Author: Matt Merta/Mitch Matthews

Musician and writer (both song and print) for over 30 years. Primarily interested in roots music (Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk). Current contributing writer for Fiddler Magazine, previous work with Metro Times (Detroit), Ann Arbor Paper and Real Detroit Weekly, as well as other various music and military publications. As songwriter, won the 2015 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (Bluegrass Category, "Something About A Train," co-written with Dawn Kenney and David Morris) as well as having work performed on NPR and nominated for numerous Detroit Music Awards.

Categories
Music Stores

Closing of Marshall Music and Other Music Stores

Last week, Casino Guitars posted a video talking about how Best Buy used to have musical instrument stores within some of the stores.

They were more prevalent in the south, and the only thing that I remember at Best Buy stores around my area was some would sell low-end Maestro guitars and a few accessories. Presently, the Best Buy stores in my area are now closing down completely one by one, just like the local drug stores like CVS and Rite-Aid.

I learned recently that a local music store for me, Marshall Music in Allen Park, Michigan, has closed permanently, along with a few other locations, and the company has consolidated into one store in the northern Detroit suburb of Troy (https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/08/13/marshall-music-company-closes-stores-location-troy/74779920007/). The Allen Park location was one of the places that elementary and middle school students could rent quality wind and string instruments, and was highly recommended by many school districts in the area. There have been a number of area independent music stores closing over the past decade, some due to competition from Guitar Center, others because of cost to survive and a drop in band instrument interest from young people.

I drove by my local high school a few weeks back, and the marching band was out practicing. The size was about half of what I remember when I was going to school about 40 years ago. I was not in the school band, but my interest in music led me to playing in a cousin’s oldies band at the age of 16, eventually leading me to play in punk, roots-rock, Americana and bluegrass bands as my years went by. However, I have always been a promoter of music for young people, whether it be playing guitar, piano, or a wind/string instrument in school. It is sad to see the stores that catered to students are closing, leaving parents to rely on shady online sales or just telling their children that music may not be in the plan.

I am sure that schools have their resources that I am not fully aware of, and there are still a few stores around that are a bit of a drive away. I just wonder what happened to the interest in music at the grade, middle, and high school level. Music stores used to be a place to hang out and dream (it still is for me). However, there seems to be less places to dream, and with that, less dreamers. Music is a great therapy for people, and studies have shown that students that practice a musical instrument do better in school (https://www.artsedsearch.org/study/does-musical-training-improve-school-performance/). Now I know that not every kid is going to be into bluegrass music, as much as I would like to teach them. However, a young person taking interest in any genre of music, be it classical, jazz, marching band, rock, or something else, makes me a lot happier.

When I worked at the musical instrument petting zoo at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival back in June, I truly hoped that at least one kid would be inspired to go home and ask his/her parents to help with learning the guitar, banjo, mandolin or fiddle. There was one girl there who was intrigued with the dobro, and I talked with her parents on how to help her gravitate and keep her interest with it. I hope that I will see them there next year and that they tell me that she is continuing interest in the instrument.

In short, if your child takes an interest in music, for Pete’s sake, support that motivation in any way that you can. If you have a tough time financially, search the internet for resources. They are out there.

Chew on it and comment. Have a safe Labor Day weekend.

Categories
Country Music

Perfect Song #12: “Cannonball Rag” by Merle Travis

This is pre Eddie Van Halen shredding! I talked about Merle Travis in an earlier post about his songwriting (https://luegra.design.blog/2022/05/07/perfect-song-7-sixteen-tons-tennessee-ernie-ford-version/), and he was one of country music’s first superstars for his songs, his singing, and even his bit parts in Hollywood movies (check out From Here to Eternity). However, with most guitarists, he is famous for his trademark “Travis Picking.”

“Cannonball Rag” is Travis’ hallmark performance. I can lsiten to this song a thousand times and continue to be amazed. His picking is a combination of Mother Maybelle Carter’s scratch, hardcore bluegrass rhythm guitar, and classical fingerpicking. The result is a solo guitar sounding like two guitars and a bass playing at the same time. The listener cannot believe that all of that sound is coming from one guitar! Travis developed this style after studying Carter, Ike Everly, and Mose Rager. He used a banjo thumbpick and his bare fingers, which gave the bass runs a percussive feel, while the melody and rhythm strings a more harp-like feel.

Travis’ picking became a sensation in the early 1940s whenever he appeared on radio. He enlisted in the Marines during World War II, then returned to the country music scene around Cincinnati. In the late 1940s, he would appear in Hollywood shorts (“soundies”) showcasing his guitar skills. While he was getting better known for his songs, such as “Divorce Me C.O.D.” and “No Vacancy,” he still liked to show off his guitar prowess. He helped design an early version of a solid-body electric guitar with Paul Bigsby, which would later inspire Leo Fender’s designs.

While fans loved his singing and songs, guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Joe Maphis, and Doc Watson were heavily inspired by his guitar work. Watson even claimed to have named his son Merle after Travis (listen to their dialogue on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken album). Even modern guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel cite Travis as a main influence.

“Cannonball Rag” Is one of those songs that from the first few notes, you know you are in for something amazing. That bass run along with the syncopated melody lines draw you in to think that you are listening to a small ensemble and not a solo guitar. Each verse begins with a different strumming/picking pattern, yet the last few bars of each verse return to a familiar pattern to let you know that Travis is getting back to the main theme. There are banjo rolls, blues bends, and bass solos, all sounding like each “player” is taking a turn soloing. This is the type of song that you turn up when cruising down a two-lane highway. It is also the type of tune that will either inspire the beginning guitar player to either work harder, or give up altogether.

I dare you to listen to this song and NOT hit repeat at least once or twice.

And if you still think that it is not one man only playing this song, here is a live version.

Are there any questions? Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Fiddle Bluegrass Music

Bobby Hicks RIP

Yesterday, we lost one of the great and influential bluegrass fiddlers. Bobby Hicks passed away early Friday morning from complications of a heart attack earlier in the week at the age of 91. I do not think that there is a bluegrass fiddler alive today that does not know who he was, let alone view him as a big influence.

Hicks was born in North Carolina in 1933, and first learned guitar and mandolin. He later picked up the fiddle, and won his first fiddle contest at age 12. He would first play with Jim Eanes band, and did a short stint playing bass for Bill Monroe until Monroe saw how good he was on the fiddle and moved him to that position full time.

After a two-year service in the Army, Hicks returned to the Blue Grass Boys and moved to Nashville. With them he recorded Monroe classics “Big Mon,” “Scotland,” and “Wheel Hoss.” He often recorded twin and triple fiddles with the band alongside Vassar Clemens, Kenny Baker, and Charlie Cline. He later joined Port Wagoner’s band, but soon moved to Las Vegas where he was getting paid much better. It is there that he created his homemade five-string fiddle.

After seven years in Vegas, he returned to NC to care for his ailing mother. While home, he played with some local bands and held private lessons. In 1981, Ricky Skaggs asked Hicks to join his touring band. At the same time, he participated in the first five albums of the legendary Bluegrass Album Band, which included Tony Rice, Doyle Lawson, J.D. Crowe and Todd Phillips.

He retired from Skaggs’ band and touring in 2004 at the age of 71. He continued playing locally in NC and giving occasional lessons. He was inducted into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 2002, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017, and was also a member of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. He has 10 Grammy Awards to his credit, and performed for over 50 years on the Grand Ole Opry.

Monroe once dubbed Hicks “the truest fiddler he had ever heard.” I had the honor of meeting Mr. Hicks back around 2011 at the IBMA World of Bluegrass Conference when it was in Nashville. In the Exhibit Hall, he was trying out a number of fiddles at a luthier’s booth. Strangely, there was not that big of a crowd standing around watching this legend test-drive the fiddles. He actually asked me what I thought of one of them once he was finished playing. We chatted for a few minutes, I explained that I was not a fiddler but enjoyed fine playing. I felt honored that he would ask someone he didn’t know an opinion of an instrument.

The masters of bluegrass are disappearing at a sadly fast rate, and with Bobby Hicks now gone, there is not many left for our younger artists to show respect to. He will be sorely missed int eh bluegrass community for not only his talent, but his knowledge that he passed on to many others.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Musical Instruments Old-Time Fiddle

Longest Yard Sale/Old-Time Fiddler Covention 2024

Apologies for being a day late, but this weekend was the one that I visit both the US 12 Longest Yard Sale and the Michigan Fiddlers Association Old-Time Fiddlers Convention.

Friday was the day for the year sale. While they advertise it going from Detroit to the western border at New Buffalo, things don’t start to really show up until after Saline if you travel west on the road. Nothing for knick-knacks this year for me, but I did pick up a few music bargains.

  • MXL 770 large-diaphragm condenser microphone. I really have no need for one of these, as I just sold off a similar one last year and have an older MXL model that I still keep. However, it was a good price, and it was never used, with a shock mount still wrapped up in plastic. I am sure that I can re-sell it and make a few dollars.
  • Kustom KLA 10 guitar practice amplifier. Again, I have a few small practice amps already, but I picked it up for next to nothing. These are pretty good, reliable little amps, as Kustom has been putting them out for years. I will probably do a review on this next week.
  • Jasmine by Takamine S-35 acoustic guitar. I did an overview of my experiences with Jasmine guitars in a previous blog (https://luegra.design.blog/2023/09/30/jasmine-guitars-the-good-as-well-as-the-bad-and-ugly/). This particular guitar was made while Jasmine was still a part of the Takamine company. These are high-quality beginner guitars that can hold up to models costing a lot more (these go for about $100.00 used), and it came with a high-end Road Runner case/gig-bag. I paid $60.00 for the package, which is nearly what the gig bag cost new. The guitar was hardly touched. The seller told me that he purchased it for his daughter in high school and she lost interest rather quickly. When I got home, as I was cleaning out the gig bag, I found some lyrics that the girl must have written while she was still interested in playing and performing. Very cliché lyrics about breaking up with a boyfriend, but I had to smile that she at least tried to write a song. I have another S-35, and I will look at selling at least one if not both in the near future.
  • 2002 Made in Mexico Fender Stratocaster. Despite being over 20 years old, it still had the cellophane on the pickguard and wammy bar cover. All I can figure that it sat for all of that time because the nut is cut too low on the B string, so the original owner never bothered to fix it. That’s a $20.00 job if I do it myself, probably $50.00 or so if I get a shop to do it. We shall see if I budget my time, and it’s not like I have to do it right away. I still got a decent deal on it, and while I don’t play electric guitar much, I know a deal when I see it.

There is not a lot of music equipment available along the strip of sales, mostly clothes, old toys, and possible collectible antiques. But I have been going every year since before COVID, and I will surely take the day off from work to go again next year.

Saturday I spent a few hours at the Old-Time Fiddle Convention in Hastings, Michigan. While this is not a big event, those that attend for the three days are extremely loyal fiddlers interested in old-time music and jamming with others. I probably could have more time there, but traffic accents and construction took a lot of my Saturday morning time. I caught the end of the Sing-Along workshop by Glen Warners, then watched the Michigan Fiddle Tunes workshop hosted by Dave Langdon. Dave is a great old-time fiddler, playing left handed. However, his instructional skills are less than satisfactory. While the class worked on two simple fiddle tunes, and most everyone there were competent with the tunes, Dave tends to just play a part of the tune and then have everyone join in. There is very little discussion on notes, and he doesn’t even give a count to start the song, he just jumps in and expects everyone to catch what he is doing. There were a few instances that students had to point out that he wasn’t following the sheet music verbatim, but said that he had his own style. Fortunately, everyone in attendance was very friendly and appreciative of the workshop.

I was able to make a simple video of the Langdon workshop with my older video camera (I’m still having problems with the video camera I purchased last year, and the instruction manual is all in Chinese, so I still have a lot to learn with it). I will post it on my YouTube page later this week.

I would love to see more people at the convention. Unfortunately, Hastings is not that easy to drive to, and people interested in old-time fiddle music are usually going to hit more popular events such as Galax in Virginia. The MFA doesn’t do much to advertise the event either, so attendance depends mostly through word-of-mouth from previous attendees. I have chatted this event up to many other bluegrass musicians and fiddlers, but just about everyone feigns interest. I do plan on going next year, as well as hitting the old-time fiddle contest in New Boston this October.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

IBMA World of Bluegrass Move to Chattanooga

So, the announcement was made this past week that the IBMA World of Bluegrass Conference will be held in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the 2025 through 2027 seasons. The choice surprised a few in the bluegrass community, as most thought that it would be moved back to Kentucky.

The IBMA stated that it would make the announcement much earlier in the year, so being this late made many lose interest in where the conference would be located in the future. Once the announcement was made that 2024 would be the last year that WOB would be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, the bluegrass community was talking heavily on a new location, which included Louisville, Lexington, or Owensboro, KY, Dayton, OH, or even St. Louis, MO. Very little talk was of Chattanooga, but one can see a few positives to the choice:

  • More centrally located. While still in the South, Chattanooga is closer to other bluegrass-oriented cities such as Nashville, Knoxville, Louisville, and Dayton. As a mileage note, Chattanooga is about a 9.5-hour drive from Detroit, while Raleigh is closer to 13 hours (I still don’t plan on going, more on that later).
  • Investment. Chattanooga is planning on investing $25 million into promoting tourist and convention marketing. We are fully aware that conferences such as WOB can pull in millions of dollars to a city’s economy, so I would venture that with WOB being there for three years, it will be a hefty return on investment, not even considering other conventions and tourism outside of WOB.
  • Weather. During WOB’s tenure at Raleigh, there were two instances where hurricanes affected the conference, with one cancelling a large amount of events or forcing re-scheduling. A fan registered for WOB that just paid a few hundred dollars to attend, as well as hundreds more for hotel and food, expects a whole week of entertainment without Mother Nature screwing up things. Yes, maybe a day can be a disappointment (we’re used to it at bluegrass festivals), but to be in fear of dangerous weather the entire time is not worth the trip.

The first WOB in Chattanooga is scheduled for September 16-20, 2025. Oddly enough, that is usually the same week that the Americana Music Association schedules its AmericanaFest conference in Nasvhille. While there is not a lot of conflict, some bands and fans do attend both conferences, so one would wonder how much of a loss either association would feel if both were to be held on the same week. I would imagine that the AMA would probably hurt more, albeit not a large amount. Also, would anyone even consider the two-hour drive between the two cities to attempt to attend both? Highly unlikely.

As I stated above, I don’t plan on attending WOB in the near future, unless drastic changes are made in the philosophies of the IBMA, especially its political leanings. Because they moved so far left in thought since the George Floyd riots, I not only stopped becoming a member, but also resigned my position as a member of Leadership Bluegrass. Granted, I have also left the Americana Music Association for similar reasons, so whatever happens to the conferences over the next few years does not concern me. What I care about is the quality of music, not the diversity/equity of the artists. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at SPBGMA this past January because there was no politics, just a bunch of people enjoying music and jamming, and it allowed me to network without having to deal with conflicting attitudes.

In a related note to end this blog, I was going through some thumb drives a few evenings back, and came across a folder marked “IBMA 2011.” I believe this was one of the last years that WOB was held in Nashville, as well as one of the last times that I attended. One of the themes that year was Del McCoury’s 70th birthday. The Del McCoury Band performed live outdoors near the Ryman Auditorium and had a number of special guests, including Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, and Dierks Bentley. I actually got to hang out with Dierks for a while after his appearance, which he proved to be a true gentleman. I remember taking this photo and sending it back to two female co-workers. They were so jealous that they wouldn’t talk to me for days!

My beautiful picture

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Folk Music Rock Music

John Mayall/Duke Fakir/Happy Traum RIP

Three important names in music passed away this past week, with two of them being big influences on my musical life.

First, let’s look at the passing of John Mayall. He was a student of the blues long before the British Invasion that gave us the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds. He, along with Alexis Korner, brought Chicago-style blues to young Brits in the early 1960s. His proteges included Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie among many others. His 1966 album John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, often called the Beano album as it featured Clapton reading the Beano comic book on the cover, is considered legendary. He had many chances to gain great success in the US if he would dilute his strict blues style, but he refused. He became a cult hero among blues purists, and his original material was off kilter, not writing about usual blues subjects such as drinking and infidelity, but instead choosing political and environmental themes. He was active until very recently, passing away at the age of 90.

Next, we look at Abdul “Duke: Fakir, tenor singer and last original member of the Four Tops. Motown was a big part of my growing up, and much of that came from the smooth vocals from the talented groups on the label. The Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and Martha & the Vandellas were all top notch, but my favorite of them all was the Four Tops. Lead singer Levi Stubbs was amazing to say the least, but the icing on the cake was the tight and timely harmonies provided by Lawrence Payton, Renaldo Benson, and Duke Fakir. Listen to classics such as “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).” “Bernadette,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” and “It’s the Same Old Song.” These four guys were bridging doo-wop with R&B energy.

Then there was the look. The four members, especially Fakir, had absolute class and style in the way that they presented themselves. In the beginning, they wore tailored, matching suits that gave them a gentlemanly look. As the 60s progressed on into the 1970s, they began to make individual fashion statements. Even after leaving Motown, they still had hits with “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” on ABC and “When She Was My Girl” on Casablanca. One has to remember that these four performed together from 1953 to 1997, the longest tenure for any band with original members.

Fakir never left Detroit long-term, He owned much property in the city, and ran a successful restaurant on the Detroit River. He passed away on July 22 of heart failure at the age of 88.

My other big influence that we lost this past week as acoustic guitarist Harry Peter “Happy” Traum. Born in 1938 in the Bronx, he was part of the Washington Square/Greenwich Village scene during the early 1960s, where he would become friends with a young Bob Dylan. Along with Dylan, Pete Seeger, and the Freedom Singers, they recorded Broadside Ballads Volume 1 for Folkways Records. He actually cut the first version of Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”

However, Traum is best known by many, including my introduction to him, for his work in creating guitar instructional books, tapes, and videos through his Homespun Music company. As a guitar teacher in New York City, he first wrote the book Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar in 1965. He was soon making tapes for his students based on transcriptions in the book. Due to the popularity, he formed Homespun with his wife and began advertising in various music magazines. Soon he was releasing instructional tapes from fiddler Kenny Kosek and banjo whiz Bill Keith.

By 1983, Homespun was releasing VCR lessons, which was eventually followed by DVD and online downloads. In 1995, Hal Leonard Corporation took over the massive distribution job. Other artists that Traum recorded for lessons included Chet Atkins, Norman Blake, Rick Danko, Donald Fagen, Jerry Douglas, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Sam Bush, Doc Watson, even musical comedians Steve Martin and Steve Allen. Each video was produced by Traum, starting off in his living room and eventually in a small studio. Many of these videos featured Traum interviewing the presenters, offering insightful questions that would pique the artist’s curiosity and make the student truly interested in the information beyond fingering and picking technique.

While Homespun was Traum’s main passion, he still continued to record his own material, releasing his final recording, “Just for the Love of It,” in 2015 and appearing on Dylan’s Another Self Portrait a year earlier. He passed away on July 17 at the age of 86.

All will be missed. Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

2024 IBMA Award Nominees

The 2024 IBMA Award nominees came out earlier this week. The list can be found here at Bluegrass Today (https://bluegrasstoday.com/2023-ibma-bluegrass-music-awards-nominees-announced-2/).

There is not much surprise here. The usual suspects appear in a number of categories, such as Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Del McCoury, and Sister Sadie. The one category that I am glad to see some fresh faces is New Artist of the Year, even though most of them have been around a while and have great PR. However, I do think that it is time that the IBMA has recognized The Kody Norris Show in that category. After years of endless touring and a number of SPBGMA wins, Kody and his band deserve more “mainstream” bluegrass spotlight.

As far as instrument/vocal awards, the names seem the same as previous years, whether the performer has done any recording or extensive performing. In fact, there is only one name in all of the categories that is brand new (Gaven Largent – Resophonic Guitar Player of the Year). Over the past few years, I tend to lose interest in these categories, and can probably guess who will win way before the show.

As for the Hall of Fame inductees, all three are deserving. Alan Munde has played influential banjo for decades. What can be said about the dobro genius Jerry Douglas that has not been said already. And Katy Daley has been an amazing voice in bluegrass publicity and broadcasting for as long as I can remember.

Not much else to say. Other than hoping my friends in the Kody Norris Show win at least one of the two categories, I really have little interest in the outcome. I only wrote about it this week because I didn’t have any other topic to write about off the top of my head.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Country Music

Joe Bonsall RIP

Elvira!

Everybody over 40 (and quite a few under 40) years of age knows that song. It was an anthem at stadiums, sports bars, and weddings for so many years. How many of us would wait for the “Giddy-up! Pa-pa-ooh-pa-pa-ooh-mow-mow!” bridge in the song? One of the great voices of that country/pop standard left us earlier this week.

Joe Bonsall, tenor singer for the Oak Ridge Boys from 1973 to his retirement in earlier this year, passed away on July 9th from complications of ALS (known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Known for his bushy moustache and wide grin, he was a favorite of fans for his sense of humor and dedication to The Lord. He adored his family, and especially loved his pet cat. He and the Oak Ridge Boys were stalwarts when it came to live performances, never giving a bad show and extremely warm to the fan base.

The history of the group actually dates back to the 1940s, performing primarily as a gospel quartet. By the time Bonsall joined in 1973, they were starting to delve more into mainstream country, and were finding minor success on the country charts. However, the release of “Elvira” in 1981, along with “Bobby Sue” (1982) and “American Made” (1983) gave them their biggest claim to fame.

The incarnation of Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban were how most people remember the quartet and they were at their finest. Along with a number of country records, the group recorded many gospel and Christmas albums. They were one of the few acts to tour the Soviet Union before the fall of Communism, and recorded with other acts such as Roy Clark, Paul Simon and Jimmy Sturr. In 2010, they even recorded a country-ish version of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” They became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 2011, and were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Bonsall was also the author of children’s books, and wrote a story about his mother and father meeting for the first time called GI Joe and Lillie in 2003. He also wrote about the Oak Ridge Boys and the group’s touring adventures. At the time of his death, he was writing a semi-autobiography called I See Myself.

He had missed a number of tour dates starting in 2022 due to health concerns, and finally announced his retirement on January 3, 2024. His last performances were made sitting on a stool and he had to be assisted on and off stage. After the announcement of his passing, a number of country artists such as Travis Tritt and Blake Shelton paid tribute to Bonsall on social media.

I was connected to Bonsall through LinkedIn. We had messaged back and forth a few times, but mostly I watched his posts. He was almost always holding his cat, and his posts were always about faith and love. I remember his announcement of his retirement, and one of his last was a picture of him with his daughters. He also loved to play banjo, and would often post photos of him plucking the five-string.

Joe, your voice, your smile, and your heart will be missed in this world. Now teach the angels to song “Elvira” for me.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music Musical Instruments

Tidbits #6: Hand Massager, Instrument Prices, Meeting Other Bluegrassers

During the guitar workshop at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival last month, some of the discussion centered on hand therapy, such as caring for aches and pains from carpal tunnel and other discomforts. Dalton Harper stated that one of his therapeutic reliefs is an electronic hand massager. They are about the size of a cantaloupe cut in half, and you put your hand in the device for 10-15 minutes for stress relief on your fingers and palm. These devices range from $25.00 to over $100.00 on Amazon, and Dalton recommended paying for the better quality models.

When I got home, I checked Amazon, and found one on sale for around $80.00. I got it in this week, and tried it out. Wow! I thought that it would merely vibrate around on your hand. No, this contraption squeezes, pushes, and rubs your hand and fingers the way that a masseur would work it. On the model that I purchased (Cincom CM-026H) has two different modes of massaging, three different intensities, and optional heat. It is USB rechargeable, and even comes with some disposable gloves in case you put on hand cream beforehand.

I get carpal tunnel in my hands from typing at work, and the first finger on my left (fretting) hand is starting to get arthritic. I have used a small hand warmer on it for temporary relief, but this hand massager made it feel good for hours afterwards. I highly recommend any musician starting to feel some aches in the hands to get one of these items.

Ever since coming back from Charlotte and helping out at the kid’s petting zoo, I have been checking out prices for guitars, mandolins, fiddles and dobros for beginners. Guitars are pretty easy to come by for under $100.00, as well as mandolins. Of course, these will not be great quality instruments, but with the right setup, they are easily playable. Fiddles can be more hit-and-miss. The one that I purchased from Glarry last year turned out to be a great buy. However, I have seen ones that were higher priced that what I paid that sound horrible. Moreover, fiddles need a lot more work setting up than a guitar. You could spend $100.00 for a student violin, then spend more than that just to get it in playable condition.

Then there are the dobros, or resonator guitars. The cheapest that I saw for a beginner model was over $200.00, and that is one with a rounded neck, more suitable for playing like a regular guitar. They can still be played lap-style, but you will have to get an extension nut available at Elderly Instruments or on eBay for about $10.00). In fact, for the absolute beginner, a good alternative may be to just get a regular acoustic guitar and use one of these nut extensions until an actual dobro can be purchased. As for a true square-neck dobro, expect to pay over $500 for a beginner model. I figure that with all of the interest in learning a musical instrument during COVID, prices for guitars and other instruments would go up just like everything else with inflation. With sommer here, I’ve been driving slow past yard sales to see if there are any guitars or violins no longer being played that I can snage for a cheap price. Of course, the US 12 World’s Longest Yard Sale is coming up in early August!

Finally, here’s a unique story. A friend of mine was hit by a car while riding her bike earlier this week and was checked into the hospital a few blocks from my house. When I went to see her, a male nurse named Chris took me to her room. He saw that I was wearing one of my many bluegrass-themed T-shirts, and it turned out that he is a fan as well, which he plays mandolin and hits bluegrass shows when he can. I gave him my number, and we’re hoping to get together soon to do some jamming. Bluegrass fans are few and far between, so it was a pleasant surprise to find another one in the strangest of places.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bass Guitar

A Tale of Two Short-Scale Basses

Readers know that I am a big fan of the bass guitar. It was the first real instrument that I learned (I’m not counting the three horrendous years of saxophone in grade school), and I write a lot of my early songs on the bass before I picked up and learned guitar. I have always been a supporter of teaching the bass guitar to younger students, as one is learning one note on a fretboard is easier to comprehend first before attempting chords on a guitar.

I have seen many times young players with small arms and hands attempting to use a full-scale 34-inch bass guitar with great difficulty. It tells me that the parents did not do much research on purchasing a properly sized bass for the student, but just bought the cheapest bass they could find or let the store salesman talk them into it, saying “They’ll grow into it.” There are a number of shorter-scale bass guitars on the market, many of them very affordable, that can make lessons and performance for the young musician a lot easier.

I recently purchased two short-scale bass guitars made by Glarry to test them out and see if they are worthwhile for the student as far as value, comfort, playability, and performance. Both retail for under $100 on the Glarry website, but I was able to snag each one a lot cheaper through shopping at eBay and Amazon.

The first is the GW101 36-inch Kid’s Electric Bass Guitar. This bass is incredibly small, as the 36 inches refers to its entire length. The scale from nut to bridge is 25.5 inches. That’s actually the scale length of a Fender Stratocaster or Martin acoustic guitar! The body is a lot smaller as well. One YouTube video review of this bass showed the player gripping the entire body of the bass with one hand. If playing with the thumb or fingers, the player can actually rest the rest of the hand on one of the body curves and not need a resting piece mounted on or near the pickups.

Speaking of pickups, there are two Jazz Bass style pickups, and the controls are wired like a standard Jazz Bass (one volume for each pickup, and a single tone control). Since the pickups are so close to each other, there is very little difference in the tone that each creates, so going with a Precision Bass type pickup or a single pickup with two controls (volume and tone) might have brought the price down a bit. The light weight makes it very easy on the back, even a child will not have a problem with it strapped around him/her. The neck is also comfortable, with fret ends filed down so as not to snag on the hand.

The playability was good, not fantastic. The output is typical of a lower-end bass, giving a decent sound but nothing shattering. The dual pickups do serve as a humbucker mode, so some humming noise does cancel out, but not completely. It doesn’t take long to get used to the very short scale, although setting intonation may take a little effort. Besides a suitable bass for a young student, this would also make a good travel bass if needed.

My big complaint is the finish on the body. It was not sanded well, so running your hand over it feels like a piece of rough-cut wood, fearing getting a splinter. The paint job looks like it was done with some spray cans real fast just to cover up the wood. I would recommend rubbing in some good polish to the body so it feels a bit smoother.

The other bass guitar checked out is Glarry model 30-inch GB Electric Bass Guitar. This is a direct copy of the Fender Squier Bronco Bass, with a Mustang-style body and 30-inch scale, a length found on the Hofner 500/1 “Beatle” Bass as well as some Gibson and Epiphone models. The balance is OK, considering the smaller size, as many full-scale basses from Glarry and other Asian manufacturers use a lightweight wood for the body, so the weight of the headstock will pull down and put stress on the shoulder. This one has a slight problem like that, and could have used a smaller headstock. There is only one single coil pickup, and two controls for volume and tone.

The finish on the body and back of neck are quality. Running the fretting hand back and forth along the back of the neck was a smooth endeavor. The paint job is much better than the GW101, and is definitely comparable to upper-grade basses.

I like the playability and comfort of this bass a bit more. My first bass was a 30-inch scale, so I have always been able to play moving bass lines a lot better with my fretting hand, even though I’ve used mostly full-scale basses for the past 30 years. The pickup does kick out some hum noise, but not an annoying amount. The neck is also well finished with no snagging fret ends. This would be a definite first choice for a younger teen student, or even an adult with smaller hands. I have known many female bass players that play this type of bass due to the hand size. As with the GW101, an adjustment with the bridge saddles for proper intonation will be necessary.

Both basses came shipped with a cheap gig-bag, low-end strap, cables, pick, and hex keys for adjusting the neck and bridge saddles. The gig bag for the GW101 was really extremely low-quality, basically a glorified trash bag. When zipping it up with the bass inside, it could barely close around the headstock unless you put the tuning gears in a flat position, which means re-tuning the bass when playing again. Unfortunately, it will be nearly impossible to find a good gig bag or case for this size bass. Maybe a large ukulele gig bag?

As for the cables, the GW101 came with a very low-quality one. After a dozen uses, this type will start to crackle and short out. I am not sure if it was a packaging error, but the GB bass came with a good-quality webbed-covered 10-foot cord, which usually go for about $20.00 at Sweetwater or Guitar Center. Both have bridges and tuning gears that are expected on lower-priced instruments. They serve their purpose, but are not high quality, so if the bass was being used extensively, replacement would eventually be necessary. However, they work fine for a student that is just beginning to learn the bass.

At the bluegrass festival last weekend, at least three bands had bass players using electric basses instead of the more traditional upright bass. So playing an electric bass is not as unusual as expected in bluegrass. For the parents having a young child or teen interested in playing bass in bluegrass, or any other format, these two basses are worth considering. They are extremely affordable, and there is not a lot of investment lost if the kid loses interest and the instrument goes on the garage sale block.

Chew on it and comment.

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