James Duke (John Mark McMillan, All The Bright Lights),  one of my new favorite guitar players, wrote this recently on his blog.  I thought it served as a great preface for this post.

“i think one of the hardest parts of being a musician is being yourself. musicians, like any artists, are an insecure bunch. it’s cool to be different, as long as it’s different like everybody else. you can play any guitar these days, as long as it’s a telecaster. you can listen to any music, as long as nobody has heard it before you. everybody wants to rock the boat, but nobody will grab on to the side and start pushing. it’s a culture of cool. it’s bad for you. it’s bad for your music. it’s bad for creating anything different.

If you want to have  your own sound you have to be yourself.

now, i’m not saying you can’t play a telecaster because everybody else has one. i have a tele and i love it. i sometimes find myself on the opposite end of the spectrum and i don’t want to play it because everybody else does. that isn’t good either.  it’s just a guitar. who cares. but still. if you play something different a lot of people (read idiots) will think less of you. i’ve seen it happen a thousand times. sometimes i want to play my prs places just because i know people won’t think it’s cool. who cares.

it’s not about the instrument. it’s what comes out of the instrument…”

My Tools

Given what James so eloquently put, a lot of other musicians ask me about what I use, here’s the breakdown of my tool box.

Guitar – MIM Fender Classic Player 60′s Strat.
Amp – Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr. head into an Avatar 1-12 Cab that is loaded with a Hellatone 30 speaker.
Pedalboard – (just look at these pics, it explains how it’s wired and what not…)

My Two Cents

These are just my tools as a musician. I was making music before I had all this stuff and I can still make music with a $99 Squier plugged into a crappy practice amp. It’s not the tools that make the music… It’s how these tools are used in hands of the musician. It’s all about getting out what’s inside. I’ve met way too many people who have the potential to be phenomenal musicians but they got way too caught up in: acquiring new gear, looking cool, using music to get them other stuff, etc… If that same guy spent as much time practicing or writing as he spent: looking at gear online and/or trying to impress girls; he’d be amazing. Don’t forget what set you off on the road of being a musician. You started b/c you wanted to be moved by music and move other people with music. If you didn’t get your start in music for that or something similar to it, you got into it for the wrong reason(s). Like Duke said,

“it’s not about the instrument. it’s what comes out of the instrument…”

I would add to that,

“it’s not about what wielding the instrument can get you, it’s about what you can do for everybody else when you’re using it…”

Leonard Chess used Guy mainly as a session guitarist to back Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and others.

Jimi Hendrix sometimes cancelled his own concerts to attend Guy’s club shows, which he filmed or audio taped

“Without Buddy Guy, there would be no Stevie Ray Vaughan.”- Stevie Ray Vaughn

Clapton admitted that he got his idea for a bluesrock power trio during his teenage years while watching Buddy Guy’s trio perform in England in 1965. Clapton later formed the rock band Cream, which was “the first rocksupergroup to become superstars” and was also “the first top group to truly exploit the power-trio format, in the process laying the foundation for much blues-rock and hard rock of the 1960s and 1970s.”

“Geez, you can’t forget Buddy Guy. He transcended blues and started becoming theater. It was high art, kind of like drama theater when he played, you know. He was playing behind his head long before Hendrix. I once saw him throw the guitar up in the air and catch it in the same chord.” – Jeff Beck

a take away is what you learn through a given experience that has taught you something about life or challenged you in some aspect of your personal development.  sometimes a “take away” is something that you have previously learned but forgotten!  these are my take aways from my time in NY recording an album.

• people are people no matter where you are.  we all have dreams, quirks, & have thoughts on how things really are.  we all love, we all ache, and we all are in need of something bigger than ourselves.

• recording an album, tracking as a band, when the band has never previously played together is gutsy move.  our experience has been nothing but positive, but I can’t help think that we are in the minority.

• i understand what it means to “play in the pocket” more that I ever have.

• as a follower of Christ, if you genuinely do your best to get to know folks and continually love them in their mess, Christ in you shines, and those people see that.

• many good musicians fall prey to the “click monster”.   while playing guitar I avoided the “click monster” but while tracking piano/keys he got me!  In the end I got it, but it took me some practice with a metronome at a variety of tempos before the overdubbing session to nail the piano/keys parts.

• the subways of NY are freakin’ awesome.  not only are the trains and their routes cool, but the people who hang out in subways are always interesting.  where else on earth could I have been condemned by a modern day conspiracy theorist doomsday prophet, count rats, and hear the worlds best 14 piece homeless Beatles cover band?

• overdubbing with a great engineer is tedious, but rewarding if you trust his ears.  a good engineer will be brutally honest and help you see the mistakes in your take.  a great engineer will go the extra mile to coach you so that you squeeze out your best take possible.  Michael Tudor is a great engineer!

• a great producer who gets your vision just might be worth his weight in gold.  Gerry has done a fantastic job as producer during our initial tracking.  he coached us towards better arrangements, better performances, and was very patient and kind with us when we were cranky and drained.

• i’ve gained some great new friends out of this experience.  Tres, Jason, Shaun (no, I don’t hate you), Mama, Gerry, Pam, & Faye.  i also got to reconnect with, an old friend and brother, Donnie.  i would consider each one of these beautiful people a great personal take away.