Greed and the Guitar

July 14th, 2010

Greed and the Guitar – By John Orshonsky

(editor’s note. John Orshonsky is a great friend of mine who offered to tell his tale of woe and his journey to the dark side. If you have a tale to tell, please email it to me and I will gladly post it. -JohnnyO)

If I can save one person from losing that ONE guitar, then my work here will not have been in vain. If I can stop just one person from giving in to their inner greed, then I can sleep well at night. My story begins about 1973 when I found what would be my musical obsession for the next 30+ years. I discovered Queen. Their sound was off the hook! Nobody had that sound. The layered guitar work, the searing vocals, and the overall Queen sound just had me hooked from the first track. From that day on, I would be on a quest to listen to all their albums, soak in their sound and learn their licks. When I saw Brian May’s guitar, I just had to have one. Back then of course, it was not available. At that point, I did not know that it was he and his father who built the guitar. I searched all the stores. (No internet back then). I asked every guitar shop worker where Brian had got that guitar. Back then, no one really knew. I was bummed when I found out it was home built and that I could not get one.

I made drawings from album covers and thought I could make one myself. Then I had to remind myself that I did not have that kind of skill. Thus, it was not meant to be. I would have to console myself with just trying to make my rig sound like his. I experimented and finally came pretty close to what he sounded like. Unfortunately, all of my amps had 12” speakers. His Vox AC30’s had 10” speakers that have a naturally warmer tone, I feel. But, I came pretty close. I had my chorus and flanger, my analog delays. Back then the inexpensive Boss delays did not have a long enough echo time. I resigned myself to the fact that I would never sound like Brian or have a guitar like Brian.

Then one day, I saw an ad in a guitar magazine that Guild was making a replica of the Red Special. Wow. I finally had my chance to get one. My jubilation was soon dashed when I saw what their top of the line Red Special would cost. $3,000.00. WHAT? I did not have that kind of cash. I was married and money was tight. But I would look at the ads all the time. I said “One day, my friend. One day”. That day came when a friend of mine said he could most likely get me a “deal of a lifetime” on one. I was hesitant. My wife was not to keen on how much attention I would give my guitars. It seemed to her that my guitars garnered way too much of my time. Both my father and my wife said the same thing. Every time they saw me, I seemed to have a new guitar in my hands. I would trade one away and get a new one. Well, needless to say, I went and listened to the deal on the guitar. Someone had put one on layaway. He had not made a payment for about 3 months, so the dealer said if I just paid what was left on the layaway, I could have it. The dude had put down $2,000.00 up to that point. I just could not pass it up. MY guitar. Someone was very close to getting MY guitar. So, coughed up the $1,000.00 dollars. I slept in the dog house for about 3 months, but that’s another story. After 20+ years of dreaming, MY day had come.

I had my guitar. I tooled with it for hours. I was finally satisfied. It was my main gigging guitar for 5 years. I say it was my main gigging guitar for five years because I no longer have it. That right. My brain shut off one day and was replaced by the greed bug. Here’s the story. I would jam with a friend of mine in the church band and in an empty townhouse I had. He had a top of the line Les Paul Pro Custom, or something like that. It was appraised around $5,600.00. It was a honey cream color. He did not like it so much. It was not his style, nor his sound. But, he got it for a great price. He decided to trade it in one day to get something more to his sound and style. He came back one day with what he got for his trade. A Fender Vintage Re-Issue Super Reverb Amplifier, (that thing is huge), a Gibson ES355 with nary a scratch on it. They installed custom VanZandt pickups in the 355 for him. Plus, to top it off, he got a Standard Strat. All used, but what a deal! He went in with ONE sweet guitar. He came out with a great amplifier, TWO great guitars as well as 2 custom pickups. That’s when I lost my head. No matter what Michael Douglas said in “Wall Street”. Greed is NOT good. I had a great guitar, but I never really had the powerful amp I wanted. So I decided to trade in my beloved Red Special . By the way, I had the best, top of the line model. The one where Brian said he could forget he was not playing his original. It was that good. I traded it in. For my Red Special, I got a Gold Top Les Paul and a Crate 120 watt amplifier. I got the powerful amp I wanted. I got a really nice guitar. But, now I am sorry I traded away the one guitar I ever really wanted. I sometimes wonder who is getting the pleasure of playing my guitar. I tell myself it is in a good home. Do not give it to greed. Stay away from the dark side. You will be better for it in the end.

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Inspiration

July 13th, 2010

This past few weeks I have been finding new inspiration to play my guitar and belt out some of my songs. The past five years while I’ve been heavily into writing, I have sometimes found little inspiration to play.

Suddenly I sit down and find great power in working out some alternate arrangements of old songs. In fact, I’m thinking about putting my singer songwriter show back together for another run.

Constant reader, do you ever find yourself in these creative ditches? How do you get out of them? Creativity can be just like a water well, dry for long periods, then overflowing at other times.

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Where Were You?

July 9th, 2010

I was out running today and my mp3 player began playing the song “Where Were You” by Jackson Browne. Follow this link to hear the song on Youtube.

It strikes me these may be the finest lyrics in the last ten years.  Left or Right, Red or Blue, let me know what you think, I would love to hear what other people get from this song. But please, unbuckle your ideological armor and think about the song before you decide how you feel.

Don’t shoot me. I’m just the guitar player.

Live Free or Die.

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Guitar Players Young and Old

July 7th, 2010

Once upon a time, rock and roll was for the young. The guitar was the driving force for rock and it too was for the young. Back in the sixties and seventies, nobody I knew had a mom or dad or played the guitar. The trumpet or piano maybe, but certainly not the guitar.

Yesterday I had the pleasure to meet a woman wearing a hnd brace. I asked her what happened to her hand and she replied that it might be carpal tunnel. The most difficult part was that she was having trouble playing guitar. This woman was into her seventies and I told her how excited I was that she played the guitar. We had a great talk about guitar and she told me about a Gibson acoustic she ’stole’ for $100.

A few years back I hosted free group guitar lessons at a local church. One of the students was a 78 year old man. I was so proud of him for taking ona task like that. I’m sure it added a few years to his life.

So if you are racking up the years and haven;t played that ax in a while, ditch the excuses and get that guitar out of the closet. If you have always wanted to play, then get going. It is never too late to start. What the hell have you got to lose? There a million crappy guitar players out there already. Join the crew.

Plug it in, crank it up and Rock On!

Live Free or Die.

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JohnnyO – Singer Songwriter 1978 -Why Not Me?

July 2nd, 2010

August 24th, 1978 was a big day for JohnnyO: future rock star. Even though it was almost 30 years ago it seems like yesterday. In the light of 30 years, it is so simple and pure, yet at the time I didn’t see it coming.

Travel back with me to the summer of 1978. I was working as a camp counselor at Camp Calumet Lutheran in West Ossipee, NH. Camp Calumet was and still is a vibrant, organic community that includes sports, boating, swimming, Lutheran theology and lots of music. I looked up to certain camp musicians as “players”. Guys like Troy B, Bill W and the great Ricky A, were players who could put it on the line. These guys led camp music whenever needed and could belt out songs like they were Loggins and Messina. Ricky Astor was one of the first guitarists I met who could play serious lead guitar. If the others were Loggins and Messina, Ricky was Eddie Van Halen. He could rip great solos and add background that made average songs something fresh and exciting. I longed to be a part of that group. But, they didn’t notice me. All they knew about me was that I could strum chords with a group of other musicians.

I idolized these guys because I had seen a few of them put on quite a show one night. It was a Lutheran Youth gathering called Simple Gifts on the U Mass campus in Amherst Mass. The last night of the gathering, there were two events, a dance in the main hall and a coffeehouse in a back room. Although I was actively chasing a girl named Gretchen at the dance, I was drawn to the coffeehouse. It was a darkened room, with tables and lamps set up. Troy and Bill and others were running through a repertoire of folk-rock songs. Really, it was like the original MTV unplugged. (And you thought MTV invented unplugged). I distinctly remember thinking I would like to get up and play in front of others, but I wasn’t ready yet. I had not reached my “Why not me” stage.

Back at camp, at the end of each summer season, the camp staff puts on a show. At Calumet, the annual Staff Show is a big deal. There is a big opening, lots of silly skits and a big finale. I decided to test the waters and signed up to play one song. I planned to sing an original tune called “Rock and Roll Circle”. Rock and Roll Circle was what resulted when I lifted the chord pattern from Harry Chapin’s “A Better Place to Be” and combined it with the concept from “Beth” by KISS.

I practiced and prepared for the big night. I really don’t remember much of anything besides standing up there on stage and singing my song. I think I was just hoping they would like it. I finished and the crowd full of campers and staff began applauding. Then they stood and gave me a roaring standing ovation. I’m sure I looked like a deer in the headlights.

Then an amazing thing happened. As I walked to the back corner of the stage to exit, the crowd began yelling “more, more, more”. My good friend Bobby-Pete was manning the curtain. There are few things I remember from that night, but I remember Bobby-Pete looking me in the eye and saying: “They love you man, get back out there and do another.” I froze. I had not anticipated this and had not prepared a second song. I looked at Bobby, and said “I didn’t practice any others”. Bobby suddenly was Brian Epstein to my John Lennon. All I really remember was Bobby saying something like “C’mon, you know lots of songs, just get out back there and play something”.

I turned around, went back out and played “Wildfire” by Michael Murphy. Wildfire had been a hit somewhere in the past few years, so people knew it and it’s a cool song. I had practiced it a lot, but I’m not sure I ever intended to perform it in public. Now I was deep in automatic mode and I just started playing. At the end I got more applause, but this time it ended and the crowd was ready for the next act. I carried my guitar and exited stage right.

At that moment I think I was still trying to figure out what just happened. Over the years I have spent many hours thinking about what happened that night. One of my favorite self help authors is the great Zig Ziglar. Lots of people like Zig’s books and tapes even if they don’t agree with everything he might say. One of my favorite Zig stories is when he talks about his career as a struggling salesman. He progressed from a nobody to National Champion in one day. He emphasized, that the change is all in our heads. It is a question of how we see ourselves. Zig reminds us that we can only perform up to the level at which we see ourselves.

Now, it’s very important for me to state that I was not the second coming of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen or even Tiny Tim. But in 1978 I was a decent guitar player and singer songwriter. My semi-professional music career has always been just that, semi-professional.

However, ….. Before August 26th, I saw myself as just another young guitar player who could strum songs before a group. As of about 9pm, Thursday August 24, 1978, I was a singer songwriter. I experienced a fundamental change in my view of myself as a guitar player and singer. After 9pm, I was now a player. Like a baseball player who has game, I was now a player respected by other musicians. From that day forward I was considered one of the premier music players and leaders at Camp. I went to college and became a major player there. I continue to be a player writing, recording and performing music. From that day forward, I viewed everything differently. From that day forward I began to ask the question “Why not me”?

If you have a similiar musical or guitar story you would like to see posted, please email it to me. I would love to post it for you. JohnnyO

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Review of a Fender PT-100 Guitar Tuner Pedal

June 19th, 2010

Manufacturer: Fender

Model: PT-100 Guitar Tuner

Review By: Johnny Ozelius
Ratings 1 to 10 per category

Purchased From: Musicians Friend

Price: $44.95

7 Features: Chromatic Tuner with dual bright blue LED displays. Rugged design. Unit built with bypass so that when tuner is activated, no signal is sent to amplifier. This allows silent tuning.

8 Sound: In this case, silence is golden. When the unit is switched on, the bypass is silent.

8 Action, Fit, & Finish: Unit appears to have a high level of quality control. All parts fit together well. Outside case and foot switch cover are made of sturdy plastic.

7. Reliability/Durability: I use it mainly on stage with a Fender Jazz Bass. The case and pedal switch are both made of plastic but seem well made and durable. I’ll admit to being gentle with my pedals, but I have had no problems whatsoever with this tuner. It seems to easily recognize the guitar and in a year of using it twice a week for at least two hours it is only on its second battery.

5 Customer Support: Fender. So far with five Fender products I never needed customer service.

8. Overall Rating: This tuner is fantastic and at $44.95, possibly one of the best investments I ever made. Before purchasing this unit I used a small handheld Korg tuner that worked great but was difficult to use in the middle of a performance. The PT-100 has all the features of the Boss Tuner, which is what my friend has, at half the price. I highly recommend this unit.

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Uneasy Mike

June 18th, 2010

Uneasy Mike – subtitled “I know the words, just play the chords”

Mike E is the blue-collar man. I can best describe him as average height, thin, muscular with an edge to his personality. It is important to note that Mike does not have the large, water balloon sort of muscles you get from a gym or weight room. Mike’s strength was earned from days, months and years of hard work fabricating large machines.

I was introduced to Mike at Punnucci’s Ale House. One reason I will never forget Mike is because in all my years of playing open mics and coffee houses, Mike was the only person to bring his guitar in the brown cardboard shipping box. His friends at work had given him a fender acoustic for his birthday. He told me that his previous guitar had broken, and he had been without an ax. This was the workingman’s guitar for a blue-collar guy. I don’t remember how I phrased the question, but somehow I asked him about the box. I didn’t tease him about the box.

Since that day, I’ve only seen Mike four or five other times. A mutual friend Mo, told me that Mike works two jobs and that his wife is a hard case and won’t let him out often to go to an open mic.

One particular night Sunday night at Pennuchis Ale House, Mike showed up around 10:50pm. I played around 11:15pm and did my usual set of “Dixie Chicken”, “Before You Accuse Me” and who knows what else. Mike was coming up to play a couple of his songs. As I was preparing to vacate the little stage, I absentmindedly began to play the basic cord riff to Charlie Daniel’s classic song Uneasy Rider.

Now for those who don’t remember, Uneasy Rider is a song about a southern hippy boy in the late 60’d or early 70’s who takes a slightly ‘too’ southerly route to LA in his hippy charged muscle car. It’s a great song, but rarely will you hear anyone play it live because of its length and talk-sing style.

Mike snapped his head toward me: “You know that song?” A bit uncertain, because I wasn’t quite sure what I thought about Mike, I replied, “I got the chords, but I can’t remember the words.” Mike flashes a hard grin and says, “ I got the words, let’s do it”. Well who am I to argue. “Ok, I replied”

At that point we had myself on guitar, Mo on harmonica and Steve N on bass. Mike put his guitar down and grabbed the mike in a death grip like he was Jim Morrison. I led the charge into the song and Mike ate up the words. I can still see Mike gripping the mike stand, standing ramrod straight and reciting the words like it was his story. The crowd loved it, and I soaked up the scene. We completed the song in a classic train wreck and fell over laughing. I’d never played the song in public prior to that night, and I’ve never played it since. I guess that makes it Mike’s song.

The true open mic is a community of amateurs who get together to share the music and take their fifteen minutes of spotlight once a week. Mike, wherever you are, I hope you remember that night as well as I do. And I hope your wife lets you out from under the stairs a little more often.

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Five Tips on Buying a Guitar Online

June 17th, 2010

Online shopping has grown every year since the internet burst onto the scene in the 1990s. These days you can buy almost anything online from diapers to automobiles. However some items are more difficult to purchase because some buying decisions are subjective.

For example, if you decided to buy a dehumidifier, one boxed unit is as good as the rest. But if you purchased a guitar, you might really want to play each one to see how it sounds. The first thing you must accept about buying a musical instrument online is that you are accepting a trade-off in order to get a lower price. Buying online means you cannot touch the item beforehand. You must trust the seller a bit more than normal and you must be prepared for a few disappointments along the way.

Here are five tips to protect yourself and ensure that you enjoy a high level of satisfaction in your online shopping.

1. Knowledge is king. Know what you are buying. Use your favorite search engine to find reviews about the instrument you are looking at. Find out what others who own the instrument think of their purchase. Some excellent websites to consult are www.harmonycentral.com, www.guitargear.com and www.johnnyomusic.com.

2. Check the seller’s reputation. Use a search engine to look for information about the online retailer. Be aware that there are people who complain about everything, but you can quickly get an idea if a retailer is doing a good job serving their customers.

3. Try to find the same item at a local store. If you can feel it, touch it and strum it you will know better what you will receive in the mail.

4. Ask questions. Better online retailers have customer service staff who know the products. It’s not the same as touching the item in a store but it can be very helpful.

5. Compare prices for both the item and shipping. Different retailer will often charge the same price for the same item, but will charge different amount for shipping. Make sure you know what you will be charged for shipping before you make the purchase.

Many consumers purchase guitars online and are very happy with their decisions. If you invest the time in research, you will reap the benefits when you make your online purchase.

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Review of Yamaha FG720S 12 String Acoustic Guitar

June 15th, 2010

Review of a Yamaha FG720S 12-String Acoustic Guitar

Manufacturer: Yamaha

Model: FG 720 S 12 String

Review By: Johnny Ozelius

Ratings 1 to 10 per category

Purchased From: Guitar Center http://www.guitarcenter.com/Yamaha-FG720S-12-String-Acoustic-Guitar-103114286-i1150358.gc

Price:$329.00

Features: Solid Sitka spruce top, laminated back and sides, White/black body and neck binding
Die-cast tuners, Tortoise pickguard

Sound: This guitar has a good sound for a budget model. The solid spruce top is much better than a laminated top and gives the guitar a full and balanced.

Action, Fit, & Finish: The action of the guitar was is my only complaint with the guitar. The guitar is playable but the action was still to high. I tried to lower the action using the standard procedure of lowering the saddle, but the saddle was already installed so low that there was very little room to drop the action.

Reliability/Durability: The guitar well built and my experience with Yamaha is that they will last a long time with few issues.

Customer Support: None needed

Pros: Above average sound. Durable.

Cons: Action too high.

Overall Rating: I give this guitar a 6 (six). The sound is good and I would use it for any performance, but the action should be more adjustable. Most new guitars come from the factory with much more saddle height for adjustment. If I were expecting to play a 12 string a lot I would spend another $150 to 200 and move up to the Ovation, Ibanez, Alvarez and budget Martin level.

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It Began with Lance

June 11th, 2010

It All Began with Lance
If you have ever attended an open mic you know that they are interesting exhibit of local talent. Most open-mic performers are amatuers like you and me out to enjoy the experience. We crave the combination of fear and exhilaration as we get up in front of a supportive crowd and lay it on the line. Don’t let appearances mislead. For some open-mic performers, getting up in front of 25 people and singing a song is the equivalent of an nice skier flying down the mountain at breakneck speed. We don’t always know where we’ll end up, but we hope we’re still on two feet with someone cheering.

This is a tale about one of the first open mics I attended in Concord, NH. Concord has a small but, thriving music crowd and several great open mics. In college, I had participated in a number of talent shows and coffeehouses, but post college life had taken over. After a wife, 3 kids and all the fixings, I simply hadn’t had time to do much besides strum a few chords on the front porch once a month.

In 1998 and 1999, my passion for performing returned and I decided to check out some open-mics. At this time, I had not participated in an open-mic for well over 15 years. I checked the newspaper, made note of a couple that were convenient to attend and promised myself I would get out there and lay it on the line.

One Sunday night in early 1999 I found myself at Pennuci’s Ale House for my first open mic experience since college. A guy named Shane ran the show with help from a house band cobbled together from friends. They were pretty good and played a fun set of blues-rock material. The format was for them to play three or four songs, then bring up 3 or four individuals and let them do 2 to 4 songs apiece. This process was repeated from 9:00pm until 1:00am every Sunday night. The first time I showed up , I did not play, I just checked out the scene. Realizing this might be safe, I decided to bring my old Ovation the next week and sign up.

Seven days later I had two songs ready. When it was my turn, I played my best version of Dixie Chicken by Little Feat. I don’t remember much about my performance except that I didn’t forget any words and managed to land on my feet. Now that I had one song under my belt, I decided to follow with Eric Clapton’s unplugged version of a great Bo Diddley song “Before you Accuse Me” It was going well until the beginning of the 2nd verse when this guy with long, wavy blond hair, a baby face and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth approached the stage. He staggered toward the drum kit, mimed a question to me which was drunk for “do you mind of I play the drums? I smiled, gave him a quizzical look and bobbed my head in the affirmative.

He sat down and proceeded to ruin my song because he couldn’t keep a beat. I’ve played with a few drummers who couldn’t keep a steady beat, but this guy couldn’t keep a beat at all. Whether it was the beer or the lack of skill, he was bad. But, in good humor, I finished the song, got a few cheers and thanked the crowd for their attention. My new drummer friend introduced himself as Lance and apologized that he was too drunk to keep the beat. He smiled and staggered off.

Deciding before arrival that I would enjoy the full open-mic experience, I was still nursing a beer at twelve forty five Monday morning when the last performer stepped up to close out the night. It was none other than my new buddy Lance. However. Lance was now the new and improved “mostly sobered up Lance”. I remember this guy so well because he proceeded to play one of the greatest finale songs I’ve ever heard at an open-mic or a packed arena.

His first few songs were delivered well, but in truth I cannot remember any of them. I do remember hearing people in the crowd yell, “Walk a Mile Lance, sing Walk a Mile”, Lance asked in reply, “Are you sure”. The calls came back. “Yeah. Walk a Mile”.

Lance responded with the strong chord strums of the great Joe South song made famous by Elvis. I get chills now just to think about it. Lance made it his song. Certain performers can make a cover song their own. Joe Cocker is a great example of a singer who takes a song made famous by a band like the Beatles, and ” makes it his own”. That is what Lance did that night. Not only that, Lance turned the song into a great finale by winding the final chorus around and around, getting the whole crowd singing along with him.

There we were, thirty to forty half drunk locals singing “Walk a Mile in my Shoes”. After at least 4 final choruses, he carried it right up to a bigtime ending. If I had closed my eyes, I might have thought I was in the fourth row at Carnegie Hall. Big cheers went all around. I was floored. How could the drunk drummer have done such a thing? Simple, a little sobering up and a boatload of talent.

I went home that night and slept. But I woke up the next day and couldn’t stop thinking about Lance and that song. I needed a song like that. A big finale. I began noticing how all my favorite performer’s had a big finale song. JT – Steamroller, Harry Chapin – 30000 pounds of bananas, You name, they’ve got one.

The odd part of the story is that I never in all my travels ran into Lance again. I thought maybe he had left town. However I have been told that Lance has indeed been around Concord. He and I just seem to be invisible to each other. Sometimes, late at night, I think that Lance was sent there that very night like an angel, to give me a vision of what kind of performer I could work toward being. A transcendent performer who could work the crowd into a choir. Some nights I’m just another average singer songwriter. But once in a while, I have touched the edge of that cosmic circle in space and time where people sing along, where people rock back and forth and where people join me in the spin of the music. I thank Lance for showing me how to do it. I just wish I could thank him in person.

Thanks Lance.

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