...about all things guitaristic

A caller asked for some Spanish licks and Tom showed him a few. It turned out the caller was really talking about Malaguena which he had seen on an Esteban commercial.

Tom talked with a caller about flying with guitars. He suggested using a large box cut to size, padded with tape, and put the case inside that. Or have a special crate built if it’s an extra special guitar. Bob suggested UPSing the guitar to yourself. Tom also pointed out, for those with the cash to spend, you can buy a seat for your guitar. Another thought is, at least for this caller who travels often to one location, have two guitars, one for here and one for there.

A Mexican caller asked about requinto guitars and Los Panchos. Tom and the caller agreed that there’s a lot of beautiful music from Mexico. Tom demonstrates the harmonized scales as they are used in popular songs.

A caller asks Tom’s advice on getting into alternate tuning.

A caller asked Tom why he plays with acrylic fingernails.

A caller who missed the first part of the show asked for a re-cap of Tom’s demo about 12-string guitars.

A second caller asks advice about purchasing hollow body or solid body guitars, in particular, he wonders about Tom’s advice on Les Pauls for playing blues.

A caller asked about Tom’s background, what kind of guitar he was playing, and some advice on buying an instrument. Tom’s candy apple Strat copy is a Godin, the same French Canadian company that makes Normans, Simon & Patricks, Seagulls, etc. Godin copied the Jackson neck and Strat body on this twenty-year-old guitar.

A caller asked for Tom’s fastest flamenco. It took years for Tom to be able to play a steel string like a nylon string because the strings are a lot thinner, tighter and harder. The trick is to have more flexibility in the last joints of your fingers.

A caller asks for finger tapping pointers.

One caller asked about Midnight Special which gave Tom an opportunity to appreciate Huddie Ledbetter's influence on guitar.

Crazy glue, acrylic, Elmers... Tom talks with a caller about high maintenance fingernails on low maintenance guitarists.