I shot my first video for Truefire over ten years ago, a sprawling four-CD-ROM extravaganza called Slide Shop. According to the boss, Brad Wendkos, it was one of their earliest original titles, something I was unaware of at the time. All I knew was that I was ambling through the exhibition hall of the winter NAMM show when a couple of folks with video cameras crossed my path and started talking about making stuff for them. Who could say no? A few months later I flew to Florida and spent four days shooting while Brad sprawled on the couch in flip-flops and shorts, producing, while Ali Hasbach sat by the digital tape machines covering reams of legal paper with handwritten notes about takes, alternate takes, and what to order the talent for lunch. There was no separate control room, a lot of setup time, and much sitting still in one semi-comfortable position or another, trying to keep the glare off the neck of the guitar.
This past Sunday night, I flew to Tampa, and walked into Truefire’s current studio at around 10am Monday morning. We were shooting before eleven, and done by 7pm, including lunch, photos for the artwork, and a bit of guitar grooming. Those guys have it dialed in, and then some. At one point the engineer, Tommy Jamin, shot a little footage of me warming up their blackface Princeton reissue (with a little help from a Fulltone OCD pedal). This time around I’m teaching slide in standard tuning, and Tommy caught me taking my Muddy Waters Party Trick out for a spin. The course is slated to come out sometime before the end of 2014.