This is my first time hosting a full week of LRs. I am nervous so I'd like to get the date kiss out of the way and nominate everyone for LR host. I accept! I might be the LR host forever. I have plans to share vacation photos going back 45 years. (i.e. Niagra Falls 1965, a rubber band factory Nevada 1972, driftwood drifting at Lake Siskyou California 1980, the car riding the ferry to the San Juan Islands Washington 1985, the world's longest escalator CNN headquarters Atlanta Georgia 1991,…). I'll be writing lyrics for a song that will then be adapted for a screenplay and have a camera at my side so you can see a 13,200 piece jigsaw puzzle of The Last Supper assembled. All of this entertainment right here!
I should be in bed but I won't be at a computer for my lunch so being on PST I am here for Turkey ............and Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, India, Nepal, Ukraine, Arabia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, etc. I'll be having coffee and a strawberry fruit bar for breakfast then a Black Forest ham sandwich and chips for lunch.
(To help prevent them from getting lost I have counted and numbered 14 questions in all though some are actually sub-questions and this is only good if I located and numbered them correctly).
I just bought my only G&L in May of this year (2011). I am waiting to post a picture in the forum until I make some adjustments so the guitar does not really exist yet. Originally, I was avoiding extravagant guitars and giving myself permission to buy this because it was relatively conservative. It also seemed to acknowledge me like a puppy in a pet shop. The flashy guitar that I immediately wanted was a 30th Anniversary model with the ebony and pearl. I should have gone ahead and bought one. I will probably end up getting one anyway. Since I decided to buy a new guitar I have had a growing list of guitars I would like.
I have this idea that Strats are not really Strats without maple fretboards. There are a few color schemes that should have non-maple fretboards though. On the other hand I am finding that as I spend time thinking about G&L guitars I change my mind a lot. I am interested in things I would not have thought I would care for.
#1. Do you have an idea or rule that defines a certain guitar or type of amp?
G&L:
There are some images in the forum gallery that show Will Ray playing this blue sparkle Will Ray with matching headstock.* It does not matter what that guitar sounds like. That is a guitar meant for the stage if there ever was one. Seeing this guitar or something close on the G&L website where examples of the different models are featured did not have the impact that seeing it in a live context did. Just seeing the guitar being played by someone standing with a band is all it took to change my mind about matching headstock. Prior to this I did not like the look. At this point I would not order a guitar with a matching headstock but I would not avoid buying one simply because of a matching headstock, as was my prior position. If I decided to buy a G&L with the sparkle finish I would prefer that it have the matching headstock now. Confused? You may be quizzed.
#2. Do you consider some G&Ls to be "stage guitars" (meaning that they have strengths that shine on stage, literally in appearance, and may or may not be as strong as a player) while others might be considered "furniture guitars" (meaning guitars you enjoy for their playing comfort and aesthetics)?
#3. Have you bought any G&L guitars because they were stage guitars?
#4. If you do not perform for people and just play more privately have you bought a G&L guitar because it was flashy and would look great on stage even though you may never be in a position to use it in that context?
* A guitar meant for the stage:
Non-G&L:
Food Etiquette:
#5. On a scale of 0 to 5 how germ conscious are you with food?
#6. In this regard, are you like the rest of the family you grew up with or are you different?
#7. How do you fit in with your own family, (wife, husband, kids) and extended family, (in-laws or would be in-laws)?
#8. When faced with a large bag of chips, do you reach inside and grab some with your hand or do you pour them out onto your dish, paper plate or napkin?
#9. Do you open the fridge and drink off the milk, orange juice or soda containers? (non-single serving size)
#10. When cooking or passing through the kitchen where something is cooking, do you sample the food? If so, do you use the cooking utensil or a separate utensil that is disposed of and not reintroduced to the cooking dish?
#11. Do you share your drinks with other people? If so, how well do you have to know them or does it matter?
#12. If you share your food are there some things you are less willing to share than others? Some foods can be eaten cleanly while others require smearing over your tongue, backwash and similar saliva-intensive actions. Do you allow others to lick your ice cream cone? Do you share beverages allowing others to use your straw?
I grew up conscious of germs and guest protocol. How do these fit together? I avoided food and beverages when I was a guest at friend's and relative's homes unless it was formally mealtime. I was taught that it was impolite to accept offers even when it was simply a drink of water. My parents discouraged me from asking for anything. Unfortunately for my friends this might mean that their parents felt it would be impolite if their children went ahead and had something when I was not. I recall a couple being upset when they could not have a glass of soda.
This belief has gotten me onto trouble. Some people are offended if you do not accept their offers. It is considered unsociable like refusing to shake a hand. I was invited to attend a jam session with a friend. There was a guy playing bass whom I had met at a previous session elsewhere. Along with this notion that I should not accept offers of food I am also fairly shy. When I first met this person I did not know anyone and was very uncomfortable. This time the hosts offered homemade deviled eggs. I still believed I should not accept anything offered even though I had seen enough by then to know that this was not such a good idea. I was also put off by the prospect of eating something that involved many degrees of handling by people whom I knew nothing of their hygiene, and a pungent and rather risky food like eggs to boot. Of course I said, "no thank you." The person walking around offering the platter of deviled eggs happened to be this same guy I had met and he said, "Come on don't be such a _____(?) ...nice guy" with a brief pause. I was sort of uncomfortably numb at getting the communication. Thinking back, he was giving me one last chance to partake in friendship. When I said no thanks he wrote me off. This was actually a band rehearsal at one of the band member's homes. During a break there was to be a jam session. When it was time to organize the jam this guy made a point of excluding me. So I did not get to play.
Writing this now it all sounds childish and petty but these things happen with people who are sophisticated and seemingly beyond such triviality. They just happen with less drama and transpire very fast. You might not know it took place because it is very nuanced and under the surface. That is a difference between people who are refined and those who are rough around the edges / crude. People are still people.
Jam Etiquette:
I once responded to a bulletin board ad on the wall of a music store placed by someone supposedly looking for people to jam with. We spoke briefly over the phone. I got to his house and the guy turned out to be a very opinionated stoned out pot-head hippie. But he was a good musician, he had great equipment and knew a wide selection of material. In truth, he was really hoping for a bass player to respond. For some reason no one in the area wanted to play bass at the time. It was myself on guitar, a drummer and this guy also on guitar. At some point after we were set up he started playing a Clapton rhythm so I started playing lead. Within moments he suddenly decided he was going to play lead and and there was no longer a rhythm. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. It was all going to be done his way. He would have been able to do all the guitar parts if only a bass player had responded to the ad but he did not state his wish in the ad. By the end of the day it was crystal clear I had no right to live because I wasn't a bass player. During one of his bong-breaks there was a lot of complaining about "progress." Some friends of his were in attendance including a guy playing drums. These people were nice but they seemed to worship this guy. He was good on guitar but he seemed like a total jerk. Needless to say I never got together with him again.
I was introduced to the guitar playing son of a man I worked with. The first time we got together to play was with my brother-in-law at my sister's house. During a break everyone left the room for a few minutes. The kid stayed behind. When I returned I noticed my Les Paul had been moved. Clearly the kid had tried out my guitar when I went out of the room. I would have been okay with him trying it out while I was there but this was sneaky. The guitar was not cheap and was a prized possession. To put it in perspective, this would be sort of like hopping in someone's car and taking it for a spin around the neighborhood without permission.
#13. Would you ever touch a stranger's, a friend's, anybody's equipment without an invitation or at least asking the person?
On the other end of the spectrum is being cautious and even over-protective of your gear. I was at a jam session when someone I had only met earlier that day picked up my guitar at first sight and started playing it. By this time I had a sense of his competence and trusted him but my knee-jerk reaction was to jump slightly. He saw me react, put the guitar down and apologized. You cannot go back and redo anything like this. I think it would have been fine and part of me enjoys it when people check out my gear, especially people you like and/or who know about equipment. But I did not handle this smoothly.
I believe when you play you want to make sure everyone gets a chance to play what they want. Hopefully everyone knows the song(s) people want to play, everyone gets a chance to play the position they want to, etc. No one should be a hog or ham, and it is mostly all for fun and enjoyment unless there is some other extended purpose for everyone getting together.
#14. Have you had any awkward moments when getting together with people to play music?
Thanks to anyone who stopped by and read all the way to this last sentence!
, aka very open minded, technical, knowledgable musicians who I don't need to dumb down the vocabulary for (aka they need some theory under their belt).
, they are not interesting as nothing has been put into them to make them interesting. I am here to play, not to be self conscious about instruments, and it doesn't matter what it cost me to begin with. The first ding is always the hardest to swallow but better to get it done and over with.
