Guitar

Well it seems I can never have enough hobbies, but on Monday I picked up a new one.

BASS, bought myself a Squire Jazz Bass by Fender.

Been practicing doing blues bass lines and having a blast.

http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0310760506

I have a fretless Fender jazz bass that I just love. It's got markers where the frets would be so a chucklehead like me can play it and stay on the notes.

I bought a Yamaha C40 classic, acoustic guitar a while back. $100 at Amazon. Similar to the (better) acoustic I already have, but since this new one's a cheapy, I can leave it in my office at work and play it between classes :grin:

If I had the free time, I'd love to learn how to play bass--probably a Fender since that's what Steve Harris plays.

David, one of these days I'll teach you everything I know. Probably won't take more than 10 or 15 minutes.

I have a Fender Mustang that I "inherited" from my daughter. I can make cool noises with it :grin: Of course since she's my baby girl, I spoil her with anything she wants that I can afford. About twelve years or so ago when she was smitten with Kurt Cobain she had to have a guitar like him, so she ordered this one from Japan in the same color scheme. When she started playing bass in her band, she asked if she can repay a debt to me by just giving me the guitar to sell or whatever ...I never sell anything I own so I just kept it since it can potentially make some fine noises. I need lessons, though.

I saw Nirvana live. Nevermind had just come out, but they weren't famous yet. Awesome, awesome show. And sure Baxter, teach me some bass. I actually took guitar lessons for a little while with my brother, but I remember it as a disaster.

Wow, that brings back memories for me too. I saw them very early on at Lehigh University Stabler Auditorium. It was sort of religious, similar to when I saw Jimi Hendrix live at the old Electric Factory on 22nd St. in Phila. That was in 1968 when I was a mere youth. But I was totally straight for Nirvana since I was with my daughter at that concert; not so for Jimi since I was 19yo.

I saw Pearl Jam and Nirvana opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers at ASU, in the arena, not the stadium. Nevermind had JUST broke, and it was a great show.

I saw a similar lineup -- Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, RHCP -- in a ~1000 seat arena in DC. American University, maybe? Billy Corgan (back when he had hair) was wandering the crowd and listening to Pearl Jam. 3 months later they were all headlining stadiums.

That Mustang is sweet -- I used to have a cheap knockoff of a Les Paul Jr. and a silvertone tube amp. Not much power, and it took a while to warm up. But man, it sounded good. Kinda like my MG, I guess... :grin:

Your Silvertone amp was undoubtedly made by either Danelectro or Valco -- both are actively sought by a large and growing group of savvy players. I have a Valco-made, Montgomery Ward-sold Airline amp myself, and it's just an amazing amp.

That combination of groups must have been a travelling show, sort of. I saw Pearl Jam, RHCP, Smashing Pumpkins at the Dell West venue in Phila.

mptreb, you mentioned Les Paul knockoff, the first guitar I bought for my daughter was a perfect but used Ibanez Les Paul copy; it was beautifully made, practically a work of art IMO. She took lessons on it and played it for a while, I twanged it now and then myself, but it was not what her heros were playing and she didn't fully appreciate it ...so we traded it back in to the same place and ordered the Mustang. I have to go back to that music store, they usually have a large collection of awesome used stuff ...it's Cintinelli's in Phila. I would like to pick up a small'ish tube amp for the Mustang. Fender makes a little hybrid amp (tube front end/solid state output) that looks interesting.

Talk about sought out, many years ago when I sold my home system solid state amp to move into tubes, I had guitar players fighting and bidding it up way over what I wanted for it ...I think they liked the way it distorts when overdriven, it was a Crown D150 amp.

Nick, if you look around, there's a lot of little Champ-sized tube amps out there that sound great and are dirt cheap. You won't get a line out (or much else), but they sound great. I've got a little Wabash 5-watter myself that just wails. I'd sell it, if I were more motivated to figure out how to safely package it up for shipping.

It was a Silvertone 1482; made by Danelectro. From what I can tell, one of the more popular models these days...

The amp and guitar were stolen a few years ago; I'd love to have another one, but the prices are going up. When I got it -- again, like a car -- it wasn't yet "vintage," it was just old.

Talking about the traveling show, I saw something on VH1 Classic (I think) about the history of rock. One segment was on the American "alternative" scene, and both Henry Rollins and Michael Stipe told the same story of how they'd basically follow each other around the country. Even though they played different kinds of music, they kept playing the same venues.

I never saw Black Flag, but R.E.M. were our local hometown heros. I saw a post-Green Tour show that was awesome. I got T-boned on the way home, but it was still a memorable show.

Sorry for taking this more off-topic, by the way.

Nice... I still have way too many guitars that I don't play... 3 Les Pauls, a Strat, Explorer, Ovation classical, Tacoma, ESP Horizon, (all US-made models) plus a few amps and a bunch of effects...

No time... :whatthe:

Yep, Steve Harris plays a Fender... (Iron Maiden are about the only band from my youth that I still listen to regularly) However, a large part his unique sound is the flat-wound strings he uses.

I just like the fact I'm suddenly listening to music differently, searching for the bass everywhere now.

Only down side, my finger tips are all numb :)

Bit of a guitar maniac here. Rickenbacker 330, couple of teles including a thinline, vintage yamaha 335 copy, early vox ac30 topboost and a fender blues junior. Nick, if you're looking for a great portable tube amp, check out a fender blues junior or pro junior. Both 15watts with enough volume to keep up with a band and wondefull vintage tones. the BJ is a little more vox ac15 like than the pro junior. If that's too much volume check out the fender champion 600. 5 watts with a 5 or 6" speaker. Very cool little amp.

Andre, go listen to some Who. Entwistle was a genius.

Ay mean THE WHO!

:cool:

jm, thanks for the tips. I'll head over to the music store this weekend to see if they have either of those, I bet they do. "too much volume" ?? no such thing ...hey, what did you say?

I'm all about vintage Harmony guitars.

I have a '63 broadway archtop (kinda restomod with new tuners and an adjustable bridge) looking to sell or trade, btw.

My big score was a '37 Harmony Renown. it has the sweetest mellowest tone for something 70 years old.

I'm looking for a Harmony rocket, single or dual pickup.

I'm all about the Jazz body acoustics and electrics.

Nice, I actually had time on wednesday to pick up my bass and practice, I noticed right away my left hand is working much better. Having fun running up and down the blues line provided in with the kit.

Took the little hand book to work and blew it up.

Love using tabs, but until I have it all in my head I found the small booklet too small...

Still it feels good to make my way through the blues line and have some fun with it.

A.

Oh, this looks like a top-notch thread to revive.

Steve, I briefly had a website devoted to Harmony and Kay guitars. I often wish I'd kept it going. They both had a lot of neat, cool, offbeat stuff for sale, and they sold a LOT of them, under a lot of different names.

Andre, how's the bass playing coming, anyway?

Morning Tim.

Actually its coming along well.

Started to take lessons so I'm picking up some improvements and the instructor is pulling me out of my shell.

James got this really cool guitar for xmas, darn thing is pretty impressive.