In pursuit and appreciation of guitar excellence — Pronounced “Guitar-eh-tay”

A message from Alan Barry, maker of Guitarete —

May 24, 2022

It has been a while since Guitarete has been at its most active, which is not to say that it has ever been super-active.

Yet!

Maybe?

My original idea to create something like Guitarete goes back a l o o o o n g time. I guess you’re supposed to have a plan for creating a web site or blog or whatever this is. I’ve tried to have this plan or that plan for Guitarete, and, for this reason or that, I haven’t flowed with any them. They’re overwhelming. Or, they’re too restrictive. Or, they’re overwhelming by being restrictive. Not that there’s anything wrong with having a plan. In some cases, a good plan works for me. But, for whatever reason, not in this one.

Yet!

Maybe?

I don’t know. So, instead of having a plan, I’m just going to do whatever, . . . ya know, stuff . . . on Guitarete.

This much I know: There is a ton of interesting stuff about music made with guitars, and playing guitar, and people who play guitar, and guitars themselves, and guitar-adjacent gadgets. I like a huge amount of this stuff. And, for that reason, I will pick stuff I like and write a little about it, or maybe write a lot about it.

Not that I think everything in music must revolve around the guitar or be all guitar-forward, all the time. Guitar minimalism, guitar mediumism, and guitar maximalism all have places in my world. And, plenty of great music doesn’t include any guitar. But, of course, Guitarete’s niche—a niche isn’t quite a plan, right?—centers around the abundance and variety of music that does involve guitars.

The vast majority of the articles currently up on Guitarete are a few years old. I’ve started to think of them as “legacy content,” which sounds a little grandiose to me. But, whatever. I think the reason I’m thinking of the older stuff as “legacy” is that I have in mind a new generation of Guitarete articles. Which also sounds grandiose. Especially since there’s nothing recent posted. Update! A new post! It’s about the recent closing of the 55 Bar, so it’s not the happiest post, but it is, nonetheless, a new post.

Yet!

Maybe?

Probably soon.

I think . . . .

If you’ve happened upon Guitarete in its current state, I hope you dig something you’ve read. And, I hope you bookmark the site with the hope that you’ll find some other cool thing upon returning. If you want to say “hello,” I’ll be happy to hear from you.

— Alan Barry

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