While not GUITAR related, rock singers deserved to be mentioned occasionally, even on sites like this. Some guitarists might say who needs them when you have wicked good chops like John 5, but singers (for the most part) are what keep the non-guitar playing masses paying attention. It’s hard to listen to instrumental music if you’re not into it and how many non-guitarists are going to seek out guitar music? But if a singer’s singing and breaks for a guitar solo, there’s a better chance that the listener will pay attention to it, and maybe even want to pick up the guitar themselves. I know it wasn’t instrumental music that made ME want to play. It was bands like The Living End, Metallica and Korn.
And so with that in mind I bring you my top five lists of rock singers. Enjoy.
1) Corey Taylor
Known for fronting the masked band Slipknot and churning out angry, hopeless, borderline psychotic and apocalyptic vocals, Corey Taylor actually has a great grip on melody and a much wider range to his voice than you would imagine. He can scream of course and he can growl, but he can also sing beautifully and he does it all with obvious emotion. He also sheds his mask and sings for the just as rocking but not nearly as threatening band Stone Sour.
If you’d like to check out Taylor’s range and conviction, check out the albums Come What(ever) May by Stone Sour and Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipknot. Both are great albums but the Slipknot one is quite a bit heavier.
2) Howard Jones
Much like Corey Taylor, Howard Jones has an incredible range and Killswitch Engage’s album As Daylight Dies showcases it well. It’s always great when a singer perfectly compliments a band and this is one of those times. Too often do you hear a really great band play and love the music only to have a singer come in and ruin the experience because for some reason, known or unknown, it just doesn’t jive with you.
Call it a novelty if you will, but what got me interested in Killswitch Engage was the fact that they covered “Holy Diver” on the album and, while I’m not the world’s biggest fan of classic metal, I really like that particular song and here it is, picked up, brushed off and spruced up in a more modern, more heavy, but not ridiculously so new outfit. It sounds great and the video is hilarious.
Every time I travel I always go to the libraries and see what music they have and check out new stuff. Sometimes there are big finds and sometimes not but this time I found Killswitch Engage and it’s a BIG find to me. I love it. I highly recommend checking out the album As Daylight Dies, especially the special edition one that includes videos because it’s a sweet album.
3) Maynard James Keenan
Let’s talk about Tool for a second. Tool is one of my favorite bands. They’ve always interested me and while I don’t agree with many of their philosophies, like setting up fake amps or not answering gear questions with any amount of honesty, you can’t argue with their tones or their songs. It’s like they have their own sub-genre and when any band tries to take even a little bit of it, it’s immediately obvious. And just as Adam Jones has a very unique tone and playing style, so too does Maynard James Keenan who sings for the band. Crafting vocal landscapes with whispers, screams, singing, interesting melodies, barely audible vocal tracks buried under music and only audible with media manipulation software, he owns the microphone and there’s no better singer in the world that fits so well with such a unique band as Tool.
It’s a pretty daunting task trying to describe Keenan so I’d really like to let his music do the explaining for me. If you haven’t heard Tool, check out the massively popular album Aenima. AND check out (if you can find it) the live tracks from the EP Salival. It’s fun to juxtapose studio work and live work and see that even in the live setting, away from the technical benefits of the studio, Keenan STILL owns the microphone.
4) Jacoby Shaddix
Back when nu-metal was really reaching its apex a LOT of bands were coming out that were shedding or omitting guitar solos, embracing their issues from their childhoods and moping and whining (hey, everyone needs to do it sometimes so it’s ok) and Papa Roach was one of those bands BUT Papa Roach drew just as much inspiration from punk bands as their did from seven string slinging detuned. Low tempo nu-metal brethren and it’s probably because of this that the band is still around, and still going strong. You can actually hear them change little by little in the first two albums, Infest and LoveHateTragedy but you can hear a radical difference on the album Getting Away With Murder when singer Jacoby Shaddix raps very little if at all instead focusing on a hard-edged attack that compliments the album’s material in a magical way common to this top five list. Some songs aren’t the best but for the most part the album is all killer and no filler.
He doesn’t SING that much, but with the very “rock” material that is neither heavy metal nor punk, but just distorted goodness, it doesn’t matter. It’s a great album and Jacoby’s a great singer.
5) Billy Idol
Look, right away I’m going to address the fact that I’m reaching further back in the past than the other four members of this list with Billy Idol and say “I know.”
But the important thing about Billy Idol is that you don’t even need to look at him – you can hear the sneer and the attitude through vocal tracks alone and so many of his songs make you feel genuinely excited. More than just fist pumping anthems, songs like Rebel Yell make you feel that spark that you felt the first time you listened to rock and it’s so hard for anyone else to pull off that same kind of audible energy that he’s practically in a class by himself.
For the record though, I was torn between Idol and Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and while I love Maiden, most of their material doesn’t make me want to get up and do something like Idol’s does. That’s why Billy Idol rounds out this list.
_____________________________
Hope you enjoyed this installment everyone. It’s inevitable that more will be on the way and I hope they’re just as entertaining for you to read as they are for me to write!
-Pappy
Monday, February 8, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
V- Picks Review
Growing up playing guitar, you use whatever's handy to you. A pick is
always preferable of course, but sometimes they just aren't available.
You reach out and grab coins, bread-bag enclosures, random pieces of
plastic, etc. etc.
In my personal experience you either keep doing that or get a little
more organized. I keep a pick in between the strings of my guitars
and the guitars in a room away from little hands that love to play
guitar and especially take the picks. I also have a little bucket
that I throw any extra picks because occasionally they DO go missing
and it's nice to be able to just reach in and grab a new one.
With all that being said, I probably couldn't justify spending more
than a quarter on a pick when I was first playing, but now I think I
could. And I've been experimenting with picks left and right. My old
picking technique was using my thumb, index and middle finger to
properly secure the pick (it never went someplace I didn't want it to)
but as a result there was more motion and more exertion required to
make the pick do the exact same thing as just using your thumb and
index finger. So I got used to using just the thumb and index and
became a fan of the Ibanez Paul Gilbert pick (which is about the same
width but a bit shorter than a normal pick), but as my playing style
has veered more and more into hybrid picking, I've been finding it
more comfortable to use a normal sized pick. I could use smaller
ones, but it's just a little more comfortable with a longer pick.
Vinnie over at V-Picks sent me a couple of bags of picks to try out
and review and I've been using them off and on for about a month,
going back to my old favorite pick (a plain old Dunlop .73mm) and then
back to the V-Picks, trying to see how important getting used to a
pick is, trying to see how hard it is to go back to plain-jane picks,
etc.
I dumped out the bags on my dining room table and immediately three of
them jumped out at me. One was a light green and that was a glow in
the dark pick. I strongly believe that more things need to be glow in
the dark. Not only is it cool but it just makes SENSE. No more
getting picks lost on a dark stage or playing in a dark room. It's a
great thing that far more companies (of multiple products) need to
adopt.
Another was a ruby red one which just looks cool. Most V-Picks are
clear and easy to lose on the ground unless you turn on every light
and try to get it to bounce off the pick, but the glow in the dark one
will never get lost and the ruby red one... well, hopefully you aren't
playing on a dark stage and drop it. It still LOOKS really cool.
The third is called the Dimension and it is 4.10mm thick. That's a
far cry my flexible .73 Dunlop but it stood out visually and it turns
out, it's one of my favorites of the bunch. I wouldn't try to put it
between the strings for storage since it's so close in thickness to a
pebble, but it's oddly comfortable. I never expected a pick so thick
would be but immediately noticed the thickness made me have less
strain in the hand when I played. It made me think that a pick that
is a whopping 11.85mm thick (like a rock almost) that V-Picks ALSO
supplies and calls "Insanity" (a truer name was never uttered) would
be pretty comfortable too.
It's an interesting revelation.
Anyway, reviewing picks can be pretty tricky. Some people love the
Jazz III for instance and say it's the best pick in the world while I
beg to differ. It's all very subjective but luckily V-Picks gave me
an out. The bag that the picks come in include a background piece of
paper that says three things:
"Lightning fast"
"Incredible Tone Improvement"
"Secure Grip"
Armed with these statements, reviewing the picks becomes a TON easier
because I can nail down specific things to talk about. So let's go
down the list:
Lightning Fast: All but one of the picks supplied (the one being the
unbuffed Dimension pick) are incredibly fast going from string to
string. The smooth surface lets the picks just slide from string to
string with little to no resistance which is always a good thing. Not
hearing any extraneous noise is one quality you want in your pick
after all.
They didn't necessarily make me a faster PLAYER though. I didn't
expect it to. Things like speed, rhythm, chops and all that come down
to practice more than it comes down to actual gear. But with the
smoothness of string to string movement I could see it NOT hindering
any movement and letting you move as quickly as you can.
The important thing here is that it's not holding you back.
Incredible Tone Improvement: Different picks create different tones.
That's a given. To say that something drastically improves your tone
is a kind of statement that sounds good and certainly looks good when
you see it, but tone is always subjective and where the bright and
crisp notes give you a ton of clarity and this might be what you want,
there's certainly some people that may think it's not what they want.
Or at least not what they want all the time.
While I have no real problem using V-Picks, I like the versatility of
the .73mm. It allows for a ton of individual tone shaping based one
where and how you hold it. Incorporating your middle finger and
bending it, for example, strengthens the pick and lessens it's level
of flex making it feel like a thicker, more substantial pick, where
V-Picks are very sturdy feeling picks. Some of them have a little
flex, true, but most are pretty stiff and left me having to come up
with new ways to create softer sounds (usually by bending my wrist and
slowing down attack).
In the end I would say that there is a DIFFERENT tone with incredible
articulation and a very bright sound. Notes stand out significantly
more when played with V-Picks and that could be a very good thing for
you. Personally, I could see myself using these quite a bit in band
settings but not ALL the time because sometimes you need something
else. People that look at their picks as vessels for different tones
are sure to love these picks for different applications, but I doubt
they'll replace the player's whole arsenal. People that play with one
pick and one pick only may find that they love V-Picks and be
perfectly satisfied. The only way to know for sure is to try them
out.
Secure Grip: This is kind of a big deal. If you look around there
are products left and right that are supposed to help you with
grippage, help you reduce the number of picks you lose when you play
just a little too hard and it goes flying across the stage or room.
There are straps, hole punchers, sand paper, tape, goo, even Gorilla
Snot and these are all promising the same thing: that you won't have
to worry about dropping your pick.
When you pick up a V-Pick it doesn't necessarily feel like you'll have
a secure grip on it. There's no goo, it's not rough, etc. but as you
play you begin to see that you don't have a hard time keeping control
of it. I did notice that when playing with my index and thumb it did
have a tendency to rotate a bit, but the grip was secure and I'm sure
that the reason it rotated was because of the angle the strings were
at when I hit them. The grip is secure, no worries.
Those are the three bullet points provided by V-Picks and for the most
part they're as dead on as you can get with a little bit of
salesmanship thrown in for good measure. Not so much that the points
are lost or ridiculous, just enough to pique your interest.
But let's talk about price.Prices vary wildly from $4.00 to $30.00 but
the $30.00 one is the Insanity pick and frankly, for that much
material, I don't blame him for the cost. If you have an extra ten or
twenty bucks lying around and feel like trying out some new picks and
experimenting with your sound, head over to http://www.v-picks.com/
and take a look. It's a good way to open up tonal doors and still
costs less than other avenues of approach like pedals or amps. It's
cheap enough to not feel bad about if you end up not liking them but
if you do like them you'll probably think it's a bargain and buy more.
My one complaint about them is that I think they should be a little
longer, but that's just me.
Honestly, I can't say more than that about them. They offer a
different flavor of your own playing for about $4.00. What's not to
like about that?
-Pappy
always preferable of course, but sometimes they just aren't available.
You reach out and grab coins, bread-bag enclosures, random pieces of
plastic, etc. etc.
In my personal experience you either keep doing that or get a little
more organized. I keep a pick in between the strings of my guitars
and the guitars in a room away from little hands that love to play
guitar and especially take the picks. I also have a little bucket
that I throw any extra picks because occasionally they DO go missing
and it's nice to be able to just reach in and grab a new one.
With all that being said, I probably couldn't justify spending more
than a quarter on a pick when I was first playing, but now I think I
could. And I've been experimenting with picks left and right. My old
picking technique was using my thumb, index and middle finger to
properly secure the pick (it never went someplace I didn't want it to)
but as a result there was more motion and more exertion required to
make the pick do the exact same thing as just using your thumb and
index finger. So I got used to using just the thumb and index and
became a fan of the Ibanez Paul Gilbert pick (which is about the same
width but a bit shorter than a normal pick), but as my playing style
has veered more and more into hybrid picking, I've been finding it
more comfortable to use a normal sized pick. I could use smaller
ones, but it's just a little more comfortable with a longer pick.
Vinnie over at V-Picks sent me a couple of bags of picks to try out
and review and I've been using them off and on for about a month,
going back to my old favorite pick (a plain old Dunlop .73mm) and then
back to the V-Picks, trying to see how important getting used to a
pick is, trying to see how hard it is to go back to plain-jane picks,
etc.
I dumped out the bags on my dining room table and immediately three of
them jumped out at me. One was a light green and that was a glow in
the dark pick. I strongly believe that more things need to be glow in
the dark. Not only is it cool but it just makes SENSE. No more
getting picks lost on a dark stage or playing in a dark room. It's a
great thing that far more companies (of multiple products) need to
adopt.
Another was a ruby red one which just looks cool. Most V-Picks are
clear and easy to lose on the ground unless you turn on every light
and try to get it to bounce off the pick, but the glow in the dark one
will never get lost and the ruby red one... well, hopefully you aren't
playing on a dark stage and drop it. It still LOOKS really cool.
The third is called the Dimension and it is 4.10mm thick. That's a
far cry my flexible .73 Dunlop but it stood out visually and it turns
out, it's one of my favorites of the bunch. I wouldn't try to put it
between the strings for storage since it's so close in thickness to a
pebble, but it's oddly comfortable. I never expected a pick so thick
would be but immediately noticed the thickness made me have less
strain in the hand when I played. It made me think that a pick that
is a whopping 11.85mm thick (like a rock almost) that V-Picks ALSO
supplies and calls "Insanity" (a truer name was never uttered) would
be pretty comfortable too.
It's an interesting revelation.
Anyway, reviewing picks can be pretty tricky. Some people love the
Jazz III for instance and say it's the best pick in the world while I
beg to differ. It's all very subjective but luckily V-Picks gave me
an out. The bag that the picks come in include a background piece of
paper that says three things:
"Lightning fast"
"Incredible Tone Improvement"
"Secure Grip"
Armed with these statements, reviewing the picks becomes a TON easier
because I can nail down specific things to talk about. So let's go
down the list:
Lightning Fast: All but one of the picks supplied (the one being the
unbuffed Dimension pick) are incredibly fast going from string to
string. The smooth surface lets the picks just slide from string to
string with little to no resistance which is always a good thing. Not
hearing any extraneous noise is one quality you want in your pick
after all.
They didn't necessarily make me a faster PLAYER though. I didn't
expect it to. Things like speed, rhythm, chops and all that come down
to practice more than it comes down to actual gear. But with the
smoothness of string to string movement I could see it NOT hindering
any movement and letting you move as quickly as you can.
The important thing here is that it's not holding you back.
Incredible Tone Improvement: Different picks create different tones.
That's a given. To say that something drastically improves your tone
is a kind of statement that sounds good and certainly looks good when
you see it, but tone is always subjective and where the bright and
crisp notes give you a ton of clarity and this might be what you want,
there's certainly some people that may think it's not what they want.
Or at least not what they want all the time.
While I have no real problem using V-Picks, I like the versatility of
the .73mm. It allows for a ton of individual tone shaping based one
where and how you hold it. Incorporating your middle finger and
bending it, for example, strengthens the pick and lessens it's level
of flex making it feel like a thicker, more substantial pick, where
V-Picks are very sturdy feeling picks. Some of them have a little
flex, true, but most are pretty stiff and left me having to come up
with new ways to create softer sounds (usually by bending my wrist and
slowing down attack).
In the end I would say that there is a DIFFERENT tone with incredible
articulation and a very bright sound. Notes stand out significantly
more when played with V-Picks and that could be a very good thing for
you. Personally, I could see myself using these quite a bit in band
settings but not ALL the time because sometimes you need something
else. People that look at their picks as vessels for different tones
are sure to love these picks for different applications, but I doubt
they'll replace the player's whole arsenal. People that play with one
pick and one pick only may find that they love V-Picks and be
perfectly satisfied. The only way to know for sure is to try them
out.
Secure Grip: This is kind of a big deal. If you look around there
are products left and right that are supposed to help you with
grippage, help you reduce the number of picks you lose when you play
just a little too hard and it goes flying across the stage or room.
There are straps, hole punchers, sand paper, tape, goo, even Gorilla
Snot and these are all promising the same thing: that you won't have
to worry about dropping your pick.
When you pick up a V-Pick it doesn't necessarily feel like you'll have
a secure grip on it. There's no goo, it's not rough, etc. but as you
play you begin to see that you don't have a hard time keeping control
of it. I did notice that when playing with my index and thumb it did
have a tendency to rotate a bit, but the grip was secure and I'm sure
that the reason it rotated was because of the angle the strings were
at when I hit them. The grip is secure, no worries.
Those are the three bullet points provided by V-Picks and for the most
part they're as dead on as you can get with a little bit of
salesmanship thrown in for good measure. Not so much that the points
are lost or ridiculous, just enough to pique your interest.
But let's talk about price.Prices vary wildly from $4.00 to $30.00 but
the $30.00 one is the Insanity pick and frankly, for that much
material, I don't blame him for the cost. If you have an extra ten or
twenty bucks lying around and feel like trying out some new picks and
experimenting with your sound, head over to http://www.v-picks.com/
and take a look. It's a good way to open up tonal doors and still
costs less than other avenues of approach like pedals or amps. It's
cheap enough to not feel bad about if you end up not liking them but
if you do like them you'll probably think it's a bargain and buy more.
My one complaint about them is that I think they should be a little
longer, but that's just me.
Honestly, I can't say more than that about them. They offer a
different flavor of your own playing for about $4.00. What's not to
like about that?
-Pappy
Monday, January 18, 2010
Tim Armstrong Gretsch Electromatic
The Gretsch Electromatics are heralded not only here but in many other
places as being the best bang for the buck. They are solid guitars
with quality appointments at prices that allow just about anyone to
pick them up.
Some things keep coming up though, like why did Gretsch put full-sized
humbuckers in the 5120 and how easily can they be swapped out to more
traditional Filtertrons (of whatever variety)? What tuners would be a
direct drop in replacement? What bridge would make for a good swap?
Etc.
Well, Joe Carducci and the guys at Gretsch have answered the requests
of many Gretsch enthusiasts in a BIG way. For years now I've been
sending Joe emails asking how come there isn't a 17" Electromatic? It
used to be that the smaller the guitar got, the cheaper it was for
whatever reasons. Maybe just the fact that less wood is used. In any
case, if you wanted budget, you ended up with a smaller guitar. But
in this day and age, surely you can make a budget BIG guitar and sell
it for a fair price, right?
The answer is yes.
And build one they did.
Gretsch unveiled the Tim Armstrong Electromatic, a 17" clone of a
Baldwin-era Country Club that Tim is most commonly associated with.
He spray painted his and flipped it around to accommodate his
left-handed playing and over the years has managed to give his quite
the beating. Now he doesn't have to worry about it though, as he had
first pick of the new Electromatics and reports say he's very happy
with it (though honestly, if a guitar company made a guitar for you,
you'd probably be happy too). It DOES retail a bit high, but only in
comparison to smaller guitars with lesser appointments. It's a few
hundred more than a 5120 for instance. At the same price as this
though you can probably find a used 6118T (the sleeper of the 16"
Gretsch models and every bit as good as any 6120 you could shake a
stick at) but 16 inches is 16 inches and that one inch difference
between a 6118 and a Country Club makes for HUGE sonic difference so
it's still a bargain.
This really blurs the line between pro line Gretsch guitars and their
Electromatic counterparts.
But enough of my take on the news that this guitar is out, how does it play?
Amazingly is the answer. It has a thicker top than a pro line Gretsch
but this is just as much to help with the rock that is was intended
for or at least the rock that it's used for by Armstrong and as a
result you can REALLY lean in on it and it takes your attack with
ease. The one I played had virtually ZERO fret buzz no matter how
hard I hit it and the action was at a reasonable level and it was
still easy to play. As Gretsch guitars get more expensive in some
cases and more out of my personal reach, I'm looking more and more at
the Electromatic line and realizing just how top thickness is a
REAL issue (or IS it?) or pickup spacing and size etc. etc. and
honestly, I wasn't tempted too much by the 5120. The only Electro I
was ever interested in with any level of seriousness was the
Stump-O-Matic Corvette but now... This is looking more and more like
the only 17" Gretsch I'll be able to afford so it's the one that I
have my eye on. I don't feel too bad about settling on this one since
it's such a cool guitar anyway.
For more information, check it out here:
http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/index.php?product=G5191BK&cat1=&cat2=&q=&st=1
-Pappy
places as being the best bang for the buck. They are solid guitars
with quality appointments at prices that allow just about anyone to
pick them up.
Some things keep coming up though, like why did Gretsch put full-sized
humbuckers in the 5120 and how easily can they be swapped out to more
traditional Filtertrons (of whatever variety)? What tuners would be a
direct drop in replacement? What bridge would make for a good swap?
Etc.
Well, Joe Carducci and the guys at Gretsch have answered the requests
of many Gretsch enthusiasts in a BIG way. For years now I've been
sending Joe emails asking how come there isn't a 17" Electromatic? It
used to be that the smaller the guitar got, the cheaper it was for
whatever reasons. Maybe just the fact that less wood is used. In any
case, if you wanted budget, you ended up with a smaller guitar. But
in this day and age, surely you can make a budget BIG guitar and sell
it for a fair price, right?
The answer is yes.
And build one they did.
Gretsch unveiled the Tim Armstrong Electromatic, a 17" clone of a
Baldwin-era Country Club that Tim is most commonly associated with.
He spray painted his and flipped it around to accommodate his
left-handed playing and over the years has managed to give his quite
the beating. Now he doesn't have to worry about it though, as he had
first pick of the new Electromatics and reports say he's very happy
with it (though honestly, if a guitar company made a guitar for you,
you'd probably be happy too). It DOES retail a bit high, but only in
comparison to smaller guitars with lesser appointments. It's a few
hundred more than a 5120 for instance. At the same price as this
though you can probably find a used 6118T (the sleeper of the 16"
Gretsch models and every bit as good as any 6120 you could shake a
stick at) but 16 inches is 16 inches and that one inch difference
between a 6118 and a Country Club makes for HUGE sonic difference so
it's still a bargain.
This really blurs the line between pro line Gretsch guitars and their
Electromatic counterparts.
But enough of my take on the news that this guitar is out, how does it play?
Amazingly is the answer. It has a thicker top than a pro line Gretsch
but this is just as much to help with the rock that is was intended
for or at least the rock that it's used for by Armstrong and as a
result you can REALLY lean in on it and it takes your attack with
ease. The one I played had virtually ZERO fret buzz no matter how
hard I hit it and the action was at a reasonable level and it was
still easy to play. As Gretsch guitars get more expensive in some
cases and more out of my personal reach, I'm looking more and more at
the Electromatic line and realizing just how top thickness is a
REAL issue (or IS it?) or pickup spacing and size etc. etc. and
honestly, I wasn't tempted too much by the 5120. The only Electro I
was ever interested in with any level of seriousness was the
Stump-O-Matic Corvette but now... This is looking more and more like
the only 17" Gretsch I'll be able to afford so it's the one that I
have my eye on. I don't feel too bad about settling on this one since
it's such a cool guitar anyway.
For more information, check it out here:
http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/index.php?product=G5191BK&cat1=&cat2=&q=&st=1
-Pappy
Friday, January 15, 2010
Top Guitarist
Top Chef is a show that I love. I think it’s brilliant. While it’s true that television is choking on the excessive amount of reality television, Top Chef stands above those with understandable challenges that almost always let the contestants shine as bright as they want to, and judges that know what they’re talking about.
Watching it, I have to wonder why no Top Guitarist? It seems like there would be some audience for it. After all, how many people in the world play guitar? A lot. And if they can make a show where the entire competition is a cappella, surely they can make a guitar competition. Obviously less people are into guitar playing than singing, but still, there’s a potential for a big audience.
So here’s what I’m picturing: A group of seventeen to twenty guitarists arrive with one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar and an amp that is 1X12 and fifteen watts MAXIMUM. Each week they are issued challenges that vary from making the most of five notes in a soulful way, to creating their own turnaround in a particular key, to composing a song in different genres and maybe even coaxing the best tone from the same gear available.
And who would be the judges? You would need someone that’s good technically like Steve Vai, someone based heavily in blues or soul like Buddy Guy, and a complete music buff that plays guitar like perhaps Greg Koch. Then a fourth guest judge every week.
I would watch it.
Or how about a weekly battle of the bands, done bracket style? Two bands per episode playing three or four songs each and then voted on (because America loves voting on TV), and then it will go to semi finals and then finals, and then the final two bands will play. I would watch that too. I’m interested in MUSIC, not just singers, after all so both of these ideas sound INCREDIBLY intriguing to me.
I think they’re winning ideas, but of course, I’m more than a little biased.
-Pappy
Watching it, I have to wonder why no Top Guitarist? It seems like there would be some audience for it. After all, how many people in the world play guitar? A lot. And if they can make a show where the entire competition is a cappella, surely they can make a guitar competition. Obviously less people are into guitar playing than singing, but still, there’s a potential for a big audience.
So here’s what I’m picturing: A group of seventeen to twenty guitarists arrive with one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar and an amp that is 1X12 and fifteen watts MAXIMUM. Each week they are issued challenges that vary from making the most of five notes in a soulful way, to creating their own turnaround in a particular key, to composing a song in different genres and maybe even coaxing the best tone from the same gear available.
And who would be the judges? You would need someone that’s good technically like Steve Vai, someone based heavily in blues or soul like Buddy Guy, and a complete music buff that plays guitar like perhaps Greg Koch. Then a fourth guest judge every week.
I would watch it.
Or how about a weekly battle of the bands, done bracket style? Two bands per episode playing three or four songs each and then voted on (because America loves voting on TV), and then it will go to semi finals and then finals, and then the final two bands will play. I would watch that too. I’m interested in MUSIC, not just singers, after all so both of these ideas sound INCREDIBLY intriguing to me.
I think they’re winning ideas, but of course, I’m more than a little biased.
-Pappy
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pristine Vintage Guitars
Recently more and more cases of guitars being found under beds and in closets (I’ve never actually seen this happen and have asked all of my relatives if they have any guitars kicking around just in case someone has an old Airline or something stashed away from when they tried to learn as kids) and they are popping up for sale at the usual places like eBay, Craig’s List, etc. and the oddest thing is happening:
They aren’t selling for much.
Well, I should qualify that. If you have a vintage guitar of any recognizable name from a desirable year it will sell for a ton of money BUT these aren’t going for as much as you think they would or as much as similar guitars from the same era that are beat to death are going for.
It’s amazing to me. Let’s think it over in simple terms. When you were a kid you had toys, right? And of these toys you had your favorites and they would be played with the most and these are the ones that really showed their age or showed a great amount of wear. These were the toys that looked beat. In comparison the toy your grandmother bought at a drug store two miles down the road on your birthday because she forgot to buy one before coming down still looks brand new.
Obviously the better toy is the one that looks bad.
This logic is being extended to guitars and I think it’s fascinating. Where not so long ago “pristine” and “mint” were words being thrown around in descriptions of an individual’s holy grail guitar, we now see buyers being more leery of pristine guitars.
And why?
Because if they were good they would be played and if they were really good they would be played often and wear would be there. You would see fingerboard markings and forearm wear. You would see pick scratches and lacquer checking.
You would see a dog, basically.
Now, this is mainly secluded to the internet.
Obviously if you had a cherry ’62 Strat pulled out from under a counter in front of you and were allowed to play it you would be able to tell if it was a dog play-wise or not and the finish probably wouldn’t come into play at all (until it’s time to pay and then “I don’t know about that price, this doesn’t look mint to ME,”) and that’s how it should be when in person.
And I’m not totally against the idea of a closet classic (to take the term from Fender) is a warning flag online. It could very well be that an owner just never learned to play guitar and forgot about it. There are certainly legitimate circumstances that would allow for a guitar to sit forgotten and lonely waiting for a player to come along and realize it’s a good toy and worthy of being played so often that it looks like a dog. Personally though, if I’m in the market to spend the money on a vintage guitar and it was online from a place that I don’t exactly trust, then I would really try to play it first. That’s common sense and like in every situation on earth, common sense should be followed.
But watch out all the same.
-Pappy
They aren’t selling for much.
Well, I should qualify that. If you have a vintage guitar of any recognizable name from a desirable year it will sell for a ton of money BUT these aren’t going for as much as you think they would or as much as similar guitars from the same era that are beat to death are going for.
It’s amazing to me. Let’s think it over in simple terms. When you were a kid you had toys, right? And of these toys you had your favorites and they would be played with the most and these are the ones that really showed their age or showed a great amount of wear. These were the toys that looked beat. In comparison the toy your grandmother bought at a drug store two miles down the road on your birthday because she forgot to buy one before coming down still looks brand new.
Obviously the better toy is the one that looks bad.
This logic is being extended to guitars and I think it’s fascinating. Where not so long ago “pristine” and “mint” were words being thrown around in descriptions of an individual’s holy grail guitar, we now see buyers being more leery of pristine guitars.
And why?
Because if they were good they would be played and if they were really good they would be played often and wear would be there. You would see fingerboard markings and forearm wear. You would see pick scratches and lacquer checking.
You would see a dog, basically.
Now, this is mainly secluded to the internet.
Obviously if you had a cherry ’62 Strat pulled out from under a counter in front of you and were allowed to play it you would be able to tell if it was a dog play-wise or not and the finish probably wouldn’t come into play at all (until it’s time to pay and then “I don’t know about that price, this doesn’t look mint to ME,”) and that’s how it should be when in person.
And I’m not totally against the idea of a closet classic (to take the term from Fender) is a warning flag online. It could very well be that an owner just never learned to play guitar and forgot about it. There are certainly legitimate circumstances that would allow for a guitar to sit forgotten and lonely waiting for a player to come along and realize it’s a good toy and worthy of being played so often that it looks like a dog. Personally though, if I’m in the market to spend the money on a vintage guitar and it was online from a place that I don’t exactly trust, then I would really try to play it first. That’s common sense and like in every situation on earth, common sense should be followed.
But watch out all the same.
-Pappy
Monday, January 11, 2010
Fender American Standard
I always think it’s interesting when companies say they’ve been listening to the customers, keeping their ears to the ground, so to speak. To me, you see companies like Z Vex that say something like “we make what WE want and hopefully other people want them too,” and this seems the most natural. Tavo Vega wanted the front end of a Roland Space Echo so he made it and it was more successful than he thought possible.
But what would have happened if Tavo had put out feelers and asked the population “hey, what do you think of this? What do YOU want?” and then maybe adjust his build style or end goal to satisfy the masses? I can’t imagine that it would have turned out the same both in build quality and in success. I blame individuals, frankly. I know what I want personally as I’m sure you do too, but if we were put in a room and asked by a pedal builder what we want, we may very well say different things and then he’ll be forced to choose a side or try to compromise and when it comes to building, compromise never seems like a REALLY good idea.
Anyway, Fender released a statement about the new American Standard Strats and Teles and they look like they have potential. The Tele in particular comes with a three (brass) saddle bridge with strings through the alder body and they say they took some cues from the Highway One series.
The Highway One series is pretty cool in my opinion EXCEPT they missed one vital thing and it’s just ONE thing so it’s even more frustrating. They didn’t lacquer the neck. Half of the joy of wearing a guitar through the years is the marks you put on the fretboard. No else on the guitar will you more say “this is what I play.” If you’re a shredder and spend all of your time above fret 12 it will show. If you’re an open chord kind of person that will show too. In the end it has a certain beauty to it, much like a fingerprint. Everyone’s is similar, but everyone’s is just different enough to be completely unique.
So when I read that they took cues from the Highway One series I thought awesome, they fixed the ONE issue that I had with the series and made it something that ends up on my GAS list, but they actually went backward and covered the neck AND the body with poly.
Now I know finish is not important to some people. When I was first playing I didn’t pay attention to what finish I had on my guitar, just what color it was and whether or not I could play easily but having been exposed to more and more guitars I noticed how much cooler worn lacquer guitars look versus worn poly guitars. I have a poly covered Tele. The actual color of the poly is very thin (I think it has quite a bit of clear underneath to fill holes and dimples etc. because it can definitely be felt) and where the wear has come it’s best summed up as “flaky.” It chips and flakes away and has not produced any sort of natural looking wear. Actually it looks like I abuse it with a good amount of fervor but I assure you that’s not the case. I’m a little more rough than the normal Tele owner I guess, but not ridiculously so.
I honestly think I’m not the only one who likes the look of aged lacquer guitars either. There are people that can’t STAND relics and that’s fine. I get that. But those are the same people that say they want to relic theirs the natural way (by playing them) and if they ever want their guitar reliced to look like a vintage Strat or Les Paul it needs to be lacquer.
You can argue back and forth all day long about which finish is better but I think pound for pound if you OFFER any guitarist the choice at the exact same price point, most will choose lacquer. Especially at a low price. They’ll choose this for a variety of reasons whether it be because they want to relic it, or they want to wear it in naturally so that it looks beautiful and its appropriate age in fifty years or that they like the feel of it a little better, whatever the reason, I think if you give the option you’ll see and overwhelming lean toward lacquer.
I’m not crazy here, Fender. If you offered the Highway One with a lacquer neck (and these new Standards with lacquer necks AND bodies) you’ll see just how not crazy I am and you’ll have a solid winner on your hand.
-Pappy
But what would have happened if Tavo had put out feelers and asked the population “hey, what do you think of this? What do YOU want?” and then maybe adjust his build style or end goal to satisfy the masses? I can’t imagine that it would have turned out the same both in build quality and in success. I blame individuals, frankly. I know what I want personally as I’m sure you do too, but if we were put in a room and asked by a pedal builder what we want, we may very well say different things and then he’ll be forced to choose a side or try to compromise and when it comes to building, compromise never seems like a REALLY good idea.
Anyway, Fender released a statement about the new American Standard Strats and Teles and they look like they have potential. The Tele in particular comes with a three (brass) saddle bridge with strings through the alder body and they say they took some cues from the Highway One series.
The Highway One series is pretty cool in my opinion EXCEPT they missed one vital thing and it’s just ONE thing so it’s even more frustrating. They didn’t lacquer the neck. Half of the joy of wearing a guitar through the years is the marks you put on the fretboard. No else on the guitar will you more say “this is what I play.” If you’re a shredder and spend all of your time above fret 12 it will show. If you’re an open chord kind of person that will show too. In the end it has a certain beauty to it, much like a fingerprint. Everyone’s is similar, but everyone’s is just different enough to be completely unique.
So when I read that they took cues from the Highway One series I thought awesome, they fixed the ONE issue that I had with the series and made it something that ends up on my GAS list, but they actually went backward and covered the neck AND the body with poly.
Now I know finish is not important to some people. When I was first playing I didn’t pay attention to what finish I had on my guitar, just what color it was and whether or not I could play easily but having been exposed to more and more guitars I noticed how much cooler worn lacquer guitars look versus worn poly guitars. I have a poly covered Tele. The actual color of the poly is very thin (I think it has quite a bit of clear underneath to fill holes and dimples etc. because it can definitely be felt) and where the wear has come it’s best summed up as “flaky.” It chips and flakes away and has not produced any sort of natural looking wear. Actually it looks like I abuse it with a good amount of fervor but I assure you that’s not the case. I’m a little more rough than the normal Tele owner I guess, but not ridiculously so.
I honestly think I’m not the only one who likes the look of aged lacquer guitars either. There are people that can’t STAND relics and that’s fine. I get that. But those are the same people that say they want to relic theirs the natural way (by playing them) and if they ever want their guitar reliced to look like a vintage Strat or Les Paul it needs to be lacquer.
You can argue back and forth all day long about which finish is better but I think pound for pound if you OFFER any guitarist the choice at the exact same price point, most will choose lacquer. Especially at a low price. They’ll choose this for a variety of reasons whether it be because they want to relic it, or they want to wear it in naturally so that it looks beautiful and its appropriate age in fifty years or that they like the feel of it a little better, whatever the reason, I think if you give the option you’ll see and overwhelming lean toward lacquer.
I’m not crazy here, Fender. If you offered the Highway One with a lacquer neck (and these new Standards with lacquer necks AND bodies) you’ll see just how not crazy I am and you’ll have a solid winner on your hand.
-Pappy
Friday, January 8, 2010
AFI "Crash Love"
AFI (which stands for A Fire Inside in case you were wondering) is a band that started out like any other California-sounding punk band and then shifted radically into a more dark, gloomy, electronic punk genre. They could be described as what would happen if Trent Reznor had a hyperactive little brother that made a band.They’re the Audiovent of Nine Inch Nails if you follow me (and if not, Audiovent is the band formed by the little brothers of lead singer AND guitarist of the band Incubus).
Their album The Art of Drowning is chock-full of catchy hooks and doom and gloom laced with electronic beats here and there and it never left you far from a fist-pumping chorus. It was a great album. Their follow up, Sing the Sorrow, was an album I wasn’t nearly as impressed with and I let the band drop off of my radar. While I let them drop off of MY radar, the rest of the world seemed to pick them up and push songs like Ms. Murder up to pop-culture recognition. For good reason too (it’s a good song).
But it wasn’t until I read that their new album, Crash Love, was a departure from the electronic and the PUNK that AFI is famous for in favor of a straight ahead rock album that I caught a blip on the edge of my screen coming in fast. AFI making a rock album?
Sure enough, they did. Singer Davey Havok has a voice that seemed like it would be good for punk and maybe punk alone. He has a very distinct voice and like all singers with distinctive voices, it’s tough to imagine them doing anything different. You wouldn’t think of Billy Corgan singing country, for instance. But his voice fits the rock genre well.
And not only is his SINGING style good for the album but his lyrics seem more personal, more accessible to a wider audience too. Add to that guitarist Jade Puget’s amazing phrases serving as intros and the building blocks of the songs and you have the recipe for a solid album.
Solid it is too, though it isn’t as exciting as the Art of Drowning (because it’s not as fast but it’s a rock album, not a punk album so I don’t expect anything like that).
One track stands out in a different way though. Where Puget gives most of the songs the base and works with the bass and drums to provide Havok the audio catwalk to show off his vocal work, on the track “End Transmission” Jade stands back letting the bass and drums do the work and injects very clean, almost Edge-like licks into it. When I heard it I thought that this is truly a side of AFI that I’ve never seen before.
The next track, “Too Shy To Scream,” is probably my favorite. It seems to mix Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go” (great song, I don’t care what anyone thinks) and Marilyn Manson’s Beautiful People. There’s a SOLID beat to it that you could picture dancing to but the guitar is heavy and dark. It’s a great mix of two worlds that don’t get together often enough.
And Puget can solo too. The solos fit with the song and while he says that he doesn’t WANT to solo on every song, it’s obvious from listening to the solo or two on this album that he is perfectly capable of writing varied solos that don’t follow a particular pattern and fit the songs perfectly. He has that ability and it’s a rare one. It makes me sad as a guitarist seeing someone who obviously has the skill to do something ignore it. That’s just me though.
Overall, my impression of the album is that it’s a great one to put on your iPod and then put your iPod on shuffle. The whole album consist of songs that are worth keeping on any size media player but listening to them all in one go started to become a bit boring around track ten (of twelve) but if one would pop up and play in the midst of other songs, I actually think they could be enjoyed and appreciated much more. This isn’t exactly a theme album or anything so there’s no NEED to listen to it all from front to back with no breaks but this is the first album I’ve noticed that had a full list of solid songs that cry out to be played amongst other albums and artists. If it were comparable in human terms, this album is the guy who, when you’re all alone with them isn’t the most exciting, but in a group of people always interjects quality conversation at the appropriate times.
It’s a good album and well worth checking out if you’re a rock fan or an AFI fan, but it didn’t floor me and make any top five lists.
-Pappy
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