Man's Best Friend(s)

I was diggin’ into a Telecaster recently, working up some riffs and groovin' on the inspiration one gets with a good guitar.  Of course I brought riffs to this party but y'know ... so did the Tele.  I’m sure many of you have felt inspriation from the instrument itself, when music pours forth that you didn't plan and had never played before.  If that stuff didn’t come from me where DID it come from?   From the Telecaster.   The Tele made it happen in a thrilling symbiosis of player and guitar.

The Tele never ceases to amaze me - it almost feels alive.  Subtle nuances in my input bring thrilling hyper-responses.  Yes, she does what I tell her but adds more from  within herself.  The word "responsive" is inadequate to describe a good Tele.  She feels attentive, adrenaline-filled, intently focused and alert.  At times I can almost feel her heartbeat and breath. Sometimes I feel that if I dropped her she would bounce and jump happily back into my arms.  
 

This thrill is difficult to communicate to someone who hasn’t experienced it.  I have been hoping to find a way to make it understandable to people who don't live guitar.  
 

 

One day I happened to be in an hall where a dog handler and his Border Collie were scheduled for a show later that day.  If you’ve never seen a working Border Collie in the flesh you’ve probably seen them on television.  They were warming up, getting accustomed to the hall before the show.  The dog was catching and fetching and negotiating obstacles, hyper-active and hyper-alert.  She responded with enthusiasm to even the smallest signal from her human partner.  He patted his chest with a barely visible motion of one hand and she jumped into his arms, wiggling all over and kissing him.

THERE!

I had found my analogy!  THAT is what it is like to play a Telecaster. The more I watched, the more I saw parallels between the Man-Collie team & the Man-Tele team.

For November this humble blog will point out just a few of that ways that a Telecaster is like a Border Collie.

 

 

 

 

 

See? you’re getting it already.

Tele and Collie are always ready to play, and they don’t need a lot of fancy equipment to have fun.

 

 

 

Tele-Collie is at home with country folk ...

 



but can easily be as suave as he wants to be ...

 

 

or as uptown as he needs to be.

 

Tele-Collie loves to wow the crowd ...

 

but when needed, will GET ... DOWN to business!

Tele-Collie can move the masses

  

 

 

 

 

and Tele-Collie has been doing all of this for many generations.

 

See? A Telecaster IS just like a Border Collie!

 

 

December’s  Mr. Weller blog will bring you a sentimental true story about how a cheap guitar can be more valuable than gold.