Just in time for Applecon...

...I have a new guitar.

It really isn't a purchase we should have made with our budget, honestly. But Devon has been working at a local music store for the last year or so; that store is closing this week (and Devon losing his job). Devon suggested coming to look at what they had since it was the final opportunity to buy something at his discount -- 10% above cost.

So I did. I went in and played several of the guitars (most of which were horribly set up, some of them to the point of being nearly unplayable in their present condition.) I was deliberately looking for an acoustic with electronics, since when the Davis Leigh Duo plays, we plug in on most gigs -- using the installable pickup on my acoustic-only Seagull was a pain (I'd snag the cord dangling from the soundhole at least once a night), and left me without any volume control except at the mixing console, which was a real pain

There were two I liked enough to consider: an Ovation LX Balladeer, and a Martin, but they both were four figures even at the closing sale price and I absolutely wasn't going to spend that much. Devon, though, took the tags and checked out his pricing.

All I gotta say is: man, do music stores make a nice profit on their instruments...

The Martin -- which was priced significantly higher anyway than the Ovation -- had the better sound of the two: nice and warm and round. But the Ovation surprised me, since I am (somewhere) on record as saying I've never cared for the roundbacks. The sound was clean. Not as deep as the Martin but nicely shimmering with excellent projection, the back didn't bother me as I thought it would, and the fingering on the neck was a delight (it was one of the few guitars in the store that actually had a decent set-up; even the Martin suffered from that, with the strings rather higher off the fretboard than they should have been. Another Martin in the store had such bad fret buzzing with the strings too low that you couldn't even tell what the guitar might sound like.) The Ovation, to my ears, sounded as good as the Seagull I have -- I must say that I am highly impressed by the sound of Seagull guitars -- but has the advantage of onboard electronics (including a tuner) and a better-feeling neck.

With Devon's employee discount, the Ovation was -- barely -- affordable while the Martin was still fiercely hanging onto all four figures. I dithered, I cogitated, I wrestled with budget guilt, I looked at Denise to tell me, no, we really shouldn't, and she didn't.

I bought the Ovation. I guess I just like guitars with strange head stocks. If you wanna see it, come to Applecon in a couple weeks; it'll be there.

Bass Solos

In keeping with today's "music" theme: this was sent to me a drummer friend. I'd love to credit this to the person who actually wrote it, but it's one of those much-forwarded e-mails with no accreditation; if anyone knows the original source, let me know! To this bassist it was rather funny and all too close to truth. Me, depending on the song and venue and which of my basses I have in my hand, I'm kind of a weird combination of the "Hybrid blues-rock w/Rickenbacker, " the "Funk w/exotic wood plank" soloist, and the "Coffee-house w/fretless boutique bass."


Bass Solos:
Jazz band w/upright -- everybody stops but the piano player vamping lightly, the bassist goes way up the neck with a lot of badly intonated poopity poop poop formless twiddling, with optional grimacing & grunting. Bar chatter goes up.

Hybrid blues-rock w/Rickenbacker -- bassist going off on extended noodling (also in the high register and sounding like pop-pop poopity poopity poop, only much louder, maybe with EFX). Guitar player can't count to 12 and steps in to attempt drunken riff-based call & response pissing match. Drummer rises to the challenge. Organist goes to the bar.

Funk w/exotic wood plank -- Band drops out except for drums, bass solo sounds like small-screen version of Normandy Invasion, lots of chattering machine gun poppitypoppitypoppitypoppity SLAP. Not as prone to high register noodling though. Mid-neck assault and slightly back-bent posture, right hand/thumb to appear as a flailing blur. Don't attempt to look serene and spiritual doing this unless you are Vic Wooten. Can sound like angry chattering squirrels throwing nuts at a tin roof..... unless you are Vic Wooten.

Classic Blues w/ Fender P -- There are no bass solos. Don't. Exception: One real slow showpiece grinder at the end of the set...keep the sludgy bottom groove while the rest of the band backs way off so people can marvel at the thick pelvis pushing thump AND the absolute lack of definition in those 30-yr-old BBQ sauce & nicotine - crusted flatwounds. The audience loves to cheer for the quiet kid on the non-flashy instrument. Once.

Trad. Bluegrass w/ Kay upright (say "string bass" or "doghouse") -- only once per night, and the rest of the band just plays lightly the downbeat chords for each section, the bass player keeps playing the same 1-5 pattern finishing up with a slightly flashy and attention-getting three note ascending run back to one. Pentatonic minor is a hanging offense, eighth notes are edgy.

Country w/Peavey -- No solos. Ever. Bluegrass is the country version of jazz (chops-focused), if you want a solo go there. Roots are deep, keep them there. Fifths always work in country. Maybe if it's a loose night you can play a solo in "mama don't allow", but it better be the normal boogie-woogie arpeggio. Extended chords invite flying bottles. Keep it Dorian.

Nu-punk-grass -- hippie guys with fiddles and mandolins and kilts and dobros and dreadlocks and overalls with no shirts and the bass player is a young college symphony guy who met the banjo player at a party and they shared a hand-rolled cigarette and the most amazing tri-tone arco ragas entered the cosmic flow, maaaaaan.......

Coffee-house w/fretless boutique bass -- Sensitive Singer-Songwriter takes break from introspective lyrical navel-gazing and gives bassist an entire spaciously empty verse in a landscape of pastel wanderey DADGAD-tuned acoustic guitar. Bassist - rip thru some pseudo Jaco Manring cliches - furious Phyrgian fretless smeary honks, growls and noodles, sliding chords with pointlessly overdone clusters of harmonics. Sounds like angry cows in a rainstorm.