“Hey, you know, the Beatles were our fans. It’s okay that we get no respect from Rolling Stone or the Hall of Fame, that was what counted. We went to England and played at a club called the Marquis, and remarkably, as we were tuning up, our road manager walks into the room and says, ‘They’re here.’ Those are the two words. Yanovsky immediately starts beating up the road manager, going, ‘If they’re here, you’re not supposed to tell us!'” -John Sebastian, FJ #49
Issue 49 of the Fretboard Journal is here! And it’s chock full of the wild, weird and wonderful from the world of fretted instruments, from the musing of Mikes (Watt and Baggetta) to Down Under upstart acoustic guitarmaker Wandering Boy Guitars. Martin Guitars legend Dick Boak has at it with an old friend, the equally legendary John Sebastian; contributor Nick Millevoi returns with a portrait of “educator, guitarist, and improv wizard” Dr. Molly Miller; we linger in L.A. to spend some time with the inimitable Jimmy Vivino, dig into D’Angelicos and Johnny Smith and, well, as always, much, much more…
Just as you’ve come to expect, Issue 49 features 128 pages of the stunning photography and clean layouts that are the Fretboard Journal‘s trademark. You can subscribe to our reader-supported magazine in keepsake print form or as a new digital subscription.
“I thought I had all these BB King licks down until I went to see him, and then I realized how many first-finger bends he did. I said, “Man, am I getting it wrong or am I just getting it different?” — Jimmy Vivino
A conversation with Jimmy Vivino, sideman, sidekick and bad-ass guitar slinger.
“I think what I’ve learned this year in quarantine is, I’ve gotten to connect with people from all over the world, of all sorts of ages, of all sorts of backgrounds, and the guitar is this language that connects us all, regardless of where we are in the world and where we are in our lives.” — Dr. Molly Miller
Nick Millevoi is back in the FJ, sharing an insightful interview with Dr. Molly Miller.
“I’ve got really wonderful fingernails. It’s the one thing I’m not modest about.” — John Sebastian
Dick Boak guides John Sebastian down Memory Lane, and we get to tag along in our cover story.
“See, I don’t like this thing with the arts actually being divided up. I think they should be more connected than they are. To me that’s another problem with ‘genre,’ genre of artistic expression. My best friend uses imagery. So what? Just another way…and people get hung up on these things.” — Mike Watt
Contributing Editor Brian K. Saunders shares what it’s like to be a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth between mssv bandmates Mike Baggetta and Mike Watt.
