Electric Bard

For a lot of people my age, you discovered that music was really important when you discovered The Beatles. Everything about them at the time was fresh, exciting, positive and full of energy. From the songs to the records to the hair, the suits, the boots, the wit, the slang…it couldn’t all have been preconceived and then just conjured up by some smart marketing people. There was talent and there was maybe some luck, but The Beatles were the right thing at the right moment.

Most of the records that The Beatles recorded were done at just one recording studio, Abbey Road Studios in London. That is ground zero for fans of Beatles’ records. The studio still stands today and is still in constant use. And on July 4, 2019, Gail and I, along with nearly a dozen friends, went to our musical mecca. We booked a ten-hour session in the room, Studio 2; the room where the magic happened.

We chose four original songs plus two songs we didn’t write, and got to work at 10AM to have a go at recording those songs. Our session was all over by 8PM, so if you’ve spent much time recording songs in a studio, you’ll understand our schedule was tight. Gail and I flew out from YLW, Kelowna International Airport, on Monday, July 1st, in the early afternoon. We flew to Vancouver, and then non-stop to Gatwick Airport, arriving just after 10AM on Tuesday morning, July 2. We took the Gatwick Express train to Victoria station, and then a taxi to our flat in Notting Hill, near Portobello Road.
Once we had unpacked we went for a walk around our neighbourhood.

We were so excited to be in London. The weather was perfect for walking around, and we loved all the old architecture, from the houses to the churches and the quaint little shops. We picked up a few groceries, mostly so we could make some breakfast and, of course, make coffee.

The next morning, Wednesday, July 3rd, we walked over to Abbey Road Studios. It took nearly an hour, and we marveled along the way at the architecture (as we did every day in London). At Abbey Road, we met up with Stu and Teri MacDonald from Vancouver. We visited Abbey Road’s gift shop, then walked over to the St. John’s Wood underground station. A helpful attendant at the station assisted me and Gail to get our Oyster cards loaded up for riding public transit. We rode down to the Tower of London, and along the way Stu explained the tube maps on the trains and how it all worked. It’s brilliantly simple.

When we surfaced behind the Tower of London, we walked over the Tower Bridge, where we met up with Peter Leung and Smoky Senechal for lunch. We went to a place called Vapiano (there are a few of them around London). After lunch, Gail and I headed back to the train, and I was already feeling confident that we could navigate back to Notting Hill with no problem. In fact, I was feeling so confident, that I decided we could take the tube to St. John’s Wood station the next day for our day in the studio. I’ve got to say Google maps works great for getting around London. I had downloaded the often-recommended app Visit London, but with Google maps, I always had good transit info.

We had decided to meet up at a quarter to nine. The studio had invited us to come in at 9 to start the session proper at 10. It only took us about 25 minutes in all to go from our flat at 13 Pembridge to the St. John’s Wood station. Gail grabbed a coffee to go there at the Helter Skelter kiosk. We ran into Hermann Fruhm (the lone pianist in our entourage) there, and together walked the few blocks down to the famous crosswalk and then over to the gate at the studio entrance. We hung around until the whole gang had arrived, stopped for a picture on the front steps, then in we went.

Going down a winding path
On the way I pause
Dreaming but awake at last
Responding to the beauty
Enveloping my senses
And swallowing me whole
Laughing at the sound
I feel light-headed, floating in the
Zone
Attending to the presence
Tasting everything at once
In an instant, as it is
One
Now

I have a Squier Tele, a Classic Vibe. I’ve always like Tele’s but my Strats have spoiled me and I wish Tele’s came with a forearm cut. What to do? I thought about modifying the Squier body, and then I thought about replacing the body with a Warmoth Tele body with a forearm cut, since I was pleased with the Warmoth body for my old 1980 Strat. And then I thought what about the comfort of a Strat with a Tele twang? Yes, Warmoth make that. And then what if I ordered a neck? I’d be on my way to a whole new guitar. Things can sure get out of hand quickly, can’t they?

After four coats of applying tung oil by hand it looks like this:
String ferrules installed, that’s a walnut stripe on the back of the neck.

Starting to get it wired.

All the EMG solderless wiring done, then just snip off the battery clip wires and solder them both to the battery box.

And here it is all assembled and set up:
VIDEO: See and hear the Stratele with EMG T System pickups. More tech details, too, in case you’re curious.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Kenny Aronoff and attending his Tama drum workshop. Kenny is one of my favourite drummers. Kenny had lots of great stories about his career, from seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan all the way through to where he’s at today. He offered up a 7-step plan for success in music, and in life. He had stories and anecdotes from his personal experience to illustrate each one. I won’t recount each one here, but I’ll share a quick rundown of what he had to say.

1. Discipline
He talked a lot about practising 8 hours a day. It’s a recurring theme for him.

2. Hard Work. Show up, be prepared, know your stuff.

3. Create a plan that you execute. Don’t take no for an answer, find a way around obstacles, keep pushing forward. Lots of stories to illustrate what he means.

4. Team Communication Skills. Get everyone working together, be a problem solver.

5. RPS. Repetition is Preparation for Success. (see #1 and #2)

6. Healthy Life is a Wealthy Life. Kenny’s recipe for health, in this order, is
– weight training
– cardio
– stretching
– diet (mostly what you DON’T eat, like sugar and white flour)
– supplements (take your vitamins)
– water (drink lots)
– sleep
– meditation

7. Stay focused and relevant. The music biz changes, you better too. Don’t waste time.

And he asked what is the #1 purpose of a drummer? Kenny’s answer: get the song on the radio, make it #1.

If you get a chance to catch a Kenny Aronoff workshop, don’t miss it, even if you’re not a drummer. Oh, and bring ear plugs because they don’t call him the hardest hitting man in show business for nothing!

I used to think that the wood used for the body of a solid body electric guitar didn’t really matter. Then I swapped out the extremely heavy ash body on my 1980 Strat for a new lightweight (3 lbs 14 oz) alder body, keeping everything else the same (same neck, electronics, bridge, etc.). Yes, it makes a big difference. Due to the quality of my video camera’s audio, I don’t think the difference is as apparent on the video as it is to me when I play the guitar. It used to sound much darker, without the typical Strat snap and sparkle. The alder body reveals a glassy quality to the pickups tone that I never heard before. So I am now definitely convinced that the wood matters!

Last week I was on the big island of Hawai’i for the first Hawai’i Songwriting Festival. I attended sessions with some incredible songwriters: Sue Ennis, Gary Burr, Georgia Middleman, Jason Blume , Brett James, Big Al Anderson, Glen Phillips , Hookman Marlin Bonds, and Adam Zelkind. Talk about inspiration…and information. Also had a great chat over lunch with Michael Laskow, the founder of Taxi. I enjoyed speed mentoring sessions with music supervisor Beth Amy Rosenblatt, and Marmoset’s Ryan Wines (see Ryan’s TED talk here).

Thanks for the Brotman family who were everywhere at once keeping things moving along. The location for the conference was stunning, at the Hapuna Prince. Wow!

Here’s a video post to hear John Suhr talking about his pickups and amps: Factory Tour Part 5. The reason I’m posting this is that I just swapped out the pickups on my Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster for a set of Suhr Classic T Tele pickups.

I am very pleased with the results. I got to try the guitar out last Saturday night at a gig. It’s very hard to describe the difference in sound, but I”ll try anyway. The original Squier pickups are very in-your-face. They deliver a nice tubby fat sound on the neck pickup with a lot of bottom and a bright snappy sound at the bridge. The Suhr pickups are more subtle; in a way the sound is closer to my Robert Cray Strat, and that’s a good thing. The Cray Strat is a great gigging guitar because it’s comfortable, easy to play, and has enough sounds to fit any situation. The Tele was much tougher finding the right level in the mix on stage with it’s all-or-nothing take-no-prisoners pickups, and now with the Suhr’s it plays better with others.

I found the middle position great for rhythm parts, bright but not shrill, easy to control dynamics with picking. The front pickup is not as bold as the stock pickup, but again has a very useful frequency response and both Suhr pickups are nicely balanced from treble to bass strings. I had also considered Fender pickups, like the Vintage Noiseless or the Twisted Tele. Fender offer a huge selection of Tele pickups, but after watching the Suhr factory tour video and playing the Suhr guitars we have in stock at Wentworth Music I thought I’d give them a try and I’m glad I did.

Found this new feature on Fender’s website. Oh my…
Fender American Design Experience

Here’s an interesting interview with Richard Thompson and featuring some great picking.

These days I’m working at Wentworth Music. Come in and say hello, won’t you?