NAMM 2017 Fun and Observations
I have been going to the music trade show, National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), since 2016. I remain grateful to my dear friend, Marina Hsieh, and her company KHS for their guest passes. KHS is an incredible musical instruments and accessories company founded in Taiwan and makes a large variety of instruments. Marina herself specializes in custom flutes for world class flutists.
For most musicians, NAMM is better than Disneyland. We see all of our favorite musical instruments and sound gear in one place. We talk to the makers of the gear. We try out the gear. We meet fellow musicians and music lovers. Best of all, my favorite exhibits provide hands-on demonstrations of their products. For the last two years, I have loved the Gibson Guitars, Ernie Ball Music Man, Kemper exhibits, where I get to plug in electric guitars, play them. Ernie Ball Music Man has been a highlight for many reasons. Music Man has a St. Vincent signature electric guitar, which is one of the very few women guitarists' signature models. So kudos for recognizing the guitar goddess, Annie Clark from St. Vincent.
Photo: Liza, Kumjian-Smith of Little Giant Entertainment, Annie Clark of St. Vincent, and I at the 2017 NAMM Ernie Ball Music Man exhibit.
This year, Ernie Ball Music Man has included multiple effects pedals in their exhibit so that the electric guitars in line with effects pedals replicate exactly how any rock guitarist would play their instruments. I always wonder how the effects pedals will sound when I walk by a display. Can anyone tell just by looking at the dry effects pedals?
Photo by Liza Kumjian-Smith: I'm trying out the Music Man Cutlass Guitar with Ernie Ball overdrive, distortion pedals during NAMM 2017.
As much as I enjoy myself at NAMM trying out instruments and gear, running around with friends, and meeting new people, I have a few observations from NAMM 2017:
Several vendors such as Gibson Guitars still have young women wearing plunge neck tops and hot shorts at the entrance to their exhibit.
Most of the people attending the show are men. Women love and play music, too. Why are there so few women at NAMM?
Why am I often the Asian face among the electric guitar exhibits? I am often the only female of any age playing the electric guitars.
Why would there be so few women rock guitarists attending NAMM? Jennifer Batten and Annie Clark are two who have appeared in 2017. Scores of male rock guitarists make appearances at NAMM.
Why is Annie Clark (St. Vincent) one of the few women with her own signature electric guitar? Dozens of men have signature electric guitars.
Why do the booth attendants assume that I have stumbled across their booth by accident? If an older man is presenting the product, I am usually ignored, considered invisible. Here’s the scene: a middle aged Asian woman (me) in the sound equipment booth like Apogee must have wandered in and gotten lost, like a typical Asian driver. In 2016, I was also ignored at the Apogee booth, and they were not extremely busy. However, the young men at the Universal Audio booth were very welcoming and helpful. So yes, Universal Audio will get my business.
Finally, standing in line at the Vox amplifiers exhibit to talk to Billy Duffy (The Cult) and Gilby Clarke (former rhythm guitarist from Guns N' Roses), I meet a friendly bass player who tells me all about his son, who drums for a Belgian heavy metal band. He also tells me that he usually plays a five or six-string bass and rarely plays a four-string one.
Billy Duffy has been one of my favorite rock guitarists over the past 30 years. He plays heavy yet melodic guitar riffs. He is kind and gracious when I tell him that I have been learning to play lead guitar by playing "She Sells Sanctuary" from The Cult's Love album. He says that those guitar parts are relatively simple to play but that he has layered a lot of guitar parts into the songs. He also says that the Love album has a special place in his heart because he and Ian found the sound of The Cult for the first time. He feels like they were just experimenting before the Love album. I tell him that as a testament to the strength and timelessness of the song "She Sells Sanctuary," I have played the song hundreds of time in practice and in public, and I am never tired of the song. The audience loves "Sanctuary," too. Billy signs my songwriting journal and poses for a photo together.
Photo by Frank Swaz: Meeting Billy Duffy of The Cult at the Vox amplifiers exhibit, 2017 NAMM.
Gilby Clarke is another talented rock guitarist, and although I know a little about him from his stint with Guns N'Roses, he is also very gracious. I ask him to sign my songwriting journal, and he says, "do you have any good songs in there?" I reply that the journal has mostly lyrics and song ideas and that I have written only a few songs so far. I also say that I am returning to playing music after more than 20 years' lapse, how my life without music has a giant hole, and how playing rock is tough for an older woman. He says that he understands since his 22 year-old daughter is a singer-songwriter, and he thinks that women have very little support in the music industry.
So I am attending NAMM on Saturday, January 21, 2017, while women around the world are having the Women's March. I am joining the March by playing rock and writing songs. Even though we are under-represented and largely ignored by the mainstream music industry, I will keep working on improving my sound and songs. I am playing electric guitar because it is one of my favorite instruments, and alternative rock guitarists like Johnny Marr and Annie Clark inspire me. I am searching for my own sound and technique to express We will rock so hard and so loud that we can never be ignored.