new axe

After a solid year of listening to some pretty amazing Sufjan Stevens tracks I finally broke down and bought one of these beauties on a recent visit to my nearest Guitar Center. As soon as I picked it up the name "Alice" popped into my head...so that's what I named her. Here she is next to her big brothers: my Taylor acoustic, Eli, and my Alvarez 12-string, Jerry. Welcome to the family, Alice!

I love my new Dean banjo. I sprung for the 6-string version that's tuned like a guitar so I didn't have to learn an entirely new tuning and I've been playing it on a daily basis ever since.

One of the really cool things about getting a banjo is that the sound of a guitar isn't the only thing you're hearing anymore. When I picked up Eli to play it for the first time in almost a week it was like a breath of fresh air; a guitar is no longer the only thing around to play and listen to.

However, there is a downside to telling people that you just bought said instrument: they immediately twang out the first phrase from "Dueling Banjos" with a huge-stupid grin on their face. On the plus side, one of the interesting facts about my new banjo is that it's made by the same company that makes the namesake model for Beefcake the Mighty from GWAR.

p.s. Every guitar needs a name. It's something that you cherish because it enriches your life every time you pick it up. A name personifies the instrument and makes you treat it with the respect that it deserves. Teenagers do it all the time with their first cars but I picked up the habit from a cellist friend of mine who named his instrument "Chelsea"...get it?