With guitars, like I think it’s really good if, if every, if you have your own favorite instrument, like, like an instrument you’re really comfortable with. So, so like you can have like a favorite guitar. This is, this is, this is one of my favorite guitars. Like, it’s a little small Martin, It’s a really nice sounding guitar. It’s nice and small. I feel comfortable holding it.
yeah, and I, I love it, but, but it, it could be like a guitar or a piano or a sampler or a drums, maybe a drum program or doesn’t really matter, but I think you should always have something that, that you feel really close to and you can just kinda, I’m, I mean, I’m not, I don’t sleep with it, but, but like, I like having it in my hands and that feels I really comfortable with this guitar. and I think, if you’ve got a nice piano, it’d be, you’d be all used to that or an sampler.
Some, some people might like those. But, and I think music has to be a passion. So, so like you can’t just be doing music and sort of Oh yeah, do a bit of music and if you really want to kinda make it in music and be serious about music, you have to have it as a passion in your life. Like for me, since I was like a young age, I have been kinda obsessed by music. So, so I mean, for me it was like the first time I had The Clash when I was at school and it was then song called London Colin I saw on top of the Pops.
And then that really got me, I bought the single and then I, then I turned over the single and played the B side. And then I realized that there was more to music than what, what the syn the day side was, what the song about playing on top of the pops. There was also a B side, which also liked, so that made me realize there was depth, there was, you can look into music and find other stuff that you like. So that was a big thing for me. And so like music should be a major passion and you should listen to as much music as you can.
And, and try, I feel like play guitar, you should always try and pick out the, what the guitar’s doing and the music you’re listening to. Not, not because you should, but because you want to. You should be interested in that. And, and, and, and see. And so I try and think of it, is that guitar doing something for the song? Is it improving the song? Is it, because some, some sometimes like instruments can make, can bring a song to another level that, that we wouldn’t have been without that instrument.
I was watching a, an interview with Paul Simon, Simon Garfunkel and then the song Bridge, Robert Trouble Waters. And he originally wrote that song in guitar, but the version that they actually produced and was the massive hit that everybody knows was very piano based. And it turns, it turns out he told the story that when they were recording the, the song, the normal bass player who was called Larry Nick, Nick de he, he would had been going into like playing gospel piano and he’d been kinda really into that.
So they, so they, so they, they had him play the piano of the chords of that song, but in a gospel style. And then, then that, that became the frame in the song which inspired article Gar Funko to Gar Funko to do that amazing vocal performance. And then they put the strings on and it was gonna, without that piano in that song, I just don’t think, even though it’s always gonna be an amazing song, I think it kind of took it to another level.
And that that’s kind of what you kind of, one thing you can aim for when you’re putting instruments into songs, like trying to do something that’s kinda good, that it brings a song up to a whole different level. like, so, I’m trying to think of like a lot songs that do that.
Like, I dunno, like Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones without that guitar riff, that song is just a kinda blue song. I mean, but that takes it, that’s a very memorable riff. Even that simple riff with the, the great and distorted sound. It was never, that sound wasn’t really a, a used sound at the time. That was a new sound to people. So that alone was enough to, elevate that song to a whole different, level than what it would’ve been otherwise.
So, so to talk about different guitars, so th this guitar’s a flat top acoustic and it, this is a Martin Triple Lo, which is a small bodied guitar. So this guitar, it’s like a sort of like, it’s like a Martin guitar sound has got its own sort particular sound, which is quite a sweet sound. It’s quite a zingy sound, so I always think, I always use the word zingy to describe it ’cause it’s got a sweet top end to the sound.
And then so, so, so yeah, so I kind love the sound of like this guitarist Martin.
so, so, so it’s very good for like playing, fitting in a mix. If you’ve got a, like Neil Young always used Martins, so he would play with a drummer and a bass player and a piano player a lot of times and organ players.
And and Martin’s got a nice top end that kinda cuts through with different instruments. So you hear that kinda nice sweet, drummy sound that he uses. and it’s, Johnny Mitchell, Johnny Mitchell used it a lot as well. He, she was famous for using Martins. So it’s really good for songwriters, like solo songwriters. I mean, nowadays even Ed, ed, she ed, she use a, He uses a Martin, the small guitar that he uses is most famous for as a Martin guitar.
So, but these are, these are expensive guitars, but they also do, they also do, a cheaper range of guitars, which are probably, probably still the top. Not, they’re not very cheap, but they’re kinda affordable. So if I was gonna buy one acoustic, I would definitely think about, about buying one of the cheaper, cheaper Martins.
’cause you, you know, if Martins are always gonna be a certain quality and a good sound and even the, even the kinda lower end cheaper ones, they’re only cheaper because they have less ornamentation and they use different, types of words, but they still, they still get the same expertise and history behind them. So I would always recommend Martins. But, the other guitar acoustic wise, like for Flat Top, which is the, the other alternative to Martin is the Gibson guitars.
So I’ve got, I don’t have a, I don’t have my Gibson here ’cause a lot of my guitars are in Glasgow ’cause they were supposed to be going on tour. I’ve got a Epiphone here and then this was made in the same factory as, as Gibson guitars were made. so I’m just gonna get a drink of water Dust and Dusty works the strumming.
yeah, so that, so this guitar comes from 1965, so it’s a vintage one and it’s, made in the same factory in Kalamazoo, I think it’s in Michigan. And the, the Gibson guitars were made, by the same people with the same machines and the same wood. So it’s basically a a a Gibson really, but, like a Gibson J 45. but this, this, this guitar’s called, Epiphone Texan and this is the guitar that Paul McCartney used in the Beatles.
And he used it to write yesterday and things like that. But I’ll, I’ll try and play if I can remember how to play this. I haven’t played it for ages, so that’s, so, so this guitar’s got a nice, bright.
It is, it is quite a bright, but it’s, but it’s very balanced.
Like if you hear, if I play a college name here, all the notes, can I clean? And I, I’ve actually got elixir strings on this, which are kind of, kind of new technology strings, which will last for a long time. So if you’re thinking about strings, look at the elixir strings. but yeah, this, this guitar is kind of, they Martin and Gibson were always kind competing with each other all through the sixties and seventies and fifties.
And then they, they, the other, the other, kinda like the J 45 Gibson mix, and this is kind of based on, is basically the, the classic guitar for singer songwriters to use. So, I would, definitely look at these guitars, but because these are quite, I think Epiphone now make replicas of this, I think for about three or 400 quid.
So, so that, that’s a very reasonable price for a, a nice guitar. So that, that would be, I would recommend one of those.
