Whenever I hear live music I am always inspired and can't go too long without picking up one of my guitars. Here is a picture of my Alvarez Artist. This acoustic is an old friend I have kept around for fifteen years now. I'm not a performer by any means I just like to strum a few chords now and then. Back in high school a friend of mine Harry Avila taught me my first three chords. His dad led a touring group called "The Singing Avila's". Later in the Air Force I had a Sargent who taught me a great deal about guitar playing. Martin Hobbs was from Kentucky and he had played in cover bands prior to his enlistment in the service. Martin and his wife would host backyard cookouts and parties giving us young guys from the barracks a place to hang out. Sooner or later out would come the guitars and we would have a blast playing easy three-chorders like most of the Eagles catalog.
Being a loner and involved in many other activities I never got really good at playing or actively searched out other musicians to play with. I grab the instrument when I'm in the mood. Playing for me is relaxing almost hypnotic. Music has been ingrained in the human spirit for ages and I think it is very cool to tap into that energy once in a while. Although I do have some electrified equipment I tend to enjoy the acoustic guitars and other more earthy instruments like African hand drums and Native American wood flute. I have a little experience multi-tracking with a Tascam digital recording console. It can be time consuming but it is very rewarding to build a piece of music one layer at a time. My recordings are just basic one man jams centered around a simple chord progression. Exercises in redundancy as my wife would say.
Since I have become an amateur radio operator the music has taken a back seat. The Morse Code key has become my instrument of choice. Every time I get on the air it's another performance with me and my keys. Sending Morse Code messages back and forth by radio is allot like trading licks with another guitar player. A sort of dueling banjos of the airwaves. The active part or playing the key and then sitting back and copying the incoming signals seems to satisfy my musical itch. I like to tell people that in ham radio the phrase "All the world's a stage" is indeed true.
Nice guitar...Mine is a 60's model EKO which was the last thing I bought before leaving the Navy. I bought it in Naples Italy. I've completely worn it out but a few years ago I had the neck redone with new fret spacers, with the wood built back up and a new bridge. I had some markets put on the neck also. I never could figure out why it didn't come installed.... Plays like a new one now and I plan to keep it.
ReplyDeleteI started with a Fender Music Master, and graduated to a Gibson ES-335 and a VOX amp. But tired of carrying it around and not really making a lot of money with the thing. There's a LOT of good guitar players in the world but most of them are poor. It's a tuff way to make a living.
I only play the acoustic EKO now. I like the natural sound and the portability. It's a heavy guitar and built like a tank. It's got real "character"...the lacquer is all cracked. Hihi
Sounds confusing but it actually allows the wood to resonate a little better.
Mike...I've worked in radio broadcasting all my life....so, music's been a big part of my life as well. Do you have an e-mail address? Didn't see it on QRZ.com. KD8GZ, Tim in Norton (just up the road, near Akron).
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