Friday, August 14, 2009

Les Paul

This week, guitar great Les Paul died. To tell the truth, I was never a huge fan of the Les Paul guitar (I love Telecasters), though my one electric guitar, called a “The Paul”, is a solid mahogany Les Paul with enough heft to stop a crack-crazed sumo wrestler with one baseball-bat-like swing.

But I do love tipping points... I love the decade-long, Gordian-knot like tipping point of Charlie Patton/Son House and Robert Johnson... the Velvet Underground, the Beatles, Hendrix... those musicians crafted a moment or series of moments that carved a deep path for others to follow.

Les Paul was one of those tipping points. In the throws of the Depression, he was an innovator, not only in playing guitar, but in amplifying and electrifying that guitar. He took an acoustic instrument and gave it a voice loud and powerful. Like Henry Ford, who couldn’t really visualize what he was doing until it was too late, Les Paul didn’t see the monster chops of Jimmy Page, Slash or Hendrix. Didn’t anticipate feedback, the raged sound of over-heated tubes, wah-wah pedals and the like.

Les Paul created the electric guitar and developed a sound that was sweet, smooth and urbane... jazzy, bluesy riffs that we’re like some smooth Kalua cocktail. I remember in college listing to his albums made with his wife Mary Ford... the sweet, jazzy, poppy songs they’d perform together... wonderful music.

Then every once in a while, in the middle of a song, Les would take a guitar break and shred that fretboard, blending blues, country and soon-to-be-rock runs with his jazzy chords... playing the bass strings with a pick, running the neck from low to high... sliding, hammering and pulling off, delivering a 20 second guitar solo that would just leave your jaw hanging open.



He was truly a tipping point, and those scales started tipping a half century ago with the like of Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins and Bill Haley... and imagine that thread of guitar innovation as it moved through Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix, Leslie White, Eric Clapton and Jorma Koukenen... and into modern guitar masters like Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eddie Van Halen, The Edge, Stanley Jordon and Robert Fripp.

A true innovator may have left us, but the scales have already tipped and there is no turning back. Better turn it up to eleven!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Best Amplifier Ever!


A few weeks ago, I took delivery of my new custom made Hahn Signet amplifier. What a gem! Hand made in Galva and Texas, this low wattage tube-powered beauty is a real throwback. Simple volume, gain and tone controls give a surprisingly wide range of sound options.

I'm playing my Phillips archtop through it and it's the sound that amazes me... clear, crisp and with just the right amount of fuzzy edge to deliver that vintage blues sound I'm alays looking for but rarely find.

In the past, I used a Voodoo Sparkle Drive pedal to get the sound right, but this amp delivers just what I want straight up, and I love not having any other electronics in the way between the guitar and amp.

The quality of the custom craftsmanship is amazing... from the custom cabinet (finished to match my Yamaha piano) to the tube amp chassis, everything is neat as a pin, professionally done and done with flair and an eye to lasting quality.

I rarely get on bandwagons, but I'm certainly on the Hahn Amplifier band wagon... if you are looking for a wonderful small tube amp with amazing sound, be sure to check them out! You can even head to the image gallery and see me playing through my new amp at an open mic at Budde's... check it out here.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Best Songs Using Slide Guitar


Death Letter Blues, Son House
If there was a "platonic form" of the perfect Depression-era blues song, this would be it. Powerful, driving, tragic and empowering, this song is a towering achievement. House heavily influenced Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, and most of modern music along the way.

Come on in My Kitchen, Robert Johnson
Women were said to weep openly when Johnson played this song in juke joints. This is the masterwork of the first modern blues guitar player, full of passion and tense with sexual energy. Women want Johnson, men want to be like him. No wonder he's the "King" of the delta blues singers.

Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning, Blind Willie Johnson
Johnson is, hands down, the best slide guitar player ever. It's not even close. He used a pocket knife as a slide, and hit such perfect notes that the music compels an inescapable, deeply emotional reaction. There's a reason why his music is rocketing off into space on the Voyager probe, showcasing the very best humanity can achieve.

Monday, February 2, 2009

What Does It Mean To Be "On"?

Last week, I played a short set at Budde's open mic over in Galesburg. It was one of the best sets I ever played... but why?

I wasn't particularly technical; I screwed up a few times, but kept going. So why did it feel so good? I think part of the answer lies in audience reaction - for some reason, they were paying more attention than normal and supported my playing with cheers and hoots. Obviously, that gets a musician motivated.

But I think it was more than that... for some reason, confidence was strong (that's not a given), so I sang louder and with more conviction. Though I'm not sure why I felt better that night than others.

What I noticed most was that I felt part of the music. I wasn't just playing a few songs - I was inhabiting them. I was feeling the strings, flowing with the music, almost surfing over the music with the lyrics. I was in there and believing it, and because of that, I think the end product was greater than the sum of its parts.

I was a magical feeling, but certainly elusive for me. Maybe one day, the recipe for that magical musical gumbo will reveal itself for me; until then, I'll be content for those rare moments when I truly inhabit the music. After all, that why I keep coming back to play!