h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As it turns out, I've been a guitarist for quite a while longer than I am comfortable to admit. As my bluesman Grandfather always said, "experience isn't measured in time but in trouble." Beyond all of that, I'm glad to see this article. The most flattering moment for me was when I was at a local high-end music shop playing a Gibson 335 (which I can't afford but love to make them feel like I might buy ) and otherwise enjoying myself when a guy asked me to play the three guitars he was thinking of buying one of - just to get my opinion. He was looking for an acoustic steel string guitar of the dreadnought style and had me play the definitive Martin, a fairly rare and expensive locally-made Hector Pimentel, and a rather well set-up Ibanez-made guitar of some denomination or other. Although they all played well, he was amazed at how similar they sounded when I played them all with the same exact song. Hence, he bought the Ibanez guitar for less than 1/2 the cost of the Martin and much less than 1/8th of the cost of the Pimentel, a good idea in my opinion. All three played very well and the guy definitely had the money to spend - it all comes down to a how well people like the sound, and everything else is just a waste. Like this article said, one must play the guitar to determine what one likes. I personally hope I helped the guy get what he wanted and that he's still playing guitar now. I like thinking that more people keep picking up musical instruments.


- JD