Gear Reviews

Adam Rafferty on Tour May 2008: Kentucky Fried Pickin’, BOSE L1, Visualization and more…

Friends, short entry here. I am very very excited about this tour that is coming up. I am doing a small tour of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky playing SOLO guitar May 9-18, 2008.

Once again, I am PSYCHED to connect with people in the good ol’ US of A and make friends, play guitar and, well, get the hell out of NYC for a week!

Did I just say that? 🙂

Visit Adam’s Myspace for TOUR DATES

I am proud to tell you that I bought a killer sound system – the BOSE L1 (Model 2). I’ll be bringing it with me. It has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. Essentially it looks like a thin pole 7 feet tall, with a tiny subwoofer. And yep, BOSE kicked butt on the engineering. It’s better than a regular PA – less shleppping, and a better experience playing.

Take a look, and if you are near a Guitar Center, check it out:

https://www.bose.com/musicians

In fact, I spent enough on it that even if it sucks I am determined to like it 🙂

Seriously though I will post a more in-depth gear review after some gigs!

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It’s late here, yet I feel obliged to write.

I do want to say one thing – back when I started my solo guitar project is when I saw “The Secret”. Say what you will about the movie, but it is vital to know that we get what we think about whether it is wanted or unwanted.

In my minds eye I saw touring, playing for good ol’ folks in the heartland, and kickin ass on the guitar. And it’s a comin’. It took some time to manifest but iit’s on it’s way.

Now after having held the vision in my mind’s eye, it is becoming real.

Thank You, God – Universe – Source. It is an amazing feeling and realization to know that whatever I envision comes. It also gives me a “knowing” that the vision in my head is MORE important than what appears to be objective reality, as it paves the path ahead.

My current future visions – just to let you know, consist of concert hall and festival touring, a busier year-round touring schedule, more recording and well – more musical exploration.

I remember before I even had one solo arrangement down, I told my girlfriend Jill “Watch and you’ll see. It will happen…” and it is. I tell you the same!!!

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I promise I’ll write from the road. Looking forward to giving you tour updates!

Warmest Regards,

Adam

Adam Rafferty On the Road: April 2008 Europe Tour Review

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

Greetings Friends!!!

It’s 4am and in feels like 10am and I am back in NYC after a long commute back from Linz, Austria – you know, one of those good ol’ 14 hour treks.

Well all I can say is THANK YOU to those that helped, hired, drove and hung out with me overseas. The tour was an absolute success, and ridiculous fun. I am on Weiner schnitzel overload, but some NYC chinese food and Starbucks will balance out my body’s PH.

I did want to do some road blog entries, but time was too short, and I was in “tour zone”. It ain’t like sittin’ at home with my ibook! Here is a quickie video greeting, and an in depth review follows…

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXzkjwl0Azw&hl=en]

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ABOUT THE PERFORMANCES
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I have only toured Europe with a band, and going solo I must say – there were certain aspects that were MUCH easier (sorry guys, I still love you!). Coming and going when I wanted and less overall managerial functions made it easier. Also, no one to egg me on to stay out until the birds chirped kept me in better shape physically 🙂 Fitting in a taxi also made things comfy. (Yes, I have done a whole jazz trio with upright bass in a German taxi….that’s a good way to practice swear words in a foreign language)

Oh, and did I mention one plane ticket, train pass and hotel room on off nights instead of 3?

Hey – that’s just gravy though…the music is what led me to solo playing, but it is a nice perk to have lower expenses. 🙂

I did miss having some other musicians to “lean on” sometimes, and the intensity of playing solo was, well…intense! Of course I will play with bands, but this is what is happening now!

Fortunately I had more than enough material to do 2 long (1 hour plus) sets. That’s with pretty much no improvising, so it’s quite a lot of music.

I really re-learned an aspect of practicing music, which is “practice the tune you think you know” because just when you think you’ve got it covered – that’s where a brain fart can happen!!! I was shocked at where mistakes happened. I knew, and I am sure no one else did.

As well, I found that early in the tour I had concentration problems and difficulty being “present” while performing. I was concerned with the show’s flow and often thought about “what tune will I play next” while playing a tune.

That’s ok – a few musical brain farts in the music would zap me back into the present moment, and all would be well again.

Audiences were of 3 sorts: 1) a hushed concert audience that had to be shmoozed to an loosened up. 2) a cigarette smokin’, beer swillin’ audience that had to be attacked 3) and something in-between. All 3 types are expected and totally cool. A performer should be able to deal with all those situations. Just don’t play a sentimental ballad for the beer swillers.

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ABOUT THE TRAVEL
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Well, at least now I know I can actually move across an airport and train station with 2 guitars, a suitcase and a laptop case. I was a little unsure about the sheer physicality of moving around, but it worked out ok.

And, kudos to Bruce Lamb of https://casextreme.com – guitars did get thrown around, but survived. The only scratches on my Taylor are due to my percussion!

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ABOUT THE PEOPLE
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One of the success / self help people I have been checking out lately is a guy by the name of Joe Schroeder (I got hold of an interview done by Mike LIttman) and he made a comment “people first, money second” and really beat the drum of the spiritual approach to business, as opposed to the “money first, people second” approach.

You can’t TRY to do this because that’s like saying “once you fake sincerity, you got it made”. It’s only in hindsight that you see what attitudes take you through life happily. Dare I say maybe a smidge of wisdom is dawning? 🙂

I came to realize that touring and playing music can be summed up in one word: LOVE. That is just where it is at! Sounds easy and as if it is regurgitation of someone else’s principle – but I realized that it is all about “people first, gigs second” and NOT “gigs first, people second”….which is an easy trap to fall into when you are booking a tour.

I enjoyed my time with the people who helped me organize and helped schlep PA systems, and all that. I enjoyed connecting with parents of kids who enjoyed that concerts at schools. I enjoyed shmoozing with the audiences. People first!!!

Funny how it works. There was just way less ego involvement than I have had in previous years, less self importance. There I was, just wanting to turn people on with the music…and when faces would light up, and there’d be a buzzing energy in the room. One club owner told me after the gig “I do 100 concerts a year here and can see whether or not the people REALLY dig it or not – and man, they loved this!!”

And I realized, this is about people, whether it is a student, a club owner an audience member, an old friend – whatever. All the yummy stuff surrounding success comes second. All the books say this, but to experience it first hand is POWERFUL.

I am not an articulate enough teacher in this subject to tell you how to do this, all I can tell you is that when my mind shifted to LOVE and PEOPLE, the world shifted to SUCCESS!

I guess another way to say this is when one shifts from GIVING instead of WANTING the world opens up and actually gives the giver even more!

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ABOUT THE MUSIC
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Playing solo is much more akin (at least to me) to being in a rock / pop band than playing jazz guitar with a band.

Every tune is planned, and the evening is “crafted” with dynamics, highs an lows, covers and originals. Contrast is vital to making solo guitar interesting for a long time.

In the vein of my hero, Tommy Emmanuel – I strove to make it enjoyable for non musicians as well as musicians…and it worked!!!

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WHAT, SO WHAT, NOW WHAT ?
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Well it is over and in the past coming home from tours has been a downer. Not this time, I am psyched for the next one. I have some Kentucky gigs in May, some summer stuff, and a festival outside Prague in November 2008, so I’ll be busy filling in dates.

Time to catch up on some sleep!

zzzzzzzzzz

Safe Air Travel with an Acoustic Guitar – Part 2

By Adam Rafferty 23 Comments

Greets friends! I am writing here from Mexico City’s Four Seasons hotel. No, I’m not on tour, unfortunately – I am here for a family affair, but man it is nice to live like a king here for a few days.

https://www.fourseasons.com/mexico/

So, with all the sites and magic of Mexico City what have I done all day? Sheddedguitar in my hotel room. 🙂

Since my last post regarding my mini tour in PA, I have purchased 2 pieces of equipment for touring – Case Extreme road / flight case (https://www.casextreme.com) and a second Taylor 314-CE as a backup guitar.

Id like to tell you about this extrordinary case (guitar post coming).

Everyone will tell you something different about traveling with a guitar and airlines.The truth of the matter is that it is anybody’s guess as to whether you’ll get the axe onto the flight or not. And many guitars have gotten destroyed or seriously messed up on flights.

Each airline has diffferent policies. Furthermore, the same airline can change policies depending on what side of the bed the gate person woke up on. The TSA issued a letter that instruments should be let on – but it is the wild west once it’s you, the gate person and the plane.

If you are traveling with a solidbody or small archtop, bring it in a SOFT case- it will fit in the overhead just fine.

Many people will tell you that gate checking is fine, and I have never done it. If you gate check, it will get handled more nicely (you hope) but if your flight is turbulent, who knows what will go on during the ride?

Also I keep hearing guitarists say “I get the axe on, no problem”. Great, I salute you – but it’s Russian roulette. The day will come where it will not go on. I’m such an optimist, aren’t I? 🙂

The first 2 things I’d recommend with an acoustic are this – loosen the strings to take tension off the neck. Then, pack bubble wrap around the neck, especially where the neck and headstoock join, and the headstock itself.

Apparently a lot of damage happens if the neck and neckjoint are bouncing around inside the case. The tension of the strings would only help snap the headstock off even better, hence the loosening. You want to stabilize the guitar inside the case.

I called Taylor and they un-officially recommended Casextreme.com It is a clamshell case made out of plastic – the same stuff used by the US postal service. Inside it are heavy foam rubber “C” shaped things that go around your guitars hardshell (or soft) case. The concept is that your axe iis floating – much the way when you buy a VCR or computer, styrofoam is suspending it,so if the box takes a hit, the thing inside doesn’t.

Well, go to their site and watch the video of the company owner attempting to beat up a guitar in one of these. He’s using the claw side of a hammer, and even jumps up and down on the axe. No prob -takes a Taylor out in a SOFT GIG BAG, and it’s just fine.

Even a heavy road case does not have much padding. Something heavy falling on the guitar could really crunch it . With the Casextreme, it would have to go through this super heavy plastic, squash this heavy foam rubber, and THEN pierce the hardshell case.

Go to the site and watch the vids!

https://www.casextreme.com

Needless to say my axe got here in one piece, and I am a happy camper. I checked it as regular baggage.

They are big enough though that traveling with 2 (if I want to bing a backup guitar) willl be a formidable challenge!

More to come. I have more flights, and I hope that it all works out. Consider no news to be good news.