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Summer
vacation was when my interest in music was really
heightened. An adult friend of the family from
church, J.B. (John) Pemberton, had bought himself a
sunburst Gibson 335 ES and had started taking
guitar lessons from a local guitar teacher named
Ted Nelson. I watched JB encourage another young
friend, named Jack McCabe, to start playing guitar
with him. I thought the world of JB and this
attracted me. To be able to do something together
with him would be
great.
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Left:
J.B. Pemberton on an acoustic gut string
guitar.
Above:
He played a mean Chromatic Harmonica, as
well.
This
was a true music man. He LOVED IT and I
loved him.
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I
approached my dad about starting guitar lessons and
he was skeptical, as young boys always have some
wild deal that they want dad to foot the bill for.
He was glad to see that I was interested in music
and decided to give it a try. We went to a hock
shop called MacDonald's on "I" street and he traded
his 22 rifle (a really neat one that he liked a
lot) for this really raggedy guitar. Kind of a
starter guitar, if you will. I was thrilled and
glad to have it. He enrolled me in Sutter's School
of Music on 13th street and I started weekly
lessons with the old instructor/owner, Mr. Sutter.
It was drudgery. He was trying to get me to learn
how to read music (I should have listened to him)
as well as play. I went a couple of lessons with
him and then asked to be transferred to Ted Nelson.
He agreed, because he saw that my interest was
fading due to the music reading. The next week I
went in and met Ted Nelson. Ted was a blind man,
about 27 years of age. He had a mustache and a fu
manchu beard and sported a wonderfully deep, but
gentle voice. I liked him right away. I knew
immediately that this was different. This was
exciting. Much more to my liking, plus, Ted was who
J.B. Pemberton was studying with and that's where I
wanted to be. With every song he taught me I would
have to learn the chords and how to play the melody
"single string" as he called it. I became very
attached to him ... looking forward every week to
my lessons. He was always so supportive and
encouraging. I began to realize that he was proud
of my progress, very proud, even at that early
stage. He recognized my love for the music and it
gave him a sense of urgency to help me. It was as
though he was waiting for someone to come along
that really wanted it ... so he could pass on what
he knew. He had other students, including J.B.
Pemberton, but I felt a very warm sense of caring
from Ted. I would listen to him tell me what to do
as he showed me on his guitar. He played an
Epiphone hollow body with an external pickup on it,
that he had installed. The pickup was on a bar so
you could slide it forward and backwards to get
different tones. Once, while taking my lesson, Ted
stopped me in the middle of my "effort" to
reproduce the last weeks lesson and said "That's
good, Mike, but you're using the wrong finger to
play that 3rd chords "B" string. Use your little
finger instead of the third finger." I was amazed!
How the heck could this blind man know that? He
was, of course, absolutely correct. I still haven't
figured it out. I asked him, but, I don't recall
his answer. Ted used to play flat wound LaBella
brand strings (called chrome strings today). He
told me I needed a better guitar. He, fortunately
also told my dad the same thing when he picked me
up after my lesson. We went to an unclaimed luggage
store, also on "I" street, and found a used Jumbo
Harmony Sovereign flat top acoustic guitar for
$75.00. It had a D'Armond pickup in it with a built
in volume control, the kind of portable pickup that
just clips into the sound hole under the strings.
It was totally unorthodox of me, but I put flat
wound strings on that acoustic just cause Ted was
using them. It made it easier on my fingers when I
was still in the stage of building up my callouses,
a part of the routine every guitarist must endure.
It was a proud pain, though. Plus the flat wounds
gave me the warm tone somewhat like Ted's. In the
picture below of Ted, it looks like he was playing
a Gibson 335, but I never saw him play anything
other than his "Epi."
Having this new guitar
changed everything. This was a real instrument as
opposed to the "oar" I had started on. It was huge,
but had a huge sound to it, real warm and big. Ted
taught me songs from the 20's, 30's and 40's like
"Blue Moon," "If I had you," "Bye Bye Blues," "Five
Foot Two," and "Blue Skies." He played so smoothly
and effortlessly that it was inspiring just
watching and listening to him. His chording
technique was different than others. When he would
play a full bar chord (all 6 strings used in a
chord at once) he wouldn't just grab it, but
instead, his fingers kind of caressed the finger
board in a slight grace note type slide. I've often
wondered if this was out of being blind and feeling
for the frets or just a personal approach of his. I
never asked him. It was a gentle stroking motion.
It had such a fluid look and sound to it. Really
wonderful. He gave me a deep appreciation for nice
solid rhythm. He taught me how to cut (mute) chords
effectively with your left hand or your right.
Realizing that I was learning fast, he started
teaching me some advanced rhythms to some songs
like El Cumanchero and Hawaiian War Chant. I loved
working on my lessons at home in my room. Finally,
I had found something that I was good at and that
came easily to me. I had a natural aptitude for it
... or so the saying goes. That in itself inspired
me to keep on with it. IT WAS FUN.
In
1990 Ted passed away, but I was fortunate enough to
have spoken with him at length on the phone just a
week before. He called me one night at our
laboratory when I was working late. No particular
reason, just wanted to talk with me awhile. I'm so
glad he did. So glad that I had a chance to hear
his low, friendly voice one more time and to share
our common love for music and for each other. At
his funeral I was asked to be an honorary
pallbearer. This is the man who taught me the joy
of playing guitar. He gave me as much of his
knowledge as I could absorb. My good friend and
teacher: Ted Nelson. A very, very fortunate thing
for me that he would be in my life.
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