Writing Music

Sometimes it's not enough to play guitar. Sometimes you need to write guitar. That's where these fonts and dingbats come in handy. They're free at fontspace.com.

Sir Doug's Hand and King Hank's Martin

The late Doug Sahm represented just about every kind of music you can hear in Texas -- rock, country, Tex-Mex or R&B -- and he could play it just about every kind of instrument -- guitar, piano, steel guitar or bajo sexto.

Sahm was always one of my favorites "She's About a Mover" is on the soundtrack of my life), which makes this new biography, "Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm," a bit of a disappointment. It's a little thin on detail and insight, especially when it comes to parts that might be construed as negative. I guess that's what happens when the subject's son is one of the co-authors.

In his later years Sahm developed reptitive stress injury problems. My 10 fingers work well enough and it's hard to imagine how you could play with a problem like the one described in the book:

"When he started to hit a D chord playing his guitar, the middle finger of his left hand would lock up. In the middle of a song, he'd have to fling the damn finger like he'd been stung by a wasp or grab and jerk it back into working order. He was embarrassed and concerned enough that he went to see a doctor, who told him, 'That's what happens to old rock 'n' roll guitar players'" ...

It would take a lot of nerve to play the guitar pictured below and Neil Young has plenty of nerve.

That 1941 Martin D-28 once belonged to Hank Williams. I'm talking about Hank Sr., of course. Young bought in the '70s and while a lot of people would want to put it in a museum -- if not a church -- he believes guitars are for playing.

"It's always great when someone understands what this is that they're holding, who understands the effect Hank Williams had on all of us," Young said in a Guitar Player interview. "They are sort of awestruck by being in the presence of anything that he touched -- to the point that to actually play his instrument elevates them to another level. It's a wonderful thing to have a guitar for that reason."

Young wrote "This Old Guitar" about Hank's Martin and it goes a little something like this:

This old guitar ain't mine to keep
Just taking care of it now
It's been around for years and years
Just waiting in its old case

It's been up and down the country roads
It's brought a tear and a smile
It's seen its share of dreams and hopes
And never went out of style

There's a link to tie all this together. An 11-year-old Sir Doug had his picture taken sitting on Hank's lap at a nighclub in Austin one night in 1952. A couple of weeks later Williams died on New Year's Eve.

Musical Dustbunny

Don't be frightened by that hideous creature on the right. It's OK; it can't hurt you now.

It did give me quite a scare last night, though, when it came tumbling out of the Hummingbird.

I had dropped a pick in the soundhole so I flipped the guitar over in order to shake it out. Instead, this dustbunny -- about the size of a full-grown cat -- fell into my lap. I didn't know whether to call Animal Control or a hazmat team.

Apparently, it had been growing in the guitar for many years before its owner, Rico, passed it along to me, as related in The Hummingbird's Tale. My melodious playing must have aroused it.

Upon further shaking, the Hummingbird yielded two mismatched socks, 78 cents in change, a handful of Cheetos and a copy of "Lord of the Flies" that was due back at the Atlanta public library on Feb. 12, 1977.

I never did find the pick. I think the dustbunny ate it.

My Conversations With Rock Stars, Part 9

OK, I can handle the loud part but I'm really going to have to fake the grace and intelligence.

And Sitting in Tonight With Jerry Jeff Is ...

I was just listening to some Internet radio (Wild West Radio, which is www.wildwestradio.com on your Internet dial) and Jerry Jeff Walker's version of the great Guy Clark song "L.A. Freeway" came up. This excited me greatly because that's a song I can damn near play.


I snatched up the closest stringed instrument, which happened to be the Alvarez, and joined right in. I wouldn't say I added a whole lot to the song (in fact, some might say I rendered it unrecognizable) but it was sure fun to play along.

At the end I gave myself a sitting ovation but didn't do an encore.

Killer Clapton?

Is Eric Clapton really a murderous fiend? That's the plot of a movie script that will never be filmed.

Clapton told Rolling Stone that he once was approached by a man who had written a script that came up with an explanation of how he acquired his guitar skills.

"He wanted to make a movie about the fact that in order to be a virtuoso, I had to kill all my idols," Clapton said. "So I murdered Stevie Ray (Vaughan) and Jimi (Hendrix) in order to become this guitar hero. He thought it was a great idea."

In the meantime, "The Runaways," the movie about the all-girl jail-bait rock band of the '70s, opens tomorrow. Deadheads are still waiting for the movie that's supposed to be made about Jerry Garcia's pre-Dead days.

My Conversations With Rock Stars, Part 8

Are you implying I don't have it? I think you are.

Short Takes

I've decided to start selling air guitars. If you think about it, it makes sense -- low start-up costs, very little overhead, minimal staffing required.


My first offering (shown on the right; guitar stand not included) is this beautiful Martin DC-15W acoustic-electric with mahogany top, bottom and sides and rosewood fingerboard. $1,200 or best offer. Serious inquiries only, please ...


Pigs have not taken flight, hell is still no suitable environment for snowballs and Keith Richards has not quit drinking. Asked about recent reports that he had given up booze, Richards told a newspaper:

"Listen, the rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated. And we'll leave it at that!"

I believe him, too. Had he really given it up, we would have read about several distilleries going out of business ...

Urbandictionary.com has several listings for "geetar," including this one: Quite possibly the most annoying and stupid way to refer to a 'guitar.' Proper guitarists never say 'geetar' as it's just too damn idiotic.

Well, you certain wouldn't want to overuse "geetar" but I have to think there are certain instances and certain places where it would be OK, such as any Saturday night within a 200-mile radius of Amarillo. It's one of those situational things, I suppose.

Woodstock With Jocks

There will be musical interlude in baseball spring training this week. The link between baseball and guitar is fairly well established and will be on full display Thursday night in Scottsdale, Ariz., at what's being billed as Woodjock 2010 -- A Big League Jam Fest.

It's being put together by Chicago White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy, the National League's 2007 Cy Young Award winner who's taken the stage with Kenny Chesney and Pat Green, and proceeds will go to a variety of charities.


Also on the bill:

• Former New York Yankee all-star centerfielder Bernie Williams, who's a classically trained guitarist, whose second album comes out next month.
• San Francisco pitcher Barry Zito, another former NL Cy Young winner, who has performed with Chris Isaak.
• Cincinnati pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who released an album in 2005.
• Pitcher Scott Linebrink, who is Peavy's teammate in Chicago.
• Tim Flannery, a former second baseman and now a coach with the Giants, who takes his country act on the road during the off-season.
• Former major league first baseman Ben Broussard, a full-time musician now that he's out of baseball.
• Giants reliever Brandon Medders.
• White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham.
• Sportswriter Peter Gammons
• Umpire Joe West. 

Tuned In, Tune Doubt

I just had one of those privately embarrassing moments. I was plucking around on the Hummingbird and it sounded awful, just awful. Like the sound of two cars colliding while cats scream through a bullhorn.

"Jeez," I muttered. "This is ridiculous. How'd this thing get so far out of tune? I know I don't play that badly."

So I whipped out the trusty Korg GA-30 tuner and cranked it up. Much to my eternal chagrin, each and every string was perfectly tuned. It turns out I do play that badly.

My Conversations With Rock Stars, Part 7

 

Of course, with me they're usually saying something along the lines of, "Uh, could you please put down the guitar."

iPod Returns to Texas

Last month I thought it was a coincidence that seven of the 13 acts on the
random iPod play were from Texas. This month six of them are Texas-based and I'm starting to think it's not a coincidence. Maybe I just have a lot of Texas music and, after all, today is Texas Independence Day.

• "Lovestruck Baby," Stevie Ray Vaughan
• "Six Gun," Reckless Kelly
• "Daddy Had a Buick," Robert Earl Keen
• "Love and Gasoline," Donna the Buffalo
• "Keep on a Rockin'," Ten Years After
• "Heaven and Hell," Willie Nelson
• "The Real Me," Johnny Adams
• "Easy From Now On," Emmylou Harris
• "Mr. Wolf and Mamabear," Robert Earl Keen
• "Buzz Fledderjohn," Tom Waits
• "Somebody's Comin'," Todd Snider
• "Superstition," Stevie Ray Vaughan
• "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)," Hank Williams

Stray Notes

Jimi Hendrix had something special going on under that super-sized Afro.

A new study says Hendrix's ambidexterity (he wrote and ate with his right hand but was mostly a lefty when it came to playing guitar) indicates he was able to utilize both sides of his brain better than most of us, thereby making him way more creative than most of us. Maybe this is what he was talking about when he sang, "Purple haze all in my brain."

Not only did the ambidexterity help his playing, it gave Hendrix a unique ability to meld lyrics and melody, says the author of the study, psychologist Stephen Christman.

This reveals still another handicap I suffer. Sometimes the right and left sides of my brain don't even talk to each other ...

Derek Trucks has impressive lineage. Not only is the slide guitar wizard the nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, he's the great-nephew of Virgil Trucks, one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of his time and one of the few to throw two no-hitters in one season.

According to this story by guitar-playing sportswriter Peter Gammons, Derek used to have a Virgil Trucks baseball card stuck on the back of his guitar ...

Randy Bachman was asked in this interview what he considered the five most essential guitars and said this about the Telecaster (even though he's got a Gibson in that picture):

"You can throw it off your roof on to your driveway and it won't break. You can go down, pick it up and it will still be in tune. It's an amazing guitar."

The Telecaster -- it's the People's Guitar ...

Voting has closed in the Name the Imaginary Band poll (located in the right-hand column). The leading vote-getters were Nervous Rex with 11, Insignificant Others with 10 and the Long Goners, Fretbuzz and Your Imaginary Friends with nine votes each. But the winner is Stinktown Willie and the Hard Liquors with six votes because that's the name I like best.

Nobody said it was going to be a fair election.