Dana_V

...and Chuck Berry was very much influenced by T-Bone Walker. The guitar riffs, the stage moves... all T-Bone. T-Bone just never crossed over into the rock/pop world the way Chuck did. You can hear a lot of Walker's style in Jimmy Page's playing, too.

I wondered about that myself. Obviously it's a play on the CT song "Stiff Competition," but I'm not really sure what "still competition" means. Something that remains a competition? A competition that isn't moving? Don't know. I'm gonna order the book, so maybe it will all become clear after I read it.

The Guitar Radio Show podcast has posted a new interview with Robert Lawson, author of Still Competition: The Listener's Guide to Cheap Trick. In the interview he mentions the brothers Matthes and The Book, and talks about how he went to great lengths to get the details of the guitars right – and how it drives him nuts when a Hamer Standard is referred to as a Gibson Explorer. http://guitarradioshow.com/episode-211-author-robert-lawson-still-competition-listeners-guide-to-cheap-trick/

One strap per guitar, Dunlop strap locks on all. The strap is stored in the case, not attached to the guitar. Except for checkerboard straps on some of the Hamers, everything else is Couch. (Since I'm not lucky enough to have any real Hamer checkerboard straps, I have to settle for Levy's/Planet Waves/Rock Steady.) Each strap is carefully selected for each individual guitar, of course. 😏 No tuners in the cases but there is a polish cloth and, most importantly, a pick. Few things are more annoying than taking a guitar out of the case and there's no pick available.

^^ This. ^^ As a young guitarist, Tres Hombres was my textbook - and I couldn't rest until I figured out how he was getting that sound. If you hear me doing a pinch harmonic, it's because of that album.

I read it every day but only post when I feel I've got something worthy to contribute. As in real life, I try to adhere to the old adage "a closed mouth gathers no foot" (with varying degrees of success). Besides, even though I've been an avid Hamer player since 1982, I've only been a member here since 2015 so I'm still kinda the new guy.

Yeah, but just think of it. A fully-assembled bicycle, same-day delivered by DRONES. I mean, come on, how awesome would that be?

Haha! Next time I do that bit I'll have to add (in a heavy Bono accent), "Am I buggin' ya? Don't mean to bug ya!" 😄

Very cool. I don't make it to the jams very often. Between the day job, two bands and being a single parent (widower) to a middle-school-age daughter, I just don't have any time. One of my bands, The Rhythm Dawgs, has played at the Roadhouse on a regular basis since 1999 (back when it was called Gabriel's). We're doing our 20th anniversary show there in December. We also play at Hardtails in Georgetown fairly regularly. With the Dawgs I usually only bring three or four guitars, but with my other band, SUIT... well...last time at the Alcove (formerly Junior 's) in Round Rock I brought 19 plus a lap steel. Pretty ridiculous. 😏 How about you? Do you play out much?

"Hi, I'd like to come see the guitar you're selling, but can you please put on shoes first? Thanks." @shankyboy, you're in Round Rock? I live in Pflugerville (with a RR address). Small world, eh?

Ain't nothin' wrong with that! 😄

Yeah, I've got to work on that MJ hat-flip move. 😏 That picture was taken during the part where I go out into the audience and lead them in a "repeat-after-me scream-along," which I prefer to do standing on a table (as long as the table is sturdy enough). Last time we played there, I was approached by the bar's assistant manager at the end of the night: "Can you, um, NOT stand on the tables? 'Cause if you're gonna stand on a table we're gonna have to get you to, uh, sign a release or something." So this time I did it standing on two chairs. However, as I was getting ready climb onto the chairs, the bar manager went running over to the sound guy: "He's not gonna stand on a table is he?! Tell him he can't stand on the tables!" I did that too. When my wife was pregnant I would lay my acoustic guitar on her belly and play all sorts of things, including Elvis's "Mystery Train." I don't know if it had an effect or not, but both kids do love music - especially my daughter (now age 13). She's a singer and plays saxophone, ukulele and (a little) guitar. I am constantly amazed by her natural sense of pitch and timing.

Yes. And yes it does.

At last Saturday's gig I was doing the bit where I walk through the crowd with my guitar during a song when I heard a guy say, "Bless our baby!" I turned around. "What?" "Put your guitar against her belly and bless our baby!" he said, as he stepped aside and pointed to his wife's very-pregnant midsection. I looked at her as if to say, "Are you sure about this?" With a huge grin on her face, she shifted around in her chair (the tables and chairs are "bar height"). I didn't want to press up against anything I shouldn't be pressing up against, so I said, "Okay - I'm going to hold my guitar here and you lean into it." I positioned my guitar vertically, with the neck pointing up and the other end resting on her thigh. She leaned over and pressed her baby-belly against the side of the lower bout. I couldn't think of any baby songs at the moment - I guess should have improvised a version of "Rock-a-bye Baby" or something - so I just played some nonsense that involved a lot of open E string. I figured the lower the frequencies the better. And they both seemed to like it. In fact, they seemed to think it was about the coolest thing ever. The people around them liked it too. So after a few seconds I pulled away slightly and said, "How's that?" They both said "Thank you!" I made my way back to the stage thinking, "Well, THAT'S never happened before." To keep this post Hamer related, here's a picture from that night featuring me standing on a chair with my '05 Korina Junior, a wireless mic in one hand and my fedora in the other.

I posted this on Facebook, but I'll put it here too. There's a review of two of the new Hamer-branded guitars in the October issue of Guitar Player magazine. Apart from pointing out that both test models needed some setup adjustment out of the box, Dave Hunter's review is mostly positive. However, this line made me chuckle a little: "...fans of the style and attitude that Joel [sic] Dantzig and Paul Hamer founded back in 1973 are likely to receive these affordable creations with a welcoming smile." Not so sure about that welcoming smile, Dave.