Original Publication: June 8, 2022
Anaheim - It was time once again for the NAMM Show to return to the Anaheim Convention Center which was a delight to many people in the area, especially musicians.
What is the NAMM Show? Well for musicians, Luthiers, and owners of music stores, this is the biggest trade show of the year.
Often times when someone reads "trade show" it doesn't sound all that interesting. This however, is where the NAMM Show is different.
This is the time when major brands such as Gibson, Fender, Yamaha, Sony, Korg, Pearl,
Tama, Wesson, Jupiter, Schaller, Hammond, ESP, PRS, Ibanez, and countless other music brands display the new products they will be launching for consumers.
We have to apologize to any music company we may have left off the list, but the names mentioned above are just to give you our readers an idea of the scale of this trade show.
Yes fellow musicians, this is the time when we get to see the near gear, smell the nitro finish, and demo to our hearts content. You may even run into a famous musician
representing a brand here and there.
We were fortunate enough to do so when we reached out to BlackStar Amps about setting up a time to stop by their booth. Not only were we able to confirm a spot but we were also granted an interview with one of their artists, Jared James Nichols.
Nichols, a Wisconsin native, was on site to promote the brand which he enjoys beacuse "I can get those cleans, sparkles, but it still has that attitude." Known for his hard rock guitar style and unique technique, Nichols told us openly "I build my whole sound off of a BlackStar."
Nichols notes that when moving to Los Angeles the first amp he plugged into in a studio was a BlackStar which sealed the deal. Now in the year of 2022 the brand showed us their St. James model which is the lightest 50 watt tube amps.
Nichols who is currently touring noted that he was performing at Chain Reaction that evening which we were granted access to for photography purposes. BlackStar and Nichols showcased their talents to the attendees with jam sessions as well as product demonstrations. Our full interview with BlackStar and Nichols can be seen below with clips of his demonstrations at NAMM as well as his performance at Chain Reaction.
From here we moved on to various other booths at the show and to be perfectly honest, it only makes sense that this convention lasts several days. There is no way a musician could take in everything in just a day.
As seen here our cameraman and resident drummer, JoJoDrum, was able to show his skills on a variety of percussive instruments. Unfortunately the one thing he forgot was a pair of sticks, a mistake we will not be making at the 2023 show.
This fortunately did not stop the fun as booths are ready for patrons to demo their products, so sticks or in this case mallets are not hard to find. To say that there is a little something for everyone, would be an understatement of the NAMM Show.
Case in point, these collapsable drum sets were not only interesting but highly functional.
As seen in the video to our right JoJoDrum as well as others found them really fun to play.
A definite highlight of this event was getting together with other musicians. Even young musicians like the one seen in the video were just having a good time feeding off of each others love for music.
One thing that set the NAMM Show apart from other shows and conventions is the fact that everyone there was encouraging of one another. No one was judged for their skill level or taste in music, all that mattered was the love of music.
The Big takeaways from NAMM 2022 came down to our interviews with Reps from Yamaha. From their we were introduced to not only new gear, but to some great developments in the industry.
Most impressive to us was the guitars of Yamaha which not only offered range, but affordability for beginners. What struck us most was the enthusiasm of Yamaha's commitment to musicians of all levels of skill.
A key example was the "Urban Guitar" that Andy told us about. "The phone rang one day and it's Keith Urban's people... he complained about high action, he complained about all those things that sometimes kids and begginers have to go through, let's fix those things."
The goal of the "Urban Guitar" is literally getting young musicians to play more. As musicians we have all had the growing pains of blisters, hand pain, and discouragement in general.
It is extremely common that any young person might see a guitar and think "I need that, I wanna be a rock star" then pick one up and find out "oh man this is real work." Well the urban guitar takes some of that pressure away.
Ergonomics is a main feature of this guitar. This guitar allows the learning musician to play with a bit more comfort as they practice and learn this craft called music.
Will there still be growing pains and soreness, yes, that is completely unavoidable. Will there still be the realization that you have to learn to play, yes.
However, the comfort of this guitar will get rid of some of the discomfort future players will encounter. At 12thFretMedia we encourage young musicians so we wholeheartedly thank both Yamaha and Keith Urban for taking up this project.
This however is only a part of the features that come with the "Urban Guitar" to hear more and more about the products they showed us you can watch our video coverage below.
Another product mentioned was the "Silent Series" of basses. Now of course most people hear Bass and think electric, but these amazing instruments are in fact Upright Basses.
Ken was able to tell us that the goal of "Silent Series" of basses is being able to adjust your sound, without having to adjust a mic or amp. If you have ever played an upright bass, then you know your options are generally limited to your pick up, amp or mic.
Yamaha however, has taken some of the leg work out of that for bassists. Ken explained that Yamaha modeled 3 different mics with this bass.
In a nutshell, this means an upright bass player can now adjust their sound, from the controls on the upright bass. While that might not sound too amazing to the casual music fan, that is a huge thing for an upright player.
Another great feature is the portability of this line of instruments. Now, being the owner of a full upright bass we can tell you first hand, transporting is not fun.
An SUV, a Truck, don't even mention a car, fitting an upright bass into a vehicle just does not work out well. Unless you enjoy driving to the gig alone, consider renting a van or UHaul with your bandmates.
This series on the other hand is also highly collapsible and light weight making transport as easy as slinging it over your shoulder. There we have it folks, a versatile, transportable, upright bass with a dynamic range that is something to be sought after.
Then we had the "Trans-Acoustic Guitar." Andy had more in store for us with this little wonder of a guitar.
As we retreated into a sound booth with the Yamaha rep, we honestly were not prepared for what we were about to hear.
Explaining that technology regarding secondary effects sounds had advanced enough to make it so compact, that it could be fit inside of a guitar. This started with placing a speaker beneath a piano providing the instrument with reverb, chorus, and other effects as well.
What could placing this in an acoustic guitar do though? Well we found out first hand as Andy started to play.
The first thing we heard was of course acoustic guitar, but not from the guitar. This guitar had reverb, but the reverb was behind Andy. This left us visibly surprised.
"For people online, I am not plugged into any sound source..." Andy explained. This was true, the guitar was not plugged into any amp and was producing an effect.
As it turns out, a small speaker inside of the guitar is aimed at the back of the instrument. Reverb and Chorus are both included effects and the way they are produced from the back of the instrument made the experience really cool to say the least.
Instead of listening to a man play the guitar, it was more like listening to someone hooked up to a PA playing the guitar. That is what the "Trans-Acoustic Guitar" does. It provides a live performance sound without an amp or pedals.
For the busking musician, or just the guys playing in the backyard or around the campfire, we highly recommend watching the demo in the video above. It is a must for anyone who loves playing live or outdoors.
The NAMM Show was amazing to say the least and we recommend it to any musician who can make the trip or get the passes. Something for everyone, and one of the most supportive musical events we have been to.
We look forward to NAMM 2023.
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