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| Yvalain, who loves his guitar |
A musician was overheard recently at a gathering, just before a performance, extolling the benefits of the Washburn travel guitar, an instrument that is about half the size of the ordinary guitar. Her remarks mirror what many musicians feel about their instruments, a connection that is important and described in ways often attributed to living creatures. For to a musician the instrument seems to have the life it gives through the hands that plays it and in some mysterious ways has at times a mind of its own.
Musicians form these relationships that can vary a good deal and are usually not based on any monetary value or whether or not the instrument is rare, according to recently published information.
How musicians appreciate and form a beneficial relationship with their instrument is born out by research done at the University of Finland's Cognitive Brain Research. The findings were published in May in the Journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
These research results revealed, just like the example of the musician in this article's introduction, that many musicians express a close relationship with a musical instrument, many of them saying they feel 'at one' with it. Most of those who showed this type of relationship also express satisfaction and benefit from it and appear to be in a state of intense concentration when playing it.
Gary Bridgewood of renowned London fine stringed instrument dealers, repairers and restorers Bridgewood & Neitzer describes his understanding of the special relationship between a musician and their favorite instrument:
“Finding an instrument that feels and sounds just right, like it’s a part of you, and seems to feel easier for you to play than other instruments can undoubtedly have beneficial effects on your playing and your confidence in playing. This could mean spending a bit more on finding the right instrument. It can also mean that some musicians will feel more comfortable with an instrument that their peers admire and like and sounds great to the audience. If you’re particularly happy and comfortable playing a specific instrument, and playing in a particular venue and atmosphere in my experience you can reach a kind of deep concentration. This can lead to you producing a level of performance and connectivity with your fellow musicians and the audience that is special and would be hard to replicate. A good relationship with a trusted and loved instrument can be an important part of producing good music and good performances.
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| "Sugar" Hopkins, a music with a passion for his guitar |
That special relationship is one expressed by many a musician as a way of sharing what is considered the intimacy that can come from playing and sharing music. Angelo Marinosci Jr. does it with his "family photo"-----
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| Angelo Marinosci Jr's "family" of guitars |
Yawroc (Sticky Sugar Hopkins, explains his relationship with his guitar as this: "Indeed Carol the guitar is an extension of me, Its all me and can say what words just cannot! It can get right to that special place where words cannot.. No song should ever have a lead instrumental in it unless it says more about the subject to which the singing cannot.. It also compliments a beautiful voice The Guitar is me and i know no other instrument that does it for me.. Note the foot carefully placed upon the pot acting as a stomp pedal.."
Robin Rendell who writes and performs folk music on a place called Fandalism says, "My first guitar was an unpredictable instrument purchased for me by my mum and dad from a local junk shop. It was on this guitar I learned to play Red River Valley, taught by my cousin Jack in my aunties’ front room. My first new guitar, also bought for me by my parents, but this time on the never never from a shopping catalogue, was a cherry-with-blonde-sripes ‘f’holed Hoffner. It was on this guitar I wrote my first song, Tell Me, and did my first performances on local church stages. A couple of guitars have come and gone, but a my Boosey & Hawke Jumbo has been my friend for 40 or so years."
Peter Evans speaks fondly of his favorite instrument, saying this: I bought my first guitar in 1969 with my first week’s wages and taught myself with Bert Weedon’s “Play In A Day” book. I soon disposed of that first guitar, a Spanish B & M, but an absolute dog to play! I bought a Watkins Rapier electric and soon after an EKO acoustic. I worshipped both those guitars but alas I found myself out of work with a wife & two children to support plus a mortgage so those guitars were sold. I returned to playing in 1989 after buying my second son a 3/4 size nylon strung guitar for Christmas. My wife Diane suggested I buy another for myself and in the January 1990 I bought an ’86 Washburn D21 Jumbo Dreadnought. Over the years I’ve amassed 20 guitars, electric & acoustic plus a banjo but I always go back to that Washburn. Most of my recordings are on that old Washburn, it always feels right and is always the first guitar I pick up. I love that old girl."
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| Guitar owned by Peter Evans, musician on Fandalism |
