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Any classicals amongst us? and misc ramble


ksdaddy

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I love classical guitars but don't ever play classical music. I think they sound wonderful and a good comfy one is a joy to hold and make music on.

 

But.... Amazing how people get preconcieved notions and it spills over into their guitar playing styles. My father never owned an electric in his life (that I know of) and if I handed him an electric he would automatically try to play some unknown fast single note lead run. I don't even think HE knew what he was trying to play, but that's what one does when one plays electric guitar, right??

 

Hmmm...

 

I have a customer, known him since he was a snot nosed kid in the mid 80s with a Harmony Flying V. He's now a fairly successful route sales guy and is single/shacking up w/female with her own income, so he buys a lot of guitar stuff. In the past year I've customized about 4 Strats for him, all the same.... still don't know exactly why that is. But I am just enough of a whore to do it for the money even though I grumble the whole time, muttering about Leo Fender rolling over in his grave.

 

So I've also done a couple Teles for him and he tells tales of how he has to defend his choice of an occasional Tele because everyone (including him apparently) thinks it's a country guitar and nothing else. At which point I remind him of Stairway to Heaven, Purple Haze, James Burton, Roy Buchanan, Albert Collins, all the while clutching the screwdriver and fighting the urge to stab him in the neck.

 

If he picks up an acoustic at my house he starts strumming a C chord with alternating bass and stomping his foot like he was on Hee Haw.

 

Fight the urge. Don't hurt the poor misguided idiot.

 

I've got 4 classicals here and if anyone picks one up, they jump straight into their version of Classical Gas, then when they screw it all up, they set the guitar down and burst out laughing, like a classical is a one trick pony.

 

I'm a little offended by that attitude.

 

So if I were to pick up a round shouldered SJ I'd have to play Lovesick Blues?

 

That's just as silly.

 

Guitars are so very versatile and those that do not recognize them as such run the risk of missing out on some wonderful experiences. I'm not a good guitar player in the sense that... well, maybe if I'm in a jazzy mood I can noodle around and make you believe I know what I'm doing. I'm just rolling around in my own musical filth is all! Likewise if I'm in a surf mood, I might be able to rip off an old Ventures record note for note. Ditto for Delta blues. But that doesn't make me a good guitar player. A good player can switch off, play many styles and different songs at the proverbial drop of a hat. I can't do that; I go with what I'm in the mood to play at that moment. Some days I look at a guitar and don't remember exactly why it has strings on it. I try to tell myslef it's early dementia but truth is I just can't turn my playing on and off. When I am feeling good about playing one of the rules I break regularly is the notion that a certain style of music must be played on a specific guitar just because that's the way it's been.

 

Poop. Poop on that. Poop long and hard on it and scream while you're at it to draw attention to the fact that you're pooping on it.

 

I watched a video of Roy Buchanan play some of the smoothest jazz ever on his '53 Telecaster.

 

I heard Willie spank the living crap out of Trigger doing "Whiskey River". Sure didn't sound like Classical Gas to me.

 

Point is, it's what's in your head, your heart, and your hands. The guitar is just a tool. We spend a lot of cash making sure we have pretty tools and God bless us for amassing, hoarding, and bragging about what we've got.

 

Just don't fall into the narrow minded trap that I have seen in too many people. Have fun. Play. Make music. Screw what anyone says; if you want to play AC-DC on your J45 then godspeed my brother.

 

I'm off to find my Singing Nun 45 and if I can learn enough French maybe I'll play "Dominique" on my Gretsch with some slapback echo.

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Great rant ks....

 

I don't let the type of guitar I am playing dictate what music I play on it. I play fingerstyle on my Strat and power chords on my AJ if I want. I am constantly going against others advice and put light gauge strings on my Advanced Jumbo to play fingerstyle which is what I play most of the time. I switch between my Taylor and Gibson as to which is standard tuned and which is in DADGAD or Open G or Drop D depending on my mood. I had a classical for several years and only played fingerstyle on it but not really much classical.

 

Play what you want and enjoy is what I say..... =P~

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My Gibson F-25 is a steel stringer with the dimensions of a classical guiutar, 2" wide nut and a flat, 12 fret neck. It plays like a classical but sounds steel. I play all kinds of stuff on it, strum, fingerpicking, classical pieces, jazz,country, folk,rock and just about anything that I can figure out. I think it's the best of at least both , if not more, worlds.

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Assuming certain types of guit tars can only play certain types of music as well as assuming certain types of music can only played on certain types of guit tars is just plain youthful.... or not so youthful ignernts. It's the same type of ignernts that assumes fiddle and violin are different instruments.

 

Revel in you superiority and do the dance when he leaves.

:-s/

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I guess I'm at least partially guilty as charged above in the original post. When I pick up an archtop I go straight for major 7th and minor 6th "jazz" chords. When I pick up my 345 I go straight for 7th and 9th "blues" chords. With the classical I go straight for fingerstyle "C", "E"and "F" voicings. So I guess it's Rock & Roll chords on the L.P.

 

I do believe that certain type guitars are best suited for specific styles of music, and as a working musician, that IS why I have a variety of types of guitars. With my regular band for instance, during the electric sets I use the 345 for the bluesy stuff and the L-5 for the jazzy stuff. On our acoustic sets I'll play the classical on songs like "Girl From Ipanema" and "Over The Rainbow" where I need to get around the neck with melody-over-chord fingerstyle, but I'll play the L-7 for everything else. For guitar-player-for-hire and recording gigs I can pull out whatever I think will sound (and play) best for the call. Although I will use only one guitar for a rehearsal or jam, at home I keep the L-7 and the classical out to grab for practicing and plunking.

 

 

Is that so bad..................................................

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Brings to mind a conversation with a salesman in Austin a few years ago. Had my eye on the new J190 cutaway acoustic for some time and saw one in Guitar Center and tried it out. He knew me and the style of music we play and said to me 'You don't want that, do you? It's a fusion acoustic.' Well, I thought it looked like a nice acoustic for my kind of playing and even had controls on the front, which I am very partial to. I said to him 'You mean you can only play jazz or fusion on this thing?' while I was fingerpicking one of my favorite tunes on it. I said 'Sounds like a country rock guitar to me'...he proceeded to explain to me that it was too thin, suited for jazz, the neck wouldn't be right blah blah blah. The only reason I didn't buy it is because it WAS too thin and the tone was very shallow unamplified. I loved the looks of that guitar but the sound didn't suit me. The J190 just looks like country rock to me. Since then I've seen Lucinda Williams play one, Marty Stuart, Travis Tritt, and Elvis Costello. Guitar salespeople are very often guilty of stereotyping guitar uniformity. I think if you like the guitar, it suits you, gives you the sound you want, and you like the way it looks and feels, you can play anything you want to on it from classical to death metal. I buy guitars for their tone and playability first, then opt for the finish/look that suits my style.

 

The same goes for music. How can you be a true musician (or session player) if you say 'I hate country music'. That's like a chef at Chez Marceaux saying 'I don't make Spanish omelettes.'

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The first two guitars I owned were classicals. I think I played one for about seven years before I went on to steel string acoustics. I've never owned an electric and have only tinkered around on one a couple times. I still have a Japanese Bruno Ventura classic that I bought in '69 but never really play it what with my SJ-200 and J-45 staring at me. I can honestly say, however, that I can play just as miserably on steel or nylon and have just as much fun!!

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When I am recording, I play each part on several different guitars and then test all the blends. It can easily happen that a folk tune gets finger picked on an archtop and a tele does the lead - or any other strange combination you can imagine.

 

My old classical guitar, which I sadly sold like an idiot, was a Guild Mark II from the 1960s - it was so versatile I was able to play just about anything on it - including the cliche Willie Nelson leads with the chromatic transitions. Funny, it is always Willie I think of when I see a classical guitar.

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Of course you all realize we just blew the perfect excuse to buy more guitars.

 

I need an SG to play Rock.

I need a J-45 to play Blues.

I need a flynig V to play Metal.

I need a Hummingbird to play Country.

I need a 335 to play Jazz and so on.

 

So you see in order to be a better guitar player, I must buy more guitars!

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Great rant KSD.

 

I have never played a classical guitar. But I do love the sound of a nylon strung acoustic - ref EC Unplugged.

 

I regularly fiddle around with Back in Black, Cold Hard ***** (Jet), Hammer To Fall and others on the SWD. Another song I learned to play along to years ago on my strat is La Tristessa by The Manic Street Preachers which has a neat little lead part to it which I like to play as a bit of a warm up. It's more of a challenge on the SWD but I love to do it.

 

The problem is that the guitar in your hand is perceived to be an extension of your character. So if you're playing a Les Paul you are loud and in your face, a J-45 you will be one who finds pleasure in quality etc. etc.

 

It's the same as driving a car especially when some young thrusting bloke is tailgating in his new BMW - he's a w*nker - but outside of his car he could be just an ordinary bloke. - could be a GnR fan for all I know!:-s

 

Enjoy whatever you play, drive, eat etc.

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I was listening to one of my country stations a couple years ago. Some new fellow.. Dirks Bentley, maybe???. was playing something new and I thought to myself, "That sounds a bit like a Beatles guit tar." Sure enough, a week later in some acoustic guit tar mag, I read he picked up a Casino, liked the sound and has been playing ever since. Casino = Rock and roll? I think not.

 

Heard a fellow at a show in Branson. He was a long time musican and down right respectable guit tar picker. His last song, he played an oldie from the 60's. Brought out his blue Gibson 335. THAT was the C&W sound of my youth. Gibson 335 = Jazz... I think not. There were a lot of 335s and 335like objects being played in Naishville and Bakersfield back then.

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