NAMM 2018 what a hell of a ride. First time entering the Holy Grail but as a life long musician has always been a to do on the old bucket list. Its just a candy store for the eyes and ears. The music is everywhere around the conference-
- there are 3 outside main stages
- plus the Hilton and Marriott are right there and have bands in their lobby with bar
- the bands start around 10:00 am and play until 1:00 am
- Bands, Duos and Soloist play in 45 minutes intervals with a 15 min switch over to the next
Now as my ears and body are feeling the groove of the music my eyes are feasting on the actual convention Center that has every Guitar , Drum, Recording, Piano, DJ, Orchestral, manufacturer with their artists doing performances in their booths or halls— Dude its friggin crazy!!!
U can only take in a small fraction of what’s going on but everything you see is awesome… I really didn’t see anyone or band that should not be on stage.
As for the plethora of instruments, hardware and every other music gadget and gear be prepared to be blown away. I didn’teven know there was a Baby Grand, Piano and Grand Piano “section” of the trade show till I walked by it to go to a show at the Fender Guitars room – the piano area was the size of a football field – all pianos Dude… on the 3rd floor!!! They haul 100s of freakin pianos to the 3rd floor!
The most excellent thing was the artists- young and old – hair bands, jazz band etc… every genre is represented
If you’ve never been you got to imagine that you’re walking through the floor and all of a sudden you can hear French horns and Trumpets and it opens up to this dissection of all Brass Instruments and Oboes and you hear all this chaotic notes going on. All the while in the distance you can hear people hitting snare drums away off until you walk towards that sound and you get into this big drum section and people are hitting symbols and drums snare drums and drum kits.
As I start to freak out on all the drum hardware there’s a performance that could be a guitar player like Justin Johnson, Blues slide guitar player playing a 3 string shovel and he’s fricken awesome. Then the piano player from Earth Wind and Fire tucked away in a booth ripping out these incredible licks a on an organ.
Don’t get me started on the sheet music for days and Taylor Guitars and Gretsch drums Pearl Drums rolling Electronics fender I just can’t name them all.
Oh and there’s a whole area dedicated to the Best Digital Audio Workstations but thats for another day.
NAMM 2019 I’m there.