Recently, I read an interview with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons in Fretboard Journal. Like all interviews with guitarists, the geeky gear questions were inevitably asked. It seems Gibbons likes very thin strings, which are easier to press down and bend.
Well, the luxury of them slinky seven’s is an out-and-out oddity to many, yet the notion of using a light gauge string was directed to me by none other than B.B. King, who happened to pick up an axe I stuck in the corner strung up with some gnarly, heavy wire, and asked, “Why you workin’ so hard?” Following that interesting lead, we went for the lean string thing.
The “seven” he’s referring to is the diameter of the high E string, the thinnest string. An .008 E is consider “extra super light.” I don’t know what you’d call .007. Superduper extra light?
And then there’s Jack White. I can’t recall for certain, but I think in It Might Get Loud White mentions how he had heard Kurt Cobain used piano string on his guitars — those would make for very thick strings — because he wanted a heavy, full sound. White prefers thick beefy strings. He believes it shouldn’t be easy, playing the guitar. It should be a struggle. Always. (Personally, I think you can’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Still, let’s go with this for the sake of this post.)
I like the sounds B.B. King, Gibbons and White produce.
Here’s a photo of me at Arcosanti, taken by cinematographer Wolfgang Held.
I think this photo sums up my approach to … well, everything. Here we see the easy way: a promising path with evenly paved stones, a gentle incline wrapping around the hill, from darkness into light. Notice that I am not interested in that path. No. I gaze up a steep, rugged hill, a hill that is mysterious and not too inviting. I must conquer that hill the hard way.
I have theories about why this is my inclination, but I won’t bore you with those. I think though, at this point in my life, I have convinced myself that the more difficult the struggle, the more satisfying the victory. And surely, if the difficult path scared me, I wouldn’t have undertaken A Life’s Work. Or decided to be an artist, for that matter.
I can’t possibly be alone in thinking this, right? Care to share your easy-hard theories and experiences?
And for the record, the strings on my electric guitar are .013, “extra heavy.”
Eleni
I used to be just like you – I was always ready to charge up that steep hill, convinced there was nothing worthwhile on the easy path or at its end. Nowadays, I don’t want to take the steep hill. I still don’t want to take the easy path, but rather, I want to lie on it. And bask. But no one will let me nowadays.
David Licata
So why the change?
Sorry you’re not able to bask on that path. But summer is here, so maybe you’ll get a little respite. I hope so.
Eleni
The change probably stems from noting others who seem to succeed on and enjoy the easier path and from being tired. Thanks – I hope I get some respite, too.
David Licata
Hmmm. I’d like to meet those successful, easier-path takers. I’d like them to be guest bloggers!
Christine
I think it all depends what you are trying to accomplish. If the hard path to success is enjoyable in itself, then that path probably is appealing & in the end, rewarding. However, sometimes you don’t have a choice between the easy or hard path…the easy path doesn’t even exist.
For about the last 15 years, I have been working hard & with a lot of my heart & soul put into animal welfare issues, particularly the fight against factory farming. How I wish there was an easy path to choose from for this journey!!
If I had one wish, it would be that this issue didn’t even exist, but since it does & there is only one way up, I unfortunately don’t have the luxury of an easy or hard path to choose from. There is only the steep, rugged hill that I must conquer, slipping and sliding, one foot forward, two steps back.
Sometimes you only have the choice of the hard way up…
David Licata
Very well put, Christine.
So then, the drive to do this difficult thing? What’s that about? I mean, many people are aware of the atrocities that are happening around them, but few decide to take the difficult path and do something about it. Many sit back, wish things were different, and feel a little guilty, and let other people do it. And I include myself in this group, by the way.
Christine
To be honest, I don’t really understand completely why I feel compelled to fight this fight. I know there are so many other horrible things going on in the world, and for most of them I also choose the “let other people do it”.
I do know that a big part of my drive is that the animals don’t have voice of their own; if I don’t stand up and speak for them, who will, and the horrible ways they are treated will continue unabated.
When I first saw “Meet Your Meat”, the undercover footage of how the animals were being mistreated was just so horrific to me and so in my face that I couldn’t simply ignore it. It was like I justhad no choice in the matter: I had to fight this fight.
Maybe it’s also because in some ways I feel more connected to animals than humans.
One thing that spurs me on are two quotes that I discovered years ago and that have stuck with me since:
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” -Edmund Burke
“A little bit of something beats a whole lot of nothing.” -Little Richard
🙂
David Licata
I love this comment exchange. Thank you, Christine, for your continued input here, and for the work you’re doing on behalf of the beings that can’t stand up and speak for themselves, or whose language we choose not to learn.
David Milarch said the same thing about trees. That he’s their spokesperson. I think that’s fantastic. I’m so glad you’re doing it.
And great quotes, too.