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John Mayer signature Martin Acoustic guitar

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My nephew Patrick told me that he just picked up a Martin OMJM (John Mayer Signature Model Acoustic Electric Guitar) during our Christmas dinner at my parents place. Patrick says he purchased it in Buffalo a couple of months ago. I for the life of me can’t remember how much he paid for it but $1100 (US) rings a bell.

The best review I’ve read so far about this beautiful instrument is very detailed. The reviewer makes it extremely difficult for the reader NOT to run out and pick this baby up ASAP. If there is anyone out there that has more dollars then sense, then please send me a comment and I’ll forward you my home address so you can send one to me! Thanx in advance to my new best friend, where ever you are.

Just to clear some things out of the way, the OM in OMJM is a technique that guitar makers use to make an acoustic guitar more responsive. The OM guitar is a far more dynamic instrument by design that produces better bass and treble tonality simultaneously, in contrast with alternative guitar making techniques. I’m referring to dreadnoughts or classical type of guitars.

The manufacturers of the OM style acoustic guitars, are Taylor & Martin (they’re the ones who started this style in the first place). A ton of guitarists out there consider Martin, the hands down winner of the two.

I love Martin guitars. Before I even bought my Larrivee L-03, I had Martin acoustic guitars on my mind. Martin guitar had the name, the longevity of the product and let’s not forget about who actually plays them, that appealed to me at that time. When it came down to crunch time on which one I’d get, it was an easy choice.

I basically bought the L-03 to play one song on it. That song was On the Road by Max Webster and I was going to play with an old band that I was in way back in the day called Pylis.

The best sounding Martin that John Mayer used before Martin made the OMJM was his Martin OM-28v. The sound that he gets with this is just unreal and it appears to be super responsive as well.

So my nephew Patrick told be the other day that he and his new OMJM are heading up here soon for a little visit and I can’t wait. I’m more then sure I ‘ll tell you all about the visit after he leaves.

Keep on Jammin’




Jeff Healey’s Last Call Jazz CD

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Stony Plain Records released a Jeff Healey’s ” Last Call” Jazz CD on April 6 in U.S.

The ones I like so far are Guitar Duet Stomp (3:35), The Wildcat (2:34)and Hong Kong Blues (3:10).

jeff healey's last call cd Guitar Duet Stomp is the style of guitar playing that I just can’t get enough of.

My best guitar teacher ever, Chris Peterson, introduced me to this enchanting style of playing. The emotions that overwhelms me with this classification of music, is indescribable. One’s fingers literally fly all over the fretboard. Not in that heavy/speed metal guitar styles that we have all become accustomed to, but in a more purer form.

The chord progressions are just heavenly. Really they are, check out this song for yourself and see what I mean. The tempo changes are a nice breather in the song. There is even a little bit of Leon Redbone in there as well.

The Wildcat also holds a similar musical torch to the above one. This time Jeff Healey brings in some hot fiddle player to play on this one. I’ve never had the privilege to play with one so I have a unique interest for this one. The fiddle player is running neck to neck with Jeff on The Wildcat and is playing in hurry! I enjoy the time and chordal change, some people fine this irritating so this is heads up to you folks. Ahhh, LOVE IT!

Last we have Hong Kong Blues. This is a fun but corny kind of song. It’s about a Memphis man that was arrested in Honk Kong. Do I need to say anymore? On this song it’s just Jeff playing acoustics’s on three or maybe more tracks. In the middle of this piece, he gives us this overly sappy part that makes one’s eye’s roll in a humorous way.

Does anyone out there have this CD? Love to hear back from ya.

Keep on Jammin’

Cat Stevens is finally back on the road after 30 years

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Cat Stevens is going back out on the road after 30 long years of obscurity! I wonder what kind of groups will be following him? Ah, I know that was a bad one! I just love the man’s songs.

Scottie, Myro is what we called him amongst other names, was the one who taught me some of his songs. They were simple to play but much more fun to listen to. I always thought that both of us would get a chance to see this legendary folk guitarist/song writer perform together. Myro if your reading this post, if I win the lottery we’re there brother!

Singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, known as Cat Stevens in the 1970s, takes the stage in Dublin on Sunday, the first performance of his first full tour since 1976.

Born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London, the folk legend disappeared from the music scene after he converted to Islam in 1977 at the height of his popularity.

He began making sporadic stage appearances in recent years. In 2006, he recorded a new album, An Other Cup, following it with Roadsinger this year.

Now 61, Islam is going back on the road with his Guess I’ll Take My Time tour.

He told the Irish Times that he hopes his old fans will turn out for these concerts.

“A lot of people might have thought — because of the way that my image per se had changed throughout the media — that my actual persona would change as well. But, in fact, you never really stop being yourself, you know,” he said.

Islam opens in Dublin’s O2 Arena on Nov. 15. Then he’s at Birmingham’s NIA the following Monday, Nov. 23, Liverpool’s Echo Arena on Dec. 5 and London’s Royal Albert Hall on Dec. 8.

No dates have been confirmed for appearances in Canada, the U.S. or other countries. CBC News

Keep on Jammin’ Yusuf Islam

China Girl from Anna Ternheim

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I was watching Without a Trace the other night with my wife and during the show a great version of China Girl from David Bowie came on.

It was a interpretation that we both had never heard of before. Wanting to now more about this adaptation of the original song, my wife found out that it was perfectly executed by a Swedish singer named Anna Ternheim.

It was of an unplugged nature. The song was soft, slow and very dream like. Anna Ternheim used only this haunting bass, beat box in the backdrop of her rendition of this great work. Her voice is very airy and to some her voice comes across as sounding like either Alanis Morissette. We both came to this conclusion, a couple of seconds into the piece.

I know nothing of this artist except for a insightful interview into who and what she is all about musically. Her band’s site and Myspace account does not dive to much into what makes her tick but, I’m sure I’ll find out more about her in the future.

Has anyone else out there heard of this women before? What is your take on her exclusive style of performing?

Keep on Jammin’

My new blues guitar hero

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I’ve said before that I was directed to Mississippi John Hurt by way of Bruce Cockburn.

It was not for his personal charm but for his technique.

This musician has had a huge influence on Bruce’s approach to acoustic guitar picking so once again, if it’s good enough for Bruce then it’s good enough for me!

Now if I came across this little gem of a video before he sent me his way, I think that I would have looked him up anyway. Decide for yourself.

Keep on Jammin’

The rebirth of Rock and Roll Heaven

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If you lived in Toronto during the 80’s you would remember a great bar called Rock and Roll Heaven at Bloor and Young. Ohhh the memories of seeing bands and meeting people in this place! My old band Pylis even played there.

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I can recall one night going there and watching Robin Trower playing with his band and met a very old friend who played in a fellow 80’s band in Brantford called Vigilants.

Robin Trower’s sound was the sound of Rocking Roll heaven during that time so check out this video to get a little taste of what it was like.

Recently Rocking Roll Heaven has had it’s rebirth in Toronto at it’s new location. I love the venue that they took over from and the outside patio is quite nice as well.

On their site they have a good schedule of who is playing and they also have a acoustic jam sessions on Sundays from 2-6 PM, I hope to do a few sets there some weekend soon!

I hope that they rekindle the feel of the old place and I wish them well.

Keep on Jammin’

My new fingernail experiment

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Well good readership, I have been going on for a while about fingernails. Let’s make things clear, I’m talking about the ones on my right hand only!

I envy people with finger nails that they could use as screw drivers! I just wish that there was a product that really made a difference on mine. The only thing that I found on line is the Guitarist Guide to Fingernails.

At work in the surgical area, there is a new finding that acrylic finger nails trap germs on them and that we are told not to use them. Ahhhhhhhh, but I need mine to play at the level that I am accustomed to. So, I have decided to go a different root this time. I am forgoing placing the regular acrylic tips on and just placing the hardener right on to the nails themselves. This totally eliminates the tips that are causing the problem.

In order to pull this off, I had to let my nails grow a bit longer then I would have them praying just to have a larger surface to work with. You know just in case things went south very quickly.

I am now back from my secret manicurists hide out and we’ve successfully applied the above mentioned hardener right onto the nails on my right hand. To the axe cave I go! I then picked up the axe and started to put my experiment to the test!

At first, I tried a bit of Bruce Cockburn’s If I had a Rocket Launcher and it was not that bad. I then began to adjust the length and shape of the nail to my specifications with my handy dandy file.

Now it was time for tougher challenge, playing Blackbird at warp speed! They are holding their own so far. Finally, the acoustic version of Neon from John Mayer, perfect!

Now let’s hope that it will continue this way!

Keep on Jammin’

Guitar side ports

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guitarsideport1.jpg The one thing that I see in the evolution of the acoustic guitar today is its link with the past from Canada’s own, Glenn Gould.

He used a unique approach while playing in his later years, around 1983, when he took away part of the piano body to let the sound come out of the instrument in a unorthodox way.

First of all, the guy was way ahead of his time. What he did was to remove the wooden cover section that is used to cover the piano keys. He removed this part entirely. He would also close the piano lid on his concert piano, allowing the sound to be sent through the missing cover section of the piano.

This allowed him to hear the subtle tones while playing his music.

This was best shown in his 1980’s work of the gloomy nature of life. The slowness of some of his canon’s reflect the need for this type of sound exposure that the musician needs to fully understand what the audience hears, but as a very unique approach.

Second of all, the guy went to places that no one probably ever thought of venturing. I wonder if the person who thought of the guitar side ports ever watched Glenn Gould Hereafter? If he did, I bet this is where he may have got the idea, but then again I could be dead wrong.

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I have been toying around with the idea of putting in a new state of the art pick up system in my Larrivee. The system is called the LR Baggs iMIX. It captures a lot of the character in my guitar with an active response to it. That means that the pickups pick up the aggressive or passive playing of the strings on the guitar.

Now in order to place it in there, I must have it installed inside the body above the sound hole, closest to my face. That’s fine with me. The next question is what in the world do I do with the hole that the factory installed system sat in? It would look mighty funny just viewing a rectangular opening right there in my face. Do I just leave it there or what should I do with it? Here is my best option, I think.

I have always wanted both of my acoustic guitars to have pick ups so I can have a back-up on stage. So why not put my old pick up from the Larrivee into my old Aspen acoustic guitar. Perfect, I think? Unfortunately if I do this I will have this opening on the side of the body near my chest where the old system was. It would look so odd and out of place that I would be reluctant to let anyone look at my guitar. So while talking about my problem with the guitar tech at the 12th fret, he gave me this fabulous idea of the side port!

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They could change the look of the old hole and create a fancy looking design in it’s place!

This will allow a small portion of the sound to come up directly to me acting like another sound hole or a monitor if you will. This will not effect the tonal qualities of my baby I have been told. The tech had one in this part of the workshop that he made and let me try it out. Not only did it look very cool and original, but it was nice to have some sound coming from a part of the guitar that I have never heard it coming from in the past.

Now all I have to do is convince my wife about this one, wish me and my Larrivee luck will you all?

Keep on Jammin’

Michael Hedges

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This is a player who should be in everyones’ music collection. Michael Hedges is so innovative, crisp in the clarity of his unique style and most of all provides a very refreshing new experience. Just listening to the creative levels of his guitarmanship makes your mind wonder off towards a different level of consciousness. Just listen to the video and you will see what I am referring to.

Just off topic a bit but, I thought that I was the only one who was constantly tuning my guitar between songs. The beginning part is useful to a player who is attempting to play his style of playing, it certainly helped me out.

He refers to his style as “violet acoustic” which is a style that I might be considered to use frequently as well. Actually, aggressive acoustic is more appropriate. Michael Hedges has this gift to be able to dampen strings, which is called “Right hand string stopping” by classically trained guitarist. This is applied to the bass strings of the guitar by your thumb. Michael however, brought this to a new level of playing.

He insisted that you should dampen every individual note that is not worthy of hearing. Michael thought that letting a string ring out is like contaminating the chord structure of a song and not giving the listener the clarity of sound that you want them to hear, and I quote “It’s just, why let it ring by default of any thought? Be responsible! Don’t let things just go on because you started them.” This poses a huge problem for most guitarists. That is, it is very difficult to do this while flying around the fret board at warp speed.

The only way to achieve this level is to apply the old adage “slow down, I’m in a hurry”. Did ya ever hear of that one?

This means that you have to slow down so much that, when you play a piece fast at such slow speeds paying attention to every single minute detail, it allows you to play almost error free. I do this all the time when I practice and I may lose my marriage to my wife one day because of it. Her mind is so agile and crisp that she can do things flying around at MACH 5 and absorb things while executing it almost perfectly.

I have to give credit where credit is do so, thanx Brian @ RiffDreams for this great new guitar experience.

Keep on Jammin’

The Perfectionist

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This is another song from Saga that we played in Pylis. The song starts up with an acoustic guitar that then goes into an electric. My Gibson RD Artist fulfilled that dual roll quite admirably I must say.

It wasn’t until recently that I re-visited this song on my Larrivee L-03 acoustic.

The lyrics were just fascinating to listen to and the guitar forms are much more complex then I remembered. As you may or may not know, I’m not a lyricist by any stretch of the imagination. I just pay attention to the level of difficulty of the guitar, the overall structure and emotion that a song provides.

Later on I will start teaching people how I “interpret” how a song is played. So check out this song, and try to pick out all of the guitar progressions and remember them when I start video taping my version.

Keep on Jammin’

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