PP_CS336 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Last week I went out an bought a brand new (2011) Gibson SG Standard. Well I've been playing around with it, like any of us would with a brand new guitar. Here's the weird thing. A song or a riff comes to mind of something I've tried to play before, but just somehow couldn't get it. It's like the guitar is showing me how to do it (that's okay be my standards). I think this guitar has a soul of it's own and it's communicating with me. Yes, go ahead and call the men in the white jackets and have me committed. The strange thing is that a couple of weeks ago I went to the guitar shop to have the frets on my Martin D-35 worked on (had to take the plunge for an entire fret job; $350.00). The repairman said it would take over a week, but I needed it for a Prison Ministry I was doing that weekend, so I said I'd bring it back when I returned on Monday. In the meantime I asked one of the sale-persons if the had any Gibson SG Standards in Heritage Cherry to look at because I was interested. He showed me one that they had shipped over from the other store, a 2009 model. The neck felt like a baseball bat, but I plugged it in just to try it. It sounded great, but the neck just wasn't doing it for me. I was heartbroken because I had my mind set on that type of guitar. The Monday after the Prison Ministry I stopped back in to bring my Martin D-35 in to have the fret work done. The sales-person says, "Paul, we just got another SG Standard Heritage Cherry guitat in today, brand new from the Gibson factory. Would you like to have a look at it and try it out?" I figured, okay what do I have to lose. At least the guy was trying to help me with my "GAS" problem. Well, I couldn't have done better if I picked the guitar out myself. My name was already written on it before I purchased it. I'd like to show it to you guys and gals, but I don't own a digital camera. If you look at the Gibson website under Gibson USA SG and click on the SG Standard picture, you will see it. She's a beauty for $1099.99 w/ the case (obviously not Gibson's MSRP). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 . Great story. And congrats on yer new SG. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveallen Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Y'know when you're in the right place at the right time in the right attitude of heart, you stretch out your hand and a piece of fruit drops in it from on high! Yes, things like this happen when you are in harmony. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Aye on the right place at the right time, but there's more. I don't believe the instrument itself has a "soul" although if one is "into" such as brane universes and string theory and such, it's not difficult to believe it has a wider existence. But there's something about certain instruments at the right time and place will seem to feel so different that it is as if they bring the hands into certain positions that just ... do something indescribable. It's probably nothing more than, in ways, the sort of thing that brings deja vu, but yeah, I think the right feel, a different angle to the neck of one's left hand and to the strings for one's right, that can at the right time bring something different and special... You're a lucky man to have such an opportunity. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 ... It's like the guitar is showing me how to do it (that's okay be my standards). I think this guitar has a soul of it's own and it's communicating with me. Yes, go ahead and call the men in the white jackets and have me committed. ... PP, you done said a mouthful. No one here who's played guitars for very long would send the boys in the white coats, we've all been there. I've never though that electric guitars had a soul, but maybe I need to re-think this one. I do know hollow body guitar do have a personality, moodiness and yes a soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G McBride Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I have noticed that a lot of times you pick up a different guitar and it may lead you to playing things that you have only heard before but not tried. I don't know if it is the tone of the guitar/amp combo that stirs this in me but it is real. I also know what you mean about playing things that you have not been able to play before. It is like the guitar is guiding your fingers but it is probably your ears and mind moving your fingers to the next notes that you need to hear. They are magical instruments for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Guitars don't have souls, but they do have personalities and such......... ... As per the Men In White Coats, hmmmmmm.......I don't like them........... ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Here's the weird thing. A song or a riff comes to mind of something I've tried to play before, but just somehow couldn't get it. It's like the guitar is showing me how to do it (that's okay be my standards). I think this guitar has a soul of it's own and it's communicating with me. Yes, go ahead and call the men in the white jackets and have me committed. I have a spirit that writes songs through me so your story is not too far out. Sometimes he is mischievous and puts riffs in my head and I go insane if I do not "play them out". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Hmmmm, sounds familiar... Same thing happened to me. I was visiting my family in Boston so while in town I popped into Guitar Center and told my guy there I was looking for a Black Custom... They had one I tried out but it was kinda Guitar Center beat and pricy as well. I passed. Next time I'm in Guitar Center my sales guy comes over and say hey Dave I just got a Black Custom in, just took it out of the box and I'm the only one who has played it... I was like, yeah let me see it... Played great, felt great and he said I could have it for $700 less than the beat one I had tried before.... I own it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 My Gibson F-25 came to me in a similar manner. In the late 70's and early 80's I was always checking the local pawn shops for guitars, I had been looking for a steel stringer but always found the necks too skinny. I had been a 12 string and a classical player and was used to the wide necks. One gray day I was in the area where thew pawn shops are but hadn't planned on checking them because it had only been a couple of days since my last visit but I felt an odd draw and decided to check them out anyway. As I walked in I was immediately drawn to the back wall where almost hidden by the fancy Gibsons and Martins was this rather sad looking Gibson F-25. I said "Hello" and it replied "Where have you been?" It has been mine ever since. It's not pristine and had been well usaed but I think because it wanted me and wanted me to play it, it helps me find the right notes to play almost as if it in control and I'm not sure it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PP_CS336 Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 Thanks for the replies fellas. At least I don't feel like I'm the only person who has some psychic connection to their guitar(s), thus relieving my paranoia of the men in the white jackets coming to get me, as TommyK pointed out. G McBride mentioned something about the guitar guiding your fingers; yeh that's sort of what I was insinuating. But each guitar I have does it in a different way, I suppose depending on the type of guitar (electric, acoustic, or classical). EVOL!, you made me laugh saying you had a song writing sprit that keeps putting riffs into your head (sometime malicious) often forcing you to have to pick up your guitar to figure it out (Don't worry, I have those voices in my head, too..."Where's my guitar? I have to figure out how to play this riff in my head.") Daveinspain with you Guitar Center experience; hey how come you don't have that guitar listed in you signature? And grampa with the F-25 at the pawn shop calling out to him. That's how I got my Gibson CS-336 last year. Heck, I didn't even know what a CS-336 was until then. I was just buying some strings when I wandered into the back room and there she was sitting on a stand, kind of hidden away, and something made me pick her up. And after that I had to take her home. It spoke to me in a much different way than my new SG Standard, though. I went to look for the latter guitar and it wasn't until the second one around, like I mentioned in my thread opener, that I knew this was the one for me. She's definitely a Rock 'n' Roll and Blues beast. That's why I was saying it seems to be showing me things. I'm sure happy she cleared up things on the "Gypsy Queen" portion of "Black Magic Woman." Carlos Santana must have recorded his version of that song on his SG (that's what he was using in his early days), because now it sounds just like it when I play it on my SG. :) On another thought, I definitely have to get used to the neck on the SG, as compared to most electric guitars, because the way that it connects to the body, giving more room for access, the neck has the illusion of being longer. It sure knocks your orientation for a loop, initially. I guess I'll get used to it the more I play on it. But what happens when I go back to one of my other electric guitars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Seriously, I think that every guitar shape brings out a different geometry in the player that brings a different perspective, literally, to playing "guitar." Fiddles are pretty much the same shape, and although I know fiddlers who are awfully picky about what they play and how they're set up, there's not the kind of difference one might find among a huge selection of shapes and sizes in the guitar world. That said, I like the SG shape and balance. I'm glad you have an instrument that makes you happy - Hmmmm... uhhhhhhhh... several instruments that make you happy. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Seriously, I think that every guitar shape brings out a different geometry in the player that brings a different perspective, literally, to playing "guitar." m I'm experiencing that right now with a Harmony arch top that I recently acquired. It is definitely a different shape than my flat top and I find that I am playing very different sorts of things that I didn't play on the flat top. It has an old timey funkiness and I find it brings out bluesy and jazzy riffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.