Seasoned players face changes

Larry Holiday Submitted photo

By Dave Abner
BDN Staff Writer
dabner@bransondailynews.com

(Note: The following is the last in a three-part series of stories.)

In Part One, a pair of area guitarists detailed their early days as guitar players.

Larry Holiday plays guitar and sings for “Take it to the Limit,” an Eagles tribute show at RFD TV The Theatre in town. He’s played guitar all over America, had record contracts and played with some of the most recognizable names in the music business.

Like Holiday, Jack Pribek has played guitar all over America. He landed some years back in southwest Missouri and served as business manager, bandleader and guitarist for Bill Dees. Dees gained notoriety in part for penning a number of hits with rock legend Roy Orbison, including the Orbison-Dees classic, “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

Part Two talked about becoming a professional guitarist, and why some players become guitar collectors.

And now – exmining a couple of guitar dilemmas and offering some parting shots.

DILEMMAS

While a host of guitar manufacturers have learned to crank out quality pieces in recent years, a handful of instruments have long been and continue to be industry standards in rock, pop, blues and country music.

A pair of manufacturers, Gibson and Fender, have long produced three of the most popular and versatile guitars – the Gibson Les Paul and Fender’s two stalwarts, Stratocaster and Telecaster.

Talking about Gibson and Fender, Pribek said, “They got it pretty right to start with. They both figured out the solid body (guitar) thing. Solid body in part conquered the feedback issue.”

Feedback is a form of electric guitar noise that in some cases torments guitar players, as well as anybody else within earshot.

The list of Les Paul, Strat and Tele (TELL-lee) devotees is virtrually endless.

And it prompts some interesting questions. For Fender players, it would generally be more common to see a Tele at a country show and a Strat used at a rock or blues concert, though some players use both in a variety of situations.

And for rock players, Les Paul or Strat is a common choice. But why one over the other?

Holiday was discussing guitar choices with a group of musicians some months back and offered a simple explanation – he can do everything with a Strat he can do with a Les Paul, but he can’t do everything with a Les Paul he can do with a Strat.

Plus there’s the old knock against the Les Paul – lots heavier than the Strat. If you’re a little guy, the extra weight can start to grind on your shoulder after a while, some players say.

And how about the Fender dilemma – Strat or Tele?

Holiday is first and foremost a Strat player. Pribek is largely a Tele-only guy.

Holiday dubbed the Strat a versatile guitar and then talked about Leo Fender’s good luck in designing the Telecaster.

“With the Tele,” Holiday said, “everything’s minimal. It’s the simplest guitar you can make and still make a decent guitar.

“It’s a simple design still in use today ... that (Leo Fender) got lucky with.”

CHANGES

Guitar players are like the rest of us. They get old. Life happens. Things change.

Sometimes, those changes can have a monumental impact on a player.

Pribek contracted multiple sclerosis a couple years back.

It was life-changing.

He played a gig one night. The next morning, “both of my hands were numb,” he said.

Symptoms followed by doctor’s visits and considerations of carpal tunnel syndrome and other maladies – and all the while Pribek was virtually unable to practice his craft.

Come to find out, a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is hard to come by. Doesn’t happen overnight, for one thing.

But finally, the diagnosis did come.

Along with the real possibility that a professional musician might not ever be able to play his music again.

Wouldn’t a normal person sometimes question, “Why me?” or “Isn’t this so unfair?”

Of course, Pribek said. It’s natural to view the whole thing as unfair.

He said, “Because I’d reached a level in my playing when I could play in real time what I was thinking in my head.”

And because music – and particularly playing the guitar – was the one thing he’d really excelled at in life.

He started over, from scratch. Started a medication and workout regimen. Relearned guitar from scratch, relearned muscle memory.

After months of struggle, he’s almost back. He deems his playing skill at about what it once was.

“I’m getting close, but I’m still not fully recovered,” Pribek said.

But what he has recovered is a love for playing he remembers from his earliest days.

“I enjoy it more now,” Pribek said.

“It’s almost like being a kid again.”