Nickels All

Nickels All

Is The Guitar The Coolest Musical Instrument Of All?

In all the universe of musical instruments, how many men — at least — would ever argue with the notion that there’s never been a cooler musical instrument than an acoustic or electric guitar? Sure, a drum set can give the guitar a run for its money in certain circumstances, but who’s strong enough to strap a set of drums on their back and play for nickels and dimes on a street corner? A guitar lets a person do that, if needed.

No, the typical guitar has inspired more men to become master air guitarists or even actual guitarists than the thought of becoming a superstar baseball player has inspired more than a few sandlot players to keep up with the sport. Consider one of those huge dreadnought acoustic guitar setups. The thing looks big, but it plays beautifully and women dig it, right?

At the least, women dig the sounds that a well made and well played guitar can make, though they may not be all that enamored of the guy playing it, but women won’t generally let him in on that little secret of woman-to-woman sisterhood, it’s fervently hoped. Any guy worth his salt, however, will look at a guitar and truly believe that he will eventually be able to play it like Eric Clapton, though most people know better.

Think about guitars for second; they have a certain shape to them that just calls out to people to play them. Pick up a nice Alvarez acoustic guitar and give it a run. Many men go wobbly just at the possibility of them being able to learn to play it well enough. Truthfully, very few ever really do learn to really hammer it, but guys have their fantasies about such things, it must be admitted.

Guitars have really come to dominate cultural music perspective over the last half-century from the time when Chuck Berry first started duck walking across the stage to the sweet sounds of a melodic rendition of ‘Johnny B. Goode.’ And though the whole Chuck Berry thing is meant to be humorous, it’s still true that a guy sitting around with even an acoustic guitar eventually tries to figure out the opening run to that song, no matter his age.

And that’s the ultimate attraction to the guitar; because playing it — whether sitting down with a very expensive Takamine acoustic guitar or a nice electric axe — is nothing but fun. And when somebody really gets good, and is able to pick up a nice Gibson Les Paul and start wailing on it, the world is truly their oyster.

Taken altogether, it’s hard to dispute that the guitar holds a prime place in the world of music. Certainly, it grabs hold of many boys and men in a way that even the most beautiful leather baseball glove can never do. There’s just something about picking up a guitar, no matter if it’s an acoustic or an electric, that helps people feel better about themselves and about the people around them, and that’s a good thing in the end.

Mack Nickels – All I Want ft. Cashout