April 7, 2008

Feels Like Home

I’m a fingerstyle guitar enthusiast! So much so that I volunteer to write the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar weekly newsletter. I’ll post my articles here for your musical pleasure. Be sure to check us out online at http://www.torontofingerstyleguitar.com.

The music that is constantly playing in my household was playing a little louder and longer this week. And I’m a happier picker! I’m usually asked to turn down the tunes and only get the chance to really crank up the volume when I’m home alone. This week, in the name of muscial science, I’ve gotten a reprieve. In fact, as I sit here writing this piece, I can feel the floor vibrating beneath my feet from my music room downstairs.

But before I get to that, for those of you who are keeping track, I made it to the Open Stage. After having missed only one week, it felt like coming home. It was great to see all the familiar faces and catch up on what’s news. The night got off to a great start with Tom Kriener who played for close to an hour. The atmosphere was relaxed, friendly… it felt like home.

We were lucky to have the night transform into a bit of a workshop when Dave took the stage with his new picks and half capo. As I sat and listened, I got a lesson in what I like to call Good Vibration Therapy.

You know how guitars sound better the older they get? The more they’re played, the better they sound? The more they vibrate, the more musically they vibrate. It’s a phenomenon that is heard in other stringed instruments as well, which is why vintage guitars & instruments are in such great demand.
But why?

Like great wine, there’s a breakdown in the cellular structure of the wood as your guitar ages. As your guitar vibrates over the course of its life, subtle changes occur in the stiffness and flexibility within the cellular structure of the wood.

Putting your guitar infront of stereo speakers and playing music into the soundbox is supposed to accelerate the aging process.
So I thought I’d give that a try this week — my guitars have been undergoing good vibration therapy. They’re parked infront of the Bose speakers and vibrating to the sounds of Chet Atkins, Lenny Breau and even some Julian Bream.

Will it make a difference? Who knows. But I do know that with the sweet sounds of great fingerpickers vibrating through their bodies all day, they can’t help but mature into great guitars. I can hear the strains of Carousel drifting up from the music room and it’s making me smile. After all, this is the music I want my guitar to grow up on.