What's your greatest acoustic guitar accomplishment?

[whvick]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Who knows? After fifty years of this who knows what has touched someone else the most? I might quote my performances with various bands or perhaps one of the guitar parts I created when, as a producer, I was asked to rebuild some song or album that wasn't working.

But then, and humorously, perhaps it was tuning a certain black guitar.

The guitar in question belonged to an attractive young lady who had seen me spend hours in the stairwell of the castle on top of a mountain in Georgia, practicing where the acoustics were so nice and there was a 100-mile view to the west. That attractive young lady couldn't get up the nerve to ask me to give her guitar its yearly tuning, so she it mentioned to her friend from the same upstairs dorm hall. Now, her friend was also quite attractive, full of pluck, a classically trained piccolo lyric soprano, and thus absolutely unimpressed with rock guitar players in general and me in particular. Her friend simply grabbed the black guitar, brought it downstairs, and asked me to tune it without the slightest trepidation. Once I had, that young lady said a quick "Thanks," spun on her heel, and bounce back upstairs with the guitar without a second thought about the issue.

A few days later that same friend who brought down the guitar joined the volunteer fire department and was assigned to my company. Over the next few weeks I was impressed by how self-contained and dignified she was but frankly, I could tell she wasn't the least bit interested in me and was socially upwardly-mobile at the college we both attended. As a musician, I was NOT, but her apparent disinterest played in a short time later.

Soon after, when I was taking out another young lady, even the third young lady mentioned in this tale, things suddenly started to go south. One night I invited her out and she said, "I'm sorry but I have to wash my hair." Now, she did have gorgeous long brunette hair down to the bottom of the patch pockets on her Levis, so I believed her. The next night, however, I did ask her out again. "I'm sorry. I have to study." Well, it was a college, wasn't it? I went out to an overlook in front of the dorm to think, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the lovely lady I was taking out, arm-in-arm with my band's manager. Well that was a blow, but I tend to be relentless. The next night I asked her out again. "I'm sorry. I have to polish my andirons." Or something similar. Well, I figured this one out. "Ma'am, we are both grown-ups," sez I. "If you don't want to go out with me, just say so." "I don't want to go out with you." "Thank you very much. Have a nice life." We hung up.

Now, I was standing at the one telephone in the lobby of the castle. I said, "Bob, you have clearly taken this dating thing far too seriously. You need to get back up on the horse, and quickly. Find someone with whom you have no future whatsoever and ask her out, just for fun." I looked around and there, on a couch studying, was the bright young who had brought down the black guitar to be tuned and later had joined the fire department. She was alone and studying. I walked over and said, "Hi! Would you like to go down the mountain to this little cafe' I know and have dessert and study?" I'm not kidding when I say that she looked up at me, and then looked me over doubtfully. But then her hunger got the best of her. You see, even though it was a private college, the school spent its money on professors rather than amenities, and the food was truly horrible. The plucky young lady replied, still doubtfully, "Let me get my coat."

So we went down to this lovely, rustic little cafe' and I bought her coffee and what is probably the finest, most sinfully delicious chocolate fudge cake I have tasted, then or now. We sat in a really cozi booth in the corner of the place. We ate our desserts and drank our coffee and talked. We didn't get around to studying, because I discovered that the complete lack of a future helped loosen my jaw and this young lady's refreshingly straightforward spirit made conversation a breeze. We talked for hours about Victorian homes and Christmas and pets and then it was time to go back up to the school. As we walked up to the castle from the parking lot, the young lady kindly and frankly explained to me that she couldn't go out because she was everything but engaged to a young man back at home and she had to be fair to him. I'm not sure she could have composed a better challenge to me had she tried. However, being honorable and believing that it was incumbent upon me to turn back in to God any young lady I took out in the same or better condition as I had checked her out in, I agreed.

However, a couple days later I did ask her if she'd like to go down to the restaurant, sample that fudge cake, and study again. She succumbed to the fudge cake, though we didn't get any studying done... again. The next time I "didn't take her out" it was on a Saturday and we accelerated to sandwiches AND the fudge cake. Well, I had the carrot cake which was equally delicious. We didn't study but it was a Saturday.

Before long we were eating all our meals together and spending evenings together studying and I had become quite attached. There was a strong risk here, but somehow i combined relentlessness and patience in a way that didn't run her off. I figured that in order to be the only young man with a chance to dance with her, I would need to punch her dance ticket on every line if at all possible. Besides, I had a car and the money to pay for dessert and the occasional meal down the mountain... and she didn't.

This went on until Fall break. The lovely young lady went home to her folks and the subject of her repeatedly "not going out" came up in conversation with her mom. Her mom had a pretty strong sense of right and wrong and told her daughter that to be fair she was going to make up her mind and choose one young man. After thinking it over, the young lady decided to take her chances with that young southern fellow she'd met at school, me. She did the honorable thing, met up with her boyfriend from school, and broke up. Then she came back to school and told me she was available to take out. For our first date I drove her to my hometown, introduced her to my family, and took her to a Doobie Brothers concert on October 28th, 1978. Let's just say things accelerated from there. She decided to follow me to my next college and it seemed a proper time to make some commitment. We were married in 1980 and that makes it forty years this year.

I have since written her several songs, always starting on the acoustic guitar, but something I learned later turned out to have bearing on the subject at hand: This young lady has and had one of the most acutely trained sets of ears I've ever encountered when it comes to pitch. She can sense an instrument that is a single cent's worth of out of tune and it causes her acute discomfort. To this day, if a soloista is a tad off and this young lady is sitting next to me, she digs her nails into my thigh in anguish, making it a doubly shared experience because I feel the same discomfort from bad tuning as she does and now my thigh is screaming at me as well. I shudder to think what would have happened had I botched the job of tuning up that black guitar, these forty-two years ago.


And that is clearly my greatest acoustic guitar accomplishment.


Bob

Sending you a virtual guitar pick!
Great story!
And my wife agrees!

[donlyn]

What's your greatest acoustic guitar accomplishment?

Simply still playing as well as I can into my 74th year on spaceship earth.

Don
.

[whvick]

Maybe my guitar pick stories.
But also my grandson taking a guitar from me and in 18 months is proficient enough that he is giving lessons for $.
And he has his 9 year old sister strumming along in good rhythm!

[JustMunkee]

I've a couple of milestones that I've hit, that have made me happy.

Having the nerve to stand on a stage at a local folk festival, as an entrant in their talent competition. I didn't qualify for the final, but I got a huge round of applause (especially as I'd announced it was the first time I'd ever been on stage). That feeling, walking off after... wow! Made doubly so by the fact I'm a very shy kinda guy, so it took a lot of effort just to sign up.

I've just learnt to play a Mark Knopfler song (my absolute hero) properly. Okay, not the solo, but as I play at a local open mic night (well, I did, before, you know...) people there don't want to hear a solo acoustic player start soloing!

[stringbound]

My biggest accomplishment was finding SGGW, Homespun and True Fire. I've learned a lot from the lessons they provide. The lessons are taught by the best guitarists in their field and I enjoyed every lesson I've been watching. Best thing is, whenever you have got time for a lesson, your teacher is ready to see you. That way I've learned to play Country Blues with Stefan Grossman, Ernie Hawkins and Frank Miller, Country Fingerstyle with Chet Atkins, Buster B Jones, Marcel Dadi and Thom Bresh, Celtic Fingerstyle with Tony McManus, El McMeen, Al Petteway and Martin Simpson. Theory, Technique and Open Tuning with Pierre Bensusan, Happy Traum, Pete Huttlinger and a lot of other guitarists.

[jay7347]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I shudder to think what would have happened had I botched the job of tuning up that black guitar, these forty-two years ago.


Bob

Bob, that was a wonderful story. Congrats!

-jay

[jay7347]

I've had highs and lows the last ten years that I've been playing somewhat seriously. But my greatest accomplishment feels like not giving up when faced with those lows.

-jay

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by bufflehead

Happy anniversary, Bob. A nice story.

Thank you kindly!

Bob

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by whvick

Sending you a virtual guitar pick! Great story!
And my wife agrees!

Originally Posted by jay7347

Bob, that was a wonderful story. Congrats!
-jay

Thanks, guys.

Bob

[bbatko]

For me being able to sing while playing! It was tough at first.
Brian

[caperrob]

Originally Posted by DavidE

Playing at The James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University. I volunteer and play in the lobby twice a month. Or did before Covid. I miss it so much I'm getting emotional just typing this. When you see the effect a familiar song has on someone dealing with the stress of cancer it's just amazing. I see more family members than patients in the lobby, but to see the stress melt from a face just for a little bit means the absolute world to me. I've recorded videos that play on the TVs in the rooms and recently recorded my cancer story and Here Comes The Sun for a virtual survivor's event (was supposed to be live, but due to Covid was online and reached even more survivors).

Doing this has meant more to me than any gig I've ever played. More than opening for Sheryl Crow a couple of summers ago (I have an amazing singer in my duo). More than any money I've made. More than getting to play a dozen Byrds tunes with Roger McGuinn. More than getting to play a song with Alice Cooper. (All cool as hell, don't get me wrong.)

I highly recommend you all seek out these opportunities. I was working on playing at our local VA hospital when COVID hit. I'll get back on that once this all goes away.

You are a great guy David!!
We need more like you on this planet.

[pjd3]

Back in the 70's is was learning a transcription of Bach's "Bouree", Steve Howes "Clap" and Mood for a Day".

But just recently, I buckled down with a commitment to learning some more progressive fingerstyle and just learned to play Mike Hedges "Baal T'Shuvah.
That was a real labor of love and diligence for me because I'm an old dog that never used my right hand ring finger at all. It was a real call to discipline for right hand finger picking technique in a way I had never known till now. That song had mystified me for many years and I knew one day I had to take a crack at it which I'm very glad I did because it opened me up to many other things, like Stephen Wakes celtic material. I"m almost finished with his "Loch Ness" which I found by accident though a fella named Peter Wright who is around here and putting out nice sounding videos of his playing.

Just buying a new Martin GPC16 rosewood I needed to justify parting with $1700 and entering into the deeper realms of fingerstyle has been a great way to do it.

Best,
Phil Donovan

[TRose]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Who knows? After fifty years of this who knows what has touched someone else the most? I might quote my performances with various bands or perhaps one of the guitar parts I created when, as a producer, I was asked to rebuild some song or album that wasn't working.

But then, and humorously, perhaps it was tuning a certain black guitar.

The guitar in question belonged to an attractive young lady who had seen me spend hours in the stairwell of the castle on top of a mountain in Georgia, practicing where the acoustics were so nice and there was a 100-mile view to the west. That attractive young lady couldn't get up the nerve to ask me to give her guitar its yearly tuning, so she it mentioned to her friend from the same upstairs dorm hall. Now, her friend was also quite attractive, full of pluck, a classically trained piccolo lyric soprano, and thus absolutely unimpressed with rock guitar players in general and me in particular. Her friend simply grabbed the black guitar, brought it downstairs, and asked me to tune it without the slightest trepidation. Once I had, that young lady said a quick "Thanks," spun on her heel, and bounce back upstairs with the guitar without a second thought about the issue.

A few days later that same friend who brought down the guitar joined the volunteer fire department and was assigned to my company. Over the next few weeks I was impressed by how self-contained and dignified she was but frankly, I could tell she wasn't the least bit interested in me and was socially upwardly-mobile at the college we both attended. As a musician, I was NOT, but her apparent disinterest played in a short time later.

Soon after, when I was taking out another young lady, even the third young lady mentioned in this tale, things suddenly started to go south. One night I invited her out and she said, "I'm sorry but I have to wash my hair." Now, she did have gorgeous long brunette hair down to the bottom of the patch pockets on her Levis, so I believed her. The next night, however, I did ask her out again. "I'm sorry. I have to study." Well, it was a college, wasn't it? I went out to an overlook in front of the dorm to think, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the lovely lady I was taking out, arm-in-arm with my band's manager. Well that was a blow, but I tend to be relentless. The next night I asked her out again. "I'm sorry. I have to polish my andirons." Or something similar. Well, I figured this one out. "Ma'am, we are both grown-ups," sez I. "If you don't want to go out with me, just say so." "I don't want to go out with you." "Thank you very much. Have a nice life." We hung up.

Now, I was standing at the one telephone in the lobby of the castle. I said, "Bob, you have clearly taken this dating thing far too seriously. You need to get back up on the horse, and quickly. Find someone with whom you have no future whatsoever and ask her out, just for fun." I looked around and there, on a couch studying, was the bright young who had brought down the black guitar to be tuned and later had joined the fire department. She was alone and studying. I walked over and said, "Hi! Would you like to go down the mountain to this little cafe' I know and have dessert and study?" I'm not kidding when I say that she looked up at me, and then looked me over doubtfully. But then her hunger got the best of her. You see, even though it was a private college, the school spent its money on professors rather than amenities, and the food was truly horrible. The plucky young lady replied, still doubtfully, "Let me get my coat."

So we went down to this lovely, rustic little cafe' and I bought her coffee and what is probably the finest, most sinfully delicious chocolate fudge cake I have tasted, then or now. We sat in a really cozi booth in the corner of the place. We ate our desserts and drank our coffee and talked. We didn't get around to studying, because I discovered that the complete lack of a future helped loosen my jaw and this young lady's refreshingly straightforward spirit made conversation a breeze. We talked for hours about Victorian homes and Christmas and pets and then it was time to go back up to the school. As we walked up to the castle from the parking lot, the young lady kindly and frankly explained to me that she couldn't go out because she was everything but engaged to a young man back at home and she had to be fair to him. I'm not sure she could have composed a better challenge to me had she tried. However, being honorable and believing that it was incumbent upon me to turn back in to God any young lady I took out in the same or better condition as I had checked her out in, I agreed.

However, a couple days later I did ask her if she'd like to go down to the restaurant, sample that fudge cake, and study again. She succumbed to the fudge cake, though we didn't get any studying done... again. The next time I "didn't take her out" it was on a Saturday and we accelerated to sandwiches AND the fudge cake. Well, I had the carrot cake which was equally delicious. We didn't study but it was a Saturday.

Before long we were eating all our meals together and spending evenings together studying and I had become quite attached. There was a strong risk here, but somehow i combined relentlessness and patience in a way that didn't run her off. I figured that in order to be the only young man with a chance to dance with her, I would need to punch her dance ticket on every line if at all possible. Besides, I had a car and the money to pay for dessert and the occasional meal down the mountain... and she didn't.

This went on until Fall break. The lovely young lady went home to her folks and the subject of her repeatedly "not going out" came up in conversation with her mom. Her mom had a pretty strong sense of right and wrong and told her daughter that to be fair she was going to make up her mind and choose one young man. After thinking it over, the young lady decided to take her chances with that young southern fellow she'd met at school, me. She did the honorable thing, met up with her boyfriend from school, and broke up. Then she came back to school and told me she was available to take out. For our first date I drove her to my hometown, introduced her to my family, and took her to a Doobie Brothers concert on October 28th, 1978. Let's just say things accelerated from there. She decided to follow me to my next college and it seemed a proper time to make some commitment. We were married in 1980 and that makes it forty years this year.

I have since written her several songs, always starting on the acoustic guitar, but something I learned later turned out to have bearing on the subject at hand: This young lady has and had one of the most acutely trained sets of ears I've ever encountered when it comes to pitch. She can sense an instrument that is a single cent's worth of out of tune and it causes her acute discomfort. To this day, if a soloista is a tad off and this young lady is sitting next to me, she digs her nails into my thigh in anguish, making it a doubly shared experience because I feel the same discomfort from bad tuning as she does and now my thigh is screaming at me as well. I shudder to think what would have happened had I botched the job of tuning up that black guitar, these forty-two years ago.


And that is clearly my greatest acoustic guitar accomplishment.


Bob

Great story, Bob.
Thanks for taking the time to share it.
Best,
Tom