Happy New Year, Everyone! In addition to resolutions to exercise more and eat healthier, I'm trying to set aside more time each week for structured guitar practice. Unfortunately, my school schedule kept me from committing to another class at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Instead I will start by focusing on three sources for practice:
- Jody Fisher's Complete Jazz Guitar Method. I'm working through the Intermediate and Chord Melody books, but the "Complete" edition includes all four books in one: Beginner, Intermediate, Chord Melody, and Advanced. For $20, this is a steal!
- Jimmy Bruno's Guitar Institute series on Improv, Chord Studies, and Tune Analysis
- The Guitar of Chet Atkins DVD and book, taught by the Country Gentleman himself!
So far, all of this material has been great. If I can improve my jazz phrasing and learn some Chet-style fingerpicking (or thumb picking), 2013 will be a killer year for guitar growth despite my school commitments.
In the spirit of starting the year off with full disclosure, I have a confession to make. Despite waxing poetic about focusing on my instrument instead of gear, I have been an absolute gear junkie lately. Talking with my friend Jason the other day, I realized my problem is two-fold: (1) I live in Music City, and there are some fabulous guitar shops here. (2) When I'm stuck in the library or at my desk and can't make time to actually play, I find myself lurking sites like the Gear Page and watching an endless string of Youtube gear demos. But, there is a silver lining (and potential advice for others).
Before buying new gear, I sold a few pedals I wasn't using (BBE Mind Bender, Keeley Compressor, Holy Grail Reverb). This started my "gear fund." Without touching my wallet or credit card, I used that cash to buy a few things on Craigslist at a low price. I flipped gear on eBay and recorded every transaction in Excel. This finally taught me to treat my gear as an investment instead of a cash sink.
By then end of the summer, I had a hand-painted JHS Klon Replica. This became my go-to, "irreplaceable" overdrive/boost. Or, it was at least, until I sold it a couple days ago, effectively trading it and $20 for a new Klon KTR!!! The JHS sounded great, and by most accounts it nails about 95% of the Klon Centaur sound. I'm hoping the KTR will be worth the extra 20 bucks, and I'll post my results when I receive it in a couple days. That being said, the hand-painted Replica looked great in its enclosure, and the KTR's painted quote acknowledging the pedal's hype is annoying.
In closing, "do as I say and not as I do." If you find a setup that works for you, it might not be worth it to change just for the sake of change. If you're determined to get new gear, first look to see if you can do without some of what you have, and try to invest in gear that will increase or at least retain its value.
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