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I'm Marlene Hutchinson and welcome to Tips for Guitar Plane Success.

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As many of you know, I've been sharing my guitar plane tips every Thursday for more than

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10 years. It's been my way to hopefully help you stay motivated, be inspired, and continue expanding

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your guitar plane journey.

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If you're interested in more learning resources, go to my website, marlene'smusic.com.

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And for anyone who's listening and feeling like you're missing out on all the guitar plane

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fun, you can easily get started with my super simple, learn to play guitar in a day course.

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Now on to today's tip.

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This podcast is brought to you in part by Gator.

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Whether you just need a bag to gig with on the weekends or a frequent flyer needing a

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flight-friendly TSA series case or a dedicated road warrior bringing your instruments on tour,

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Gator has a solution for you.

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For the stuff you love, guard it with Gator.

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Today's tip is the newest guitars and gadgets at NAMM.

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The annual NAMM show, the National Association of Music Merchants, was held last week.

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Music industry professionals converged on the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern

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California for the four-day event, which featured the latest and greatest instruments technology

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and some amazing performances.

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I've attended the show for the past 15 years as a proud member of NAMM and for me, well,

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I feel like a kid in a candy store.

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In this week's episode, I'll talk about some of the new and featured guitars, accessories

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and technology, and more that I saw at this year's NAMM show.

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As always, I love to give a shout-out to my listeners around the world.

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So this week, hello, and thank you to those of you listening in the United Kingdom, Israel,

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Antiqua and Barbuda and Nigeria.

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As I mentioned earlier, the NAMM show is a four-day event with more than 3,000 companies

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exhibiting their innovative ideas and products.

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It's both an exhilarating and exhausting experience.

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There are many wonderful new guitars and gadgets at the show.

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In fact, too many to name them all.

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But here's a few notables I thought you'd like to hear about.

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Of course, NAMM wouldn't be NAMM without stopping by to visit our friends and this show's

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sponsor, Gator.

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They premiered their "someone-somewhere" collection and I absolutely loved these cases.

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They are a collaboration between Gator and the climate-certified sustainable company,

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"someone-somewhere." They are high quality bags made using sustainable, friendly production methods.

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They're manufactured in Mexico by artisans using handcrafted techniques like wooden weaving

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looms using cotton thread nearly half of which is recycled.

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You can choose from three colors and several guitar-shaped sizes.

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This new collection is part of Gator's mission to guard your gear while being better stewards

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of the planet and people.

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While visiting the Martin Guitar booth, I saw the newest addition to their custom playable

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art, the D. Robert Getzel 7.

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It's a guitar made of East Indian rosewood, sides and back and a hand-painted spruce top.

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This guitar's stunning, co-pond design impresses with its vibrant blue, white and orange

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hues. It's a magnificent one-of-a-kind guitar brought to life by resident artist Robert Getzel.

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As the high quality playability you would expect from Martin Guitar as well as a spectacular

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piece of art.

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At the positive grid booth, the makers of the Spark Mini Amps that I shared with you last

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year, they were showcasing their newest innovation, the Spark Link.

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It's a wireless guitar system so you don't need to use cables.

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It's a sleek design and has a 70-foot range.

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They let me test it and I loved it.

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It takes just a few seconds to set up, simply plug in the receiver into the Spark Mini Amps

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and the transmitter into your guitar cable plug, turn them on, they sync up and voila!

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The tone of my guitar was fantastic and it was fun to walk several feet away without a

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guitar cable and still get a vibrant sound.

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At the Music Nomad booth, I saw a couple of new and exciting products.

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Music Nomad is a music instrument care company producing innovative products for guitar

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maintenance, repair and care.

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Their new fret maintenance and adjustment system is fantastic.

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It includes everything you need to care for the frets and fret bars.

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And the new Tune-it Lubricant is Genius.

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It's designed for use in the nut grooves, saddle and bridge to help your strings stay

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in tune.

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In the Capo Realm, I stop by my friends booths at G7 Capos and Kaiser Capos.

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At G7, they featured their new spring-loaded Capos and at Kaiser, they debuted their updated

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camouflage and a new patriotic designs.

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Along the lines of the cool and unusual things that I saw was the Ernie Ball Strings

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Unique Guitar String Vending Machine.

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In the boutique guitar section of the show, I saw a unique custom 9 string guitar made

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with reclaimed wood from Jimmy Hendrix Childhood Home.

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I also saw Prince's custom piano at the Yamaha booth.

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Yes, I know this last one is not a guitar, but heck, a piano is in the string family.

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And let's face it, seeing the custom made purple piano that Prince played was just plain

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old awesome.

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As for artist sightings, I saw Lawrence Jubber, the guitarist for Paul McCartney's band,

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Wings, Country Artist Hunter Hayes, Lindsey Sterling, Debbie Gibson, Susanna Huffs, of

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the bangles, Dawn Felder of the Eagles, and I heard that Stevie Wonder was at the show,

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but I didn't see him. I have seen him at many past shows, though, because he attends NAMM every year.

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And hey, if you attended NAMM, please let me know in the comments section.

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I'd love to hear about what you saw and experienced.

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I hope this episode's tip has helped you to continue expanding your guitar playing skills

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and knowledge. If you'd like to learn more, please check out the many learning resources available at marlenesmusic.com.

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Thank you for joining today's podcast, and as I like to say, play on.

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(music)

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