A couple of weeks ago, I had the great good fortune of spending some time in the Evanston/Chicago area with two of my college frat brothers. It had been 8 years or so since we last gathered and was great fun. We are all retired or semi-retired and are coincidentally afflicted by some of the same age-onset challenges, including remembering where we left our keys, walking across the house to do something and forgetting what it was, or trying to remember the actor’s name who played Mick in the Rocky films… I used to fret about memory loss until I realized during my visit that we all experience the same phenomena, so I’ll just have to accept it and go with the flow!
Me and Widi
Me and Maish
I only mention our common memory issues as a lead-in to the challenges I face with my major retirement avocation, which is guitar playing.
Country Blues Tunes I am currently playing
I’ve been playing country blues tunes for the past three and a half years and have accumulated a substantial body of work. Sadly, try as I might, I simply cannot memorize them all and find it most effective to have the chart in front of me while I play.
So, for most of my practices, guitar lessons, and public performances I am surrounded by paper charts, ranging from a single to four plus pages in length. When moving from tune to tune, I can be found shuffling through a massive sheaf of paper, which can be seen in the accompanying photograph.
By the way, my music charts come almost exclusively from training DVD’s offered by Happy Traum’s Homespun and Stef Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. The charts are in PDF form, downloadable from the DVD. Typically standard notation and, most importantly to me, tablature are given on printable charts.
Recent performance at Cup of Joe in Cedar Falls, Iowa…
The massive sheaf of charts I’ve accumulated becomes a problem if I want to travel with my guitar(s), or when I perform, which is mostly at the local coffee shop open mic night. As you can see from associated photograph, I am typically hidden behind a music stand and overflowing charts, which separate me from the audience and that is not an ideal performance mode for someone like me who likes to interact with the crowd. And, why perform finger-style if nobody can see your hands at work on the guitar?
forScore home page…
My wife Nettie concurred with me that getting out from behind the music stand would be a good thing when I perform. She notices it when photographing a performance.
So, I did some research and discovered that there were iOS apps available for storing, presenting and scrolling through musical charts and one of the most popular among musicians was forScore which is downloadable for $15. forScore can be used with an iPhone and/or an iPad. (the app works on other platforms too, but for better or worse, I happily exist in the middle of Apple world!)
forScore is capable of storing piles of charts and those charts can be organized in a number of logical ways based on your choices. Bookmarks can be assigned to your favorite tunes for quick access and setlists cutting across your entire collection of charts can be conjured up for a performance.
iPad and forScore software mounted with Hercules mic stand holder…
While I own the larger sized iPhone it is still not large enough for me to feel comfortable reading a chart, so I opted to use an iPad which can be adapted to a mic stand with a holder, which in my case was made by Hercules.
It took me the better part of two days to get all my music on board the iPad and to organize it. It helped that there are multiple Youtube videos available by people who’ve developed expertise with this app. I’ve yet to annotate the electronic charts but intend to do so. I used annotations frequently when noting on which finger to begin a slide!
Firefly PageFlip on floor beneath iPad
Finally, it would break the continuity of playing a tune to have to release the guitar with one of my hands and slide a finger across the iPad screen to transition to the next page of the chart. Consequently, a necessary adjunct to this paper-replacement project was a foot-activated pedal to advance the chart page. The iPad and the forScore app work well with the bluetoothed Firefly PageFlip, so I acquired one and it gets the job done. It does take some adjustment getting used to advancing and reversing the chart pages with my foot while I am playing.
I just completed this project yesterday so I do have an experiential learning curve to travel through in the short term before I feel entirely comfortable with this new system when used either at home or in front of an audience. Nevertheless, I have high hopes for the benefits of getting out from under all that paper. Below is a shot of me on my first night of practice with the completed set up… It went reasonably well…
(left to right) Bill, Rick and Colin open the night
Third Friday of the month is Open Mic night at Cedar Fall’s Cup of Joe and it is the event that guitar playing devotees such as myself use to motivate ourselves to develop new tunes and to enhance out musical technique. , October’s Open Mic was again hosted by Rick Vanderwall and Bill Guernsey, as well as Rick’s grandson, Colin Simpson. They provide the sound system and some sense of order by ushering through performers in 15 minute time slots. Order was required that night as Cup of Joe was a full house by the time performances commenced. The payback for Rick and company is they themselves get to open the night with a performance.
As I said, Open Mic night is big stuff for those of us trying to develop our performing chops. Two of the regulars are my friend Grant Tracey and me. Here we are the day before Open Mic at one of our wood and steel gatherings, checking out some of the finer guitar instrumental offerings at Bob’s Guitars in Cedar Falls. Grant’s holding a Taylor GS Mini and I am twanging away on a Taylor T5z Pro Ltd., which is a singular guitar!
I like to play first, right after Rick, Bill and Colin do their thing. Perhaps it was nerves when I first started doing Open Mic, but now it’s a habit… I am rethinking opening the night in the future as this past Friday it was pandemonium while I was playing, with people milling around in front of me still signing up for slots to play. Very hard to connect with the audience or play cleanly with that sort of chaos surrounding me.
Nevertheless, I managed to get through my set with minimal “shanks” into the musical rough. For the first time ever, I played a medley of Take a Whiff on Me & Stagolee, both being in the key of D. My guitar teacher Tom Garman helped me create a “professional” transition between the two pieces. I also knocked out a couple of my favorite tunes, Cocaine Blues and Railroad Bill. Probably the highlight for me was to play a spirited version of Etta Baker’s Carolina Breakdown, a tune I stumbled through a year ago during my first sojourn into the world of Open Mic. The photograph of me on Friday night was taken by my wife Annette, who showed up just in the nick of time to catch my performance. She’d been on the road with her students touring the fashion industry in Minneapolis earlier that day!
Kudos to my friend Grant who played his set, including a Hank Williams cover and several of his own tunes, all played for the first time at Open Mic on an acoustic guitar. I thought for that venue it sounded far better than the Fender Mustang he’s played in the past! His home penned tunes, such the fan favorite, Black Sky, work really well with acoustic guitar accompaniment.
See you next month… and I must get to work on some new tunes!
My primary, perhaps even exclusive focus in guitar music is to learn and play old country blues, including tunes by such luminaries as the Rev. Gary Davis, the Rev. Robert Wilkins, Elizabeth Cotton and Etta Baker. These tunes were mostly played on acoustic guitar; however, there are enough images out there to indicate that the country blues players were not immune to the charms of the electric guitar… Nor am I, and I play the blues tunes I’ve learned interchangeably on a combination of five different guitars.
Pedaltrain Board replete with a variety of pedals, each serving a distinct function…
I think one of the most fun elements of playing electric guitar is the great range of possibilities when it comes to sculpting a sound, as compared to an acoustic flat top.
Besides the guitar itself, which offers some tone control, electric guitars also have available tone sculpting capabilities with the amplifier itself; however, as depicted above, the marketplace offers a wide variety of pedals to enhance and sculpt the tone emanating from the guitar/amp combination.
To date, I’ve mostly restricted myself to adding tone modulation to my country blues tune such as tremolo, reverb, or delay, along with some compression beforehand, but I’ve been loath to experiment with or add in overdrive or distortion tone modification, which is currently so popular in rock and roll music, especially heavy metal. Those aforementioned tone modifications can have a huge impact on the listeners response to the music and can easily destroy the aesthetic of a country blues tune.
Mesa Boogie Flex Drive…
Well… I am still totally uninterested it big time distortion and wild horses could not get me to sit down and listen to a metal band, but I am going to stick my toes in the “distortion” waters a bit.
I decided to throw my infrequently used Boss Equalizer under the bus and remove it from my pedal board (it is sitting safely in its original box waiting for a rainy day). In place, I am going to put in a pedal that can add some tasteful crunch to the guitar’s signal. I do already possess a Mesa Boogie Tone Burst which can add some slight tone fattening but has limited impact, which is what it was designed to do; however a different pedal is required to get a more noticeable crunch.
The pedal choices for tone modification include overdrive, distortion or fuzz devices. The changes wrought by distortion and/or fuzz devices are so over-dramatic they offend my sensibilities, so I decided to acquire an overdrive, which I think will be more manageable and not destroy the aesthetic of a country blues tune. There are so many of these things on the marketplace that a decision can be overwhelmingly impossible to make from the perspective of my somewhat shallow knowledge base. So I decided to jump into the deep end and trust Mesa Boogie again by grabbing a pedal that was designed to add more crunch to the signal than the Tone Burst mentioned earlier.
Fortunately for me I had the great good fortune of getting a nice discount from Bob of Bob’s Guitars and acquired a Mesa Boogie Flux Drive. Bob has a history of taking good care of his constant customers, which I am. It did not hurt that this particular pedal had been languishing on Bob’s pedal shelf for years and he probably viewed my testing the pedal out as a decisive moment to finally unload it!
Well… my initial experience is very positive with the Flux Drive… the device works by pushing the valves in my Fender Princeton into modestly aggressive overdrive and adds a nice sonic crunch that does not obscure the essential elements of the tune I am playing… Check me out at open mic night because I will probably use it for at least one tune!
I own seven guitars, which to some may sound exorbitant but to most guitarists it’s not totally unreasonable. Of the seven, I only purchased two of them brand new… the other five were acquired on the used guitar market. Three of my used guitars are shown in the image directly above. There were other guitars too I owned in the past that I traded away for different guitars. Consequently, I have first hand knowledge of the cost of new guitars, savings made buying used guitars, and the financial losses associated with trading guitars. By the way, all of these aforementioned guitars that were bought or traded were premium, non-entry level, non-learner instruments.
Why purchase a used guitar? Well… because used guitars are like used cars… just like a new car loses value when it rolls off the lot, so does a new guitar and the value loss can be quite significant. There are exceptions to this rule. For example, collector level instruments like Keith Richards’ Telecaster, or Tony Rice’s pre-war Martin will hold value, if not increase in value over time. However, for the run of the mill premium guitar, expect a significant loss when walking out the door of the guitar shop.
On the other hand, great value can be acquired by purchasing a pre-owned or used instrument. Of the three guitars photographed above, I saved anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of the original cost, and they play as well as the day they were pulled off the wall hook and purchased new! Nevertheless, like buying a used car, I’ve learned that being able to critically assess a used guitar before purchase is a worthy skill to possess. Sadly for me, my used guitar assessment skills have been learned experientially not without some minor pain along the way.
All this begs the question: where is the best place to buy a used guitar? While there are probably multiple methods for acquiring a used guitar, I have direct experience with two common and reputable ways:
From a local guitar store.
Online with Reverb.
I’ve had a combination of good and mixed results with both of the aforementioned options and I will speak briefly to the various guitars that I purchased used and my results.
Guitars Purchased Used in Chronological Order:
National Steel NRP Black
I purchased a National Resonator Steel NRP from Reverb as my first recently acquired used guitar. An instrument of this type and caliber was not available in my home town so I went online.
As you might be aware, Reverb is an online national clearing house for used and new musical equipment. Similar to the way ABE Books works, vendors, retailers, and private sellers can use the Reverb portal to buy and sell instruments.
Reverb is an online disruptor, similar to Uber… it’s great for consumers but can create challenges for local guitar stores as buyers have more options… In fact, local Mom and Pop guitar stores are disappearing from the landscape and Reverb may be partially at fault. Fortunately, where I live we still have an excellent guitar shop and in fact, local shops like mine use Reverb too to sell instruments, so it is a knife that cuts in multiple directions.
What I like about Reverb is the potential for negotiation and there are built-in safeguards for both buyers and sellers. In the case of my purchase of the NRP, try as I might, the seller would not budge on his price, but it was more than 30% less than a new resonator and it was supposedly in excellent condition, so a I bought the thing because I really wanted a resonator.
The guitar arrived and it was in immaculate shape. Had it not been, through Reverb, I had the option to return it. My main quibble with this process is you do not get to play or hear the guitar before purchase, so there is a bit of blind faith. On the other hand, when you purchase a premium factory built guitar like a National, the odds are you will get a decent instrument and I did.
National ResoRocket WB
After playing the National Steel NRP, I decided that it would be a great experience to also play a wooden bodied National, so I started shopping around. I ended up looking in Reverb, of course, and then I also communicated with an eccentric collector who was thinking of selling one of his many. Fact is, National makes several wooden bodied resonators and I was unsure of what to get. In the end, I found an immaculate wood bodied National ResoRocket the Dream Guitars was selling via Reverb. Via my iPhone, I was able to negotiate a reasonable reduction from the listed price with the owner Paul Heumiller and closed the deal with a click, and earned another large cost savings of +30% relative to a new guitar.
The guitar arrived in near mint shape, looking brand spanking new and I was not surprised because the combination of purchasing from a dealer who sells premium guitars priced in the 10’s of thousands with Reverb’s protections is a winning combination.
Taylor T5c Hybrid Acoustic/Electric Guitar
My Taylor T5c is a great example of a used guitar purchased in my local shop. The guitar was about 10 years old and in very nice shape. I had a chance to play it several times before I decided to make an offer. In this case I knew exactly what the guitar would sound like.
For a 10 year old guitar, it was in very nice, not “mint” condition, but that should be expected. There was some hazing in the upper bout near the cutaway from where the previous owner tried to buff out, what I would guess, were pick marks. Taylor’s T5’s are not equipped with pick guards and the owner did not mount one after purchase. At my request, the store gave the guitar a more professional buffing and though there is still some minor hazing, it is very difficult to see. I do not like or need pick guards because I play strictly finger-style.
The five way pick-up selector was pretty grungy with embedded dust, but the store guys cleaned that too and also worked out some static crackling that occurred when the pre-amp volume knob was adjusted.
When it comes to purchasing a pre-owned instrument, I don’t think it is unreasonable to barter before closing the deal. In the case of the Taylor T5, the guitar store owner served as an intermediary because the guitar was being sold on consignment basis, which means he gets a slice of the pie. As a result of negotiation I was able to get the price reduced a bit by agreeing to pay for the guitar with crisp $100 bills… I kid you not… It was a little annoying but also kind of fun going to the bank down the street and picking up the wad of cash to close the deal.
Truss rod cover is the triangular shaped, thin piece of wood screwed into the lower portion of the headstock, just above the nut.
Finally, it is important to note that despite due diligence in the store, a used guitar can possess hidden issues. In this case, when I got home I removed the truss rod cover to adjust the neck angle to suit my purposes and found that one of the screw holes for holding the cover onto the headstock was stripped, so that the screw just sat in the hole with no grip. That discovery was irritating, but not a deal breaker and though it is arguably minor, I point it out because there can be mysteriously hidden damages when buying a used instrument. We’ll see more of that in the following discussion.
The Taylor T3c just below was also purchased as used from my local guitar shop. The negotiations were complicated because I traded in a Gretsch guitar on the deal. That kind of arrangement would have been impossible on Reverb, so there are advantages to working locally.
Further, as with the aforementioned Taylor T5c, I was able to play the guitar at length and determine that it was a fit for my playing style, so I grabbed it. The guitar was about 4 years old and appeared immaculate, or so I thought.
Taylor T3c Semi Hollow Bodied Electric
In retrospect it would be ideal when purchasing a used guitar, for time to be taken to examine it centimeter by centimeter before closing the deal.
In my case, had I looked more closely I would have noticed a crack about 2 inches long located along the side at the lower bout where my picking arm would rest. When I got home and discovered the damage. The more I regarded the guitar’s damage, the more appalled I became because it looked like the binding was detaching from the body’s side which is pretty serious.
I brought the guitar back to the shop the next day deeply concerned, but they “pulled me off the ledge” by deftly repairing the crack with cyanoacrylate glue followed by buffing. It is barely visible now, but I know it’s there. Most of the time I can ignore it.
Just noticeable body crack located under the binding after repair.
The Taylor T3c is one of my favorite guitars ever and I was not even aware that Taylor manufactured them, and had it not been for a used one hanging on a hook in my local store I probably would have never purchased one. Still, my experience with this acquisition suggests two things: 1) closely examine a used instrument before finalizing the deal, and 2) if you buy locally, it is likely the store will stand by the purchase and make things right, if necessary!
The last guitar I will use as an example for buying a pre-owned instrument is my most recently acquired Taylor Solidbody Custom Walnut. I decided that I wanted experience playing a sold body guitar and discovered that Taylor Corporation manufactured them for a few brief years beginning around 2007. I am very fond of Taylor necks compared to those on Fenders and Gibsons so I went hunting for one. Since there were none in my local shop, I went online with Reverb and found a handful of them for sale.
Taylor Solid Body Custom (SBc)
It is possible to ascertain the going value for a used guitar by studying the sale price listing for the various guitar models. Further, if you drill down on the Reverb site you can actually find what the specific guitars sold for over the past 6 months or so. With that data in hand I negotiated with a seller, who happened to live just a few hours away from me and we struck a deal, including a personal drop of in the small town of Lisbon, IA.
We met on the main street of diminutive Lisbon and the seller lifted the rear of his SUV and then opened the somewhat beaten-up guitar case. To my initial view, the guitar looked immaculate; however, I was to learn a couple of days later that I really did not possess the wherewithal to make a true assessment of a used guitar.
As I said above, a couple of days later, it was pointed out by the owner of my local guitar shop that the neck of my newly acquired Solid BodyTaylor was twisted and in time I figured out that it was largely unplayable. Rather than return the guitar back to the original owner, I decided to send it to the Taylor Corporation for repair. When they received it, they said the only solution was a neck replacement, which they did as a warrantee repair even though I was at least the third owner of the guitar. What a great company because they did not need to do this service for me. Perhaps, because I owned 6 Taylors (including one I gave my son) they threw me a bone!
Twisted neck before repair
Neck after replacement
Well as you can see from the photos above, the neck replacement is far better than the original, but I was very lucky with this purchase to get it repaired to mint condition for the cost of shipping from Iowa to California and back. So in conclusion, caveat emptor, or let the buyer beware when entering into the used guitar market! Good luck out there!
Exterior of Cup of Joe, on the corner of Main and 1st Street…
In Cedar Falls, Iowa, right smack dab in the middle of flyover country exists a funky little coffee shop that’s been in business for twenty some odd years. The coffee is excellent, the baked goods are great, and the authentic retro-fifties furnishings give it an ambience unlike other coffee shops I’ve ever been to. In short, it is one of those idiosyncratic local treasures that inhabit small towns. The shop is called Cup of Joe…
Besides purveying what coffee shops typically offer, Cup of Joe is also a patron of the arts… The owners rotate through the walls of the shop varying two dimensional art forms, including paintings, sketches, photographs and prints. In fact, a couple of years ago, the shop was kind enough to host an exhibition of my landscape and prairie photography.
Cup of Joe interior… performance space in the far back… Note artwork on the wall…
Most importantly, on every third Friday of the month, Cup of Joe hosts an open mic night for musicians, poets and what have you…
In fact, last night was my first year anniversary performing country blues guitar at the Cup during open mic and a great night it was…
Through some arrangement for which I am unaware, open mic night has been hosted by three gentlemen who referred to themselves as The Three Blind Mice… They consisted of Rick Vanderwall, Bill Guernsey, and the late Rick Nees. They would perform themselves at the opening of the event and then help out others during their time at the mic. As Rick V. was out of town visiting family, the evening was hosted by Bill alone.
Bill and I mugging for the camera…
Here I am with Bill at the end of the show; however, earlier in the evening my friend Grant Tracey and I helped him haul in his equipment as he was working alone that night. He brings in a PA system and microphones, as well as an amp suitable for electric and acoustic guitars. During the show he tweaks and fine tunes the sound such as you can in that particular space. Most importantly, Bill maintains order and keeps the participants in line and within a 15 minute timeframe.
What was unique and particularly fun that night was the shop owner, Dawn’s request that Grant, another guitarist, and I participate in a video feed advertising the night’s festivities. We all have different music in us… Yeah, you can quote me on that… Grant is a singer/songwriter, largely influenced by his youthful devotion to punk rock… Me, on the other hand, I love those old time, deep rooted, foundational country blues and that’s what I play… You can see our introductory video below: (you may have to click twice)
After Bill warmed up the crowd with a Neil Young cover, I opened the night with a fifteen minute country blues set. It’s my preference to play first, and I will arrive at the coffee shop a good hour before set-up just to get my name on the list first.
Here I am playing my set of 4 country blues tunes. That night was the public debut of my newly repaired Taylor Solidbody Custom Walnut electric. I had the guitar signal passing through my pedal board with compression, some gain to fatten up the sound a bit, a dash of vibrato, some slap-back delay and all blended into some hall-like reverb… Even though I painstakingly set up the pedals at home through my Fender amp, it sounded a bit boomy from where I was sitting… fortunately Bill smoothed it out for me with some amp equalization. Still, when sitting behind the speakers it’s hard to assess how your rig sounds… a performer monitor would be nice, but that’s a lot to ask for at an open mic night…
My set included:
I Do Blues – a new tune for me credited to Rev. Robert Wilkins
Police and a Sergeant – Rev. Robert Wilkins, arranged by Catfish Keith
Railroad Bill – traditional, arranged by Etta Baker
Cocaine Blues – traditional, arranged by Stefan Grossman
I was prepared to play more, but Bill put the hook on me as there were a number of others signed for the mic! I did a pretty good job on three of the four tunes, but shanked a few into the rough on Police and a Sergeant, which I played flawlessly at the Bandshell performance last month. Throw of the dice at this stage of my performing career, I guess… It’s not for lack of practice that I shank one, but more dependent on keeping focus and maintaining the brain/finger connection…
My beloved wife Nettie was there to take photos of me playing. She does a great job with an iPhone… I hope to upgrade my iPhone from the current 6s to the latest because the cameras on the new ones are so “dadgum” good and perfect for supporting this weblog.
You’ll no doubt note that, as is typical, I am obscured by a music stand… There are reasons why. First, I much prefer playing sitting down because I have better control of the guitar and secondly, I like referring to the charts while I play because I simply cannot remember most of my pieces which have fairly complicated finger movements.
Before the next time I perform, I hope to convert to an iPad, equipped with a foot pedal, to dispense with the paper and music stand, which should obscure me less while I play…
Lillian and me…
Jacob and me…
After my performance, I had a chance to catch up with one of my former Northern Iowa Textile and Apparel majors, Lillian T. If I missed teaching, which I do not, it would be because of special kids like Lillian… she was an absolute delight to work with in the classroom… I also had a chance to interact a bit with one of the two Jacobs in the coffee shop that night… He is a Northern Iowa music major and a tremendous guitar player… he noted my tasteful use of pedals and the pleasant “acoustic” sound of my guitar, which obviously delighted me to hear!
Grant digging into his Mustang…
The Jacobs laying out masterful Jazz riffs…
After my set, as you can see above, my pal Grant played a 4 tune set on his beloved Mustang, including some soulful picking of individual notes within his chord progressions… The show concluded on a high note with the Jacobs, both exceptionally accomplished jazz guitarists, who laid out their improvisations in masterful style…
September’s open mic night was a night to remember… until next month… I am working on some new tunes as I write… see ya…
It was sometime in my early 20’s when I was in graduate school that I created a fundamental method for myself and that was if you’re going to invest yourself in some activity, first get a book and learn about what you’re doing. Looking back, I think one of the first books of that sort that I’d purchased was the Complete Book of Running, and I ran for years afterward using the knowledge gleaned from that read…
As a result of this practice, my home library has quite of number of background books in such disparate areas as bicycle repair, blues music, civil war reenacting, wildflower identification, prairie restoration, all types of photography, and even dog training.
If you’ve been anywhere in and around this weblog then you will know that one of my keen interests during my retirement life is everything about guitars. As my opening paragraphs would suggest, I’ve dug around trying to find books about guitars to deepen my understanding of the instrument. Thus far, two of the more interesting books I’ve found include, Clapton’s Guitar and the Guitar, An American Life. They were both excellent reads covering aspects of the social/cultural/historical elements of guitars and to some extent guitar construction, but still fell short of really offering a deep understanding about the structure of the guitar, how it functions and how it affects playability. Nevertheless, I recommend both books as fun and informative time well spent.
Then, one day I was noodling around on my computer searching guitar culture and philosophy subjects and ended up on Ervin Somogyi’s website. Mr. Somogyi is a world renowned master luthier, in other words a guitar builder. I had previously read about his apprenticeship program in Fretboard Journal #36 so I was curious enough to explore his site a bit deeper. He had in one section some fascinating and articulate discussions about guitar culture, which I perused and in later meanderings discovered that he had published a two volume treatise on guitar building. The first volume was focused in detail on how guitars behave as a function of choices a luthier might make during construction. The second volume was explicitly step by step how to build a guitar.
The basic pair of volumes (not the leather bound version) was listed at well over $200 which was a bit too rich for me; however, I only wanted the first volume regarding how a guitar functions. I never intend to build a guitar so the second volume was of no interest. Fortunately, I found a used copy of volume one in a Canadian used book store and though it was still more pricey than I would have liked, I bought it anyway and am so glad I did because it is a classic exploration of acoustic guitar design and function written in an interesting and accessible manner.
All elements of guitar structure are discussed. For example, Somogyi evaluates in detail the various trees that are available for harvesting quality tonewoods or general structural elements such as the neck. I was fascinated to learn that mahogany makes a great guitar neck because it is an equatorial tree that possesses balanced longitudinal torque because of how the tree interacts with the sun in its particular region of the world. This matters because the neck is less likely to twist over time. Given that I recently had a twisted guitar neck repaired, I appreciated the discussion.
No subject about guitars is too esoteric and the end notes take up about 1/3 of the book offering even more detail. Subjects of discussion include the various ways in which a guitar top vibrates and how the bracing underneath interacts, or how the back wood of the guitar cooperates with the top wood to project sound outward through the guitar’s sound hole. Everything you need to know about intonation is detailed.
Taylor 510 “dread”…
The aesthetics of guitar shapes are also considered which was illuminating to me. Take for example a comparison of the now discontinued Taylor 510 “dreadnought” shaped guitar versus the new Taylor Grand Pacific.
The 510 according to Somogyi’s view had very little aesthetic appeal. Though a good guitar (I owned one years ago) it was strictly utilitarian in appearance. The shoulders of the guitar are just plain horizontal and flat, the guitar has almost no curve at the waist… it’s basically just a box of wood with a neck and strings, lacking all elegance.
Taylor Grand Pacific…
On the other hand, consider the Grand Pacific. It is a reimagined dreadnought-styled guitar, and its shape is much more appealing. In fact, Somogyi would point out that the Greek Golden Rule of Proportion was applied by reimagining the waist of the guitar to give a perfect ratio of top bout size compared to the lower bout. Further, the shoulders of the guitar add a subtle sloping drop which enhances its elegance giving it an altogether more appealing shape to the human eye!
In sum, if you really want to understand the art and technology of the acoustic steel string guitar there is probably no better book than Ervin Somogyi’s The Responsive Guitar. It took me the better part of the summer to wade through it because it takes time to give thought and consideration to his analysis, but it is a journey worth taking.
As a final side note it is worth mentioning that Mr. Samogyi frequently points out the relative “newness” of luthier built steel string acoustic guitars. For much of the steel string guitar’s history it was an artifact of industrial factory production. The development of custom made luthier guitars grew along with the relatively new tradition of steel string finger-style guitarists. It can be argued that American finger-style playing was historically rooted in older country blues, played on factory guitars; however, Somogyi points to a new aesthetic in finger-style that benefited from guitars designed expressly for that purpose. In a later section of his book he carefully points out the necessary differences in guitar design between flat-picked (plectrum-driven) guitars and finger-style played instruments.
Somogyi points to both Ed Gerhard and Martin Simpson as notable leaders in the new finger-style revolution. I had the great good fortune of hearing the aforementioned gentlemen play live and to spend some “quality” time with them afterwards discussing their guitar philosophy. It was through my association, in the middle late 1990’s, with the Manhattan, Kansas based Birdhouse Productions who hosted several outstanding acoustic guitar players.
If you’ve looked into this nascent blog as it’s developing, it’s quite apparent that I allocate a significant proportion of my time in retirement to guitars… in fact, you could argue that at this stage of my life I am a bit obsessive about playing, and the technology associated with the instrument…
I get a great deal of satisfaction from working with my Taylor guitars, across the spectrum of acoustic, hybrid acoustic/electric, semi-hollow bodied electric, and solid body electric (currently on a UPS truck to Iowa after being repaired by Taylor!).
The commonality among all those guitars is the neck. The neck is where the rubber meets the road for a player and includes such key factors as the contour (radius) of the wood, its finish, and the height of the strings from the fretboard. It’s very easy to switch among the Taylors from one to the other because of neck consistency.
There is a substantial degree of snobbery associated with guitar culture. Traditions play a major role, such as the headstock decal for Martin guitars… I don’t like them, but that’s just me… One of the things that distinguishes the Taylor company besides marvelously playable guitars is their devotion to innovation and technology. Though a bit dated (the below instruments have evolved or been pulled off the market), the embedded Youtube video with Bob Taylor and Brian Swerdfeger speaks to the interesting tech that underlies two of the guitars that I’ve purchased off the used marketplace.
Swerdfeger moved on to Fender to develop a different acoustic/electric hybrid, the Acoustasonic…
I still consider myself a learner… perhaps I always will, and the primary way I continue my guitar education is by learning new tunes. Sometimes I’ll learn a tune that I like just for the fun of it, but more frequently I select a tune that I initially think will stretch me to gain more control over the mechanics of playing the instrument. More often than not I am successful in learning the piece, but sometimes I find myself totally stymied, and not willing to bog myself down, I will leave it behind. Most recently, I was defeated by a Robert Johnson piece, but that’s ok because he played at a very high level… higher than me for now.
I focus my playing efforts almost exclusively on finger-style “Country Blues,” and at this point I am playing strictly instrumental versions of the tunes. I am not interested in singing… I’m a guitar player… There are a variety of reasons why I stick with this blues genre:
I love the sound of the music when played on a solo guitar. You don’t need a band to sound interesting, and frankly I am totally uninterested in playing with a band.
The music itself is so American rootsy and foundational… There’s not an ounce of pretension built into the music… it’s just plain honest sounding and you can hear it echoing throughout early rock n roll, so there’s a recognizable pop culture element to it, but seasoned with a purity that appeals to me…
I’ve been able to find plenty of this type music that is well within my “skill grasp…” I am not saying it’s either simple or complicated, but I can get a handle on it and people seem, like me, to enjoy the sounds of these tunes.
There is a large extant body of music in this genre that can be found in book collections, as well on training DVD’s…
With such a large body of work available to study I feel absolutely NO reason to write a song… the other day, a good friend of mine at the local Guitar Store suggested it was time for me to write a tune as if it were some important ritualized rite of passage. I think there’s enough good songs already available or being written by talented musicians without me adding some pedestrian, self-indulgent POS to the mix.
I’ve developed a modest collection of old blues music so I can recognize the tune or players who’s music I might wish to learn. If you’re interested in old blues, a good place to begin would be the collection of original blues tunes, Confessin’ the Blues, curated by the Rolling Stones. In fact, several of these tunes were covered by the Stones themselves.
What works for me, after I’ve identified an old blues musician or a tune, is to shop around for a training DVD that offers a tablature version of the music as well as basic instruction how to play it.
Guitar Workshop DVD dedicated to Robert Wilkins
To the left you can see a great example of the educational materials I use. It’s a DVD containing numerous tabbed tunes by the great old bluesman Rev. Robert Wilkins, taught by John Miller, who I never heard of, but is a decent teacher of the basics. I was attracted to this DVD because I wanted to learn to play “Prodigal Son” a Wilkins tune covered by the Rolling Stones on their classic LP, Beggars Banquet. Two of the best online locations for training DVD’s are Happy Traum’s Homespun and Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop, which is where I got the Wilkins collection.
Tablature and standard notation for Wilkin’s I Do Blues
First, I listen to the song and become familiar with it… I usually choose a tune that will stand up on its own as an instrumental without the lyrics, as I do not feel comfortable singing. Then I will tackle the music which is normally presented in standard notation and tablature. I work with both; however, I would be helpless without the tab. Tablature indicates which strings and frets to press with the left hand and which strings to pluck with the right. The standard notation is important to understand the time/rhythm signature of the tune. The music is typically included in pdf printable format on the DVD, though sometimes it comes as an included booklet. I am totally unapologetic for using tablature… in fact, tablature was the first way of communicating music for stringed instruments like the lute and later guitar. Standard notation followed some time afterwards. Working with tablature is a slow and steady process, during which time the most important steps are to become familiar with the tune and to develop the muscle memory for your hands and fingers, measure by measure. Some pieces come quicker than others but most require lots of repetition for me to succeed.
Before, during and after working with the tablature I will refer to the instructional video that is on the DVD. There are best approaches for how to use your hands during play and the instructor usually goes through those key moves measure by measure. A caution here is that sometimes the tablature and what the instructor does do not always match up, but that is rare. Also, as in the case with “I Do Blues,” Mr. Miller teaches a particularly challenging measure one way, but actually plays it a different way, which is a little frustrating because the way he plays it is easier than the way he teaches it! Some DVD teachers are better than others. I particularly enjoy Stefan Grossman.
More important than learning the measures in the tune is the phrasing of the music. It’s easy to fall into the trap of playing a measure at a time; however, the music flows across measures and getting that proper flow is the key to mastering the tune, and that can be easy or really very challenging with these old blues pieces.
Tom Garman, my teacher… (photo appropriated from Tom’s website, Guitar Antihero.
It is usually at this point that I will bring the piece to my guitar teacher, Tom Garman, who is great at working with adult learners like myself. He’s located at Bob’s Guitars in Cedar Falls, where I live. Tom is great at pushing me on technique and helping me interpret the tune beyond what the DVD instructor can do.
After working with Tom to master the piece (such as I can do), I have two final steps: First I choose a “go to” guitar for the tune. Though I will often play the tune on multiple instruments, there is one that I usually find particularly suited for the tune. In the case of “I Do Blues,” which I initially worked with on acoustic guitar, I found some of the string bends just too daunting with stiff acoustic strings. So I moved to the much easier to play Taylor T5, which is an electric/acoustic hybrid that is much easier to string-bend and the tune sounds great on it! The original country blues tunes were played almost exclusively on acoustic guitars so they sound “more authentic” when played thus so; however, I am not embarrassed to move to a different musical platform to get on top of the tune and also to put my own music “twist” onto the piece also. It is 2019!
Finally, if I am playing an electrified instrument, either electric or acoustic guitar, I will run it through an amplifier and set it up thus so in the event I play the piece publicly at, for example, open mic night in the local coffee shop. Beyond using the amp, this also involves choosing from among my pedal inventory to truly put my mark on the tune. How and what pedals to use is a story for another time.
Here’s a version of I Do Blues by Rev. Robert Wilkins on my newly repaired Taylor SBC:
CVAGA performance at Overman Park bandshell… About my clothes… I was at the gym earlier and thought I would have a chance to change… I was mistaken…
I’ve written before that playing in front of people is equal amounts of stress I and excitement; however, the most important thing about it to me is that performing helps me to take myself more seriously as a musician, such that I am… this past Friday night I had the opportunity to join several guitar players on stage at Overman Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The “concert” took place the couple of hours before dark, after which a film is shown on an outdoor screen… that night it was Ironman…
Each musician or group of musicians was granted a 15 minute time slot, which in reality was more like a suggestion, as some players seemed to linger on the stage for much longer…
the Bandshell looking outwards…
The entire experience actually lasted quite a long time. As a player, I was asked to help set up. I arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon and was early, so I took the opportunity to climb on the stage and look out at the park before people would arrive in a couple of hours. The weather was lovely for a mid-August date… Days like that are the payoff for suffering through long, brutal Iowa winters.
Sound system set-up…
CVAGA Banner at the Bandshell…
It was not long before the other performers and the sound tech arrived for set up. The sound system was a real pro rig, including monitors for the players which I had never used and was delighted to get the experience. You can see in the image above right that the event is hosted by CVAGA or the Cedar Valley Acoustic Guitar Association. Rick Vanderwall, a friend of mine, and original founder of the Association invited me to perform. I was somewhat ambivalent, but he insisted, and I am glad, in the end, that I agreed.
Overman Park Bandshell during set up
You can see from the image to the left that Bob’s Guitars underwrites the concerts. The Bob was there with his wife Avis and their dog Scout. You will most often find them all at his shop when its open. I’ve written about their shop before…
Yours truly awaiting my turn for sound check. Note my pedal array at my feet which allows me to sculpt my own idiosyncratic interpretation of country blues.
It was a bit nerve wracking waiting for sound checks to occur. Here I am on the left patiently waiting for my turn. Despite the fact that the host organization is an acoustic society, I was told there were no hard/fast rules, so I decided to play my semi-hollow bodied Taylor T3, along with my pedal array. My teacher and family all concurred with my decision to go electric. Ah yes… I think that Bob Dylan would have approved too… Other than one snide comment that I brushed off, everyone else was cool with my choice.
I played a 15 minute set of finger-style country blues. Fortunately, I got to play first, which is what I really like to do at open mic events. i.e. Get it over with! Though there are lyrics to each of the tunes I played I did not sing. At this stage of my player development, the finger-style patterns are too complicated for me to sing simultaneously. Further, I am not confident that my singing voice would complement my playing anyway. My set included the following tunes:
Corinna Corinna; traditional… arranged by Stef Grossman
Railroad Bill; traditional… arranged by Etta Baker
Police and a Sergeant; Rev. Robert Wilkins… arranged by Catfish Keith
Cocaine Blues; TJ Arnall… arranged by Stef Grossman
Shake Sugaree; Elizabeth Cotton… arranged by Stef Grossman
I think I played reasonably well… actually as good as I can at this stage of my development. Iowa audiences are typically very kind and they acted appreciative. My family and friends thought I did well too, but it’s always hard to tell if they are being nice or really mean it… My wife Nettie was particularly pleased with the quality of the sound system and how my playing came across, so that sounded like a legit “mazel tov!” I was most excited that the sound guy, who hears a lot of performances was delighted with the combination of my choice of music, my playing and the tone sculpting that I do with my array of pedals.
Me and my main-man Grant…
In the end I was glad I did it and I was equivalently glad when it was over with. Here I am afterwards relaxing with my main-man and fellow musician Grant, who was kind enough to capture my performance.
Donald H. at Bob’s Guitar working on my Taylor 914ce…
Where is the best place to buy a guitar? Pawn shop? Yard sale? A friend? Or more likely, if you are looking for a premium guitar, the best place may be a music store or perhaps online.
Based on my experience, you are best served purchasing a guitar at a local shop that focuses primarily on that particular instrument. The store should offer a premium line or two of guitars, indicating a higher level of seriousness.
Why buy at a local shop? Most importantly, guitars can be idiosyncratic artifacts; consequently, playing the guitar you buy before hand can be quite illuminating. Even so for acoustic guitars this may still be a bit of a gamble because new guitar woods are a bit tight and not ready to yield their final tone… the wood requires time to open up, which can take a year or so… Nevertheless, if it sounds good new, overtime it will probably sound even better.
My friend Grant T. giving a Duo-Sonic a test run…
A local business too will service the instrument if required. You’d probably be surprised at how often that eventuality occurs. Further, a new premium guitar like a Taylor will be under warrantee and the store that you purchase it from will service it for you unless there is some type of catastrophic failure which requires return to the manufacturer.
Local guitar treasure and Bob’s guitar store staff, Jacob L.
A well run local store will offer the expertise of its staff when evaluating an instrument, amp, pedal, tuner, what have you… This is much better than making the decision in a vacuum in front of a computer screen.
Not just new guitars can be found in a typical guitar store. In fact, I’ve purchased two used instruments from my local establishment. Guitars are like cars, in a way… new ones lose value as soon as you drive it off the lot, so getting a used guitar, if in excellent condition can be a great savings!
Not all communities are lucky enough to have a good guitar store. Just recently I learned that Rochester, MN lost its excellent store, Avalon Music. If you are a guitar player, it would serve you well to throw some business to the local store to keep it going.
Bob G. (the Bob) and his dog Scout. Bob is also one of the best guitar players in town.
I am not sure if all guitar stores are like the one in my town, Bob’s Guitars. I think perhaps there are some others, like Rudy’s in Manhattan, NY where a musical community exists around and within it. Spend anytime in the store and you will see the best musicians in the region constantly passing through. Further, if you are a frequent customer in Cedar Falls, you get to hang out with Bob (the Bob) and the other staff and there’s quite a lot that can be learned from them.
In sum, a local guitar store can be a local treasure… perhaps the best place to buy a guitar too… In a future blog post, I will speak to buying a guitar online, which I’ve also done for better or worse…
Grant T. getting a sweetheart deal from Bob G. on a pre-owned Taylor acoustic…
