A Guilty Pleasure - Nerdville & Bonamassa

[FatFingerBlues]

More and more I find myself watching videos of Joe Bonamassa
Not just his music, which I enjoy
He is on my bucket list of performers to see live

But it is the videos of Nerdville and his collection of guitars that I can't get enough of

I love how every guitar has a story and Joe knows all of the stories and all of the owners
They aren't just tools to play for him

He always has some jewel of knowledge to impart and his understanding of guitars, amps, and guitar collecting is impressive

Does anyone else enjoy the Nerdville videos?

 

[Rider1260]

How could you not love the stories

 

[Prina]

Hadn't heard of that before. Cool stories. Hall of fame quality guitars!

 

[Maertl513]

As a singer I prefer his German friend Henrik Freischlader (and UK's Blueser Aynsley Lister), but as a really geek Joe Bonamassa stands out.
And he plays his precious guitars (and Dumble) - that counts to me most.

 

[bodia]

Cool stuff

 

[László]

More and more I find myself watching videos of Joe Bonamassa
Not just his music, which I enjoy
He is on my bucket list of performers to see live

But it is the videos of Nerdville and his collection of guitars that I can't get enough of

I love how every guitar has a story and Joe knows all of the stories and all of the owners
They aren't just tools to play for him

He always has some jewel of knowledge to impart and his understanding of guitars, amps, and guitar collecting is impressive

Does anyone else enjoy the Nerdville videos?

He's mentioned in several interviews that his dad either was a vintage guitar dealer, or bought and sold them as a side thing. So he was schooled in the things that go into the vintage mystique and sounds at an early age.

I'm not a junkie for the vintage gear provenance tales - not that the stories aren't interesting in their own way, I'm simply not a collector - but I absolutely love his advice to players re: how to get the most out of their gear and make it sound its best. It's useful advice to any guitar player from a guy who's certainly a master who gets great sound.

And of course there's the playing and sheer entertainment of his shows. He's a great player, a showman, and music director/arranger for his bands of different sizes, including horns, keys, backup singers, etc. (those last skills being far more difficult to do on his highly pro level than most people give him credit for).

It's easy to direct a 3 or 4 piece. But his shows are often far more complicated. Props to him! I wish I knew the guy.

 

[DISTORT6]

I find his tech Mike Hickey even more interesting.
One helluva track record.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Looking at the guitars when he is showing them off is mesmerizing. There's an episode with the guys from CME and they pull out this '57 Les Paul, I think, and it's stunning! He's a curator and caretaker. That's the one that made want a Les Paul. Now I want to watch that episode again.

There are other places that made me want a PRS

 

[Rod/]

He's mentioned in several interviews that his dad either was a vintage guitar dealer, or bought and sold them as a side thing. So he was schooled in the things that go into the vintage mystique and sounds at an early age.

I'm not a junkie for the vintage gear provenance tales - not that the stories aren't interesting in their own way, I'm simply not a collector - but I absolutely love his advice to players re: how to get the most out of their gear and make it sound its best. It's useful advice to any guitar player from a guy who's certainly a master who gets great sound.

And of course there's the playing and sheer entertainment of his shows. He's a great player, a showman, and music director/arranger for his bands of different sizes, including horns, keys, backup singers, etc. (those last skills being far more difficult to do on his highly pro level than most people give him credit for).

It's easy to direct a 3 or 4 piece. But his shows are often far more complicated. Props to him! I wish I knew the guy.

Actually his Dad had a music store in upstate New York

 

[László]

Actually his Dad had a music store in upstate New York

Thanks!

 

[dogrocketp]

I love the stories and like to look at his guitars for a minute. Do I ever want a vintage guitar? Aside from a Kapa 12 string, no. All I really care about is how does it feel and sound in my hands. The name on the headstock, the year, the pickups don’t mean anything if the guitar would be better as a boat paddle.

 

[ElrytNamrogo]

Seen him a few times, puts on a fantastic show. I will say, it really depends on venue, though...his gear is meant to be played LOUD, so if the the venue isn't a great conduit of that sound it can be muddy - I've only experienced this on one occasion, though.

That being said, one of my favorite parts of going to his show is nerd-ing out on all the cool gear on stage....not just his guitar equipment, but the rest of the band too - especially Reece Wynan's gear.

 

[FatFingerBlues]

I love the stories and like to look at his guitars for a minute. Do I ever want a vintage guitar? Aside from a Kapa 12 string, no. All I really care about is how does it feel and sound in my hands. The name on the headstock, the year, the pickups don’t mean anything if the guitar would be better as a boat paddle.

This ^
It is the reason I own PRS and not Gibsons
but I do Appreciate the history and beauty of an Iconic part of Rock N Roll
And no one tells it better than JB

 

[vchizzle]

I might actually prefer the Nerdville videos. Not because I don’t think he’s a great player though. I liked BCC quite a bit but the limited live solo stuff I’ve seen seemed to have “big” production. I’d rather just hear the raw guitars and amps in demo format with him just playing a few riffs. I guess I’m not a massive fan of his vocals either

 

[GGJJGG]

The Doug and Pat Show interview was great

 

[aphantomvaper]

The YouTube feed pushed his movie, Guitar Man, enough that I watched it. I always get into the journeyman stories and Joe has a deeper musical partner connection I wasn't aware of.

He mentions St Charles IL as one of his pivotal career moments, a small town in the west Chicago burbs that's pretty and some here are familiar with. Brian Wilson also lived there many years. I would never have expected him to say that town and it gotta happen somewhere I guess.

He's got to have a PRS somewhere at the Nerdvilles!