Hey, hey I am chunky...

There are some people that have a sort of old school mentality regarding being a musician. I dropped out of that school years ago. The lessons were too easy and boring. Not that I wanted instant gratification, I knew that I sucked and I knew that I was always going to be a suckie player because there is always someone "better" and I had no interest in jockeying for that position. I just wanted [and still want] to make sounds. That's all. This old school teaches that guitar is played a certain way and any other way is either gimmicky or somehow lesser in quality. I totally disagree. I feel that anyone that owns an instrument and plays it is a musician, provided they actually play it and call themselves one.

The guitar is a beautiful instrument, evolved over centuries into perfection. There are HUGE differences between a "good" guitar and a cheap one. These reasons are obvious if you do a side by side comparison. Aside from the quality and feel of a good guitar, it's perfect construction and distinctive sound, the price is the major factor here.

Who would buy a poorly crafted mass produced guitar with poor quality parts when you can choose to buy an expertly crafted one? A starving artist. This does not mean that I think that people with money are not artistic (that is up for debate I am sure), only that people with money have access to better more reliable equipment.

I am not whining here. My point is that there is this huge stigma over certain equipment from certain manufacturers [or not using certain manufacturers] because they are not considered "pro" gear or that they are lame or cheap or whatever. My feeling about this [MY feeling {this is MY blog}] is that it is about selling a name and making money. Who has not heard of a "Marshall" or a "Fender" or whatever? Sales. Sure a Marshall is fine quality and all that. I would love a Marshall stack in my living room although Jennifer would not. I cannot afford one. I will never be in a position to afford one because I do not have a degree, nor do I know what I would get one in, and I never play the lottery. I would like to have an amp. I can afford a cheap one so I got a cheap one. Sure it is not the best design and it is a little bit cheap looking, but I am not trying to impress everyone with my ability to buy expensive gear. I want to make sounds. I have an amp to do that. I have a guitar [the G string is a little twangy], a drum machine [a good enough one] and now [upon delivery soon] a synthesizer. These things are not expensive, the synthesizer is the cheapest one they make and the drum machine was on clearance because they make drum machines now that have more features.




The acoustic guitar has a beautiful sound that can make me cry. Not the player even. Just the sound. Electric guitar was my choice not only because fretting chords hurt my fingers and I was impatient at first, but also because there are more [to me] possibilities with electric. I have, over the years, collected many guitar effect pedals. Distortions, Phasers, Flangers, Tremolos, etc. I like using all of these effects for many reasons. Some people of the old school think that you can rely too heavily on these effects and that they destroy your tone. I could not disagree more. You rely on an effect if that is your personal taste and you "destroy your tone" if you want to. I have seen musicians destroy their own expensive gear onstage. Talking about destroying tone! My feelings about this are that if you want to sound like Clapton or Hendrix or whatever, buy the same equipment they bought, play the same songs they played and play dress up like they did. That is your right to do so. New products are always made to try to emulate some vintage sound and even cheap stuff is available to do that so you are in luck! This old school mindset has kept music in the dark ages for too long though.

I am not saying [typing] that vintage sucks by any means and I am not slamming anyone that does this because all the greats were influenced by the people that used this equipment, but I am NOT about to endorse any particular brand. I have my favorites, they are merely a matter of personal taste and not important.

I look at effect pedals as well as the "tone" produced by certain guitar and amp combinations sort of like I would look at paint.



The pick acts as the brush and the amp is the canvas [or something like that].

Instead of looking, the [however small] audience listens to the art.



Basically, old school mentality is like paint by number and whatever I am trying to do [and no doubt countless others {some rich and famous i am sure}] is more like mixed media. I want to see what happens if you do this or that and I don't care if it sounds bad.

Block chords on a piano are hard to listen to and whenever a kid gets near one, that is what you are gonna hear, but they are awesome in certain compositions. Just because it is not hard to do does not mean it is lesser in ANY way.

I look at guitar the same way. I can play some stuff OK. I can create sounds better though, when I am not trying to sound like someone else. One repetitive note on a guitar played over a sampled loop from an old tv show and sci-fi sounds of can have a whole lotta feeling in it when it has the right amount of chorus, overdrive, echo and reverb in it and all the smokin' licks, hammer-on's and pull-offs in the world can sound like...everything else.



My final say: Old school is cool for some cats, but not for me because I can't afford tuition. Besides, I've got ADD.