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Butler strings new exhibit
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
J.R. Reese seemed to enjoy engaging in a few moments of guitar-playing techniques with complementary stretches, movements and flair – even though neither he nor anyone close to him heard a single note.
“My girlfriend told me I’m playing it wrong,” the Deerfield man said with laughter, referring to having played the air guitar, which is an imaginary instrument played as if it’s a physical guitar.
The idea taps into a pursuit that saw increased popularity in the 1970s. “Players” use exaggerated movements that emulate, for example, the speed, facial expressions and stage persona of musicians such as Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards and Jimmy Page.
The air guitar also was an empty but popular feature for many who attended Sunday afternoon’s opening reception for “Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of the Guitar” at the Butler Institute of American Art on Wick Avenue on the North Side.
The two-room exhibit, which runs through April 16, showcases dozens of electric and acoustic guitars, with a focus on their history, artistic value, craftsmanship and cultural impact. The show was developed via the National Guitar Museum, which has no physical location and is a series of traveling exhibits, noted Wendy Swick, the Butler’s public-relations director.
“I think this is too cool for words, man,” said Reese, a retired firefighter and former chief of the Alliance Fire Department, who plays guitar and sings in the area and is self-taught.
The guitar also is “the most popular instrument on the planet,” with an estimated 3 million acoustic and electric instruments made every year, Swick explained. Modern guitars evolved from early instruments such as the theorbo, a modified lute developed in Italy at the end of the 16th century, and the oud, an early instrument with six courses of strings that often is played in North Africa, she continued.
The exhibit highlights guitars from many eras and parts of the world, such as the Vietnam Ghi-Ta, which has deeply carved frets to allow players to push a string down into the fret so the note’s tone rises to pitches above the standard notes. The technique provides the ability to mimic the bowing of stringed instruments or the wailing of the human voice.
Providing the entertainment was Steve Vuich of Sharon, Pa., a guitarist and singer who, by his estimation, plays “320 to 330 gigs a year,” including many in the Mahoning Valley.
“I’m a student of anything,” Vuich said during a brief break, explaining that he incorporates many genres into his style while also absorbing newer sounds.
Vuich, who never took guitar lessons and started in music by playing the clarinet and saxophone as a child, cited influences that include many local musicians as well as blues legends such as Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton and B.B. King.
“I learned by osmosis, my mistakes and listening by ear,” said Vuich, adding he also took small music-theory courses in high school.
Vuich recalled that in the early and mid-1960s, he tuned his guitar to songs he heard on the radio. Vuich switched from playing reed instruments to the guitar because he wanted to learn an instrument that would allow him to simultaneously sing and play, he continued.
Other influences that undoubtedly contributed to and solidified his interest in music were his mother and father, who loved opera and Chet Atkins, respectively, Vuich said, adding he also listened to artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. Atkins was a guitarist and songwriter who helped form a style of country music that became known as the Nashville Sound.
Also part of the show are eight photorealistic drawings of iconic guitar designs and shapes by Gerald Huerta, an artist whose designs have been featured on hundreds of album and magazine covers.