s hardly even there but I often observe audience members who may be in conversation start tapping their feet when my “drummer” kicks in. I won’t ever use it on every tune but it’s nice to add some frosting on the musical cake, so to speak. With the use of sound altering devices the norm these days in performance I feel pretty confident that using the DR-01 does not detract from my performance. The bonus is – I probably keep better time than I have since the days when I played with a drummer regularly.

Random thing #4. Back in the 1990s one of my favorite singer/songwriters was Karla Bonoff. Karla was very well respected in the California music scene and her songs were recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, plus her albums featured duets with James Taylor, Jackson Browne and others. Unfortunately, at some point she lost her recording contract but she kept touring and writing, which kept her small but loyal fan base happy. I am a Facebook “friend” of hers and I was thrilled to learn that she had completed a new album of mostly older tunes from previous albums but done in a more stripped-down format than the originals, featuring just Karla on piano or guitar (and vocals of course), a lead guitar, bass and occasional soft percussion. I ordered a copy from her web site and it arrived this week, signed by Karla too. Although some of her songs are a bit sad, lyric-wise, the production and execution of the music is absolutely beautiful and showcases her wonderful voice. Check out her song “New World” – gorgeous on every level. Karla’s songs are very much like one of my other favorite writers of similar style, Kim Richey. In both cases you hear a song and part of your brain is sure you’ve heard it before – and you like it a lot – but you know you haven’t! Now, that is fine songwriting. Check out Karla. Kim too, if you haven’t.

Peace & good music,
Gene

0 Comments

How many songs do you know?

8/17/2018

0 Comments

So….how many songs do you know? Sometimes students ask me this. To be honest, I have no idea. What does it really mean to “know” a song? Does it mean being able to play the entire thing without mistakes and as close to the original version as possible? Or on the other end of the spectrum, does it mean being able to just basically get through it to the extent that the listener recognizes what you’re playing? Most importantly, do either of those extremes really matter?

All I can tell you is that my standards have changed multiple times over the decades I’ve played the guitar. Way back when, in the days that my knowledge of guitar basics was a lot more limited it was necessary to compromise – a lot. Fortunately, all my guitar playing friends were pretty much on the same level so we helped each other and most of us managed to bang our way through quite a few songs. There were value judgements of course; we were all young after all and value judgements are much more cut-and-dried viewed through the certainty of what’s good and what’s not that all young people possess. Secretly though I think we all would have given just about anything to play a song to perfection.

When I left college and moved to Cambridge and immersed myself in the music scene there it quickly became apparent that being just good enough wasn’t going to cut it. Surrounded by players who were far superior was a major wake-up call. Even in jam sessions it was expected that you would know a song inside and out and be able to play it just about flawlessly. Which I could rarely do. I upped my practice time, made a point to hear and study players whenever possible and my playing and understanding of things like music theory improved pretty quickly. The unfortunate byproduct of that though was that I was a lot more prone to being critical of players who dove into songs without really knowing them.

What opened my eyes and led to being a whole lot less critical was moving out of the city and gigging around my home area. The first bitter pill was finding that the vast majority of listeners don’t really care all that much if you can play a lead guitar solo exactly like the recording or that your arrangement is flawless compared to the original. The first gig I had in Falmouth was at a bar where I was required to sit beneath a TV that was often tuned to a hockey game. The patrons had way more interest in watching Bobby Orr than paying attention to my hard-learned interpretation of a Crosby, Stills and Nash song. I was used to small rooms in the city where audiences sat in rapt attention. Welcome to the real world of music, Gene.

I began frequenting local bars and restaurants where local singles, duos and trios played. Real “listening rooms” just weren’t around. What became apparent was that the musicians who worked the most didn’t care all that much if a song sounded like the recording. As long as the words of the chorus were right and the song was up-tempo (and there was plenty of volume) the crowds responded. Further bruising of my ego ensued!

It took some years but I finally figured out a simple fact. People want be entertained. Simple as that. The trick was to find the balance between being entertaining and still challenging myself musically to avoid boredom. While I admit I’m still working on that after all these years I do think I’ve finally found that balance point, most of the time anyway.

All this gets back to the original question. I’ve played with reasonable success probably many, many hundreds of songs in many genres. But do I “know” those songs? For the most part, yes, but with one major qualification. If I haven’t played a song in a couple years it usually takes a few go-arounds to reacquaint myself with the guitar parts. It does come back, which always amazes me. The problem is remembering the lyrics if I’m going to perform or teach those kinds of songs! That’s where the now acceptable music stand comes into play (strange, strange….not long ago you were considered a hack if you needed to use a music stand and couldn’t play entirely from memory). Hoorah for this recent development in guitar performance!

So how many songs should you know? It depends upon the Big Picture. If you will always be playing purely for your own enjoyment, probably a couple dozen that you know you can play reasonably well and are not stressful. After all, it’s supposed to be fun, right? Then try to find a new song or two every month to try. There are hundreds of web sites offering at least basic lyric/chord arrangements of just about any song you can think of. Granted, in most cases these will be basic and if that’s what you want, no worries. At least you’re trying new stuff and as time passes you will most likely want to embellish those basic arrangements. I find that closely watching You Tube performances of an artist doing a particular song I’m working on can fill in the gaps there may be in the on-line version or what my ear can’t discern. But ultimately, remember that the best kind of satisfaction comes from being able to play a song from beginning to end in rhythm and with the correct lyrics. The fancy stuff will most likely come later.

How about if you do intend to play in front of people at some point in the future, or play with others? Then “knowing” a song – lots of them, really – becomes a bit more complicated. I think that the best way to do this is to take part in jam sessions. Even if you are a bit intimidated by the prospect and even if you just sit there with your guitar in your lap for most of the first few you go to, you will be learning things that are vital: timing, how to make your playing blend with others, the types of songs that are popular and worth further work on your own. Best of all, you’ll probably make new friends and who knows? You may even find some long-term playing partners.

If you’re inclined be organizationally minded, make a list of the songs you know and even the ones you’re working on. Even ones you’d like to know. This will give you a starting point when you pick up your guitar. Always view any song as having a beginning, middle and end. All those things are very important but many novices just think in terms of those middle parts. A solid intro and ending make any song, regardless of the complexity (or lack of) sound good.

Like you “know” it!

Peace & good music,
Gene

0 Comments

<<Previous

Forward>>

Tales of NAMM, conclusion

Tales of NAMM, part 1

A New Year's resolution that I WILL keep!!

Joyful music!

Ode to The Brew

Back in the swing of things....

Italy! Buona Musica!

The magic number ???!

In the waning days of summer....

How many songs do you know?

Author

Archives

Categories