Which Guitar to Play?

Seems like a odd question to ask.

Originally, I was going to write about roadies, or more precisely, the joy of setting up for a show, which in my instance and for many performers I know, is the performer, but...

Shows for now are kaput.

So, we'll focus on the phenomena of guitars going in and out of favor.

As you can see I have a few guitars, 14 to be exact. And I justify have that many because they're all a little different in tone and texture, so when I record, I have a lot of choices. That's my rational.
Interestingly, and this is the point of post, is that often, some guitars go out of fashion and get played little if at all. This seems terribly unfair, which is silly, as they are inanimate objects, but we personify everything, so why should guitars be any different?

Take the guitar above as an example. It's a Peavy T-60, that I bought in Hawaii in 1982. I had been in Denver for recording of the album, PearceArrow, and the studio had one and I took to it. So when I got back to Hawaii and was out shopping, I bought it. The salesman impressed on me that it was like a Fender Telecaster, but less expensive. Naturally, at that time, it being the new guitar, I played it quite a bit, if not exclusively.

But over time I bought other guitars, and it slowly ended up being played here and there, but not often.

Oddly, what brought it back into regular play was my going back and re-recording  the album, Winter, where the original demo tracks were recorded with the Peavy. And when I was gearing up to play some of the Winter songs live, I found I liked using it for the lead parts.

In the meantime, the other guitars bide their time waiting...

I sometimes worry about that, that I'm neglecting them. Makes you wonder about guitars in those big collections.

©2020 David William Pearce.

What to Sing

I've often wondered if what inevitably causes people to drop out of open mics and performing, and this is particularly directed and singer/songwriters, is the constant need for new material. It takes a lot of work to write songs, and time to create a catalog of songs to perform. I have 35 in rotation out of 110 recorded songs. The ones I don't perform, so far, are either tough to perform with just a guitar, or a little out there for open mics...

Maybe if I do more extended shows...

But I feel for those getting into this and only having a small number of songs and not wanting to play them over and over sometimes for the same people-we tend to go to the same events across the city. It's nice to have something new.

There's also the pressure to be something of a machine when it comes to writing, which is harder than you might think. I go through writing cycles where I write a lot in a short time period, but it's by no means regular, so I'm thankful I have older material to bring out when I feel I've been playing the same stuff over and over.

It also makes me think of how quickly bands and singers come and go either because all they had was that one hit song, or labored to recreate the magic that propelled them into the mainstream consciousness to begin with. Even multi-hit bands, groups, individuals are always dealing with what's next and whether it'll be as good or better or worse than what came before and whether they've had their run and are now consigned to only being remembered for their greatest hits and little later.

Which brings us to the pressure to continually produce "content", soas to stay relevant in the public eye, i.e. one's fickle fans. This is a common bromide now from those who counsel and advise people in the arts, music particularly. But creating something interesting and meaningful is rarely machine like, as I mentioned above, and even those who can, often produce the same thing over and over, with a change here and there to distinguish it from last weeks output.

Sometimes it all seems like too much.

I think I'm rambling.

Take care.

©2020 David William Pearce

More Thoughts on the end of Rock N' Roll as We Know It

Rockers are petering out.

Yet they still sell!

As has been lamented in these last years about the end of rock 'n roll, along with the rise of rap and whether modern pop is a bellwether of the music to come or more of the pap that many believe it to be and has been for nigh on a half-century, is, if one looks closely, the ginormous influence and effect of the titans of the rock biz on all the younger bands and players who must exist within the confines of what the legendary rockers created, and to fight for whatever air they can find in the rocken-verse.

Which brings us to the two articles listed above that show how the dinosaurs of rock continue to dominated and vacuum up the concert dollars and remarkably, continue to sell records-yes, records, in this the 21st century. How is a nube to make any measurable leeway in such an environment?

Though it should not be taken lightly; I certainly don't being up there in years, time and tide is slowly winnowing out the big players on the concert circuit, putting pressure on promoters to makeup the lost revenue. Sure The Biebs and Billie Eilish will pull in their fans, but those fans don't have the discretionary pocket money that doe-eyed boomers do for their geriatric musical heroes and a willingness to buy all manner of ephemera that their kids will one day have to make sense of, and dispose of.

That's a lot of cash money falling off the table.

Then there's record sales, yes-as I said before-records. According to BuzzAngle's 2019 report, who are the top selling rock bands? The Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac. The only non-classic rock band to make it: Nirvana.

Pop did ok with Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, who had the best-selling vinyl record, as well as Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra. Total album sales included Elvis, and for the sake of some sense of sanity, Springsteen and Metallica. The youngest rock band on the list? Tool, who have been around for 20 years.

I find all of that remarkable, but not surprising. The question all this poses is what going to happen as more of rock elder generation dies off. As the Guardian articles notes more and more of rock's legends are giving up touring because it's too grueling: it killed Tom Petty! Kiss, Ozzy, Paul Simon, Neil Diamond (alright, they're not considered rockers in the classic sense, but you know what I'm getting at) have called it quits.

Maybe when the oldsters are out of the picture and not longer taking all the light, new bands will take their place.

Maybe.

©2020 David William Pearce