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Post by scorpiodog on May 7, 2024 14:20:59 GMT
For a while I worked in London's Strand, during lunch break I'd often go and wander round the National Gallery down on the square. It wasn't unusual to see an art student with easel set up copying one of the paintings hung on the wall. The point was not to produce a copy of another artists work but to develop the technical skills used by the original artist, and once gained those skills would be another tool in the box available to the student when producing original work of their own.. Years ago I was doing some work in a house for a family of artists and they decided one day to paint thier own versions of somebody else's painting the results were interesting. It was obvious that the subject was the same but they all had different interpretations which is one of the things I like about different versions of songs etc. For me if you are going to cover somebody else's song then you have to put your own interpretation on it, I also think that it's good for artists to reinvent their music I don't think there is much point in copying a studio recording when playing live, might as well stay at home and listen to vinyl, CD or whatever other medium you choose as far as I am concerned. This is absolutely true. Joni Mitchell did exactly that with this song: The original The rework Each was probably appropriate for her age as she was at the time she made the recordings. I'm just glad she did it.
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Post by scorpiodog on Apr 30, 2024 8:53:27 GMT
Great thread, alan2007. Some really good responses so far, and I suspect there may some more to come. This is a really interesting subject to which there is no right answer. I agree with everything said so far, but, in my opinion, playing something in a different style or with changes to tempo, key, harmonisation and, to a degree, melody, is what music is all about. One of your examples, "Hey Joe" was not written by, nor originally recorded by, Jimi Hendrix. In fact, its origins are disputed as this article shows. There are many interpretations of it in various styles, and if you add your own, that seems perfectly fair. If you choose to give it the flavour of JImi Hendrix, that's also fair. Let's face it, if a song is considered sacrosanct and needs to be true to the exact way the composer wrote it, we'd have no jazz, and other genres (pop, blues, reggae/ska/bluebeat as examples) would have to have many recordings deleted. Even in the classical world, where scores are the foundation of a piece, different performances are nuanced and quite different if listened to back-to back. In fact, as this question seems to have been prompted by something your teacher said, I'd suggest that you have found yourself a darned good teacher. And welcome to the forum, by the way. This is a great start.
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Post by scorpiodog on Apr 22, 2024 15:39:12 GMT
Yeah, I know it's been a fortnight since John put this thread up, and it's not raining here, but I have been mulling it over and trying not to break the rules. I have chosen four because I think they would be great supper companions rather than just musical heroes (though they are obviously that) and I have chosen: Bill Bailey Jake Thackeray Paul McCartney Mark Knopfler
Oh, dear. I've just realised they're all Brits, and all men. I don't think that's a Freudian issue, but what do I know?
As for what post-supper playing, I'll let Macca choose from his immense body of work and I'll just sit back and listen. After all, I've just cooked their supper - they should at least sing for it.
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Post by scorpiodog on Apr 2, 2024 9:40:14 GMT
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 12, 2024 17:03:13 GMT
Evidently the moral here is that if you procrastinate, it will give you an advantage. The early bird gets the same worm as the late bird. Ah, but the early worm gets eaten… Other public schools are available.
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 12, 2024 10:13:46 GMT
I sold it cheap to a young guy, he had it up for sale for over double what he paid me for it within a few days. Matthew 20. 1-16 As long as I'm content with what I was offered, what happens afterwards is no concern of mine. I've got a whole sermon, well, two, on this if anyone's got 15 minutes Evidently the moral here is that if you procrastinate, it will give you an advantage. The early bird gets the same worm as the late bird.
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 11, 2024 12:03:49 GMT
I think it's a case of press record, play, fluff, swear, start again. Eventually you'll get an acceptable take. You may not understand the 4th step. Here is an example from a few years ago (if I remember correctly it was when Dave White did one of his road trip guitars): Examples of frustration and profanity.
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 7, 2024 10:57:19 GMT
The best thing, Larry, is to learn to damp the strings you're not playing with the fingers of the left hand. Playing a guitar (as with many instruments) involves complicated micro movements of the hands, and we all tend to compromise tone, squeak and unwanted resonance because we don't quite get those micromovements right. So see whether you can move your fingers very slightly so you lightly touch the adjacent strings with a spare finger or incertain cases with the finger you're fretting with. This is hard to explain, but you know how sometimes if you're playing a chord or a double stop your fretting finger(s) touches one of the strings you want to hear and stops it sounding? Well the trick is to do that deliberately when you don't want a string to sound.
I can't explain it very well, but another Paul can:
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 6, 2024 14:22:39 GMT
Thanks, Larry. I'm a berk and didn't check.
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 6, 2024 11:09:37 GMT
One guitar I bought for curiosity's sake a year or two ago astonished me for its quality compared with the price. I suspect the body size is a little larger than you need, but it has a brilliant pick up in it. Andertons are the UK agents, and it'll be well worth a try out if you happen to be there. Here it is: Sire A4. I bought the A3, which is laminate back and sides, but this one's all solid. Having said that, I fully agree with Keith. Lose all sense of urgency and try as many guitars as you can in as many different shops as possible. Only then can you be absolutely sure the guitar you buy suits you as well as possible. And it's fun.
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Post by scorpiodog on Mar 1, 2024 12:17:58 GMT
Late to the party here, but one thing that strikes me is that all the prettiness is on the back of the capo. From the front it'll still look just like a Shubb has always looked, or have I missed something? Thalia capos have a decorative band across the top, which seems to make sense from a prettiness perspective, though I don't like their capos at all, but these Shubbs don't seem to have anything. I do own a Shubb, though I rarely use it. The one I use most is one of the cheap PlanetWaves lightweight jobbies. It's small, does the job, is quick to put on and adjust and doesn't put the guitar out of tune too much if it's put on properly. It doesn't sit on the headstock of the guitar too well, so I keep it in my trouser pocket when it's not in use. But I hardly ever use a capo anyway, to be honest. I really don't think a capo needs to be pretty. I'm afraid my personal perceptions of sexiness don't include capos at all. I'm glad. I play and sing standing up and the effects of guitar accessory erotica could prove embarrassing.
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Post by scorpiodog on Feb 28, 2024 16:57:23 GMT
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Post by scorpiodog on Feb 7, 2024 10:31:03 GMT
Well, that's absolutely bloody marvellous, Leo. What an amazing experience. Jealousy has slid all over me like an envious blanket. I took some guitar lessons starting about 2018 until Covid came along, just once a month or so, not with anybody famous, but with a really good guitarist I know. These were the first lessons I'd had since I was 13, and I realised how beneficial they are in so many ways, but one of the main ones being, if you have to learn something as homework, you actually do it because you have somebody who will judge you and be disappointed if you don't, so it stops you faffing about for 99% of your practice time. Will you be having more lessons from Steve? I must confess, I have not taken any lessons since the restrictions were lifted, and I'm sitting here wondering why I haven't. I shall phone Mark as soon as I finish writing this post, and thank you, Leo, for prompting that. But I really strongly recommend lessons to anybody who doesn't have them. They will galvanise your playing, and improvements will come from all sorts of unexpected directions. I much prefer face-to-face interactions, so online lessons are not for me, but I know jonnymosco does them and, having seen some of his YT content, I'll bet they're fantastic. I should have hoped the jealousy would have worn off by now, but it hasn't and I expect I'll be having a jealous day, so thanks for that, Leo.
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Post by scorpiodog on Feb 1, 2024 11:25:07 GMT
Someone mentioned in the shoutbox that these two insanely talented people were touring together. This popped into my YT feed this morning. I thought it was brilliant.
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Post by scorpiodog on Jan 31, 2024 12:00:12 GMT
I've just seen it also. That's such a shame.
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