My Guitar History

The best I've been able to pin the date, I was no more than 6 years old, probably in Michigan, when I was at a restaurant with my parents at a Holiday Inn. Why I remember it was a Holiday Inn I don't know, but I do remember that it was. There was a bar down a flight of stairs just off this restaurant. I wandered down there while my parents finished eating. It was decorated up with a wine cellar theme with barrel ends hung on the walls and such like. I remember liking the vibe of the room. But what drew me down there was a guy with a hollow-body electric guitar on a little stage playing. It was early and there was nobody else in the bar yet. I guess that's why he didn't mind a little kid coming in to listen. I remember that he smiled really big and was very welcoming. I think he was a black man, but I don't remember that exactly. I do remember his smile. And I remember the SOUND! He had a lot of reverb dialed into his amp and was playing and singing “Guantanamera.” I didn't know that then, but years later when I heard it I remembered that it was the song he had been playing. It was magical! That was the seed. It wouldn't germinate for another six or seven years and a few false starts with the violin, the trumpet, and the piano later, but once it did, it had me for life. I recently had occasion to do some Spanish songs and fulfilled a long-put-off goal of working up a rendition of Guantanamera. The Spanish words are coming very slowly, but it's a special thrill for me to do that song.

Jim, my next door neighbor when I was in 7th grade, got a guitar with his mom's S&H green stamps. It came with a little chord chart and we both learned a few chords the day it arrived. I thought, "I've got to get one of these things!" So I mail ordered a little Barclay for $10 from a Service Merchandise catalog my folks had. (That was back before they had any stores.) I don't know whatever happened to that one. I learned more chords and soon was asked to play for sing-alongs with the Jr. High church youth group along with a few buddies of mine who had also discovered the guitar. (There were an awful lot of us in 1969.) The youth group opportunity gave me more reason to push to learn. I stole a lot of knowledge from my good friend, Larry Robinson, who actually took lessons, much to his annoyance since he worked hard for the money to pay for them.

I soon discovered the limits of that first guitar, so I ordered the best one in the catalog, a bigger Barclay for $50. It wasn't a bad guitar. I bought some fancy chrome tuners for it and installed them myself with my dad's electric drill. Made it look a lot more expensive. I learned a lot on it. Even wrote my first song on it. Sure wish I still had the thing. But I had my sights set on a better instrument.

I was in a Youth for Christ singing group in high school called the Fox Valley Campus Life Singers. My first year in it, Steve Camp was the guitar player. (He went on to record a bunch of contemporary Christian albums.) Steve had a beautiful big blonde Guild that he was going to sell to me for $250. But he took it on an airline trip and checked it as baggage and the neck snapped. Many years later I found out that this is caused by a shock to the headstock end of the instrument and can be avoided by loosening the strings. I always thought somebody had opened the case and done it deliberately, but it can easily happen inside a locked case. Anyway, I bought the leather strap that had been on the Guild from Steve for $3 and it's on my guitar to this day.

I shopped all over the western suburbs of Chicago for a guitar. I was 15 and most of these trips were on my bicycle. In some shops I'd see a Martin locked in a glass case. I figured out they must be special, though I'd never heard of them before. Someone told me I should check Sid Sherman Music in downtown Chicago. I did, and found they had dozens and dozens of Martins hanging on the wall. Seems they were the Chicago area distributor. They had a never-before "clearance" deal going on certain Martins. (In the first few years of the '70s Martin expanded their factory, bought a bunch of new machinery, and cranked up their production building thousands of guitars.) The guy said he'd take my Barclay plus $390 and set me up with a Martin D-18 complete with hardshell case and I'd never be sorry. I had to borrow another hundred bucks from my dad, but I got the Martin and indeed, I've never been sorry. It's now worth at least $2,000. That's what the new ones go for. And the older they get the better they sound. I was told by one guitar shop owner a few years ago that my D-18 was the best sounding one he had ever seen, so it may be worth more. But I'd never be able to sell it now. It's almost like a member of the family. I had Barcus Barry piezo pickup installed in it after about 20 years. It's okay, but a bit weak on the low end. An upgrade may be in order.

But now a few other guitars have been added to the stable. When I started teaching college, I wanted a cheap guitar to leave out in my office, knowing that every other kid who came in would pick up a guitar that happened to be there, so leaving the Martin on a stand was out of the question. I got a Washburn for a hundred bucks on sale from Musician's Friend. It's Chinese made and certainly has limitations, but it's actually not a bad instrument. I enjoy playing it. It's certainly by far the best $100 guitar I've ever come across. Then, after moving to Fort Myers, I happened to be in a small guitar shop called “Real Guitars” looking for a backpack case that would work on my motorcycle. But I picked up a jumbo Guild and fell in love with it. There have been a few special guitars through the years that I happened to pick up in a shop and forever after wished I had bought them. Well, this was another of those situations. Only this time I had a little money and could afford it. So I went back the next day and bought the thing. It's the same color as Steve Camp's guitar I almost bought years ago, so I finally have a big beautiful blonde Guild. Guess it was meant to be after all. It's wonderful. And there is a Peavy Millennium bass I picked up used back when I was doing a bunch of recording after getting tired of trying to get good bass parts out of the on-board bass simulator in my recorder. And it looks like a nylon string Ovation belonging to my Flamenco-playing friend, Mike Anthony, may join my stable permanently. It's been living here for some time now as as a guest. There are a few others I'd like to add. I've wanted a Taylor for a long time. I picked up somebody's jumbo with a Florentine cutaway once and have wanted one just like it ever since. And of course everybody needs a Stratocaster and I've yet to own one. I had a Russtone Shark electric that I bought in Moscow on a lark at the end of a trip over there. That one was really junk. And got me into some trouble with my wife - a story for another day. Then I had a Ty Tabor signature Yamaha RGX-TT that Ty signed for me at a King's X concert. That one was beautiful and wonderful to play. But, alas, both of those electrics went on E-bay, the Ty Tabor signature fetching more than twice what I had paid for it and making a late house payment when things were tight. Thanks Ty! But, man, I hated to sell it. And then there's the 12-string I let go of in high school that has been wanting to be replaced all these years. That's about it. That's “all” I need!

Playing has brought me so much comfort and joy and both simple and exquisite pleasure throughout my life. I have spent far more time playing alone than around or with others. It has been a personal treasure of expression, therapy, creativity, and worship. And it has also been great to play for others to hear in churches, in restaurants, and at various public meetings and private events where I've had opportunity to play myself or with bands or other groups. I'm not a great player, but I'm also not a beginner. I've learned what I know of the guitar more by listening to others, experimenting with it, and just loving it than by any kind of training. Still, I have enough tricks up my sleeve that I've managed to get paying gigs now and again. I love getting paid to play. It's great validation, not to mention the ability to buy stuff, but I really don't do it for the money. I just love to play. I'm so thankful that I've been given enough ability to play music that I love. And I do consider what I have a gift. I really don't know exactly how I've been able to get to where I've gotten to, which is “pretty good” or “hack” depending on one's perspective, but I thank God that I have what I have and I do try to be a good steward: to improve, to look for opportunities to share it, and make as much of it as I can.

Some people look down on the guitar, thinking of it as a simple instrument and not fit for “serious” music. This may come from the fact that the guitar rewards a very small amount of time and effort with the ability to strum a few chords and play songs. The majority of players never get beyond this stage so there are millions of hacks playing very simplistically feeding this notion. That said, strumming a few chords has brought the gift of music and great joy to untold millions and there is nothing wrong with that. It's wonderful that unlike, say, the violin or french horn, one can start to get music out of it almost right away. But it is not a simple instrument. And it has been a part of serious music long before the first keyboard of any type was ever invented. You can never reach the end of the guitar. There are so many different types of guitars and so many sounds to be gotten from each, so many different techniques. There are so many styles of music that are great on guitar and so many songs in every genre. It is an instrument that keeps giving and giving more with every bit of effort you invest. And no matter how masterful you get, there are huge vistas of possibility out there, more than any one person could ever explore. There are virtuoso players all over who have mined treasures of astounding variety out of this niche or that. It's a world too big to take in. It's a wonder. It's a gift. And I'm very grateful for the adventure I've had on my own personal journey and the areas of that world I've been able to visit and be a part of.

So how about you? Do you love that magical sound? Do you want to play guitar? You can! It only takes one thing. You just have to want to bad enough.

PS: a few samples can be found at soundclick.com/danphilgreen