In Memorium

Virginia Ione Meadows
"Jenny"
1928-2007

It's Just a Pick, Man

While I take the idea of innovation seriously and am open to new ideas, this whole issue of picks is still knocking around in my head. Even more so since I am practicing regularly (the EclecTic Wife calls this my "new obsession") and my long-time friend sent me an Agate pick [Picture left is similar in shape] out of the blue! Before we get to more serious talk about these issues, let's investigate the lighter side of this most common tool: the guitar pick.


Why, no matter what interest, hobby or even profession, does there have to be the nerd factor? Nerds ruin or try to ruin everything. Give nerds computers and what do they do? Make viruses and other nasty devices to prove ultimately what destructive little weasels they are. Then there is the nerdy one-up-manship that permeates nearly all avenues of commerce and art.

The stone pick evidently, according to one guy I know, was first used by Z Z Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. He used all sorts of things, including coins, until he used what were called "mined picks." Nothing new under the sun evidently.

Also: more silliness. Picks from outer space? Dude, if you are so insecure that you need a pick made from a meteorite, then I suggest you spend the $120 (plus shipping and handling) on a good therapist.



Post from an acoustic guitar site:

"Well, I sold a bunch of vintage, unused 1940s Gibson celluloid picks recently (on eBay) and they got bid up to the mid $30 ea range...!!! :) So I just ordered a custom made, natural (reclaimed) tortoise shell pick, which I paid $25 for... Normally I wouldn't be so extravagant, but selling off the old Gibson picks was a bit of a windfall for me, so I figured WTH, I've always wanted to try out a real tortoise shell pick... But no way would I spend a C-note on a pick, even if it was made of platinum".


Anyone out there want to tell me why some picks from the 40's would be so valuable? I am surely missing something. Celluloid? What, got film frames for a plectrum?

Or buy this for the low, low price of $48! Buy rare picks! Be the first on your block. Doesn't rare and pick sound wrong to you? Like exquisite and doo doo?


Bloodstone 1.5mm Traditional Style (Ultra-Thin) Double Grip Pick
Details
Approx. 29mm x 25mm
Grip: Double
Rare Quality: Bloodstone
Rare Quality: Ultra-Thin Grip Pick
Price: 48.00


These picks are very pretty, but what's next? Picks made from dinosaur bones? Let's not stop there: how about human remains? Come on, don't be so squeamish! Plenty of dude stone around. Let's mine it and sell it on eBay, baby!

Well..perhaps I'll stick to plastic.

But I do have a new stone pick.

And that's about all I need.

They Just Don't Make 'em Like That No More

The template was made

then broken.

Exile on Main Street, baby.

It looks really natural, dude. Seriously.

So far, I have had no need for the faux follicle, the hoax hairpiece, the rug, the king of all hideous male lack of taste and vanity: the toupee. As I approach my 49th year, I still (thank you God) have a full head of hair.


There were some truly scary months last summer when, inexplicably, my hair was doing a mass exodus. Those sons-a-bitches were jumping off like rats off a sinking ship. Every time I combed my hair, there were at least 20 to 30 hairs (Yes, I counted them. I am vain.) lying there like dead soldiers in the bathroom sink. My spirit sank into despair and rose into fear faster than a rollercoaster on meth.

Panic. Horror. Dread. These are not strong enough terms to describe my feelings.

I called dear Dr. Milroy and whined to him like I was at the confessional. Milroy, who actually calls his patients back after hours at their homes, told me the major causes of sudden hair loss. None of them fit except stress.
Yes, stress had to be the culprit.

He prescribed some meds and, gasp, Rogaine. Feeling like an old turd given a life without parole sentence, off I went to Drugged Emporium for the chalice of eternal hair follicle regrowth.

After feeling like I was asking what aisle the crack cocaine was located, I turned, but looked back to see the pharmacist smiling and talking to an assistant. Whatever she said caused a smile and the two of them seemed like two smug hyenas; having a laugh at the desperate looking dude realizing his glory days were soon to be replaced by bald, bald, bald. Call me freakin' baldy now.

With the meds and some time, the mysterious hair loss suddenly quit. Thank all Saints, including St. Toupee, the patron Saint of thinning hair.

Today, I was up early (Well...early for me.) and got my hair cut. My locks were totally chaotic and I sorely needed the old head lawn mowed.

Later, I was talking to a colleague and I keep noticing her moving her eyes up to my hair. I didn't think a thing about it until it came time for my nine year old student's lesson. This little guy is full of vim, vigor and devilishness like any little boy that age.

Without any exchange of pleasantries he asks:
"What happened to your wig?"
"What wig?"
"The wig on your head."
It dawns and the light goes on.
"You think I wear a toupee???"
"Yeah."
"I don't wear fake hair!!!"
To that, he promptly marches over only to pull at my hair, convinced I am a liar. Satisfied, he returns to his seat. Puzzled, I ask:
"You thought I wore a toupee?"
"Yeah."

St. Toupee, hear my prayer:

N'er let the sun shine smartly upon my beamin' head
let lavish locks always be there instead
And n'er let any eyes look funny in my way,
if, by Jove, I e'r happen to wear
a toupee.
Ah-m'n.

The Late Night, Early Morning Sci-Fi Laugh-a-thon

I've been staying up way too late on the weekends lately. In fact, you could say that the Langes are truly night owls, keeping Keith Richards-like hours.


We were honestly contemplating hitting the sack when the keen Eclectic Wife said, "They have It! Terror from Beyond Space coming up, but I think it starts [insert ungodly early hour here]." Well, I was still wide-eyed and ready for some old school B&W Sci-Fi terro-comedy.


It! The Terror from Beyond Space has been on my must-watch list for some time. I have gone into the senseless and silly fascination/nostalgia reasons for this in other posts, so I will not waste words here.


Well, the E-Wife went straight to the computer to do her usual browsing of department stores and I stayed right on the couch to watch this little beauty.



First, to give due credit, I must say that the people who produced Alien owe a huge debt to this film. It's exactly the same story. An alien, as stowaway, begins the one-by-one picking off of the crew. Except for some obvious details, this is the same story.

Ok, this little beauty is a howler. One of those so-bad-it's-good, ridiculous films of the 50's.


The crew have to be hailed as one of the most knuckle-headed ever to travel in space. They act more like they are chatting at a church social rather than being in space.


Being a product of the times, of course the women have secondary roles, serving coffee and food like dutiful drones and act as moral support for the extremely dull and daft manly men who try all sorts of absurd ways to kill the rubber-suited alien.

There is one scence that has to win the "Best Worst Acting During A Killing Scence." While his fellow astronut is being devoured by the unlikely villian in the air shaft, this one clown stands and listens, NOT doing a thing to help, but merely knits his brow. Oh, the drama! The humanity! The tears!


Funny stuff: these morons use a bazooka, poison gas, torch, grenades and even suggest turning off the air to kill the damn thing.
From the funny website review.
Ed: "You don't believe me do you?"
Sally: "I don't disbelieve you..."
[note sounds like someone I know...sheesh!]

Paul: "If we let all the oxygen out of the ship, it should kill the creature!"
Ed: "Yes! We can always turn the air back on for ourselves later!"

Sally: "You're not using your authority very well."
Ed: "I'm not doing it for kicks! Believe me, chicken, I'm just playing the odds."

Ed: "Our only hope is that this will be the last attempt we have to make to kill the thing."


[again, I tip my hat to .....]

Well, in short, I stayed up way too late, watched the whole damn thing, the sleep cycle was ruined, but I had many laughs. Truly something I would not want to purchase for the eclectic film library, but would watch again for the kicks.

April 21st

why does a photographer think he has the right to interrupt the business of a bee? and believe that once interrupted, the bee will not sting him? does a camera protect?

guitars and flowers are much more agreeable. and less dangerous.

my winged friends-i just trust them. i think they trust me. surely, this is so because i had to place the camera very, very close.

maybe they just ignore me.
"Silly man. Let me get on with my business. Kindly keep your camera to yourself!!!"

For John: because he's still the best

add everybody up
take your fake shredders
your green-haired metal masqueraders
your soft-toned jazzers
your new aging acoustic windbreakers
and every newgrass-bluegrass jackass
nobody
no one
nobody comes close


we haven't caught up with his work yet


nobody plays like him


he is genius

http://youtube.com/watch?v=12-s76w6PG8

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3AzovMu-2LY

we are freezing

April is really being quite contrary.

These are shots from about a week ago.

By the way, in the night shots, who knew the McDonald's sign could look so glowing??

Groovin' with a Pict

Quayludium: my wife just told me that a package bearing a gift of an Agate pick arrived. THANKS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PRELUDE: My latest obsession, found mostly in the "debris" blog, is to focus on my right hand guitar picking technique. Why?

Because I want to burn the house down, baby, with blinding speed. To answer further, I suggest you read previous entries in aforementioned blog.

This obsession lead me to a discussion with a friend of mine about his experiences with a guitar teacher. He was taking guitar lessons from a guy in Nashville. I share parts of our convo:

Q: but i cannot remember the name of the pick your teacher gave you: ebonite?

Agate. I'm sure it's some groovy mineral with a lovely crystalline structure, but the pick is polished into a smooth, teardrop shape. It's like a piece of glass with orange-brown swirls.

Unable to find more of these, I did the best I could. At the 2001 Healdsburg guitar festival, I found a guy selling some really thick picks made from a grand variety of materials. So I bought a coconut pick. From the same guy two years later, I got more coconut picks and a couple of ebony picks as well. But I still cannot find the agate model.

i think a blog about picks, etc. would be most amusing. i mean, it's like everybody is speaking a different language and we accept this idea of the shape, size etc. so readily, it's a good topic.

I've caught your pick bug. Seems Frippy is trying to be as scientific with the plectrum as the classical guys are with flesh and nails.

[A DIVERSION: Extract from Fripp's diary: Friday 15th June, 2001
Arriving at the club, waiting for John Sinks to open the door, I sensed an approaching presence: I know this sense - a fan was moving towards me, and they wanted something. Nothing "bad" about this person, a grey and mature King Crimson fan, and in any other context a joyful encounter. In this context, I was an object. The exchange:

G&MF: May I ask a favour?

RF: I'd rather you didn't.

G&MF: Can I have a pick?

[the famed Guitar Craft turtle-Dorito-chip which the grey and mature Crimso asked for. This is what they use? Hmmm...]

Why ask if you can ask a favour if you have no intention of not asking anyway? But, the question was also continually addressed to John Sinks at the show, and the answer is no. There is a good reason.

The picks I use are not manufactured anymore. I have a small supply, this supply is dwindling and, unless a firm manufactures picks to my specification (we have tried without success for 14 years) must last me for the rest of my performing life. These picks are a necessary tool for me in my playing & are specific to the way I play. Regardless of the "fetishisation of the inherent and delineated meanings of my picking style", I don't have picks to give away - not even to Guitar Craft students. ]

Continuing my friend's email:
Q: also, why did your teacher use this pick?

Because he could go so bloody fast with it.

O: and for my own sake: how in the heck did he "fly" using such a large, inflexible object?

In some ways the very idea of a pick is weird and counterintuitive. It's so easy to drop the god damned things. When I first used a pick, I wanted the absolute thinnest, most flexible thing I could find. But the sound was really thin and weak, almost more scratchy and percussive than musical. Using a really stiff pick makes you completely re-think what you do with it. I like the size because it gives you something you can grab onto. Since it's inflexible, how you attack the string with the pick is very different. You don't have to worry about volume -- you can MOVE the string! Your fingers have to be very sensitive to the compliance of the string. It helps not to put much of the pick on the string. Since it is so stiff, you can touch the string with just the very tip of that long point, just barely touch it, get all the volume you want, and you're gone, out of the way and on to the next stroke.

That's the way I think about it. I don't know how my teacher thought about it. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it very effectively. I mean, the guy had some ego problems, some emotional problems but he was a highly skilled electric player. He jammed weather report and chick corea tunes with a band in public. He knew all the chords in all the positions, and could grab 'em in an instant. He played 16th note scales at 180 regularly -- clean (on his electric). I don't recall his record, but he would occasionally announce that he'd played 5 two octave scales up in the 200s somewhere to beat the old mark.

For the uninitiated:

* the pick is so common that I believe that a high percentage of players never have really thought about it, let alone what they do with it. Has nothing to do with intelligence, just habit. Habits are so strong, they make us do things we are unaware of doing.

* once we decide that a certain pick works, we guard them like gems. we may even put our endorsement on them.

* guitarists' egos, including mine, are so tremendous that all of us think that we are just a little bit smarter and a better player than any other. we do, collectively, have heroes that we try to emulate and realize are so much superior to our own abilities. some, like my friend's teacher, asked about John McLaughlin, "Is he faster than me?" my lord, let me never be that immodest or lose my grip on reality.

[A DIVERSION: My friend's guitar teacher, who burned up the electric guitar, tried the same on an acoustic, my friend said, "The notes sounded like they were underwater." ]

* speed on a guitar is not the most important thing. It might not be even a musical thing. Then, why are guitarists obsessed with it?

* clean, rapid articulation on a guitar is not an easy thing to do. thus, those who can (or think they can) carry some clout with other players. in fact, other players, mainly those of the youthful and don't know any better variety, will use this as the sole measuring stick of a guitarist's worth.

I got into a row with some players online because of some guy who was rapidly running around the fingerboard on an electric and I snidely remarked, "the fireworks would not be as bright on an acoustic." Oh boy.

It infuriated two people, one of which asked, "why don't you shut up and post your own video and let us see what you've got?"

I said, "If I did, then who will judge me? You? And what are your qualifications?"

Not a word after that.

YouTube guitar postings inspire such wackjobs and such fervent commentary that NPR even picked up on one poster's version of Pachebel. Or its it this one?

*this topic is the most controversial, save perhaps the debate between acoustic and electric instruments, and the clean tone versus distorted debate.

* it is far, far, far easier to play fast with a pick than with the fingers alone. this would be a major difference in approach such as the difference between Pepe Romero (classical guitarist) and say Al Di Meola.

* years ago, picks were made out of plastic, then nylon. and now, just about everything.

* I define a pick as follows: a pick is a device which allows guitarists to play more notes than are necessary.

The "Dorito chip" should never be used except for dulcimer or for the tone of a very light strumming. If Guitar Crafties use this or a variance thereof, then I will be open-minded. I remain sceptical because, by and large, this is way too large for me.

Tortex, Nylon, various exotic stones, wood and metal. I even see LEDs inside some of them.What the hell is happening?

They are even jewelry.

Hell, they are even celebrity items.

I myself am trying to launch a line of "Cicada" picks.

Some purport to assure a solid grip. Dropping them, under live conditions especially, is always a possibility.

I like Clayton. Can't remember the mm. 60? 80? Not too thick, not too thin.

Secret: I file the sides of them so that the string meets less resistance. This works for me and makes me feel like a smart and clever boy. As I have stated, my picking technique needs lots of work and this is just one aspect that has truly helped.

The California Guitar Trio, former student of Fripp, are coming in May. One of the guys lives in Harrisburg, Pa. I am going to inquiere about the possibility of lessons. It's about six hours away, but I have some questions that I would like answered. Maybe this won't be the way, but it just might be worth a try.

People get awfully silly about this. It's a pick.