Welcome to a new Monday post with 3 random thoughts on all things guitar, music, and life, including some thoughts on my guitars, The Beatles’ achievements, and more…
#1 – Buying guitars
I often get asked about buying guitars.
The problem with me giving advice on this is that there is no one single guitar out there that is perfect for everyone.
I say this a lot…
You have to try out multiple guitars to find which suits you and your hands, fingers, arms, body size, etc.
Here’s a little bit about my own guitars though.
I’m a big fan of Yamaha guitars.
It’s not an endorsement, but these days I tend to play my Yamaha acoustic more than the others.
Back when I was in bands, I pretty much always used the two Yamaha electrics I had (I still love those).
Saying that, there are plenty of cheap guitars that are great too.
My very first YouTube videos were filmed using a cheap Aria acoustic, which cost me around £45 on eBay about ten years ago.
This is the guitar I keep in my living room for some quick jams.
Like an old pair of boots, it’s weathered, worn, and battered, but I love it and I doubt I’ll ever get rid of it.
One of my other guitars is a rare Epiphone Les Paul.
They only made a few thousand of these.
I bought this about 20 years ago from a pal who had neglected it (I spent a few hundred quid getting someone to sort it).
It weighs a tonne though, so I don’t really play it that much.
Yet, if I was in a studio recording some lead guitar parts or blues, this would be my “go-to” – it sounds so sweet.
So there you go, that’s a little bit about a few of my guitars.
Hopefully, that goes to show it doesn’t matter all that much what guitar or brand you play.
…But it’s how well the guitar suits you, what you want it for, and how much you enjoy playing it that counts.
#2 – Beatles domination
A random book I bought somewhere years ago is an entertaining little book.
It’s called NME Rock ‘n’ Roll…The Sixties.
It shows newspaper clippings from each month of that era.
I opened it up to March 1964, which is, of course… 60 years ago.
The main story from then was that The Beatles did something amazing.
They had the top five singles in Billboard magazine.
Can you guess what the songs were?
Answers are at the bottom of this post.
Having all five songs at spots 1-5 is crazy.
That’s an insane amount of popularity.
We all know the Beatles were the biggest band in history, but those levels of popularity are epic.
Will there ever be a band or artist who is quite as popular as the Beatles?
Many have tried and who knows what the future holds, but I guess not.
#3 – Time to say goodbye
Over the last few weeks, I spent a fair bit of cash investing in something other than guitars.
Studio equipment.
You might have seen my new YouTube videos this past week or so.
A lot of people have paid nice compliments to the look of the new studio room and the quality of the videos, which is great (thanks for the kind words).
I realised a while back it was time for a gear upgrade.
The old cameras were okay, but I wanted something with a nicer quality (especially for the upcoming stuff I have planned).
So the other day, I released the final videos for Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy members that were recorded using the old gear.
The new lessons from April onwards will have a very cool, stylish, and more enjoyable look.
I’m very excited for this new era of filming.
I’m a big film geek and love things to look cinematic, so I’m trying to bring a little bit of that to my lessons.
Of course, I’m still focusing on making the content as good as possible (and better than ever), but the nice visuals are only a good thing.
So, as a guitarist, when do you upgrade your gear?
It’s hard to answer that for you, but a good rule of thumb I find is this…
If you’ve played for a while and feel like your guitar is holding you back a little that’s a good time to upgrade.
The guitar is a tool, after all.
A good tool makes life easier and more fun.
A bad tool makes things harder than they should be.
Remember though, it’s what you do with the tool that really counts.
And for more help on that, you might like to check this out.
Guitar Domination Super eBook Bundle
Have a great Monday!
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. The answer to The Beatles question is that these were the top five songs they had in March 1964.
1 – Can’t Buy Me Love
2 – Twist and Shout
3 – She Loves You
4 – I Want to Hold Your Hand
5 – Please Please Me
Plus, they had another 7 singles lower down in the “Hot 100”. Crazy!
P.P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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