Five Fingers

As an alternative to the guitar, I picked up a ukulele.

Been playing it for the last couple of weeks and now I am hooked on this little four-stringed instrument.

Used Skype for the first time this past Sunday. We made a video call to Richmond, England where Maggie’s daughter Heather resides. It went extremely well: sound and video were solid throughout the 45 minute chat.

I used a DVI to HDMI cable to hook the laptop up to the big TV and just used iSight and the built-in microphone on the laptop. Could not have been any simpler.

This was the first (successful) test to do a virtual wedding shower this October.

Very, very cool.

Here are the new twins: Sticker and Big (left to right). The trick is telling them apart.

I alluded to looping earlier.

Here is a fabulous demonstration of looping. David Young is getting it done.

What is most impressive for me with this performance is how he carefully builds several loops and then moves between them. Beautiful, minimal, and inspiring.

I realized after looking at the photo of my studio that I should mention the Tascam recording deck.

After working with software-based recording (ProTools) on my MacBook Pro, I found it to be a pain-in-the ass for the way I work. The laptop, the mouse, the external hard-drive, and the audio interface were just too unwieldy for me: too many cables and precious little space to put everything together.

The Tascam deck is all in one, portable, sets up quickly, and I can export the audio files to the computer when I need to later. Plus, I’m old-school when it comes to recording: I just like the physicality of turning those knobs and moving the faders.

Of course having electric guitars isn’t fully meaningful without some discussion of amplification and effects. So, here are mine.

This little Fender amp was purchased a few years ago when I needed a portable amplifier for a couple of gigs I had. A great little amp for practice or (very) small venues. This model has a nice clean tone but it also has built-in effects and emulation settings. While these can be nice, I find them unnecessary for what I need. Oddly these days if you only want a nice clean amp with just volume, bass, midrange, and treble controls you need to spend a few more bucks. Still a nice little amp.

Rare these days to find any guitarist that doesn’t use at least one effects pedal. For some of the music I’m doing, I wanted some versatility in “dressing up” the sound. I decided that this all-in-one floor unit by Boss would suit my needs best. It holds about 350 different effects settings (out of which I probably use less than 10%) but the cost was much less than buying several pedals and daisy-chaining them all together.

It’s a very convenient unit that I have barely scratched the surface with.

Speaking of barely scratching the surface, here is my other favorite little electronic toy. The Echoplex provides many options with looping - mostly in a live performance. More about that another time.

This is a powerful tool with a difficult manual but I’m working my way through the options.

Those are the tools and here is what they all look like in my studio space.

My collection of basses has dwindled over the years as my band days are behind me. The bass guitar will always be extremely important because that is what I played in various bands since my freshman year of high school. I learned early on that a good bass player will always be in demand no matter what the style. Usually given second-rate status by most, playing the bass brought me “that close” to earning a living playing music.

The Rickenbacker I have had since 1973 (!). This little beauty earned me quite a bit of cash by providing me with my spending money throughout college and well into the 1980s. I purchased this because of my love for Chris Squire (Yes) and Roger Glover (Deep Purple) and the unique sound it produced. This always had a great sound and unbelievably great action. My guitar-playing friends always loved this one. Right now it sits quietly in its case as the electronics are shot. I’m hoping to get it out for repair later this summer. Of all the purchases and subsequent trade-ins, I never want to part with this one - ever.

The Ibanez was recommended to me by a good friend who worked at the music store where I purchased it. For the life of me, i cannot remember when that was. This particular model was a limited edition so I figure it was purchased in the early ’90s. This has a great range of tones, great to play, and has the active pickups which allowed me to “pop” (so popular at the time.) This was my last gigging bass and took me through a couple of my last rock bands and then (my all-time favorite ensemble) an experimental music group. This too is a keeper.

They may only have four strings (although you can get them with five or even six strings) but the bass guitar is an integral part of the rhythm section in any form of music.

This Ovation Elite was purchased some fourteen years ago. It, again, was one of those unplanned purchases where I was in a music store, picked it up, played it for about an hour, and realized I couldn’t part with it. It has a great tone, good volume and projection, and beautiful action. Ovation has always made a good guitar (but you have to find the right one for you) and I always recommend these to people especially if they are playing out a lot. Durable and travels well. This has been my mainstay guitar ever since. Right now it is my alternate tuning guitar that is presently tuned to dgdFCE.

Ah, my Taylor. This is one of the most beautiful sounding acoustics I have ever played (let alone owned.) What a tone! And just fills the room. This was purchased in 2006 and the selection process began Maggie’s education as to how different guitars sound no matter the cost. When we were shopping for a new acoustic, she would suggest a guitar based on appearance. I would play it and watch her face. After about an hour of trying out a dozen different guitars, we kept coming back to this one and each time I played it, she would smile and nod her head affirmatively. Finally, she trusted her ears and said “that’s the one.” And that was that.

The first day we were in the new house, I sat on the living room floor and baptized the new residence with the sound of this gorgeous guitar.

This first one I purchased some twenty years ago when I was playing in a country band and wanted that nice Telecaster sound. It is Japanese made but still a nicely made guitar that has a bit more warmth with the rosewood fretboard. I’ve used this at many a gig.

This Gibson SG was purchased about a year ago when I wanted something with more powerful pickups which these certainly have. Very light with a nice long neck plus I really love the faded wood finish. I always wanted an SG because of Pete Townsend back in the Live at Leeds days: an album that I was completely obsessed with.

In all the years that I’ve played and the number of guitars that I’ve owned, I never (for some unknown reason) had a Fender Stratocaster: one of the most popular guitars ever. This Stratocaster was a major surprise on Christmas morning this past year. Maggie knew that I always wanted one of these and she picked out a good one. Lovely tones and fun to play. This is usually the one I pick up first when practicing.

Each of these guitars has its own unique personalities and sound that makes me think (and play) a little differently.