Songbirds Guitar Museum was great!
Yesterday, Sunday the 5th, I had the chance to visit the Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On the Saturday the 4th, Amanda and I were just a few miles NE of Chattanooga where I performed at an event on Chickamauga Lake. It was a fantastic event, and I’ll have a link here soon, to another blog post where I’ll share some details and pictures.
When we woke up Sunday morning, first on the agenda was breakfast, but while eating, we both remembered that the last time we were in town, we didn’t get a chance to check out this museum, so we made immediate plans to go!
I’m so glad we stopped by! I supposed that their Sunday traffic is a little slower than normal, especially right when they open at noon, because we were the only people there at the time. This made this experience even more intimate and very enjoyable.
We started in the exhibits that shed light on the contributions of many minority groups, and the stand out performers that led the way on innovation and creativity in the early years of American music culture. If there was a guitar, banjo, or other instruments that were pivotal in forming a musical movement, or a particular voice that was so prominent that it influenced multiple generations of singers, the first few exhibits really highlighted this. Lots of great vintage instruments, and really.. works of art were on display to prime you for the rest of the showcase. Here were some of the first exhibits/instruments that we encountered: (click or tap to get full pic)
About half way back into the room, we noticed that there was a nice size stage, with PA ready to go. Along the backdrop behind the stage was a screen promoting several upcoming events. I didn’t get a picture of this, but I wanted to comment here about it.. this would be a neat place to go check out live music, right there inside the Songbird Museum!
We saw a connected room through a short hallway next to the stage that opened up into an entire new room of exhibits! The museum was much bigger and went back further into the building that I thought, so this caught me by surprise. BTW, this museum is on the backside of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo site. So just around the corner and all in and around the same building there are lots of shops and restaurants for whatever mood that strikes you. This area is old and full of amazing Chattanooga history, which makes the experience even better.
There were several areas where people could sit down to play guitar as well. There were video screens that featured video of famous players that had visited the museum and discussed their gear, playing style, influences, and more. I watched one of the Eric Johnson clips.
Here are some more exhibits and guitars featured further into the back of the museum:
The last room in the back had a beautiful display of vintage guitars, not necessarily tied to any specific performers, just very unique models all very valuable and rare. These display cases were floor to ceiling.. quite a site:
Making our way back into the main room and along the opposite side, we discovered a wall of amps, a healthy mix of vintage and some newer models, but the point of the wall was to push the buttons that represented each amp and hear a sample of their iconic sounds. This was a really neat part of the tour. Of course, the Marshall did not disappoint.. Here’s a quick clip:
Last but not least were walls of pedals, and many areas devoted to technology and its influence on music throughout history. There were even many places explaining how the circuitry works on amps, pedals, microphones, and how sound waves are generated and affected by it all. This was a really neat section, and the one that we ended on after being there for a little over an hour.
I’m thrilled that we were able to check out the Songbirds Guitar Museum! It was a delight and should inspire anyone interested in music, music history, musical instruments, and the shape and molding of music culture. The next time you are in Chattanooga, you should stop by! At the time of this writing Adult Tickets were $15 a piece. Worth every penny in my opinion!
Thanks for reading! And thanks to my wife Amanda for capturing some of these great photos as well. We were both very inspired by this place.
-Tom Blair
