Guitars and Learning Experiences
Mar. 10th, 2013 01:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperI took a couple of years of guitar lessons when I was in the fifth and sixth grade. Then we moved to Guam, my amp developed a short, and I didn't play much after that until my junior year of high school when another guitar player (with a working amplifier) moved in next door. My original guitar was a red solid body Gibson Melody Maker.
By the time I was in college, I decided it was time to get an acoustic guitar. Though I lusted after a 12-string, I ended up trading in the Gibson on an Epiphone six-string acoustic. A decent 12-string guitar was just too expensive. And that was the guitar that I eventually started taking to filksings when I discovered filking. I'd learned Chet Atkins style fingerpicking when taking those long-ago guitar lessons which served me in good stead on the Epiphone, but I ended up playing without a pick when I had a song to strum. If nothing else, it was easier to sing over the guitar. :)
After I moved to Chicago and graduated with my MBA, I picked up a very lightly used Guild 12-string at The Guitar Works in Evanston, a store that I highly recommend. (The Guild is a story all its own.) And it went to filks with me for many years as I pretty much stopped playing the Epiphone. I eventually bought a six-string Guild to match the 12-string, thinking that I was playing the Guild 12 because it was much nicer than the Epiphone. The Guild 6 was quite nice (and flies to conventions with me today), but the Guild 12 was just a wonderful guitar. It was what I used to record The Grim Roper, still without a pick.
The Epiphone, meanwhile, I sold to Jane Haldeman, because it was now surplus. (Yes, I know. There is no such thing as a surplus guitar.)
While I was married to Carol, I picked up a lovely Gibson Les Paul Custom, because I wanted an electric guitar. And it turned out that I apparently had no business owning a Les Paul, because when I played it, it never sounded like me. I eventually traded it for a sorely underused (by me) Godin Multiac Jazz that I lusted after having seen![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
min0taur's. I need to play it more, but it does sound like me when I play it.
But in the meantime, I had developed Taylor lust. And afterdaisy_knotwise's mom died, she said I could use a bit of the money that we'd inherited to buy a nice Taylor acoustic, so I got a lovely little cedar topped model. It sounds great and still sits next to my desk in my office.
Unfortunately, it didn't record really well, so I decided a few years later to get a spruce-top Taylor with electronics so I could plug it in. And that's the guitar that travels to conventions with me by car. :)
At one point during my travels, I was in a filk circle with Sam Baardman who suggested that I should try using a pick again. I dithered for a couple of years and decided to try it. And it worked out pretty well once I redeveloped the techniques. I still don't use finger picks, because I can't find anything that fits my fingers and sounds decent, but the finger picking is generally pretty clear anyway.
There's a point to all of this. When you're writing music with your guitar, the guitar shapes the music. Every guitar has its own voice and wants to write songs its way -- depending too on whether you're using a pick, or finger picking, or finger strumming.
Most of my songs are getting written either on the Taylor next to my desk here or at a con on my traveling Taylor.
But the Guild 12 is getting lonely in the closet anddaisy_knotwise would like me to pull it out.
If things slow down, maybe I will. :)
By the time I was in college, I decided it was time to get an acoustic guitar. Though I lusted after a 12-string, I ended up trading in the Gibson on an Epiphone six-string acoustic. A decent 12-string guitar was just too expensive. And that was the guitar that I eventually started taking to filksings when I discovered filking. I'd learned Chet Atkins style fingerpicking when taking those long-ago guitar lessons which served me in good stead on the Epiphone, but I ended up playing without a pick when I had a song to strum. If nothing else, it was easier to sing over the guitar. :)
After I moved to Chicago and graduated with my MBA, I picked up a very lightly used Guild 12-string at The Guitar Works in Evanston, a store that I highly recommend. (The Guild is a story all its own.) And it went to filks with me for many years as I pretty much stopped playing the Epiphone. I eventually bought a six-string Guild to match the 12-string, thinking that I was playing the Guild 12 because it was much nicer than the Epiphone. The Guild 6 was quite nice (and flies to conventions with me today), but the Guild 12 was just a wonderful guitar. It was what I used to record The Grim Roper, still without a pick.
The Epiphone, meanwhile, I sold to Jane Haldeman, because it was now surplus. (Yes, I know. There is no such thing as a surplus guitar.)
While I was married to Carol, I picked up a lovely Gibson Les Paul Custom, because I wanted an electric guitar. And it turned out that I apparently had no business owning a Les Paul, because when I played it, it never sounded like me. I eventually traded it for a sorely underused (by me) Godin Multiac Jazz that I lusted after having seen
min0taur's. I need to play it more, but it does sound like me when I play it.But in the meantime, I had developed Taylor lust. And after
daisy_knotwise's mom died, she said I could use a bit of the money that we'd inherited to buy a nice Taylor acoustic, so I got a lovely little cedar topped model. It sounds great and still sits next to my desk in my office.Unfortunately, it didn't record really well, so I decided a few years later to get a spruce-top Taylor with electronics so I could plug it in. And that's the guitar that travels to conventions with me by car. :)
At one point during my travels, I was in a filk circle with Sam Baardman who suggested that I should try using a pick again. I dithered for a couple of years and decided to try it. And it worked out pretty well once I redeveloped the techniques. I still don't use finger picks, because I can't find anything that fits my fingers and sounds decent, but the finger picking is generally pretty clear anyway.
There's a point to all of this. When you're writing music with your guitar, the guitar shapes the music. Every guitar has its own voice and wants to write songs its way -- depending too on whether you're using a pick, or finger picking, or finger strumming.
Most of my songs are getting written either on the Taylor next to my desk here or at a con on my traveling Taylor.
But the Guild 12 is getting lonely in the closet and
daisy_knotwise would like me to pull it out.If things slow down, maybe I will. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-03-10 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-10 07:14 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to seeing this Taylor baritone 8, as I haven't seen one yet. :) Not that I am allowed to buy another guitar without getting rid of one that I already have -- and none of the guitars that I have are going anywhere! :)
A parlor guitar is a good size for Sue. When I was teaching Gretchen to play, I got her a dreadnaught, which turned out to be too big for her to get her arms around comfortably. Things improved a lot when I got her the little Sigma.
So, we will just have to look to land in the same (small) circle at FKO so we can hear each other. Unless plans change, Erica and Steve will be coming too, so that's the start of a nice little group. :)