Guitar thread

[Sky]

Talk to the folks at your local guitar stores, they usually run starter bundles for cheap. I'd rather have a cheap electric + amp than a decent acoustic/electric.

[Nebu]

Talk to the folks at your local guitar stores, they usually run starter bundles for cheap. I'd rather have a cheap electric + amp than a decent acoustic/electric.

Sage advice. 

[Grimwell]

I always knew you were good Sky, so I didn't even think to comment. It sounded fun, but I was like "Well yeah, of course he did well." :)

I really wish that I could find work as a 40-something bass player, but fear that I'm relegated to wedding bands at this point.

No, you will never be famous, but that is really about as honest and true as it was when you were a 20-something bass player. Very few people get famous for this after all.

Steal the idea I have yet to have time for: Make a Guitar Hero, Rock Band tribute cover act. Everyone will know your songs, most of them are fun to play, and with the Rock Band stuff if your vocalist is out at least one person in the crowd will give it a try. :)

Those are solid set lists for playing local bars and just having fun after all.

[Nebu]

No, you will never be famous, but that is really about as honest and true as it was when you were a 20-something bass player. Very few people get famous for this after all.

I was signed as both a songwriter and a musician when I was in my 20's. Between management decisions (image over substance, etc.) and a heroin addicted lead singer, I became disillusioned by the music industry within the first year. My goal was never to get famous.  It was to make a solid living in the music industry... which is nearly as tough as becoming famous.  I'm sure Sky can tell you guys as many stories as I can about playing decent sized venues and not making enough to pay for gear, techs, and sound/light guys.  Hell, I have as many stories about getting stiffed. 

Music is a young kid's game.  Image and show are king, at least in the mainstream.

[Grimwell]

Ok, you are the exception and not the rule then. Even without going the distance. I made it as far as local radio and then sold all my gear and moved to LA metro and have never been in a band again since.

One exception to the young mans game is to go off of mainstream. Country, folk, bluegrass, jazz and more all welcome anyone with talent. Age is not a gate. Oh sure, it is an asset to be young and good looking, but talent is talent in some areas.

[Nebu]

One exception to the young mans game is to go off of mainstream. Country, folk, bluegrass, jazz and more all welcome anyone with talent. Age is not a gate. Oh sure, it is an asset to be young and good looking, but talent is talent in some areas.

Very true.  I've always loved bluegrass and there is a plethora of talented players. I think my problem has always been that I don't have the raw talent to make it as a player.  Sky, Stray, and Raph have me beat there. 

I did have a stint playing upright bass for a swing jazz band, but my music theory was a tad weak and it really showed in the music of that era.  Time to go back into the garage and brush up!

[stray]

As much as I like this form of "entertainment", I really don't like entertaining anybody.. Therefore I'm not famous. I have no discipline for that. It really just is for myself, and my own therapy. And I have a problem sticking with routines. I could never do acting either.. which is worse. Day in day out doing the same play. Meh

[Nebu]

I could never do acting either.. which is worse. Day in day out doing the same play. Meh

It cracks me up how all the actors and actresses all act like an authority on things.  I can't imagine pretending to be someone of substance rather than, you know, actually doing something.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and value the Arts.  I just wish 'TEH TALENT' would take a good look at what it is they do. They pretend and get paid (sometimes silly amounts) to do it. 

[stray]

I need to add to "therefore I'm not famous" -- I mean, therefore I didn't even choose a path that would lead to fame.

That was probably obvious though.


As for acting.. I did dabble with acting a bit, and still would for fun maybe.. My only two cents towards that is that being an actor is bit like being a librarian (which is my new career path btw hah). I mean, at least any actor worth their salt wants to research and put some effort into what it's like to be this or that person.. It was my favorite part of it actually.. the research and rehearsing parts. Besides research, you're also an observer, and a bit of psychology student.. You fill in the gaps of what you can't know about some person's place and time with universal psychological themes.

You're right though, some actors get a little arrogant like that... I don't think the profession encourages it though. My teachers always addressed the fact that you simply can't know anyone ultimately.. So just do as much research as possible. I'm just not interested enough in the whole thing to be an ambitious workhorse about it. Just as hard as touring in a band probably (just referring to stage acting btw).

Anyways.. Sorry for the derail 

[Sky]

a librarian (which is my new career path btw hah)

Woohoo! Good luck finding a job, heh. Try to line something up while you're in graduate school. It's a great field (my fiancee being a librarian and I've worked among them for 8 years, if it weren't for the MLS req, I'd go for it, too). Problem is, most librarians settle down and work in the same position to retirement, so finding openings can be tough. And the political and financial environment is a bit rough on libraries.

Anyway, back to the thread. The whole concept of "making it" is a young man's game. Pop forms are mostly for the kids, too, stuff like hip hop, rap and metal. That's why I love the blues, you get better every year until you die or have a stroke. If you go blind, you just get a cooler nickname.

Nebu: I don't have talent, imo. What I have is tenacity. Well, maybe a little raw talent, but talent doesn't mean shit. The only (ONLY) way to be good is to practice. A lot. You should be practicing right now. Practice while watching tv. Practice on lunch. And practice well, develop a routine and schedule. (Note: don't do as I do, do as I say! :P) Keep yourself on your toes, work on scales, theory, fretmapping, repertoire, improv, inversions, etc. I know you guys know this stuff, but I always scoff when people think I'm talented. It's 24 years, on and off, of lots of practice and experience. Always learn and strive to improve...and you will.

Some more sage advice for any young musicians, since we're doing career retrospective stuff: don't go to LA. Stay in your pond and become the big fish, the labels will find you. Fuck, you don't want a major, anyway, you just want their distro and ad channels. The most important thing is getting savvy management and a good smaller label, then let them negotiate stuff. And stay sober and keep tabs on the business end. Like Nebu, I never wanted to be famous, just make a living touring and making albums. Maybe get a couple things used in movies or jingles to get some royalties when I got old. As far as getting stiffed, I'll update my sig with one of my favorite HST quotes.

[Nebu]

Nebu: I don't have talent, imo. What I have is tenacity. Well, maybe a little raw talent, but talent doesn't mean shit. The only (ONLY) way to be good is to practice. A lot. You should be practicing right now. Practice while watching tv. Practice on lunch. And practice well, develop a routine and schedule. (Note: don't do as I do, do as I say! :P) Keep yourself on your toes, work on scales, theory, fretmapping, repertoire, improv, inversions, etc. I know you guys know this stuff, but I always scoff when people think I'm talented. It's 24 years, on and off, of lots of practice and experience. Always learn and strive to improve...and you will.

Humility too.  I've listened to your playing... you do have talent.  There are musicians and there are people that play instruments.  You definately have that "thing" that makes you a musician.  I play about an hour a day, but it's just not enough to stay as sharp as I was when I was actively playing.  One resource that I absolutely LOVE is youtube.  Laugh if you want, but I've learned a ton of great new techniques and scale patterns from watching some instructional stuff on youtube.  Sure, 99% of it is crap... there are a few gems among the rubble.

Some more sage advice for any young musicians, since we're doing career retrospective stuff: don't go to LA. Stay in your pond and become the big fish, the labels will find you. Fuck, you don't want a major, anyway, you just want their distro and ad channels. The most important thing is getting savvy management and a good smaller label, then let them negotiate stuff. And stay sober and keep tabs on the business end. Like Nebu, I never wanted to be famous, just make a living touring and making albums. Maybe get a couple things used in movies or jingles to get some royalties when I got old. As far as getting stiffed, I'll update my sig with one of my favorite HST quotes.

Great advice.  LA is what killed the music business for me.  Granted it was LA in the mid-80's.  I wish I had kept my hand in writing and composing more.  I wasn't particularly good, but my timing was wonderful.  Playing in the music scene in Minneapolis during the Prince/Time/Husker Du/Loud Fast Rules era brought a lot of attention to the area. 

[stray]

I'll agree on the tenacity and practice thing.

I think my biggest learning moments come from just learning a run from someone... and then playing it 3 or 4 notes down or up.. then mixing it up.. reversing it.. something..bringing new bends and vibrato here and there.. just exploring that territory. It is literally exploring a territory to me.. and I play in that sandbox for weeks.

I know when I'm dry and stagnating and not truly learning if I'm not introducing new elements to the original...if I'm just repeating the original thing over and over again, like some mindless activity. It's easy to get trapped in that too. And I don't think I'm understanding anything about the theory or mechanics behind it if I don't dig through the possibilities and participate.. throwing my own ideas in it and seeing what works or not.

I'm no good at memorizing scales per se, but I guess I start gathering theory through riffs and patterns like that. Maybe I'm doing it the hard way, I don't know.. Maybe if I knew all of the technical stuff beforehand, I'd recognize things easier, and wouldn't need to explore in this way.

Anyways, I ran into a couple of painters who also jam out.. a wife and husband. They want to make a band. Maybe I will.. We've all got this thing to want to make a sort of tongue in cheek gothy punk band. Would be nice. Just playing with people is always good for me too.

[edit] slimmed down, and grammar

[stray]

Oh yeah (sorry to get carried away here), I think just wanting to learn is about courage too.. When I first told myself "Learn Johnny B Goode" that shit was daunting.  But I tried. Right now, and Sky will appreciate this, I'm telling myself.. "Learn more Setzer". Just touching a tiny bit of his "territory" is doing wonders with my understanding of jazzy type of leads. Oddly enough, not so much Rockabilly (I think I need to go to Chet Atkins and Scotty Moore for the real country tinged Rockabilly shit). Setzer is rockabilly, but playing him, and getting more close, I see how jazzy it is.

[Sky]

One resource that I absolutely LOVE is youtube.  Laugh if you want, but I've learned a ton of great new techniques and scale patterns from watching some instructional stuff on youtube.  Sure, 99% of it is crap... there are a few gems among the rubble.

First off, thanks for your compliment. Always feels good. I know I've come a long way, but I see my goal and I'm so far from it that some days it seems impossible. Stuff like getting out at the open mic and getting that immediate feedback is so long overdue. But I wanted to wait long enough to make a good first impression. Rather than see me get on stage and groan, I want people to see me walk in the door and come over and ask if I'll be playing. Mission accomplished, now the work starts: building a reputation as a solid improviser and featured player, so I can just kind of be free to sit in with bands and recordings over the next few decades.

Youtube, it's great. Not just to trade chops, though I did just get a compliment about that old anesthesia piece I tossed up a while back for you guys. But for lessons, and as I learned last night while thinking about overdrive pedals, it's great for product demos. Search for the pedal you're thinking about and you'll find someone demoing it, and some of the demos are really good (like using a strat and then a les paul). I'm really leaning toward the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET, it just seems real nice and transparent. The TS808 seems a little too present, especially for my amp, and I thought the Sparkle Drive sounded like a blanket. I've never had a good ear for effects, I always have made the best of what I've had on hand, so it's nice to develop it. I shouldn't have listened to the Fulltone TTE tape effect unit, it's  and $1080  .

LA. Early 90s. Went from being the top of the local underground circuit, kings of our domain, to nobodies in a glam metal hell. SF was slightly better, but by then we had lost our drummer and our guitarist was done but we couldn't see it at the time. I'm glad for the life experiences, but it killed my music career. And then the fact that I played with such a talented band that wrote copious amounts of good original material across multiple genres...when I came home and tried to rebuild, well, most local guys just aren't all that good. That's why I put the bass down for a few years, just had to re-evaluate why I was playing.

Setzer is phenomenal. If I could Rogue anyone's talent away, it'd be him. I saw him a while ago, and I was speechless. He did rock, rockabilly, swing jazz, gypsy jazz, christmas tunes, and blues. Probably something else I'm forgetting. Part of why I was looking at that TTE unit is that he uses one and tube and tape  sound amazing, unlike most echo units. But his style is so far from mine, all I can do is grab a few bits and feels and throw them in and try to climb that mountain. I've got Stray Cat Strut in my practice rotation right now, one nice thing is that he's recorded it so many times you can see how he plays with the core ideas. I learn more from that than from the actual song.

Same thing goes with country blues. I'd really just like to be a country delta acoustic guy, hammering out old tunes and hollering along. But I've got what I've got so that's what I work with, just incorporate some of the acoustic style chordings and runs. Guy at the jam thought I was kidding when I said I don't practice speed. Coming from the thrash metal background, speed is pretty much there to be tapped. Like riding a bike, you need to practice it, but the tough part is knowing how to do it. My downpicking is so rusty, you don't want to hear my Master of Puppets, which we used to play almost double speed back in the day.

Stray, the stuff you're talking about is where I find the fun. In learning new stuff and then stretching it out and playing around with it. Good dual guitar bands, like the Allmans, will work a lick back and forth between each other, morphing and changing it, challenging themselves and the other guitarist. That's really what I'd like to be doing right now, which is why I'm focusing the "work" part of my practice on fretboard knowledge, inversions, patterns and all that. The CAGED system is really making that stuff a lot easier. Funny you mention rockabilly, the song I just threw on my new "to learn" list is Keep a Knockin', Chuck Berry was the man. One of the first solos I learned was from Johnny B Goode, to use in a production of Grease I was in (as the house band, not an actor).

[Sky]

Slim down shmim down 

[stray]

Setzer is phenomenal. If I could Rogue anyone's talent away, it'd be him. I saw him a while ago, and I was speechless. He did rock, rockabilly, swing jazz, gypsy jazz, christmas tunes, and blues. Probably something else I'm forgetting. Part of why I was looking at that TTE unit is that he uses one and tube and tape  sound amazing, unlike most echo units. But his style is so far from mine, all I can do is grab a few bits and feels and throw them in and try to climb that mountain. I've got Stray Cat Strut in my practice rotation right now, one nice thing is that he's recorded it so many times you can see how he plays with the core ideas. I learn more from that than from the actual song.

Yeah, Strut's something I have in mind. I just like going through the lead in different keys, and switching things around a bit. Really jazzy tune..

To me though, the epitomy of rockabilly is Scotty Moore.. simplistic, fingerpicking stuff..

Baby Lets Play House

Or that face smackin' lead in Hound Dog

Those two are like "gateways" to me, if you will. What rockabilly rhythm is. What rockabilly lead is.

I know that Setzer can easily play in that territory though. He can do almost anything.  I like that he gives his nod to Scotty in this Mystery Train cover, but you can hear the difference in style (ignore the fact that Setzer just flat out wails harder). He blew past Scotty long ago - but you know he sat around in his domain once... Now he incorporates all kinds of shit.. Especially those Django-ish type of runs. Which is cool. Fucking awesome really. I guess what I mean though is that I don't think I'll really understand rockabilly by jumping ahead into Setzer. Gotta start with Scotty's basics (which is already hard as it is! I used to think Chuck was the ace guitarist of the 50's, but now it's Scotty.. or at least, his rhythms are a lot harder for me to learn).

[edit] added some shit

[stray]

Ah yes, youtube is great, isn't it?

Here's a guy singling it all out on Baby Lets Play House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ2fK7cuG6Q

It's just simple killer rhythm.. If can I do that, then I'll be 


So yeah, I need to get with it. It's fairly easy.. I've just always sucked at fingerpicking. A little sketchy.

[Sky]

Sounds kinda like you approach rockabilly the way I approach blues. SRV was cool, but I'd rather go to his source and find my own voice. There's something of a purity in that approach, I think.

Hound Dog is actually on my practice rotation right now, off Jr Well's amazing first album (which is definitely a desert island pick for me). Check out the sample on amazon. I play it more aggressively than Buddy Guy does on that track, and also I end up mixing in a lot of Chitlin Con Carne in there, too. It's my favorite practice album because it's a good mix of single-note lines and chording, it's really straight forward, and Buddy Guy is about as restrained as he gets playing behind Junior. I usually run through this entire album when I practice.

That last video kinda reminds me of part of my style, I try to do chords in my solos and also add in a lot of single-note bass lines, I just hear them, having been a bassist for so long. One thing I'm still pinning down is those little chord fills that is really the cornerstone of that style. That's why I'm so hot on the CAGED stuff and the MI books in particular, because all that stuff becomes almost easy when you can see the whole fretmap for the different positions. I've been lax the last few weeks, focusing on repertoire and hardly practicing at all this week.

That fulltone OD pedal (the fulldrive 2) has been in my amazon shopping cart for a week now :) Here's a link to the product demos I alluded to in my big post up there. Since I have an SG, I mostly going by the first part of the Pro Guitar Shop demo. They have an impressive collection of demos, and it's the same guy doing it with the same amp (and two guitars for some of them). Really opened my ears, along with the harmony central reviews.

[stray]

I have some good pedals.. Used to have more. So far, I don't need an overdrive so much as a good Fuzz (want a Z Vox).


---

Lmao, I wasn't kidding about the "bravery" thing. I was recording this, and couldn't bring myself to improvise yet. Heh. I really don't feel comfortable with it enough yet.. like I said, still sketchy.

Baby Lets Play House


[edit] Fuckin' A.. I kept looking at that guy's youtube vid for pointers, but just listened to Scotty's again. There's just way more going on there. I feel bad for posting that now. :\


Tell me if that file is working though. I just moved it to Google Sites.

[stray]

Huh. This is pretty dope. I'm sure you've seen it, but those bass lines are cool (not in the original).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdkTRMU_vpc

If I didn't have a clanky Fender, I'd throw a clip in.. But it's in drop D with an octave.. Sounds pretty messy.

I need to make up my own lead to this, because I'm not playing that way anytime soon. 

[Selby]

Funny.  My parents told me guitar was a waste of time and that I'd never be famous, so why bother trying to learn?  Since I never gave a shit about being famous or even making money off of it, that was all the more incentive for me to learn to play.  I enjoy playing in my room by myself almost more than playing with other musicians, because quite honestly I'm my own worst critic, but I'm not a douchebag to myself about it like other people are.  I am honest about messing up or playing sloppy, but I don't do it just to make myself feel bad.

Regarding big fish in little ponds, that is true to an extent.  But unless you want to play Texas Country, staying in W. Texas and playing the bar circuit is just not a lot of fun or rewarding.  There have to at least be fans out there that even remotely want to hear you do something besides cover their favorite Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks song.

[Sky]

Huh. This is pretty dope. I'm sure you've seen it, but those bass lines are cool (not in the original).

I've got the DVD :) Some nice chops on your clip, too!

My parents told me guitar was a waste of time and that I'd never be famous, so why bother trying to learn?

Talk about missing the point. The ability to play a musical instrument can stimulate creativity and problem solving, helps coordination, reduces stress. While I certainly went through a "making it" phase, it was over by the time I was 23 and I've had many years of enjoyment out of playing guitar for myself and others. I mostly do it for myself though, I just enjoy making music and the physical act of being able to play, and it's such a contructive hobby (unlike passive stuff like tv or gaming), the more I play the better I get, the better I get, the more I enjoy playing.

But eh, as Will "Fresh Prince" Smith said, parents just don't understand. My parents never went to any of my band's performances. Mostly because we were underground, but they never showed an interest in seeing me play with my band, who they disliked. Supportive, but not very interested, I guess.

Re: big fish in small ponds, we almost never played bars or clubs. Pure underground and we'd get many more fans that way. We had a ridiculous following, it was pretty cool. I've got nothing against straight cover bands, they fill a niche and beat a jukebox if they're decent. Just not what I'm into, even though I mostly play "cover" material now, it's a whole different thing with the blues, and the sheer level of improvisation involved is cool. If there's only an audience for Garth covers at the bars, think of how many people are sitting around unhappy with their bar scene and looking for an alternative. Seek opportunities :) More easterly, but Pantera was from Texas, and they sure put out a ton of blues players down there, too.

edit: Pulled the trigger on the Fulltone. Fuck it, if I've been looking at something that long and I'm still interested, might as well get it. Had to order the power supply separate, though. Probably going to order another power supply (at $20/ea), because the pedal is built to be over-volted. Easier with a power system like the voodoo pedal power, but you can also rewire two power supplies for the 18v dc.

Just trying to build a simple tone that I can add to later for more specialized stuff. And I don't want to be stuck lugging the Boss GT-6 everywhere, that thing is a pain in the ass and I never did learn how to program it :) The FD-2 will be my first pedal in...I'd have to say over twenty years. My last pedal was probably a proco rat, those things were sick metal tone in front of a Laney full stack. Had a couple cheap flange, verb type pedals and the world's crappiest wah. Then I got into rack effects for a bit with some ART stuff and then some mid-70s units including a great echo machine. Bass I played straight into my amp, though I did keep the rat and wah for playing anesthesia.

[stray]

Thanks Sky. I have a better version already.. Better than Youtube guy's.  Scotty's version is in constant motion, that dude has some stops.. I tried recording a newer one last night, but got tired. Maybe later. I still don't know how to move in it well though. Keep trying to improve on Scotty's basic solo, but whatever I keep playing doesn't quite fit his rockabilly rhythm well. Keeps coming out all jazzy and shit (and not in a cool Setzer way  ).

I'm finding that Rock this Town is even more fun to play now than any of these. I love tunes that just stand on their own like that, just on guitar and vox. That can be very complex, but still doable by one's self - not so complex that you can't sing along. I need to build a repertoire or something of covers like that. For picnics or some shit. Heh

[stray]

Speaking of which, did I ever mention Scott H Biram? He's one of my brother's best friends. I remember meeting this dude like 10 years ago in "humble beginnings"... But now a lot of people are crowning him the king of austin alt country 

Anyways, he's one of these dudes that I can just really entertain you all by himself. I've never good at that. Not that his songs are complex, but he's just damn good and right up your alley.

Spoonful

Whiskey




"He has a true stage presence that could be fairly compared to that of Clint Eastwood on film. The dude's more dude than most other dudes you will ever meet." —Austinist

Rock 'n' Roll ain't pretty and neither is Scott H. Biram. The self proclaimed "Dirty Old One Man Band" successfully, and sometimes violently, lashes together blues, hillbilly and country precariously to raucous punk and godless metal.

Heh

[Raph]

Wow, he's down and dirty. :)

[Sky]

Yeah, that's cool stuff. My kind of 'production', no doubts! Spoonful is a great tune, my favorite version is Charley Patton's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxHn8WIgGbQ He doesn't sing the spoonful part, he uses the slide to say 'spoonful'. It's sitting in my pile of 'to learn' tunes. I'm a lazy fuck. 

[Sky]

Got the Fulldrive 2 MOSFET in yesterday. Going to have to practice with it a while to get used to the different tones, but WOW. I'm going to have to struggle against GAS now, this pedal sounds amazing. Gives my upper-register notes the singing quality the amp itself can't quite provide at the sound levels I practice at, or really what levels I could use at the bar given the one show I played, though we got a lot louder as the night went on, dueling lead syndrome :)

But I normally play with headphones on, not noise cancelling, but decent isolation sennheisers. So playing without them to dial in tone has left my ears ringing like a mofo (ringing right now, about 18 hours later!). But I've dialed in a decent vintage tone, in my case I refer to something like Buddy Guy on Jr Well's debut, if he was playing an SG instead of a strat :), and hit the boost channel (gain boost, not volume, very nice) for leads and upper register playing.

Still a little...dunno how to articulate it...a little noise when I play an open E power chord (EBE) or even a 7th-fret E7 with the low E open (EEG#D). Trying to dial it out, because it's the only flaw I can find right now for a solid basic tone. And it's really minor, I have to listen for it but now it drives me nuts.

One of my volume knobs broke off the SG

[stray]

I'm OCD and like a lot of tones (modeling gear is a godsend), but I always gravitate towards a certain sound that's real mid-heavy and crunchy, not distorted..I think I've said before how much I liked Rory Gallagher's tone. Vox and Strat. You can cut through anything with that. I really don't know what to do with a lot of distortion, or a lot of treb, or a lot of bass.

This is an odd one, but I've always liked John Christ/Danzig's old sound too (got more metal later on). It's basically a mid heavy crunch too... just harder. That guy is a fucking mean guitar player, underrated, and sounds cooler than everybody in metal.

Not of this World

[stray]

I learned Rock this Town, but I keep digging those basslines he does.. I want to do a cool song with something like that.

Had this thing I was just noodling with:

Riff (sorry for the bad quality.. just fucking around as usual)

Sounds more like psychobilly than rockabilly.. That bass part could sound better if I had my amp set to make it slap, I guess. Not sure what kind of leads to play with though other than some DK/East Bay Ray surf thing (note, I wasn't trying to do much here). Not sure if that's the difference between psycho and rockabilly...? Rockabilly seems more bluesy and jazzy. Psycho sounds like there are more surfy possibilities. Or so I think.

[stray]

OK, don't listen to that one. 


I made a few more rhythm parts that were jazzier.. and incorporated that riff above into a bridge and half-assed solo. 

Slightly better. Not sure if it's rockabilly or psychobilly like now though. Hopefully it makes some sense.


Second version


Also, my finger feels funny and the pick keeps slipping. Excuses, excuses..

[edit] Heh, god that's a bad solo.

Anyways, after a second listen, I'm realizing that there's too much of a minor key sound to it for it be rockabilly like. Not sure wtf that is. Has some kind of potential though.

[edit] By the way, this would be the vocal melody, I guess (kind of just trying to do it on guitar.. humming a little.. I can't sing).

link

Anyhoo.. Just writing a song, I guess. Felt like sharing. Feel free to help if you like it. :P It usually starts off like this, if I hear a cool idea (like Setzers little bass walk in Rock this Town), and then I do my own thing. 

[Sky]

Not too minor key at all, that was cool. The middle part had a very nice melody going that you could expand on as the main theme (around 2:30 iirc). I don't know what's not to like about it, I thought it sounded great. Don't be so rough on yourself, that's my gig. 

I started messing around some more, since I probably won't be playing out until after the holidays. Got down the lead section of Peter Gunn because my fiancee was asking about it, some dumb commercial is always on using the theme. I've known the rhythm forever, might as well finish it off. Then I got to playing some Hendrix, fleshed out some of Wind Cries Mary, which I've been meaning to learn since I first started playing guitar, I've known the intro and verse for over twenty years :P Need to clean up the solo and play it more so I remember it. Wrote it and Hey Joe out in my cheat sheet format (lyrics, chords and a few licks I don't remember, my memory sucks). Also started working on Stray Cat Strut again, I always forget the first solo section.

Also working the xmas tunes for the family stuff. I wish I had started earlier, Jingle Bell Rock would've been cool for an open mic. Ah, well. There's always next year. Well, until you die. That's why we should all practice more! 

[stray]

Jingle Bell Rock would be neat.

Thanks for the input.


The problem with rockabilly is it's so damn flashy. And I'm not.  Man, that takes a lot of knowledge and dexterity.

I slowed down the pace here.. This is just a redone intro with better fill-ins. But for me, it'd be hard to keep up like that, simple as it sounds.

Last clip before I hit the road.

Intro

[Miguel]

I didn't see this come up before on a quick forum search (and being too lazy to search 34 pages of posts):

Can anyone recommend a decent acoustic guitar?

I used to own a real cheap one (I think it was a Bentley?? or something similar), that never stayed in tune, would change action after every string replacement, and buzzed like mad around the 9th or 10th fret on the D and G strings.  I'm guessing that the fretboard was never really true.  It really soured me against acoustic guitars in general.

So I'm done with the ultra cheap pieces of crap.  I'm not even sure what features I should be looking for, but so far I have found:

1) Solid top (as opposed to laminated plywood)? Spruce? Mahogany? Cedar?
2) Mahogany sides? Back?
3) Rosewood fretboard?
4) Dreadnaught? (cut-away to reach the higher frets?)
5) Ebony headstock?

I don't really care about on-board electronics, but if it has them I don't mind.

Can anyone recommend some manufacturers / models that fit the above, or recommend an alternative?

I would be looking at about the $500 price range.

[Sky]

Taaaaaylor! I love Taylors, though I only have the Baby ($250). It's more of a travel guitar, I guess, but I love the tone more than my $400 alvarez. The Alv is engelman spruce top with maple body, looks great but the projection is only decent. The all-mahogany Baby, otoh, projects like a mofo, has much richer overtones and just a nice full sound. Alv has a rosewood neck, Baby is ebony. I do like the Alv's cutaway, I can access alot more of the neck, so it's more useful overall. But no contest if I had to choose one, I'd take the Taylor in a second.

Raph is really the guy to ask, he's the most acoustic-oriented and experienced.

[stray]

I suggest a Seagull. They're quality and sub-$1000. The cool thing about them too is that their nuts/necks are a little wide at 1.8". Good for fingerpicking. Guitar Center has them.. go play one. They sound very nice. You'll see what I mean.

Besides the Baby, Taylors are a bit pricey.

[edit] I don't have one btw, but plan on it. I have a Takamine which is OK, I guess.. and a classical. I want both in one. I can't fingerpick as easily on a standard steel string. The Seagulls meet that need, and sound and feel great, especially for the price.

Some nice clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztXbsgOlTGs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amqCEZkCbpI&feature=related