dave mcdowell | blog

When I first became interested (ok, obsessed) with playing the guitar, my parents were not too keen on the idea for fear I would turn into some kind of long-haired burnout (maybe they were right, since I did eventually flirt with long-hair, and some degree of burnout status, in my college years.)

I bought my first guitar, a steel-string, acoustic Palmer, with money I earned mowing the lawn (a chore I hated.) But, the guitar was a POS with terribly high action. And, despite my parents springing for a few lessons at the local music shop, I really didn't make any progress for the first year or so. I remember my Dad good-naturedly ribbing me as the guitar sat gathering dust in my room.

In junior high, I had the opportunity to choose some elective classes -- one of the options was Beginner Guitar. But, my Mom had other ideas -- and insisted I enroll in Intermediate Piano (I had taken piano lessons for a few years.) But, lo and behold, I showed up on the first day of Intermediate Piano and the teacher said a few magic words that probably changed the course of my life -- "Intermediate Piano is full, would anyone like to volunteer for Beginner Guitar?" My hand shot up like a bolt.

The guitars provided in Beginner Guitar had nylon-strings, so they were much easier to play than my Palmer. And, I met other budding guitar players -- some of whom even had electric guitars. They became the first in a long-line of friends I met through music (I remember looking around the room at my bachelor party, and nearly everyone there played guitar or was someone I met through somebody I played guitar with.)

In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, he says that top athletes, computer scientists, and musicians practice at least 10,000 hours to be at the top of their field. Doing the math, that works out to 20 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, for 10 years. I'm not sure I ever reached 10,000 hours, but by senior year of high school, I was taking two 50 min Advanced Guitar classes 5 days a week, plus playing an hour during Study Hall every day, and another hour or so at home every night.

Vince Rahnfeld was the guitar teacher at our high school and his approach to Advanced Guitar was blissfully loose. We were required to make our way through a songbook, practicing on our own and then playing the songs for a grade. And, once a semester we had to do a report on a famous guitar player. Other than that, we were free to noodle around, jam with other students, etc. But one day, he gave us the assignment to write something -- something inspired by our environment.

I had just discovered the ringing sound achieved by de-tuning both E-strings to D, as well as the rhythmic possibilities of strumming in an open-tuning. So, I started work on something I called 'Tracks', intended to mirror the feeling of waiting for a train to pass, something I often did on Blue Ash Road -- right near my childhood home.

I never learned to read music very well, so I did not play in the school's Guitar Ensemble, the Jazz Band, or the pits for musicals, etc. But, Mr. Rahnfeld invited me to play 'Tracks' at the Music Department recital anyway, with the whole school in attendance. A girl in my guitar class offered up her father's guitar for the event. When she brought me the guitar before the recital, I found out it was a 12-string.

For many years I wanted to record Tracks, but I knew I needed a 12-string to do it properly, just like that day in school. Finally, I bought one -- a beautiful Martin D12-28. And, recorded a video of 'Tracks' live in the studio on my last visit to the US. Enjoy!