Jason Mraz in the Taylor Guitar Suite

This year’s NAMM show was pretty quiet – no doubt an impact of last year’s economy – with an exhibit floor that was missing major players (Apple and ProTools), a dearth of Rock ‘n’ Roll booth babes, and no line at the complementary hearing test trailer in the basement. That was all fine though, we didn’t have to yell to be heard on the exhibit floor. Jason gave me an interactive demonstration on the nuances of fine cymbals, and then after seeing the results of my hearing test realized I didn’t really have any appreciation for what he was talking about.

I did have a great appreciation for live music in the Taylor Guitar suite however. Doyle Dukes stunned us with his pickin’ chops, Night Ranger did an acoustic set followed by a Damn Yankees reunion. They dropped into a successful acoustic version of ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ – something that shouldn’t even be tried. Finally, Jason Mraz took the stage in a 3,600 sq. ft. room with inadequate air conditioning for the 600+ people who were crammed in there.

Damn Yankees Reunion

The Nuge

Doyle Dykes

Serj Tankian of SOAD

Jason Mraz

Styx, via phone pic

Yea, all that and Styx at the House of Blues.

We changed our strategy this year, and headed first to the Taylor Guitar suite to get their performance schedule – Taylor sets up a stage with top notch sound and lighting, and they invite some of their artists to do sets. Once we knew their schedule, we spent the intervening hours on the exhibit floor. Here’s some highlights.

If you want to see all my pics, here’s my set on Flickr.

I don’t have a heading for this one:

Jason, my accordian playing trucker buddy, ramps it up in the Roland booth at NAMM

Taylor Artists

Last year we saw Everclear among others in a room that holds an SRO crowd of maybe 200 people. This year we saw four artists, none of whom we knew. First up was Marc Seal. Marc is touring for Taylor this year, and played a combination of original music and a few covers – including a nice job on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”

It’s worth checking out Doyle Dykes’ videos on the Taylor website. He has a lightning fast fingerstyle that is unique and energetic.

Marc Seal

Sandra Stephens – guest singer for Marc Seal

Doyle Dykes – he’s pretty much this intense the entire time

I didn’t know Elliot Murphy before this show, even though he’s been around since the 70′s. He’s a folk-rock singer-songwriter with a soulful deep voice. He was accompanied by Olivier Durand – one of the most unique and interesting guitar players I’ve seen in a long time

Elliot Murphy

Elliot and Olivier Durand going at it

I’m not a big country fan, so Jonalee White was kind of lost on me.

Jonalee White belting it out

Guitars

Some of the guitars I loved:

New Taylor T3 semihollow electric

James Trussart metal

XOX carbon fiber electric

Equipment

Vox had some nice new amps, my favorite was the “Night Train,” a 15w head that sounded beautiful and weighed a ton. I also have to update my Pro Tools – the new Pro Tools 8 is a giant upgrade from my ancient version.

VOX Night Train amp

Night Train detail

One of DW’s kits on display

Other Artists

And of course there was the usual slate of sponsored artists signing stuff.

Mick Thomson, Slipknot’s #7

Steve Vai, Guitar God

Again, more pictures on Flickr.

Alan led the band from a riser at the back of the stage. In addition to being great musicians, each member of the band also had vocal chops – each one of them was lead singer on at least one of the songs.

Alan taking his turn at lead vocals.

Godfrey Townsend, lead guitarist.

My buddy Tom lent me this book over the summer. It’s a wonderful read – you get to know Wayne Henderson, one of the world’s premiere guitar builders, as you follow the process of him building a guitar for Clapton.

Wayne only builds a handful of guitars a year, and if you happen to get on his waiting list you might get yours in five or ten years – IF he decides yours is a priority.

The story is much more about Wayne and his circle of friends that it is about how the guitar is built. But through the process you discover the link between the craft and the art, and how it is that some people have that buried in their nature. The fact that it’s Clapton’s guitar is incidental, and in fact somewhat disappointing – you really want #326 to end up with someone who sat with Wayne through the process.