Advice For Beginners

by | Jan 8, 2021 | Blog

Most people want to play the guitar, but they make these three main mistakes. One: They buy a cheap guitar. Two: They’re overconfident. Three: They try to learn on YouTube. I’m sort of ok with this. The less people that play guitar, the cooler it is that I play guitar. But… It’s also really sad to see people fail and give up. So, here’s some advice.

 “I’ll buy a cheap guitar between $200-$400. That way, if it doesn’t work out, I didn’t lose that much money”. If you think this way, then you’ve already quit. Giving yourself the option of quitting before you’ve even started is stupid. As humans, we are programmed to gravitate towards the simplest option, because, thousands of years ago, the simplest option for our ancestors was still really hard. Our brains have not evolved that much since then, but convenience has. 

Cheap guitars are hard to play, so it’s either fight the strings or watch Netflix. Cheap guitars sound awful, so it’s either sound terrible or go on Instagram. It’s common for people to choose the latter is both instances. 

Paying $800-$1200 for your first guitar will motivate you. Your mentality will change to: Practice a song for twenty-five minutes and reward yourself by watching a show for twenty-five minutes. Or, even better, just practice and don’t watch TV. This will keep you from quitting the guitar. 

Also, (I’m not excited to tell you this) if you still end up quitting (LOSER!), you can resell a more expensive guitar and only lose $200-$400 dollars. 

“I’m a quick learner, I’ll be good at the guitar in no time”. If you think this way, then you’ve already quit. Jimi Hendrix didn’t think he was good at the guitar, which is why he kept challenging himself to come up with new licks. Overconfidence clouds the mind and creates false assumptions. Beginners don’t realize that hand position and posture are the hardest part about starting. Some chords will be easy to play. Your arm will feel relaxed and you’ll think you’re a superstar. But then you’ll have to switch to another chord and all of a sudden you’re attempting to be a contortionist. This frustration will send you from cocky to quitter unless you go into practice knowing it’s a slow process. 

YouTube is badass for learning anything. I’ve learned so much about music, psychology, philosophy, business… But most beginners don’t know how to apply the information to their guitar. “Be wary of unearned knowledge,” said Carl Jung. You can watch five hundred YouTube lessons and retain some of the information, but if you can’t use it on your instrument, that information is useless. You’ll get cocky. When you pick up the guitar you will be overwhelmed. 

A teacher you can talk to will center you. You can ask them questions about a video you’ve watched. They can elaborate on the information and help you apply it to the guitar. Most teachers will know a lot of helpful YouTube lessons that they can recommend. This way you aren’t getting too ahead of yourself. Every video will leave you with questions. This is what weekly or bi-weekly lessons are for. 

Also, investing more money into the guitar by paying a teacher, will encourage you to keep going. 

There are a million other mistakes beginners and professionals make, but these are the ones that make people quit before they’ve even started. Mistakes are lame but overcoming them is the key to brilliance. The reason people want to play guitar is to feel good about themselves, but it’s impossible to feel good if you haven’t experienced the struggle. 

 

Why You Shouldn’t Base Your Purchase Off A Video

Why You Shouldn’t Base Your Purchase Off A Video

by | Sep 2, 2020 | Blog

First off, when watching a video, that is not what the guitar sounds like. If someone sends you an iPhone recording, that’s what the guitar sounds like when recorded with an iPhone. If someone is playing a Gibson Custom Shop ’59 Les Paul through a Carr Rambler amplifier and using an SM57 microphone, unless you have that set up, the ’59 Les Paul will not sound like that. People demoing guitars can (and do) modify the sound in recording software, so those “comparison videos” are all horse shit. 

During the pandemic, our shop is getting a lot more people asking for demo videos. These videos aren’t completely worthless. You can gauge the playability. You can listen for buzzes. But, mainly, people want to hear how the guitar sounds. Unfortunately, they aren’t. In most cases, the video makes them feel better about the purchase. Even though it’s not what the guitar will sound like when it’s in their hands, it still helps them make a decision. And, even though it doesn’t sound like the video when they get the guitar, in most cases it sounds better than the video. But this is really only the case with acoustic guitars.

It’s much more difficult to base your decision off a video when purchasing an electric guitar. You can’t demo an electric guitar acoustically. You have to use an amp. And all amps sound different. To record the amp, you have to use a microphone. And all microphones sound different. I believe 100% of the time you purchase an electric guitar based off a video, you will be disappointed with your purchase. Eventually, you will get used to the sound of your set up and it will be fine, but, at first, you will be underwhelmed with your purchase. 

 Comparison videos are stupid. With recording software, someone can make a pawn shop guitar sound better than a Collings. For example: If someone recorded a Collings guitar and EQed the bottom end completely out, they can make the guitar sound thin. Then they could record the pawnshop guitar and add compression, EQ, and reverb to make it sound better. Anyone who doesn’t know about recording software tricks will assume that Collings is a waste of money. AGAIN, comparison videos are phony baloney non-sense. In almost all cases, the more expensive guitar is a better guitar and worth the money. 

Nothing beats trying out a guitar for yourself. But, in the age of internet shopping, what is your alternative? 

 – Message boards with reviews from real people is a good option. You can find out which stores people trust. Pros and cons with certain brands. 

 – Buy from Reverb sellers with 5 stars.

 – Buy equipment used by your favorite musicians.

 

Frank Zappa’s Martin D-18S 12-Fret

by | Aug 4, 2020 | Blog

When we think of Frank Zappa’s guitars, we think about the Gibson SG (most likely the Roxy SG with the white headstock and crazy electronics). Or we think about the refurbished burnt Jimi Stratocaster, which Hendrix gave Zappa. We rarely think about Zappa with an acoustic guitar, because less than 1% of his discography features Zappa’s Martin D-18S 12-Fret. In fact, we can only be sure that Zappa played this guitar on one recording.

In the early 70s, Zappa became interested in Mark Volman’s (The Turtles, Flo and Eddie) Martin D-18S 12-Fret (with a slotted headstock). Mark wanted Zappa’s Telecaster in return. This must have been an easy trade for Zappa, since this was the Tele he was playing when he was pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theater in London, 1971. For those who don’t know the story, a loony boyfriend thought Zappa was making eyes at his girlfriend, even though, when on stage, it’s impossible to see the audience behind all the lights in your face. Zappa was severely injured and couldn’t tour. But that didn’t stop him from making records.

The earliest recording we know about with the Martin is “Blessed Relief,” the last track on The Grand Wazoo (1972). The trackl ists Zappa as lead guitarist and Tony Duran as rhythm guitarist. So, we are to believe, the first recording with the Martin was played by Duran (who was mostly known for slide guitar).

In 1975, Zappa used an acoustic guitar during a radio show with Captain Beefheart. They played Beefheart’s song “Orange Claw Hammer.” The version was later released on a Beefheart compilation album called Grow Fins. It’s likely that the Martin was used on this recording, but it was never mentioned. The poor recording quality makes the acoustic guitar sound like an unplugged electric, so we don’t get any help in determining if it’s the Martin.

In 1979, we finally hear Zappa wailing on this guitar. The song is “Sleep Dirt” off the Sleep Dirt album. James Youman accompanies Zappa for an interesting acoustic duo. Unlike anything Zappa has produced. The only aspect that we are used to is the manically fast guitar solo that you would normally hear from a Gibson SG. The Martin doesn’t slow Zappa down at all and it is a surprisingly clean solo, which makes me think there were several takes involved.

Having only played this guitar on one recording, it’s a fair assumption that this was Frank’s home guitar. Possibly a guitar that laid around for him to pick up whenever he had an idea or just wanted to noodle around. It’s uncertain where this guitar ended up. Gail could have sold it. Dweezil or one of the kids could have inherited it. All that is certain is that Zappa plays the crap out of this thing and it sounds amazing.