I,ll take my CS Strat, TS-808 and 59 Bassman over all that other stuff (I wanted to say crap) but I know it isn,t crap. I like the sound I make.

You know Jim,that's the way you make your living and I respect that......me,I play music for fun and pluggng into an amp for over 40 years has always worked...so there's room for everyone....but alas! I have seen what lies out of sight on big stages and the equipment in studios that is on the latest "back to the roots" CDs and many of the masses are being fooled,as you mentioned.

No, I don't. There are plenty of geezers (that includes me) out there making music today and much of what they are doing live is the best you're going to hear. That said, I do my recording on my computers, with digital interface, and I like what I am getting. It's important to try to keep up with the changing times, but that doesn't mean changing the way you make music. I'm getting older, but I'm still quite comfortable making music the same way I did forty years ago.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

I absolutely agree... there is always and has always been room for every type of musical approach.

But these discussions among guitar players rarely take that into account: we tend to place some kind of morality on the idea of rejecting modern tech, as if one was somehow purer of heart or musical intention by doing (or at least saying) so. I just like to remind them that the "pure" musical instrument most of us play was once considered an unholy technological advance.

And you're right. If people knew how much tweaking and massaging and megabuck EQ goes into making even, say, a White Stripes record (while Jack does his little vaudeville for the fans about "keepin' it real"), they would be mighty surprised.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

Its all how you look at it. The modern recording gadgets and programs allow joe schmoe to make a decent sounding demo for a fraction of the cost. Think about the cost of a 24 track 2 inch Studer or Otari machine compared to something comparable in track count today. And you don't even have to calibrate the damn thing. If your relying too heavily on gadgetry then that's another issue all together but as the great Roger Waters said "its just a question of using the tools that are available when their available" I have a Digi 001 set up at my desk at work... sure its Old as balls but it allows me to get ideas down in a jiffy. I guess you could say since its pushing 15 years old its becoming a classic and may even qualify as having a "warm sound" LOL just kidding. If you take some time to really learn some of the new software it has less of a tendency to get in the way. I get bugged by folks (dude I work with) that takes a perfectly good guitar or bass track and puts 10 effing plug ins in protools. Woah, easy there feller, listen to it... sounds pretty good... just eq it a bit to make it sit with the other instruments... don't need all that gimmick crap... sorry for the long 2 cents.

... of course... now that that crap IS so cheap, there are a LOT of "Joe Schmoe's" flooding the job market which is why i went the tech route... all these young scraps don't want to fix anything just edit, push faders and color correct pretty HD television which is often reality show crap.

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YMMV

Chont's Mustang Presets

Absolutely...+1000!
A friend of mine who I had played music with since the early '70s,sadly passed away in his sleep in May....he was also a master electrician and had gotten into wiring home studios for names like Martina McBride,Sheryl Crow and he also did work for Jack White...the things he told me about that were in those "home studios" left my jaw hanging.

I am a guitar and amp player. For gigs I had a wah and a fuzz pedal. I do dabble in some home recording. I used a Boss BR8 for a while and then upgraded to a computer system. The software I am using has to be at least 5-7 years old and I use it very basically.

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Nope, I'm almost 61yrs, and love all the tech stuff. I got one of the first Cyber-Twins in OH, and still use it.

I started recording using a reel-to reel back in the late 70's, than a 4tr cassette recorder, later I got a BOSS BR-8 digital recorder, I don't miss recording to analog tapes at all.

Than I decided that I wanted to learn PC recording, and I did!

Free your mind, and your butt will follow.

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Tony Houston

I'm a real technophobe,I dread using anything with more than a bass,treble,mid and volume controls on it.Even today's music is so artificially processed you don't know how close what you're listening to is to the singer's real voice.I still can't post pix on my computer or use 95% of the features on my digital camera.I have a Vox AD120VTH that is the epitome of hybrid technology but I can't avail of its numerous features because of my lack of technical know how.I'm just an analogue guy in a digital world.Gee that sounds like a good country song title.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I just can't keep up. A good part of my job (when I'm actually employed) is to keep up on technical and business issues in our industry. It takes a lot of time; time I would otherwise devote to music. Looks like I'll be working again after Labor Day so I'm trying to make the most of my "vacation".

I'm still trying to master Sony ACID Pro 7, Sound Forge 9, MIDI, VST and virtual instrument plug-ins. I'm not taking full advantage of my Line 6 PODxt. Even my notation software, Notion Progression, has me baffled. Good thing Sony hasn't turned out a new ACID Pro 8 (in fact it's looking like they never will). Then there's mixing and mastering . . .

I haven't got a clue about his guitars: most of my reading is pro audio magazines, not guitar books. But it's easy to make a plastic Monkey Wards guitar sound really cool when you have unlimited time to experiment with amps, speakers, mics, channel strips, etc. And there's no doubt that a bunch of dusty old gear has some real charm... look at David Linley's collection of wacky Japanese and Italian solid bodies, or the 1950s Oahu lap steel I mentioned above. Maybe it is a completely original guitar. But that guitar isn't the sound.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

To answer the question, I dont feel obsolete because I believe that I can do more with a simple guitar and amp then a lot of guys can with all sorts of effects.

Sometimes I see these things as kind of fun to play with now and then. I have a buddy who is recording a demo in garage band for mac and we play with all of the loops for fun sometimes. I dont like to hide behind a lot of distortion (some is fine) so I dont use these products ether.

I posted earlier that I'm tired of being my own systems engineer. That's how so much of the new electronic stuff makes me feel. HOWEVER, I also remember in my younger years when I wanted to have all of the latest electronic stuff (in general, not just music related), so not wanting to put the energy into keeping up makes me feel old. Which annoys me.

There are 25-year-olds who are old, and 60-year-olds who are young -- it's all in the outlook. I hope to always be young attitudinually.

Mention was made of Jack White's plastic guitar -- have you seen the movie "It Might Get Loud"? If you haven't, check out:
-- the opening scene where Jack White puts strings and a pickup on a block of old wood, and uses a glass coke bottle as a bridge
-- U2's Edge and his discussion about when he got an echo unit filling in notes that he isn’t playing, sounding like 2 guitar players
-- Edge’s example of a repetitious 2-chord riff that’s beyond dull without the effects & electronics (I think this might have been a teaser for the movie when it was released)
-- Edge has another interesting comment on sound, when he says that he started playing the E chord differently to get a different sound by playing fewer notes of the chord.

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Shirley Has The Blues

Blacktop P Bass
mim Deluxe P Bass Special
mim P Bass
Ibanez BTB405