This is my part of a communication with guitarist Matthew Warnock concerning what I do with my guitar strings.

  In the past I changed my strings at the most every three years.   Now, I only change them when they don't sound in tune.   After they lose initial brightness after one month, they stay the same for many years.  They only need to be changed if they start to vibrate inconsistantly.   I have one guitar which has had the same strings since 1994.   They sound fine and I see no reason to change them.   They were 3 years old when I recorded my Solo Burner CD.   To this day, people rave about my tone on that CD.   For my Guitar Smoke CD, melody strings 1and 2 were plain,  harmony strings 3 and 4 were round wound, bass strings 5 and 6 were flat wound.  Each type of string rang differently.   For me this works for solo playing in that I'm creating the illusion of a lead guitarist,

rhythm guitarist, and bass player playing together.

(Unclean hands, string lubricants and hands with hand creams on them make the strings wear out faster. String lubricants constantly change the friction on the guitar neck and strings creating an unstable situation.)   

   The packs of Gibson guitar strings in the 60s used to say that you should change your strings once a month.  It's kind of like the shampoo manufacturers putting "repeat" in the directions on the bottle.  Then they sell twice as much shampoo.  Or how about Al Dimeola playing only one tune on a set of strings.  If John Coltrane or Bill Evans said something like that I might consider doing it.   

   Whenever I'm going to play with a drummer who's cymbals are shiny, I know I'm in trouble.   To get the most out of a cymbal, one must leave it in the yard for a year in the snow, rain and sun,  then it will have soul and sound wonderful.  I played a concert with master drummer Dane Richeson at a college where he played some dirty 2 X 4s which he picked up from under his front porch before the gig.   He just laid them out on an 8 foot table at random and put a bungy cord over them so they wouldn't fall off.   The audience of professional drummers was speechless after Dane played a concert of incredible music.

   I would rather spend my time practicing guitar than changing strings.  The same goes for guitar polish.   It seems the guys with the shinyest guitars, nicest cases, and new guitar strings don't play as well as the guys with the scratches on their guitars, and duct tape holding their cases together.   Examples are Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar,  or Charlie Parker playing on junk saxophones.   The sound doesn't come from the strings, it comes from the fingers.

     Once I sat in with a band in Jamaica.   The musicians including the guitar player where fantastic.   When I got on the band stand and started playing his guitar,  I noticed that his strings had fuzzy green mold growing on them from the humidity.  I asked him about it, and he said that there were no music stores in Ocho Rios and that he had no money to buy strings anyway.   When I got back off the stand and heard him play the next set, I was amazed at his wonderful tone.

     I started not changing my strings years ago to save money.  It's become a habit now.  If they sound dull, I just turn the treble control up a little more.  I like the consistancy of the sound.  Every time I pick up the guitar, I know what it's going to sound like.

     D'Addario strings and D'Angelico strings seem to last longer than other brands and they don't color the sound or force their sound on the music.  I prefer to color the notes with my technique and my amplifier.  Heavier guage strings last longer.   I use a 13-56 set.

    The "low rent district" in "string city" is obviously Ernie Ball.   Their consistency is inconsistant.   Brand new Ernie Ball strings many times don't vibrate consistantly.   Gibson strings just don't sound right due to their
chemical makeup.

     Over the years,  manufacturers and music stores have given me many many sets of strings to try for no charge.  I keep using D'Addario.   

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                             

The new Raezer's Edge, model JG-10 speaker cabinet

During my long career, I've been constantly looking for ways to improve my sound and make my job of carrying equipment to gigs easier.   The Raezer's Edge company approached me last year to come up with a speaker cabinet design that I would be happy with.   There are a lot of speaker cabinets in the world already.  So, yet another cabinet had to be something totally new, that hadn't been done before.  After much work, the new "one of a kind" JG-10 cabinet is a reality and the first cabinet of it's kind.  I've tested it on numerous gigs.  I like it.  These new cabinets immediately replaced the cabinets I had been happy with for the last 30 years.  They are that good!  For solo gigs I have two them, one on each side of me, or stacked to my left, going stereo. 

The press release:

"The JG-10 speaker created by Jack Grassel is the first rotatable cabinet designed specifically to be at the left of the guitarist.  Unprecendented sound control is achieved by unique offset ports.

For optimal solo guitar performances, the cabinet can be positioned with the ports on the sides of the speaker.  In this position, fuller high and mid-range tones are produced while retaining the signature Raezer's Edge fat bottom end. 

For band performances, simply position the cabinet with the ports on top and bottom to project a brighter tone through the band, into the room.

The JG-10's quick response reduces time between pick attack and sound emergence, allowing a lower, more natural reverb setting.  Your sound is further enhanced by four flat metal feet on two sides of the cabinet, transferring vibrations into the floor.  Experience the added control you can have over your tone with the JG-10.  Two comfortable handles located conveniently on top and side, encourage safer lifting and carrying options, protecting not only your hands, but your entire body.

See your Raezer's Edge dealer and hear how you can sound your best in every situation with the "JG-10"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thoughts on Improvisation by Derek Bailey

The learning process in improvisation is invariably difficult to detect.  Although a large number of books and courses offering instruction and advice on how to improvise are available it seems impossible to find a musician who has actually learned to improvise from them.  And the instruction offered usually concerns the manipulation of scalar and harmonic ingredients in those particular styles.  What they have to say is, in most cases, helpful for an appreciation of those idioms and, naturally, an understanding of the idiom is essential in order to improvise in it.  But a discourse which concerns itself exclusively with pitch relationships - melodic or harmonic - can say practically nothing about that which is essentially to do with improvisation.

In the face of the possibility that no improvisor anywhere has ever learned to improvise from a book or other documentary source, the argument usually offered to support the publication of these manuals is that while 'great' players

can somehow suddenly appear fully endowed with every necessary skill, more ordinary players have to find more ordinary means.  The truth is probably that improvisation is learned - perhaps acquired would be a better word - in pretty much the same way by every body who is lucky enough to stumble on the right method.  An ability to improvise can't be forced and it depends, firstly, on an understanding, developed from complete familiarity, of the music context in which on improvises, or wishes to improvise.  As this understanding develops so the ability to improvise can develop.  The important thing is to have an objective, the recognition of which can be intuitive, so strongly desired as to be almost a mania.  In idiomatic improvisation this objective is usually represented by an admired player whose performance one wishes to emulate.  In the early stages this admiration is most useful if it takes the form of unquestioning idolatry.  Composer, Alain Danielou, writing of the traditional method of learning in South-East Asia, says:  'In this sort of personal instruction artistic training precedes the technical.  The pupil is in constant contact with the work of art in its most developed form and he is conscious of the goal which he should eventually attain.  The content of the music is never separated from its form.'  Later the path to musical self-development comes through increasing confidence and the inevitable increase in critical awareness.

_________________________________________________________________

Everything is easier when your guitar works properly!

The way a guitar plays is a very personal thing. Everyone upon acquiring a guitar you should take it to a luthier and have it set up so it plays as easily as possible. Some quality music stores have a luthier set all the guitars up. If you buy one from a non-music store, the guitar probably isn't adjusted by a professional.

When I used to teach children, often a parent would buy a guitar from a discount non-music store to try to save a few dollars. The child would come to the lesson with a guitar that would be painful to play and not want practice. The parent would say either I didn't motivate the student or their child didn't have any musical talent.

A guitar manufacturer would have to increase the cost of a new guitar $300 to have it set up correctly.
When you buy a guitar, a luthier will get it playing well for $75 - $150. To find a good luthier, ask the top guitarists in your area who they take their guitars to.

These are the areas that need attention:

_______________________________________________________________