Monday, June 8, 2009
When I learned to play guitar I never bothered learning to read staff notation. As a result every time I wanted to learn a new song I had to hear it, memorise it and then try play along with whatever guidance was given to me, which was usually either "fake books" or Tabs. Recently I have been reading and the best way to explain it is like this:
If you speak mainly English and try speak another language, like German, there are subtle nuances and pronunciations you will miss out. I went to Germany and was given a basic run down of phrases, like how to order a beer, "Ein Bitter." I was even taught to count and got given a dictionary with a few phrases.
I got lost one day looking for Mülheim. I asked a lot of people how I could get there and nobody had heard of it. After asking everyone one guy looked eager to help so I showed him the map, "OOooh,"he exclaimed,"M(ule) heim. That's round the corner."
I was utterly disappointed that all those people couldn't help me, but I was saying, "Mullheim," when it was supposed to be pronounced, "Muleheim"
I had completely failed to communicate. While I had learned a few phrases, I certainly wasn't well versed at communicating, like I though I was.
Music is another language altogether. We can speak it, play it, write it and read it. By writing a letter in English, we have the ability to communicate well with other English speaking people. When we write down a piece of music, a musician (who can read!) will pick it up and play it exactly as you wrote it.
If you learn the language of music fluently, you will be able to create, understand and communicate in a language of Gods. Once you know the language you can make people feel how you want them to, think what you want them to. You can make people fall in love, be excited or you can make them scared, sad or angry.
Yet so many of us try to learn a few phrases, then we try communicate anything and everything we feel. Sometimes we get lucky but one has to look at great composers and wonder why they never had a song consisting of only 3 chords.
At least we'll always know where the bus station is.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
One of the outstanding tasks for the Ibanez RG was to get the Trem arm which was proving rather difficult. In the end I popped into Coastal Music to see what they had. Oddly I was told there was nothing but Dieter dragged me into the back room where they had all sorts of parts and we found what looked like a trem arm for a strat but it fit my guitar. He gave it to me for nothing.
Seeing as I was so stoked I decided to look at their Classical guitars.
Now I've been in the market for a good Nylon string for a while now. Since I sold the Bassman I also had the cash on hand for it. Now a really good Nylon String could set you back a few thousand rand, I had a limit of R2000, less because I wanted a bag with it and some spare available for strings. That didn't leave me with much of an option.

I believe every guitarist needs a good Acoustic-Electric. It gives you another dimension in your music, not everything must be loud and thrashing, there are times when people want to see you play without major 'electronic assistance.' I wanted a Nylon string because I love the mellow sound, and I also love playing with my fingers. It is not the guitar for everyone but I enjoy it immensely and I feel it gives me a competitive edge over other working guitarists in the area who all run the risk of sounding the same. Think "Rodrigo y Gabriella" vs any rock band you hear doing unplugged, aside from Incubus' "A certain shade of Green" that was phenomenal.

I played a Crafter at Turnkey Music which was OK, but on further jamming the action was a bit high and the price was over my budget. I also tried the Ashland guitars which were within the price range but not good enough so I left it.

My previous classical was an Aria which I liked the action and feel, but at the time I had just acquired an Ibanez which had much better electronics and sound, although the action, once again, was a bit high.

Back to Coastal Music, I was shown a few, there were some nice Ibanez guitars and they are reasonably priced for the quality. I had put Coastal Music in the category of stocking only expensive to very expensive guitars but to find a fair range from R1500 to R2500 was impressive.
I was shown a second hand classical which was OK, I would have taken it at R1495 and played it for a short while in the shop.
Then I was handed the G5ECEAM. It is a budget Ibanez Nylon String with a piezo pickup and AEQ200T Preamp with a built in Tuner. Now, that's all a bunch of useless numbers, but this guitar had a great sound, great feel and was priced at R1700.

I'm not too sure about how the business side of music shops work, and maybe they picked up my reluctance to pay that much for this guitar, but I was offered a good discount and bought the guitar and a cheap carry bag for R1550.
What a deal!

Now there isn't much that stands out from this guitar, in fact it feels very much like the guitar I first learned on. Maybe that's what I love so much about it. It feels like home, but it has a few features that my first guitar didn't have.


As a kid I was fascinated by the decoration around the sound hole, I believe it's called a Rosette. I haven't paid much attention to them but in the process of scrutinising the guitar for this blog, I noticed that while this one isn't striking, it reminds me of the quality finish old guitars have and it gives me that little bit of useless nostalgia and reminds me of watching my father play.




My early guitars never had a cutaway, which never mattered as I never ventured into that region of the fretboard as much as I do now.

The preamp is fairly decent, with a 2 band equaliser (bass and treble) which I still need to figure out the right settings for when I do use it. I generally play into a PA system. The general rule is that you need a balanced input into a PA which I never needed for my previous Ibanez which had a balanced output. This guitar doesn't have that, I wouldn't expect it to for the price although I have noticed that I could previously get away without a DI box but with this guitar it is necessary. There is a hum present that goes away when the signal is balanced.


What I found amusing is that inside the guitar is written "Salvador Ibanez" then something that looks like Spanish. Not far beneath that it says "Made in China." Mind you, as Chinese products go I think it will be a while before they get some respect (much like blonde's and the Irish) but this is a very good quality item so far. They have done well to keep the look, sound and feel like a hand made Spanish guitar.
Overall I feel this guitar is exactly what I was looking for. It is a quality instrument, well built and sounds great. It feels easy to play and makes me want to play more, exactly what I expect from a guitar. Ibanez have done very well to provide a low price instrument and they will ensure that everybody can play a great guitar, unlike other manufacturers who are extremely overpriced and lacking in the quality you expect.

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Donovan Banks
Durban, KZN, South Africa
I am a musician who does anything and everything else. I write about what I do and how I do it. Enjoy and feel free to comment.
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