LB's Blues

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LB's Guitar Story

You may ask, "What is LB doing in the blues section?" This is a good question. I am obviously a fan of all types of music, especially live music. Even when I play guitar, I am not limited to the blues. Sometimes what I play is very far from the blues. But without the blues, I would not be playing anything at all. The blues is a great teacher of playing the guitar and even if I am not playing blues, what I am playing is based on what I have learned from the blues. I will admit, blues is definitely my favorite to play. I just need to practice more. A lot more. Blues seems easy with its simple chords, standard arrangements, and sparse instrumentation. It is not easy. Blues is much more than a few slow notes and twelve bars. It's a feeling that you must translate from your own soul and get it through your fingers and inject it into the strings which will make the guitar sing back to you your own feeling. All great music is that, but blues is somewhere in a place so deep within yourself that it hurts to get it out but when you do, wow, does that feel good. I recommend that everyone play a musical instrument of some kind. You will learn things about yourself that you didn't know existed.

When I was a kid, how the music was recored fascinated me. How can you put a needle on a round slab of plastic, watch the needle sway back and forth, up and down, like it was riding a wave on the ocean and eventually work it self from the edge of the record to the middle, all the while translating that movement into sound that came out of a speaker, and not wonder how it works? I had to know.

I figured it would be a lot easier to learn an instrument first, before figuring out how to record the music. I was in the eighth grade and proclaimed to the 'rents that I wanted to play guitar. So I bought one with the money I made mowing the neighbor's lawn. An acoustic guitar for thirty dollars was soon mine and the folks paid for lessons. Another thirty! There must have been a least twenty to twenty five people in the class. The teacher taught simple three and four chord songs. I had no idea what I was doing. I quickly found out that guitar playing was difficult and very painful on the finger tips when first starting out. No one told me this and so I didn't practice. When the class was done, so was my guitar playing days, for a while.

My first rock 'n roll record was Boston. I was completely amazed at the melodies and the intricate layering of the guitars on this album. Now I really wanted to play guitar.

So many years later, while attending college at SUNY Oswego, I was walking down the hall of my dorm, and I heard someone playing an electric guitar. The door was open and I walked into the suite. I introduced myself to the guitar player named Brad. I told him of my previous venture into playing guitar. He had me try his guitar right then and there. That was an instant that would change my life forever.

So I really learned how to play on Brad's Gibson Les Paul. He explained that when begining to play guitar, it will be painful on the finger tips at first. There are lots of nerve endings there. Practice everyday and callouses will build up on the end of the fingers. He lent me his guitar for a while. He was also a bass player so he would play that while I practiced with the Les Paul. Everyday, the first thing he would do would be to check my callouses on the end of my fingers. I thought this was strange at the time, but later I understood. Jumping ahead to later, just for a second, if I don't play guitar for a while, the callouses begin to disappear and they itch to feel the guitar strings. Also, when not playing for a while, to build up the calluoses again may hurt and playing is difficult. But when playing on a continous basis, the callouses stay hard and even make the guitar playing easier and the music seems to even sound better. I know that sounds strange, but try holding down the strings with a soft cloth, (no callouses) and then hold the strings down with something hard like metal or glass (callouses). Enough about callouses. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Practicing with the Les Paul. Well, Brad joined a band on campus, the Barking Surgeons, the the guitar player needed a guitar, so Brad lent him the Les Paul.

It was time for me to get my own axe. I borrowed my roommate's car and we drove to Syracuse where I picked up a blue Memphis Strat with Brad's help. I also bought a Peavy practice amp, which I still have! I eventually sold the Memphis.

LB's Guitar Story continues on the next page.

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