New Lessons, New Amp, New Post

I'm amped for my new amp.
Vox 4W Class A Tube Amp.
Lovin' it! 

I just love sayin' it!  "Four watt, Class A tube amp."  Sounds like I know what I'm doing, doesn't it?  Hahaha!

For our 19th anniversary, Jeff came through on his promise to buy me a new amp.  He's such a good guy!  I became more and more disenchanted with the Peavey Blazer the more I played on it.  My teacher John, played around with it when I took it in with me and he concluded it was just a cheap amp.  Being as how it was ten years old in September, that doesn't surprise me.  We spent a good deal of money on the guitar and at that time knew even less about amps than we know today.  But the Blazer wasn't giving me consistent sound and it has too many knobs for somebody like me.  The one good thing about the Blazer is that it has a "headphone" connection that the Vox does not have.  Sometimes those headphones comes in handy.

So Jeff and I headed up to Hanahan to see Michael Davis at Ye Olde Music shop.  www.yeoldemusicshop.com   John had told me what a nice guy he was and that to get what you really want, that's the place to go in the Chucktown area.  Michael knew exactly what I was looking for and though he had to order it, I got it in a few days for a great price.  He even threw in a DVD lesson and some picks!  He's got some nice guitars up there.  (pant-pant-drool)  But he's right--I've already got a nice guitar!

So now I'm set, right?   I've been studying major and minor scales, trying to pick them faster, all with the intent of teaching me how to play lead guitar.  John and I tried this a while ago, but I'm just not hearing it.  And I told John so.  "That's okay," he said.  "I didn't expect you to, yet.  You will, though.  In time."

(sigh)  All right.  Whatever.  He's trying so hard to make a "real" musician out of me.

In the meantime, I watched Michael's DVD lesson and he had some pretty good tips on rhythm, stated in a way that made sense to me.  You may remember that's one of my weak spots.  And he taught a section of "finger picking."  One of the songs was "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas.  Man, I just did not get it!  I asked him about it when I went to pick up the amp and he wrote it down for me.  It sounds so pretty, and it's one of the goals I had set out to master, but it "plum eluded me," as Jed Clampett would say.

I started taking hour-long lessons in September.  John and I talked about the new amp (which I took in to show him the next week--he loved it!) and that brought the conversation around to Michael, the shop and the DVD lesson.  So we went directly into a lesson on finger picking with an exercise to practice.  That gave me a better chance of success because there was no hint of "Dust in the Wind" in what I was doing to Michael's lesson.  Hahaha!!  Sorry, dude.  Hahahaha!!

Eventually I got it and with a little warm-up, I can play it pretty well.  And isn't that what's been happening all year?  I think John's completely over-reaching my skill level and voila!  On the third day or so of practice, I start getting it.  It's encouraging.

For now, during breaks in the picking lesson, I continue practicing all my songs.  I have a great time with AC/DC's "Hell's Bells"--that's so much fun--and Eric Clapton's "Cocaine."  I easily get the chords on "Cocaine" but I still lack any filler skills.  As in, chunka-chunka.

Gotta love the chunka-chunka!

Gettin' Ready to Rock!

"Gettin' Ready to Rock!"

Hahaha!!  Well, I have been practicing about an hour a day and, I must say, my callouses are coming back nicely.  They're visible to the human eye. 

The instructor, John Smith, and I finally stopped playing phone tag and connected yesterday afternoon.  I scheduled my first lesson for next Monday, January 24th, at 11:00 a.m.  I'm really excited now!

I thought today I'd talk about my guitars.  I've been practicing on all three of the playable ones and each one has its pros and cons.  Of course the easiest one--the one with the best action is the electric.  Jeff bought it for me shortly after the attack on the Twin Towers in September, 2001.  I had been fooling around on a Peavey solid body that weighed a good twenty-five, thirty pounds.  Man, that thing was heavy! It belonged to our neighbor, Tom, who was kind enough to loan it to me.

We were fortunate enough to have a new Sam Ash music store open on Lee Road in Orlando not too far down I-4 from our home in Seminole County.  That place is awesome!  It brings a smile to my face even now.  It's like a huge toy store for musicians.  I forget now what we had originally gone there for, but we always looked at the electric guitars.  I never really thought I'd have one of my own,  and that day, for whatever reason, Jeff said, "I think we oughta buy you an electric guitar."



Gibson Epiphone SG

 My jaw literally dropped which was followed by the grin of a lifetime which lasted about a month.  Hahaha!!  We picked out a red, Gibson Epiphone SG, a small Peavey amp (please don't ask for specs, I have no idea--it's small) and a hard carrying case.  I'm tellin' you, I was a grinnin' fool!

As you can see, I'm not adept at amp operation.  Jeff, who worked sound for events and football games while he was at Clemson, tried to show me some things about it, but I didn't really get it.  He would have to set it up for me whenever I wanted the music amplified.  I like distortion.  :)  Hahaha!! 

The first song I played was The Star Spangled Banner  which I had been practicing already on the neighbor's hefty Peavey after 9/11.  I played the song tentatively following a few beers at Halloween; better, but not great after fireworks in the cul-de-sac on New Year's Eve, but by the time we came to South Carolina for Independence Day at my mother-in-law's house on Folly Beach, I was ready.  Jeff and our friend, Will, snaked the extension cord out the walkover and I played a slow, but flawless National Anthem. 

Unfortunately, the brisk wind came at us from offshore so the people on the beach couldn't hear it.  Hahaha!!  And then my mother-in-law told us to turn it down.  Hahahaha!!  (Shrug)  It wasn't Jimi Hendrix (or anywhere near) but I was glad I was able to do it.

One of my goals with John Smith is to learn how to operate my amp and be comfortable with it.



Tetomas

 I also play an old Tetomas acoustic which I got for free from another neighbor, Marty, before he and his family moved.  I want to say it's my favorite because it's smaller than the other acoustic, a Fender, but I'm not getting the sound out of it that I get with the Fender.  Go figure.  The neck's a little narrower, so it's easier to reach across and it's got good action.  Sometimes I get ukelele sounds out of it and I'm not happy with that.  I trimmed my nails.  Hopefully that helps.

I think I'll take the Fender to my first lesson.  It's bigger and the action is just slightly not-as-good as the Tetomas.  It's really helped in the rebuilding of the callouses though.  And the sound is so much fuller.  I got it from a pawn shop in Fern Park.  There was a rattlesnake rattle inside it which I didn't notice till I'd bought it.  Someone told me that's a common tool for bluegrass musicians.  (Shrug)  What the heck did I know?  I took it out.  That was good practice for when I drop my picks inside it.  Talk about aggravating!



Pawnshop Fender

 Something else I didn't notice was a small crack in the neck.  I took it down to the guys at Lyrical Lumber, a guitar repair shop in Maitland, and they fixed me right up.  All these guitars hold a tune incredibly well.  Even my nephew has been impressed.

And so I've been practicing.  Mostly three-chord songs; a lot of John Prine--C, G, D, A with a little Em slipped in for good measure.  I have trouble with the F in That's the Way That the World Goes Round, but on a good day I've mostly got Dear Abby, Please Don't Bury Me, and Illegal Smile.  Hahaha!  Those crazy '70s, eh?  Even Jeff says I do a pretty good Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd--including the picked part.

There are a bunch of others I practice.  But I'm not kidding myself.  I stink!  I need these lessons.  Not for any kind of professional aspirations.  That's insane.  I would like to be able to pick up a guitar at a party, though, and have some fun with it.  And just be able to play for myself.  I find it to be a real stress reliever.  Especially when I screw up and start laughing at myself.  And that's a lot.

Besides the operation of my amp, here are the goals I have written down for my lessons:

• Picking
• Rhythm (as in, I need some)
• Blues progressions
• Bar chords

Six days.  Ready or not.  Gonna be fun!