Recently watched a Les Paul documentary, where it was stated that he ruled the charts with Mary Ford - until "rock" came along from the likes of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holley. The music consuming public was attracted to that harder edge - sharp, crisp dynamics in both sound and time - almost the antithesis of what Paul and Ford were doing; as such they were dropped immediately.
So rock to me is jazz, blues, even symphonic music played with that harder edge - most commonly provided by an electric guitar in an overdriven amplifier setting. But not always. Something like Stray Cat's "Rock This Town" doesnt feature an overly distorted guitar sound, but is definitely "rock".
Speaking of McLaughlin, wasnt he the Jazz-Rock pioneer? I can play an Elvis song and a Holley song, buy what I like to listen to are people 87E+39 times better than I'll ever hope to be. Sometimes I think if I turn on the stereo again, I'll never practice guitar!
So rock to me is jazz, blues, even symphonic music played with that harder edge - most commonly provided by an electric guitar in an overdriven amplifier setting. But not always. Something like Stray Cat's "Rock This Town" doesnt feature an overly distorted guitar sound, but is definitely "rock".
Speaking of McLaughlin, wasnt he the Jazz-Rock pioneer? I can play an Elvis song and a Holley song, buy what I like to listen to are people 87E+39 times better than I'll ever hope to be. Sometimes I think if I turn on the stereo again, I'll never practice guitar!
If a screaming Stratocaster is what defines "rock", then what is this? Put a Strat in the hands of Ernie Isley who does a good job of channeling Jimi Hendrix in a soul / funk-rock band about 50 years ago. I had forgotten all about it until a random YouTube video brought back the memory. I had that record back in the 70's, but can't find it now.
I don't look at all the great guitar players that are far better than I could ever be. My rock star dreams died when I saw Hendrix live in 1967 and hung out with some real players at or around the University of Miami in 1971 and 1972. There I realized that my short fat fingers put be at a severe disadvantage compared to them. I would be grateful to be able to play as good now as I could then, about 50 years ago.
Well, I took the first step by resurrecting my Korean Squier Strat that experienced a rapid self disassembly event while I was playing it about 15 years ago. The details are in post #3629 here:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/what-did-you-last-repair.313739/page-182
I have a few other old and possibly better playing guitars still stashed away from a 1200 mile move 9 years ago. I dug out my old Univox clone of a "Ventures Mosrite" that I got in the mid 70's, and it was as I remembered it. I had played that thing so much that the frets are severely worn. It's been in a box since the early 90's when my surprised me with an Epiphone Les Paul for my 50th birthday.
I built a tiny 4 tube 4 watt practice amp a few years ago that does clean to cranked tones well, but I grew up on 60's surf music, so for that sound I stick the guitar cord into the Focusrite interface and dial up some "surf's up" reverb tones with TH-U from Overloud....yes there are several presets that live up to the company's name for shredding at realistic volume levels, or even headphones.
That's why I like the nylon string guitars these days. Nut width as wide as 50mm on most; some do offer a bit narrower which I like, but nothing as something like a tele or strat has for width down there. I'm also enamored with the tone of these things; though most are acoustic I do have one that's a solid electric.
Gibson made a "Chet Atkins" model, but those are priced well out of what I'd ever consider spending. Epiphone has their version "Epiphone SST Classic 1.75 Acoustic-Electric Guitar Antique Natural Gold Hardware" at GC and what I consider reasonably priced for a used guitar. I assume the "1.75" is the nut width.
I'd hold up Lee Ritenour as one of those stratospheric players I like to listen to - and couldnt play anything he does - that handily goes back and forth between the nylon strung and steel guitars. I've noted no one has done much along the lines of making a nylon string have magnetic properties. I know they load the material with carbon in some formulations.
I became fascinated with electricity when the paper clip met the wall outlet at about age 4. My father worked rotating shifts, so the three of us kids had to be quiet whenever he was home. Sometime about age 6 or 7, I got an electric guitar for Christmas, but no amplifier. The music store salesman convinced my mother that it would be quiet enough to play when my father was home, and it was....for a while.
I "made" my first guitar amp by connecting a guitar cord to the tone arm on an old Magnavox mono HiFi set and have been making guitar amps ever since. All but two of the guitars that I have owned in over 60 years were electric. I currently have a Lyon (Chinese Washburn) acoustic, but I replaced the nylon strings with steel because I like the sound far better. Other than the Les Paul my wife bought me 20 years ago, all of my guitars cost me less than $150 each and most were under $50. The Lyon was a $30 flea market find. It has a 1.7 inch nut as does the Squier Strat. I have a $39 Ebay bargain electric guitar (picture) that is easier to play and its nut is 1.6 inches wide.
I "made" my first guitar amp by connecting a guitar cord to the tone arm on an old Magnavox mono HiFi set and have been making guitar amps ever since. All but two of the guitars that I have owned in over 60 years were electric. I currently have a Lyon (Chinese Washburn) acoustic, but I replaced the nylon strings with steel because I like the sound far better. Other than the Les Paul my wife bought me 20 years ago, all of my guitars cost me less than $150 each and most were under $50. The Lyon was a $30 flea market find. It has a 1.7 inch nut as does the Squier Strat. I have a $39 Ebay bargain electric guitar (picture) that is easier to play and its nut is 1.6 inches wide.
Attachments
