Lunch Report For Friday, August 24, 2012

Not sure what I’m having for lunch today. We may be out and about running errands, so it may be restaurant food from somewhere.

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What are you reading these days? I’m a big fan of John Sandford, Lee Child, Vince Flynn, and Clive Cussler. Right now, I’m reading the second spy-thriller by Ben Coes, Coup d’ Etat. I’ve got a bunch of books around here to read, as we cleaned out Borders when they when out of business. Got a lot of books on the Civil War and WWII. What’s on your nightstand? Paperback? Hard covers” Or an e-reader?

And who bought Fifty Shades Of Gray?

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Here’s a hot tip for you: check out Disc Makers. They offer some neat deals on producing your next CD, and their e-mail newsletters always offer some great music tips on a variety of topics. The current newsletter topic deals with some of the pitfalls of endorsement deals—which was part of Monday’s Lunch Report. How’s that for being timely!


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Tell me about any “AHA!” moments you’ve had with your guitar playing, or your music in general. Was it figuring out how to get the sound you wanted from a piece of gear, or the moment when you fell in love with the Cmaj7 chord? Perhaps it was something related to dealing with band members, or figuring out how to get more gigs. Maybe it was something that happened on a more spiritual plane—you either figured out that you were born to be a star, or the reality that you were not going to be the next Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, or…???

What/Whom/Where inspires you?

I had a moment after I’d been playing a few years, talking to a young lady, and telling her that I played guitar. She asked me if I was any good, and in that moment I realized that after telling people for years that I was just okay, I couldn’t do that anymore. So I said, “Yeah, I’m pretty good.” Didn’t really help me seduce her, but it was a game-changer in my life.

Another woman a few years later, took me to the service at her church and I learned about doing affirmations. My mother had done this for years, but I didn’t realize it. Made a big impact on me. I changed the way that I talked to myself before a gig, telling myself that I WAS good; that I was going to have a great night; that my guitar would sound great, etc. The more I did it, the more I benefited from it. I sang better, sounded better, and it certainly helped me relax. It enabled me to calmly face any of the challenges I might face in doing a gig. I still use the technique before every gig or jam session. Oh, and this time, I got the girl!

And as far as sounding better, well, I’ve learned there are some issues with that concept. I went over to a friend’s house one time for a little bit of jamming, and he had a Marshall JCM 900 112 combo. Now back then, I had first been using Fender amps for a number of years, and then my solid-state SUNN Solos II 212 combo. For the life of me, I could not get the sound I wanted out of that Marshall! Yet, the other people at the jam kept raving about how good my guitar sounded. I was getting a bit frustrated, but in that “AHA!” moment, I realized that things could sound different—yet still be good. I might have a tone that is not exactly what I want yet I can accept that it still sounds “good”.

I try not to use “good” and “bad” or even “better” or “worse” in my thinking. My tone is what it is. Sure, there’s all that stuff about how tone comes from your heart and your fingers, and having great gear and the knowledge of how to use it helps tremendously. But I see so many guys that are chasing tone, and they are so unhappy in the process. For me, the bottom line is to be happy and soulful—and I think the great tone comes from that inner place. If you feel it from me, that’s wonderful. If you don’t, that’s fine too. Maybe I’m the smiling village idiot, but for me, I don’t need to obsess over every minute detail of my rig.

And I’ve learned that my way is not the only way. What works for me might not, hell, PROBABLY WON’T EVER work for you. There are so many ways to get it done in this business, but you have to find your own way, just as I did over the years. It’s nice to get acknowledgement from all of you when I do the Lunch Report, and I hope you’ve learned something and I’ve even perhaps, opened new possibilities for you. I excited to do that. It’s been a terrific journey of self-discovery for me, and I hope you enjoy your journey as much as I have mine.


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I was looking at some of the G&Ls on EBay yesterday, and saw some beautiful guitars. EBay is full of dealer listings, and I miss the “good old days” when it was mostly used gear at great prices. There are good deals still to be had, but it seems like prices are going up again. Some of the new guitars I saw had some pretty stiff price-tags, too. But I still think USA-made G&Ls are a good value.

Do you think G&L would get more respect in the marketplace if they offered a big ticket line for the cork sniffers out there? I was wondering how you thought they might compare against offerings from Suhr, Grosh, DeTemple, Anderson, Sadowsky—and the other upscale manufacturers. Would a more expensive guitar help them get more recognition?

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Didn’t have a lot of time today, which is unfortunate because I wanted to get some new pics of some of my latest acquisitions. My honey-do list is about as long as my arm this weekend—I HAVE to do laundry, or I will be running around half naked. If I get a chance, I’ll post some serious porn.

My week as lunch reporter went really fast, and I had a great time. You should see all the topics I got left! And thanks again for all your comments. I hope you have a great weekend, take care and rock out!

Bill

Aha! moments - Learning songs by ear. So many things fall into place! Learning to laugh at mistakes was good too. If you don't laugh then you'll just keep on making more and more!

I must admit that I don't do a lot of readings these days. I keep hearing about '50 Shades...'. Are there pictures in it?

I agree with you on the tone chasing thing. The other guitarist in one of the bands I play in always sounds fantastic, whether he's plugged into a Peavey Rage or a vintage AC30. Its all about working with what you've got to sound good. Doesn't stop me from spending every spare dollar on more stuff though!

Thanks for a great week of LRs Bill!

i am reading julian jaynes the origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. i am also reading the complete works of p howard, my favorite author.

i have never done affirmations, i always thought that was for people with self esteem issues, trying to talk themselves into believing they don't have low self esteem.
i don't talk to myself before i play, i just play. i have no confidence issues, i don't have to talk myself into believing i'll have a good night. it's within my control, i'll make it so. but i can see how it can help some people. getting the girl once was never the issue. getting the girl each time is more like it. actually the way i see it, the girl gets me. it's usually someone else's girl, as i am only dating married women now. just easier.

i do chase tone, but it's for me, i don't care if everyone there says it's sounding great, i want it to sound great to me. i play for myself, i am trying to please myself, not the audience. the audience's opinion is rarely trustworthy as i hear them tell a great player and a crappy player that they both sounded great. my standards are probably higher, and if i can please myself it's probably good enough.

i think the high end marketplace is crowded enough, i'd rather have g&l produce great guitars at reasonable prices. i would like to see some innovation, like heel contour, different neck joint, contoured lower horn for access.

Jumping in here before I leave.

I haven't had time to read lately but I have read books on the KRS recently. It is interesting the conclusions that people come to by ignoring certain evidence that cannot be overlooked or set aside.

I have used a media company in the twin cities to make three different Cd's. I do my own producing and generally speaking, if it sounds good, it is good.

I think the big challenge is getting better bookings at larger venues. We have reached the point where we are constantly busy and we are planning to develop a show for larger venues. That usually pays much better but we must do our time to get there or get awful lucky and we all know the chances of that. There is no one who doubts the talent in our group. Marketing a product is the key.

G&L has built some incredible guitars recently and the think that the prototypes are an example of what they can do. They are not a cookie cutter shop like Fender and generally a guitar is not built unless there is an order. They operate as a custom shop already and probably have the quality of the big dogs. They have all the ingredients and it is a question of how to develop the image through marketing. These are tough times but maybe now is the time for them to start moving more in that direction. Bill, maybe they need to muster a bunch of us GLDPers as endorsers and tell the public that they are surprised that we are not households names and make them feel dumb for not knowing who we are! We could sport some pretty good gear from this forum. No, I have not been tasting cold ones!! Thanks for the week Bill- Darwin

Lunch should be salmon.

I have way too many books. For the past couple of weeks, I have been selling them. Slowly.
Every so often, I grab a stack of books that I have not touched in years, price them on Amazon, and try to sell them at a discount. If the book is only worth $5, it is a waste of time trying to sell it. Ends up in the trash.

We are moving into the digital age. Books are downloaded and read in pdf mode. Some of my books are not converted yet, and I don't want to toss them out. When it makes sense, I buy the download version of the book before paper.
Most people would not dare buy 50 shades of grey in paper. That would be too embarrassing. Instead they go for the kindle version. I recently spoke to my feminist friend if she read 50 shades of grey, she said "buy me a kindle copy". I told her, feminist don't need men in their lives, they can operate better on their own. You go girrl! So the answer was no.

Books I have been reading lately are things that deal with the Craft of Lyric writing, Songwriting, and the music business.

CDs? Who buy those anymore. Oh wait, you old geezers do. Nevermind.

I need more A Ha moments. I'm still taking composition lessons. Learning how harmony works might have been my last AHA moment, but I don't know if I actually said that.

Thanks for the LR Bill. I hope someone picks up next week.

Thank you for the insightful Lunch Report today Boogie Bill.

Lunch is cottage cheese with peaches canned in peach juice.

What I am reading currently: Absence of Mind by Marilynne Robinson in softcover and the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for fun on an e-reader.

Aha moments? Goosebumps when the lyrical message and the instrumentation of the music strike the emotional tone they were intended to. It like my entire body recognizes that moment of authenticity. Even the most accomplished of technical players often fail at this.

People talk to themselves all the time, consider their own notions, that is called metacognition. The Thumper Doctrine applies here to, if you are going to say something to yourself, may as well be nice about it.

Life stories of perseverance and triumph inspire me. For me, it is not the achievement but the journey, I find I relish the challenge.

I agree that G&L is well positioned in offering and price and needs to concentrate on good marketing and consistent level of customer service. A few innovations, like the contoured neck heel, would be welcome nonetheless.

Last edited by JagInTheBag on Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Lunch? Just some tomato basil soup... so far. I read a bit too. Check out: http://www.goodreads.com/ It's a good source for what's out there. I haven't had an ah-ha moment since learning King Crimson. Maybe I need to check out something new...


Cheers,

Will

Tell me about any “AHA!” moments you’ve had with your guitar playing, or your music in general. Was it figuring out how to get the sound you wanted from a piece of gear, or the moment when you fell in love with the Cmaj7 chord?

Mine was on the amp side when I figured out parallel channels for bass. The amp setup that did it right first for me was a Mesa Boogie V-twin rackmount (guitar preamp with parallel) into a Yorkville B400H into a Ampeg 8x10, and I also have the small version now which is two combos (Spider I from Line6 + a Yorkville XM200). The key is running the color (distortion, flange, even reverb) on the high end only, and leaving the low solid and clean.

I like this for guitar too, and will probably someday get one of the largely unpopular Fender "The Twin" red knob amps. People for the most part don't like them because they're not like an old Twin Reverb, but for parallel use they're great. Built for the mission. I do wish they'd have put a heavy overdrive gain pull knob in there, but there's a separate loop for just the high channel so no biggie.



If anyone has suggestions for parallel channel guitar amps, I'm all ears.

Hey Bill -

I'm currently reading Does the Noise in my Head Bother You? Steven Tyler's Rock n Roll Memoir.

Cool story bout your self perceptions + getting the girl!

I'm a big proponent of 'energy follows thought' or to put it another way - thoughts become things. LIke you, i implement that into my daily living (and playing) and finds it pays off nicely... I agree too with your 'different strokes for different folks' mentality and that everything (from a personal view) is subjective.

Not exactly an AHA moment but I really dig how different notes mesh and/or contrast when played against each other.

I get inspired by heaps of things - a really tasty guitar tone, a song that grooves, positivity, authenticity.... to name a few.

I think G&L offering high end instruments wouldn't make much of a difference esp since their current offerings seem to be heads & shoulders above the rest in terms of bang for $. I think a well known artist playing a G&L exclusively would really kickstart things... not an endorsement thing but like Jonny Greenwood or Brad Paisely picking up an F-100 or ASAT III.
My .02.

Brock, +1 on the red knob twins....

Thanks for the great week, BIll.

I'll pick up this coming week LR duties if its still open and a Free Fuzz pedal is in the offerings... Craig??

Cheers,
KF

I'll pick up this coming week LR duties if its still open and a Free Fuzz pedal is in the offerings... Craig??

Hey KF,

If you respond to this post, next week's LR duty should be yours with all the perks associated since your last one is (barely!) a year ago. We have the 'first come, first serve' kinda thing going on now ...

- Jos

Cheers for that Jos -
Done.
KF

Cheers for that Jos -
Done.
KF

Saw it! Fast response too! Thanks bud.

- Jos