Guitars I'd Like To Own

Filler alert! Filler alert!

There's not much project news except that I pulled Red out last night for my first electrificated practice session since we got back from vacation. Isn't that always the way... you take a week off and an extra half week of crap piles up that you have to clear out of the way before you can get back on track? Anyway, Red felt good... sounded good... but I was slow. Really slow. I tried leaping into some of the Metallica riffs that I'd learnt for Metal Session #1 but I couldn't get them up to speed. Damn fingers kept catching the wrong strings. Took a break and learnt how to play "Sweet Home Alabama" instead, which is a tune I've often thought of having a crack at but never did. After 30 minutes or so the main riffs sounded pretty good. Ran through the opening riff from Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" (yes, that was a deliberate pun) which is so simple... why isn't everything that easy?

Anyway, blah-blah-blah. Practiced. Went okay but not well, particularly in the metal department. Maybe if I'd jacked myself up on caffeine I'd have done better...

Doesn't look like I'm going to make it to band practice this week. I'd kept Sunday clear only to find out the metallers are meeting on Saturday. D'Oh! Nothing like communication, eh? I'm still not at all convinced that I want to play metal, but I am convinced that I want to play with other real live people, and they're the best bet right now.

Oh, in other news, the WAES rock techniques class has been postponed by a week, so don't expect me to write about how that went until at least Friday 26th... always assuming they've managed to fill enough places to make the course viable.

So... guitars I'd like to own (subtitled: a filler piece)!

A friend of mine who's been playing for almost 2 years now (I guess), just splurge purchased a Martin 000-28 Standard (i.e. not the Eric Clapton signature model). It's the kind of guitar that'll send most acoustic players into a drooling orgasmic frenzy but which looks so un-flash that it could easily be confused with a £29.99 plywood box from Argos by the uninitiated.

I would not mind having one (at all). Maybe if I'm nice to him he'll let me play it... I've asked him to take very good care of it... and leave it to me in his will.

I can't say, honestly, that it'd be on my list of guitars that I'd buy if I had stacks of cash. Then again, I've never played a real Martin (or even a fake one). I've been looking at my Ovation lately and wanting to buy another. It's not that I don't love my 1861 Balladeer, it's just that I've always strangely coveted the Adamas series. I remember first seeing one back when I was a kid and wondering what the hell it was. For example...



I won't bore you with my dobro/resonator fetish again, but yes... something like one of these is on my list...



Now, on the electric side, I've always primarily fantasised about having a Les Paul. Now I have one. I'm 99% happy, but...

...once you have what you want, sometimes you look around and think, hey, it'd be nice to have one of those to add to my collection. Therein lies the root of GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome).

I never used to even think I'd want a Tele. To me (rightly or wrongly) they were always the idiot cousin of 'real' electric guitars. As I've aged, though (somewhat disgracefully), I've come to realise that sometimes simplicity is it's own reward and adding a Tele to the list of axes I wand seems like a natural choice. The idea of not having a separate fingerboard appeals, so why not have one of these:



Still on a Fender tip, other than a Strat (boring... not even worth a picture) the only other F guitar I've really liked is the Jaguar. I have no clue whether they play well, but they look cool...



On the Gibson front, it's only really the Les Pauls that do it for me. I'd have a vintage SG, just because Derek Trucks plays them, and I'd consider some huge hollowbody thing (like a 355 dotneck) if I ever got serious about jazzzzz, but stuff like the Flying V never really appealed.

...Oh and don't get me started on the BC Rich style of guitars. Too pointy. I'd have my eye out on one of those!

I just know one day I'll go totally glam and buy myself the goldtop that I've always been too embarassed to!!!!!

Here's Dickey Betts putting one through its paces...