STUDENT NEWSLETTER 4 August 2008 
Have you seen this kid? Sungha Jung
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRWU2DysF30
Sungha is one serious guitar player. See what a little practice can do for you?
Thirty years ago this week I moved to Dallas. I
wanted to move to a big city for a long time for the opportunities. New York,
Boston, and Chicago were places I had spent many exciting days. I loved those
cities. But they were even more north and had longer winters than Louisville.
L.A. was just too far out (for many reasons). Dallas was the logical choice. In
1974 my longtime childhood friend Jim McDowell and I took a nine day drive from
Louisville to St. Louis, to Kansas City, to Denver, to Albuquerque, To Santa Fe,
to El Paso, to Juarez Mexico, to Ft. Worth, to Dallas, to Little Rock, to
Memphis, to Nashville, and back to Louisville. On that trip I learned that
everything west of Dallas was a desert void of trees and water. Around that time
another long time childhood friend (Dave Bowling) had moved from Louisville to
Dallas to work with Charley Pride. He would write letters and postcards telling
me how great it was. When Dave would visit back home it was exciting to hear how
great the opportunities were in Dallas.
I was going to school at the time at IUS majoring in Fine Art. I was in my
senior year with almost enough credits to graduate. I just needed a few core
courses in math and language to get my degree. I could not see the point in
getting a Fine Art Degree. I had a little band that was working a few gigs
around Louisville. I also painted a few signs and some artistic renderings for a
local awards company. I was selling off the artwork I made at school at three
gift and souvenir shops around southern Indiana and Louisville. I was working
for the Indiana State Highway Department full time while I was going to school.
I had to attend school full time to get my VA benefits so I did. I was doing
pretty well but wanted more.
On 27 July 1978 at 7pm I got a call out of the blue from Dave. He was in town
and wanted to take me out to "the biggest steak dinner" I have ever had. We
ended up in a restaurant in Sellersburg eating prime rib while Dave invited me
to come to Dallas. He offered to cash in his airline ticket to pay for the gas
if we would leave that night. So before midnight I packed two guitars and two
brown paper grocery sacks full of clothes. We were on the road. We drove all
night and made Dallas by 5pm the next day. I stayed with Dave and his wife Sue
for the first three months working as a dump truck driver (until the truck went
over a cliff just after I jumped clear at the last minute), a carpenter, and a
musician.
My first gig in Texas was at a local pub called The Double Barrel Steak House
that was run by a husband and wife team. It was the only place in the then
little town of Frisco and busy every night. The Dave and Joe duo was doing fine
until a family illness took Dave back to Louisville and the act became a single.
The owners loved the idea of only having to pay half as much money and advised
me to never leave or else they would kill me. I liked the gig. I met my first
Texas girlfriend while she was a waitress at the Double Barrel. I did not like
to be threatened and the money was not enough to live on so I quit. I got an
offer to go on the road with the infamous Allan Dryman Show. We drove from
Dallas to Portland Oregon for a gig only to get fired when Dryman showed up to
the gig after twelve hours of heavy drinking. He was a mess. We were performing
at the Sheraton Inn at the Portland airport. By far the fanciest room I ever
played in. Dryman was swearing at the audience, saying inappropriate things into
the microphone, and running off the crowd. Then he slipped on a drink he dropped
on the dance floor and broke his ankle in the middle of his "show". The pain and
booze combination made for the most times I ever heard the F word on stage in my
life. Talk about one of those 'what am I doing here?' moments. The band
was fired and we all got stranded in Portland with no way back to Dallas.
I eventually made it back to Dallas and got a fully furnished apartment for $200
per month. I lived there for a year and then bought my first house. I thought
the $230 per month house payment would kill me. So I signed up with a
temporaries service and swore to work every day. If I did not have a gig I would
be on the phone at 5am with ManPower Temp Services. I had many jobs that today
would be done by illegal immigrants. I swept out a two acre warehouse full of
black dust one day. I worked for a moving company for a week. I sold Christmas
trees (only at Christmas time). None of the jobs was easy or paid well. The odd
jobs were just to fill in the financial holes in my music salary. I always seem
to have guitar and bass students but I had house payments to make! I
started a sign company back in the early 80s as the perfect way to make money by
working my own hours and fill in between music gigs. One time at a gig I met a
contact that hooked me up with a big oil company to build a $75,000 display and
ship it to New Orleans. I was able to sub out the entire project and made a 50%
profit. That led to many other large sign projects that I did not have to
actually do. Like the huge neon signs for Pizza Inns in the DFW area. The sign
biz was paying well enough to support my music. At one point I worked six nights
a week in a band that was booked six months in advance here in Dallas. We played
mostly Holliday Inns. Great pay and we would play the same room for six weeks
then go to the next Holliday Inn for six weeks. Then back again. That meant we
only had to move equipment once ever six weeks! That lasted for over three
years. That band ended suddenly and the next week I was in a traveling band. The
lead singer had a six foot white grand piano that he insisted on dragging around
the country. Boy howdy was it heavy. We rode around Texas, New Mexico, and OK in
what looked like the Partridge Family bus painted red with a mop. That piece of
junk cost more to run than the band was earning so I could not afford to play
with that group.
I just started my own band and stayed
booked as much as I wanted. We would play in Denton, Lake Dallas, Richardson,
Garland, and never went anywhere.
At the same time I kept up my studies. Not to finish my degree, but to educate
myself on how to be gainfully self employed so I could continue playing guitar
professionally. I took courses at the local community college and at the
University of Texas at Dallas. I studied business law, accounting, computers,
marketing, advertising, investment strategy, and every real estate course
available at university level. I accidentally ended up with a real estate
brokers license. I sold commercial and residential real estate on the side for a
couple of years back in the early 90s for ReMax.
Being a full time gigging musician is very hard work involving late hours and
too much travel, lift and tote time. So I wanted to get serious about teaching
guitar to the next generation of crazy road warrior guitar pickin' fun lovin'
wild bunch of new talent. I wrote a book called; Playing Guitar By Ear and wrote
down everything I knew about guitar and music theory in a comprehensive order
that I still teach by today. Over the past 35 years of teaching I have been
asked every question possible. At least 100 times. I love it. Especially when I
see the results of my tutelage.
On 14 April 1999 one of my long term guitar students talked me into selling my
method on Ebay. I was not warm on the idea and had serious doubts. After being
talked into it, he listed one of my tapes on Ebay. It sold in 14 minutes. So we
listed another. Within' 30 days I was getting 10 checks in the mail every day
and had doubled my income. Within 5 months at least one of
my lessons was in all 50 states. So I started
www.JoeTheGuitarman.com and
produced two DVDs on my teaching method that sell all over the world. No telling
how many bootleg copies are floating around.
Many students.
This year also marks my 50th year playing guitar. It seems to be better now than
ever. Teaching guitar is so much fun to see the excitement and "guitar love" in
my students. I know how they feel believe me. The doors that the guitar opens
are many and amazing. The world could use more of the kind of happiness music
brings. The ability to create music is wonderful in many ways and levels. It not
only makes us happy, but the people around us happy as well. Thus making the
world a better place.
Rock On Children!
-Joe
SUPER 1982 Gibson SG with Tim Shaw humbuckers just in from Connecticut. Natural relic. LOTS of finish checking. Side input! Super player.
In my never ending search for the perfect tone another level has been achieved. The 12" JBL D120F Orange frame that (went in my 1972 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp) I got on Ebay sounded so fantastic after the recone that I had to get a 15" JBL D130 F. The ultimate guitar speaker. Then I needed a cabinet to put the 15" JBL in. So using the research of my students back during Tweed Fest '08 I had J.D. Newell build a top of the line cabinet to house the monster speaker. Top of the line building techniques he was the only builder I found that used finger jointed solid pine for the cabinet. Almost like it was built by the Amish! He then covered it in the same black tolex as Fender used back in the 60s. Also added the silver/blue grill cloth and Fender hardware so that it would match my other Fender amps. This extension cabinet could be used with all my Fender amps making my recording situation much more flexible. Here are some pics.
I got such a good deal on the speaker that I fully expected to have it reconed ($235) but it sounds just fine. It appears to have been reconed back in 1987. This is an improvement in sound by extending the range. MUCH lower lows and fatter highs. The speaker is not bottom end heavy but very well balanced. Much like a concert grand piano. Very satisfied with the sound and I am sure many of you will go this way.
OK. So I am going for more. I found an extremely rare original Fender Dual Showman cabinet with two stock JBL D130F 15" speakers in Peoria IL. This cab has the original JBL logo badges on the front and back. Made in 1969-1970. It is huge. 46" tall X 30" wide X 12" deep. 118 pounds. Bigger than my Marshall 1960tv cabinet. The seller tried to talk me into buying the road case for this cabinet and I told him I did not have room for it. The road case is bigger than the speaker cabinet! It is like somebody giving you a sofa that you can not sit on that is REAL ugly. I refused to buy it and he decided to send it anyway as a way to pack the speakers. SHOOT! Maybe I can make a shed out of it.
This is a 4 ohm cabinet. Two 8 ohm speakers. I will plug my Vibrolux Reverb into this. My Vibrolux is one of my favorite amps and going from the stock two 10" speakers to two 15" JBLs should be night and day! Very rare cabinet. Will arrive tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.
OK. Now from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Just in from Florida is one of the smallest Fender all tube amps ever made. The tiny Vibro Champ. This rare 1968 "transitional year" model is in great shape. Sounds very good at low levels. All tube amp would be a great practice amp that is only going up in value. 40 years old work horse.
15w all tube amp. 1968 was the year Fender went from "black face" to "silver face". The circuit inside was still black face this year. You can spot the transition amps a mile away by the aluminum "drip edge" around the grill cloth on the front and the "tailless" logo. Super sound from a very small package.
JBL speaker update: I have finally located some original 10" JBL D110F orange frame speakers, but they are in a giant amp in Houston. I may have to drive down and get it. Let me know if any of you is planning on going to Houston this week. The amp is a Super Six Reverb and comes with a trailer hitch and Texas tags.
I was also able to procure TWO JBL D120F Orange frame 12" speakers from the original owner. They are due a recone. Came in yesterday and I took one to Freeman Tuell on Ferguson Rd. in old East Dallas for a fresh recone first thing this morning. GUESS WHAT! They have gone up on the price from $208 to $230 per recone! I want to put one in my Princeton Reverb. Have not decided what to do with the other one.
UPDATE! I found ONE JBL D110F black frame 10" speaker for my Vibrolux Reverb. Now I need one more. The drive to Houston seems unlikely for me. I am just too busy to take a day off to drive that far. HOWEVER...if one of you is making the trip in a large vehicle that can haul a huge amp and would like to pick it up for me I would be happy to pay for your gas one way.
As you all know; my search for the perfect tone never ends. But after years of consideration, trial and error this is my rig more or less. It is not easy to find the original vintage stuff anymore, so this is the new equivalent.
Every bit of my new gear comes from MusiciansFriend.com or Guitar Center for the past eight years. Best prices, selection, and return policy there is. AND they bring it to your door! If you click thru to MUSICIANS FRIEND .com or Guitar Center.com from this web site to buy something, I get an advertising credit and it does not cost you a penny extra! Musicians Friend and Guitar Center is where I get all my new gear. Click on the link below to go there. If the link does not appear on your browser go here and click on the MusiciansFriend or Guitar Center link at bottom of that page.
Always Stay Tuned. A lot is going on around here!
Rock On,
Joe "TheGuitarman" Pacciano, C.G.P.
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