Hello Troubadourians! The other day, someone asked me if I thought they needed a better guitar. I answered by asking two questions of my own: “Why do you think you need a better guitar?” and “Would you know that a guitar was ‘better’ than the one you have if you couldn’t see it first?” Obviously, […]
Hello Troubadourians! Sometimes it’s the simplest things that can change a pile of parts into a fine instrument… and vice versa. Several times over the years, I’ve written in these pages about custom this and special that. I’ve geeked out over such things as specialized string gauges that are selected so that every string in […]
Hello Troubadourians! At some point, every musician gets bored with their playing and/or their instrument. Learning new songs or learning a new technique can do the trick. When that works, you feel accomplished and you have new things to work into you playing. But, sometimes the only way to break through the boredom is to […]
Hello Troubadourians! Well, NAMM 2019 has come and gone. I was able to spend three days at the show this time, which was good. This year’s show was a mixed bag of things for me; a lot of the same-old, same-old but a lot of new things as well. Much of this had to do […]
Hello Troubadourians! Journalism is a funny business. When you read this column sometime in February, remember that I wrote it in mid-January. I forgot that time discrepancy when I wrote last month’s column. I was thinking that since my next column would be February, I would have already attended the 2019 NAMM Show and would […]
Hello Troubadourians! This column will complete our overview of amplifiers (for now). Since this is the January issue of the Troubadour, next month’s column should be devoted to my review of the 2019 NAMM show, which happens at the end of the month. We left off last month by discussing clean or semi-clean amps in […]
Hello Troubadourians! This month I was going to continue our discussion on amplifiers that began back in the September issue, but I received a rather interesting email from a reader named Scott. He asked; “Have you ever discussed how performers can best use technology at a performance? I am not yet a performer, but I […]
Hello Troubadourians! Last month we began talking about amplifiers, guitar amplifiers in particular. As I said, this is a very complex subject with lots of facts to consider and countless opinions, too. As we continue our discussion I’ll do my best to give you facts that you can verify for yourself and if I have […]
Hello Troubadourians! I received an email the other day from a reader asking my opinion on which amplifier he should buy. He had explained his intended use to me (in some detail, I might add), and he had narrowed his selection to three small amplifiers. I responded with my impressions and opinions on each amplifier […]
