November 28th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Sunday Drive”

Chapters
00:00 - John Denver - Country Roads loop and playing


Notes
When the boys and i were driving around on our little Sunday afternoon drive yesterday, we played a million songs. When i put "country roads" by John Denver on they literally went into a trance…and so did i….

I started thinking, what IS IT about this simple song that has such power over people???

I figured it out…it's the note choice of the high harmony part that the girl (Taffy Nivert, also one of the song writers) is singing.

Very odd non-traditional harmony note choices, but SOOOOOO cool and haunting....takes me to the same emotional place that the girls singing on "Revolution Comes With An Act Of Love" by Church Of The Cosmic Skull takes me.

If you took that high harmony part away, the song woulda never made the top 100 billboard charts...that's a guarantee.

The power of the sixth note people....

John Denver rules don't take my word for it....check it out
https://youtu.be/1SKq__Ba6hE

November 23rd, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Special Brew…”Greg Voros”

Chapters
00:00 - Greg Voros / Rex Brown bass / Pantera
03:10 - Covid and vintage guitar market
05:00 - YouTube and content
07:45 - Gruhns restructuring
11:10 - Greg Multiple Sclerosis health issues
16:32 - Coffee and non-profit
56:30 - Pantera Trivia Question


Notes
I know it’s a little long, but you’re gonna wanna watch this one all the way through kids….this one is special.

Pertinent links:
https://www.acoustic.coffee
https://guitars.com

October 10th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Volume 167, Tom Bukovac, “Super Echo Twin”

Chapters
00:00 - Plucking some tunes
04:43 - Hello, friends! / High Life
05:15 - Ampeg amp
07:07 - VCB (Viewer Comment Bin)
07:17 - Lesson: Strumming like a pendulum / "Scrape the beat"
09:48 - Tone knob use
10:33 - Fruit of the Loom and brand t-shirts
11:07 - Pickup brightness
11:35 - Dream music?  Absolutely
11:59 - Bayou rocker / New ideas keep flowing
13:21 - Danocaster Tele for sale / playing
15:45 - Cheifs / Sessions / Thanks to Homeskoolin crowd


Notes
After a long day of sessions, Larry plunks his old Strat through a really fun old ‘64 Ampeg ET-2 and answers a few questions from the VCB.

September 17th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Saturday Night Bonus Jam “Point Of Contact”

Chapters
00:00 - Playing the chopper


Notes
Hello friends…a while back my dear dear friend sweet Greggy Voros gifted me a wonderful old 54 Esquire chopper that i have been slowly but surely trying to turn into the monster that i absolutely know it can be.

From the start this guitar had a hell of a lot going for it (super lightweight and the neck is to die for) but it had a long way to go. It started with refretting, then trying to find the right pickups…i ended up finding some great pickups, an original bridge pickup from a 1960 tele custom was a nice addition.

The original bridge saddles were driving me insane, so i just had my dear old friend Phil Crabtree install a set of Callaham compensated steel saddles. I picked it up from him today, Philly works alongside Tom Murphy at the Gibson custom shop. He is one of the sweetest kindest souls that has ever walked this earth. Thats him pictured at the end of this video.

Lord did these saddles help a lot…a MAJOR step in the right direction. The intonation is sooo good now, the string spacing is perfect, and the thing is just ringing beautifully acoustically, great sustain.

I swear the older i get i am focusing more and more on what i have always called the “point of contact” in guitars.

The purity and trueness of the way fretted and open notes pop out of a guitar, whether its electric or acoustic. The way the notes ring and sustain without an amp.

It’s the first thing i look at when i am checking out any guitar I haven’t seen before. It’s amazing how many guitars there are out there, even “high end” instruments, that just have terrible “point of contact”.

Strangled sounding dead notes all over the guitar, which could be caused by many things….a shitty bridge, bad fretwork, a fingerboard that is separating slightly from the neck, a pinched nut slot, and the worst offender, just plain dead wood.

September 6th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Volume 162, Tom Bukovac, “You Guys In A Band??”

Chapters
00:00 - Beautiful playing
01:43 - Hello, lads and lasses / Back home / Thanks
02:29 - Acoustic guitar Martin D-28
03:00 - Maton acoustic guitar
04:45 - Amazing Dawgs, bandmates, and being in a band
08:40 - Gambling / Spam and YouTube filters
09:54 - Bonus footage


Notes
Television's own Uncle Larry, absolutely exuberant about finally being home and being reunited with his trusty old '38 bone…waxes rhapsodic about that one thing we have ALL thought about since we were little kids….what it's like to really be in a band.

(and now, shift to "first person")

Now that touring is finally calming down and fall is on the way (praise God) it's time to put some focus on some projects that i started on a while back, such as this little instrumental EP that dear Guthrie Trapp and myself are putting together…it's so much fun.....here’s a little snippet from one of the three tracks we already have "in the can"....gonna go back in soon and do some more.

Also, I couldn’t help but add in a few other crazy things at the end of this vid...a dumb meme that cracks me up... " I AM THE JUAN PERCENT"....oh and my alltime favorite thing that my sweet little boy Leo ever drew for his dear old dad….a totally random partial list he made at school one day of some of our favorite songs we like to jam in the car…precious keepsake.

"you got another thing comin"
"black sabbath"
"hot rod lincoln"
"iron man"
"rock and roll music"
"yellow submarine"
"starship trooper"
"hard day's nite"
"breakin' the law"
"don't stand so close to me"
"behind my camel" (instrumental by the police off zenyatta mondatta)
and one more i could never read

Thanks again for supporting the channel folks….i am doing everything legally allowed to show you guys whatever i can…absolutely free of charge of course. Why am i doing it? Because music has been really good to me in this life, and i feel like it’s the right thing to do to give it all back to a bunch of total strangers...

i hope you guys know how much i sincerely appreciate the little community we have built here …. ya’ know, except for a few kids in the back of the room that get a little too excited at times (like Brock Thomas....man what a tool) we got something very real going here….i for one do not take it for granted.

Rock on cats

September 4th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Dust Storm”

Chapters
00:00 - Soundcheck


Notes
As a wild rain and dust storm rolls in right before our gig tonite in Laughlin NV…you get a little slice of the usual backstage/soundcheck madness that accompanies the Amazing Dawgs gigs.

Dear Rob Olsen of Maton guitars was kind enough to furnish us with this lovely Maton Messiah acoustic guitar to use on this tour….definitely a step up from what we WERE doing….the pickup sounds wonderful.

More than anything, this captures the gigantic soul of our dear band photographer Criss Cain, who is kind enough to stand in for Ann and sing for her at soundchecks….one of the coolest, most genuine people i have ever known.

September 1st, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “Pike’s Peak”

Chapters
00:00 - Deep melodic plucking
02:08 - Hello, class! / Seattle hello
02:44 - Coasta Mesa, CA show / Pat Benatar & Neil Geraldo (Timeless Guitars)
03:50 - BC Rich Eagle / Neil brings guitar out
04:39 - Puyallop, WA show
05:18 - Lesson: Chord voicing concept


Notes
Larry….he just woke up in a weird hotel…but thank The Lord he’s got his cheapo martin to plunk on….

August 26th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “How To Put A String On A Guitar”

Chapters
00:00 - How to string a guitar


Notes
Well kids, i said i was done with all this horseshit, but then THIS comment came in on the “boys in the back room” video.

“Show us how it’s done then. Lots of talk no walk”

Ok f**kface here ya go…

August 26th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Volume 161, Tom Bukovac, “Rainbow Blues”

Chapters
00:00 - Song playthrough
03:25 - Hello, class! / Uncle Larry
04:00 - VCB (Viewer Comment Bin) / Thanks
05:15 - James Honeyman Scott & episode
06:02 - "Good tone is heavy and hard to carry."  -Tom Bukovac (Amps)
06:24 - Stringing guitar
07:29 - What was your first pedal? DOD Flanger
08:01 - Chrissy Hines and James Honeyman Scott appreciation
08:25 - Any advice? Don't end up in jail or killing yourself, you're good
09:30 - Steve Hackett - The Battle of Epping Forest (echo)
12:05 - Pet peeves / Gruhn's Guitars / Original guitars (Beato & Rhett)


Notes
This one goes out to one of the baddest motherfuckers that ever roamed this earth….Joey D

RIP brother

and...the echo guitar that kicks in at :51 on this....come on man
https://youtu.be/S3V2Ctw3XNU

and....if i ever heard a pedal that can create the effect that happens at 3:16 of my pitiful video today when both guitars play the same thing. that would be cool

August 25th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “The Boys In The Back Room”

Chapters
00:00 - Locking strings...just don't


Notes
Hey kids…the whole “right way to put strings on a guitar” thing has been a hot topic of debate on the Homeskoolin’ channel.

I thought i would run it by the boys in the back room of the repair department of the most venerable, respected vintage guitar shop in North America…Gruhn Guitars in Nashville tn….here's what they said…thought you guys might find it interesting. starring....

1) Greg Voros
2) Tony Nagy
3) Lin Crowson

July 8th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Session Update “Everybody Loves Danny”

Chapters
00:00 - Back stage gear tour
04:00 - Danny Dugmore


Notes
Day two of a three day odyssey….special guests, our beloved Bryan Sutton and the legendary Dan Dugmore…check out his credits on allmusic.com kids…a true session man.

May 4th, 2022

Homeskoolin “Room Service”

Chapters
00:00 - Noodling before a gig.


Notes
Hello all, sequestered in a hotel room on the road with no amp has always been a good Zen way for me to truly “get in touch” with the instrument.
Crude as it is, this is the shit that REALLY matters…because if this “direct connection” from your hands to the source ain’t right, well then whats the point of amplifying it?

March 19th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Bonus “The Last One Holdin’ It”

Chapters
00:00 - Gruhn Guitars Inc.
00:37 - Sprinkler system amp wrap
02:28 - George's overrated guitar? Gibson SG
08:36 - Greg's overrated guitar? Rickenbacker
09:46 - Les Paul and the SG
10:27 - Discovery of old guitars / Michael Bloomfield influence
13:24 - Tony Iommi's weren't Gibsons / Redesigning the SG
15:15 - Bloomfield influence cont.
16:56 - Les Paul
19:10 - Unbelievable guitars
25:10 - "Store's best customer" / Collection / Inspiration
28:41 - What guitar would you love to have?
31:39 - Guitar price "bubble"? / New generation of guitar buyers
36:05 - Heavy Metal / Women buyers / Inflation
38:18 - Guitar is a physical art you can feel, hear, and is alive
41:00 - Optimist vs. pessimist truth
42:42 - "Hot tip" of what is going to be valueable?
43:49 - 70's to present guitars
44:07 - 335 vs. Bursts prices
46:33 - "If there were a guitar...would be buying." / Guitars bought
47:49 - Not vintage guitar?
50:43 - Guitar to turn to crap? / Difficulty in supply / Bolt-on copies / Luthier
53:23 - New instruments from new builders and opinions
54:30 - 2 names of builders that are good?  Hugh Hansen, Paul Newson
57:19 - What are some of the things missing from builders who are missing the point?
61:52 - Best craftsmanship in guitar making?


Notes
Maaaaaaaaaany things to think about…..
Starring:
George Gruhn
Greggy Voros
Joel Watrous
David Kreisel
and some sweet woman who’s name we don’t know (Cheryl)

Filmed on 3/19/22 on location in the infamous break room of the greatest guitar store in the world.

February 8th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Volume 128, Tom Bukovac, “Through The Past (not so) Darkly”

Chapters
00:00 - Funky playing
01:38 - Hello, friends!
02:06 - Ricky Gervais podcast
03:19 - Jeff Senn Strat / Cancelled session
03:35 - Trip The Witch songs and lessons
04:19 - "Dressed to Kill Myself" listen


Notes

January 28th, 2022

Homeskoolin’ Super Bonus “Passion”

Chapters
00:00 - Guitar setup expertise
00:38 - "3/64ths"
01:01 - "Raised the action"
02:05 - Step 1...
02:49 - Mathematics of frets
03:32 - Playing the Tele
03:58 - Nut slots and action
04:43 - "Choke"
05:25 - Nut and bridge height mathematics
06:18 - Choking, relief, radius
08:11 - Width / Height of frets
09:26 - Steps from here
11:03 - Fender go to steel? '54 / Trivia
14:34 - "Bend the piss out of the high E"
15:18 - Playing it again / Explanation
16:15 - Continue setup
17:25 - Creasing and stretching the strings
19:34 - '60 Tele Custom
20:45 - Tuning with fingers and playing position
23:00 - Playing it fully set up, acoustically / Tuning with chords
25:17 - Fret end dressing
29:45 - "Worst Nightmare?"
32:50 - Back to fret softening / Fret end jewelry
38:10 - Make your own glue
39:00 - Leather stropping block and chrome polish
42:50 - File and gouging the wood
44:09 - Playing it fully polished


Notes
This one is pretty inside friends….
it could be considered long and boring for some, i totally get that.

This one is actually aimed at those of you out there who REALLY wanna know the inside shit on how that last little one percentile of top tier professional guitar set up and guitar physics REALLY works.

Did you ever notice that any time you see a person doing anything at the highest level it could ever possibly be done at, there is one common denominator you will find every time…..PASSION…..

I mean TRUE passion and a deep love of the craft. There is also deep respect for doing things the RIGHT way.

Greg Voros, head of the repair department at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville…the boy is a true artist, and a dear dear friend of your drunk old uncle….i cannot tell you how much i respect this dude…this video should give you a real good idea why.

Greg is joined about halfway through this video by Lin Crowson….another Gruhns employee who has freakish expert level knowledge of authenticating and repairing old guitars.

Hope you enjoy folks.

December 22nd, 2021

Homeskoolin’ Bonus, “George F. Root”

Chapters
00:00 - Nice beautiful, slow version of song


Notes
A little Homeskoolin style adaptation of “Battle Cry Of Freedom”….or “Rally Round The Flag”…a song that actually was used by BOTH sides during the Civil War at various times….as a songwriter, that’s when you know you got a hit right there.
I learned of this song as a wee lad through a couple heroes of mine...Tom Britt and Ry Cooder.

Check out www.guitarhouse.net kids Its all there

New t shirts, plexi soul cd’s, you name it!!

October 4th, 2021

Homeskoolin’ Bonus Jam, Tom Bukovac, “I Always Pictured You Wearing Pants” part 3

Chapters
00:00 - Beautiful mixture of playing


Notes
A brief foray into the complete and total unknown…with some previous techniques discussed in earlier episodes hidden throughout.

Homeskoolin merch available at www.guitarhouse.net
Paypal tip jar is tombukovac@gmail.com

August 31st, 2021

Homeskoolin’ Bonus Jam “The Roadrunner”

Chapters
00:00 - Picking blues mix jam
06:56 - '53 Fender Telecaster


Notes
Hey Homeskoolers, hope all is well….just stuck in the house on a rainy day with a funky old blackguard Tele and my dear son Leo who came in to show me his crumpled up treasure map.

Rest in peace my dear old friend Tim Akers.

For those concerned, the Trip The Witch single will be featured on an exclusive with Guitar World tomorrow (Wednesday) and released in CD Baby (basically all digital platforms) Friday!

August 9th, 2021

Homeskoolin’ Session Update Part 1 “Acoustic Fever”

Chapters
00:00 - Acoustic track playing


Notes
Monday August 9th 2021…Soultrain Studios in Berry Hill.
Working on a project with an extremely talented Aussie fella named Wes Dean.

Wes sang, played some great acoustic and blew me away with some absolutely wicked Bob Dylan/Neil Young style harmonica playing….(which is one thing we are SORELY lacking here in the Nashville session scene in my opinion).
Corky Courtelyou producing and engineering.
Kyle Blunt Pro Tools operator.
I played electric and a bit of acoustic as you see here.
The legendary Freddie Eltringham on drums.
Adam Beard on an olive drab P bass.
Charlie Lowell on keys.

I know it sucks when you can’t hear the context of the track that I am playing along with, but unfortunately thats all I can give you guys without pissing off the artist I am working for.

The guitar I'm playing is a 1937 Gibson Advanced Jumbo that I just recently purchased from Gruhn Guitars. I had to sell about five guitars to even remotely afford it but thats just fine with me....the thing is truly not of this earth.


Homeskoolin merch available at www.guitarhouse.net
Paypal tip jar is tombukovac@gmail.com
Venmo tip jar is @Tom-Bukovac-1

thanks for watching the show guys

July 22nd, 2021

Homeskoolin’ Volume 108, Tom Bukovac, “Reverb Math”

Chapters
00:00 - Slow ambient jam
02:17 - Hello, class!
04:37 - Baritone strings / Gauge
05:29 - Wrapping strings
06:28 - Jerry Jones Neptune Longhorn Baritone / A tuning
07:40 - Gibson Eb-2D Bass garage sale


Notes
Hello class, just a brief exploratory look at baritone guitars….keep in mind, EVERY guitar sounds cool when you tune it down low enough. Props to John Scott from Bluesman Vintage guitars in Nashville. You may want to contact him if you like lightweight guitars…the Strat he had with him yesterday was literally the lightest Strat i have ever felt in my entire life…5 pounds tops.

If you guys want either of the two instruments from Uncle Larrys Garage Sale just email me at tombukovac@gmail.com

Buyer pays all shipping


Homeskoolin merch available at www.guitarhouse.net
Paypal tip jar is tombukovac@gmail.com
Venmo tip jar is @Tom-Bukovac-1