guitartist
March 8th, 2007, 10:28 AM
Howdy all,
I've been a lurker here for a month or so, and really enjoy this forum - lots of nice and knowledgeable folks here. This summer will mark my 40th year of playing guitar (started when I was 6). Although I've played for a long time, I've never been what you'd call a real serious player...but I've stuck with it for so long that I feel like I've finally reached a level of competence which eluded me for the first couple of decades of my playing! I'm no pro, but I play almost every day, and the older I get the more I love it.
Back in my gigging days, I was mainly a sax player, although guitar's really my main instrument (I also play bass and a little drums and keyboard). My days of playing in bands and even loud jamming with others seems to be behind me for the most part though, so I'm mostly a "low volume" guy these days - especially since I moved from a house which I shared with a bunch of crazy musicians (& wannabees) to an apartment in a very quiet complex. The first five years of my living where I am now I didn't even play electric, except through headphones. I eventually realized I could get away with cranking up an amp occasionally without the cops coming (which seemed to be a weekly occurence at the house where I used to live!) Lately I've gotten back into playing electrics mostly, although I try to keep it at a low volume. I've been on a quest for righteous tone at a low volume, and have been checking out a lot of different small amps in my quest (I almost always play through two amps at a time, love the different tonal textures you can get through different amp combinations)
I'm cheap and rarely spend more than a couple of hundred at a time on musical equipment (you can tell that by my list of gear below). I hadn't bought any gear at all for like five years until last summer...when I realized that the quality of "entry-level" instruments has dramatically iimproved in the past few years (for the most part). Just as you can buy decent chinese-made TVs and misc. electronics dirt cheap these days, the same has happened with electric guitars and amps - you couldn't get a decent new guitar or amp for under $300 in the eighties or nineties, but with some research you can now. And with ebay, MF, etc., you can find most anything you are looking for these days...so I've had GAS like crazy since last summer! It's getting worse all the time! There's a couple more amps I plan to buy, then I'm planning on upgrading the pick ups in several of my electrics. Seriously considering buying a VOX Pathfinder 15R this weekend. GAS never ends, does it?
Like Fingers, I'm a huge Stones fan too. I'm really into the British Invasion & classic rock in general...Zep, Beatles, Who, Kinks, Yardbirds, Cream, Sabbath, Hendrix, etc. I'm also really into old blues (Delta & Chicago style), and listen to a fair amount of jazz, surf, rockabilly, "classic" punk, old-school country, ska & reggae (Jamaican only) as well. Aside from Keef and Jimmy Page (my main guys), my influences include early Jeff Beck, Motorhead, Stooges, Ventures, Clarence White, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Buddy Guy, Lightning Hopkins...I know, I sound like a shizo! My tastes are all over the place, and so is my playing style.
Whew, sorry for the long ramble, I'd better quit goofing off and start working! I'm a "one man art department" for a screen printing company here in Atlanta (been a graphic artist for 25 years)...can't wait to get home and play some guitar!
I've been a lurker here for a month or so, and really enjoy this forum - lots of nice and knowledgeable folks here. This summer will mark my 40th year of playing guitar (started when I was 6). Although I've played for a long time, I've never been what you'd call a real serious player...but I've stuck with it for so long that I feel like I've finally reached a level of competence which eluded me for the first couple of decades of my playing! I'm no pro, but I play almost every day, and the older I get the more I love it.
Back in my gigging days, I was mainly a sax player, although guitar's really my main instrument (I also play bass and a little drums and keyboard). My days of playing in bands and even loud jamming with others seems to be behind me for the most part though, so I'm mostly a "low volume" guy these days - especially since I moved from a house which I shared with a bunch of crazy musicians (& wannabees) to an apartment in a very quiet complex. The first five years of my living where I am now I didn't even play electric, except through headphones. I eventually realized I could get away with cranking up an amp occasionally without the cops coming (which seemed to be a weekly occurence at the house where I used to live!) Lately I've gotten back into playing electrics mostly, although I try to keep it at a low volume. I've been on a quest for righteous tone at a low volume, and have been checking out a lot of different small amps in my quest (I almost always play through two amps at a time, love the different tonal textures you can get through different amp combinations)
I'm cheap and rarely spend more than a couple of hundred at a time on musical equipment (you can tell that by my list of gear below). I hadn't bought any gear at all for like five years until last summer...when I realized that the quality of "entry-level" instruments has dramatically iimproved in the past few years (for the most part). Just as you can buy decent chinese-made TVs and misc. electronics dirt cheap these days, the same has happened with electric guitars and amps - you couldn't get a decent new guitar or amp for under $300 in the eighties or nineties, but with some research you can now. And with ebay, MF, etc., you can find most anything you are looking for these days...so I've had GAS like crazy since last summer! It's getting worse all the time! There's a couple more amps I plan to buy, then I'm planning on upgrading the pick ups in several of my electrics. Seriously considering buying a VOX Pathfinder 15R this weekend. GAS never ends, does it?
Like Fingers, I'm a huge Stones fan too. I'm really into the British Invasion & classic rock in general...Zep, Beatles, Who, Kinks, Yardbirds, Cream, Sabbath, Hendrix, etc. I'm also really into old blues (Delta & Chicago style), and listen to a fair amount of jazz, surf, rockabilly, "classic" punk, old-school country, ska & reggae (Jamaican only) as well. Aside from Keef and Jimmy Page (my main guys), my influences include early Jeff Beck, Motorhead, Stooges, Ventures, Clarence White, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Buddy Guy, Lightning Hopkins...I know, I sound like a shizo! My tastes are all over the place, and so is my playing style.
Whew, sorry for the long ramble, I'd better quit goofing off and start working! I'm a "one man art department" for a screen printing company here in Atlanta (been a graphic artist for 25 years)...can't wait to get home and play some guitar!