New Guitar

My performances lately have been spoilt by a guitar that won't stay in tune. I'd tune up before the show only to find that when I grabbed the thing to play it was out of tune again. I would have to lower the volume of my playing and up the volume of my voice to cover the awful bum notes I was producing. My audience of children may not have noticed but I want to give a quality show so my opinion of myself doesn't suffer.

I was always amazed at the way Leo Kottke could tune up between songs on stage while at the same time cracking jokes and telling stories. It takes all my concentration to tune a guitar and that stops the momentum of my show which normally speeds along at a cracking, well rehearsed pace.

Unlike Kottke's axe mine was only a cheap $100 Yamaha which I knew would get knocked around by kids at my shows. Lately I have been wanting to feel that youthful joy I felt in the 70s playing a beautiful sounding guitar I could not afford to buy. So before my recent tour to Yeppoon Queensland I walked into a Music shop in Chapel street.

All the shiny new guitars hung along the walls, as feelings of youth returned. A lot like the rubber smell of a bike shop returns me to age 14. Some shops are funny about customers helping themselves to try out the merchandise and place signs that tell you to ask for assistance. On this occasion I had money and maturity on my side. I confidently grabbed anything I wanted and picked a few notes on each. I was aware that disappointment showed on my face as I replaced the first few cheap guitars back on their racks. I was only slightly aware that I was being watched by the shop keeper. Toward the rear of the shop I discovered where all the $1000 guitars were hiding. A fellow with dreadlocks had set up camp back there and was hammering a steel string he was saving up for and meanwhile got to play quite a bit in store. I continued around him looking for my darling.

I picked up my first $1000 guitar and was amazed to find it sounded no better than the cheap ones at the front of the shop. I grabbed another and this time was delighted with the bassy tones, crisp trebles and smooth handling. In the midst of my enjoyment I heard a voice from behind the counter say "That's a beautiful guitar" as if it were one of his children. He went on to tell me it was Spanish and I agreed that if they couldn't make a good flamenco who could. "And 25% off all our classicals today" he said and tapped a few numbers into a calculator "$900 is a good price for that guitar" That's when I reached into my back pocket and with a little thrill of superiority said "I'll take it" $900 was all I was planning to spend anyway.

It has a pick up in the bridge and I have enjoyed plugging it into the stereo for little dreamy jam sessions in the bedroom, pretending to be Kottke while Bobby lays back on the big cumfy pillows smiling. I once told her I used to seduce girls with my guitar like this. She now sees how that worked.

I love being young again.