Starting off on the Right Note

Characters in this blog:

Gullu ( my brother Gurudutt)
Ravi, K-Man - Unidentical twins who were not born in the same year :-)
Victor - Guitar instructor and a friend of a friend of a friend. My friend's friend is my friend and so on...
Sanjeev - Shop Owner of the Musical Palace, located on S.D. Road, opp. Taj Mahal hotel.

Well, guys after mulling over learning Guitar for quite a long time - Practised chords on a friend's Guitar in 1993 in Pune for a month or so... Got the callus and the hang of it just before we had to return to Hyderabad - Now 12 years later, Gullu and I went and bought one Finally!!.

When Gullu(my brother) was in Bangalore he'd gone to Higgin-Bothams book store with K-Man(a good friend who'll also keep popping up in my blogs). He bought a good introductory book called "Learn to Play on Guitar" by Don Morgan.

As luck would have it Gullu, Ravi and I had gone to play cricket on a Sunday at our Siddhartha Nagar park. . We found that the ground was occupied by Wedding Reception Tents.Instead of giving up and going back, we stuck around. Started playing near the Badminton courts. The going was good until Gullu finally swept a spinning delivery right into the Apartments beside the ground. We fled from the crime-scene before the war-cries started from our friendly neighbours :) . Running for cover toward the trees, we lay low till the danger passed. Since we didn't have the balls to go and get the ball, we were out of balls.So we just sat there in the shade, chatting merrily away.

Soon we heard some music coming from huge speakers near the Shamiana.
We were curious and sauntered around to the Red-tents where we met Vijay, one of our friends from the Weekend Cricket matches. He told us that the Reception was for a common friends' sisters marriage. Seeing that there were some guys with guitars, strumming songs like Hotel California etc, we hung around in the hope of approaching them.

After some time the host ( another player called Suresh) turned up. We shook hands, wished him and slowly expressed interest in being introduced to the Musical band. He introduced us to Victor and his group. We sat in the surrounding chairs, waiting to broach the topic, as they practised different songs. We slowly started asking questions and found that Victor is a Guitar instructor at YMCA Narayanguda. We knew we'd struck gold when he started explaining how to select a good guitar - the strings should not be too high from the fingerboard, etc... He suggested a shop and offered to help us out in selecting a good guitar.
great!! Just what we wanted.

Well, knowing us, it will come as no surprise to you that that would be about all that'd be accomplished for a very long time. Conceptually, we'd decided to buy a guitar. However, when it came to going to that shop and buying one, we were artfully postponing it.10 days passed, almost a month, the stars were not in line or so it seemed. Since the net is an ocean of info, the only activity on this front was the Downloaded pdfs for beginners. However, without a physical guitar to use those books,It seemed as if this idea was doomed to the day-dream section.

Recently we went for a walk, bored from watching DVDs (?!). As we walked around the Madhuranagar walking circuit. We were wondering why so many of the things that we thought of doing never actually happened. We decided that it is because we don't follow up on so many things that this happens.Snap decision!! We thought "why not finally Do some of the things we planned?". If not now then when?, if not today then never!. Gullu brought up the unwelcome idea of going to Sec'bad and buying the guitar. The mind revolted. Too many unknowns. First, the exact location of the shop. second, what guitar to buy. Though Victor had offered to come with us, we were hesitant to impose upon someone who, obviously in a flush of enthusiasm, had offered to help. Thirdly, Traffic! However, Gullu in his characteristic way mentally bent my arm and managed to brainwash me into action.So we sped to Sec'bad and decided to play it by the ear. :-)

Having got down at Clock Tower, we decided to ask for directions in YMCA. The logic being that since YMCA gives guitar lessons, we'd be able to find out quickly. Finally, found a sticker stuck on the wall, which gave the exact location of the shop. Paradise, Opp. Taj Mahal. Off we set!
Patny circle -> clock tower -> Central Book Store(erstwhile Gangarams, now under a new management) -> YMCA -> Taj Mahal, and finally New Music Palace.

We looked at the Different and beautiful guitars some blue, purple/violet, rich-brown, Jumbo, Cut Guitar, Oval hole, Electric Guitars. They were all lined up in rows of racks,hanging from the walls and in the shelves. Each looking as if it could well be the companion on the road to Melody. Feeling a bit lost and knowing too well the lack of info to go on,we called up Victor for suggestions.Victor asked us to wait 5 minutes as he was joining us, as he was visiting a friend, nearby.

Sanjeev explained about guitars, how they'd become cheaper due to removal of excise duties and bulk imports. A brand that he recommended was the chinese import GB&A which has guitars ranging from 3500 Rs. to 6000 Rs.
As he showed us the higher range guitars, we felt even more hopelessly lost. When Victor joined us, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. He immediately advised us to buy as good a guitar as we could afford, instead of buying a "training" guitar. The shopkeeper suggested a good one, a good copy of an Ovation guitar. Ovation is an american brand, known for its daring designs using non-conventional materials(fiber glass!).The Ovation Copy (Rs. 8500) was tempting especially as Victor said that he'd had his eye on that particular piece for some time. He was saving up for it and would grab it when he'd saved enough. That perked us up. If it was that good, maybe we should go in for it ourselves? Just about when we were sold on the Ovation copy,
the shopkeeper suggested that since we were capable of spending that kind of money, why not go in for the Original. He had an Ovation(Rs. 9600!) and he said that it was probably the best acoustic guitar piece that he had in his shop.

The original Ovation Series was costing 9600, and it looked good. It also had the lowest action (space between the frets and the strings), which means that playing it is just about as comfortable as it can get, because you don't have to press down very hard on the strings. It was also made of fiberglass, so quite resistant to moisture etc. It did not have a "pickup" attached, which means it is not hookable to an amplifier. However, the shop keeper said that that could always be attached later. However, the looks of the guitar would be spoilt, as the pickup would be stuck onto the front plate, near the sound-hole.

Looks wise though, it wasn't the greatest, being black in colour. Some of the guitars in the shop were so beautiful, with warm golden brown shades and everything ! But it seems that just because a guitar looks good, doesn't mean it plays good.

Finally bought a Signature series Topaz model guitar which cost us 2500/-. However, I found that the service of the shop was very lax, as the shop owner took one month to supply us the guitar. Even inspite of repeated phone calls as well as 3 personal visits regarding the status, he did not seem too concerned with promptness, and I'd recommend this shop only as a last resort.


P.S: This blog is actually an e-mail I intended to post to my friends, but the sheer length of it and also the fact that it seemed to belong to my blog, has turned it into this blog.