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That's a great story Diane! The music store near me carries some Guilds now, I saw a D-20 there the other day although I didn't have time to play with it. I hope to have a long romance with an acoustic yet ?

Hey all, We spend lots of time talking about playing electric and the whole spectrum of gear that goes along with it, but I wonder what you guys are playing 'unplugged'. What's in your stable?

Hey Brad, that sounds like a really interesting book. I'm interested in the psychology of making music as well. I just got another book called "How Music Works", by John Powell. I haven't been able to start yet, but it looks like a really interesting discussion of the science behind how it actually works.

That's cool! I enjoyed that. I find that anymore, I spend more time twisting the knobs on my guitar rather than the amp. You can get so many sounds out of it, particularly a 2 vol / 2 tone setup!

So, I'm not a jazz guy, really. I admit, my first time through L&MG I skipped the jazz lesson because I wasn't interested in it, and frankly I found it too difficult. What? I have to learn a whole bunch of new chords, and the ones I already know aren't any good anymore? And these are so weird... No thanks A month or two ago, my guitar teacher encouraged me to spend time working on funk and jazz to expand my playing. His recommendation of Robben Ford was kind of the gateway drug here, but at some point in the last couple of years I reached the point where I knew enough to look at jazz again and think, "Whoa! This is great!" Now, I still don't listen to a ton of jazz outside of a little Joe Pass and Wes Montgomery now and again - but, learning all these crazy chords has really helped me take a leap forward. To anyone who's shied away from it, the struggle is worth it. Once you start seeing all these chords and comparing them to each other, trying to memorize them, you start to see intervals instead of notes. You can quickly figure out how to play a chord you don't know. You start to see why some things sound cool and why some things don't. Hey! That chord progression all pivots off this one note! These two notes are walking down in unison together! The things you see when you start to really look at chords like a technician - it's really opened some new doors for me. If you have been coloring inside the lines and afraid to go out like I was, it's SO rewarding. Give it a shot! This is a way to break off a plateau and move upward, and I'm loving it. Just wanted to share some encouragement/success/exhortation with all of you

Thanks for all the links! I wish it were June already!

My thoughts on that commercial are "I hope that's an Esteban"

Well, I think you'd start by taking I-29 south and then I-70 east.

Very exciting news on the Gathering facebook page!

Congrats! Those Pacificas are great. I played a higher end one with a P90 in the neck and a humbucker in the bridge. Really cool guitar. Let us know what you think of that Variax system!

Thanks Steve! I love to see this kind of "here's what we do in the real world" stuff!

I remember reading about one grunge band from the 90s that normally smashed up things at the end of their set, and their tech said they went out for the encore with mexican fenders or squiers that were stocked for this purpose.

Oh, sure I take your meaning. I was thinking more of the sorts of artists who can sell out larger venues. It seems like they make most of their money from touring now. For small time artists, it's tough. I went to see a very very talented singer/songwriter recently; she's from the UK, has a decent following, a couple of albums out. She and her band, which was her husband and a couple of other guys, one of whom doubled as a tech, were driving themselves around the country playing wherever they could play, and staying with fans who would put them up for a night or two. In a way that's a really neat and romantic sort of notion - the troubadour on the road, playing for his keep. But it doesn't really make a life when you are just barely getting by, you know? It seems in the past this person could have been selling records, because she's getting decent airplay. But anymore, everyone streams and from what I have read the artists' cut of that is almost nothing. Anyway - the world is changing a lot in music.

I know how you feel Dale, I'm not a great player yet, I'm just looking to get better. I like to think that everyone who has become a great player was once only as good as me. But they kept going, and I can too

I booked at a hotel down the Murfeesboro Pike road, in the area of 40 and 24. Somewhat affordable and less than 2 miles from the Gathering.

It seems to me that a lot of the great music out there is more local now. With streaming and everything else, people aren't actually buying albums anymore, which takes away what used to be one of a musician's potential revenue streams. Now you have to make all your money by performing live, it would seem, unless you're the type who's going to get millions of plays on Spotify. It must be getting harder and harder to make a living as a musician. Not that I would know, since I'm only a hobbyist, just reading the tea leaves. So I agree with what someone said above, there's still lots of good music being made out there but fewer people know about each artist. There are many more small time artists and few big ones, except for the prefabricated pop stars who are more of a brand than a music act. But I think things will bounce back. The pendulum moves in every generation and eventually people will want to hear real music again.

Perhaps there could just be a folder called Regional Forums, in which there would be a Guitar Gathering - Canada, Guitar Gathering - Upper Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, West Coast, etc etc. That might help people find local folks to play with.

To me this period looks like the 80s. Yes, a lot of music especially pop music went into electronic and synth type of stuff, but there were plenty of guitars being played in other genres. Now instead of the hair bands we have the indie singer/songwriters playing guitars, but the instrument is still out there singing. Besides that, for me, it's about the joy it brings me, not about what's top of the pops

Both times I have seen Eric it's been great. Last time was about 3 years ago, and he could still play like nobody's business.

Not a Canadian myself, but I spend a lot of time in Winnipeg around holidays. Hope you guys up in the True North can facilitate a guitar get-together, or maybe we'll see some of you in Nashville

Nice! I like reading or watching anything Johnny. I hope to meet him one day - not even for guitar, just because he seems like the most fun guy in the world to be around.

I just listened to this the other day. Although I was not yet born when it came out , there is some great playing on that album. I thought Do You Feel Like We Do especially was inspiring - I listened to (part of) that track a few times in a row.

I got a set of NYXLs from my tech as a promotion a while back. (They had a free restrings promotion one Saturday morning) I liked the strings and they lasted a long time.

Great info Diane! Thanks! I think that for now I'll just plan on bringing my acoustic. It's the next one due for a setup, and I'd like to strip things down to the most simple for a learning environment.

Congrats! I recently picked up a similar guitar used, the Epiphone ES-355 Pro. It's similar to the sheraton in that it's a 335-type, but it has a mahogany neck instead of maple, and the pickups are a bit different. Of course, the Sheraton has more bling It's great fun to play, hope you are enjoying yours as well.