Lunch Report: Tuesday April 12, 2011

Dateline: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. President Ouattara announced today that….

Ooppss, I did it again…

2 Arby’s medium Beef ‘n Cheddar sandwiches with loaded potato bites and mozzarella sticks…(in order to save time, I just combine lunch and dinner in one meal, lol)

G&L Question: Today’s Poll revisits the age old question that has split mankind into 2 camps and brought about decades of untold violence…. ‘On a maple fretboard…gloss or satin finish?’….this is for the fretboard only. The conflict between ‘Whitebackers’ and ‘Slickers’ regarding the back of maple necks is for another day (like when I run out of ideas). I recently discovered that I like a glossy fretboard. It just feels nicer to me and my fingers slide effortlessly along it. I don’t have a sweating problem since, unlike many of you, I’m not looking over my shoulder expecting to be arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior (because I eliminated all witnesses).

Non-G&L Topic: Influences. We all have them. Direct and indirect. I don’t copy anybody. I do pick up an occasional lick from this or that and work into my playing. I’ve bought a few learning tapes or DVDs and just tend to pick up a lick I like and take it somewhere else. I don’t even try to learn the songs. I’ve noticed many influences in my playing, but what amazes me sometimes, is hearing some song I haven’t heard in a long time, maybe even forgot existed, and having one of those “oh wow…THAT’s where I got that from” moments. If I had to pick someone as my biggest influence, it’d be Clapton, I guess, although I don’t think I’ve copped many licks from him, it’s just more of a stylish thing. What KIND of influences have the Guitar Gods had on you?

Thanx for the encouraging comments on my virginal LR yesterday.

Since I so courageously (more like foolishly) posted a tune I did yesterday, I figure I’ll have a FLOTD (Foolish Link Of The Day) on each Lunch Report. All of these were done before I started putting real pedals in front of the GuitarPort and while still learning the recording software. I’m really still learning all of it.

FLOTD - http://www.kaneva.com/asset/assetDetails.aspx?assetId=5543159&communityId=0

P.S. – yes, my “ooppss, I did it again…” line was a Britney Spears reference…

I like my fretboards, even maple with no surface finish. A tung oil finish will do good enough. Sure it will get play wear and dirt, but that is part of the magic. Seeing as G&L uses 6100 fretwire, I never touch the fretboard either way, so what fretboard woods 'feel' like is not known to me. If you are touching the board, you are sharping the notes, at least on the modern ones. I love that floating feeling of large frets.

I don't know whose influences in my music are heard directly. I was told on one clean tune it reminded people of the dude from the doors (who I don't listen to but easily could have influenced me indirectly). Probably some cross between Satriani, Vai, Knopfler, Petrucci and Lifeson on guitar. On bass, well you can hear the Geddy Lee influences pretty clear in how I approach ,but the similarities there end. I also run around a good deal, similar to the Ox, playing more in the middle of the neck than the bottom. My styles are all fairly divergent though, and I can't hear any coping parsay, one lick on my current project does sound fairly Petrucci though (1 single lick).

I don't have any guitar with a maple FB yet... so, I just can imagine I'd prefer satin finish.

I feel exactly the same as you about influences, except it has grown from Clapton (return time with Albert Lee and all), to Slash in my teenage, and it's been largely mixed with Miles Davis, Cannonball and Wynton Kelly, no guitar god. But Lately Albert Collins and especially Kirk Fletcher (and a little bit of Scott Henderson) are amazing me each and every time I listen to them.
Now that I'm studying jazz these days, I've learned to transcript by ear some licks and use them as launchers in a chorus, especially on tunes like rythm changes or a bebop blues because :
first they can be played at up tempos, and the licks you already know really help,
second, there's a certain idiom that musicians and listeners (and me) expect to ear

and licks are an excellent way to quote the greats.

I don't know if I make myself clear.

Badjaxx, I like the question on neck finishes. I much prefer a gloss neck if it is in poly. Nitro gloss gets sticky and I get around that with frequent waxing. There is nothing more beautiful than a high gloss neck, especially if it is figured or birdseye.

Influences have worked well for me. If they did, I would play just like Chet and Mark Knopfler. I definitely have my own style. -- Darwin

Well, I've got my first maple neck in years on my new Legacy, and it is satin. While I love a satin back, I'm not convinced on the fingerboard yet...I would have gotten satin back/gloss fingerboard if they offered that as an option. Anyway, I'm sure the satin will be fine in the long run.

Influences...well, I don't know if I can name particulars, but a lot of the 80s hard rock/metal players shine through in my rock playing. If I had to name names, it would be guys like Neal Schon, Alex Lifeson, Rik Emmett, Tom Sholz, John Sykes, George Lynch, Kerry Livgren, Dann Huff, the Def Leppard boys, among others.

But then also guys like Bruce Cockburn, Eric Johnson, SRV, Knopfler, Russ Freeman...not hard rockers, but all styles I enjoy and have learned a few things from.

Nice Questions Jaxx,

I had Wendy's for lunch, and I have felt like crap since.

Fretboard finish? Had to go with no preference. I like chunky frets, and the G&L's fit the bill. I don't really feel the board much, and sometimes when I do I am bending the note (accidentally) way sharp. But everyone's fingers are different.

Influences? There is so much to learn, from so many players. EC, yea he's amazing-everyone wants to play lead like clapton, but his rhythm work very tasty and has great nuance as well. Chet? I am not much of a finger style player, but he is one of the most expressive and musical players ever--so I work on that with all my playing. I have to mention Keith Richards. he plays with masterful authority--but supplies ton's of texture as he goes. It's rare that he plays a verse the same way twice, but adds energy as it's called for. I hear lot's of cover bands that miss the nuance of Keith and Charlie's playing--and it makes great Stone's songs BORING. I have to quit, but Louis Armstrong was a master performer. And he really sold the emotions he was feeling...that is something to always work toward.

Edit: I wrote this and got a call, thought I lost it....but here it is in another browser window. lol.

Edit 2: spelling worse than usual.

Angelina Jolie - that'd be a silicon finish right? I don't have a preference. Gloss probably stays cleaner longer so I'm leaning that way.

Influences. A long time influence for me has been Albert Collins. I love his phrasing, his tone and his style. I try and sneak the Albert Collins ending lick in every now and then, I love it. A recent one would be Marty Stuart and his second lead guitarist Kenny Vaughan. I play in a band with the same line up - two guitarists sharing lead duties, bass and drums - listening to these two guys has given us something to really get into and study (.......well, drink beer and work out their licks) how they're playing off of one another. Others would be Steve Cropper, James Burton, Dick Dale, Roy Nichols, Binky Griptite (from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings). THen of course there's all the guys I play with - they're a direct influence. They tell you what sounds good, what doesn't, what to do differently. Every now and then I'll catch myself playing something and think "that's like something Dave would play".

Darwin, i'm only aware of poly gloss finishes on a fretboard, so meant that...if anyone makes a gloss nitro FB finish, then please read my poll to be poly...

to me, direct influence is where you are aware you picking something up from someone, usually deliberately...indirect is the stuff you're unaware of...

Mule....i've never heard of any of those guys...

Sick...i agree...i love to listen to a good rhythm player or part...and Clapton and Keef are a couple of my faves...

Blarg....rofl @ silicon finish...seems that a glossy Angelina finish is in the lead right now...
hmmm...if ya had FB inlays of her lounging across the FB...would it be easier to get the 'woman-tone' ?
(let's not get in trouble by posting what we're currently thinking now, lol)

On a maple board...gloss finished. But only because I've never played anything else, so it seems "right" to me.

Influences...I honestly don't sound like anyone and the only licks I've ever stolen were from my teacher who referred to them as "pearls of wisdom." I always countered with "pearls before swine," as I proceeded to butcher his handiwork. :\ If I could sound/play like anyone it'd have to be Clapton on "Politician." HAHAHA. Just kidding. I'd honestly love to be a junior-grade Kenny Burrell or Ed Bickert.

nice licks, thanks for sharing.

G&L Question:
No real preference from me, will go gloss if forced to choose.

Non-G&L Topic: What KIND of influences have the Guitar Gods had on you?
Over the years I've had both player and style influences based on repetitive hearing. Everything from George Harrison, John Lennon, Pete Townshend, Duane Eddy, Jeff Beck, Willie Nelson, David Gilmour, Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, and of course Jerry Garcia. Learned a lot things about playing for touch, emotion and aggression by 'em all.

I'm in the "don't care" category when it comes to necks and fingerboards. I have lacquer and poly; satin and gloss; Gibson and Fender scale lengths; rosewood, ebony and maple fretboards; pearl inlays and simple plain dots. The notes are still the same.

I do prefer the 12" radius over the 7.5"; don't care at all for the Fender 9.5". I have one guitar (Les Paul) with a compound radius fingerboard--jury is still out. I like the medium-jumbo frets on my G&Ls, but I get along fine with most other frets; though not the tiny "Fretless Wonder" frets of old LP Customs, or the "wide-flat" Gibson frets of '70s Gibsons. Not a fan of the G&L vintage frets--I could get use to them, I suppose--but I definitely prefer the #1 neck.

I have so many influences--I've stolen from EVERYBODY!!! LOL! Clapton and Santana for sure. I don't ever sound like SRV, but I often try to play things with his aggressive style. I like Duane and Dickey for their lyrical lines; Gary Moore for his singing sustain in "Still Got The Blues". Leslie West taught me root-fifth power chords in "Mississippi Queen", and that student-quality guitars could still be lethal in the right hands. I got some finger-picking moves from Peter Yarrow and Paul Stuckey (and I'm still in love with Mary!) OMG--Paul Simon and James Taylor--HUGE! And I cried when Jim Croce and Maury M. died. Jim had such a great sense of humor--he might have gone on to have a great talk show host.

And then The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. I learned ALL of their songs when I was young, and still play many today. YOU try to play "All My Loving", and then tell me John Lennon isn't the greatest rhythm player ever! Justin of the Moody Blues is another great rhythm guitarist--and hel's NEVER mentioned as one of the greats of the Rock Era. SRV is a great rhythm player, too.

I'm going to leave out a bunch of people, but you really can't leave out Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Elvis, James Burton, Ricky Nelson, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Steve Cropper and, maybe the REAL king of rock and roll--Chuck Berry.

I learned a little about jazz and octave runs from Wes Montgomery; fell in love with George Benson; salivate every time I hear Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton--and think that Buzz Feiten might just be the best guitaris nobody knows about.

I learned a lot about singing from Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, and Toni Tennille--faithfully watching their talk shows.

And then there were the old school guys like Hope and Crosby and Dean Martin and Sammy Davis and Bobby Darin--they could do it ALL--sing, dance, act, comedy--ENTERTAINERS.

THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO BE WHEN I GREW UP!!!

And I love it so when I get a compliment on my guitar playing--but the ultimate compliment for me at the end of the night is when people come up and tell me what a good time they had. Yeah, I have a lot of guitar and music influences, but having a good time is what it is all about.

It's as simple as that.

Bill

Fretboard finish: I got this thing for thin ones, like Keira Knightley.

Influences: Ayn Rand.

Lunch: Cheap frozen burrito w/sour cream, tastycakes peanut butter thingies, filtered water. - ed

^

So you going to go build something Ed, as architecture is just music set in stone?

(zapco shrugged)

- ed

Influences: Ayn Rand.

I spoke with Atlas; he wants nothing to do with this... Or the movie that's coming out.


Cheers,

Will

Maple fingerboards: I prefer them glossy when new although I have a couple of basses that have worn through the glossy finish on the necks. I still like them glossy.

Influences: what Boogie Bill said. LOL and I learned a lot from seeing Count Basie and his band, live in the early 70's. Watching his bass player on an upright bass influenced me greatly in the way I play bass.

Everybody have a great week.

-bassman

Will - I heard about the movie. I view it (ha!) as one of life's greatest ironies. I mean, of all the Gal[t]!

- ed

Well, being Objective, I don't "mind" it's existence...


Cheers,

Will