My guitar hero (longtime PRS user) has gone away - painful

This is what I saw PT playing back in the mid 70's , and I'll always associate the MM with him.

ccd2384a7f8abfabd1d4217068d9b195.jpg
 
I've always thought of him as a Melody Maker guy myself. Back in the 70s, Heat In The Street was one of my favorite albums. Great stuff. Covered a few of those tunes with bands.
 
Pat sold the Melody Makers several years ago. He was then a LP with a trem guy for a number of years with EMG pups as well as a Strat with EMG's. He then went to PRS.

He has a few PRS but he also always had other brands in the stable. He has an SE One he uses for slide with a 5708 in it.

Given that his idol was Hendrix, I get it. LP's and Strats are iconic and vintage and much of the foundation of rock was built on them. We PRS lovers will always be in a David and Goliath situation, that will never change. A dent can be made as more well known current iconic artists use the brand and their fans will follow - Santana, Tremonti....
 
In my next life, I promise to be more pop culture savvy. I had to look up who he is on Wikipedia.

Had no idea. Pretty sure I’ve never heard any of his music. How is that possible? It’s not like I haven’t had a radio all these years.

Then again, I also had to look up who Paul Gilbert is, and before I got into studio guitar stuff, I didn’t know who Eric Johnson was. Or Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Actually, even if I’d known who these dudes were, I wouldn’t care at all what brand of guitar they play.

After I worked on some ad tracks with a “name” player for the first time in the 90s, a friend asked me how the sessions had gone. I said great, this guitar player was fantastic, and mentioned his name. My friend said, “I know who he is, Strat player, right?”

It was, seriously, the first time I’d heard someone refer to a guitar player by association with a guitar model, instead of just “guitar player.”

I have truly led a sheltered life. :(
 
In my next life, I promise to be more pop culture savvy. I had to look up who he is on Wikipedia.

Had no idea. Pretty sure I’ve never heard any of his music. How is that possible? It’s not like I haven’t had a radio all these years.

Then again, I also had to look up who Paul Gilbert is, and before I got into studio guitar stuff, I didn’t know who Eric Johnson was. Or Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Actually, even if I’d known who these dudes were, I wouldn’t care at all what brand of guitar they play.

After I worked on some ad tracks with a “name” player for the first time in the 90s, a friend asked me how the sessions had gone. I said great, this guitar player was fantastic, and mentioned his name. My friend said, “I know who he is, Strat player, right?”

It was, seriously, the first time I’d heard someone refer to a guitar player by association with a guitar model, instead of just “guitar player.”

I have truly led a sheltered life. :(

I consider myself a PRS player, but I’m nobody. See? You don’t know me and that’s ok. Don’t blame yourself :p
 
I once went to Guitar Center on a random Saturday about 10 years ago and the whole team (minus Paul) was there for a Road Show. I had no idea, freaked, ran home, grabbed both of my PRS Guitars at the time and drove back to get free setups on both. While I was there, Pat came strolling in and actually played my Sunburst 245 for a minute. I had no idea who he was and mentioned it to a coworker on Monday, who was a big fan and looked at me like I was an idiot. lol
 
In my next life, I promise to be more pop culture savvy. I had to look up who he is on Wikipedia...

...After I worked on some ad tracks with a “name” player for the first time in the 90s, a friend asked me how the sessions had gone. I said great, this guitar player was fantastic, and mentioned his name. My friend said, “I know who he is, Strat player, right?”

It was, seriously, the first time I’d heard someone refer to a guitar player by association with a guitar model, instead of just “guitar player.”

I have truly led a sheltered life. :(

Les,

Don't feel badly about not knowing who people are...there are many musicians from the past who did not have extensive careers and made the earnings off of 1 or 2 hit songs...

And nothing wrong with living a sheltered life...you're not "caged" by any means...perhaps the onus is that your younger days were not filled with musical memories you could relate to...and that may be the reason for feeling a sense of loss...though let me ask...does your heart feel filled with joy when you do your work presently, or is there something else that your heart desires?

Truthfully, my personal childhood was not a happy one, though I did find much comfort in listening to music...and eventually growing into being a reasonably acceptable musicologist with a respectable music library...

If this is your basis for understanding as well, we all could stand to learn about the past guitar greats so as to be better teachers and handlers of musical knowledge...
 
Les,

Don't feel badly about not knowing who people are...there are many musicians from the past who did not have extensive careers and made the earnings off of 1 or 2 hit songs...

This is going to sound unbelievably lame, but I never had a guitar hero. I pretty much liked songwriting, and good part writing, and not a whole lotta deedly-dweedly.

Like, I thought George Harrison and Keef and Clapton were great guitar players because (a) I actually knew who they were, and (b) I thought they wrote great parts. Great solos and great part writing can be completely different.

I also knew Hendrix and Santana’s work, again, because they wrote great parts. And Hendrix had killer sounds on tap. And of course I knew every classic blues player from the old days. Albert King was my favorite.

Some of my favorite part writing was in early songs by The Cure and The Cars.

You can see I’m no connoisseur of OMG wow guitar playing. To add to guitar players I didn’t know before online forums, add Robben Ford, Tim Pierce, David Grissom, and Andy Timmons. I know who they are now, and they’re great players.

I still don’t know who any metal players are beyond Kirk Hammett, and the only reason I know about him is that his car collection was featured in some magazine I read. Metal doesn’t interest me, so no wonder I don’t know much.

Thus I accuse myself of being ignorant of many great players!

‘How do you plead to the charge of ignorance?”

“Guilty.”

“Fine, You are sentenced to learn the accordion.”

“I know how to play the accordion.”

“Then you will be credited for time served on the accordion. Bailiffs, take the defendant away.”
 
Back
Top