Guitar Boomer

It's Harder to Break a Guitar Than I Thought

2008-09-06T15:43:00.006-05:00

I finally got around to watching "The Complete Monterey Pop Festival" and realized it is very difficult to break a guitar.

I'm a guitar hobbyist and probably the antithesis of a relic fan as I like to keep them looking new. This affects my playing to some extent as I treat the guitar as something fragile. Although I've seen the clips of Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix breaking their guitars before I guess watching it on DVD provided high enough definition for me to pay attention to how hard they had to work at it!

These things are a lot sturdier than I thought; maybe I don't need to worry about breaking it and just play. Gave it a try and the guitar survived just fine. Good thing too as a guitar broken by Pete Townshend or Jimi Hendrix is worth lots of money where as one broken by yours truly is worth nothing!

Consignment – Another Approach to Guitar Aging

2008-08-19T21:31:00.002-05:00

There’s a policy in my household that if you buy something new you need to get rid of something old (or new as long as it is something). This is to prevent us from being invited to one of those “Clean House” type reality shows on cable. I reached a point where this had to apply to guitars and I learned that consignment can be a guitar aging technique.

I have a relatively small guitar collection but a collection nonetheless and they hang in a small bonus room that has reached its reasonable capacity. Then, I ended up taking in a stray guitar and one of the others had to go. I decided putting one on consignment would be an interesting experiment.

I’ve used the “investment” argument with my bride to rationalize buying guitars and it took about 5 minutes setting a price at my local guitar shop to blow holes in that theory. Still, I went ahead but did not set the price low enough where a sale was guaranteed. As time went by I started missing this guitar and after a 60 day period decided it was time to retrieve it.

After some artful rearrangement of wall space and the addition of another wall hanger I restored the guitar to its space. But, although the serial number was the same, it seemed to be a different guitar. For one thing, people that play guitars in guitar shops do not seem to have clean hands. But, after a quick cleaning treatment it still had a much different and more interesting personality than before I sent it off for adoption and now is one of my favorites to play.

If you decide to use this “aging” approach, remember not to set the price too low. A down economy also helps!

My Experience Attending National Guitar Workshop

2008-08-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

In a previous post I mentioned I was prepping to attend National Guitar Workshop and I would report back. That time is now, err… it was some weeks ago actually. To keep things simple I’ll say up front that it was worth the money for the experience as well as the improvement to my playing I got as a result.

Experience
The workshop was at the Blair School of Music on Nashville’s Vanderbilt Campus. After the usual logistical glitches that can occur things got rolling with a short orientation. All the instructors played on stage and showed their stuff following the styles for the sessions they would be teaching.

Since the venue is a school of music we had a well appointed classroom with a piano as well as a fully stocked sound system cabinet. The instructor, Jeff McErlain, kicked things off by having us all trade solos against a blues progression to determine where we were in our playing and we went at it from there.

One of my initial concerns on registering was I would be the oldest person there. They assured me I wasn’t and we had around a 40 year age range in my class. There are lots of opportunities to interact with players from the other classes and at dinner that evening I was able visit with lots of other middle age guys with variations of the “how many guitars does one person need” t-shirt; one active musician I traded notes with had 37 guitars. Where was that money when we really needed it, back in our teens!

Improvement to My Playing
My main attraction to Roots Rock was to get exposure to styles beyond the blues that I’ve focused on to date. The focus was on:

· Use of double stops
· Make use of your thumb on the fretting hand
· Use your fingers as well as the pick on your picking hand
· Improve your comping abilities through use of inverted triads
· Learn some theory to get out of the box on improvisation

I record myself so I can do some critial listening and gauge progress. A couple days into the course I recorded solos against some simple progressions and compared those to some I recorded before the class and noted an immediate improvement. My improvisation didn’t get flashier in two days but the note selection and phrasing were more interesting. My summation is that my playing improved because I learned about straight forward things that if you work on can really improve your overall sound.

The NGW workshops include guest artists and in the case of Roots Rock it was David Grissom. He does session work in Nashville and keeps a complete setup stored in town when he comes in from Austin to work. He setup shop in one of the auditoriums with this rig, took a range of questions from the students, and played some music along with Jeff McErlain, our instructor.

Some of the takeaways from this session is it ain’t easy making money playing music. If you look at some of the photos you will see there were 10 plus guitars plus two or three acoustics stored in a separate case. In a studio situation you have to be prepared to deliver what the producer is looking for and quickly. That means a wide range of gear even is something only gets used once or twice a year. Another takeaway was David Grissom’s answer to a question of how do you go about getting to where he is to which he answered “be ready to give up everything else”

As for this hobbyist, I don’t plan on giving up my day job so I’m out of the running. However, the NGW experience is open for all age ranges as well as all experience levels. Give it a try, you might like it too!

Fun With Drop D Tuning

2008-07-01T19:57:00.000-05:00

I wrote awhile back about multi-generation reactions to Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight. While three generations of family members liked it I seem to be the only one enamored by “Given Up”. So, while practicing yesterday I decided to learn how to play it and discovered the benefits of drop D tuning.

I popped the CD into my TASCAM Guitar Trainer and started working out the chords. I had the right pitch but not the crunchy tone I hear on the recording. So I did a quick online search for some tab and learned about drop D tuning (tune your low E string down a full step to D and you end up with DADGBe rather than EADGBe for your tuning). From there I have all the power chords I need by fretting the first three strings, DAD. Jeez, why have I been practicing chords all this time?

This gave me a flashback to when I took my daughter to an Avril Lavigne concert. One guitarist had his axe slung so low it seemed to have the ground clearance of a Ferrari. I was just starting out on the guitar at the time and I thought it must be advanced technique that would allow someone to play a guitar like that. In reality it was drop D tuning; all he needed to do was bar DAD using his thumb and mute the other strings with his fingers.

My first thought (after the thought that there are still obvious elements to the guitar that haven't occurred to me) was that this is like cheating. That was until I cancelled out the guitar on the recording with my guitar trainer and played along with the recording using this tuning; it sounds great! This is where that delightful crunch from metal comes from! Yes, another "should have known" moment but fun nonetheless.

The More I Play the More I Want to Play

2008-06-27T20:37:00.000-05:00

I’ve talked recently about stepping outside my guitar comfort zone. Whether it was adding my own twists and turns during transcription study or finding other guitarists to jam with or mentoring others, what’s been behind it all is that I’ve been getting myself prepped for guitar camp.

This is not like the Camp Granada that people in the baby boomer demographic remember while growing up but is the National Guitar Workshop. I’m signed up for a course on Roots Rock with David Grissom as the guest artist. My original goal was to put some extra practice time in so I would get the most out of this course but it has started getting out of hand. Seems the more you play the more you want to play.

My playing is improving due to added practice, which makes playing more fun, which makes me want to play more. It has crowded out a lot of other activities including my blogging time but I’m going with it while it lasts. Maybe this is the kind of rush seasoned players experience getting ready for the big concert. I guess I’ll only know once I get seasoned and this upcoming workshop is the next step. I’ll post some info on what goes on there.

To Mentor or To Be Mentored

2008-06-25T12:36:00.002-05:00

I’ve written recently about having the opportunity to do jam sessions with other players. Since these guys are experienced musicians I’m learning a lot. I had the tables turned on me recently and was in the position of being the more experienced player. I found you can learn a lot that way too.

We had friends over for dinner and one of their kids was a beginning guitar player. Since I’m looking for any chance possible to play with others I suggested we get the guitars out and make some music. I found out that is easier said than done.

My initial thought was we’d do something like in the recent jam sessions I was in, basically trade solos and rhythm back and forth. It was apparent though that he was not far enough along where that would work. His exposure was learning to read music note by note rather than on chords and scale forms like I was taught. I was beginning to panic and then I thought in terms of reverse engineering how I was mentored by experienced guitarists.

Since they figured out how to pick material that adapted to my skill level I tried the same approach. We ended up picking a song out of his lesson book he could do and I accompanied him on rhythm. I then showed him a simple blues progression and outlined what sorts of notes he could play over it. For me it reinforced what I already knew and highlighted areas I need to learn more about.

Turns out you can learn as much mentoring as being mentored.

Moog Guitar Debuts Tonight in Music City

2008-06-20T12:05:00.005-05:00

I ran across an article in the local paper this morning about a showcase hosted by the National Association of Music Merchants at 3rd & Lindsley, one of Nashville’s local music venues. My interest in this was that it was something happening locally. But then I started reading up on it and it's more than just another synth guitar.

Of course, me like anyone else of a certain age remembers the advent of the Moog synthesizer and the impact it had on the music of the day. This is the first guitar from the Asheville, North Carolina company that bears the Moog name. What makes the guitar unique is its sustain and muting features. This guitar can provide unlimited sustain that even Nigel Tufnel would appreciate and it can mute strings automatically.

Nashville award-winning guitarist Kenny Vaughn along with Fareed Haque, lead player for Garaj Mahal will be demoing the guitar tonight at its official debut. For those that can’t attend in person take a look here.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Is My Golf

2008-06-19T11:43:00.004-05:00

A coworker dropped by the current issue of Baseline magazine, an Information Technology trade journal because of a “Changing Careers” article. Seems Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are semi retiring to becoming consultants. Some, like Brian Kilcourse, are using their new found spare time for rocking out.

Now, for CIO types, semi retirement as a consultant is more along the lines of going from a 24/7 job to just a full time job. Nonetheless, Brian Kilcourse has extra time in comparison that he uses to pursue rock and roll addictions going back to the 70s. Rock ‘n’ roll is his retirement pastime rather than golf and he sees it as “…loud, pointless and cathartic.” Not sure I see the “pointless” aspect although if you look at life in terms of the grand scheme, what about life doesn’t seem pointless in comparison? Pointless or not, it’s sure fun!

One product of this pastime is the release of original music on CD. Unfinished Business and Megaton Melodies can be found at CD Baby. So, yet another poster child reinforcement for the main purpose of this site; there’s no correlation between age and your ability to pick up a guitar and start making music. Get out there and start rocking!

Prep for Playing With Others; Add Variables to Your Practice Routine

2008-06-17T03:03:00.000-05:00

The largest adjustment for me since adding jamming with others into my guitar journey is learning how to interact with a someone vs. a something. I’m not talking so much about the tension and satisfaction of making music with others as one reader puts it. It is more along the lines of someones are variable and somethings are not.

When I practice against the metronome and backing tracks I've become used to their predictability and my ability to control everything. My short experience playing with others showed me there is a lot less I can control other than showing up and doing my best. Everything else is about adjusting to changing variables in order to complement the playing of others. Hopefully the end result is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s difficult; for me anyway. But, the recipe for dealing with difficulty in this hobby is practice!

Since I don't have others to jam with at every pactice session I'm trying to get better at dealing with variables by playing through an amp whenever possible rather than through my quick practice rig and headphones. Although convenient, I realize that interacting with digitally modeled amps through headphones is a much more controlled environment than a real amp and room dynamics. The amp also seems less forgiving and thus better highlights aspects of my playing needing improvement.

Another set of variables I've added is getting family members into the mix even though they tend to enjoy listening to music more than making it. Since this is summer break from school, all I need is to hear someone complain they are bored and I pounce. This has meant learning a couple of Avril Lavigne songs but hey, if someone is willing to sing something I’m willing to learn it so I can get some more practice!

If you have picked up the guitar later in life, playing with others is a great step. Do it sooner than later. To help you prepare, explore some options to add more variables to your practice routines. You'll be glad you did!

One More Step Outside My Guitar Comfort Zone

2008-06-11T19:49:00.006-05:00

In a 1991 interview with Guitar World’s Alan Paul, Albert King indicated “I rehearsed to myself for five years before I played with another soul.” Running across this quote motivated me to step outside my comfort zone yet again; this time it was to begin jamming with others.

I started my guitar journey over two years ago and my mantra has been “not ready yet, keep rehearsing to myself.” So, how did reading this quote motivate me to rehearse with others instead of doing the full five years of self rehearsal like Albert King?

Albert King created a distinctive style that has influenced legions of guitarists including Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Although he was inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson he forged his own path. One example of that is he was left-handed but played a right hand Flying V turned upside-down. That meant his bends are pulling where others are pushing since the the low E string is on the bottom. I decided I was inspired by Albert King to go out and forge my own path too. What I was most daunted by at my stage of developement was playing with other guitarists until I'm "ready." Seemed Albert was telling me to get over it and get with it so I did.

I’m playing a couple times each week now with a work buddy. He’s a seasoned guitar player so has the mentoring role but he gets the benefit of added practice so it’s a good tradeoff. It was daunting at first for sure. After the first couple of sessions though I really wished I had started doing this a lot sooner! Turns out I can become “ready” quicker by getting out there and interacting with other players. It is really accelerating my learning.

If you’ve read any of my posts I’m pretty consistent in the call to arms; I mean axes. This is a great hobby to start in middle age (or any age). Take my advice, forge your own path but keep in mind that you may want to start jamming with others sooner than when you think you are “ready.” You’ll be glad you did!

BTW, here's a great video of Stevie Ray Vaughan in session with one of his main influences, Albert King.

Too Focused on the Guitar and Not Enough on Age

2008-06-06T05:53:00.002-05:00

I encounter something new every few days since picking up the guitar as a hobby at age 50. I get feedback from readers (positive and negative) and appreciate both. My “editorial calendar” evolves from there. I have been worrying about whether I focus enough on aging issues. After all, the name of the blog is Guitar Boomer and we boomers are not getting any younger. Then I ran across this quote from Groucho Marx:

Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.

Jeez, he’s right! Not particularly interesting. Then I realize that the real root of my of my editorial worries is that I'm having too much fun learning the guitar to write about aging issues. Reality is that aging and the guitar have nothing to do with each other. It is just that perceptions of the aging process can hold back otherwise excellent guitar playing prospects from getting into a great hobby.

Not saying there aren’t issues around aging. I’m an AARP member now so I'm far enough along to know that there are issues with aging; just not issues that relate to pickup up the guitar and rocking out. Let this article be your catalyst to join or rejoin your fellow guild of guitarists!

How to Eliminate Annoying Pops and Clicks With Your PC Audio Interface

2008-06-03T10:55:00.006-05:00

I recommend that you record your playing for an unbiased measure of progress. The only downside for me has been time spent trying to diagnose annoying pops and clicks instead of playing the guitar. Although it seemed to be a complicated problem, the solution was simple and hopefully this can save you time if you have the same problem.

Pops and clicks with a PC audio interface are usually caused by the buffer size being too small. Buffers serve the same purpose as your local water tower. As long as the water department keeps a sufficient level of water in the tank you’re ensured a continuous stream of water and won’t be stranded mid shower. Your Operating System (OS) is like the water department; as long as it comes back often enough to refill the buffers you’ll get the continuous audio stream your audio interface needs. The smaller the buffer the more likely the OS will miss refilling it on time and you end up with the audio interface version of an interrupted shower; pops and clicks.

I increased the buffer size (essentially a larger water tank) to the point the pops and clicks went away but ended up with an unusable level of latency (you don’t hear your playing until it goes through the input buffers to your recording software then back through your output buffer through the soundcard and into whatever you are using to monitor such as headphones). The larger the buffer the longer the delay.

I use a PODxt as my audio interface and the Line6 website had articles on how to use a computer with Line6 gear. My thought until then had been that a new and relatively powerful computer in terms of RAM, CPU, and hard drive speed with the audio drivers properly installed should be golden. Not so it turns out. Seems the newer the computer the busier it is. If it is too busy (no matter how powerful) it doesn’t keep the buffer filled consistently. Duh! Seems perfectly reasonable and wish I had thought of it.

Following recommendations I disabled my wireless card, went into performance options through “My Computer” and set it to “Adjust for best performance”, and disabled a lot of programs set to start automatically with Windows and my Vista base performance score increased by 40%! I set the PODxt audio interface back to optimal latency (small buffer size) and no surprise, it came out sounding great. Now I can get back to actually playing the guitar!

Your Guitar Amp is Louder Than You Think: Check Decibel Levels

2008-05-31T08:46:00.001-05:00

I was browsing my feed list and the mention of hearing aids from The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide caught my eye. I still had some ringing going on in my head after cranking up the volume last night so it got me wondering how loud is too loud?

There’s the saying “if I’d known I’d live this long I’d have taken better care of myself.” Given I’m just now asking myself the "how loud is too loud" question it may be too late. Then it occurred to me that I could use my sound pressure meter with analog display from Radio Shack to at least figure out the damage so far and limit future damage.

The test was simple, I just fired up the amp and the sound pressure meter and started playing at what I thought was a reasonable but rocking volume level. Oops; the meter was hitting a range between 110 and 120 decibels. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association anything over 80 decibels can lead to hearing damage. 120 db is in the "painful" range: jet plane take-off, amplified rock music at 4-6 ft., car stereo, band practice. 110 db is just in the "extremely loud" range; rock music, model airplane. Interesting...rock music is mentioned in both ranges. What did you say?

The moral of the story is that it is louder than you think. But, with some basic measurements you can calibrate your rock out levels so that if you live longer than you expect, you'll still be able to hear the music.

Maybe I Am Recommending Premium Guitar Cables

2008-05-29T05:36:00.002-05:00

I did a recent post comparing a really bad guitar cable to a pretty good one. I closed by indicating that while I wasn't necessarily recommending premium cables I was dis recommending really bad ones. That changed for me today when I made an impulse buy of a premium guitar cable.

I was in the checkout line of my local guitar store moving through the consumer gauntlet and they had a selection of guitar cables displayed for my convenience. As I had just done a post on pretty bad and pretty good cables I couldn't resist picking up a "really good" example for testing.

As you can see in the photos, the packaging is certainly premium. No saving the planet here. On opening the package I was a bit concerned that I was getting a basic cable with a pretty wrapper to justify the higher price.

Extracting the cable from its illustrious packaging took some doing but I finally got it free. One nice feature is it comes with its own integrated cable tamer (Velcro strap). I did my comparison with an American Stratocaster going into the clean channel of a Marshall DSL 401. My rationale was the single coil pickup would introduce the most noise while the clean channel would be neutral and better highlight the noise or coloration that each cable could introduce. The difference even compared to my pretty good cable was still dramatic!

I was surprised to say the least. I had a lot less noise and more dynamic range with the premium cable. Now if you are using lots of gain on the overdrive channel you'll note less difference. However, if you think about it, the less you introduce into your signal chain that isn't you, the more of you that will come out on the other end, regardless of what effects you add from there.

Move Out of Your Guitar Comfort Zone

2008-05-27T05:08:00.001-05:00

One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar - Oscar Wilde. So, what’s this have to do with guitars? How about: Even though I’ve got guitar heroes, I’ve never tried to work out exactly what they’re doing. I just try to find out what’s behind it – Robin Trower.

I often write about how important transcription study has been for my development as a guitarist but found out the benefit comes from figuring out what’s behind it rather than simply attempting to duplicate each note.

I was studying “Bold As Love” as transcribed by Andy Aledort where he includes statements like “...add some twists and turns of your own.” Now I’m the sort of person who reads the manual to be sure I’m doing things by the book. Adding my own twists and turns does not come naturally.

I dove in and started twisting and turning following the same chord progression and it was great; maybe not sounding at first but as a departure. I started thinking up all sorts of licks I had learned from transcription study of other artists and began incorporating them into the progression. Not only was this a lot more fun but it caused me to learn more about what was behind the composition. If you have the blinders on move out of your comfort zone and do some twisting and turning of your own!

A Tale of Two Guitar Cables

2008-05-24T03:52:00.001-05:00

Lately, I've noticed magazine articles, blog posts, and advertisements for "premium" guitar cables. Premium cables have long been a feature in the home theater hobby world where you can easily spend hundreds of dollars on cables for a relatively small setup. I've tested standard AV cables side by side with premium cables (I used a calibration disk to help gauge differences in video quality for example) and never noted a difference. How about guitar cables?

As an experiment I bought a cheap plastic cable for $1.29 (pictured above left). Step one was to play using my normal setup. Then, I substituted my "test" cable and was amazed at the difference. It wasn't about what the test cable added, it was what it took away. I noticed a large difference in transparency. The amp sort of closed in on itself and I felt like I was listening through a porthole. My usual cable (above right) was a $20 cable. Maybe not "premium" but it certainly would fit into the pretty good category.

While, I'm not advocating you spend big bucks on buying really good cables, my little test does show cable quality matters. Maybe I am advocating that you make sure you are not using really bad cables!

How Much Guitar Practice Is Enough?

2008-05-22T03:37:00.003-05:00

I get asked this question a lot. Studies tend to zero in on 10,000 hours as the time needed for mastery. If your goal is to become a virtuoso, there’s your number and no need to read further! For us boomers with a few hours on the meter looking for a great hobby “enough” falls between the minimum (below which you suck) and the maximum (above which you encroach on other necessary life activity such as relationships and career). My minimum is one hour per day and the maximum is two hours and here's how to calculate yours.

Think of the minimum hours boundary in terms of a level below which your playing is such that you don’t enjoy it; the long way of saying you think it sucks. If you come out of a playing session with aching hands and a “glad that is over” feeling, your practice rate has fallen below your minimum threshold. I follow qualitative and quantitative approaches to gauge my progress and how much time it takes to keep the enjoyment factor and that's how I derived my one hour minimum per day. If you practice enough to maintain your minimum you will be energized and want to keep playing, which brings me to the maximum.

If you come out of a practice session and your significant other says something like “well, hello stranger” you know you are in upper boundary territory. Notice, this upper bound is not defined by desire or goals; just practical reality. You’ve reached middle age and have stuff happening man! This becomes sort of a self correcting limit (you know when you've reached it) and that's how I arrived at my two hour maximum per day. If I'm really into it I find optimal ways to get the time in so it minimizes impact to the life balance. I have plenty of time management tips for that. Just click the labels “practice” and "guitar practice".

So, over time, just keep track of your playing time in relation to your enjoyment level balanced against everything else going on in your life and you will come up with how much is "enough" practice time for you. Simple huh? Now, time to rock!

Don’t Let Tube Rattle Rob Your Tube Amp Tone

2008-05-21T03:49:00.002-05:00

Tube amp technology has not changed much in 50 years because the tone still can’t be beat. This is not all good news as 50 year old technology comes with quirks such as tube rattle.

I was playing through my Marhsall DSL 401 amp and started to notice an unpleasant background tone occurring on certain notes after the amp had warmed up. It was a metallic rattling/squeaky sound; like when the wheel bearing started going out on my ’66 Plymouth Fury. I could understand something being loose inside amp but the rattling was amplified!

I now know an amp tech and he had me bring it on over for a listen and he said "Oh, that sound?" “Yep!” I say with a dawning realization that this was going to turn out to be one of those obvious things everyone knows but me. “Tube Rattle” he says.

If a vacuum tube starts going microphonic (certain frequencies cause it to vibrate internally) the sound will be amplified through the system. The amp tech opened the back panel and tapped on each of the preamp tubes. Sure enough, once he reached the second one it reproduced the exact sound. A couple of new preamp tubes later (if replacing power tubes replace all at once with a matched set) the irritating sound is gone.

If your tube amp starts to issue a metallic rattling effect it may not be your playing or your wireless access point or your power outlet grounding or your effects pedals.... [oops, gave away some of the rookie things I checked]. Just do the tap test (observing caution of course, don’t dig around inside the guts of your amp, use a pencil to do the tapping) and enjoy your pure tube tone!

The Guitar Next Door: 1991 PRS Custom 24

2008-05-19T09:30:00.001-05:00

Paul Reed Smith (PRS) has become one of the top guitar makers (what better measure of success than to be sued by Gibson) and is known for its exacting attention to detail. The Custom 24 that Paul Reed Smith showed at his first NAMM show in 1985 still represents the core of their line and is one of the few recognized classic designs done outside of the 1950s. This unique and very red 1991 Custom 24 is today’s Guitar Next Door.

PRS moved to their new automated factory in 1994, so the pre-factory guitars are valued more by collectors even though the quality of the factory guitars sets the bar for how to do automation without compromising quality. This guitar was custom ordered completely in red, even around the top edges where PRS guitars normally have a contrasting stripe. It has the bird inlay option, locking tuners, PRS tremolo bridge, a 5-way rotary selector, and a sweet switch (filter in place of standard tone control). It also features the PRS hallmark carved and figured maple top with the flame option.

I plugged the guitar into my DSL 401 Marshall and wow; these pickups are hot; “native” at your local Thai restaurant hot. The switching positions weren't doing much for me either so I was disappointed that something so beautiful sounded so bad. Figuring it was just me I persevered and was glad I did.

Step one was to look up the switch positions so I could correlate them to the more traditional pickup switch options I’m used to. The switching options according to PRS are:

Position 10: Treble pickup
Position 9: Outside coils- deep and clear - parallel
Position 8: Series single coils – Warm version of the "in between the treble and middle pickups"
Position 7: Parallel single coils – Crisp version of the "in between the treble and middle pickups"
Position 6: Bass pickup

Then I started tweaking switch position, guitar volume, and amp settings and turned out some great sounds. This thing rocks! It still retains its own identity even though you can give it a Strat or Les Paul character. The “sweet” switch is sort of a kludge way of doing a tone control if you ask me and not surprised they did away with this option after 1991. I just moved it back and forth until it sounded ok but didn’t focus on it much.

Action, fit, and finish (the flame is a work of art) are all perfect as expected. I've never played a guitar where the neck meets the body at the 22nd fret. The neck keeps going long after I expect it to run out. It takes some getting used to but opens up a lot of possibilities. The tremolo is silky smooth with great tuning stability.

This guitar has its own sound. While you can replicate a Strat or Les Paul character with it why would you want to? Since your goal as a guitarist is to create your own sound a PRS may just be the ticket!

Fired Up About the Guitar

2008-05-15T01:00:00.001-05:00

I always enjoy hearing from readers who have recently started playing the guitar and just witnessed one of these stories in the making.

We joined some friends for dinner at their house recently and I was surprised to see some guitars as I walked in the door. “Hey, great seeing you...who’s playing the guitar?” I wish I got the full greeting out before jumping to guitar talk but I thought their kids were more sports oriented. There I go being stereotypical by assuming it was one of their kids. Everyone that comes to my house and sees guitars automatically makes the same assumption. In this case though the stereotype was correct and it was their 10 year old.

He had just gotten an Alvarez Regent Series acoustic as an upgrade to his starter guitar and he proceeded to demo his new found prowess; intro to Smoke on the Water, blues licks, flat-picking techniques, etc. It was like overnight he became a member of the Masonic lodge or something as he was now steeped in guitar rituals and we had a common frame of reference.

While it would have made a great story if his dad was the one playing (shows why I need to keep going with Guitar Boomer) it was exciting nonetheless to see someone learning the guitar and getting enjoyment out of it. I got so fired up I rushed home after dinner so I could play for awhile before packing it in for the night.

Picking up the guitar is beneficial for any age. If you are like me though and have a few hours on the clock as well as dealing with all the stresses of middle age, the benefit is even greater. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes!

Bill Hollenbeck 1933 – 2008

2008-05-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of visiting with Bill Hollenbeck at a vintage guitar show in Nashville this past February. You can read a brief background here and condolences from friends here.

He was the genuine article and very generous with his time given he spent over an hour giving me a crash course in guitar making at the show. I met him once and miss him so I can only imagine what his family and friends feel.

Guitar Hero as the Ultimate Guitar Trainer

2008-05-12T08:30:00.002-05:00

Like everyone I’ve seen millions of references to Guitar Hero but was surprised on seeing it featured in Guitar World (June 2008). It seems the editors of Guitar World have reconciled themselves to the existence of Guitar Hero after feedback indicating the game has given many first time players the confidence to pick up the real guitar. Anything that gets someone interested in the guitar is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. But, what happens to your Guitar Hero playing once you do get interested in the guitar?

I picked up the guitar at age 50 and now that I’ve played for awhile I view playing Guitar Hero as taking away from practice time. While the game is lots of fun it always comes down to how much better I would be on the guitar if I invested time in it vs. Guitar Hero. Since I really need the practice I opt to play the guitar. This is not the usual 'why play a game when you can play the real thing' post but an 'I want to have my cake and eat it too post'. Why can't they invest development effort into an interface so a guitar can be used as a controller and create the ultimate guitar training platform?

Guitar Rising and Guitar Wizard coming out later this year both provide a guitar interface. The full integration of this type of interface into Guitar Hero would be the best of all worlds, especially for us aging rockers learning the guitar. We could play the game and get our guitar practice at the same time. Anyone reading my articles knows I’m a big guitar trainer fan. We’re talking the ultimate trainer here.

In addition to all the benefits of a standard guitar trainer you would also get continuous quantitative feedback on your playing as you will get the clam sound for missed notes and an actual score for accuracy. You also get what traditional guitar trainers cannot offer, rock and roll initiation of the sort depicted on Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. The game may not throw things at you but you will get booed off the stage if you suck!

If games like Guitar Hero are indeed creating interest in the guitar like the Guitar World editors say, these game makers are well served by full integration of the guitar in order to hold on to the fans they’ve created for the long run.

Interesting Experience Nets a "Free" Ibanez Bass

2008-05-08T21:06:00.004-05:00

You know the legend where someone stumbles upon a vintage Corvette sitting in a barn somewhere that was only driven to church on Sundays and you pick it up for a song? A reader sent this in and I thought it would be of interest:

Yesterday I was in my local pawn shop checking out the guitars in stock and asked the music "expert" there if they had any guitars that might need repairs that they might be willing to sell cheap. He responded that he had a bass that had the head broken off, they shipped it to an on line customer and it had a bad day. It turned out to be a 2001 vintage Ibanez EDB 600. They sold for about $400 to $500 back then. I asked him what he wanted for it and he said make me an offer. I said $10 just for laughs and he said make it $20 and it's yours. I hauled out my debit card and got the bass, Gig bag and Peavey Leather strap for the agreed price. The bag and strap were worth $30 so the bass was essentially free. 40+ years of woodworking and furniture making has taught me to use glue and clamps and the neck is now drying. I'll touch up the paint and for the cost of a set of strings I have a really nice bass, to sell or play. It's worth asking for what you don't see. I would recommend checking out these places as in this time of economic disaster, many such instruments are available. I've never seen so many nice guitars for sale, really cheap. Amps and effects as well. I would recommend that you visit your local pawn shop, as they are anxious to sell now.

Cheers, Gary

Man, I think I'm going to visit my local pawn shop!

Guitar Amp Repair Part Two

2008-05-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

I recently wrote about problems with my Marshall DSL 401, which led to a trip to my local amp doctor. When I received the call that the amp was ready for pickup I eagerly rushed out to give it a test.

The diagnosis was bad soldering (three connections not soldered) and bias out of adjustment (way out). I again learned about the difference between single and double sided circuit boards and hand soldering (a big issue with this amp tech). I plugged it in, warmed it up, and the magic is back!

The clean channel was crystal again and fattened up nicely as I turned up the gain. Playing with the gain and volume knobs on the overdrive channel yields great crunch and sustain; all the things that caused me to buy the amp in the first place.

The moral of the story for those of us who cannot put out $2,500 plus for a hand wired amp is get to know a good amp tech!

Support Your Local Guitar Store

2008-05-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

I like going to Guitar Center because it has almost everything for everybody. It became my default location for any guitar related needs. I finally broke out of that routine and visited a local guitar shop and found I’ve been missing out.

While local shops carry a fraction of what Guitar Center does they do fill niches in depth that larger stores cannot. I happened by Artisan Guitars earlier in the week and this represents a great example.

Artisan specializes in acoustic guitars and it feels part guitar store part art gallery. I got exposed to everything from completely hand built guitars with recovered exotic woods (works of art as well as functional) to CNC machined ultra low cost yet high quality guitars built offshore. I was able to take my time and find what I needed plus learn a whole lot about acoustic guitars.

Although I say local, not much is local anymore in the Internet and rapid shipping eras and Artisan provides online shopping for their inventory of new and preowned instruments. So, although the large stores have quantity, don’t forget to check out that guitar store around the corner if you want to do a deeper dive into a particular guitar niche. You’re missing out if you don’t!