Excuses, Excuses...

A while back I was chatting with Pappy. Being the Gretsch advocate that he is he asked me "Pipes, how is it that you do not have a 6120?"

Today on my drive into work I mentally revisited that conversation. I was listening to the new Skinny Jim album and I realized that about half of my top ten albums that I listen to all the time are played on a Gretsch. The Gretsch guitar has an unmistakable tone that is absolutely integral to a lot of the music I love. So today I asked myself why don't I have a Gretsch.

When Pappy asked me that question a while back my first response was money. Well money is a very true reason, but lets be honest here money has been an issue for as long as I can remember in my adult life and it really hasn't stopped me from acquiring gear that I want... Sure it may take a lot of planning, but I have gotten gear that is important to me. So with that road block shattered lets move on to my second response...

"I am not good enough to play a Gretsch!"

Now to be fair... I do believe this to be a valid reason... I mean I do suck at playing guitar. If my knowledge and love of the instrument transcended to my playing skills I would be incredible. Don't get me wrong... I am far from horrible. I am just not good. So yeah, why would I degrade such a fantastic instrument with my subpar playing.

So while I am not the best player, I am beginning to realize that this is more of a personal mental block then it is a valid reason. A mental block that not only keeps me from having a Gretsch, but also keeps me from being a better player. See I have two musical loves if you really get down to it. Old School California Punk and Rockabilly. Now the punk genre was easy to jump into as a player. While I still maintain that it is not simple to play punk, however it does lend itself very easily to the basic guitaring skill everyone learns. Whereas Rockabilly... jeez that just seems like greek compared to typical guitaring skills. So it is very easy for me to sit here and continue playing my punk rock standards and come up with thousands of excuses as to why I cannot begin to play the Rockabilly music I love so dearly.

But now there is a flip side to the conversation... The side that says

"Having a Gretsch would actually motivate you to play better."

I am beginning to truly believe that it would. Coming home from a long day to a big ole Gretsch would certainly be motivation to play. But also foster the desire to learn some of those Rockabilly riffs that my heart has been dying to play.

So I think within this little conversation with myself I have sold myself on buying a Gretsch. Now we go back to the original money issue. Well that will work out in time now that it is part of my plan. So hopefully within the next year I will be writing you talking about my new Gretsch! Really I think Gretsch should see this as a great opportunity to chronicle how owning a Gretsch can make one a better player and thus give me one :). Hey you gotta at least try, right?

Talk Hard, Play Harder!

- Pipes