Dr. Jealousy,
Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Appreciate Local Guitar Players.
by Shannon Scott - 7/19/2001
I finally got around to sending my parents
a copy of my band's CD. My dad is a guitar player so we started talking in
depth about the recording and I told him that I was not really happy with any
of my playing on the CD. There were a few Bob Ross-ian "happy accidents" but overall I feel like I had no business being in the studio.
Why do I feel this way?
Without extensive psychotherapy from a Freudian
protege I will have to say the answer is basically other, better guitarists.
I learned early on in the small blues clubs
in and around Akron that just because one isn't famous doesn't mean that one
isn't a good guitarist. I can remember getting goose bumps in these smoky dives
listening to local players like Frankie Star (website) and Mike Bilas of the Stick People. It is no different here in Athens. We have
some fine guitarists in this town.
It is when I compare my own playing with
these fine players when I get jealous and think about taking up the triangle.
I mean I will never play with the speed and force of Brad Huffman of Peach
Melba (webiste). I'll never have the talent and finesse of David Riesbeck.. I'll never get
as much out of a delay and a wah as Dan Dreifort. I'll never come close to
the machine-gun-like picking attack of John Lucas Patt. I'll never have the
knowledge and memory to be in as many bands as Catfish. I certainly won't be
attempting a Santana cover which the guitarist from Quigley pulled off note
for note at Palmerfest (related story). Apparently, there are a lot of things I can't do with the guitar.
BUT, I can use these and other local guitarists.
Yes, use them. Back in Akron after a night at a blues club I would wake up
Saturday morning and be inspired to practice. I can do the same thing here
in Athens. I want a wall of sound like Guest (website), I want to be able to jam, I want to rock, I want to jazz, and I want to be
able to play those things I hear the local gurus play.
That is how I will use them, for inspiration.
I will head out on a Friday night and be inspired to practice Saturday morning.
I know there are
a better guitarist than me but I will try and use this to my advantage. The
really cool thing about all this is that I don't have to go anywhere, they
come to me here in Athens. That's not a bad deal at all.
See ya uptown. Where's my pick?
a better guitarist than me but I will try and use this to my advantage. The really cool thing about all this is that I don't have to go anywhere, they come to me here in Athens. That's not a bad deal at all.
