A while back my neighbor who walks his dogs about every night came by. He is an old rocker, a keyboardist. He's pretty good, actually, but like a lot of old time musicians, didn't quite make the transition to the big time, so he has a nice wife, little house, and a few dogs he has to walk after work most nights. He talks about old time rock and roll, NFL football, and of course politics.
He remarked this particular evening that every time he walks by my shop there is a different sound coming from the walls. Don't I have a certain kind of music that I like? What's with Brad Paisley one night, AC-DC the next, and on and on?
I tried to tell him it was my preloaded Ipod, but that didn't sell very well. Why, he wanted to know, is there such a wide crazy scope of music in your Ipod?
When I gave it some thought, I realized it really only had one constant...guitars.
I don't have any disco that I can remember on that Ipod. So all that keyboard and horn music is pretty much somewhere else. I do have a lot of blues, but it is more like old Clapton, Bonamassa, Guy, B.B., those people. Nothing like hearing Buddy Guy do a guitar solo...
I don't know why, because I like a good drum solo, or listening to Steve Winwood wind up his Leslie as much as anyone does. In fact, it almost transfixes me to hear a good Leslie on an old Hammond. But when it's all said and done, if their ain't any guitars in the music, it probabaly is not on my Ipod. And that's about where it stops. Listening to Brad Paisley or Albert Lee is just as good as Steve Vai or even Brian Setzer. It's those vibrating strings that keeps me coming back for more!
I would also be the first to admit that some seem to have lost their mojo. I almost RAN out and bought the recent Mark Knopler release last year, only to find one track on there I liked. It was like this great letdown, and if he continues with the current style, he might find himself listening to his own music in an elevator sometime, but that's just me.
Does it affect my guitar building? I'd say yes. Sometimes, when I am doing a particularly hard thing, I turn it down or lay into an album of lighter music. When I'm sanding, there is just nothing like AC-DC, or Van Halen. Sorry, sanding is such a primal thing. The removal of wood by destroying the fibers, a little at a time. Then resanding and smoothing until it almost shines, bringing the same wood back to life. Very primal, indeed.
Which is why I have no less than four orbital hand held sanders in my shop, and three stationary sanders. Always needing a way to touch up things with sandpaper, even when it's nothing more than a small piece of 320 grit in my hand, caressing a corner or edge, making it just right.
So that's my music. I don't listen to straight radio much in my shop, almost never. I don't want to be interrupted by some guy giving away WWF tickets, or trying to tell you about that great used car deal. I want to hear the music I hope the instrument I am creating will play, plain and simple.
Tsunami
