Mar
14
Written by:
GP Blogger
3/14/2011 6:46 AM
Those of us guitarists who play every day, no matter how good we are, notice one consistent thing: Inconsistency! No matter how burning my playing was yesterday, there are times when I pick up the guitar the next morning and I'm struggling to make it work for me. That's when having multiple instruments to chose from really helps. When my Strat doesn't work, I can pull out a different one, or maybe a Les Paul or a Tele for a while. Playing my SG or ES-335 brings out an entirely different side of my playing, and it might be just the break I need from my usual tones to inspire me that day.
This holds true whether I'm working or just practicing. Scale lengths vary, sizes differ, and neck width and even string-spacing changes from guitar to guitar. When you're young and learning, the tendency is to sell your one and only guitar to obtain the money for another, newer one. But as soon as you can afford to break that chain and keep the one you have while also acquiring the new one, do it!
Besides building a wide palette of tones you can choose from in your own personal musical direction, you'll have options for more working situations and your practicing time can be more rewarding. —Carl Verheyen
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14 comment(s) so far...
Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Carl,
From your lips to my wife's ear. She thinks ten guitars and four basses are too many. What's up with that?
Ray
By Ray Baragary on
3/14/2011 7:59 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
I'm so with you on that,last night i plsyed the strat...nope, the Les Paul,nope then I found it was ES 335 night.What will tonight bring ,I dont know but I am blessed to have a good selection.
Rik
By Rik on
3/15/2011 11:35 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Funny I should find this blog today, as just yesterday I was reading page 146 of the December 2010 issue where Dweezil talks about how "...the different sound and feel of a particular guitar can lead you down another improvisational road and inspire you in a totally different way."
My various guitars all have different histories, so I find each of them create different emotions as their unique memories wash over me.
Guitars with alternate tunings also provide different feelings. I got a rush recently while noodling in open G when my wife walked by and asked "Is that a Stones song?"
By Frank Whaley on
3/22/2011 2:44 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
So true Carl.
It a beautiful thing to have 10 guitars!
Jim
JLS Guitars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukpv0twZDcg
By JLS Guitars on
3/18/2011 1:48 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Cool! Author the best! Thank you!
By write essay on
3/31/2011 4:49 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Too true! Some days you need the warmth of a humbucker and some you need the Tele twang. Why limit yourself?!
By KLaird on
3/31/2011 9:58 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
I found this out by accident. I was a "Gibson" kinda guy for 30 years, then I picked up a Tele for the first time ever. The Tele had songs in it that I'd never wanted to play before. It was at the same time very cool and kinda weird to have a guitar actually "take over" like that. Now I have ALL kinds of guitars......
By Bob Yarbray on
4/1/2011 4:42 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
I know that when recording big rock guitars my favorite way to get the "wall of guitar" sound is to use a strat/fender amp combo for one side and a les paul/marshall combo for the other side. and usually 421 on one and a 57 on the other for mics. thats a great trick for recording!
By Jonathan Parker on
4/5/2011 1:55 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Guitars are like voices, no two are alike and the combination(s) create a sum greater than the individual. I also agree that individual instruments inspire different songs, moods, styles and solo's.
I have favorite combinations, my Strat and Les Paul Deluxe. My Epi Dot and Tele. It's a wonder I get anything else around the house done with those sirens singing their song.
I've always been fortunate that I've able to keep all of my guitars and not have to have sold them (or traded). My biggest regrets are a few that 'got away'. A black 75 Strat, a white 78 Flying V, a 90's ESP Thunderbird. Oh and a mid 60's SG/Melody Maker. Man...I wish I had that one. Oh well. Perhaps one day I will find one.
By Jeff on
4/5/2011 3:31 PM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Yeah, I see the point. But go tell that to Brian May!
By Freddie Lentzell on
4/1/2011 2:40 AM
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Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Agreed 100% except that for a poor guy the Xaviere is my Slim-line Tele, a vintage '83 Squier is a Strat, and an Ibanez ADC120 is a set-neck mahoghany L.P.
I do have a real American Strat, a Gibson Les Paul, and other 'nice' guitars but the point is diversity- as long as your set up is dead on.
By Martin Walker on
4/4/2011 11:33 PM
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Re: Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
I couldn't agree more! Sometimes it feels like I'm fighting the guitar instead of playing it to make things work, ... not to mention the differences in sound. Switching to one of my other favorites really helps! I probably annoy other band members once in a while because I switch throughout our sets, but there's no doubt it contributes to my playing.
By Wayne on
8/24/2011 1:24 PM
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Re: Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
My problem is wallspace :-) Totally agree on the importance of keeping guitars rather than exchanging, though finances do not always allow. One of these days I have promised myself a reissue 6120 (Duane Eddy type)and still agonising over a reissue P-Bass '51 or '57 or Jazz Bass '62. Decisions, decisions...
By Terry Nelson on
8/24/2011 1:25 PM
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Re: Carl Verheyen: The Importance of Having Guitars
Though I still have my Medallion V (#15) and a Xaviere propped up next to the computer, my go to guitar for the last 2 decades + is a Steinberger GP4T. I've done everything from fake-book standards to assaultive noise-jazz to hip-hop to singer-songwriter stuff to a Leonard Cohen tribute and it allows me to express my real self.
By Buddy Booth on
8/24/2011 1:24 PM
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