The wall of guitars in the exclusive lounge where they keep the more expensive models. January 14, 2007 3:46pm

So while I wanted my friend to choose the Yamaha, my intention was to select a wide sample of other brands and models to give her a taste of what's out there. We arrived at the Guitar Center, walked in the door and I checked in my instrument with the front desk dude (I always carry it in to music stores for a reason. Keep reading to find out why.) and we headed towards the acoustic guitar department. As we sauntered past the attractive displays of the newest instruments and accessories, I could almost hear them crying out, "Buy me! Buy me!" Hehe. Dangerous place to be for me to be for those times when my wallet's full of cash.

Upon entering the guitar lounge--with its warm wood paneling, strategically-positioned accent lighting enticing those who walk-in to want to reach out and touch the merchandise--I quickly scanned the the wall of guitars for some suitable test subjects. First of all, I knew off the bat, that my friend wasn't going to buy a guitar that day. I wanted to give her a quick education in a couple of things to keep in mind when shopping for a guitar:

1. Looks aren't everything
2. Expensive doesn't always mean better and cheap doesn't always mean bad
3. Trust your instincts

Sounds like advice for dating, although at the moment, I don't know of a poetic way of translating point number two to appropriately apply to people.

I didn't see the Yamaha model I had in mind, so while we waited for a salesperson to wander in, I had my friend try out a couple of guitars. As I handed her each test subject I played the same short musical passage for her to hear what the guitar sounds like from the audience point of view. Then I quickly grabbed another test subject while the sound was still fresh in her mind and played the musical passage again (which included a variety of textures from arpeggios, scales rasgueados and harmonics) so she could compare the sound between the two.

Then I had her play the guitar herself while I explained that the sound of the guitar from the player's position can be very different. This is something to consider if you're going to use a guitar in performances. A guitar that sounds good to you as you play it will sound different from the audience's position. So should have someone play the prospective guitar for you so you can get an idea what it sounds like from the "other side."

Another tip to remember when trying out guitars is to remove your jacket first, especially if it has buttons or a zipper. These things have a tendency to scratch the back of the guitar as you hold it against your body--not a good thing. And always check if there is a golpeador. Even if there is one, you should go easy on the golpes on the guitar anyway. It's not very nice to put dents and scratches on an instrument that you don't end up buying. I made a show of handling the guitars very carefully to gain the confidence of the salesperson so he would leave us alone--didn't want him hovering us constantly. And it worked!

It wasn't exactly a level playing field between the different makes and models. Some of the instruments had old dull strings which didn't work to their favor. It's OK. She was just learning to hear the subtle differences between the different guitars. I had to keep reminding myself that we weren't there to choose something to buy on the spot. That's another key point to remember: if you can help it, never allow yourself to be rushed into a buying decision. Typical common sense, I know, but just a reminder.

January 14, 2007 4:02pm

Finally, a salesperson showed up and I asked him if they had the CG171SF in stock. Sure enough they did and he went to the smaller lounge where they keep the more expensive guitars, carefully removed it from the wall and handed it to me. It looked good--then again I was biased since I was already in love with this model. Hehe. Although this isn't an expensive guitar, considering the value for the money of course, it is one of the more desirable ones available and deserves to be in the smaller lounge where it is less likely to be mishandled by the casual buyer.

So we proceeded in the same fashion doing one-to-one comparisons between various makes and models trying out everything from a low US$200 to as high as US$2600. There wasn't much of a selection of flamenco guitars, not that I should completely rule out classical guitars for the beginning flamenco student on a limited budget. But I took this opportunity to educate my friend in the different levels of action. When I refer to action, I mean the amount of vertical space between the strings and the fretboard. The higher the action, the harder you have to press down on the strings to properly finger a note on the guitar. Flamenco guitars generally have lower action than classical guitars. I chose some extreme examples to illustrate this difference to my friend. But more importantly I had her try out guitars with vastly different levels of action and asked if she could feel and hear the difference. She couldn't really hear a difference---then again there are so many different factors at work here that I didn't want to get into without adding further to the confusion.

Just for fun, I had her try out one of the models with a built-in microphone. Some guitars are made especially to be amplified and don't necessarily sound good purely acoustically. There are exceptions of course. But this is something to keep in mind when shopping for an instrument: whether you will use it primarily acoustically or plugged-in.

A good-looking guitar isn't necessarily a good-sounding guitar. In all fairness, this one sounds better plugged-in. January 14, 2007 4:30pm

As a final point of reference, I wanted my friend to trust her instincts. After all, she was the one that was going to be playing the guitar, not me. Ideally it should be something that feels comfortable to play and has that intangible quality that just feels right. And perhaps to a certain extent she should consider for a moment the cosmetics of the instrument itself. I don't want to pigeon-hole my friend as a hobbyist or a budding professional just yet. But it's important that she gets a guitar that entices her to want to reach out and play it. We all have those days when we'll want to put off on practicing. When I used to have guitar students, I would always tell them that I'd rather have them practicing a little bit (even if it's only 5 minutes of quality time) everyday than to cram the day before their lesson. I say this not to be a disciplinarian but rather to make playing the guitar feel natural. If you make playing the guitar a part of your everyday routine, it's a lot easier to pick up where you left off the day before than to let a few days go by and try to relearn what you have forgotten.

Oops. Just caught myself going off on a tangent. But you get the idea. As expected my friend didn't end up buying a guitar just yet. We made a final stop at the exit and picked up my checked-in guitar. The front desk dude, curious about my guitar case asked me if it was a cello due to it's peculiar shape. I said "No, it's a guitar." Then he asked me the question I was waiting for, "Really? What kind of guitar?" And so I opened the case, pulled out my instrument and played a few compases of bulerías. Turns out the dude was from Argentina and was accustomed to playing Argentine tango but always wanted to learn flamenco. So I was able to promote by website and hopefully gained a new flamenco convert. We'll see.

Anywayz, we left the store having accomplished what we set out to do. But we had a little time left over before we had to go our separate ways and ended up getting some drinks at Misha's Coffeehouse in Old Town Alexandria. One of my favorite places for a caffeine fix. We found ourselves a table and as if by fate, the background music changed from traditional jazz to Paco de Lucía's tango, "Solo Quiero Caminar." This was a good time to give my friend one of the flyers for the upcoming Flamenco Festival at Lisner, which Paco is performing on the opening night!

January 14, 2007 5:20pm

Afterwards, I headed over to DC Dance Collective to drop off a stack of Flamenco Festival flyers and said hello to Genevieve and her students during the 6:30pm class. They worked on a taranto, and while I was at first casually just watching for a few minutes, I found myself sitting there for the whole class. It's really a pleasure to watch Genevieve. Besides being a very charismatic expressive performer she's also a very demanding, articulate and very energetic teacher. Bottom line: you will have fun in her class, you will learn something but you'll be exhausted! I did take some pics of course, but nothing worth publishing for now. For more info visit Genevieve's blog.

As for tonight (Monday), I'll be performing at Cafe Citron. I know a lot of you have to work tomorrow, but come out at least for the 8:00pm show. Who knows my dancer might even invite you dance some Sevillanas during the show. Gotta go now. Ciao!

P.S. I would love to hear some additional tips for selecting and shopping for guitars.