Acoustic Guitar

Today I reminded myself how much I adore the sound of a good acoustic guitar.

I hadn't picked up my Larrivée in a few days, and was looking to just plunk a little while I was downloading some stuff, so I grabbed it.

Immediately, I was just strumming a simple G chord just to enjoy the fullness of its sound - then I was ripping off some little bluesy licks and playing my standard "solo with thumb bassline" thing I often do when I'm testing a guitar.

After that, I started to play a few of my songs - even a couple of the more electrified variety - because they work so well on an acoustic. I've heard many songwriters say that that's the test of a good song - if it survives well with just an acoustic guitar. I don't quite agree (Pearl Jam's "Alive" comes to mind), but it is a nice sentiment.

I was listening to some tunes on Rhapsody (I'm a member), and I saw that Green Day re-released their first two albums (the ones from Lookout! Records) on Reprise. It was way cool - especially the bonus tracks on 1,039 Smoothed-Out Slappy Hours. They were from a pre-Kerplunk radio interview on WAAF in Boston. They played a few songs totally acoustic, with just Billie Joe and Mike singing (and Billie Joe also playing guitar, obviously). They sounded great...even in this "way before they were stars" session. I've always wished they'd go back and re-record those first two albums with their current production. They would sound huge.

Jumping back to my acoustic, though, I also was playing some of the chord/tab things I had saved from the "internets" years back, including some Monkees, Soul Asylum, and Turtles songs - and they all sounded just wonderful with just my singing and playing. It got me thinking - I need to just record me singing a ton of songs and playing acoustic. Sort of like Ed Robertson's "Bathroom Sessions", only with covers as well.

Ed plays a Larrivée, too. Or he did. Now I mostly see him with Taylor guitars.

But as some say, "that's neither here nor there..."

For you guys who compose in other ways, grab an acoustic, and take a crack at your tunes. I bet you'll get a kick out of the result.