Hamer_SS_guy

After I spent some time listening to newer stuff, I recently spent some time to listen to some old 60's/70's stuff, Traffic, Zappa, Cozy Powell, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Buddy Miles Express, Cactus, early (pre-Perry) Journey, Todd Rundgren, Tubes

Get well soon.

My GF bought tickets for Hannover, Germany next year. Yes, expensive, but what isn't these days? No need to save the money to the bank with 0% interest.

Very pretty guitar.

I'd say, someone like Greg Koch is a hero for musicians. Maybe not in sales, but the guy is a fantastic player, very entertaining and his YT clips get watched. I always look for what gear he uses. While I was watching clips of the Fender Acoustasonic Tele I got aware of the talent of Nathaniel Murphy. But one thing is for sure, all those yesterday's guitar heroes would have been nothing if they hadn't had an equally great band with them.

I watched a few YT clips of these. Hmm, not my thing. If I'd go non-tube, I'd buy a small amp that fits on a pedalboard, like the BluGuitar Amp1 Mercury Edition. and carry a cab only. Why should I play a digital amp of that size. I still have some big and heavy amps, not that I couldn't carry them, but one gets lazy and I don't need a heavy amp to carry around, just to keep it low volume. So I got a Mesa Mark V:35 head, it is small, light and compact, got a 1x12" Mesa Thiele cab (Celestion C90). Even 35W are more than enough. There are other small tube amps that sound great. A Fender Princeton would even be enough for most of my gigs.

Nice one. Recently I am thinking about getting a cherry sunburst Elite Telecaser, but I want an Acoustasonic Tele first.

My green Cali, and as a bassplayer I'd say my Hamer Chaparral Bass. I don't plan to sell my other gear though. And even though I recently play other stuff (Hamer Steve Stevens, Fender Strat built from parts, Fender US Dlx J Bass) quite much, the Cali and Chap Bass will stay my favorite instruments.

I have a big comic book collection (mostly 60's-80's stuff), art books. I also have quite much drawing and painting utensils. I had a nice collection of carnivorous plants once. I have some CD/DVD stuff too, but it is just a small collection compared to what I have seen by other people.

I love the Steve Stevens model, especially the 22-fret, ebony board with blocks ones, but not in zulu color. I guess, I am too old or too boring. I'd love more the traditional colors (did I say preferably maple top/body in cherry sunburst?)

There are lots more heroes of older age, Deep Purple, Jeff Beck, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Police, Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, Edgar Winter, Billy Cobham, many well-known sidemen like Vinnie Colaiuta, David Sancious, Carl Palmer, too many to list here. Even VH have come into old age. All those musicians that are big names to musicians. The original Motorhead, all dead, also the Spiders from Mars, Emerson, Lake and Powell, next will be the hair metal scene, then the 90's acts and with them us too. Then there is a population that has it's own problems and struggles, while that is no matter for us anymore.

Here's some example of a cover song of my favorite album (Jeff Beck Group's ROUGH AND READY): It shows that new performances can still be interesting and exciting. It doesn't need necessarily the original artists. For example, Dweezil Zappa's band with relative unknowns performs FZ's music perfectly (though I miss FZ's humor a bit). Here is the original performance of the above clip:

Funny thing is, that nowadays I sometimes feel like how I remember my very early years before I developed any interests. It is a vague memory from when I was about 3-5 years old. I remember I was happy playing outside, no matter if it was raining or the sun was shining. Nowadays, when I am cycling outside, I enjoy the blue sky, not thinking about anything, no problems, no music, no guitars, just nothing. Then I go into my music room, see my guitars, but don't feel like they are special, they're just guitars. Not too long ago, I was thinking all things I am interested in were something special. They may be special, but just to me. I could think "wow, my Gibson RD Artist Bass is from 1978, it could tell stories", but no, it doesn't. I wanted one, because it looked cool, it looked cool in old pics. I never found it cool to play, I don't look cool with it. If I were gone instantly, my family would sell that bass as were it nothing special. And it isn't special, as there will be more and more RD basses for sale with fewer buyer interests. Or another example, I love comic books, not really a big collector though. There are still many collectors in my age. A book like Amazing Fantasy #15 (1st Spider-man appearance) is worth a lot on the collectors' market, but for how long? Collecting stuff like that, or vintage guitars, seems only interesting when there is a worth behind it, and when there's enough people in believing in that. There is still new music that inspires me, maybe oldfashioned style, but yet it inspires me, though it's not hero-worshipping. Just yesterday I watched some clips and I watched some clips about the "Neo Ventilator II" or Nathaniel Murphy playing the Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster, also watched some clips of Greg Koch playing. This guy got me interested in Telecasters recently, and I am really thinking about selling some stuff (I seldom use) to get a US Elite Tele and an Acoustasonic. Because I realize, these are now my last 20-30 years (maybe even less), after I am gone, all my stuff might be worth next to nothing. But hey, no reason, to feel depressed. At least, I did enjoy all that old music, movies, whatever. Nobody can take the memories from me.

When I play bass, some old disco tunes are fun to play. I think, there was a thin line between 70's funk and disco. Artists like George Duke or Narada Michael Walden shure did stuff that sounded very disco. Barry White was pure disco to me, but I like that, "Love's Theme" for example with all that string arrangement played by real strings. Queen went disco too. Even Kiss' "I was made for loving you".

I remember The Sweet playing live 1974 at the Musikladen (which followed the legendary Beat Club). They were really heavy then, I remember them playing "Turn it Down". Most other german music shows were just lip sync, boring for me even as a kid. But there were the old Beat Club recordings (which were mostly played live) and also the Rockpalast series which had fantastic live concerts by artists that were not always mentioned in the top 40 charts (but sometimes still well-known).