Choosing an Acoustic Guitar

Buying an acoustic guitar can be a daunting task for those with little or no experience with the instrument. Whether you are an experienced electric guitarist or an absolute beginner looking to start playing acoustic, chances are you aren't really sure what to look for in an acoustic instrument. With nearly limitless choices in price, woods, size, style, electronics, and more, a bit of guidance can go a long way toward helping the aspiring acoustic guitarist decide what he or she would like in an instrument. Having personally spent a great deal of time trying to find the right instrument for myself over the course of a decade, I would like to offer my perspective on choosing an instrument based on what kind of music you intend to play.

Knowing what kind of music you would like to play on the acoustic guitar goes a long way in helping you decide which style of guitar might work best for you.  Most types of music that feature acoustic guitar playing have a preferred style of guitar that has been used by many performers in the genre. Often, the reason for this is that a certain sound works better for some styles than others. Lets take a look at each of the available types of acoustic guitars within each genre of music.

Bluegrass And Related Styles

For example, in bluegrass and related genres, a large "dreadnaught" style guitar, such as the classic Martin D-28, is the preferred choice of many performers in the style. This type of guitar is designed to produce a good amount of acoustic volume along with having a tone that places emphasis on the bass range of the instrument, both of which are important for providing the powerful rhythm accompaniment so essential to the bluegrass style. Though the Martin D-28 is the gold standard model for this genre, the "dreadnaught" body type found on this guitar also happens to be the most popular acoustic guitar design, meaning that many manufactures offer similar sounding instruments at a variety of price points.

Fingerstyle

For those interested in playing music more focused on fingerstyle playing, including folk, acoustic blues, and solo fingerstyle guitar, a smaller bodied guitar, such as an "OM," "000,"  "00," or smaller body size is often preferred for these styles.  The main benefit of the smaller body size, other than playing comfort, is the fact that smaller bodied guitars tend to have a more balanced tone; that is, compared to a large bodied guitar like the aforementioned "dreadnaught," these guitars are neither overly bassy sounding nor are they overly bright sounding. The clarity of sound that results from this design is what makes them ideal for the genres they are most often used in. These types of guitar are VERY versatile; you can hear them being used in everything from country to pop, with a pick or fingers. I even personally used one for playing jazz for a few years.

Another Side Of The Blues

Perhaps the haunting, metallic sounds of players like Son House or Bukka White are what you seek as a blues player. If this is the case, you may want to look for a resonator guitar. These metal bodied instruments were popular in the 1920s and 1930s for one obvious reason- they are LOUD. There are two main types of this guitar you will run into: the single cone and the tricone. The "cone" is a speaker shaped device made of spun aluminum and acts as an amplifier for the strings. Single cone guitars are both less expensive and more suited for blues playing; they tend to sound more punchy and "in your face" than their tricone cousins, which have a sweeter tone often associated with early Hawaiian and jazz music.

Classical, Flamenco, and Brazilian

If you are interested in playing Classical, Flamenco, or traditional Brazilian music, you will probably prefer a nylon string guitar. Keep in mind, though, that there is no one "nylon string guitar." The majority that you will encounter will either be designed and built for classical playing or for flamenco playing. The main differences here are in wood choice and construction. Classical guitars are almost always more heavily built than flamenco guitars, hence the often richer, sweeter tone. Flamenco guitars also have a few other unique additions, including the "golpeador," a pickguard attached to either side of the strings on the body to prevent wear and tear from the often vigorous and intense flamenco playing style.

Jazz, Swing, And Gypsy Jazz

For acoustic jazz guitar styles you'll find two different instrument designs that are popular with each school of playing. For swing and early big band playing, the guitar of choice is an archtop. With its elegantly carved cello like body and F shaped sound holes, this type of guitar is an icon of the 1920s through the 1940s. Modern versions of this type of instrument are hard to come by, with only two companies (that I am aware of at the time of writing) making instruments of this type for under $2000.00. Most people are familiar with the electrically amplified version of this type of guitar, but those are not acoustic instruments.

The other type, the gypsy jazz guitar, is easier to find, still being produced by a variety of manufacturers. This type of guitar was made famous in the 1930s by Django Reinhardt, one of the most famous jazz guitarists of all time. This design, like that of the archtop's, is simply a different approach for making a louder guitar prior to the advent of amplification.  It is surely due to the perennial popularity of the style of music Django pioneered that instruments of this type have remained easily available.

Guitars For Rock And Pop

So what about guitars for rock and pop music? This is where choosing an acoustic guitar becomes purely a matter of player preference, as there is no single classic design used in these genres. A more important factor here is the inclusion of good electronics on acoustic/electric guitars so they can be used on stage at loud volumes. Probably one of the most popular manufacturers of this type of guitar for the past twenty years or so is Taylor. These guitars are good sounding acoustically, and the on board electronics on most models offer good amplified tone. There are many acoustic electric guitars available from a wide variety of manufacturers at different price points.

Choose What YOU Like

There are many other things to consider when buying an acoustic guitar, including wood, presence or lack of electronics, price, and more. Hopefully this guide has helped point you in a general direction towards the type of guitar that might suit your favorite type of music. Remember though, you can use ANY of the guitar styles mentioned here in ANY type of music. That part is up to you and your ears to decide. Good luck on your search, and have fun getting started on the acoustic guitar!

Putting Together A Vintage Stereo System, Part 1: The Turntable

Putting together a nice yet budget friendly vintage stereo system has been a goal of mine for many years. Being both and avid music listener AND a musician has caused a bit of a conflict of interests though. It seemed like whenever I had the extra cash to get a new piece of stereo gear, I'd also be in the market for a new instrument or piece of recording equipment. The music gear almost always won out, and I never got to put that vintage system together until recently. The first part of that system I got was a vintage turntable.

For me, the turntable was the most important piece to start with. If it wasn't going to work, I would probably reconsider the whole vintage thing. I'd had problems with old gear before (see the "Vintage Guitar" post and read about my Wurlitzer). After some Ebay scouring I found and bought the table I had read so much about and wanted to try so badly- a 1968 or '69  AR-XA. This particular turntable is considered one of the most important of all time; it was, I believe, one of the first suspended chassis turntables on the market when it first came out, and influenced the design of many turntables to follow, like the Thorens line. The suspended chassis, by the way, means that the platter, arm, and motor float on an inner metal chassis that is spring mounted to the wooden base. The reason for this design is to isolate the important stuff from small vibrations from the motor and what may come through the base.

My AR-XA, with a George Van Eps album ready to spin!

As luck would have it, right after getting the turntable, my car needed a very expensive repair. All further vintage audio gear purchases had to be pout on hold for almost a year, so I ended up using the 'table with a $10 flea market amplifier and some $100 Best Buy speakers. Despite the, well, crappy setup, the turntable proved to me without a doubt that there is some absolutely impressive vintage audio gear out there that doesn't have to cost thousands to sound good. This turntable is so basic and simple but works so well, anyone who has never used on will be surprised!

Gear that works well is only part of the equation. How a turntable sounds is really the most important thing, and this turntable sounds fantastic! Its tone is similar to the aforementioned Thorens tables of the 1970s. Words like liquid, rich, warm and sweet came to mind immediately when I first heard this table in action. To me, this type of design just plain sounds better in comparison to the British-style suspension-less planks that I had used before, and which flood the current new turntable market.

The AR-XA sounds great playing any kind of music; my record collection spans jazz to rock to classical to world to folk. They all sound great on this 'table. For the absolute best classic AR turntable experience, get a vintage Shure M97x cartridge when you get the table. I'm glad I did, as I had heard that no current cartridge has such great synergy with this 'table. I believe it! They make a great combo.

A side view showing the very basic tonearm setup. Notice the complete lack of an anti-skating mechanism!

The AR-XA certainly performs well and sounds great, but it does have its flaws. Most notable would be the tone arm. First of all, the headshell (where the cartridge and "needle" go) is made of plastic that is over 40 years old, and no replacements are available that I am aware of, short of buying an expensive old stock one. In other words, be careful when screwing in the cartridge! The other issue with the tonearm is the damping mechanism. When new, this prevented the arm from slamming down to the record surface. 40 years later it causes the arm to hang up and not sit on the record surface as it should. The fix is a little complicated but not difficult. It involves removing the pin that works the mechanism, therefore letting the arm move freely again. For any AR repair info, go to vinylnirvana.com. It is a great resource for all things AR.

Though it has a few issues, the AR-XA is truly a great turntable even today. It out performs any of the current budget tables in the $300-$500 range. This 'table is a true example of "they don't make em like they used to." The sound, the simplicity and the classic look add up to a great table that should get consideration from anyone looking to put together a nice, budget friendly vintage stereo system. Put a classic rock album on the AR, sit back, relax, and let the music transport you back to a different time.

Swing Jazz Guitar- What The Heck Is It?

If you've looked at this blog even one time, you'll notice a good deal of my posts and info are dedicated to my musical passion of swing jazz guitar playing. But you may be wondering what exactly "swing jazz guitar playing" is.  For those who are interested, I'll show you! I'd love to take this time to let people in on one of the most enjoyable jazz guitar styles that has ever existed.

Sadly, these days, and for that matter, since Charlie Christian made the electric guitar so popular in jazz in the early 1940s, the acoustic, chordal style of guitar playing I like to call swing jazz guitar has become almost entirely an underground phenomenon. Sure, there have been swing rhythm players who continued to play in big bands, like the famous Freddie Green, but many of the other player's contributions have gone mostly unnoticed except by those intrigued enough to dig deeper. I'd like to unearth a few YouTube gems for you as well as talk more about the style I've come to love.

In swing jazz guitar,  rhythm playing is really the most important thing. The main job of guitarists of the era was to provide solid rhythm accompaniment for the bands they were with, and only infrequently took solos. This type of rhythm guitar playing really requires an archtop guitar or Selmer style gypsy guitar with a heavy pick and attack to get the right sound. Feel is important too; I've heard many electric guitarists try to mimic acoustic rhythm playing, but its always just that, mimicking.  For the first example, I'll give you a video of an unusual, modern small group that has Rod McDonald on rhythm guitar. Notice the percussive, driving quality the guitar brings to the group, as well as his chord solo:

A perennially popular form of swing music still exists to this day called gypsy jazz. This style was made famous in the mid 1930's by the European gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, a fantastic single note soloist whose groups usually consisted of three guitars, a bass, and a violin. Notice how different the gypsy rhythm feel is compared with Rod McDonald's more straight-ahead, classic American swing feel. Oh, and Django's wonderful solo:

This next example, "Kay's Fantasy," from a compilation of studio recordings made in the late 1940's by George Van Eps, is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the absolute finest examples of melody arrangement and improvisation in this style of jazz guitar playing. It's a recording that really showed me that the seemingly impossible truly can be possible, with enough work of course! I am always blown away by this set of recordings; they are the apex of Van Eps' work, in my opinion. One of the best features of these recordings is that we have a rare opportunity to hear the acoustic guitar accompanied by only drums and bass, without a piano or second guitar to get in the way:

Notice in the comments section, if you do end up on YouTube, the amount of people who can't understand that this is ONE guitarist playing with only a PICK. That's right, this is the "impossible" being made possible by one of the fathers of the style. You really have to be a guitar player to truly appreciate what is going on here. Van Eps basically turns the guitar into a piano, and does it well. I'd like to see any modern bebop jazz guitarist try to attempt something like this!

The basis of this style of improvisation and melody arranging is fairly simple: take triad and 7th chord forms and put the melody and/or solo on top. The key is knowing your chords inside and out, up, down, and across the neck, and in every inversion. It takes work, but getting started is quite easy. I hope to do a post and hopefully a video series later on where I can go more in-depth about the techniques and thought processes needed for playing this way.

As you can hear from the last example, this style of playing really makes it possible to do everything on your own. This became one of the major selling points for me back when I decided to commit to playing in the chordal swing style. It is just as effective for playing solo as it is for use in group playing where you are both laying down rhythm chords and taking solos. It is also great for singing accompaniment where you also want to do a guitar solo. A great aspect of the style for those who sing and play is that you don't have to give up the rhythm and harmony while you solo. Here's an example of Steve Jordan singing and playing:

I love this style of jazz guitar playing, and do my best to keep the tradition alive while also playing my music in an individual way. I hope the examples and explanation offer you a bit of insight into what all the excitement is about! I don't think you have to limit this way of approaching the guitar to just swing style jazz, either. Knowing a thing or two about chordal soloing could certainly benefit many guitarists who may be looking for an alternative to electronic gadgets to provide background accompaniment when they perform solo. It is possible to do it all on one guitar with only a pick! All it takes is some knowledge and practice!

New Swing Jazz Guitar YouTube Performance Videos!

Here's a new batch of tunes I recorded on May 26th. As you can see, I finally found a pickguard bracket that works on the old Kalamazoo! Hope you enjoy!

'Taint No Sin (To Take Off Your Skin And Dance Around In Your Bones):

Here's an old relic from the late 1920's, but its got some great, silly lyrics and a cool melody and chord progression. I first heard the tune on Marty Grosz's record "Take Me To The Land Of Jazz," and have loved it ever since.


Blizzard Of Lies:

Another humorous tune, but in this case much more modern. I came across this one by jazz lyricist, singer, and pianist Dave Frishberg on an album called "Dave Frishberg Songbook, Vol 2." I think we can all relate to being constantly assaulted with a blizzard of lies! The harmonic structure is quite interesting too, complete with some slightly more exotic chords that I usually don't come across in my rhythm playing, including a few 13 and #4 chords. That little minor key intro that reappears between each chorus is pretty neat too.


Satin Doll:

Here's one of Ellington's later classics, frequently learned early on by jazz players including myself, where I first played it back in my piano days. I've since had a place in my heart for the tune, and here I present an arrangement/improvisation on solo plectrum guitar.


The Lady's In Love With You:

A simple but fun little tune dating from the late 1930's, I came across this one on yet another Marty Grosz record of mine, where he does it in a trio context of guitar, bass, and clarinet. The improvised choruses are fun to play on a basic tune like this; there's not much to get in your way as far as complex chords, and its easy to just let go and see what happens.