Creative Edge Music

Not San Diego, but this sure is beautiful nonetheless! Fall is here. One of my friends recently asked me what inspires me to write music.  For every musician I think you might find a different answer, although there are some common threads.  Powerful emotions like love, sadness, and anger; life successes and failures; great stories or significant events; and both technical and auditory appreciation for music top my personal list.  There is also a particular time of year that puts me into an introspective mindframe that always brings me back to songwriting, too. Every year when the Fall season sets in, I awaken with newfound energy, motivation, and passion for life.  Especially here in San Diego, the crisp, cool, clean air sneaks up and makes me nostalgic of good times past.  While I do love the sun (there's nothing quite like a nice hot day at the beach here, that's for sure), something about the crisp air and occasional rainfall is thoroughly refreshing ...

Like many folks, I like shiny new stuff.  It's fun to cut the tape, open up the box, and take out the new item for examination and use.  The fact that it's in mint condition, wrapped in plastic with the user manual, and looking spiffy makes it so exciting.  In fact, the last "new" item I bought was a Gibson SG Special from Sweetwater.com during Black Friday last year, and it's my main go-to guitar at the moment. Was it an impulse buy?  Absolutely.  Was it totally worth it?  Yes. All in all, I'm finding that I like the tone on my SG more than my Explorer at the moment ( here is my full compare/contrast of the two guitars), at least through my Mesa Dual Rectifier, because it has a more round and open sound, but still plenty of sustain and crunch when overdriven.  And hence, this is a success story for something bought New. However, there are other ways to go about acquiring gear, and I've come to believe strongly that in almost all circumstance...