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Holy crap! Now THAT’S a guitar string! Man, it pays to curate a blog frequented by smart people! I wrote last week about my experiment with silk-and-steel strings. It’s the latest chapter in my ongoing search for the right acoustic strings. Most available options simply sound far too harsh and bright to […] Silk and steel — bad-ass, or strictly for wusses?. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve tried silk and steel strings. I’ve always thought of them as a transitional set for students migrating from nylon to steel strings. At least that’s how my mom used to explain them to me back […] If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed a recurring pattern: I attend some interesting event and promise to report on it, only to get subverted by work, crowds, jabbering with old acquaintances, and jetlag. True to form, I’ve spend the first two days either demoing TriplePlay, or staggering […] UPDATE, 03.07.13: I should have mentioned a point that several readers noted in comments: The capo only alters the tuning of open strings. Which means that while you can play many harmonies normally available only in dropped tunings, any notes above the capo appear at their usual frets. For example, all barre chords are […] 
It’s that time again, folks. “It’s the most won-der-ful time of the year…” Oh wait — that was last month. Now it’s January. NAMM time! I’ll be there for the duration, partly to hang out with my Pure Guitar pals, and partly to meet with Fishman about the upcoming TriplePlay release. But mostly […] 
“We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.” — Criswell, Plan 9 from Outer Space UPDATE: Wow, I can’t believe all the cool stuff folks have been posting to comments. I find myself feeling quite inspired about the […] 
Plastic guitars are not a new idea! In comments to a recent post on 3D-printed guitars, we were discussing the pros, cons, and general aesthetics of instruments molded from plastic. But this isn’t exactly a new idea. Back in the 1950s, luthier Mario Maccaferri conceived a line of plastic guitars and ukuleles. (This […] This clip from the short-lived British sketch-com Snuff Box made me think about great guitar teachers — and not-so-great ones. I was lucky — I had some truly memorable teachers, starting with my mom, who taught me her coffeehouse folk. When she decided I needed a more advanced instructor, she recruited Larry, a friend’s […] 
I’m 200 years old, but I can still kick your ass, punk! UPDATE: I’m proud to announce that my fingerstyle video lesson based on the 200-year-old etudes of Mauro Giuliani has been selected to appear in the debut issue of Pure Guitar, a new digital guitar mag whose editorial staff includes my two […] 
Bronze isn’t so bad after all! A quick update to last week’s post about bronze and nickel strings: Over in the forum, Bear suggested trying 80/20 bronze strings. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I thought some of the strings I’d stocked up on and tried were 80/20s, but just realized they […] |
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