Steven Lister Posted August 27, 2008 Author Share Posted August 27, 2008 Axe is everywhere -- magazines, forums, live -- no illusions here that my dislike of the term is shared. Only trying to point out that its use detracts from the aesthetic that most music/musicians labor to produce. Seems to be maybe even more popular b/c the groupie types think it makes their comments sound like they are "in" with the scene. But it doesn't fit most music scenes. Most certainly (as I stated) any 'live' compliments are truly appreciated. I've always interpreted the term like this --- your instrument is the "axe" with which you are cutting away the bonds of illusion' date=' ignorance and and misery to free the higher truths and joy within you and your listeners. It's all in how you choose your metaphors --- metaphysically speaking, that is![/quote']Insightful. If only that was the popular understanding of the term in a non-slang way, maybe I could warm to it. Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Steven: Good job baring your soul. Must be a blues thing. OK, we won't call YOUR guitar an axe, we'll just call the other guitars axes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric m Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 So....do you have any pictures of your axe ??? lmfao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layboomo Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 So....do you have any pictures of your axe ???lmfao No...but he has pictures of his guitar! All kiding aside I understand where your coming from Steven...."Lucille" has to be the best name of a guitar ever along those lines....if BB had just called her an axe it just wouldn't be the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric m Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 hi, I just bought an 07 Firebird studio...(serious GAS attack...I just went with it..) It kinda looks like an axe or at least somekinda medieval two-handed weapon....that being said...it does not detract from my playing enjoyment at all....we all need more callouses...not just on the finger tips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 I hate guit-fiddle. more than axe axe .. just seems kind tryin to be hip. I do note that people will say.. how's your paul.. so like porsche.. some guitars have made themselves a reputation of thier own, beyond just being a guitar. although one guy calls my sheraton 'furniture'.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 'axe' has been in use for so long I doubt that anybody is going to be able to change it... so if it peeves you that much you're in a lot of trouble, pal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PP_CS336 Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 ...people stop calling my Epiphone LP an axe!Blues players pour heart and soul into breathing life into their guitars so that they gently weep...' date=' sing the blues..., or cry Mary. Our guitars become an extension of us. They are objects of beauty, of art. In our hands they take on life. Guitars are not a cold steel tool. They are not used to cut down forests..., or as a weapon to wage mayhem and destruction. For headbangers, thrashers, zombie death metal heads..., well maybe then..., but not for blues players. Just ranting here on a personal peev that rears it's ugly head at the end of most sets these days as someone [i']tries to[/i] kindly opine, "Nice axe mister" ...as my soaring heart crashes heavily back down to mother earth. So..., what's your peev? Steven, I kind of get where you're coming from, but maybe the slang word "Axe" for guitar goes along with the other slang musical slang word "Wood Shedding" which relates to a group of players working on a musical piece, honing it here and there until something good comes out of it (that's the way the Rolling Stones get a lot of their songs...Keith or Mick comes in with an idea and the rest of the band plays along, "woodshedding" until a workable piece comes out). Sort of like taking your "axe" out to the "woodshed" to cut wood into something usable. So don't get down about someone calling your guitar an axe. He wasn't being derogatory, as I think Richochet said, he was paying your instrument a compliment. Remember, different strokes for different folks. That person was looking at a guitar from their pespective, as you or anyone has their own. Some of us think of our guitars as works of art (which they are), extensions of ourselves (by the way we express ourselves through them musically), or even as a sort of platonic partner (how many us us guys call our guitars she or even give them a feminine name). So don't get yourself all weirded out because someone calls your guitar a "nice axe". At least he didn't call it a P.O.S. Then I'd be concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheX Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 It has been, is and will be an axe for eons to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbirchett Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 The point I was trying to make has been misunderstood and therefore I have deleted the post. It isn't worth trying to explain and spend time discussing the trivial point. Love, Peace, Rock & Roll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layboomo Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 For crying out loud' date=' he was paying you a compliment. Accept it gracefully and move on. Now when a saxophone player calls his instrument an axe or a horn that is a bit much. Seems like a sax players keep wanting to play something else, guitar or horn. Oh well. Q - What is perfect pitch with a saxophone? A - Dumpster, first try.[/quote'] What are you fishing for a response from Notes??? Your missing the point. Although I don't take offense to the term.....he was fine with the compliment it's just not how he views his instrument....to each his own. The sax thing is just plain dumb....Note's is a sax player who CAN play something else like guitar! If someone handed you a sax could you do the same??? I for one wish that it was easier to play sax lines on guitar...it ain't try it sometime! I love the sound of a good sax...that and a hammond b-3 are 2 of the most ballsy tones on the planet! IMHO..... BTW I'm just joking too.... Q-How do you get a guitar player to turn down? A-Put a chart in front of him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheX Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 I play sax and it ain't easy...at all. A good sax player is hard to find, and they can sound soulfull beyond what most guitarists will ever achieve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custer Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 I name all my guitars and I call them axes, but hey, thats just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johno Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Woody Guthrie called his Gibson a machine and claimed it killed Fascists. His friend Pete Seeger called his banjo a machine and claimed it surrounded hate and forced it to surrender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeymetro Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 People from different places call things different names. I don`t call anything an axe except an axe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Lister Posted August 27, 2008 Author Share Posted August 27, 2008 Woody Guthrie called his Gibson a machine and claimed it killed Fascists.His friend Pete Seeger called his banjo a machine and claimed it surrounded hate and forced it to surrender. Tremendous. Guitars (& banjos) doing their best work. Change starts with awareness. This little debate can effect change. For every time we say _____________ instead of axe' date=' a little piece fades away. Who knows.... Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Obscure Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Would you rather have an AXE or a chunk of firewood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookelputz Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I hateguit-fiddle. more than axe axe .. just seems kind tryin to be hip. Even worse, COUNTRY hip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jook Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Hey Steven ... for what it's worth, I'm with you on this. I never liked "axe", it seems most popular with metal heads (as with "shredding"), and my gut instinct considers it as coming from the same place. That is, people who consider guitar/music as a sport, and that fellow musicians are competitors fighting for the spotlight. On the other hand, I know that the term has spread to wide common use, so it's not that everyone who uses the word thinks that way. It's just that, to me, that's most likely the sort of thinking that originated the word, and that's what I associate it with. So I personally avoid it. And I do have a negative reaction in my head when I hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheX Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Hey Steven ... for what it's worth' date=' I'm with you on this. I never liked "axe", it seems most popular with metal heads (as with "shredding"), and my gut instinct considers it as coming from the same place. That is, people who consider guitar/music as a sport, and that fellow musicians are competitors fighting for the spotlight. On the other hand, I know that the term has spread to wide common use, so it's not that everyone who uses the word thinks that way. It's just that, to me, that's most likely the sort of thinking that originated the word, and that's what I associate it with. So I personally avoid it. And I do have a negative reaction in my head when I hear it. [/quote'] Axe was around for YEARS before there was metal or shredding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jook Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Yes I know, but I'm saying to me it comes from the same place. Treating music as a sport was around before metal too. Metal came from that place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlagJones Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 This whole discussion smacks of snobbery to me. Much ado about nothing. I call a guitar a guitar. If someone wants to call it an axe, it's no big deal to me. I am confident the intent is benign. If the word connotes something different to you, it's your own fault. If you have an axe to grind, play it instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jook Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Don't read it wrong man, I wouldn't put anyone down because of it, and I don't think Steven implied anything like that either. The point is that, some of us have a distaste for it. That's all. Just like some people don't like being called by their full names and prefer "Dave" or "Gav". A certain Robert Zimmerman thought "Bob Allyn" (another name he was considering) sounded like a used car salesman. Elliott Smith didn't relate to his original name of "Steve" and thought it sounded like a jock. We didn't say it was anyone elses problem but our owns, but it doesn't have anything to do with snobbery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlagJones Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I'm sure many Bob Allyn's of the world like their name just fine. I have never known a Bob Allyn who was a car salesman? What's wrong with being a car salesman anyway? Steve's stand up and be counted. Not all Steve's are jocks and what's wrong with being a jock? Connotation...Elitism...Snobbery... We agree to disagree. We do agree on one thing, the problem was created in your own mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jook Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Of course, but then so is everything. So you would consider someone who prefers to be known as "Dave" or "Bob" instead of "David" and "Robert" is being a snob? And that when they say, "Gee I hate it when people call me David...", that they're being snobbish? You're free to think that of course, but then that problem would be in your mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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