Monday Lunch Report: 15 April 2013

In spite of repeated attempts by Gods, Godzilla, Genghis Khan, the USAF and even the Tokyo Electric & Power Co. to annihilate the Japanese people, they are still thriving, and I am still living among them. While I do not embrace all their customs, I readily embrace the custom of eating Yoshinoya Gyudon for lunch. This week I'm on a strict budget of 500 yen per day, and Yoshinoya falls well within that restriction. Below is a typical working man's lunch of boiled beef and onions over rice, accompanied by a pair of soft boiled eggs (TWO is not very typical, actually, but I need the raw protein...) Total cost: 450 yen with coupon. Eating does not have to be expensive in Japan.



Anyway, enough about my cheap lunch. In my previous week as lunch reporter, I threatened to put band together and play gigs again. That's going to happen next month, and so I have a lot of questions lined up for everyone one about gigs and how to prepare for them as non G&L topics.

For today's G&L topic, I must first confess that my main guitar these days is an Aibunez George Benson model modded with a brass-aluminium Gotoh ABR bridge. It's an amazing semi-acoustic archtop, but I still spend plenty of time playing my G&L Legacy, too. If I had to evacuate in a hurry thanks to some earthquake, giant mutant space monster or DPRK missile, I'd take my G&L and abandon the GB-10. Still, I've never played a G&L semi-hollow, and often wondered how a semi-hollow G&L would compare to a semi-acoustic like my GB-10 or ES-335? Any thoughts about this? (Besides maybe, "This is only a semi-G&L topic!" Ha. Ha. )

Of course, a guitar is just a tool we use to make music. I also sing, but have trouble playing and singing at the same time. Sometimes I imagine that my voice is a "seventh string" on the guitar. The rest of the time, I just play very slow and try to listen the syncopation created by both parts.
Does anyone else sing and play guitar at the same time? If so, how did you master it?

Last edited by Greenblues on Mon Apr 15, 2013 6:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've always admired those GB-10's, never had a chance to play one.

My new to me AriaPro ll TA 1200 is a little thinner I think but..wow, what a guitar !
Even my cheaper TA-60 seems to be more than the sum of it's parts.

got pics of your GB-10?

gotta go...coffee's calling

ew

Hey Greenblues ,
The Japanese really can make great semi acoustics.
I think when I sing and play guitar I concentrate on the voice and try to let the guitar play itself.
Anthony

Hey Greenblues ,
The Japanese really can make great semi acoustics.
I think when I sing and play guitar I concentrate on the voice and try to let the guitar play itself.
Anthony

Hey Greenblues,

Thanks for taking the reins this week. I have an Ibanez Artstar AS-80 (the 335 copy) and it is a fun guitar to play. It doesn't see much gigging time, but it is a great guitar to strum around the house.

As far as comparing that to a semi-hollow G&L - It would be apples and oranges! I have 3 s/h G&L's (Bluesboy, Special, and Comanche). The semi hollow certainly adds a more "round" sound to a solid counter part, probably best described as a little more thick low mids. They are all very lively unplugged, but i find that true with all G&L's. The semi's may ring out a little more acoustically but not by much. One big bonus is that they certainly are light! If you come across one, you would not be unhappy with it

Have a good one
Scott

Nice to see you back on the LRs Greenblues, I find Japan very interesting.

Ibanez make a nice guitar, and the GB model I played some years ago was very nice. I HATE Mr.Benson's music passionately, but a quality guitar is a quality guitar.

I sold my Gibson ES335 shortly after receiving my SH Bluesboy. To me the Bluesboy did everything I wanted the 335 to do but with the added bonus of staying in tune, strings don't break, it's much more wieldy and far less fragile.

Singing and playing is tough once you move beyond just strumming. I find the trick is to get the guitar to a point where you don't have to think about it and then put as much energy into singing as possible. That's what people want to see anyway, and practice is the only thing for it! Recently had problems with Dr John's "Such a Night", playing the piano part on guitar and singing, but practice got me through.

I fired up the PC and found an early lunch report.

Japan builds very fine guitars. I have a couple of Gretsch Chet Atkins models and they are superb instruments. I also like the hollow G&Ls very much. A bit louder unplugged but very similar to the solid bodies except the weight.

I do some backup vocals and find it hard to do vocals on difficult songs that require a lot of bass work.

Looking forward to you band reports! Thanks for stepping up this week GB.-- Darwin

Hi Mr Greenblues,

I never went to Japan, though I love Japanese food (and I find a certain typical poetry in japanese books).
I tried a lot of semi-h japanese guitar, but never bonded with one, except the yamaha SA2200 wich is a stellar 335 style guitar (I have yet to play a genuine 335 that sounds so nice actually), that yam is on my shortlist for 10 years now. I wonder why I still don't have it .

I currently have two ASAT, one semi-H and one solidbody, I love both, but I must confess I'm partial with semi-h, mainly because I have a style of playin' which requires a lot of pop, a fast response if you know what I mean. Which is exactly what is subdued in a semi-hollow (IMHO et al).

Anyway, G&L is still giving me a real bad habit : 99% of the guitars I try leave me returning home with empty hands (and that includes Vigier, PRS, Fender CS, Gibson, Ibanez, Yamaha, Music Man)

Japan makes many excellent guitars. I remember in the 1970s Ibanez was a very popular brand, probably more so than today. I can personally attest to the quality of Japanese guitars with my 1976 Yamaha SG1500. It is likely the last guitar I would give up, that is including my G&Ls.

I have a couple of semi-hollow guitars, and they are very different construction. I have one of the G&L LEs (featured on this website) which is a small body semi-hollow. I also have a Heritage H535 which is what I consider a normal size semi-hollow but not quite a thick body jazz box. Every one of my guitar appeals to me in different ways and they all have a place in the sound spectrum that I want.

I play in a hobby band and over the last couple of years I started doing more singing. I think my singing voice is very mediocre, but I blend in pretty well singing harmony. I am usually fine singing while playing chords. I am working on singing and playing riffs on some songs. I can do OK if one follows the other, but doing them simultaneously is still too difficult.

Kit

lunch was eggs, bacon, hash browns & toast at Denny's when I got off work this morning.

The only semi-hollow guitar I own is a Washburn HB 30 that I like very much. I do want to get a G&L semi-hollow a Will Ray.Saving my nickles and dimes toward that.

I do sing [if you can call it that] and play at the same time. I play by ear and always learned the words to songs when I was learning to play them
kind of singing under my breath. my voice really sucks though.

I HATE Mr.Benson's music passionately.

I hear you, but have your heard his early pre-columbia stuff, like The George Benson Cookbook? That's the record that turned me on to jazz guitar. People used to ask me who my favorite guitarist was, and I was embarrassed to say George Benson because of his pop records.

My new to me AriaPro ll TA 1200 is a little thinner I think but..wow, what a guitar !
Even my cheaper TA-60 seems to be more than the sum of it's parts.

got pics of your GB-10?

I had an Aria Pro II semi-hollow, too! It was nice and jangly, and easy to hold. Totally different than the GB-10 which is smaller than a full acoustic jazz box, but still a bit thicker than a G&L or ES-style guitar. Thicker sounding, too.

No closeups of my GB-10, but here's a shot of me playing it live. If you look closely behind the mic, I think you will see the headstock of a G&L bass!

Nice to see you back on the LRs Greenblues, I find Japan very interesting.

Ibanez make a nice guitar, and the GB model I played some years ago was very nice. I HATE Mr.Benson's music passionately, but a quality guitar is a quality guitar.

I sold my Gibson ES335 shortly after receiving my SH Bluesboy. To me the Bluesboy did everything I wanted the 335 to do but with the added bonus of staying in tune, strings don't break, it's much more wieldy and far less fragile.

Singing and playing is tough once you move beyond just strumming. I find the trick is to get the guitar to a point where you don't have to think about it and then put as much energy into singing as possible. That's what people want to see anyway, and practice is the only thing for it! Recently had problems with Dr John's "Such a Night", playing the piano part on guitar and singing, but practice got me through.

i agree that benson's music can be very cheesy, but he is one smoking guitar player.

I HATE Mr.Benson's music passionately.

I hear you, but have your heard his early pre-columbia stuff, like The George Benson Cookbook? That's the record that turned me on to jazz guitar. People used to ask me who my favorite guitarist was, and I was embarrassed to say George Benson because of his pop records.

No, I haven't. I've only ever listened to "Breezin'", as this was the one recommended to me as his best - I found it too schmaltzy. I'm a big Wes Montgomery fan so if Benson's earlier stuff is similar to that then I'll give it a listen. Beleive it or not, we've had requests to play 'Breezin' on more than one occasion - my response is always "dippity doop bop F*&% NO"

I agree with Mr green blues, and with you Jamie,
the first period is nice, though the pop <censored word> is... crappy sounding to me.
I have a verve greatest hits that's really nice too (if you like straight ahead)

A tip for playing and singing:
Simplify the guitar part to its essential elements and then concentrate on singing while playing the simplified part.
Use a piece of paper, if you need it, to remind you of lyrics and chords.

Try to eliminate the paper after learning the song.

Have fun and if you are in a band, remember that you can drop a guitar part at critical times to concentrate on your vocals.
A bass player and drummer can often carry the tune while you sing and if you have a keyboard player, you may not have to play guitar chords at all. It depends on the song. My band's lead vocalist does this all of the time.

Blarg,

Actually, I though Wes sounded schmaltzy for years while listening to Benson, and I only really learned to appreciate his style in the last few years. It turns out that Wes was a big influence on Benson, and they were friendly with each other. I would recommend any Benson album BEFORE Breezin, especially Giblet Gravy and Beyond the Blue Horizon (not so much White Rabbit, though.) There's also a rare Hank Mobley album I was lucky enough to find called Reach Out that features Benson on a track appropriately called, "Good Pickin's."

http://www.allmusic.com/album/reach-out-mw0000028885

Bassman,

Those are some great tips, especially just having the courage NOT to play.

A similar idea I had was to just loop my part using my Boss RC-3....

I know that looping devices are a great tool, but I encourage you to try singing and playing without the loop. Otherwise, you will never learn how.