The Healing Power of Music

Why do we love music?  Think about it, it is extremely rare to find someone that doesn’t like some kind of music.  I’d be willing to bet that in those few cases that the person may have a hearing problem, not allowing him to hear music properly.  For the rest of us, we love our music.  A lot of us even get rabid about our listening choices, be it classical, heavy metal, country, blues or whatever.  For every style of music, there are fans and I think that is great.

So, why do we love music?  What is it about music that it is such a large factor in our lives?  Recent studies have shown things like improved academic skills and lower instances of substance abuse in children involved in musicmaking.  Other studies have shown a reduction of the severity of Alzheimer’s amongst patients that played music.  I know firsthand, that after my father’s stroke that his playing music aided greatly in restoring his lost motor skills.  There have been other links between music making and improvement of autism, language issues, math skills and so on.

Without getting into the physiological elements, of which I’m not qualified, I think we can safely say that, as musicians of all levels, performing music and even passive listening to music can have positive effects on our moods.  Given the many links to the mind/body connection, improving our moods can improve our physical health.  Besides the actual physical movement of playing an instrument, we exercise our creative muscles, we allow ourselves to wander off for a moment, leaving today’s worries behind.  We sharpen our concentration, we play a sad song and empathize, a happy song and get carried away with the upbeat.  When I would get depressed, I’d often play depressing music.  Not to wallow in and deepen my depression, but more as ‘misery loves company’, in other words, I wasn’t alone and that made me feel relieved.  And when I had energy to burn, fast, hard rockin’ music would pump me up and get me ready to take on the world.  I bet you could tell similar stories.

So, next time the world feels like it is sitting on your shoulders, reach for your guitar (or whatever you play).

Bob at www.cmusicshop.com

It isn’t a competition

Music making.  It isn’t a competition, though you can make it one.  Sure, you can try to top the skills of another musician but most serious musicians are more interested in being better players for the reward of being able to play what you want, not to outdo someone else.  In fact, I generally see more respect in musicians for other musicians than in other groups of people.  We tend to be more healthy in attitude when we see someone better than us.  Maybe it is because we know how much effort it takes to achieve proficiency in an instrument.  We admire someone’s tone because it, to us, reflects some of who they are.  Watching someone tear it up on an instrument makes us want to try harder.

Making music isn’t a race or a game where an end is in sight.  No, music making is a journey without end and yet, with amazing sights and sounds to take in along the way.  Like life, there is always more to learn with no end to what can be achieved in music.  The best thing a parent can do is to allow their children the chance to become musicians.  While having goals like getting a spot in the school band or even entering a contest are fine, they should never interfere with the simple goal of making music for the sake of making music.  Do what you love because you love it and everything else will fall into place from there.

One of the coolest things about music is that it can’t be measured.  Is Steve Vai a faster and technically more proficient guitarist than Eric Clapton?  I think if we are analytical about it we’d have to say ‘yes’.  But, who has sold more records, touched more lives and had the longer career?  Clapton.  However, neither really matters, probably even less so to Steve Vai and Eric Clapton, because both of them don’t do it for those reasons and I suspect both of them totally respect the other’s ability.  In music you can be Keith Richards or Yngwie Malmsteen, Frank Zappa or Lawrence Welk, Brittney Spears or Elizabeth Frasier and in the end, it’s all good.

Bob Campbell at CMusicshop.com

Music Myths

A while ago I posted music truths.  Now, let’s expose some myths.

• You have to learn on acoustic guitar before electric – simply not true.  In fact, electric is easier due to the lighter strings and lower action and in the end, what we want is to make playing music easy for the beginning student.  There is no benefit to making things hard.  That being said, there is also nothing wrong with starting on acoustic.  Start on the instrument that the student is most interested in, keeping their interest is important.
• On a related point: You have to know another instrument (usually piano) or have some prior musical instruction before starting lessons – Nope, we take ‘em from complete, never touched an instrument before.  No bad habits to overcome!  Bottom line, come as you are, a good teacher will take you where you want to go.
• American instruments are more handmade than ones made overseas – Not always.  In fact, most larger US builders use CNC machines (which isn’t a bad thing) for carving out necks, bodies, etc.  Much of the process is automated.  CNC machines are often too expensive in other countries, human labor is actually more cost effective compared to the cost of human labor in the US.  So many times that Chinese or Korean guitar is more handmade than the top known brand US products.
• Older is better – Sometimes.  Sure, vintage guitars can often have that ‘vibe’ and it is true, some things are done differently now that aren’t necessarily improvements.  But, modern guitar making has moved forward in many important areas.  For instance, it is a well known fact that many Martins of a certain era had poor neck pitch, making playing more difficult.  Martin, as well as many other companies with similar issues, has since corrected that.  Another common issue is inconsistency in pickups.  Old Fred back in 1959 might have not been so precise when winding pickups.  These days, most pickup makers are incredibly meticulous and precise, so that you are assured the same quality and tone across a model.

Hope you enjoyed some ‘mythbusting’ and I welcome your comments.  Thanks Tim Renner for the blog idea too!  Bob C.  www.cmusicshop.com

Listening with your eyes, not your eyes

I’m guilty of it and so are you most likely.  We look at an instrument and immediately assign a tone to it without hearing it.  In many cases, if you have experience with many styles of instruments, you may be right.  But, you also may not be and that would be a shame.  I’ve looked at a guitar with a certain shape or certain pickups and made the assumption that it would sound like this or that.  However, I’ve been fooled too.

I remember a legendary Telecaster we had pass through here years ago.  Now this Tele was legendary because of its weight, it weighed a TON.  We joked that the body must have been concrete.  Now, to look at the guitar, well, it looked like every other Tele and you would expect the same classic tone.  It seemed though, that because of the incredibly dense body that the warmth had been vacuumed out of the guitar, it was thin and biting.

Other times I’ve looked at a new style of pickup design and decided, without hearing it, what it sounded like.  Well, that’s just dumb.  For instance, I got to play some of the Lace Alumitone pickups and was amazed at how great they sounded.  Totally new, unusual design, you’d think they’d have some weird, experimental tone but no, they sounded full and warm and very clear.  I’ve seen this with the G&L ASAT Special pickups – fat with twang, very full yet to look at them you’d think they’d be more midrangey.

In any case, next time you see something different, sit down, listen to it with open ears and an open mind.  You just might find that what didn’t look like the sound you were looking for is actually the sound you’ve been listening for.

Namm at Nashville 2008

Just came back from Summer Namm in Nashville, TN.  Namm stands for National Association of Music Merchants for those who don’t know.  Anyway, twice a year they hold shows where dealers, vendors, manufacturers and other industry folk get together to show or see new product.  We were there for 3 1/2 days and even though it was small by comparison to the winter shows, we barely got to see it all.

It was a lot of fun but I have to say I didn’t see much, especially from the larger manufacturers, really groundbreaking.  New colors, some new options but most of the innovative stuff was coming from the smaller companies.  I was excited by some of the models I saw at the Vintage (that’s the brand name) Guitar booth – relic versions of vintage guitars but much more affordable than the Fender Custom Shop stuff, revamped classic designs.  Michael Kelly guitars and Traben basses also had some great products with really cool options and woods.  There was lots of interesting new gear at the Digitech booth.  I was especially excited by the Hardwire series which are boutique style pedals with greater versatility and more reasonable pricing compared to a lot of the boutique stuff.  We should have some of those in pretty soon.

Some non product related highlights for me was meeting many members of our independent dealer group, the MSO (www.musicstoreowners.com) for the first time face to face.  This group is dedicated to preserving the independent dealer, you know, the ones that actually teach, repair, service, etc. your instruments.  Our group also got a lot of recognition from Namm, the vendors, the music press and people in general, so that was great.  Also, I can’t forget meeting Cousin Dean (Dean Campbell of Campbell American Guitars, no relation) in person.  Great guy.

We also got to see Muriel Anderson’s All Star Guitar Jam at the Ryman Theater.  Players included Muriel, Tom Bresh, Richard Gilewitz (who’s done clinics for us), Rick Vito, Larry Carlton, Victor Wooten, Ladd Smith, Rob Ickes and special guest, James Burton.

If I think of anything else….

Guitar Heroes wanted!

I hope someday soon we get some new, real guitar heroes.  Sure, the game is fun (my non musician wife is better than me, her ‘over 30 years as a musician’ husband) and not really a substitute for real playing but I’d love to see someone step up and turn the music world on their ear.  There are a ton of great, innovative guitar players out there but they aren’t getting any time in the spotlight.  We need a Hendrix badly.  Sure, Dimebag, Zakk, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai are tremendous players but the general public doesn’t know them well.  Hendrix and Van Halen came on the to scene and blew the minds of guitar players and non musicians alike and that’s what we need.

While 80’s hair band metal was never my cup of tea, guys like Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen made the guitar exciting and challenging to young musicians.  They opened doors that let guys like Satriani and Vai, George Lynch and Yngwie come through and add to rock’s vocabulary.  People, because they were serious about their musicianship were serious about their gear as well, which of course, I was grateful for.  There was a general ‘craftsmanship’ in defining their signature tones or even trying to capture their heroes’ tones.

With all of the amazing gear we have at our disposal, getting any tone is far easier than ever before but are we using that to our advantage?

Where is Brand X?

Originally posted on the CMusicBlog at www.cmusicshop.com on May 27, 2008

Sometimes I have to take a step back and remember that most folks don’t understand the workings of a business like ours. They might wonder why we don’t carry this brand or that. Well, I’ll try to explain some of what goes into this issue.

One thing we have to consider is what demands a brand may place on us and if we feel they are reasonable for our business. Some of the larger known brands place demands on stores that can be too much, whether it is the amount of money or actual pieces needed to carry the line. Other times that line may be overexposed in other places like Guitar Center, online or catalogs. Sometimes the line just doesn’t fit into our overall plan. Maybe we already have that type of instrument well represented with other lines or maybe there is another local business carrying that line, which would make it less sellable for both stores. Sometimes there just isn’t enough room for more products.

There is a lot to consider when choosing lines to represent. The first thing the public sometimes isn’t aware of is that we own the instruments you see. They are not given or loaned to music stores, we have to buy them. So, if we see issues with selling them, for any of the above reasons, we don’t want to get stuck with them, because in 99 cases out of 100, the brand won’t take them back.

So, when you see that a store doesn’t carry a particular brand, remember there are a lot of factors that enter into that decision.

Campbell American UK 1 guitar review

I’m hoping to post a video on YouTube of me playing and reviewing the UK 1 so I’ll keep you updated.

Meanwhile, here’s the readin’ version.

Campbell American is a true USA custom shop in New England that’s doing their own thing and doing it great! And no, they aren’t relatives of mine. We became dealers in March but because their guitars are special order, built to specs we had to wait until a couple of days ago to actually have one. Ours is a tobacco sunburst with a personally requested narrow outer band of dark finish to show off the bookmatched flame maple top. First, let that sink in….I requested the depth of the dark band of the sunburst….where else can you do that?

So, we’ve got this gorgeous flame maple top (option) on a semi hollow (option) mahogany (option) body with natural wood binding (option). Add to that a matching flame maple tobacco sunburst headstock (option) with Sperzel gears (option). We’ve got chrome covered (option) Dimarzio Bluesbuckers (option) with chrome surrounds and a coil tap (option). We’ve got audio taper, CTS high quality pots (standard) and a nice meaty 3 way pickup selector switch. The UK 1 is a small, compact body that balances nice, is comfortable and practical. Dean Campbell, the head honcho suggested a rosewood fingerboard over my indecision over maple, rosewood or ebony (option) and I’m glad I went that way. Also, Campbell American guitars feature true laquer finishes, glossy enough to shine and show off those cool woods but not so thick as to ‘candy coat’ the guitar which deadens the tone.

I leave it to the video review to tell the full story where you can hear the wide range of tones but let’s say for now that this guitar could very well be your dream guitar. You know, the one where you can pick some real options, the guitar that you’ll reach for time and time again, the ‘go to’ guitar. If you haven’t noticed, Campbell American offers real options. Want gold hardware? Vintage trem (I opted for the fixed bridge)? Ash? Basswood? Lollar pickups? Why settle for another cookie cutter guitar with whatever options the factory decides. The Campbell American plays as great as any other high quality guitar but isn’t priced where only rockstars and CEO’s can own them, but even better is that they will provide you with a great, unique guitar that fits your needs, not the needs of the accounting department of other brands.

EDIT 5/23 – I have some pics posted www.cmusicshop.com/documents/105.html in the meantime

Quickie Tips for beginning players

I love beginning players! Open to the possibilities, charged up and ready to make some music! I spend a lot of time working with starting musicians, advising them on their first instruments. Here is just a quickie tip: don’t be intimidated with all the ‘guitarspeak’. Remember, we were all in the same boat at one time or another. We didn’t just wake up knowing it all, we learned it, over time, as we went along. Don’t be worried if you don’t know the difference between a humbucker and a single coil and for that matter, why should you even care about it. Instead find a good store that will sit down and talk to you, help you learn these things. If they seem too ‘busy’ to help you, find another one that cares. Believe me, they are out there and it is in their best interest to guide you and your best interest to have them on your side. This may sound weird from a store selling on the internet but first and foremost, we’re a real music store that’s launched a whole lot of players. Now go out there and play some music!