Jazz Padd
Roadie
- Messages
- 218
I put a fresh battery in my Gretsch Chet Atkins "Super Axe." It has on board effectors, with phaser and a compressor powered by a 9v battery. It's the 5th guitar I've had with onboard effectors, but the others are mostly boost, distortion or EQ. I'm happy to have one with some different effectors. The above photo is from earlier this evening, with everything up and running, ready for practicing.
For the past month or so, I've been traveling abroad with the Mrs. and just got back a few days ago, still jet-lagging. I couldn't sleep last night and found myself wide awake at 2AM. So I went into the music room intending to practice a bit with headphones. No dice, the guitar battery was dead and the tablet battery was dead. Not to be thwarted by the shortcomings of relying on contraptions, I just sat back on the couch and started playing the standards, one of them being "Alone Together."
My main musical activity is participating in open jazz jam sessions at several nearby venues. They all have backline amps, along with drums, PA, piano, etc., so I just need to bring my guitar. Usually, I just plug in to whatever is available and play. Sometimes I feel like having a little more sustain, or a bit of modulation but pedal boards are cumbersome for these spontaneous jams, where getting on and off stage quickly is important as a courtesy to others. Thus, the onboard effectors. While I have used this guitar for a solo set at one of the venues, I've yet to take it out to one of the jazz jams. The next one is this coming Wednesday, so I want to work with the guitar to re-familiarize myself with it.
While traveling, I used a no frills travel guitar with a tiny practice amp. But the feel, not to mention the sound, is quite different from the Gretsch. The travel guitar has no volume nor tone controls, so it's not really practical for playing out. And the scale, although I got used to it traveling, is different enough that every once in a while I have to look at my fingers to re-orient when I hit a clam or two.
So last night, alone together with the Gretsch and nothing to plug into, I just played it acoustically. I was pleasantly surprised. After about an hour, it felt comfortable. And I noticed that, unplugged, this guitar has sustain! IIRC, I think Chet Atkins worked with Gretsch to build a guitar with more sustain, not just the compressor on board but through the design. The body is chambered mahogany and it's quite heavy. They must've done something right, because the notes are ringing out acoustically.
Without the tablet, where I usually have a play list with tunes for jams (you can see part of the list on the photo above) I just ran through tunes from memory and played a couple of dozen of those that I know pretty well and/or which get called often enough at jams. Some of them, like "Alone Together," I played using my smart phone app while traveling. But I sat there last night not having played most of the other jam tunes, I found they were coming back one by one, including "Blue Monk" and "Well You Needn't," two of may favorite tunes, and others like "Killer Joe," "If I Had You," and "Beatrice." It was kind of an edifying experience, and I actually felt refreshed once the sun started coming up.
But to practice for doing this on stage, it's not enough to simply know the melody and changes. I need to feel comfortable with the guitar neck and controls, and be able to keep my eye on others on stage looking for non-verbal cues, and I especially need to practice how to dial in the phaser and the compressor. So, it needs a comprehensive practice session. Now that the guitar and the tablet batteries are replenished, I have several days to run through things to get it ready for the next jam.
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