Guitar Hunting

[for an update on JoAn Dillinger, go to tentpegs.blogspot.com]

I went to a few other guitar shops today before and after visiting the Dillingers in the hospital. There were some great guitars to be found but they seemed to be overpriced compared to Musiciansfriend.com, a website I have used several times before. Of course, Musician's Friend doesn't carry every brand and that means I can't compare prices on Larrivees there, but they have Gibsons, Guilds, Alvarez, Martins and Breedloves among others.

I went to Sam Ash, a music chain we don't have in Detroit. Most of their guitars were store brands with exotic sounding names like Carlo Robelli, Carly, Brownsville, or Benedictine. It was hard to find any guitars -- even expensive ones -- that gave the warm, lower tones I miss from my classic guitars; the ones that disappeared from my office. Martin makes a koa guitar that is priced around $500 and sounds great, but it is really made from high pressure laminate, not solid koa. I'm not sure how that would hold up over the years. Ovation has several good models. I own one already and am tempted... but the only way to get a warm tone out of one is to plug it into an amp and I prefer playing unplugged when possible. Breedloves are good and might be where I need to look... but they run $700 or so and it is hard to be that selfish with my money.

One of the commentors on the last blog wanted to learn how to play "Puff the Magic Dragon" for their child. The chords are simple ones. They repeat as below. When you see a "*" it means to keep your pinky finger on the first string (high E), third fret. This is especially effective if you play fingerstyle.


G, Bm, C*, G, Em*, A7*, D7, G

That's it. As they say in Mexico, muchas easy.

Tomorrow I speak at a local denominational high school and then meet with a couple of Noblesville elders to discuss how we do small groups at Rochester. After another lesson on grace in the evening, I will be done at Noblesville. On Thursday, I am headed home and, since I have to drive through Lansing anyway, I will stop for an hour or so at Elderly Instruments, the best and largest purveyor of quality acoustic instruments in the midwest. (www.elderly.com) I'll give you a full report....