The older I get the more I marvel at guitar construction. It boggle my mind how two guitars can look identical, yet feel completely differently. What,s even more mind boggling is how big of a difference that makes to the player. I’m not just talking about string action either. I am talking about the feel of the neck and body. I have posted about the topic of guitar necks in the past, but started thinking about them again because of an email conversation I had with John at Iron City Rocks. We were talking about a guitar he saw on Craig’s List and the topic of necks came up. I started thinking about it even more when I was working in my yard this weekend.

Yesterday my Dad and my nephews came over to my my house to help me do some landscaping. During the course of our workday I realized two things. The first is that my Dad (who will be 65 in July) can still out work me any day of the week when it comes to using a shovel. He had half my garden turned over before I got my shoes on. As a kid I can remember all the projects we did around our house and my grandfather’s house. My dad was always the man to beat. No one could out dig him. I remember one time in particular where my uncle had rented a ditch witch and my day was digging by hand along side of it to help the process move faster, he was a modern day John Henry. I did a lot of digging myself when I was younger and that brings me to the second realization.

My Dad brought a couple shovels with him and when I picked up one in particular, it felt familiar. I asked my Dad if by any chance the shovel I was holding had belonged to my grandfather. He told me it had. I smiled because the minute I held it in my hand, it felt familiar, as if I had a history with it. I actually do have a history with that shovel. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house growing up and I liked to be outside. There was a stream behind my grandparents house where I would fish occasionally. Nothing big to catch, mostly just fun to do. One day, after my a conversation with my grandmother, I decided I wanted to reroute the stream back to its original direction. So I started digging. And digging. I dug every day until I finished and I used that shovel that my dad had brought over to do it. I hadn’t touched that shovel in probably 15-20 years, but the minute I held it, I remembered it.

The same holds true with guitar necks. Every time I hold my son’s Strat, I get that same feeling of familiarity. It feels like my P-Bass. The feeling is even stronger when I play my P-Bass. I can go months without touching my bass, and the minute I hold it, I get a feeling, a sense that the bass will do anything I want it too. I find it fascinating that some guitarists change guitars every week, while others have two or three guitars their whole career. I guess it comes down to the tools vs the skills. At this point in my time as a guitarist, I am pretty comfortable with the skills I have that I can play any instrument. However there are some that just feel better than others, and for that I salute the builders!

Anastasia and I playing guitar together

Last December I wrote a post called “Leaving A Legacy” about buying a Stratocaster for my son and speculating what guitar I would buy for our second child. Our second child was born in July and shares a birthday with my father. I ordered her guitar in May, and as I speculated it is a black and white, maple neck Fender Telecaster. I found it an interesting coincidence that the guitar I chose for my daughter just happens to be having it’s 60th Anniversary the same year she was born. I kicked around the idea of getting her the 60th Anniversary Model, but decided to go with the family tradition and stick to the black and white.

We picked up the guitar from Pittsburgh Guitars in September. Carl and the gang were

Anastasia with Carl and the Gang at Pittsburgh Guitars

once again very good sports and posed with Anastasia and her Tele, just like they had a year earlier with Nicholas. Carl even mentioned the kids in his weekly blog, “Carl’ Guitar Corner“. I really cannot say enough good things about Pittsburgh Guitars. They are a shop that really fosters a community environment among it’s patrons, and they really love guitars. I look forward to taking the kids down there when they get a little older to get “mini” Strats for them to start learning to play.

So about the Telecaster. Until September of this year, I had never really played one. After playing my daughter’s guitar, I understand a little more about the legacy that Leo Fender has left for all of us. The 2011 model Tele that I

Anastasia Playing her guitar "August Rush" Style

bought my daughter has not changed much at all in 60 years. It’s design is simplistic and functional, and by today’s standards very unremarkable. To me though, that guitar is quite remarkable. As I played it, I understood what Leo Fender had done. I understood why the Telecaster had remained the same for 60 years. Leo Fender did for the electric guitar and electric bass what Steve Jobs did for the home computer. He took existing ideas and concepts and made them reliable and easy to use. Contrary to popular believe, Leo Fender was not the first to market with an electric guitar or an electric bass, but he was the first to make them commercially successful. He took existing ideas and improved them, made them workable and reliable. The Tele is basically a solid slab of wood with a neck and strings, but somehow the sound that comes out is what is remarkable about the guitar. It sings, bright and clear. Even with single coil pick ups, it still has a punch and bite that was definitely not around in 1951, and is still unique today.

As guitar obsessed as I am I worry that I will turn into the overbearing parent who pushes the guitar on his kids. What I am hoping to do is create an open musical environment in the house where my children will be able to share my love of music. I do my best to play the guitar around my children and and with my children. The picture at the top of this post is not just for show. I love to sit down with one of the kids on my lap and play guitar with them. I pluck the strings and they work the fret board. I wish I would have recorded every time I have done this, becuase the kids have created some sounds that I never thought were possible. Recorded or not, I will always have these pictures and the memories that go with them, because the most important part of all this is just being able to spend time with my children sharing with them my love for music.

Rob Caggiano of Anthrax

In Episode 6 of the Signal To Noise Podcast we sat down with Rob Caggiano of Anthrax and Ted Aguilar of Death Angel to talk about their current Tour.

In 1990 I saw Death Angel play at a little place called “City Limits” it was an old Roller Rink that was used for small shows. It was one of my favorite places to see a band because you could get right up against the stage. It was small, but probably still held 500 people. After that show Death Angel seemed to just disappear. This was in the days before the internet, so I really had no idea where they went. It was great to sit down with Ted and talk about where they have been and how far they have come now. We discuss everything from Ted’s guitars to the guest appearance from Rodrigo y Gabriela on their latest Release “Relentless Retribution”.

1991 I saw Anthrax for the first time ever on what may been the perfect show for the times. The bands were in order: Young Black Teen Agers, Primus, Public Enemy, and Anthrax. It was probably one of the best lineups in a show I had ever seen. I have followed Anthrax since 1986 or 1987 and to this day there is still nothing like the sound of Anthrax. They re-defined the term”heavy” and the set bar in a place where few bands will ever be able to reach. 20 years after that first show I saw Anthrax again. And now I can can say that the show I just saw was probably the best line up for a show I have  ever seen. I had the opportunity to sit down with Anthrax’s lead guitarist, Rob Caggiano, and discuss his role as a producer and how he captured the classic Anthrax sound while still sounding modern.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

My Jean Jacket

I was a teenager during the “Golden Age” of metal in the mid 1980′s. I was introduced to KISS IN 1984, started playing Bass Guitar in 1985, and in 1986 Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer dropped their landmark iconic albums. The 80′s really was a good time to be metal head and almost every metal head at the time wore the uniform… a jean jacket. Now I know that a lot of metal heads also wore leather biker style jackets, but in my neighborhood, jean jackets prevailed.

I got my jean jacket in 1986 and wore it pretty much non-stop until I graduated in 1990. It became my trademark,a part of my identity. I even went as far as to have my senior picture taken with it. I did the tradition picture with a shirt and tie and then I had some pictures taken with my bass guitars and my jean jacket. Crazy I know, but I was a teen in the late 80′s and that was the thing then. I am happy to say that the senior picture I used for the year with my jean jacket seemed to start a trend. Each year after more kids were forgoing the traditional picture and doing things that appealed to them which I thought was great.

So as you can see in the picture above my jacket was dedicated to KISS. It started out with just one patch, and grew. At one point I had an Ozzy patch at the bottom. The Ozzy patch was removed to make room for the four “Faces” patches that you see at the bottom. One of the reasons that this jacket has been so special to me is because my grandmother bought the jacket for me and sewed all the patches on it. She died on New Year’s Eve 1988 and the jacket has served as a great way to remember her.

The main reason I decided to write about my jean jacket was to wonder aloud what the new badge of honor is? I see black t shirts and long hair, but nothing that really stands out. Maybe it is my age and the fact that while I still listen to a lot of metal, I am not as close to it as I was, but I just don’t see those stand out articles. When I was a teen ( walking to school in the snow, uphill, both ways) there were cool spiked gloves and bracelets, cool spiked rings, and they were hard to find. There was only one place in town that sold that kind of stuff ( at least that I could find) and they did not seem to last long. I bought some spikes there and made a guitar strap with them in art class. Now a days you can buy this stuff at every hot topic, but now it just seems homogenized. While we were certainly identifiable, everyone still seemed to acquire their own style, at times it was like a game of one upmanship.

So this is a call to all metal heads to dress distinctly and look as cool as the music you love. And it is also a call to anyone who like to educate me, just in case I am way off base here. Anyway, me, my p-bass, and my jean jacket are going to go rock out. MAKE SOME NOISE!!!