FRONT OF HOUSE
CHRIS BURGESS
It’s the Pursuit that Matters
In my years as a player, I’ve had the good As I mentioned, the unyeilding nature of
fortune to meet many different kinds of that drive may lead to disputes, but it isn’t
guitarists. Since I began working for Premier because the goal is to create more opportu-
Guitar, I’ve had the opportunity to meet nities for hair-splitting. By way of example,
many, many more. Within this mix of play- in this month’s cover story, “The Mysterious
ers, gearheads, collectors, tonehounds and Gibson Moderne,” contributor Bob Cianci
enthusiasts that forms the community of recounts the central debates, disagreements
guitar junkies we’re working to serve, I’ve and open questions surrounding the history
found it almost impossible to have a short of a guitar that remains mysterious after half
conversation about anything having to do a century. To many, probing into the blend
with the “G” word. The fascination with all of fact and fiction that makes up that histo-
things guitar is a realm unto itself, and every ry, trying to tease out the truth, might seem
discussion seems to uncover new territory. like obstinacy, especially since the remain-
ing questions may never be answered. But
we think it’s engrossing, if only because
we know there’s more to this story, and we
always want to know more.
ground, to acknowledge that he’s on the
same unending path is very encouraging.
It’s true that members of this crowd can
spend an inordinate amount of time dissecting the the guitar realm, hashing out the
boundaries, forming different camps, and
generally being preoccupied with distinctions. Whatever it is, if has something to
do with the realm of the guitar, we think
about it, talk about it, and argue about it.
Sometimes we take sides, and sometimes
we change our minds, but we don’t ever
seem to get to the end of anything. To
people who aren’t members of the guitar
community, it can seem like most of the
conversation is propelled by a fondness for
splitting hairs; boundaries become lines
in the sand, and differences become the
source of dispute and controversy. People
say unkind things to each other.
When it comes to question of how we measure our development simply as players,
it can be just as difficult to find common
ground. Some are making an effort to tighten up their chops, while others are trying
to drill down on their technique; some are
working at mastering a single style, while
others are out to learn from as many styles
as they can. Obviously, I could go on and on
here, but the point is that although we may
all be chasing different things, and in different ways, we’re all trying to get better. It is
the pursuit that matters.
This is the same approach we’re taking with
Premier Guitar. We’re players, too, and
we’ve made it our mission to help you by
focusing on the three basics. We want to
help you increase your knowledge, improve
your playing and refine your gear, and that’s
what we’re working at ourselves. We want
to make sure that everything we do—from
our columns, interviews and feature stories,
to our web exclusives, videos and product
reviews and DIY projects—keeps getting
better. We’re proud of how far we’ve come,
but we’re determined to keep going forward. We’ve been on stage enough to know
that when it comes to performance, success
depends on the audience. If the audience
digs what you’re doing, you give them
more, and do it better; if they don’t like it,
you do something else… something better.
It takes a lot of work to keep improving the
performance, to deliver better and better
content to our audience, and we know there
won’t be a day when we think it’s as good as
it was ever going to be. We don’t mind; it’s
the pursuit that matters.
But since I joined PG, I’ve come to believe
even more strongly that despite all the
camps and schools of thought that divide us,
and despite the fact that we can obsess at
times, something else is also at work in all of
our conversations, something that brings us
into one big camp. It’s the drive to constantly learn and improve. If we don’t ever get
to the end of anything when it comes to the
guitar, it’s simply because we don’t want the
relentless pursuit to be over. At the root of
it, the tone we’re all after is based on three
things: our knowledge, our playing and our
gear. Each of these three is essential—the
relentless pursuit of tone is about always
moving forward to increase our knowledge,
improve our playing, and refine our gear.
Something Greg Koch mentions in his interview this month with Dirk Wacker really
crystallizes the issue for me. It isn’t his suggestion to players to constantly expand their
horizons and never stop practicing—though
that advice is clearly in keeping with the
unending nature of the task. Instead, it is
the fact that a player of Greg’s caliber would
say so plainly that he doesn’t feel like he’s
yet reached the level that he wishes to be
on. That makes me reflect on the fact that
not one of the guitarists I’ve known has ever
told me they feel like they’re as good as
they ever wanted to be. When the goal is to
always move forward, to constantly improve,
you can’t measure your progress by how
much further you have to go. You have to
look at the distance you’ve already traveled.
For a guy like Greg, who’s covered so much
Chris Burgess
Editor in Chief
chrisb@premierguitar.com
877.704.4327
