Brendan Delumpa is a professional web engineer by day, but his alter ego is GoofyDawg, a singer/ songwriter, webmaster of GuitarGear.org, and self-styled guitar gear freak-o-maniac!

Last week, I was perusing guitars at the local shop near work. I was on a mission to check out Telecasters and Telecaster-like guitars, as I’ve been thinking about adding a Tele to my small collection of guitars. I tried several; some solid-body models, some semi-hollow. They all had great tone, and each had their own unique character. Then I longingly looked over at a G & L Comanche hanging on the rack, and thought to myself, Man, I’d just love to have one of those, but they’re out of my price range. I picked it up anyway, plugged it into an amp, and savored the sweet, rich textures that I’ve come to love with that guitar. After a few minutes, I sadly shook my head, unplugged the guitar, and started putting it back on the rack.

Then I looked at the price, and almost pissed myself. The tag read $799.00! How could that be? A basic Comanche normally sells for $1600! Did G & L guitars become so popular that they decided to drop the price? Then reason took over and I realized that G & L must’ve done the same thing PRS did: They used an overseas production company to provide high-quality, yet more affordable models. This was borne out once I called a sales guy over and he confirmed what I was thinking and said that what I just played was a Tribute Series Comanche, made from the same materials (though different hardware) as the original, but constructed in Korea.

Jack Pribek is a guitarist and songwriter for over 30 years.  His first CD "Trouble Ain't Over" was released in 2006.  Read all about his interesting experiences and inspirational moments on his blog Pribek: Trouble Ain't Over. 

Are you a guitar player or a songwriter? It’s really two different worlds, you know?

It can get inside your head. Sometimes, when I’m practicing some technique or harmonic device, feeling like I’m making some progress and, I’ll hit on some little idea and think, “I need to stop right now and write a song." Other times, I’ll be writing a part and ask myself, “Is this really helping the song or, is it just a clever lick?"

You might think of some guys like Bob Dylan or, I don’t know say, Elvis Costello as songwriters. I mean, you aren’t going to hear either one sweep picking through arpeggios at lightning speed or doing a bunch of dive bomb, whammy tricks but they are solid guitar players. They keep good time and make all the chord changes. Stuff that works in a band, works for the song. It takes some serious practice to get to that point.

Finding someone to teach you how to play better should be an easy task.  Nevertheless I went through great trouble until I found what I needed. So here I will write up some of my experiences through this lengthy process and hope to give you some insight on how to find someone suitable.

The first funny thing is, that there are many people out there who can shred and if you are a beginner, someone who can simply shred down a blues scale will seem like a god to you. So the first thing you should check is if the person who offers you training is actually a good player or is only a showman.

For many guitarists there appears to be an almost unhealthy obsession with the instrument itself.  My wife once pointed that if I’d simply saved all the money on the ridiculous amount of guitar magazines I bought each month and the cost of the texts, phone calls or stamps for all the “win a signed…” competitions I entered I could have bought many of the guitars I lusted over in these magazines years before.

Now some guitarists buy a standard Strat, Tele, whatever, plug it in twiddle with the controls, find a reasonable set of tones and that’s that.  Years later there they are same guitar, same amp and they are as happy as Larry.

I am often asked for advice by younger musicians. Usually, it's things that they can do to become a better band/musician/artist. I understand that in these terms, there is a wide open area for speculation. The first thing I do is break down their question to the most obvious.

What is the quickest way to become a star?

For future reference, while I feel I am quite knowledgeable about most things musical, it is never a good idea to ask a failure how to succeed. Rather, one must learn how not to fail.

I feel I've succeeded in life, but have failed at music.

I've had 3 deals with record companies. One was a recording deal, and two were development deals. My attitude and general bad habits were the cause for my failures, and I wish I had listened to those who were kind enough to help me out with their hard work, dedication, and advice. None of which I ultimately took, or cared for. After all I had gotten the deals by myself and I wouldn’t need anyone’s interference to take the next level by storm.

Because of this, I would classify myself not as a success, but a failure. So take the advice for what it is. Lessons learned by the Bull Durham of music. But I digress…

A few weeks ago I received an interesting question from a reader via e-mail for my blog Guitar Lifestyle. The reader asked me what resources I'd recommend for a beginning guitarist. I thought others might have the same question, so I thought I'd post several of the resources that I'd recommend.

Books

Books are a great resource for beginners. There are a ton of books available, and many of them are good. Here's a few that I'd recommend to help new guitarists get started.

Hal Leonard Guitar Method, Books 1, 2, and 3: This is a good starting point. A variety of different genres are covered, and the lessons are progressive, so you build on previous lessons as you progress through the book.