Back … Briefly

My big debut, my solo reunion gig, took place this past Saturday. Despite having a cold and singing to a crowd of disinterested 20 to 30-somethings whose parents were not yet born when the songs I was playing were popular, I’m glad I did it.

Fortunately, I received a lot of support from both my choirs, so I did have an appreciative audience, but singing over the rowdy conversations going on around me was a bit of a challenge. Still, I accomplished my main purpose, which was to prove to myself that I still had the stamina to stand in front of a crowd of strangers and play song after song—from memory—for a few hours.

And, with that behind me, I’m back to the Care Homes, where the songs I play are considered too modern for most of my audience.

Me at The Star pub. I do have a video
but, believe me, you do not want to hear it.

The takeaway is, I will not be playing in another pub, probably, ever again, and I got a new guitar out of the deal.

I had been thinking about buying a new guitar for some time. The one I have was bought second-hand and I was never really happy with it. However, since I only played for myself, it was never an issue. But lately, singing here and there in public, I have grown more and more dissatisfied with it.

Then, on Saturday night, a rather inebriated, and insistent, member of the audience said he wanted to play my guitar. This was while I was in my first set, so I told him, “No,” and figured he’d forget about it. Undeterred, he persisted, and when I finished up for the night, he came to me again and asked to play it. Reluctantly, I handed it to him.

“Your strings are too high,” he said, before he even strummed it. “I noticed when you were playing. Look here; the bridge needs to be adjusted. You can’t press the strings down properly.”

Then he demonstrated by playing a bit and holding out his hand for me to inspect. He was obviously a guitar player, and therefore had the requisite callouses, but there were now grooves in his fingertips.

“The strings shouldn’t do that,” he said, and handed the guitar back.

I thanked him, and was genuinely grateful that my notion about getting a new guitar had been justified.

At my earliest opportunity, I went to a nearby guitar shop and found, to my dismay (a dismay I am feeling all too often these days) that everything has changed since I last bought a guitar.

I was looking for a bog-standard, basic, acoustic guitar with a built-in pick-up and tuner. Since my previous, second-hand one had cost £350, I expected to pay around £700 to £800 for a decent one. But there were none to be found. All they had were guitar-like instruments with a strange indentation in the body.

Normal Guitar                              New Age Guitar

“Any guitar with a built-in pick-up is shaped like that,” the man told me when I asked if he had anything ‘normal.’ “It’s so you can play to the base of the neck.”

“Yeah, because I’m likely to do that,” I said, having mastered the art of British sarcasm.

Resigned to buying this aberration, I asked how much.

It was, to my mind, a ridiculously low price. I told the man so, and had the unique experience of hearing a shopkeeper sheepishly explaining why he wasn’t charging more. Still sceptical, I bought one, traded in my old one, and brought my new purchase home, where it hung on the wall for a few days.

I had plenty of time to try it out, but … what if I realized I’d made a mistake? It was strange, not at all what I had envisioned, and way too cheap.

Eventually, however, I plucked up my courage, took it down from the peg and strummed a few tunes. It was amazing.

The guitar played like a dream. Chords I had been having trouble with (due, I now know, to the strings being too far from the frets) played effortlessly—I equated it to the E-Z Reed that was such a game-changer for my bagpipes—and the sound was full and mellow and, after a minute or two, I didn’t even notice the indentation. (Not that it is ever going to do me any good.)

And so, a banner week, wherein I received a welcome ego boost and obtained a very fine guitar, which my wife has pronounced “Pretty” (although I’m convinced that’s more a comment on the price-tag than her opinion on how aesthetically pleasing the newfangled body is).

Now, if I can just get rid of this cold.

12 Comments

  • Leon Winnert

    Well at least you and Bruce Springsteen have something in common. In his early days he bought a used “rhythm” guitar minus strings. Strung it and managed to get by with some challanges. That is until some guy who knew a thing or two about guitars watched for a bit and said can I have a look. Gave him the guitar back and said hey you have a bass guitar with the wrong strings on it.

    A now wiser Bruce bought a new guitar.

  • Karen Jones

    Paul McCartney has an extra guitar, now that his $21.7M earliest model has been saved from back room shame!
    But…. SO BRAVE of you to talk She Who Must Be Obeyed into allowing you go GO NEW!
    K

    • MikeH

      When Paul McCartney and John Lennon first got together, one of the things Paul taught him was how to tune the guitar properly. From there to a$21.7 million model was a long road.

      My wife is very pleased with the guitar, especially the price.

  • Nicky Huskinson

    Oh go on, post the video! Possibly with another one of you playing the new (and lovely) guitar for comparison?

  • Benny Coxhill

    Well done, glad it went well.
    Our local pub have announced Open Mic nights once a month, I bet you can’t really resist!

    • Karen Jones

      My retirement plan was similar: paint. Which I am good at. But even my mother could see my point: it’s a very solitary pursuit. And then: what do you do with the results?! Back to dragging a ton of stuff to Crafts Fairs? Lots of them in Calif. Not so much once we settled in Oregon, and I realized when I sat down with my first order: been there. Been there. Done with that.
      Like you, volunteering has taken over every spate moment and challenges what brain cells aren’t dedicated to…..etc.
      Oops. Just realized I’ve replied to an earlier post.
      See?!