1973 Big Muff Pi

Over on Effects Bay they’re talking about the Big Muff Pi (I can’t wait to see the kind of google visitors I get for having those keywords on my site. I’m not sure if it will be people interested in porn or fanatics of the number 3.14159265)

I don’t have any effects in my setup yet. I’ve been focused on trying to get a sound I like straight from my guitars and amp. I wanted to get familiar with the nuances of each guitar before throwing effects into the mix. But after seeing the video he posted comparing the different versions of Big Muff Pi through the years, I think I might have to dive in and get one.

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What’s Going On Here?

It’s been a couple weeks since I started this blog and I thought I’d post another “what’s this site all about” post since I’ve had some more time to think about it. I’m sure I’ll have some further insight down the road, but this is what I’ve been come up with so far.

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Blues In G

Here’s a little riff my guitar teacher taught me to help with playing bar chords. It’s pretty simple and sounds pretty cool. Just pick a strumming pattern you like.

G7 | C7 | G7 | G7
C7 | C7 | G7 | G7
D7 | C7 | G7 | G7
D7 | C7 | G7 | G7

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Gibson ES-175SP

Since I’ve been posting about buying my guitars lately I might as well round it out with what has been my favorite guitar to date (although the Les Paul I bought last weekend is nipping at its heals for that title)

I wasn’t planning on buying a new guitar (I think all my guitar purchasing stories start that way). At the time I already had two guitars (a Gretsch 5120 and Rickenbacker 330) and as I’ve said before, one guitar is more than enough for a beginner, let a lone two… let alone three (and let alone four now)!

But, I love guitars and had recently heard about Rockers Guitar in San Francisco so I thought I’d check them out. It turns out they were having a really good sale because they are trying to get rid of all their inventory so they can focus on making guitars rather than selling other manufacturer’s guitars.

The list of guitars I want is endless and their stock seemed to be endless as well. But, the guitar I fell in love with was a Gibson ES-175SP.

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Vox AC15CC vs Fender Blues Junior

When I was looking for an amplifier I knew my price range topped out at $600 and I knew I wanted a tube amp. After looking around a bit I narrowed my choice down to the Vox AC15CC and the Fender Blues Junior amps.

I needed to hear the amps, so I headed to a local Guitar Center to give them a listen.Since I’m a beginner I didn’t feel like I could really get a good idea of what the amps could do since I have a limited range of things I can play (that and I’d be too embarrassed to crank up the volume to get a good listen). So I asked one of the employees to play on the amps (and believe me, this guy could play. I had him playing Blues, Rockabilly and Jazz). As he played we tried out the spectrum of settings on each of the amps. I had him play a Strat and a Les Paul to get different sounding guitars in the mix as well.

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