The Slow Death of the Electric Guitar?
- Thread starter smitty_p
- Start date
Chubbles
Ambassador of Sarcastic Tone
I was born in the mid 60s. When I was a teenager in NE Philadelphia, there were plenty of places to see live bands, especially the Empire Rock Club. There were tons of national and local bands, and it was cheap. Kix was one of the best live shows ever, John Eddie showed up the night before Live Aid, many genres. Sundays and Thursdays were metal nights. There is nothing now that compares with the Empire Rock Club in the area. It was guitar heaven. I think 3/4 of the audience played. I will never forget those days. Do a Youtube search for Empire Rock Club, you'll find all kinds of junk.
Last edited:
Growing up in the 70's & 80's, fueled by Leslie West's tone, I am a renaissance man. I like overdriven humbuckers above all else. Thusly, for their tone and high energy level, my favorite 'modern' band is Airbourne. Volbeat caught my attention with "Seal The Deal," through tone and arrangement. However, I have been unable to get through any of their other songs. I enjoy playing classic covers. It never gets old to me.
I do not particularly like my original material. What I write has this kind of bizarre flair, like a cross between blues and country with heavily overdriven guitar. Maybe tis is because I was unable to openly listen to and play rock/metal at home as a kid, and the only alternatives were Buck, Merle, 50's Rockabilly and Delta Blues. so this music who have had a strong, yet unconscious force upon me.
I think those early musical restrictions served to make me very opinionated. My ear is very discerning. I can name 40+ year old "classics" that I never listened to all the way through because the music did not grab me. Some of these songs, I have only recently listened to some of these songs all the way through, and I realized why I stopped at the 30 second mark - I just didn't find anything interesting in them.
Now, back in 2011, when we released one of my originals, it did very well abroad, with furious airplay in Italy, France, England and South America. It was promoted heavily by Bishop 105.5 FM's Gary Grainger in the UK. Quite honestly, it surprised me that anyone would like it, but airplay royalties confirmed it did have an audience. It also did OK in the U.S. and I still have copies radio station ID jingles that I recorded for a number of domestic and foreign radio stations, which was fun. I went through a divorce about the same time and lost everything, so I just shelved the project, unwritten/unfinished songs, etc, I had been scheduled to perform at a few blues venues in the summer of 2011 (when interest in this song was at it's peak) but I wasn't emotionally able to do it.
Of an entire album of originals, only 2 songs survived - the two I had emailed to Gary Grainger. The rest was lost when my ex destroyed my files and computers. From a creative standpoint, I've never really come back from that. One of the drummers on those tracks has since passed away. It can never be re-captured.
I spent quite some time playing bass full time in a L.A. based blues band. The salary + 15% was nice, but my heart wasn't in it and I left on good terms. I would much rather play covers that I like, if that makes any sense.
So, I haven't really tried sitting down and tried writing seriously since 2011. Maybe I will once we get finished moving into the new house.
So, as far as new music is concerned, Airbourne is about all I listen too.
I was recently given tickets to a JB show along with backstage passes. I gave them to a student who idolizes JB because I knew it would mean the world to this young fellow.
Now, having said that, I would NOT have given away tickets to see Airbourne....
This little note from Phil Collen really sums up how I feel and he is the first artist I know of to take this approach:
“Everybody always says, ‘Listen to all sorts of music.’ I’m going to go somewhere else with that. I think you should listen to what you like. Listen to what inspires you. You can try to check out other genres and styles, but if you don’t get anything from them, don’t beat yourself up about it. Stay with what moves you.
I never learned fingerstyle because I never really liked it. I wanted to make a guitar scream and cry, so that’s the kind of guitar music that I listened to - guys who really wailed. That’s the music that inspired me, and I knew that’s where my talents really lie. I didn’t have the time to sit around and try to be an amazing fingerstyle player; I was developing the skills that I knew would ultimately serve me best.
A lot of other guitar players will guilt trip you - ‘You shouldn’t have blinders’ on and all that rubbish. I want to take that guilt away. Don’t feel bad about knowing what you know, liking what you like and sticking with it. If blues inspires you, listen to blues. If metal gets you off, listen to metal. And on and on it goes. Why stay away from something you love? That’s crazy.
I do not particularly like my original material. What I write has this kind of bizarre flair, like a cross between blues and country with heavily overdriven guitar. Maybe tis is because I was unable to openly listen to and play rock/metal at home as a kid, and the only alternatives were Buck, Merle, 50's Rockabilly and Delta Blues. so this music who have had a strong, yet unconscious force upon me.
I think those early musical restrictions served to make me very opinionated. My ear is very discerning. I can name 40+ year old "classics" that I never listened to all the way through because the music did not grab me. Some of these songs, I have only recently listened to some of these songs all the way through, and I realized why I stopped at the 30 second mark - I just didn't find anything interesting in them.
Now, back in 2011, when we released one of my originals, it did very well abroad, with furious airplay in Italy, France, England and South America. It was promoted heavily by Bishop 105.5 FM's Gary Grainger in the UK. Quite honestly, it surprised me that anyone would like it, but airplay royalties confirmed it did have an audience. It also did OK in the U.S. and I still have copies radio station ID jingles that I recorded for a number of domestic and foreign radio stations, which was fun. I went through a divorce about the same time and lost everything, so I just shelved the project, unwritten/unfinished songs, etc, I had been scheduled to perform at a few blues venues in the summer of 2011 (when interest in this song was at it's peak) but I wasn't emotionally able to do it.
Of an entire album of originals, only 2 songs survived - the two I had emailed to Gary Grainger. The rest was lost when my ex destroyed my files and computers. From a creative standpoint, I've never really come back from that. One of the drummers on those tracks has since passed away. It can never be re-captured.
I spent quite some time playing bass full time in a L.A. based blues band. The salary + 15% was nice, but my heart wasn't in it and I left on good terms. I would much rather play covers that I like, if that makes any sense.
So, I haven't really tried sitting down and tried writing seriously since 2011. Maybe I will once we get finished moving into the new house.
So, as far as new music is concerned, Airbourne is about all I listen too.
I was recently given tickets to a JB show along with backstage passes. I gave them to a student who idolizes JB because I knew it would mean the world to this young fellow.
Now, having said that, I would NOT have given away tickets to see Airbourne....
This little note from Phil Collen really sums up how I feel and he is the first artist I know of to take this approach:
“Everybody always says, ‘Listen to all sorts of music.’ I’m going to go somewhere else with that. I think you should listen to what you like. Listen to what inspires you. You can try to check out other genres and styles, but if you don’t get anything from them, don’t beat yourself up about it. Stay with what moves you.
I never learned fingerstyle because I never really liked it. I wanted to make a guitar scream and cry, so that’s the kind of guitar music that I listened to - guys who really wailed. That’s the music that inspired me, and I knew that’s where my talents really lie. I didn’t have the time to sit around and try to be an amazing fingerstyle player; I was developing the skills that I knew would ultimately serve me best.
A lot of other guitar players will guilt trip you - ‘You shouldn’t have blinders’ on and all that rubbish. I want to take that guilt away. Don’t feel bad about knowing what you know, liking what you like and sticking with it. If blues inspires you, listen to blues. If metal gets you off, listen to metal. And on and on it goes. Why stay away from something you love? That’s crazy.
Last edited:
;>)/
Because practice is just too difficult....
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
Robert, you blow my mind sometimes.
I have a number of friends who have not only recorded with Gary and or Gary and Greg Grainger.
Others who play gigs with them, and here you send recordings to the man himself, Gary.
Next you will be telling me you and Dennis Chambers, who's house is about 20 minutes from here, are old pals.
Hey, Man!!!
May not be the same Gary Grainger - He's a blues artist in the UK with a weekly radio show...
I attribute my Mom with all the artists I have been affiliated with. Never would have met Buck and Merle had it not been my Mom working for and with them. It just kind of spread out from there. It was Mom who got me onstage as a youngster with The Bellamy Brothers, Juice Newton and others. She is still very hooked-up.
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
My Buddy John on Drums, Carl Filipiak on guitar.
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
LOL Robert, I surmise you are right,,,,,,,,,,,, The Gary I know is not from the UK and has his own Sig PRS Basses
Last edited:
I still know a few industry people that I met when I was living/working as a guitarist in Los Angeles back in 1987-1990. Sadly, more than a few of them have passed. Robbin Crosby passed in 2002, Kevin DuBrow died in 2007 and then Jani Lane in 2011. I still stay in touch with Eric Bloom of BOC and guitarist Ray A. Fuller, who was with Mac Davis. Phillip Bailey, of Earth, Wind & Fire, lives close by and we go to the same church.
Larry Bastain, who wrote the Garth Brooks hit "Rodeo," lives just up the road from Mom & Pop's ranch.
OP
I'm not sure I agree with that statement, though that type of comment is often used as an explanation by people to explain their current tastes.
I've had just the opposite reaction. My musical upbringing was similarly restrictive, though the genre was classical and baroque music. My mom used to take me to see the local symphony play free concerts at a local open-air bandshell. The records she played were never rock or country or any modern music. She was in high school in the '50s, yet she quite disliked rock and roll, of that or any era.
Once I started listening to a more rock style of music, I never rejected classical and absolutely love it to this day. Though I really do love electric guitar and the sound and energy of rock, I never saw that as a reaction against my upbringing. I very much value and enjoy the types of music I was exposed to as a kid.
So, I think the better statement is just to say that you prefer a certain type of music. It's just your preference and you really don't need to search for explanations. Personally, if all I had was rock or metal to listen to, I'd probably get bored to tears after awhile!
I guess I have searched for an explanation. Let me add to this. My posters of rock bands would get stripped down by Mom and any 8 tracks or cassettes of rock mysteriously disappeared. Mom felt she was protecting me from "The Devil's Music" it would seem. So, I just went underground with my music and listened to and played country at home.
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
That's how I feel too. Hard Rock and Metal are my first love, and for the most part they are the genres that have the deepest effect on me. But...I like to listen to just about everything (I will admit that I have yet to find an appreciation for rap/hip-hop but maybe one day it'll make sense to me) and I find that having an appreciation for other "types" of music actually helps me to enjoy my heavy better. Nobody exists in vacuum, we are all influenced by our environment, so keeping a broad base helps me to understand the influences I hear in the bands I listen to better, and I think in turn makes me a better player.
Tony M.
Ambassador
A lot of the young guys are just as good as a lot of the old guys.
The reason GC and Sam are in trouble is because their sales
people have not brain 1 in their heads and people would
rather just call Sweetwater et al.
The shops that are not the musical equivalent
of a home depot seem to be doing just fine.
The reason GC and Sam are in trouble is because their sales
people have not brain 1 in their heads and people would
rather just call Sweetwater et al.
The shops that are not the musical equivalent
of a home depot seem to be doing just fine.
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
Smitty, you used to listen to classical music, sometimes you still do, but you used to too.
I think that is generally the way most people are and that's probably a good thing. I felt as if I lived in a musical prison. So, once I got out, I never listened to the music that was forced upon me ever again....
It seems like some young people today are really grasping the guitar at an early age. This young girl is truly phenomenal playing Steve Vai's "For The Love Of God". Watch for the funny face she makes at 3:56 of the video.
;>)/
It's a great time for budding guitar players. When I was growing up, I used to put the bean bags from a "Twister" game on the record player to slow it down below 33-1/3, then de-tune and learn the solos. Now, kids can just take lessons online....
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
I can understand that. Nothing was forced on me and luckily nothing was "forbidden" so when I walked in with my first Black Sabbath record in 1976 or so they may not have liked it but they accepted it. My father had very diverse musical tastes so that helped. His main love was the 30's-40's big band era because that's what he grew up with but his record collection was all over the place and it's where I heard my first Motown, Jazz, Country and more.