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EYES WIDE SHUT
I wanted to share a recent experience, which may help other readers. I was getting in a rut jamming along with songs and coming up with my own solos, it was then that I realised I was looking at the fretboard and going to my ‘safe areas’ with the same old string bends, hammering on, etc. So I tried with my eyes closed and, after a few missed notes, I suddenly started playing di erent stu and in ways that were beyond my musical pay grade/ability. I was moving up the neck and, amazingly, getting the right notes!
I’ve always admired seeing pros playing with their eyes shut but never expected I could do it. I then tried using some trem and found I was in Alan Murphy territory. It was like taking the stabilisers o your rst bike and then going o road into a forest! I can only encourage people to give it a try for a few weeks – you will be amazed at how your brain gives you some kind of ‘sight’ of where you are on the fretboard. You will play new and di erent stu that you would not have done with your eyes open, staying in the bike lane following all the road signs that keep you safe but boring, musically speaking.
I am not a highlevel player with deep music theory or anything like that, so don’t think you have to be to achieve this. You will soar higher and better than ever before in your playing.
Trevor Garland
Thanks for your tip Trevor – it’s a good one. We often shut our eyes when we try to recall something, as closing o one sense often heightens the others. It could be argued that when we shut our eyes we are simply directing attention to what we should have in focus all along – sound and its relation to what our ngers are doing.
We also let go of the visual cues that help us navigate the fretboard, in one way, but possibly inhibit us from going where our ears think makes the most sense. We revert to established patterns such as minor pentatonic positions because they oer us the security of knowing we aren’t going to play the ‘wrong’ note – but how often do these aids to navigation become fences we don’t want to cross, that prevent us from playing more freely, up and down the neck? And since Trevor’s advice – which is used by many professional players – costs absolutely nothing to try out, why not give it a try today?
MONEY FOR NOTHING?
Everybody has their pros and cons with guitar brands but when it comes to a PRS everybody says the same thing: it’s got something about it that players feel sets it apart from the rest.
I describe my McCarty as knowing what I’m playing; I swear it produces its own notes! When they burst on the scene I saw them as pretty, bejewelled copies, where the prices for two identical models varied a lot if one had a whale-blue quilted top. Now I consider established major brands as Cro-Magnon in their approach. I sold my Les Paul Standard and got a Burny RLC-60. The Japanese quality kills the USA stu, 70s era anyway. And Strats? My Highway One plays very similarly to a Malmsteen Strat but it costs almost $2K less! Is Ferrari taking a cut? The bargain of the last 20 years is still the Wolfgang Special. Same gear as a US San Dimas plus Sperzels, a carve, D-Tuna and a simplied trem spring arrangement.
Tony Wilson
Thanks Tony, time and experience does have a way of changing our perceptions of brands. Sometimes we want to own guitars because they’re what our heroes played. Nothing wrong with that but, as time goes on, and we come to
understand our own playing style and musical needs better, it’s normal to
nd we gravitate more towards ‘what works’ for us, as much as we do towards the icons of our musical upbringing. We’ve found that process means reassessing not only a ordable guitars you might once have labelled as ‘not as good’ but also high-end guitars you might have dismissed as ‘only for cork-sni ers’.
Guitar designers such as Paul Reed Smith have pretty much devoted their life to improving the instruments they make, according to their evolving understanding of what a good guitar should be. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the money the resulting guitars command isn’t just for fancy bird inlays and a nice top.
Moving over to EVH, in highlighting the Wolfgang Special, you cite speci
c features it o ers – it’s a good point. Too often we forget guitars were once sold on their features, not their heritage or their brand cachet. If that adds up to a better guitar for your needs you did well to clock the extras. However, we would advise a careful look at the specs of guitars such as the Burny. Despite being quality guitars, they’re often not quite the same spec as the guitars they’re inspired by, which should come as no surprise, as they’re considerably cheaper too. The RLC-60, for example, is Chinese-built and features a rosewood not ebony fretboard. If you’re aware of details like that and you love the guitar for what it is, then great.
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
I’ve been trying to source the provenance of a 335type guitar I bought secondhand nearly 30 years ago. It says “Country” on the headstock, so looking up anything with ‘Country’ and ‘Guitar’ on the internet brings back lots of music-based results, but no manufacturers. The guitar’s hardware is decent, including a trapeze tailpiece, and the quality stacks up against my budget Gretsch from 25 years ago. The PAF-type neck humbucker sounds nice and mellow.
Hopefully the photos will help, as I’m stumped – who made ‘Country’ guitars? I’ve never seen another in 40 years.
Leighton Bruce
Can any readers shed further light on the terraincognita of Leighton’s 335-style Country electric? We’d love to know more ourselves! Write in with your insights and we’ll print the best.
ARC OF A DIVER
In issue 510’s Neville’s Advocate, Neville has a rant about unbalanced guitars and neck dive. I wholeheartedly agree with him! He suggests extending the strap to the headstock using the old bootlace method, but I nd this shifts the whole guitar relative to the body.