Why Do You Do What You Do?
BY SHAWN HAMMOND
When I was messing around with headlines to
go with the arresting image on
this month’s cover, I kept thinking how “Future Primitive” in
big, bold letters, would be a
great descriptor for the glorious dichotomy of gear that was
Winter NAMM 2011—the
subject of this month’s cover
story. But the more I thought,
the more I realized that line
would probably just remind
30-something guys like myself
of the 1985 Power-Peralta
skateboarding video (featuring,
among others, a gangly 17-year-
old phenom named Tony
Hawk) or headier guys from the
collection of John Zerzan essays
that inspired Ted Kaczynski
(aka “the Unabomber”) to
bomb-in-a-briefcase infamy.
In the end, I just went with
“Winter NAMM 2011.” It
pretty much says what all PG
readers/viewers want to know:
Inside this mag is a bunch of
gear coolness that you should
gorge yourself on.
But I have to admit “Future
Primitive” isn’t half bad, either.
Because when we chose the
Kemper Profiling Amplifier—
which lets you plug in any amp
at your physical disposal and
store a “profile” of its sonic sig-
nature (sounds kind of like the
Napster of guitardom, huh?)—
and the Misa Digital Instruments
Kitara—which combines society’s
new addiction to touch screens
and video games with a 144-key,
24-fret controller full of synth
voices—I was pretty sure we’d get
grief from at least a few purists
who think glowing glass bottles
and a plank of wood harnessed
with vibrating strings is the only
way to go. Because let’s face
it—a lot of us guitarists are sort
of primitivists/neo-Luddites
in almost the same sense as
Kaczynski and Zerzan: Okay,
we don’t have crazy-ass violent
tendencies, but by and large, we
guitarists tend to think of post-
1950s technology as part of some
doomsday machine that’s sap-
ping music of its innocence and
humanity. And, to be honest, I’m
kind of one of those guys myself.
. . . by and large, we guitarists
tend to think of post-1950s tech-
nology as part of some doomsday
machine that’s sapping music of
its innocence and humanity.
cool guitars and valve-stocked
amps that we could’ve put on the
cover. The Kemper and Kitara
look badass, though. (Hey, just
because I love tubes doesn’t mean
I don’t dig cool gadgets!) But
there’s more to it than that.
It seems ridiculous to even
articulate this thought, but there
are obviously a lot of different
kinds of guitarists. And, theo-
retically, that should mean there
are many potential avenues to
excelling as the type of guitarist
you choose to be. For me, music
is alluring because it gives me a
chance to at least attempt to cre-
ate something new and original.
I’m not under the delusion that
I’ll ever come up with a com-
pletely unique, instantly identifi-
able sound, but striving for that
is what draws me to the instru-
ment. And the guitarists and
musicians who’ve had the great-
est impact on the world—from
Mozart to Segovia, Django,
styles and sounds you can repli-
cate (usually via digital modeling
and/or a very large and expensive
collection of gear), the better.
Each of us has our opinion of
which rationale is supreme, but
it’s good to remind ourselves
every now and again that music
is an art form intended to bring
joy and edification—and, for
guitarists, certainly there’s not
just one set of tools that can
make that happen.
I like to believe the aforementioned rationale is what
drives me to prefer plugging
somewhat Neanderthalic guitars
into fairly simple tube amps and
to blather on endlessly about
how I’d rather dial up one or
two great sounds and then alter
my tone via technique. But
I may just be fooling myself.
Maybe I’m just lazy or stuck
in the past—or maybe I have a
touch of ADHD when it comes
to knobs and digital menus.
A lot of players feel similarly.
But there are other schools of
6-string thought, too. For some,
guitar is all about complete mastery of a single style, and that
may dictate striving for a specific
type of tone without really caring what sort of technology
provides it. For others, guitar is
more about the joy of performing cover songs and interacting
with bandmates and audiences.
And, in that sphere, the more
Shawn Hammond
shawn@premierguitar.com
