Guitars..... And Guitarists....

[My I]

The Rolling Stone's top 10/100 list thread got me wondering just how many people here actually play guitar. And what genres do you play? And what are you playing on?

I was a fairly good player back in the 80's had a couple bands that were playing mostly Pop with a few fusion songs like a Bach's Joy of Man's Desiring's as an electric guitar duet. I got away from it for a long time when no one would get serious about a real band and I sorta got bored with rock and roll.

I got back into it a few years ago but play mostly blues and smooth Jazz stuff for my own enjoyment. And even though I'm am FAR from religious I felt compelled to work out Amazing Grace in a bluesy overdrive and reverb tricked out composition that I am liking and still improving on.

Right now I am playing an Ibanez Artcore semi hollow (unmodified),
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j373/My_I/Artcore.jpg

A Strat style custom and a custom Tele, both handmade by me,
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j373/My_I/Teisco09.jpg

You can also see a Teisco Del Rey in that pic. It was resto modded and now looks like this:
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j373/My_I/Teisco11.jpg

 

[sr71plt]

I took a few lessons from Charlie Byrd. He suggested that, as a guitarist, I made a great singer.

 

[Dual_Triode]

The Rolling Stone's top 10/100 list thread got me wondering just how many people here actually play guitar. And what genres do you play? And what are you playing on?

I still try to make time to play. I used to play in bar bands - mostly rock 'n roll. Never had to play 'Rawhide' for 2 hours, though.
I'm not a great player, but if the crowd is drunk enough, I sound OK. Here is some of my current gear:

This is my rock setup: Epi Les Paul, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 4x10, 2x12 cabinet, pedal board.

Here are some of my acoustic instruments:

What I really enjoy is building amplifiers.

Here is a home-brew 5 watt class-A tube amp:

And my baby: a home-brew 10 watt class-AB "Trainwreck-inspired" tube amp:

I have more guitars and gear; probably too many according to Mrs. Triode. Maybe so, but it's cheaper than keeping a mistress.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I own two guitars, but I don't play guitar. I'm a much better drummer. My two BC Rich guitars.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c65/theegoatpig/warlock.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c65/theegoatpig/ironbird.jpg

 

[kinkysam742]

Guitar isn't officially my "primary instrument" but I play acoustic guitar, somewhat in the style of Jason Mraz, I just recently bought a seagull mini jumbo acoustic, and I love it.

 

[My I]

I have more guitars and gear; probably too many according to Mrs. Triode. Maybe so, but it's cheaper than keeping a mistress.

Music has always been and always will be the best mistress. Tell your wife to be happy with that.

 

[SamScribble]

Mainly jazz - in a vaguely Grant Green/Jim Hall style.

My current favourite is a Yamaha APX acoustic-electric. Loud enough to practice without an amp; even better with a bit of power.

 

[SweetestThing]

I play a little. I have a guitar. It's red.

 

[Boota]

I've been a professional musician since I was 16. My main electric guitar is a BC Rich Bich, neck-thru the body. I also use a BC Rich Warlock for drop D tuning. I have an Ibanez acoustic that I play ALL the time. At the moment I'm recording five different records, all different styles. I don't have a current band and haven't for two years. Been close to a couple of record deals that fell through, like most of them do. Made the Grammy ballot in 2006, but missed a nomination, reportedly, by two votes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/Boota/FetishUnleashed.jpg

The Warlock in action.

 

[SlickTony]

I own two guitars: an Ibanez Performance that I got 10 years ago, and an Ibanez V70CE which I got during a July 4 weekend sale this year. I first became interested in trying to play guitar 10 years ago, but for various reasons nothing worked out and the Performance sat in its case on the stair landing for the next 8 or 9 years. Then in '09 I started tinkering around with it again, but it wasn't quite time...then earlier this year I met up with a bunch of musicians that play open mics around town, and acquired an instructor. He didn't give me as much structure as I needed, plus he went to California, but then I acquired a better one. In the meantime, I practiced as much as I could, and finally worked up the nerve to play at open mics myself. For a long time I was at the stage where I could enjoy playing--much more, in fact, than people enjoyed listening to me, but since I've started with this second teacher everybody says I've improved greatly. Still, I get more respect as a vocalist than as a guitarist. Nowadays, it's hard for me to go a day without playing guitar. When I started with the more structured teacher, and knew a little more what I was doing, I suddenly found myself tongue-tied--I couldn't sing. My teacher, Dave, said he had the same problem when he first started learning to play and it would get better, and it has.

In the last month I have found myself at an open mic where I didn't bring my guitar with me, or something's gone wrong with the V70CE (the guitar that has electric pickup, the other one does not, yet), and I've borrowed the host's Martin. This particular host is an odd duck--he is a videographer, sound and lighting tech rather than a musician. He never even tunes the thing, as far as I can see. Everybody goes on about how great Martins are, and I was really kind of overawed the first time I got my hands on one. But while this one did have a nice sound, which is supposed to be one of the things they're known for, it felt so different from my own guitars I didn't feel comfortable playing it and didn't play it as well as I do my own. A guy I work with, who plays, and has made and repaired guitars--he and his dad used to have a business before George's Music and the Guitar Center priced them out of the market--says that the quality of Martins is notoriously uneven: he'll pick up one and it'll sound all right, but then he'll pick up another of the same make and model and it'll sound like crap.

I play a little of this, a little of that--Emmylou Harris, Cowboy Junkies, and Jimmy Buffett, among other things, plus a few blues things. I recently learned how to play "If It Hadn't Been For Love," which is one of the few things Adele has recorded that she didn't write herself, and "Unchain My Heart," the Joe Cocker version. Course, I don't sound the least bit like Joe Cocker, but that's what we have capos for.

 

[dirtybelle]

I own an electric Ibanez and an acoustic.
I took lessons, sadly to say I haven't picked it up in a while.
I played classical, country, rockish-popish....alot of 3 doors down.
I need to pick it up again, badly.

 

[Handley_Page]

Did anyone mention Les Paul yet ?

 

[sr71plt]

Did anyone mention Les Paul yet ?

Yes, I did.

 

[Joe6pack]

I took up guitar a couple of years ago at the age of 38. Believe it or not, I now play every Sunday morning with the band at church (yes, I am a devout Christian). I play with a band/live about 5 hours a week, plus my own practice time. We play mostly modern Christian (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, etc.) I am also a big Pink Floyd fan. So, basically, I know a few Pink Floyd covers and a lot of songs about Jesus.

I mainly play acoustic. My main guitar is a Takamine EAN10C. I also have a Martin acoustic and a Washburn acoustic (my first guitar). I also have two Frankenstrats and a vintage Ventura thin hollow-body electric. My amps are a Peavey Classic 20 and a Peavey Deuce (both flea market finds).

They say you can't substitute gear for talent, but I keep trying!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I used to play guitar and was pretty good with old Delta blues stuff on a Gibson acoustic 12-string. I was okay on electric playing rhythm, but I was never any good on lead, so of course I became a bassist. My original instrument was sax but I picked up acoustic bass in high school and played in jazz groups, so switching to electric bass was easy.

I put myself through grad school playing bass and doubling on sax in a 7-piece wedding band and earning union scale-- tuxedos, bow ties, the Hokey Pokey, the whole bit. The high point of my musical career came when I sat in for two songs with Muddy Waters when his bassist got a nosebleed at a charity gig. I also was playing bass when Vince Guaraldi stopped by this little dive I was playing at in Berkeley, CA. He's the guy who wrote the music for the Peanuts' Xmas special. It was yet another Brush With Greatness.

I have 3 basses: a 68 or 69 Fender Precision, a Rickenbacker 4003 stereo, and a Peavy fretless, which is still a lot of fun. I still have have a '68 NBC Fender Bassman tube amp but I usually play it through an Acoustic bottom.

I was a garbage man with guitars and went through a lot of oddities: a Baldwin Bison, A Mosrite electric 12, a Fender electric 12, a very old fiberglass National Electric, a Fender semi-acoustic, some old Fender student model that someone painted brown with house paint, a 9-string... I always lusted for a Gibson SG. The wide neck suits my fat fingers.