Reunited….
It is SO good to be playing my guitar again! Many of you know that I injured my hand a few weeks ago and it has only now healed to the point that I can play again. (In fact, I have a little acoustic show coming up that will be a great way to ease back into playing. It’s on Saturday, July 28th at the Mill City Cafe in Minneapolis at 9:45pm. The very talented Brian Larson goes on at 10:30pm. You should come!)
I missed playing guitar so much while I was injured that I got all nostalgic about the various guitars I have known. I got my first guitar when I was 15. It was a $50 imitation Fender, black and white, and when I brought it home and plugged it into my teeny little practice amp, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I remember sleeping with it right next to my bed so I could see it every time I opened my eyes. And then I would be so excited to play in the morning that I’d jump out of bed and start jamming in my PJs.
A few years later I upgraded to a Les Paul. It was jet black, with pearl volume knobs, and it was very shiny. I played that through most of my years in my band, Sliver. It was also during that time that I got a HUGE monster of an amp—it was a Fender Super Twin Reverb. It was unbelievably heavy and I wasn’t able to move it myself. If I got a running start, I could push it myself, but that was it. It was a bummer having to depend on others to help me move it. Fortunately, I had lots of lovely people around who were willing to help, but I think I may have contributed to a few people getting tendonitis and other injuries. Seriously. After touring around the country with that thing I learned that it is highly preferable to have equipment that one can carry one’s self.
Now my set-up is really compact because I need to be able to travel alone with it and fly with it. I play a Japanese issue Fender Jazzmaster and I like her very much. I don’t use an amp, I use a Line 6 Pod (for those of you who aren’t familiar with guitar stuff, the pod is basically a small box that can make my guitar sound distorted, echo-y, or clean—really any sound I need). I can carry my guitar, pod, pedals (to switch the sound of my guitar from clean to distorted while I’m playing), my laptop, and all my cables pretty easily myself—and that’s WITH my suitcase full of outfits, too. Pretty good, no? But now that I have a keyboard in the mix, things might get a little more complicated….
But the most important thing is that my guitar and I are back together again! No more wistful glances over at her, wishing we could interact; no more pouting in the corner that I can’t write a new song on her; no more feeling useless and lame—-I’m back, baby!
