Singer/Songwriter Matt Nathanson shares insight from the road in this monthly series.
I love guitars. I look at them online like most people look at porn. Over the years, I’ve built up a nice little collection. Acoustics from the ‘30s. Electrics from the 50s.
When I’m on tour, I make a point of finding rad guitar shops (thank you, Gbase), guitar factories to tour (thank you, Collings!!) or museums with exhibits that have anything remotely guitar about them.
Over the summer i was playing a show in Indianapolis, and happened to catch signs hanging around downtown for the Eiteljorg Museum’s “Guitars! Roundups to Rockers” exhibit. So I busted a move over there, not knowing what to expect.
The ultimate thing for my guitar nerd self is to be in the presence of an instrument owned and played by one of my heroes. I was the kid at hard rock café in New York City, staring up at Gene Simmons’ bass for an hour or standing frozen, mouth open, under Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein… examining the fret board. the nicks and scratches, that were made by the people I worshipped.
So, I was really psyched to find out that the guitar exhibit in Indianapolis was made up, mostly, of guitars played by folks like Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Gene Autry and Cliff Burton.
Check out this gallery of a a few that I really dug!
Thanks! See you next month.
Matt Nathanson
www.mattnathanson.com
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