Putting Together A Vintage Stereo System Part 2: The Amplifier

When I began assembling my vintage stereo system, deciding on an integrated amplifier or receiver was much more difficult than deciding on the turntable. When it came down to deciding on a turntable, I knew what I wanted. The amplifier was another matter altogether. It took some time for me to find out what would work best, but I'm glad I spent the time making the decision, as the amplifier is possibly the most important component in a system.

As usual, I did quite a bit of research to find out what others paired their AR-XA turntables with. One amp that was consistently matched with the AR-XA was the Marantz 1060. By this time I was already thinking that a classic silver-face Marantz amp or receiver of one kind or another would be what I'd ultimately get, and after being indecisive between getting a receiver (an amp with a tuner built in) or just an integrated amplifier, I decided on the 1060. I really don't ever listen to the radio anyway, so eliminating any extra bells and whistles would help focus on what mattered- the sound.

And what a great amp it is! There is a warmth, richness, and clarity to be found in the old Marantz that I've never heard in any modern day amplifiers. The combination of this and my AR-XA is perfect. The sound of these two combined is hard to describe, but I would call it both "old school" yet liquid sounding. The 1060 cranks on classic rock yet can get oh so smooth on jazz ballads or classical music. Some amps were known for being only good for this or that type of music, but the Marantz really does it all, and does it very well. It truly has great tone and volume to spare.

My Marantz 1060

The 1060 is rock solidly built and has just the right amount of controls on the front. There are also plenty of inputs on the back to hook up almost any audio source that uses RCA cables. Though I am a firm believer in never using EQ, the amp does have very usable tone controls, and also has a classic feature not found on modern amps- a "loudness" button. These buttons send the signal through a circuit that boost highs and lows so that listening at low volume levels will supposedly sound more similar to listening at more normal volume levels. All I really use on the amp is the on/off button, input selector, and the volume knob! Everything else is left alone, as it should be, in my opinion.

The only downside to owning an amp this old is that sooner or later you will need to get the electronics refurbished or replaced. My Marantz is starting to show some signs of needing a complete capacitor overhaul, but this kind of thing comes with the territory of owning an amplifier that was made in the very early 1970s. The cost to have a shop do this can be from $75 to around $200, but after the work is done there should be no further need for servicing for the rest of your ownership of the amp.

The Marantz 1060 is a fantastic integrated amplifier that is still relatively affordable. The sound of the amp and its synergy with the other classic components in my system- an AR-XA turntable and Dynaco A25 speakers- make this a perfect amp for my needs. Though all of these amps will need some service work at some point, I'd still highly recommend one to anyone looking for that classic 70s sound. I agree very much with others that most of the best stereo components were made during that era, and the Marantz is a perfect example.

Disc Golf And Guitar

With late summer upon us once again, one of the things on my mind right now is how to get out and disc golf as much as I can before the inevitable winter closes in. Not only do I want to get in as many rounds as possible, but I also want to really put in the practice that will help me get up to a playing level I can be comfortable with. All this thinking about practicing disc golf has also led me to think about just how similar practicing and playing jazz guitar is to disc golf. From mastering fundamental techniques to performing under pressure, there really is a lot in common between these two seemingly very different activities! I thought I'd share some of these observations with you all.

Fundamentals

It all starts here. I remember thinking that disc golf had to be easy enough; its nothing more than throwing a Frisbee at a basket. How wrong I was! I soon realized that, just like playing guitar on a decent level, to compete well with others, disc golf needs to be practiced from the ground up. Whereas on the guitar I'll practice things like chords, triads, arpeggios, and scales, with disc golf my fundamentals routine consists of the basic types of shots: putting, approach shots, and different types of drives. This is the kind of stuff that I return to day after day. The old cliche about laying a solid foundation couldn't be more correct.

Situational Practice

I first came up with this term when I really got interested in disc golf. Basically, it means taking my discs out and creating little situations that I may encounter on a round. For example, I often go to a wooded are of a park and practice throwing different shots around certain trees or other obstacles. Or I might spend some time throwing a tomahawk type shot over an obstacle. What I'm trying to do here is get as much experience with the possibilities of playing around that I can. You are always going to end up with some terrible shots that land in the worst possible area for a decent throw. This is where you learn to deal with that situation among many others. On the jazz guitar, this is the equivalent of playing over certain chords or chord progressions so that you have material at your disposal to use whenever you need it. Its a matter of becoming familiar with the possibilities so that the possibilities don't become overwhelming when they come up in a round or performance.

Courses and Tunes

This analogy is very appropriate for a comparison between golf and guitar. Unlike most sports, where the playing area is generally consistent, golf presents players with the challenge of vastly differing holes and courses. Though they can be very different, each course also will have many things in common with other courses you've played, such as dogleg holes and certain obstacles. This is also true with tunes we play on the guitar (or any instrument for that matter). Each one is unique, but each also shares many similarities with others, such as specific types of chord progressions that recur quite often. This is where that "situational" practice really comes into play for both things.

Tournaments and Performances

Here is where all that work has to come together. We do all that practice so that the pressure of performance doesn't cause us to fail. For my case in disc golf, this doesn't mean tournaments at the moment, but rounds with friends. Similarly, with guitar this could mean a full on performance in front of an audience nor just performing a tune or two for a friend or loved one. In either case, the hard work has been done so we can let go and just plain do. And that's just what we have to let happen.


This kind of thing can also be practiced. With my guitar playing, I'll often record audio or a video to check my progress on a tune. It's a powerful practice tool. When that little record light is on, so is the pressure to perform. I know something is not really ready until I can produce a decent recording of it played all the way through. On the disc golf course, things are not as easy. What I try to do in that case is imagine I am in a round or tournament and block everything except my next shot out of my mind. Focusing only on the shot at hand seems to work quite well both as a practice tool as well as during actual rounds.

As you can see, disc golf and guitar playing have quite a bit in common! I think its safe to say that many things we desire to get better at also share many similarities. We can't just buy a guitar or walk onto a golf course for the first time and expect to be any good. Likewise, you aren't going to get into a good career just thinking about it! Its all in how and what we practice and work on to improve ourselves as we move toward our goals. In the end, to use another old cliche, you will reap what you sow.

Unusual Instruments #2: The Hohner Pianet T

Back when I was just getting serious as a piano player, one of the things I desperately wanted was a real deal electric piano. I wanted to hear that rich, sweet, metallic ring emanating from my amplifier as I played those incredible chord voicings I loved so much from Steely Dan tunes like "Peg," "Josie," "Time Out Of Mind," and many others. Being that I was (and still am) such a stickler for doing things the authentic, old fashioned analog way, an electronic Casio piano was not going to do it for me. But what to do? I didn't have the coin for a Fender Rhodes or Wurlitzer yet!

Thankfully, there was a solution. In the late 1970's, Hohner must have also seen a need for a low cost electric piano and introduced the portable, guitar case sized, black Tolex covered Pianet T. There were other Hohner Pianet models before this one, but this final T model was the true budget friendly version. Coming out at the end of the electric piano's height of popularity and the beginning of the electronic synthesizer era, I'm not sure how many of these were produced, but I managed to pick one up on eBay for around $250. With some work, these can be a pretty decent Rhodes sound alike. Thankfully, unlike the Wurlitzer I later owned, fixing these up is incredibly easy.

The main repair issue is in the "sticky pad" mechanism Hohner used to vibrate the reeds and, well, keep the cost down. The system is truly ingenious in some ways though, using sticky silicone pads that sit on the reeds. When a key is pressed, the pad pulls off the reed and vibrates it due to its inherent stickiness. When the key is let go, the pad falls back onto the reed stopping the vibration. This of course precludes the use of sustain pedals, but the simplicity of design is incredible. The problem- those sticky pads are all around 35 years old now, and if the reeds have rusted, the pads work even less. The result is notes or blocks of notes that don't sound at all or sound very quiet compared with others.

Thankfully, just as I was researching these things before buying one, I came across the website clavinet.com. This site has all the resources and info you could possibly need for all of Hohner's keyboards, in particular the much more famous Clavinet (feartured prominently on Stevie Wonders "Superstition"). Even more important was the fact that they had also begun selling replacement sticky pad sets! I ordered a set as soon as I bought my Pianet and waited for them to arrive.

A view of a Pianet T with the top taken off exposing the reeds, sticky pads, and pickup

The first thing I noticed about the Pianet is how HEAVY it is for its size! It is like a very small, thin guitar case in size, but probably weighs 60 lbs. Opening up the key lid reveals a 60 key keyboard. That's right, 60 keys. This unusual keyboard runs from F to F rather than the standard C to C found on 61 key keyboards. The feel of the keyboard is unusual as well. It is very "mushy" feeling compared to a piano keyboard, but is not as smooth feeling as an organ keyboard either. It is odd, but it works! The whole thing is extremely well built, with an outer case of plywood which I am sure accounts for some of that weight! The only other thing on the keyboard besides the keys is a 1/4" jack. Pianets really are as simple as you can possibly get!

As I mentioned before, the sticky pads generally have to be changed and the reeds checked and cleaned of any rust for optimal performance. This is incredibly simple as well. Unscrewing the screws holding the top on reveals a set of reeds over which the pads rest. I promptly took off all the pads and very gently cleaned off any rusty reeds. Don't go overboard here- you can sand or brush the reeds out of tune and will have to painstakingly re-tune them! After the reeds were clean, I simply slid the new pads onto their rocker arms and was good to go! I also checked for tone and volume balance between each key before reassembling the top. Each pad arm can be bent closer to or away from the reed to compensate for either too much or not enough volume on a note due to the pad not sitting just right against the reed.

Put back together, the Pianet was a whole new beast. They have an incredible amount of bass and a unique Rhodes like tone in the middle and upper registers. I played my Pianet for a few months with my basement rock band and it worked pretty well with a little Ampeg bass amp for amplification. The only problem was that when used within a guitar based band context, the Pianet T can sound muddy and indistinct. I imagine this is also an issue with Rhodes pianos, but not to this extent. In a less crowded sonic context, these keyboards can really shine, but in a classic rock setting, you really end up wanting something else- like a Wurlitzer.

That's exactly what happened, too. As soon as I could gather up the money, I got myself a Wurlitzer 200 series electric piano, the keyboard heard on famous tunes like Pink Floyd's "Money," "Time," and "Have a Cigar," and Supertramp's "Dreamer," among many others. The Wurlitzer really has a tone that cuts through a mix, but if you are on a budget and want to get into the world of real flesh and blood electric pianos, get yourself a Hohner Pianet T. They really can't be beat for the cost.

New Performance Videos!

This past Sunday I had some time to get another batch of four tunes recorded for YouTube. I've got quite a bit of variety going on with these videos. This time I've recorded Donald Fagen's classic post Steely Dan tune "I.G.Y.,"  a swing era standard, a 1960's Mose Allison tune, and even a classical piece by Schumann.

First off, here's "I.G.Y.:"

I've loved this tune for a long time, and just recently decided to get a swing/jazz arrangement together. The tune works very well as a jazz tune whether it has vocals or not. Its got some very nice chords, a great melody that fits nicely in my upper vocal range, and a fun, optimistic late 1950's perspective of what a perfect future would be like. I ended the tune with a reference to a familiar Steely Dan tune as well, which just kind of happened and stuck!

Next up is "Tangerine:"

This is an old jazz standard dating from the early 1940s.  I've been working on this one for a very long time. Getting both the chord melody at the beginning and the improvised choruses of this tune together were tough due to the constant chord movement. I think things came together pretty well in this recording. 

"Traumerei:"

 I came across this arrangement of the Schumann piece in Mel Bay's "Masters Of The Plectrum Guitar." This arrangement was done my Mel himself in the late 1950s. I like doing an arranged or classical piece every once in a while to break things up and give me a different type of challenge.

"I Don't Worry About A Thing:"

I've recorded this Mose Allison tune a few times, but not yet for this blog or my new YouTube channel. I love the humorous lyrics in this one, as I do in most of Mose's tunes. Being a basic blues its fun to just "let loose" on the improvised choruses. I look forward to doing a few more of his tunes in the near future.

Hope you enjoy!

The CAGED System And How It Changed The Way I Play Guitar

One of the strangest things I've realized about my guitar playing journey is how long it took for me to discover what the "CAGED" system is all about. CAGED is a way of organizing the guitar's entire fingerboard by basic chord shapes. The concept is not new by any means, although the catchy name is of fairly recent origin. In all the method books, lessons, and learning I've done on the guitar I never really knew what the concept was all about and how powerful it can be for a guitarist. I'm very glad I finally learned more about it!

I'll try to put it as simply as possible: CAGED refers to the five basic open position chord forms we all learned within the first month or so playing guitar. These five chord shapes also form the foundation of everything we can possibly play on the guitar. Chords, scales, arpeggios, and anything else you can play on a guitar are all connected to these five basic chord forms. Knowing how CAGED works can clarify so much about the way the fingerboard is laid out you'll be blown away. The crazy part is just how simple it is.

As a former piano player, I like to think of CAGED as the guitar's equivalent to the repeating layout of black and white keys on the piano keyboard. Like the layout of the piano's keys, CAGED provides a solid reference to where you are and what you have available to play under your fingers at any particular moment. The other great thing about CAGED is that the shapes occur up the fingerboard only in that order and reverse when going back down: DEGAC. For an example, the E shape always follows the G shape when ascending the fingerboard, and C always follows A when descending.

Here are the basic open chord forms for reference:

I've highlighted the roots in this chord diagram to show what I call the basic "root shapes" of each; this is what I'm really using with CAGED anyway, as it allows all the other types of chords such as minor, diminished, and augmented, to be used within this system.

Next is a diagram of all the CAGED shapes up the fingerboard where the roots are all C.  Remember, when we talk about CAGED we are not referring to the names of those chords. We are only using those names as references to the basic shapes the provide for us. Notice how all these shapes connect up and down the fingerboard. This is where the magic of CAGED becomes apparent. No longer are you boxed in to playing only things that lay across consecutive strings; you can now see how they relate up and down the fingerboard as well:

The way this works is so simple and yet so profound in the way it organizes everything for us. Its a great way to understand the fingerboard, and it seriously changes the way you look at the guitar from the time you see those patterns fall into place. Next time I post about CAGED, I'll show how it works more in depth with the things we actually use: chords, scales, and arpeggios.

Review: Grand Rapids Rotary North Disc Golf Course

This past weekend I finally got up north of town and played the Grand Rapids Rotary North Disc Golf Course in Belmont MI. I went with a friend who had played there before and had said it was one of the better local courses he had played. I definitely have to agree. It may be one of the best disc golf courses in the Grand Rapids area.

The 18 hole course is laid out on an former ball golf course. First pulling into the parking area shows this course to be mostly open, playing through and around many marshes. The course has a nice clean look and there is no trouble finding the first tee.

Being that this is an old ball golf course, the course has a professional feel to it, with a nice layout and a logical flow from hole to hole, and markers to show where to go next. The tee signs are fantastic here and are very professional looking. The tee pads, while just rubber mats for the time being, were surprisingly effective. Due to the many marshes on the course, you really have to strategize and plan each shot, an aspect I liked a lot. Each hole we played was well thought out and fun to play.

The course had a few minor issues. It was clear that even though we have been in a fairly dry weather spell, there was evidence of dried mud in certain areas, leading me to believe this course could flood quite a bit in the spring. There was also one hole out of commission, I believe number 13, due to poison ivy overgrowth around the basket. This messed up the flow trying to figure out where to go next. I've heard this has been an issue for some time now, and I hope they get this hole fixed or moved to another location soon.

Grand Rapids Rotary North is a great course. I can definitely see this being one of the courses used for the Masters Pro Worlds when it comes to Grand Rapids next summer. All that really needs to happen is getting that poison ivy cleaned up! With a great variety of shots, a great layout, and a generally well kept, neat look, this is truly a must play course, no matter your level of skill. I know I'll be back to play it again soon!

Practicing Guitar: How I Get My Routine Together

Reading through one of my favorite books, "Golf is not a Game of Perfect," as well as getting back out practicing my disc golf game after months off due to a broken leg had me thinking recently of another area of practice in my life- guitar. It can take so many years to develop a good, results producing practice routine that too many people dread practice and never really improve as players because of it. With all this practice and goal oriented thinking going on in my own mind, I thought I'd take some time to share with you my own guitar practice routine.

First of all, lets talk about routine and commitment. Practicing should become a habit after a while, and ideally it should become a habit that we enjoy doing. If you truly dislike what you are practicing, your practice time will be far less effective than it could be. For my own needs, one hour and 45 minutes to two hours a day is my perfect amount. I also usually take a day off during the week to take a little break from the routine and focus on other important things. Commitment to a practice routine is important, but obsession with it is obviously unhealthy. Consistency is the key here; find a routine that works and stick to it as often as possible. One half hour every day is better than six hours a day sporadically.

My practice session is split into two parts: "technique" and "tunes." I've done this for years, and it has a simplicity that I like. I generally do the "technique" session first; its the 45 minute to one hour section. This is where the "raw material" gets worked on and refined into things I can use for playing the tunes. "Tunes" is just that- the repertoire part of the equation, and the most important.

Technique

My "technique session" is also divided into three basic areas. I spend the first 10-15 minutes working on sight reading both notation and chord charts/ lead sheets. Though some might not need to worry about reading notation, I'd recommend at least working through chord charts. You never know what kind of situation you may find yourself in someday where you'll need to have at least the ability to read chord symbols, and reading notation opens doors that remain closed to those who can't.

The second part of my technique session is dedicated to transcribing whatever it is I'm working on at the moment; right now its the chords and solo as played by Steve Jordan on his recording of "It Happened in Monterrey." The premise here is that I am learning something by ear that intrigues me in order to further my own abilities and thinking on the guitar. I'm very old school about transcribing. I literally tape the tune from a record and play it back on a little Sony cassette recorder, working bit by bit to get the material I want to learn into my fingers and ears. There are many more technologically advanced methods to do this too, of course. Use what works for you. Transcribing is essential for improving as a player. Do it! We have to copy others who came before so we can take things to the next level. There's no sense re-inventing the wheel in music.

The last 25-30 minutes of my technique session is spent on, well, technique, plain and simple. I'll usually start off with some right hand picking exercises to gain and maintain picking speed. I generally find that tremolo picking, arpeggio picking, and single note scales work well for this.

Next I'll work on what I'm going to call "method" or "etude" material. This would be material that is designed to help further your technical abilities on the instrument. For example, right now I'm working on the six harmonized major scale forms from George Van Eps' "Method for Guitar." I think of this type of thing as a way to force us to think and play in new and better ways, rather than rest on our laurels, which is far too easy to do as a musician.

The final portion of my technique session usually involves working on chord forms, chord inversions, triads, chordal improvisation, scales, arpeggios, and related things. Many times if I'm not reviewing or expanding upon a concept, like say ways of improvising over a minor 7th chord form, I'll be working on getting missing or weak fundamentals together. Right now that means getting more familiar with the half diminished chord and related chord scales because I have been having trouble with that chord type when I'd run across it in tunes.

Tools of the trade...

Tunes

This is where it all comes together. I spend one hour on tunes every practice day, and for good reason. Tunes are what we play and do all that technique work for. When I perform, I'm playing tunes, not scales or chord forms!

I basically work on tunes on two levels. First, I learn the tune and get it to what I consider to be a good performance level, then I work on reviewing, expanding upon it, and generally improving on it. For the learning part, I try to learn the tune by ear from a classic recording or a recording I like. If a recording I like is not readily available, then learning it from the Real Book will have to do. First I'll learn the chords and structure of the tune, and when that's memorized, I'll get the melody together, either vocally or as a chord melody on the guitar. Next, I'll work on the improvisation, and when it's all up to a level I'm happy with, I move on to learning a new tune. The process can take weeks or months depending on the tune. The most important thing is that the tune is in my head. The same goes for the occasional classical or arranged piece I'll do: It's got to be memorized and feel easy to play.

Now I can make that tune my own. I take those tunes I know well and continue to expand upon them- trying new ideas in the improvised sections, playing different rhythm voicings, adding intros and endings, and various other little details. I'm never really done with a tune; there are always more possibilities, especially in jazz where improvisation is continually producing something different each time the tune is played. In a typical session I'll work on between three and six tunes, depending of course on how much work they all need. Sometimes it is only a matter of quickly reviewing a tune just to make sure I still know it!

Hopefully this outline of my own practice routine can be helpful to some of you out there who are still struggling to make something work. What it really comes down to in the end is having a goal in mind and knowing what is needed out of your practice time to achieve that goal. The goals and what it takes to achieve them will become more clear the further into your musical journey you are. You just have to be persistent and keep a positive outlook!

P.S. For Beginners:

Be prepared to spend a lot of your time becoming a jack of all trades. It's going to take a while before you have the skills to really delve deeply into what your passions are, and its tough to have a sharply focused routine until that time comes. Enjoy the journey and realize that with time and a good practice attitude you will get where you want to be, even if where that is changes over time!