My New Guitar

Well as of tonight I finally have my new guitar. It's a Fender Telecaster(as you can plainly see--didn't have the pic when I wrote this), my first Tele. I've always thought they were cool, not really sure why. Originally I was going to get one from an individual, and they decided to hang on to theirs. That's fine- I think people should hang onto their guitars, and continue playing them. A guitarist I replaced in a band years ago told me his had been sitting in his garage gathering dust since he left the band--a sad state of affairs, but everybody has their own priorities I guess.

Anyway, in the anticipation of buying the guitar, I pretty much had it on the brain and therefore had to have one. So I went down to a local music store and played a Tele they had in stock. Loved the guitar but not the color:a dark, wine-red. Ordered one in "Arctic White", which came in but had problems with the neck(the rosewood strip on the back of the neck was coming loose).

It took over a month for this guitar, what with all the snags from the company, but fortunately they lent me the wine-red Tele to use in all that time. And once this guitar finally came in it was just that much more of a relief.

These things usually work out in the long pull, but still the question remains: Why is everything in life such a fucking hassle? I was thinking earlier today of the line from the movie Roadie(80's I think,starring Meatloaf): "why is my life so much harder'n everybody else's?"

But it's all passed, and I'm enjoying the hell out of my Fender American Standard Telecaster. The Tele is a fairly versatile guitar, great for blues, country, Rhythm & Blues and even jazz. Ted Greene plays one. Joe Pass played one.

And now Sam Crain plays one.

Actually, growing up, I was always more partial to Gibson guitars and Fender basses(spent a lot of time as a bass player, like many guitarists). Strangely enough, found Gibson basses too muddy and Fender guitars too twangy(though I did have a Strat for awhile in there). I may still find too much mud in the Gibson EB-O's and EB-3's, but I've grown to appreciate twang.

So I've been trying out various things on the Tele I used to play: some Hendrix things(particularly Foxy Lady)and a 2-handed thing akin to Van Halen's Eruption. I never was real heavy into the sound of two hands tapping, as it were, but it was and is kind of a cool technique.

Likewise with playing octaves. I love Wes Montgomery's playing, strangely enough except for the octaves thing. His lines were brilliant and his chord solos would just knock you flat on your ass. He was a Mozart, who(unlike Mozart)started playing music relatively late in life--his 20's--but, like Mozart, it was just all there.

But I digress. Which is half the fun of blogging. Enjoying my new guitar. Funny thing, you kinda forget all the hassle in getting there once you've arrived.