
At least some of our fellow creatures seem to interact with music. Skeptical? Visit "The Scorpion and the Frog" at blogspot.com and decide for yourself. Search term: Do non-human animals like human music?
Why do we love music? And what’s dopamine got to do with it?
Some of my PG friends shared a video of the “fastest guitarist in the world." He won this dubious title by cramming 27 notes into one second—an impressive bit of athleticism, but about as musical as an electric toothbrush. Without a groove, what's the point?
One could argue there's no real point to music in general, but for some reason we humans have an inherent attraction to groove. That's what made our primitive, knuckle-dragging ancestors start banging out rhythmic patterns on the skulls of their vanquished enemies, thereby inventing music over 40,000 years ago. Up until that point, these hairy dudes and dudettes were only concerned with those activities that helped insure survival of the species: sex and food.
So why did Aunt and Uncle caveman invent music?
In the April 15, 2013 issue of Time, science writer Michael Lemonick explains: “Music may ... tap into a brain mechanism that was key to our evolutionary progress. The ability to recognize patterns and generalize from experience, to predict what's likely to happen in the future—in short, the ability to imagine—is something humans do far better than any other animals. It's what allowed us (aided by the far less glamorous opposable thumb) to take over the world ... If music is tied into this most important of survival mechanisms, no wonder we like it so much."
We are the descendants of animals who kicked ass at finding patterns. Today we still run on caveman wiring, which means we love the pattern of a great groove and melody. One reason we love music so much is that our bodies reward us for working on our pattern-solving skills. You know those amazing listening experiences when music really hits you and you have an emotional response to what you hear? That's just your brain being pleasantly flooded with sweet, sweet dopamine—a treat for doing a good job of pattern recognition. This explains why we get addicted to playing guitar.
Misguided guitar players occasionally cold-contact me, asking advice about how to launch their music careers. This isn't because they like my playing, it's because they think I book a lot of work and they want in on this get-paid-to-play-guitar-scam. My advice is always the same: The secret to booking gigs is the same as the secret to comedy ... (wait for it) ... (wait for it) ... timing.
I don't mean “timing" as in meet the “right people at the right time," although that always helps. I mean locking in with the rhythm section. Regrettably, timing is the Achilles heel for most of us guitarists. We tend to want to play fast. Why? Because it's awesome. It sounds and looks impressive and the notes are so close together that it's not as obvious if we are off of the groove. Win-win.
But if you play fast most of the time—and let yourself get away with the slop of playing over the groove instead of with it—you'll find playing a simple, slow pattern really difficult. Some people who work predominately on playing fast may not even know they have real pocket problems.
One could argue that there are no right or wrong harmonic choices. One could argue that there's no “bad" tone (a terrible tone for one song is perfect for another project). However, groove is nonnegotiable. You are either playing in the pocket or you are jacking up the rhythm. That's why playing boring, slow stuff is a far more marketable skill then being able to rip a face-melting eight-bar solo.
Blowing eight bars of dweedly dweedels is fun, but honestly, playing the simplest part right can be equally rewarding. The trick is to get into it. When you're playing around the house, play with a metronome or a drum machine. (There are free ones online.) Play your favorite runs or riffs 20 bpm slower then you'd normally play them. Play each note in a run as a quarter-note, then as an eighth-note, and then as a triplet, then try to swing it. Don't play these runs fast until you can play them slowly.
When you're playing with a band, hunker in close to the drummer and try to lock dead-on with the hi-hat, then the snare or the kick. Work on where to place the emphasis of the pattern. If you feel yourself starting to smile while you're playing, that's your body rewarding you with a nice dopamine hit. Mild euphoria is yours.
While researching this column I found that most science suggests that animals do not respond to music the way we humans do. But then I found a website of a cockatoo shaking his tail feathers to Ray Charles singing “Shake a Tail Feather," a dog grooving out to a guitarist, and a beluga whale dancing with a mariachi band. Wow, I thought, maybe these animals are evolving. All they need now is an opposable thumb, and we'll have real competition for being kings of the world.
PG contributor Tom Butwin profiles three versatile - and affordable - acoustic guitars from Cort, Epiphone, and Gold Tone. These classic designs and appointments offer pro-level sound for an accessible price.
Cort Essence Series ES-GA4 Grand Auditorium Cutaway Acoustic Electric Guitar, Natural Semi Gloss (GA4NSG)
Epiphone Slash J-45 Acoustic Guitar - November Burst
The classic J-45 has been the choice of legendary musicians ever since it was first introduced in 1942. Known as The Workhorse, it is Gibson's most famous and most popular acoustic guitar model. Now Epiphone has released a new Inspired by Gibson"' J-45"' with all of the features players want, including all solid wood construction, a comfortable rounded C neck profile, 20 medium jumbo frets, the 60s style Kalamazoo headstock shape and a gorgeous Aged Vintage Sunburst finish. The Fishman® Sonicore under-saddle pickup and Sonitone preamp make this Workhorse stage-ready too. Optional hardshell or Epilite"' case available separately. A battery is not included. To power your pickup, you will need a 9-volt battery.
Gold Tone The Bell Acoustic-electric Guitar - Natural
Gold Tone’s Festival Series: The Bell stands out by blending classic craftsmanship with stage-ready versatility. Its all-solid wood construction—featuring a Sitka spruce top and mahogany back and sides—produces a rich, balanced tone that shines in any setting. The slope-shoulder design offers both comfort and clarity, perfect for fingerstyle or strumming. With a slim "D" neck, Fishman electronics, Grover tuners, and D’Addario strings, The Bell is crafted for players who demand tone, playability, and reliable performance—on stage or in the studio.
A beautifully realized mashup of two iconic guitars.
Reader: Ward Powell
Hometown: Ontario, Canada
Guitar: ES-339 Junior
I’ve always liked unusual guitars. I think it started when I got my first guitar way back in 1976. I bought a '73 Telecaster Deluxe for $200 with money I saved from delivering newspapers.
I really got serious about playing in 1978, the same year the first Van Halen album was released. Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, including how he built and modded guitars. Inspired by Eddie, I basically butchered that Tele. But keep in mind, there was once a time when every vintage guitar was just a used guitar—I still have that Tele, by the way.
I never lost that spirit of wanting guitars that were unique, and have built and modded a few dozen guitars since. When I started G.A.S.-ing simultaneously for a Les Paul Junior and a Casino, I came up with this concept. I found an Epiphone ES-339 locally at a great price. It already had upgraded CTS pots, Kluson tuners, and the frets had been PLEK’d. It even came with a hardshell case. It was cheap because it was a right-handed guitar that had been converted to left handed and all the controls had been moved to the opposite side, so it had five additional holes in the top.
Fortunately, I found a Duesenberg wraparound bridge that used the same post spacing as a Tune-o-matic. I used plug cutters to cut plugs out of baltic birch plywood to fill the 12 holes in the laminated top. I also reshaped the old-style Epiphone headstock. Then, I sanded off the original finish, taped the fretboard, and sprayed the finish using cans of nitro lacquer from Oxford Guitar Supply. Lots of wet sanding and buffing later, the finish was done.
I installed threaded insert bushings for the bridge, so it will never pull out. The pickup is a Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90 and I fabricated a shim from a DIY mold and tinted epoxy to raise the P-90 up closer to the strings. The shim also covers the original humbucker opening. I cut a pickguard out of a blank and heated it slightly to bend it to follow the curvature of the top.
All in all, I'm pretty happy how it turned out! It plays great and sounds even better. And I have something that is unique: an ES-339 Junior.
The Gibson EH-185, introduced in 1939, was one of the company’s first electric guitars.
Before the Les Pauls and SGs, this aluminum-reinforced instrument was one of the famous brand’s first electric guitars.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of electric guitar in shaping American popular music over the last half-century. Its introduction was a revolution, changing the course of modern musical styles. Today, when we think of the guitars that started the revolution, we think of the Stratocaster and the Les Paul, guitars held against the body and fretted with the fingertips. But the real spark of this musical mutiny was the lap-steel guitar.
In the early 20th century, guitar music was moving out of the parlors of homes and into public spaces where folks could gather together and dance. Guitarists needed to project their sound far beyond where their wimpy little acoustic instruments could reach. Instrument manufacturers began experimenting with larger body sizes, metal construction, and resonators to increase volume.
Around this time, George Beauchamp began experimenting with electric guitar amplification. He settled on a design using two U-shaped magnets and a single coil of wire. Beauchamp was in business with Adolph Rickenbacker, and they decided to stick this new invention into a lap steel.
If we put on our 1930s glasses, this decision makes perfect sense. The most popular music at the time was a blend of Hawaiian and jazz styles made famous by virtuosos like Solomon “Sol” Hoʻopiʻi. Photos of Hoʻopiʻi with a metal-body resonator abound—one can imagine his relief at being handed an instrument that projected sound toward the audience via an amplifier, rather than back at his own head via resonator cones. Beauchamp and Rickenbacker were simply following the market.
As it turned out, the popularity of Hawaiian music gave way to swing, and electric lap steels didn’t exactly take the world by storm. But Beauchamp and Rickenbacker had proven the viability of this new technology, and other manufacturers followed suit. In 1937, Gibson created a pickup with magnets under the strings, rather than above like Beauchamp’s.
“When I plugged in the EH-185 I expected to hear something reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s smooth, clean tone. But what I got was meatier—closer to what I associate with P-90s: warm and midrange-y.”
The first page of Gibson’s “Electrical Instruments” section in the 1939 catalog features a glowing, full-page write-up of their top-of-the-line lap steel: the EH-185. “Everything about this new electric Hawaiian Guitar smacks of good showmanship,” effuses the copy. “It has smoothness, great sustaining power, and an easy flow of tone that builds up strongly and does not die out.”
Picking up the 1940 EH-185 at Fanny’s House of Music is about as close as one can get to traveling back in time to try a new one. It is just so clean, with barely any dings or even finish checking. Overall, this is a 9/10 piece, and it’s a joy to behold. Speaking of picking it up, the first thing you notice when you lift the EH-185 out of the case is its weight. This is a much heavier instrument than other similar-sized lap steels, owing to a length of thick metal between the body and the fretboard. The catalog calls it “Hyblum metal,” which may be a flowery trade name for an early aluminum alloy.
This 1940 EH-185 is heavier than other lap steels in its class, thanks to a length of metal between its fretboard and body.
Photo by Madison Thorn
There are numerous other fancy appointments on the EH-185 that Gibson didn’t offer on their lesser models. It’s made of highly figured maple, with diamond-shaped decorations on the back of the body and neck. The double binding is nearly a centimeter thick and gives the instrument a luxurious, expensive look.
Behind all these high-end attributes is a great-sounding guitar, thanks to that old pickup. It’s got three blades protruding through the bobbin for the unwound strings and one longer blade for the wound strings. When I plugged in the EH-185 I expected to hear something reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s smooth, clean tone. But what I got was meatier—closer to what I associate with P-90s: warm and midrange-y. It was just crying out for a little crunch and a bluesy touch. It’s kind of cool how such a pristine, high-end vintage instrument can be so well-suited for a sound that’s rough around the edges.
As far as electric guitars go, it doesn’t get much more vintage than this 1940 Gibson EH-185 Lap Steel. It reminds us of where the story of the electric guitar truly began. This EH-185 isn’t just a relic—it’s a testament to when the future of music was unfolding in real time. Plug it in, and you become part of the revolution.
Sources: Smithsonian, Vintage Guitar, Mozart Project, Gibson Pre-War, WIRED, Steel Guitar Forum, Vintaxe
J Mascis is well known for his legendary feats of volume.
J Mascis is well known for his legendary feats of volume. Just check out a photo of his rig to see an intimidating wall of amps pointed directly at the Dinosaur Jr. leader’s head. And though his loudness permeates all that he does and has helped cement his reputation, there’s a lot more to his playing.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, we’re looking at each phase of the trio’s long career. How many pedals does J use to get his sound? What’s his best documented use of a flanger? How does his version of “Maggot Brain” (recorded with bassist Mike Watt) compare to Eddie Hazel’s? And were you as surprised as we were when Fender released a J Mascis signature Tele?