A Thief With Taste and A New Guitar

I just discovered one more thing that poor crook took from my apartment. As I mentioned before, since he didn't find very much of monetary value in my apartment, he took the item with the most cultural value: my beloved Yamaha guitar.

Today I realize he took not only the guitar and its gig bag, he also took my Beatles music book. That was a huge book with almost all the Beatles songs in full piano score with guitar chord symbols. At least he had some taste. No doubt he's probably some starving musician in need of creative expression. Or maybe he thought, "What can I do with all my free time as a homeless person? I need a new hobby. Hey, I'll take up the guitar, and what better place to start than with the Beatles?!" More power to him.

The good news is, I invested in a new guitar last night! I chose an Ibanez acoustic-electric (model AEL20ETRS) and it is beautiful. I spent several hours on Friday at Guitar Center with my bandmate Frank, but I just wasn't satisfied with anything I played there. My price limit was about $200, and there are some decent models available in that range, but nothing that felt like an improvement on my last instrument and it is definitely time for me to step up a level so I can continue growing as a musician.

So Saturday evening, I met my friend Heidster at Sam Ash on Sunset and we spent several more hours playing various guitars. We were there so long, we went through two or three salesmen. But the staff at Sam Ash were very considerate and allowed us time to play with the instruments until we found the Ibanez (ridiculously pronounced AY-ban-nez, with the long "I") that felt right.

And I got a good deal on it. The guitar lists for $500, but it was marked down to $350. I bought it for $300. It's more than I wanted to spend, but I don't mind a bit investing more to get a better quality instrument and I feel very about the instrument I got.



Actually the financial investment is not only in the guitar, it's really an investment in ME -- and damn it, I'm worth it!

Special thanks to Frank and Heidi, and all those suffering guitar salesmen who have to endure the wishy-washy nature of rookies like me.