Lunch Report 10 November 2023

[DanDoulogos]

Happy Friday!

Lunch today: I am downtown today, so I'll be going out for lunch with a co-worker from another office. It's his turn to decide where we're going to eat, so it's a mystery for me, though I will say this, he almost always opts for burgers. So I am maybe 80% certain I'll be eating burgers and fries. The only thing I am certain of is I will be taking water with my meal instead of sugar water - which I prefer taste-wise, but despise for the empty calories.

Social Media vs. traditional bulletin-board style discussion pages: There was a documentary released on Netflix a while back called "The Social Dilemma". The documentary explained the pay structure behind "free" social apps like Pinterest and Facebook etc. Essentially in order to use the app/service, you agreed to have your activity monitored by the application for the sake of tailoring your experience to the things you like etc. The app would note the type of content you clicked on or searched for, and include that information in your profile in order to serve you with the kind of content you are interested in. More importantly, your profile would be compared to other profiles of similar interests and special attention was paid to what sort of advertising and what advertised content interested you - and people with similar interests to you. In this way the application was able to increase the likelihood of someone clicking on an advertisement. That was how the apps paid for themselves. They offered advertisers a much better return on their advertising because the social app could serve up a list of people who statistically were more likely to respond positively to their product. That's how the app makes money even though it is free. Unfortunately there was a massively destructive, unanticipated side effect of this pay scheme: Serving people more of what they liked ended up eventually saturating their interest. To regain their interest, they were served more extreme versions of what they already were leaning towards. This produced a polarizing effect in such areas as politics, hot button issues (abortion, gender ideology, etc.), as people were programming themselves via social media app algorithmically reinforcing their opinions to the point of radicalizing them. We've all seen it.

One other side effect is that sites like this are getting less traffic as people move away from this sort of format to various social media apps on their "devices".

I am sure I'm not the only one to notice that traffic has been down. It seems the few of us who show up regularly share not only an interest in G&L guitars, but also an age category ("over 50"). I suspect some of that is because we like what we know and we already know how to use this board. But some of it too is because we prefer to avoid the "wall of opinion-noise" we find on social media, and the endless click-content that keeps people flicking through short little videos hour after unproductive hour.

I don't use any social media apps much anymore. I still have Facebook on my iPad, because I needed to have a Facebook account to use the messenger app to stay in touch with my daughter who only communicates with me through the app, as well as a few others for the same reason. I will every now and again go on Facebook, but it always feels like a sort of prison to me - I get trapped in my own interest loop, and waste more hours than anyone my age should.

I just wanted to say I am glad this site is still up, and people are still using it. I just like this venue. No Ads, no flicking for the next bit o' tailored content, just real people with real questions, concerns, and comments.

The site is getting less traffic, and that makes me sad and nostalgic. Am I the only one?

G&L Related: The Z-2 ASAT. I don't like to classify myself as a "tele" man. Yet I can't deny that half of my guitar pile is all ASATs and Teles. I absolutely love my Comanche for the Z-Coils, and I love my ASAT Special for the jumbo MFDs. I feel like I would really love an AST with two Z-coils. Frankly, I'd like there to be a "jumbo" version of the z-coil, and have two of those sitting in an ASAT. Am I the only one who pines relentlessly for a re-issue of the Z-2 ASAT? or for G&L to make Jumbo z-coil pickups?

Last thought: Videos that Humble us.
I've been playing guitar for almost 40 years. Sure there were a few years where my guitars didn't come out from under the bed but I can say I've been playing my guitar more or less daily for the past 30 years. I started playing when I was 18 or 19, and I didn't have anyone to teach me and the Internet wasn't really there yet. In short, I sucked as a guitarist, and progressed very slowly - in spite of how much I love playing. I've easily spent the last decade or so doing improvisational jazz (poorly), and feel like I am only really just starting to understand the guitar.

Now you've probably heard of Taj Farrant by now. He was born on May 21, 2009. That makes him 14 yrs old. Here is a video of Taj from when he was 9 years old - improvising over a backing track for Chris Stapleton's Tennessee Whiskey. The song is something like 48 bpm with 6/8 timing. I personally find it very tricky playing over a slow 6/8 progression - nailing the "feel" is harder the slower you go (for me at least). So listening to a 9 year old, play with more feel that I could play with even after decades of practice... is humbling. If you've never heard of this kid, I think you'll be delighted to become acquainted.

Give this a listen - then post another video that reminds you of the need for humility.

[glvourot]

Lunch today will probably be something quick that I get some energy from to continue my role in the slow motion train wreck my place of employment has become.
Banana for sure, some mandarins perhaps. Who knows.

My opinion on "Social" is that is mostly a detriment in all its facets. I did not create a Facebook account until I wanted access to marketplace a couple of years ago. Instagram is a massive time sink as well, and one I been distancing myself from more and more. I enjoy checking out this page and " The Ship of Fools " aka thegearpage. I have been a member of GBL since I bought my S-500 in 2010 and it was definitely a more lively place, but even back then I had just missed the golden era of the site as a lot of participants disappeared after they changed from the " old format ". It is the way of things. That being said, I have found that the people here do have a lot of G&L / guitar knowledge and is still a great place to glean such knowledge.

I would love to try out a G&L with Z coils but the reality is that G&L's are hard enough to come by as it is (at least in my neck of the woods )and I will not buy guitars without playing them first anymore. I'm becoming obsessed with Jazzmaster's and Jaguars now anyway.

I really don't need a video to humble me, they all do ! I like that there are some young kids out there playing guitar at a high level but if I'm honest I can handle about 9 seconds of these if I click at all. Good playing yes, interesting no. But that's just me.

And last but not least, Thanks for the Lunch report Dan !

[sam]

I will echo Paul with a thanks Dan for the Lunch Report!

Lunch today will be late and something at the airport. Traveling home from another week of travel.

I remember the Social Dilemma movie and have always been leery of all pay for use internet options. I’m just a guy, in the demographic Dan mentioned, that doesn’t have much internet presence. No Facebook and no participation on other guitar sites. I’m registered on a few but only for access to the buy and sell pages, as well as full access to postings. I like all the information on the interweb but G&L has been the only page that fits my primary interest. Like you I wish we had more participation, even with a lot of new people seeming to join, just not a lot of repeat offenders in coming back. Maybe it will come in a wave.

An ASAT Z-2 Re-issue would be cool. Or you could do what I did, by taking an ASAT Tribby and dropping in 2 z-coils in with a little wood removal to fit pups, to have a pseudo Z-2. Mine has a Will Ray Bridge and a standard Z -coil neck with a HipShot B bender. Can’t post pics now but will add later.

These young whippersnappers, get off my lawn! Haha I actually dig it. For anyone who says no one plays guitar anymore just look around and you see more young kids posting videos. More power to em’

Thanks Dan!!

[mutts]

Lunch today will be cold pizza.

As for social media: I belong to this forum and one other that is also on the small side. I have thought of joining The Gear Page as they do have much more traffic and a good sub-forum for music discussion which I prefer to gear discussion. I have considered FB but if I haven't joined yet I probably never will. I sometimes feel like I'm missing out. I have plenty of old friends and family on it. It is too bad this site does not get more traffic; it seems like as a brand G&L is doing pretty decent.

Can't speak much on the Asat Z-2. I have never tried any of the Z style pickups. The Z-2 looks cool though. I would love to see G&L start playing with configurations a little more though. This is another oppurtunity for me to publicly request a Dohenny P'up equipped Asat.

Lots of crazy good players on Youtube that's for sure. Some great young songwriters out there too. I do my best not to compare my playing with other people. I'm never going to be a super skilled player; I've accepted that and am happy just to be able to play and enjoy music.

[Kit]

Dan, great to see a Lunch Report although it took me a couple of days to come to the site and see it. I guess that gives you a general idea how active I am on the internet.

I absolutely notice the targeted feeds on social media. I do have a Facebook account even though I don’t spend much time on it. Over the last few months I noticed that my Facebook page showed a large number of music related ‘interest’ links. These are mostly on bands and songs, and how to play music. At first I found some of them a decent read, but more and more I am barraged by them to the point now I started hiding them. I wonder rejecting them has an effect of slowing down the feed. I guess time will tell.

A few years ago I had this thought that I should try to teach someone how to play guitar. I ended up with a 17 year old young man as student for about a couple of months. It was a failure because he lost interest quickly and did not put in time for practice. He stopped when his Dad told me he wanted to concentrate on sports. Part of this was definitely also on me because I did not know how to create a structure to teach since I was self-taught when I started at 15 years old.

Of course COVID was then upon us and there’s no way to have face-to-face guitar lessons for the next 2 years.

So, about 5 months ago I found out someone was looking for a guitar teacher for her 11 year old daughter so I contacted her about being the tutor. Since no one else applied for the position I was hired. Turned out this girl is really interested, and she has had a bit of piano lessons. I started out with showing her how to play the chords to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” a basic 1-4-5. Over the months I taught her the basic musical scale and the concept of keys, the set of chords that goes with a scale, and so on. I also taught her a couple of songs that she liked, fortunately they were pretty simple so they worked out well.

I’m really happy that she’s really progressing and that she remain interested. Over the last few weeks we have been working on this song:

[ytv]www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTWqwSNQCcg[/ytv]

We started with the chordal backing on a guitar, and now we are working on the sung melody. This has been beneficial to me since I have to make preparations on how to teach everything, and that made me more aware of nuances of each piece of music.

Kit

[Rodney Hamblen]

Dan/All
I am very appreciative that this website exists. I've found a lot of info pertinent to the projects I work on and I also like looking at the eye candy of rare G&L guitars and basses glistening in their newness. I enjoy putting out info I discover while working on my G&Ls. I like posting my projects and getting feedback on what I've concocted. This is the only place I can think of that has this information. I hope this website lasts longer than I do.

So, keep up the good work and the chatter. Many thanks from me to those who keep this website active.

73! (Amateur radio talk for "Best Regards")

Rodney Hamblen

[john o]

howdy, Dan, good timing for a lunch report! stuffed shells, green beans and a few meatballs today.
i haven't had room to breathe til tonight re: work, but it's a pleasure to look at something in the musical realm for a change.
wow, that 9 y/o Taj sure has a nice groove and is very expressive in his playing, a feel most guitarists don't have til decades later.

i'm mostly anti-social media. i strictly avoided it for a long time for alot of reasons but back in 2015 i signed up for Facebook (one of my musician friends calls it "hate book") which hosts free band sites, and we wanted a way to let our audience know when and where we were playing. another musician friend said: "ya gotta be on facebook", so i relented, in order to have a band site you need to have a personal site on FB, so i did, and in a positive way, i was able to catch up with some folks i knew in high school and college that otherwise wouldn't have happened. i try not to burn too much time on there, but it is interesting to look from time to time. It has been helpful for our band and people sometimes say they came to a gig cause they saw it on FB.

i do visit TDPRI. there's alot of traffic there, and most of the posts i don't read, but occasionally there are interesting discussions and there's alot of collective knowledge and experience there. also i have become a Tele player a good bit of the time, there's something about them. I include ASAT's in my interest in the extended spectrum of the tele, as we know there are some things that the ASAT does better! I have a 2007 special that gets regular playing time and my latest ASAT classic S that i'm still getting to know, but it's pretty fine. I've tried other music forums but got bored with them or didn't like them. G&LDP/GBL has remained interesting to me for the duration (close to 10 yrs now) and despite the low traffic, it's still the best.

By now I'm a somewhat seasoned z coil player with my comanche and I prefer them for most rock band applications, so versatile and lotsa tones, and punch for live playing. also, our rehearsal space is kinda noisy electrically and the comanche just calms all of that so i just leave it there and use it for rehearsals and gigs. I have been playing alot of blues over the past year and for this i use my teles, my ASAT special and my SG w/p90's. All great blues instruments and nice to have that variety. I'll be attending the Reading Blues festival next weekend in Pa and looking forward to that!

[DanDoulogos]

Thanks for all the replies!

The thing I like most about Lunch Reports is people respond to them, and they are always pretty chill/low key. Just a good opportunity to touch base and hear from one another. The topics are just the excuse.

Thanks for sharing guys.

[Shug]

Hey Howdy all....
Lunch was pimento cheese and bread and butter pickles on my wife's homemade crispinis.
Mixed feelings always on Socials. I participate in one forum for years. Specific to hammock camping. I've no FB, Insta, X, Mets and all that rot. Seems the computer already takes enough of my time and soul.
I do have a very active You Tube channel started in 2007. Most of my Social těte-à-těte takes place on there.
Since getting my CLF Research L-1000 and Tribute JB-2 I do like popping in here to get my G&L fixation.
Not too busy on here and I can glom over some nice photos.
Upgraded my JB-2 with some lightweight Hipshot tuners. Took some heft off of that headstock.
Right good ya'll. Sally forth.....
Shug