Fingerpickin’ with a laser

How do you play a nano guitar–very carefully of course, but not with your fingers. You must use laser beams.

Nano guitar update.

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Build an electric guitar

Have woodworking tools and a garage or work shed? Then why not build your own electric guitar. Looks like fun if you have the time (which unfortunately I don’t).

Here are some well-rated books on the subject:

Build your own electric guitar: complete instructions and full size plans

Make your own electric guitar

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Related: Here’s an electric guitar kit for about a hundred fifty dollars.

Malaguena on three guitars

The Romeros–well three of them– playing Malaguena, one of the few flamenco pieces in standard classical guitar rep.

Not to be out done by six male hands, here’s Liona Boyd with two feminine hands playing the same piece (the recording quality sounds a little off ):

Double your sleepwalkin’

Nylon strings–and a nylon guitar

Here it is, something for the non-traditionalist–a carbon fiber nylon guitar:  The Blackbird Rider Nylon guitar. “Blackbird’s…one-piece, hollow body, neck, and head construction mark a major departure from traditional guitar design- it transforms the entire guitar into a sound box – enhancing loudness, frequency-range and sustain. To further increase the air volume of the sound box, the guitar’s right shoulder extends up to the tenth fret, dubbed the Soundscoop…”Read rest of description, with more pictures, at Guitar Site. By the way, the neck is hollow, which evidently adds to the resonance.

I have not played one yet and have no idea what it actually sounds like. But it looks pretty neat. One problem for traditional classical guitarists, though, is that it looks like this guitar’s non-figure 8 contour won’t lend itself easily to the traditional seating arrangement.

You can order one from Blackbird. Here’s their site. They also make a steel-string version (which is smaller in size than the nylon string version). The classical is about $1800.

My big fat guitar wedding

Here comes the bride…Skip that depressing organ music–Go with guitar theme. Remember, weddings performed with guitar music are seventy-three percent less likely to end up in divorce (official statistics from the Guitar Marriage Institute). Get your wedding book of guitar music here.

Fender Jazzmaster turns 50

The NY Times has a piece on Fender’s Jazzmaster.

…Yet while its attack and brightness went unappreciated by the likes of Wes Montgomery, those same qualities were perfect for the emerging sound of surf. Listen to the Ventures’ 1960 version of Johnny Smith’s ‘‘Walk Don’t Run,’’ and the Jazzmaster’s unintended effect is immediately apparent. The guitar growls with a rumbling bass, punctuated with floating licks that seem to rise from under water with a jangly treble twang. ‘‘It’s quite a different sound,’’ says the Ventures guitarist Don Wilson. ‘‘It’s my all-time favorite guitar.’’

1964 Fender Jazzmaster