(no subject)
Frank says they’re both mine --I think he’s just leaving himself an out in case he can’t keep up with the learning curve until he retires.. which is alright by me. I’m not going to put pressure on him. Neither of them has been named, yet --we’re just getting acquainted. On the left is a Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe, and on the right is MY Gibson SG Classic. I’ve spent the last couple of days wearing my fingerprints off on steel strings --holy gods, I never knew pain could feel so good. The Fender has lighter strings than the Gibson, and is consequently slightly easier to play, but it lacks the warm, mellow, rich sound of the Gibson. Also, with humbucker pickups, the Gibson has an incredibly ‘clean’ sound, with almost no distortion, hiss, hum, or feedback...unless I want it.
In case you think I’m insane for learning to play a new instrument at 41 years of age --I’m not. It isn’t all that new, in fact. When I was a teenager, I taught myself to play the piano, and played for many years. I built a pretty large repertoire of songs to play, and learned to read music pretty effectively. Making music comes as naturally to me as making visual art; I’m just a lot less practiced. Give me a year, and I’ll be good. Two years, I’ll be very good. Perhaps, one day, I’ll be good enough to tour the local nursing homes. (okay, that was a joke.. sorta.)
The dream --The Dream-- is for Frank and I both to learn and grow and play together, face-to-face, touching each other through these instruments with the same intimacy and joy we’ve been touching each other with our minds and bodies all these years. I see it as a new dimension to our relationship, not necessarily sexual, but definitely *intimate*. Sound has always been important to both of us, and these beautiful guitars are simply yet another way we can use sound to communicate.
On the technical side: We’ve got a pair of Vox 30-watt combo amps, but no pedals yet. No need for them, at this time. Eventually, we might move to larger amps, but for most purposes, these will serve just fine. I have no intention of blasting the windows out of my house any time soon, and I certainly wouldn’t want to damage any nursing homes once we go on tour. (that was typed very much tongue-in-cheek.)