Thursday, August 27, 2009

Classical Guitar Store experience

I recently had an interesting experience at the Classical Guitar Store in Philly that I wanted to share. It was there where I purchased my classical guitar (Giambattisa G6 Cedar model) in 2005. Since I have had it for 4 years now, I had convinced myself the action needed adjusted. Acoustic guitars can be damaged in low humidity over time. So I brought it in, and the owner of the store (who is notoriously precise about the setup on ALL the guitars he sells, this is why I went to trouble of bringing it into downtown Philly etc), puts it up on the table and measures it for me....

It was perfect!!?! He said not only is the action is exactly the same as it was in 2005, the guitar is in great shape and very well taken care of. Needless to say, he then moved on to ask me to play for him so he could hear how it sounded (ugh). This turned into a discussion about how great my guitar projects sound and how I wasn't playing it correctly, haha! So in a nutshell, I am the problem. Not my guitar (which as it turns out, humans are MUCH harder to adjust then guitars). I had been planning this visit for months and it was really amazing how convinced I was it needed fixed. This is just more testiment to the awesome power you have to BS yourself. What ELSE could I be BSing myself on you wonder? No idea! I will have to get back to you on this, because I still currently believe it all.

All in all, this was a great experience. It was very humbling and inspiring. I did more research on technique, sound, and also have gotten back into practicing. I am so glad that I went in there, albeit for all the wrong reasons :)

2 comments:

  1. Do you ever record yourself? That's a great tool for sorting out things like this: you can't BS yourself on a recording. It's amazing how much different it is to listen to yourself out of speakers rather than just your guitar.

    -CD

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  2. Thanks! That is definitely a good point. I do have some recordings posted to this site:

    http://sites.google.com/site/peteguitarproject/recordings

    The interview with James Piorkowski you recently posted was really helpful as well. The part where he asked "Why record another Bach?" made me think about the purpose behind recording. For me, I guess it would be for observational/documentary purposes.

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