Lunch Report - Thursday May 5, 2011

The Thursday Lunch Report – Food Court Edition

Howdy All,

Today my little girls and I are venturing out to the mall to do some MOTHERS DAY shopping….. that’s right it is Mothers day this Sunday – You all have now been given ample notice! No excuses. Anyway, my kids love the mall, the food court to be exact. They both get a sub and smoothie – Subway grilled chicken sub with a triple berry smoothie from Orange Julius. The kids are only 4 and 2 and they already cost me 20 bucks for lunch… Ouch. This might cut into the old G&L fund down the road!

As for me I am undecided at the moment – just like the G&L options, there are so many choices at the food court. ( I will update later today with the final decision)

G&L content

Up today is my Bluesboy. It is a custom ordered one that one of my students ordered a few years ago. It is Honeyburst, gunoil neck with rosewood board and wood binding. It came into my possession when that student was looking to raise money to buy a taylor solidbody. It certainly has some cool mojo…. It is one that always gets picked as a favorite when people look at the pics of my guitars.





So here is today’s question to you all, with all of these beautiful G&L’s around do you leave them out on display, or are they always put back in their cases?
I always have mine out, ready to be played at a moments notice.

Non G&L
This is a quick two part question…. 1.How much time do you get to play each week? 2. Is most of that time plugged in or unplugged?
I know I am at the one far end of the spectrum, I probably put in close to 50 hrs a week on the guitar, between teaching rehearsing and gigging. Thank goodness it is my passion as well as my livelihood. I would say that my average student puts anywhere from 20 mins to a couple of hours in on the guitar a week.

Here are some vids featuring the tones of the bluesboy… Being a Canadian boy, I feel I must include some Canadian content, some of you may not recognize the first 2 tunes – but they are really good songs by popular Canadian bands.. And i get a chance to improvise a little bit more than usual in the solo sections. Sometimes i think that is my biggest challenge - to make something fit that does the song justice.

Up first a song called Girl Watcher by a band named “Big Sugar”
[youtube]ARH7fZ0zDBs[/youtube]

And a band from my home town called “The Tragically Hip”
[youtube]fPLSRcgayhA[/youtube]

Have a great day everyone, we will see you tomorrow for the final Friday edition.... i can't believe a week has gone by already!
Scott

Oh Yeah,
Black 10
Cream 8.....
1 day to go!

The Thursday Lunch Report – Food Court Edition
G&L content
Up today is my Bluesboy. It is Honeyburst, gunoil neck with rosewood board and wood binding. It certainly has some cool mojo…. It is one that always gets picked as a favorite when people look at the pics of my guitars. So here is today’s question to you all, with all of these beautiful G&L’s around do you leave them out on display, or are they always put back in their cases? I always have mine out, ready to be played at a moments notice.

Non G&L
This is a quick two part question…. 1.How much time do you get to play each week? 2. Is most of that time plugged in or unplugged?
Have a great day everyone, we will see you tomorrow for the final Friday edition.... i can't believe a week has gone by already!
Scott

Thanks for the post Scott. Thanks for posting pics and vids of your Bluesboy. I certainly intend to purchase one some day. In response to your questions:

1. "With all of these beautiful G&L’s around do you leave them out on display, or are they always put back in their cases?": Of the three G&Ls I have, I only ever have the one I'm currently playing out of its case. I don't have the luxury of lots of room to leave them all out and ready-to-go. So, the other two are always put back safely in their cases. i currently have my ASAT Special Deluxe Custom (clear red) out and playing.

2. "How much time do you get to play each week?": Well, on a good week, maybe 5-10 hours, but sometimes work gets manic and my playing / practicing always suffers.

3. "Is most of that time plugged in or unplugged?": Always plugged in. Just replaced the pair of failed Sovtek EL84s in my Fender Blues Junior with a pair of Harma EL84s. Sounds great now.

Bill

My boys are five and eight. Once the lunch cost hit $20, it remained pretty stable. I was concerned about impact on the G&L fund too, but now my oldest is starting to learn electric bass and is already showing symptoms of GAS. The other day he was explaining why we need another amp. Hopefully I can work this to our mutual advantage...

Don't a couple of members of Tragically Hip play G&Ls? I've never seen them live, but I think I remember noticing it in a picture.

Playing time: This varies quite a bit, but I usually get a couple of hours a week in if I add all the time up. It might be in fifteen minute increments though. I try to get at least a couple of minutes in every day. A lot of my guitar playing is after everybody else is in bed, so I go unamplified or play through headphones. All of my G&Ls are so resonant that they sound great acoustic. If I strum in the living room while my wife is watching TV, she will gripe that she can't hear the show over my playing. If it's before the kids bed times and I can make noise, I usually take advantage of that time to practice the upright bass.

My G&Ls stay in their cases when I'm not playing. With young children and pets in the house it's necessary. The upright bass stays out on a stand if there will be more than a day or two between practices or gigs, and with moving the bass around I would be worried about knocking a guitar off its stand. If I can add a "music room" with enough space and a door that's normally closed, I would like to keep at least one G&L out. That honor would probably go to an ASAT.

Ken

Slept in today, had a late breakfast: aged cheddar and sundried tomatoes on 12-grain bread. Very filling and tangy too.

I keep my Legacy in a case because I'm a total klutz and I'm afraid of knocking it over. However I always have 3 guitars out to noodle with. My workspace is my playspace as well. My amps and a 1997 Squier Strat are within arm's reach should I get the itch to play for five or ten minutes to clear my mind. Also, keeping the Legacy in its case adds a ritualistic element to my serious practice sessions. The extra effort to reach under the desk, take out the case, flip it open, set up the tremolo bar and plug the legacy puts me into a different mindset and that means longer practice sessions, which leads me to your second question: Because I freelance, my practice time can fluctuate wildly depending on my workload, but on a good day, I'll put in between one and two hours of continuous practice, usually plugged in, and just before supper or before going to bed. On days when I don't sit down for a full practice session, I tend to get at least a half hour to forty-five minutes non-continous practice in just by plugging up the Strat and noodling during breaks or by strumming the acoustic (Norman B18) that I keep next to the couch in the living room while watching the news, having coffee, watching the news, or having a chat with my other half.

Every once in a while, I'll also strum on an old nylon string Aria that I keep next to my record collection, just for fun. I'm considering setting up the Squier with Robert Fripp's New Standard Tuning for a few days to see what kind of results that will yield.

Finally, every once in a while I am forced to take a few days (or even weeks) off from playing due to work or other commitments. I often find that these absences are very beneficial to my playing. Not only do I sit down with renewed enthusiasm but I find that I actually play better. It's like my hands and fingers and brain used the downtime to process what I'd been doing prior to the break and to integrate it into my muscle memory and subconscious mind.

Props on the Hip! One of the best bands out there. It boggles my mind that the Hip and Blue Rodeo are not HUGE in the U.S. as both bands embody the true nature of American roots rock.

P.S. That Bluesboy is drop-dead gorgeous. I think you have warped my mind into wanting one.

I leave my guitars in their cases to better combat seasonal BS and extreme weathers in Canada. That and a lack of space, but I don't like leaving them out. They come out when I play them, they go away when I am done.

I practice about 14-20 hours a week, between guitar and bass. This week is a bit light as my wrist has been on the fritz, hip is out of line thrusting a shoulder forward and causing wrist issues. Working on that though, might be able to pick up for a bit today it feels like. Always plugged in to something. Usually my Mark V.

CGT,

I haven't tried New Standard Tuning (NST) yet, but I keep two of my G&Ls in similar fifths-based tunings (CGDAAE and CGDGCD). It took a little while to get used to these, but once I got the hang of new fingerings I fell in love with them for certain sounds. I keep telling myself that the next G&L will go to NST. An ASAT Standard will be arriving today or tomorrow, so maybe this will be the one.

Ken

That Bluesboy is a beaut! And nice vids!

Like Ken, my kids are 8 and 5, only they are daughters, not sons! I rarely venture out with both of them, though they are getting older, which should help to lower the stress of such outings! Anyway, I headed out last night after putting them to bed to buy cards and a small gift for them to give my wife. Normally, I'd rather them choose something with my help, but Mother's Day kind of snuck up on me, and this week is crazy!!

All my guitars live in their cases. It just seems like a good way to protect them...from everything from my own klutziness, to my children, to the weather and environmental conditions. When I first started playing, I left my only electric on the stand, but I don't think that lasted too long.

I'd say I put in 5-7 hours a week. Usually 2 hours on Sat and Sun afternoons, then sometimes late at night during the week, much like you, when the family has gone to bed...if I'm not too beat! I'm generally always plugged into something. My music room is in the basement and is insulated to some extent for sound dampening, which definitely helps. And my Marshall JVM does really low volume quite well, so I can use it in that room even late at night with satisfying results. I also have a couple modelling devices that I can use with headphones.

Good week so far, Scott!

Trying NST on the Squier now. The cheap trapezoid tuners make it next nigh impossible to maintain stable tuning despite my most valiant efforts. I'm going to try it with the Yamaha Pacifica instead, which stays in tune much better but is much harder to tune when it goes out of whack.

My boys are 7 and 9, which goes a long way toward explaining why I keep my guitars in their cases. From time to time I've been a bit lazy about this, and that's when lessons are learned the hard way.

Beautiful Bluesboy. I love mine. Hope to have time later to check out your videos. I really have enjoyed them this week.

I play for an hour or an hour and a half about 5 nights per week after the kids have gone to bed. More often than not since becoming a daddy, I'll go acoustic. Sometimes I'll risk waking the kids (and the wrath of my wife) by plugging in. Sometimes I'll just play an electric guitar or bass unplugged. And once in a while, when everybody's out of the house, I'll try to break all the windows from the inside.

(Can I vote again for the Cream guard? ;+) - ed

Love that Bluesboy. And as usual, the videos sound good. I'm a bit familiar with Tragically Hip but never heard of the other band.

I usually have 1 guitar on a stand at a time. Once in a while I'll switch it out. I don't spend enough time practicing (and it shows!). But I do find that having a guitar at arms length on a stand does help. Sometimes I just feel the need to strum a quick chord progression or something and it handy to just grab the git and go. On a good week its 5-7 hours playing time. On a bad week its more like 5-7 minutes. When I do practice its probably 50-50 as to plugged in or not.

Jeff

My wife is doing a 10km fun run (there's an oxymoron for ya) at 7 am this Mother's Day. That should give me ample time to get the kids dressed, get a nice card and present, and meet somewhere for lunch.

I keep my Tribby ASAT semi-hollow next to the bed so I can play a few chords when time allows. Being semi-hollow, it has enough acoustic volume to be enjoyable to play unplugged. The rest of the herd reside on guitar stands in the basment so they're accessible to me but not the kids. I probably get 1-2 hrs practice time per week in 15-20 minute bursts. About 90% of that time is unplugged or through an amp simulator due to noise constraints. Whenever I plug in, the kids immediately hear where I am and come shut the whole session down.

That honeyburst Bluesboy would look great on my bedside guitar stand.

mine stay in their cases unless i'm playing, but often have 2 or 3 out when playing....sometimes most of the day...
16 hours a week on average over time...some weeks i mite not play a couple days and sometimes i mite play twice the average...

i have a Big Sugar CD i picked up when in Halifax in 2002...and i've heard of the Hip...

All of my G&Ls are so resonant that they sound great acoustic. If I strum in the living room while my wife is watching TV, she will gripe that she can't hear the show over my playing..
Ken

Wouldn't it be great if you could get them to listen to the idiot box through headphones and not the other way around. Nothings fair.


I have to leave my guitars in cases due to spacial restrictions - actually, they occupy slightly more than half of the space under my desk.

I get my best practice in at rehearsals and gigs, which can take up anywhere between 6 and 18 hours per week. When I'm by myself I tend to just muck about rather than focus on anything in particular but still get around an hour or two in every day. Whatever the actual number of hours its enough to keep my skills up to scratch. I plug in most of the time too, especially recently as I'm going through a period of serious GAS and need to put these things I keep buying through their paces.

And everybody should have a Bluesboy! I love mine!

Scott, I had leftover meatballs on noodles today. Time spent with the young ones is precious. When you are older, you will look back and remember how great it was!

Beautiful Bluesboy. That is a color that you cannot go wrong on. I just realized that both of my Bluesboys are gone. They have been replaced but I did like them. I just cannot keep them all.

Question about keeping in cases.



Ginny made me do it! Yes, I am fortunate.

I usually practice 1-2 hrs each morning and almost always unplugged. I do this while Ginny is watching TV but she is always listening. She has commented that I need to learn some new material.

Scott, your videos have been very entertaining this week! Thanks for your reports, they were great. I will be off line until Saturday so will miss tomorrows report. Until then. Darwin.

Beautiful Bluesboy you've got there Scott, Honeyburst is one of my favorite color options and my favorite of the bursts

G&L question: I always leave one out, currently my '90 ASAT. The one left out for daily play stays home when I go jam with friends, but I do rotate pretty much every other week. You have to make sure they are treated equally or else they get jealous

Non G&L: I wish I had more time to practice but usually I noodle around a bit before bed every night, probably for around 15mins or so. Trying to get a band reassembled, so been playing with friends on the weekends lately, about 2-4hrs. I also am trying to learn a new song every week, it doesn't always work out that way but I try. Usually goes something like this, learn a new song at beginning of week, play it every night before bed, add it to set list at band practice.
1. So I'd say probably 5-8hrs a week is average.
2. Plugged/unplugged probably 60/40, like others have said my G&L's are very resonant. The '90(ash) more so than the '06(alder), I thought the '06 was the loudest unplugged electric I had ever heard until I got the '90 My wife thought I was going to wake the baby last night, I honestly don't think I could make much use of a practice amp.

-Dave

Even though I don't have my G&L yet (within the next week or two it will hopefully appear for me ) all of my guitars have been chillin in there cases until showtime. mostly because of a combination of space and Canadas funky winter. I am actually hoping to eventually reorganize my practice space and maybe get a multiple guitar stand like Darwin has in his pic. I would say that I play anywhere from 3-5 hours on a good week and most of that time is spent with my Norman B20HG (right on CGT how are you liking the B18?) so unplugged.

Scott, I think you got the better deal comparing your Bluesboy with a Taylor Solidbody. Just my opinion.

Although I wished I could do what Darwin does (wouldn't we all), I keep my Ovation 1863 nylon string out in the living room and the remainder of all my guitars in their case. I have a workbench in my music room that reaches about navel high which always has my (electric) 'guitar of the week' in its case ready to go.

Practice time is very variable. Sometimes I play 20 hours a week, sometimes there is only time for a 10 minute noodle on the nylon string a day. Such is life.

- Jos