Overdrive -- the amp or the pedal?!?

It's a legitimate question. And it seems to have come up in discussion with other colleagues lately. We spend our whole careers as guitarists thinking about this, and hopefully making the right choice. Just like any other time a question is posed about guitar playing, most of the answers you get online (forums/message boards) tend to be about the gear itself, rather than the playing (the important part), so for the sake of this writing, we will assume the readers can all actually play with something resembling proficiency. Here are the questions you must ask yourself:

1. Is this a “professional” endeavor? – It's simple really...are you getting paid to make these guitar sounds? If you are, then the choice is not up to you, it's up to whoever is signing the check, or the musical director, the artist, contractor, etc. If these people are “trusting” your professional expertise and leaving it up to you, then there are further considerations...
2. Are you reproducing a recording? If you are, then one quick google search will tell you the gear used on that recording. That should give you a good place to start
3. Is it YOUR gig? Self explanatory: do whatever you want.
4. Are you part of a creative process, like the writing of original music, or a collaboration? If so, you need to have a few tools handy, a few different pedals, maybe a couple different amp & gtr choices, and combinations of them, and see which one works for the collaborative effort through simple trial-n-error and experimentation.
5. Are you using other analog/digital FX along with the overdrive? Because those effects will behave differently depending on what else you're using.

Modeling:

It's 2013, we have to make a living, and things like direct-to-console digital modeling rigs, no amplifiers (or wedges) on stage, and shields around drummers are a reality. I've learned not to take it personally, it really has nothing to do with the actual musicians. It's another simple case of what's happened in the recent past, like the last 20 years or so. As usual, technological advancements are leaving musicians in the dust, and we need to race to keep up. The rise of digital recording platforms, digital FOH/monitor consoles, concerts/productions being run digitally within software, etc. have all proliferated the need for guitarists to familiarize themselves with digital modeling technology (by companies like Line 6, Vox tonelab, Boss, Zoom, etc...) and to try and squeeze good sound out of it. Most of us at the professional level are not in love with these modeling sounds. Digital reproductions of timeless amp, effects, cabinets, mics, etc are getting closer all the time, but we all agree that they still don't sound entirely like the real thing. However, it's a professional language we must learn in fluency if we are to remain competetive in making our living. In short, they don't sound good. We use them because we have to, and because they're paying us.

So...in the event that we DO NOT have to use a modeler, how do we make the choice between amplifier distortion and pedal distortion?

Unfortunately it's not simple. We have a LOT of choices. There are more high-end, wonderfully handcrafted, and amazing sounding overdrive pedals then there have ever been. This gets back to what I always say about trying to find information online about new products, many times the guys writing the reviews are not the guys who can actually PLAY, so tread carefully. I personally like to consult my fellow pros first.

The same is true for amplifiers...there are more than there have ever been. If we ARE using an amp, more often than not, if it's OUR amp, it's a tube amp. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for companies still manufacturing vacuum tube technologies, guitarists are the only ones keeping them in business anymore. Glass tubes are not the most reliable of technology, but nothing else sounds that good.

You don't always “get what you pay for” with these things either. I know many guys who try and “buy” their way into being talented, and it never works. Spending 3 times what I do on an amp or a pedal does not make you a better player. Spending three times the amount of practice time actually does. And it shouldn't matter WHAT you're making music with, if you call yourself a musician, it should always sound like music, even if the equipment sucks.

MY Choice:

It's my personal belief that Leo Fender, followed immediately by Jim Marshall, followed then by Randall Smith, were all on to something. We all already know this, but what they did for us was gave us amps that sound nicely distorted when they're turned up, and that distortion, or overdrive, comes from a combination of both the (smaller) preamp tubes and the (larger) power amp tubes working together to produce those rich harmonics and overtones that give us our rock distortion sound. So, with that in mind, I like to use an amp first, if it's my choice.

A 2 channel amp with master volume(s), if I can, and if it's all MY gear, I use a THREE channel amp. I need three levels of overdrive to really express myself the way I want to:

1. A very chimey, high-headroom clean sound that doesn't break up too easily … unless I really slam it with my hands or hit it with a pedal
2. A nice early-Marshall low- to mid-gain “grunt” sound for blues and what I call “non-invasive” overdrive playing
3. A high gain, sustaining, singing lead sound

Being a professional guitar player puts me in the position of having to check my artistic preferences at the door, and does not afford me the luxury of playing the music I actually LIKE for a living. My job is to (at least minimally) enjoy every style, and play convincingly in each one. However, by origin, and in my heart and soul, I am a ROCK GUITAR PLAYER. I always will be, and I will never downplay my allegiance to rock music first. So, I tend to gravitate towards those kinds of amp and pedal choices.

Finding an amp that has both a usable clean sound AND a usable rock sound is a tall order, but again, there are many choices of both two- and three-channel amps out there. I am pretty loyal to Mesa Boogie, and I have 4 choices of amps from them, all with at least two channels. My favorite one (from the famed Mark series) has three. I also enjoy some other amps like Fryette, Bogner, Fuchs, etc... when get the chance to play them.

We can't fly our amps anymore, and we probably never will be able to ever again, so on tour, I RARELY get a two-channel amp, and if I do, one of the channels is usually unusable, so a couple of good distortion boxes are necessary. I like to have a tube-screamer type, and a Rat or Boss DS1 type. They don't quite sound like an overdriven amp, but they're good enough.

There is one kind of distortion I never use an amp for, because it's technically impossible to, and that's fuzz. I also keep two fuzz pedals on my #1 board, which is (mostly) analog. A fuzz-face type pedal, and an octavia-type pedal. My idolatry of Hendrix makes me unable to rid my rig of these two sounds. When used musically, they're extremely effective, even for ballads and r&b. I'd also like to thank the Queens of the Stone Age guitar players for being largely responsible for the repopularization of fuzz pedals in recent years. In any event, I have two or three amp channels, and those two pedals on the floor, used only with cleaner amp sounds, and those are all the flavors that I need for any gig I do.

The only two things in my main rig that ARE digital are delay and reverb, and those go in the effects loop of whatever tube amp I have chosen for the job. Hopefully the loop is active (perhaps even buffered with a tube), and has level controls for both send and return.

In a modeling rig you'll have all these choices and a million other ones too, but choose carefully. When we start cranking up the gain and turning on too many FX we run the risk of losing a lot of fundamental musicality. The number one priority for making gear choices for us guitar players is being MUSICAL.

We live in a glorious time for guitar gear, and the amount of choices we have is remarkable. Unfortunately, stores are not much help, especially the big ones. Make sure there's a decent return policy involved, because we are not really gonna know how good anything is until we take it to a musical situation with other musicians. And rest easy that if it's new enough, in good condition, and at least semi-desirable, it's easy to lay off an amp or a pedal on ebay, or to one of our friends who also plays.

I'm going to close this piece with something I just found today in a book, and it is from a very wonderful guitarist named Marc Ducret:

“Very few instruments share the particular characteristic of being, like the electric guitar, divided into totally separate parts: the body of the guitar and the amplifier. From this comes a slight schizophrenia. The body, which we hold against ourselves, which we touch and slap, with which we dance, is connected by a cord (umbilical) to a head [amplifier] which determines the quality of sound produced. This causes a complete disconnection between the work on the instrument and it's real sound--a strange situation for a musician, something a trumpet player could never understand, for example. The task of the guitarist perhaps consists of reuniting these two elements and finally making the 'head' sound like the 'body.'”

The case for Android, unlocked, and pre-paid wireless

The Case for Android, unlocked, and pre-paid wireless

The smartphone/tablet OS debate is always a hot one. Competition is fierce, and people are very passionate about what they're loyal to. I am one of these people. It's Android-or-Death for me. I am not a stupid man, I like facts, and developing strong opinions through due diligence and research, so although Android obviously doesn't need me to defend it, with nearly 80% of the market share as of Q2 2013, I'm gonna make my case for it, and look at a couple other things.

So-called “Android Inferiority”:

• Widgets: the ability to get things we need on our phone's home screen without opening an app. Apple doesn't do this. Getting things done with widgets uses less horsepower, and it's a shitload faster
• Changeable keyboards: Apple's cockblocked here too. We all have different types of fingers, typing styles, grammar, and languages. It's nice to have the choices and custom fits for our hands
• Screen size: Admittedly, we don't want something TOO big in our pocket, but things like the Nexus 4 and HTC One are hard to beat when it comes to big, wonderful displays in 1080p.
• Google: 'Nuff said, seamless integration of all the features they offer in their suite.
• App integration: iOS used to offer this, and their users miss it sorely. It simply means the ability for one app to call another and integrate with it intelligently. For example: you can set Dropbox to open PDF files in QuickOffice, Kindle, or another PDF reader, not just the dropbox app.
• Cheaper apps, and more apps

Inferior? Not remotely. Different? Yes. Better? 80% of us worldwide think so. And what is definitely is, is cheaper.

My “socio-political case” for Android:

I am a (mostly) proud American, and a libertarian one. I am not a member of the Libertarian Party, nor any other political party, but I do believe in our freedoms and rights that are guaranteed in writing. I am also a contributing member of the Open Source Software Movement, and a longtime Linux-user. To me, have software and operating systems being open, altrustic, and available to anyone to tweak, modify, customize, and improve is a productive way of maintaining a libertarian lifestyle. It's representative of the cause for freedom and democracy. The Apple Jail Cell doesn't feel that way to me. And yes, I have owned enough Apple devices to be able to make the decision diligently.

I don't think it's very “American” of Apple to hold their cards so close, and to maintain almost Nazi-Germany-levels of control over hardware and software. But, they charge a premium for what they offer, and people pay it. I'm happy they are a successful company in a free market, but everyone's got causes they believe in, and one of my missions in life on a daily business is to try and take business away from Apple. Some I know have called in a “vendetta”. Well, it's not exactly changing my facebook profile pic to an equal sign, but it is in fact a cause I hit the streets for every day, and I do see the results. And once again, I'm grateful that I have the right to pursue this as an American.

My device:

This is not a “device” discussion, only one of “platform”, but everyone likes to know something about the wizz-bang phone that I have. It's the Google Nexus 4. It's simply the device that I chose, for three reasons:

1. It's unlocked, and not tied to any carrier...but we'll get to that in a minute
2. It's a pure Android experience, with updates coming in faster than any other device, and as an Android developer who writes a tiny bit of code, I can see how I'm helping my OSM cause and community more quickly with this particular device
3. It's got a huge and wonderful HD screen, horsepower to spare, and no matter how much I load it up with, it still runs like a barnburner

The case for unlocked:

Apples “inmates” are no doubt familiar with the contract they're asked to sign every two years, it's God-awful inflated premium price, and it's conditions that rival most marriages I witness. There is no need, on our “quest for freedom” to subscribe to ANY of this. Here's a little more info:

Most of America operates on CDMA networks (Verizon, Sprint, the other big boys), so that's what most people use. But most of the rest of the world's carriers are GSM. The two networks that are GSM in the United States are T-Mobile and AT&T. You can argue about the service and coverage of each network if you like, and I will attest that Verizon's coverage nationwide has proven to be the best in recent years, having been an AT&T, Verizon, and also Sprint customer before. I owned an iPhone for over 2 years on AT&T. What a corrupt relationship THOSE two companies had...but you can look into that on your own.

Anyway, when your device is unlocked, you have a SIM card slot. And you can interchange your SIM cards. So, if you travel internationally, like people in my business do, you ALWAYS have the option of taking your own device with you, buying a prepaid SIM in the country/region you visit from one of their HUGE varieties of GSM carriers, and having normal phone service just like you would in the US. You don't have to buy another phone, or sign another contract. With a little due diligence and homework, the sailing is smooth.

Lastly, having an unlocked phone allows you to go prepaid, and that's the best economic decision you can make if you call yourself a financially-responsible smartphone user. So now, we'll get to that...

The case for Pre-Paid Wireless service:

People worldwide are jumping from the big CDMA carriers like passengers on the sinking Titanic and going to prepaid. Why? For the same reasons 80% of them buy Android...same or better features, a shitload less bread. Post-paid 2-year-contracts with the big boys are the most irresponsible thing you can do with your money. If you've already gone unlocked, you have a bunch of the “MVNO's” to choose from.

The MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) are generic “white-label” network operators that buy time in bulk from the big carriers. Because of this, they're allowed to offer wireless coverage at a SEVERELY discounted price. Every major network, whether CDMA or GSM, has prepaid generic MVNO alternatives. Here is a list, and under what networks they operate. Feel free to take your existing device from your existing carrier (whether iPile/android/windows phone or blackberry), and jump ship to one of these. Or you can buy a new device when you come over. The SAME devices are available, including flagship android devices like the Galaxy, the HTC One, and the Nexus 4. Contact me for help if you like. I'm happy to take business away from the big boys.

Also, with an unlocked phone, you can switch carriers every month (as long as whenever you do, you're prepared to put up with a couple hours of number porting time), and try out all the networks, there are even a couple of MVNOs that offer service over multiple networks.

Now for the REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF....

SIMPLE ECONOMICS:

We ALL need to save money, don't we? Prepaid wireless is one of the fastest and quickets ways to do it. If you're on a 2-year post-paid contract with the big boys, you're just pissing money away. I am using my Nexus 4 on an MVNO called Solavei, which operates on T-Mobile's network. Not everywhere, but certainly in my little corner of Vegas and elsewhere I've toured in the past months of using it, after conducting speed tests with other users, their HSPA+ rivals 4G LTE in every way, and sometimes it's even faster. I may be just a lucky SOB, but in my house it's nearly as fast as my DOCSIS 3 broadband internet connection.

So, Solavei gives me unlimited talking, texting, and 4g data (with no throttling that I can see after six months, although I've never quite made it to 5 GB), for $48 a month. That's just RIDICULOUS-cheap.

I went to a verizon store in recent days, just for fun, and watched some turkey-neck douchebag in a BMW walk in to purchase an iPhone 5. He was NOT eligible for an upgrade. But like his Beamer, he probably just needed a new status symbol. So, he paid the $649 price for the phone. My Nexus 4 (16GB) was pre-ordered for $299 straight from Google. His bill, after I researched it, after all taxes and surcharges too, came to nearly $140 a month, and he had a new 2-year contract he was locked into. I went out to my car, pushed play on the new record from The Winery Dogs again, and did the math.

Turkey-Neck DoucheBag will spend over $2000 more than I will over the span of the next two years his contract is in place. Plus, he's jailed by the contract itself. Now, savings will vary, but that's just a staggering number. Can you afford to lose two grand?? I can't, so I won't spend it.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Equal Pay Act!

Today is the 50^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act. So, of course, as per usual, the major media/entertainment outlets are pummeling us with women and their vagina monologues about equality. Well ladies, once again, you've inspired a REAL MAN to share his thoughts. Here goes:

Women are currently outnumbering men by 40% in graduating from college. 1 in 4 women earns more than her husband does. We have women CEOs, business owners, political officials, judges, we've had two in a row as Secretary of State, and we could have a woman president in 2016. That's progress. You should be proud.

However, when you start the day today by complaining that you only earn $0.77 for ever $1.00 I do, when theoretically doing the same exact job I do, that's where the buck stops (so to speak). In the same breath you ask for an additional day off per month to deal with menstruating, and you also expect in the next breath to have your job waiting patiently for you after you take a year off for maternity leave. THAT, girls, is not equality, that's special privileges and special treatment. When you ask for these things, you are PROVING to men that you are not willing to work as hard as we are for the same money, so if you're getting less, it's because you deserve it.

It's no different than expecting to be wined and dined and put on a pedestal just for the privilege of entering into your vagina. You can't have it all, girls. You've already got all the progress I mentioned before, you can have a brilliant career with the high-profile position of influence and good pay, the corner office, etc...but as soon as you leave work, you need to be “taken care of” by men. Again, that's unfair, and it does not promote the equality you are squawking about so much today.

Some of us are real men. We are not the Gyno-Crats you have elected to office, or the suitor who is afraid he won't get to have sex with you, with one hand on his dick and the other on his wallet, we are not the pussy hipsters who will subsidize your $30,000 IVF treatment with our tax dollars. We are REAL MEN, and real men treat women like equals and PEERS when you deserve it, when you earn it, and when we get treated with the proper reciprocity. This goes for both professional and personal circumstances.

I was sent this article by an old friend who is a fellow guitarist and vocalist.  His name is Shawn Stanley, and he has an original band with his wife Shannon that can be found here.  Shawn and I have known each other for 20 years, and we have always shared music talk.  He occasionally asks me my opinion on music business matters, and his latest inquiry was on what I thought of what Amanda Palmer was doing in the aforementioned article.  Here goes:

Re: AMANDA PALMER / GRAND THEFT ORCHESTRA

Okay, here are some responses I have, in no particular order

• I am a union member. And although many gigs are not union gigs, there is still a “scale” and a “contract” for that type of performance that musicians should always get, no different than if you hired plumbers to work on a Saturday night. This is why we have professional organizations, guilds, and the like
• I am not an original artist, and I don't understand what it means to be one. I think that Amanda Palmer is awfully arrogant if she thinks that this many musicians would want to play with her “just for the priveledge” of doing so. You're not that important, sweetheart, sorry
• She CAN afford it, she's just choosing not to pay for it. If she had any balls at all, she'd just put it all on the sweetener track and not worry about the logistics of dealing with that many fucking people. That's what all the artists she is trying to “be like” do anyway.
• Neither me, nor any of my friends (who are nationally-known professional full-time musicians) need Amanda Palmer's gig to make a living. So, we choose not to play with her. Beyond that, we can simply choose not to buy her record and not to pay the cover charge to see her. The other thing we don't need is her music in our collection.
• If we're lucky, both of these organizations will just go away, much like the rest have.
• She's not doing her own career any favors by pulling this. She may have money now, but she's deliberately alienating a lot of her fans, and inhibiting herself when it comes to gaining new ones.
• Both of these organizations are not doing US any favors either, they are deliberately lowering our price point, which hurts our business, and consequently, hurts the all-around level of entertainment that the public pays to see, by lowering the standard of excellence required to entertain and perform music.
• Everyone likes to dangle the “exposure” vibe at musicians, like it's something we need like we need air to breathe. Recording artists, producers, bandleaders, business owners, they all think they're doing musicians some huge fucking “favor” by giving us a place to play that we so desperately need. Again, the ARROGANCE! Do you really feel like you're that important to us? You're not. We're good. We'll find somewhere or something else.
  
  
  
  
  WHEN IT'S OKAY TO PLAY FOR FREE:
  
  
  
  
  1. An audition for multiple potential gigs
  2. For a charity that you really believe in
  3. Because you have to pay your guys, and can't pay yourself
  4. Sitting in with close friends, or getting a chance to play with one of your heroes. If Amanda Palmer is your close friend or hero, so be it.
  5. Read this article from my friend Dave in NYC/San Francisco.

Having Preferences vs. Denying Relevance

Music fans can be absolutely fanatical about their favorite artists, bands, styles, or genres. I think this is wonderful, and it's what keeps guys like me in business, the notion that sometimes, we play people's absolute favorite stuff. It means we'll get return business almost every time.

In my 22 years of playing music, for money and for fun, it seems like I've been listening to certain "arguments" almost the entire time. Who's the best blues or jazz player? Who's the best guitar player period? Who has the best tone? Which band's records are the best? Is this guy any good or not? I see people waste their time arguing about this stuff and it makes me roll my eyes and walk out of the room. So I'm gonna make a short list of some common arguments that never seem to get resolved, and on what side of the fence I reside.

VAN HALEN: I listen to Van Halen records because of Eddie, period. I don't care if Pat Boone is fronting the damn band, I lie in wait for the guitar solo every time. What no one seems to remember during this argument is how wholly underrated Ed's rhythm playing happens to be. I love Dave, I love Sam, and I own every single record Eddie made with his band, or guested on. Pointless argument.

METALLICA: This one always chaps my ass a little. The whole old vs. new thing, before the haircuts or after, etc. I remember back in 1996 as a high school senior how everyone loved to use the term "sell-out" when referring to the mighty Met. Then there was Lars witch-hunting Napster and becoming the most hated cat in rock music, then the movie, etc. Metal heads in particular are especially fanatical and devoted (I know... I used to be one). I've seen them 5 times, I've heard a million bands try to do what they do, and I've played in bands trying to do what they do. No one does it better, period, than they do today. I'm 31 years old, and I would say without reservation that these guys have made themselves the Led Zeppelin of my generation. Go ahead, prove me wrong. The comment form is just below.

THE "REAL BLUES PLAYER": I laugh at this one too. This very second, I'm listening to the Butterfield blues band with Mike Bloomfield on guitar, arguably one of the best blues players (and most underrated) of all time. No one talks about him, no one talks about genius Gary Moore either. Okay, so if we play the blues let's just admit the fact that whether we know it or not we're all pretty much trying to sound like B.B. King on some level, small or large. Apart from that, I've heard people recently badmouth a lot of really significant players as "not being the real deal" when it come to the blues. I'm a lifetime fan of both Robben Ford and Larry Carlton, and apparently (according to some), they aren't real blues players either. Oh, and I'm not a real blues player either. Unfortunately for me, it happens to be maybe my favorite style to play. But he minute you throw one #11 over the IV chord you shoot yourself in the foot.

Here's the slippery slope when it comes to the blues. The initial concepts on the guitar are easy to grasp, which is why so many of us start students out there. The penatonic box-shape, the I-IV-V 12-bar progression, bending a few strings, etc. Not hard to get an early handle on. I'v seen 12 year olds and 45 year olds get it inside of a one-hour lesson. So, why are there so many two-bit hacks who claim to be blues players out there? Why is every weekly blues jam packed with a sign-up sheet full of 30 guitar players who can barely play? Because it's the easiest thing in the world to just "do", but the hardest thing in the world to do WELL. I work at it every day, and still I sound like ass. If this line of hacks in polo shirts with expensive guitars and day gigs behind a desk spent half the time practicing as they do shopping for a relic strat, maybe the blues artform might not seem so trivialized. If Muddy or Albert were around I think they'd think the scene was pretty damn jive.

CARLOS SANTANA: This one's one of my favorites. The guy plays three licks on a pop tune with some flavor-of-the-hour dipshit and gets 40% writing credit and sweeps the Grammys. Must be nice Carlos. I see so many guys who have to plead their case for Carlos to me. First of all, you don't need to sell me on Carlos, I am well-aware of the guy's contributions and relevance. I just don't like him. I've actually met the man, which was a great honor for me, and I told him so, but I don't listen to anything he made past about 1975. I play "Europa" with my band, I'm playing "Soul Sacrifice" at another upcoming gig, those are spectacular tunes that are two tons of fun to play. I can't tell you how many times some bandleader has called "Black Magic", "Evil Ways", "Oye", or the all-time stinker of Santana turds, "Smooth", (the one tune that every guitar player in America is expected to know how to play and sing on any top 40 gig. It's impossible to avoid this pile, as much as I'd like to), and I've deliberately, with all my heart, tried to sound as LITTLE like Santana as possible. But every single time, I come off stage after playing one of these and some guy with a cheap beer in his hand comes to me and says, "Wow man, you sound EXACTLY like Carlos!!!" I politely say thanks and shake his hand. Gotta love the American public, they only like what they get fed. They her a guy who can play, and they hear Santana.

And, last but not least, my absolute least favorite:

ERIC CLAPTON: It seems as though many of my fellow pickers at different levels love to bash Clapton as overrated lately. I am not gonna sit here and defend my childhood hero, my first-ever musical influence, and one of the business's greatest artists in history. He doesn't need me to do that for him, his career speaks for itself quite well. He's the most commercially successful guitarist in the history of our instrument, and there is no more significant and important guitarist walking God's green earth today. Period. Leave the guy alone.

The point of this entire soapbox is this. The privelege (not the right) to have an opinion has to be earned, through thorough and active listening, historical investigation, and respect for all music. Once that privelege has been earned, it is our job as musicians, out of respect for the standard at which our art must be maintained, to NEVER DENY RELEVANCE. Have an opinion, sure, we all do, but please show some of these guys the respect they deserve for the work they've done.

And stop arguing about some of this shit, it drives me crazy.

What I've learned from my students

When I moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles a couple of years ago, I decided I was going to take a break from teaching. I've never taught full-time, but I've always prided myself in keeping one foot in education, if for no other reason than to keep the standard high and pass along this artform that has done so much for me and my life. I started teaching in 1995 while still in high school, and continued for the better part of 11 years. Duties included teaching at music stores and an academy or two for elementary and junion high kids, teaching adults privately, teaching in my home studio, doing clinics for different companies and organizations, co-founding a music camp, teaching at other camps, and mostly in the last several years, teaching at the college level, for either non-guitar majors or mostly for the guitar majors themselves.

I consider it a priveledge to teach guitar, and I've ran into all kinds of students who have gone on to do many, many different things. Some I'll never see again, others are now working professionals who I've known for years and sent on jobs. I am very proud of some of these guys, like Collin Levin, John Hatfield, Rosh Roslin, and Kenny Echizen. They've all done the right work. Another great example is my old friend Logan Weichers, who in 2000 came to me not even knowing how to hold a guitar, and has since gone on to make his own full-length record as a solo artist.

However, I've come to realize something about this new generation of guitar student, and it has turned out to be quite a disappointment for me personally. I don't want to get on some tirade about how culturally bankrupt our country has become, yadda yadda yadda, but I will say that due to the circumstances of recent times, today's guitar student is suffering from a debilitating case of dilusion.

In my most recent teaching experiences, I have noticed a very disturbing pattern. Students who have come to me recently seem to only want one thing: to be validated. They want ME to tell them how talented they are, how right they are, and how wonderful I think they're playing is. When I don't, and I offer suggestions for growth and improvement, most of them leave to go find someone else who can offer the kind of sunny, ass-kissing compliments that I refuse to offer.

In other words, my students, for the most part, are full of shit. So full of shit that they need a paddle to wade through the gigantic steaming pile of shit that's drowning them. They need to know how great they sound, yet they do not want to do the necessary work to break through to the next level. It makes me feel ill.

Another disturbing end result... this one is really heavy. This generation is not the first, they are much like the generation before them, but a bit worse. The effect of this artistic bankruptcy has trickled all the way up to the top level music education institutions and conservatories. They now are forced to give out B's with a lot more leniency than before, and these B's are given to students who may not deserve them. Know why? Because if they can't get a B at school number 1, they're gonna leave for school number 3 or 4,who WILL hand them that B, and then schools 3 and 4 make the money, not school 1. We can't have that, now can we? Once again, ladies and gentlemen, we see the schools detaching themselves further from the street.

The way I see it, that's what the schools get for caring about nothing but God and the bottom line, and that's what the students get for being so full of shit. Good, screw 'em, let 'em get out there with sub standard skills and try and take my work. I dare them. They'd better be prepared to put up with one dirty fight though. Believe me, I don't need any more competition, so if the next group of players are mostly hacks, all that does is further my job security. I am actually relieved. You disagree, you say? Okay, prove me wrong.

Here's something else, and this has been happening since long before any of us got a gig. I'm talking about the guys in it to be rich and famous, to get laid, etc. Look, ALL of us have used some of these things as motivation to play well in the past, and some of us still do. But getting in this business for reasons like this couldn't be more wrong.

The creme eventually rises to the surface on this one. The guys who are in it for the wrong reasons eventually disappear after 5 minutes, and those of us who are in it for the MUSIC end up with our heads above water. With that sort of love for our art, eventually we find a way to make a living at it, and some of us find a way to make a GREAT living at it, the kind of living that allows us to raise families and live in a really nice home, drive a nice car, have some savings, and have several choice instruments hanging on the walls at home. The work never ends, and neither does the hustle, or the ups and downs of the business, but the business itself will eventually show us who's who and what's what.

So, my message to young players is this... shut your fucking mouth, tune up, open your ears, and play like your serious. Do the work we discuss, and come back to me showing real results. Otherwise, pack your gig bag and hit the road smart guy, and find some other teacher who'll coddle your ass a bit more, because I don't open my studio to people who are here to fuck around. It disrespects and trivializes my life's work.

All this being said, I've decided to include a prominent student or two as a guest blogger here, to talk about their recent work and how they've developed their own careers in the business. Stay tuned.

Working with Keyboard Players... Part I

Okay, this one's big... really big. A very sensitive subject for me, probably more so than other guitar players, but for some reason working with keyboard players is something I've thought about constantly, ever since my friend, keys wizard Hans Zermuehlen told me, "Baldoni, you play too many f----- chords! Cool it." It was not just one time either, he was disgusted with my over-playing, and he was right. I went on to work with some more prominent keyboardists in the Contemporary Jazz world, talked to them about the same, and so began by upward journey/lifelong WAR with the keyboard player.

First of all, there are some things to remember about common keyboard player duties in the commercial gigging world today. Some of these things they are expected to do, some they are hired to do, and some they volunteer for. These may include:

1. Artist/leader
   
2. Musical Director
   
3. Conductor
4. Composer
   
5. Arranger
6. Copyist/chart writer
7. Producer/engineer of the track, if applicable
8. General "head honcho" of some sort, liason between the artist/leader/cast and the band/orchestra.
   

We guitarists as well as many other instrumentalists also get these opportunities, but the keyboard chair(s) more often than not are looked at by the industry to tackle these duties first. Good for them, I say... I don't want those headaches unless you've got extra bread.

So let's go down the list. If any of these apply to the keyboard chair, each one equals what I call a different "loyalty" you must adhere to. Listen to the tune on the recording or during the rundowns/rehearsal, follow the chart at your best, and play the ink. See how it sounds, and see if the guy is happy. If you've done the job right, he will be happy. Don't ever ask the guy however if there's anything else he needs you to do, some of these guys get an inch from you and take a mile. Just smile and don't play too loud or too much.

The nature of the keyboard instrument presents many undeniable truths for the guitarist. First, they can play more notes than us, which leaves us with less options the more notes they play. Also, there are some idiosynchrasies according to the cat's origin. The cats that come from the legit world tend to have "swimmy" time sometimes, the jazz guys tend to take a lot of harmonic liberties, and the B3 guys tend to have a generally more heavy-handed approach. There are different approaches to the guitar part both texturally and harmonically that have to be discovered depending on which instrument/patch the keys chair is using (piano, rhodes, clav, organ), each sound will delineate a different approach for them, just as turning on different overdrive (or other) pedals will do it for us. All this depends on how much time you've had to get to know that particular player.

Scenario one: The keyboard player is a great musician with all the right tools and sounds, and is open to an honest and forthright adult discussion as to how you and him, along with the bass player, will approach the texture, and above all, the harmony. Remember my fellow pickers, you are no less important of a harmonic contributor than the keyboard player, even though no one ever says that. It's as true as the day is long. This guy will be sensitive to that and you will discuss voicing, bass notes, and rhythmic figures together to make the music right for the gig. Everyone's happy, the curtain goes up and the show goes down like gangbusters.

Scenario two: He's a great player and leader, his charts are good but there happen to be some physically impossible chords to play on our particular axe. Whether they be polychords, slash chords, or chords with maybe a few too many extensions. You are generally ignored, until you play something he doesn't like, then you are reprimanded. You have now officially been relegated to a percussion instrument, and the only thing left to do is turn your amp off. Meanwhile all any of the audience chooses to remember as they're walking out is the badass solo you carved out. That, my friends, is the nature of OUR instrument.

Okay, these are but two scenarios, with a million variables in between. I wish I could say I've seen more of #1 than I have of #2, but unfortunately I have not. There is one simple solution that will keep these guys at bay and ultimately allow you to be more of yourself as the time goes on, so repeat after me:

the 3rd and the 7th.

Read it down, play the lines, hit the figures, but even if the chord is notated out for you, or if it's impossible to play, just stick with 3 and 7, they are the two solitary notes that define the basic quality of every chord. Stick with that, and these guys won't bitch, because you've given them nothing to bitch about. They have all the freedom in the world because you've just handed it to them on a platter by only playing 3 and 7. That's the best place to start. Like I said, later, you'll get your freedom. You'll find your ways to sneak in the hip shit like a pro.

And please guys, keep the volume reasonable, and by reasonable, I mean reasonable to the keys chair and the ensemble, not to you. I think we all can admit that we guitarists tend to have pretty distorted perceptions of our own volume often times, but more on that for another post. So stay quiet, play your part, don't offer too much, and play less than you think you should. Let the keys chair walk away from the first rehearsal thinking you're a great player and an asset to the organization. Again, if it's a written part or a specific part on the record that contains things beyond 3 and 7, there's nothing you can do. If the part calls for power chords, play them, but watch your noise.

Another post that'll show up here soon will be all about the guitarist's role in working with the click and the track, but for now let me say this. In a perfect world, the track is designed to make up for whatever manpower cannot be employed on the stage itself, whether that be for real estate reasons, budget reasons, or otherwise. The track enhances what the professional ensemble is already doing, and makes it even cooler. Since our world is in fact anything but perfect, you may be up against playing with a track that's got so much grease on it that you might as well be sidelining or miming. Most pop gigs are this way, I've even heard from a friend who is with a prominent pop act that told me the guitar player they hired couldn't even play, he made $5000 a week to lip sync guitar parts for 157 shows. Other times, you can't even hire a sub, because your own pre-recorded parts will sub for you. Oh well, at list you're still sort of "there".

If the guy who did the tracks is on that stage with you, he obviosuly spent many more hours than you did on this particular gig, so show respect for that. But sorry fellas, the track is their baby, and you simply just can't compete. I was once in a band with two guitar players, and for some tunes there were another three guitar parts on the track. Did I like it? No, I think it's a damn tragedy, but the check cleared. Asking the gig to make sense is usually an unreasonable request.

Working with keyboardists can be so much fun, if you both allow it to be, the discussions about harmony and music in general can be great learning experiences for the both of you. But hold your ground fellas, stick to your guitarist guns, if you think somethin' ain't right, wait for the right time to question it. Remember, sometimes it's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. I know what I'd rather do.