Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Friends turn to podcast to talk guitar

Tyler PT Hylton produces a guitar talk podcast called Six String Bliss and has recently reached his 100th episode. Erik Daily

By KJ LANG | La Crosse Tribune

The upstairs of Tyler Hylton’s La Crosse home is pretty typical of a married guy with a kid.

He has a fireplace at the end of a comfortable living room with a box full of toys and a rocking horse for his 2-year-old daughter.

But, down below in the basement, life gets a little more high-tech. The 30-year-old has a computer, microphone, guitar and a few other pieces of equipment to make music and talk guitars to the world.

“It is so easy to talk about what you love,” said Hylton.

Hylton, or “PT” as he calls himself, is the co-host of a guitar-focused Internet radio show, or podcast, called “Six-String Bliss.”

Hylton started the show in November 2005 with his former college roommate and good guitar talking buddy, Andrew “Pipes” Piper, of Roselle, Ill.

“It was more or less an experiment,” said Piper. “There was this new technology and we figured we would give it a shot. ... Tt turned out to be a lot of fun and we’ve made great friends all over the world doing it.”

Back in college, the two would spend free time at the guitar shops talking guitars every chance they had. Now, they still talk, only their homes are about 250 miles apart and they record the conversation.

Hylton later edits the recording and it is available a few days later at www.sixstringbliss.com.

The two are recording their 104th episode today. The weekly recording is typically a low-key conversation with music industry insights, humor and guitar topics from good guitar players to the latest in guitar gear.

Most people subscribe to the radio show so that every time a new episode is available, it’s automatically downloaded onto their computer, said Hylton. And most people subscribe through iTunes, at www.itunes.com, he added.

Over the years, Hylton and Piper have attracted a global community of listeners. People listen in and send them comments on their Web site from as far away as Germany, Japan, Greece and England.

Both Hylton and Piper have full time jobs and consider podcasting a hobby. However, they can make a little money at it through advertisements on their Web site and on the Internet show as well as through donations from listeners.

A group of listeners paid their way to the National Association of Music Merchants show in Anaheim, Calif., where new musical instruments and products were unveiled in January.

Never in a million years did the two think their humble podcast would garner enough interest to pay their way to California, said Piper.

If people aren’t crazy about guitars, Hylton said, they can pretty much find any podcast topic on the Internet by visiting the iTunes Web site or Googling their favorite topic and “podcast.”

Of course, for Piper and Hylton, that topic of choice will always be guitars.

They plan to keep creating the podcast and sharing their industry rants and raves over the World Wide Web as long as there is interest, said Hylton.

“It has become a way for me to share my love of the guitar, not only with my friends, but people around the world,” added Piper.

Podcast 101