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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 20, 2013 10:32:50 GMT
I suppose you could have it delivered with your spuds and yoghurt as well!
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 19, 2013 11:47:51 GMT
I missed out on the electric phase as a teenager (too much sport and no money!) and didn't try guitar until mid twenties with a cheap nylon strung guitar. This was to give me something to do in the winter instead of just going to the pub all the time. Then 'upgraded' with a holiday purchase in Spain to a steel strung acoustic which had a funny fingerboard. But that got me going until family and work caused a gap of about 30 years. Took it up again after earlyish retirement and wish I'd not missed those 30 years.
Never played a leccie although have now bought an acoustic amp and am playing around a bit with one or two pedals, but with acoustic guitars still. Too much to learn, not enough time.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 19, 2013 7:27:47 GMT
I use D'addario EXP 80/20 and have always gone back to them when I've tried others. A matter of personal choice.
Only problem I find, and don't know if its strings or setup, but when I go to drop D I get a bit of twang on the 6th string if I hit it hard (same if I go to full open D tuning). I don't want to compromise the standard tuning by putting an alternative brand on the 6th (even if it worked). Any solutions please?
FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 16, 2013 11:17:25 GMT
Here's a page I found this morning with all manner of blank TAB paper, notation paper, combined tab/notation paper and blank chord boxes for different numbers of strings all free to print - v useful! printblank.com/Sheets available are - Tablature ?4 string tablature ?5 string tablature ?6 string tablature ?6 string tablature x 2 ?6 string tablature x 3 ?1 Guitar tablature + 1 Bass tablature ?2 Guitars tablature + 1 Bass tablature ?7 string tablature Scale ?Blank 4 string Scale ?Blank 5 string Scale ?Blank 6 string Scale ?Blank 7 string Scale Chord Chart ?Blank 6 string chord boxes ?Blank 5 string chord boxes ?Blank 4 string chord boxes ?Blank 3 string chord boxes ?Blank 7 string chord boxes Standard Music Notation ?1 completely blank staff(s) ?2 completely blank connected staffs ?3 completely blank connected staffs Tablature & Standard Mixed ?1 Guitar + 1 Standard staff ?1 Guitar + 2 Standard staffs ?1 Guitar + 1 Bass + 1 Standard staff ?1 Guitar + 1 Bass + 2 Standard staffs ?2 Guitars + 2 Standard staffs ?1 Bass + 1 Standard staff ?1 Guitar + 1 standard + chords Non-Music Sheets ?Calendar (Month) date, calendar, month ?Clue (the game) Clue Sheetsboard game, clue ?Graph Paper math, graph, drawing ?Graph 4 Quadrants math, graph, xy ?Karnaugh Maps Math, computer, binary ?Lined Paper For Kids kids, writing Excellent to get all those in one place at last. keith Very useful thanks
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 15, 2013 10:30:03 GMT
Hi, Here's a link that might be of interest, where someone else has compiled their top 10 list of anti-war songs, which includes numerous classics and has links to each one. folkmusic.about.com/od/toptens/tp/Top10Protest.htmIn the list, at number six is a Tom Paxton song which includes these poignant words 'Lyndon Johnson told the nation have no fear of escalation / I am trying everyone to please / Though it isn't really war, I'm sending 50,000 more / to help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese' Could just as easily apply to some of the 'wars' in the last 10 years? I have seen Tom Paxton live about 5 times and he never fails to give a top class show and will always include a few old and new protest songs. Whilst he is possibly better known for his classic folk songs, he wrote, and still writes, a phenomenally wide range of protest and social commentary pieces; many were short lives topical ones; others are just as relevant today, like the words above. As you can tell, I'm a great fan, and for those interested he is doing a short tour again in March 2014 with a few gigs; with him will be Janis 'At Seventeen' Ian. Should be good.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 14, 2013 15:10:57 GMT
Any barre chords, especially if it's a song that's all barre chords Ditto. Tried for 30 years; my stiff fingers and wrists just won't do them so I have developed as many cheats as I can.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 13, 2013 21:40:51 GMT
Hi Phil,
You asked me to let you know about the concert in Newark. It was excellent, even better than I expected; his manner, playing and singing were top rate. He had a table with 'goodies for sale' which included loads of CDs, 2 different DVDs and a few song books.
There wasn't an interval; he just played straight through, on his own, for about 1.75 hours; mainly 6 -string; a couple of 12-string and a bit of piano.
Hope you enjoy the show as much as we did.
FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 12, 2013 13:07:26 GMT
Have you tried playing jazz? that might help you appreciate it more. Many of the jazz standards are old show tunes that jazzers found to be suitable material for their creative improvisations. But the tunes themselves are great in themselves even if you don't currently care for the improv. Find a couple you like, come up with some chord melodies, then see if you like the classic jazz improvisations any more. Interesting suggestion Mike. I may struggle as I don't really do much solo stuff; nearly all accompaniment to singing so primarily chord based. But I could try a few standards and 'jazz them up'. Thanks, FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 12, 2013 12:15:15 GMT
Did anyone beat me to this one (not checked the latest pages tbh)...... What a fantastic song LOVE the fingerpicking, and the video is pretty cool too, a picture tells its own story I guess - and makes me think how lucky I am rather than taking things for granted. if your having a shit day, maybe this song and the words behind it will tell yourself things ain't that bad after all REALLY hope he plays this on weds when I see him live That is a stunning video which I have not seen. Really effective to see the old Ralph and the new. I'm going to see him at Newark tomorrow night and I guess if he doesn't play it he won't get out alive. In the video Ralph says how many people cut their guitar playing teeth on this song. I can genuinely say that it was the first song I ever played in public (a horrendous number of years ago) and I still love it. It is timeless. Thanks so much for posting. My next job is to circulate it to the friends I'm going with tomorrow. FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 11, 2013 11:44:31 GMT
"Music is the shorthand of emotion." - Leo Tolstoy ....But then, the great thing about music is its variety and constant development, and that only comes about because different things stir different people. Vive le difference! Brian Totally agree. I'm obviously very 'square' to use a 60's expression. I'm the same with 'Modern Art' in many cases. To me a pile of randomly scattered bricks with a few paint pots thrown over them is ............................. a pile of randomly scattered bricks with a few paint pots thrown over them. But somehow my wife can see beauty and originality in that sort of thing. We just agree to disagree and that no-one is right or wrong; just different. Encore, 'Vive le difference!' FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 11, 2013 11:40:04 GMT
I'm really glad you checked out Ralph Towner, John! If you like 'Green & Golden', I promise you, you will love the 'Ana' CD. I thought it was interesting that by comparison, you DIDN'T like 'Nardis' - Towner recorded this on a live album years ago, and that version has long been a real 'Desert Island Disc' of mine! I think in a 'live' setting, though, a lot of people ARE turned off jazz, often because of the long, self-indulgent improv trips that many of these (albeit at the very top of their game, technically and theoretically) musicians go off on. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to your original post: I think instead - as with all music - it's what 'does it' for each of us. A shimmering chord change, a lyric, a melody line - something that grabs hold of us and won't let go. Take a listen to Tony McManus's version of 'Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat' (which would fall under the 'jazz' label) then go straight to the avant-garde free improvisation of the late Derek Bailey... I'm saying nothing more! Good luck with your listening and playing... Hi again. I'm glad I won't be on your desert island or it would have to be a big one with a sound-proof hut! But if we all had the same tastes then Desert Island Discs would have the same songs every week and there would only be one book taken! Regarding the Derek Bailey link, I'm glad you put a smiley after your suggestion or I would think you'd lost it! The bits I found on youtube re improvisation just about sum up everything that I have been trying to express in that I just don't get it. I know this is extreme, but ...... P.S. 5 out of 10 for the Pork Pie Hat.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 10, 2013 18:33:55 GMT
A delight to watch. You can hear the love of his work in his voice. I particularly liked the sustain on the African Blackwood. I don't know whether I would prefer to buy the guitar or play in his room!
I must admit to being VERY sceptical about the real difference between all the combinations of tonewoods, tops etc a couple of years ago. A Taylor roadshow that I went to didn't help a lot as the demos were all using a mic and I'd have preferred to hear the sound in its natural state. I'm sure the demonstrator was accentuating things with his playing. I think they said something about Bob Taylor paying something like $250,000 for ONE Hawaiian Koa tree. I came away with a lot of feelings about emperors new clothes.
I guess I've moved on a bit from this although I'm not good enough to get the best results out of the better instruments myself. Having treated myself recently to a Koa back and sides (Turner, not Taylor, haven't totally lost my sense of perspective or bank balance) for fingerstyle then I must be staring to mature (or am buying in to the hype?).
But listening to George Lowden was a real treat. I've still got so much to learn; have I got enough time.........?
Thanks for posting this Keith.
FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 10, 2013 17:17:54 GMT
Hi,
Good thread. After many, many, years my ability as a player is still very much in the intermediate level (if there is such a thing) and I don't have the natural talent to be much better, although I keep trying new things. But I totally agree that its the little things which make the difference. I have a few guitars, one of which is very nice so its not the instrument which has limitations, more the player. I also 'teach' a group of oldies (which makes it sound as if I have a proficiency which I don't deserve)and am trying to get them, most of whom were beginners 18 months ago to add some of the touches which can make a difference, even at a relatively low level of skill. So, like mixing the style a bit between a strum and fingerstyle in one song; even if its just verse and chorus; adding variation through strumming top and bottom strings at different times; pausing at certain points for dramatic effect; simple hammer on and pull offs; and, particularly, using some of the slightly more unusual chords e.g major 7ths, 9ths, diminished etc and even trying the odd new tuning. I know this is all pretty basic stuff but its a case of adding to what you've got to make it seem a lot more.
As you say, it is a never ending journey and a fabulous one; even if your destination will never be the ultimate you can keep enhancing it.
Regards and good luck
FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 10, 2013 12:44:06 GMT
'Jazz' per se is such a vast, wide open 'country', John - bit like listening to Bach/Mozart then trying to 'get' John Cage! But if you love acoustic guitar, I'd have to say listen to the wonderful Ralph Towner - absolutely no-one like him on the planet ('jazz' - if that's what it is! - on classical and 12-string guitars) - 'Ana' or his latest CD 'Travel Guide' - or either of Pat Metheny's solo acoustic discs... So this post helps me a lot and Martin hits the nail on the head with his comment about the 'vast wide open country' Perhaps my original question, which has started a bit of an argument about 'labels', is actually misguided in that my 'label' was much too broad. I won't try to re-label (as I wouldn't know where to start) but will use Martin's suggestion to try to describe where my leaning is with 2 different pieces by his suggestion, Ralph Towner. This is a bit random because I can't listen to everything he's done, but the following is a good starting place for me to express myself. Piece 1. Green and Golden
Really liked this and could listen to an album full of it. Piece 2 Nardis (interestingly, part written by Miles Davis, see a previous post). Oh dear, just not my taste at all; grates, harsh, lacking in recognisable structure (to my ears) dischordent in an unpleasant way etc. So ...... they are both 'jazz', both played by the same person etc. So I can't even say 'I love Ralph Towner; or I hate him !!! No more I suppose than you can say that about many artists. So, it would appear to be the 'style' of composition within the genre 'label' which helps to define my like and dislike. The very amusing video clip yesterday of a spoof jazz concert was probably the best demonstration of what I meant when I said 'I don't like jazz'; I can now more easily say 'I don't like jazz that sounds like that (whatever 'that' is). I think you lot are slowly straightening me out into what I mean ...... Thanks FFJ
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Oct 9, 2013 14:00:49 GMT
Thanks for your input and suggestions everyone. The benefit of being old and retired is that I've had time to have a good look at them. But first, the 'label' question. Whilst I agree that a label can cause loads of problems as there are so many variations and overlaps, its pretty hard to have a conversation without trying to describe what you're talking about; thus some sort of 'label', whether its folk, rock, blues, skiffle, punk, rap or whatever is the only way I know to give an idea of what it is; yes its all music but how else do you describe the leanings and differentiate? My shame is that I'm not a lot further forward from looking at the examples so far. I loved 'walking decays' passion and you clearly have parts of the brain and ear that I don't. I also take the point that the guitar may not be the best instrument to get the best musically out of 'jazz'. I can quite enjoy some examples of Louis A and to a degree Miles Davis (in very small doses); the Duke E example I listened to (Sophisticated Lady) I found deadly I'm afraid. Some of the others, particularly where they strayed closer to the more mainstream melodic side e.g. John Smith 'The Maid ....' were O'Kish to my ear but I wouldn't revisit them; probably the reason they were OK was because they weren't very 'Jazzy'. I'm sorry, I found the Eric Skye background stuff grating; a few bits of Martin Taylor were bearable but the 'jazz' element didn't sit comfortably. Like Keith I can take a bit of Trad Jazz (oops, another label) but probably liked it more 30 years ago; the fun element and liveliness makes it listenable occasionally in small doses. Any other suggestions are very welcome; otherwise I might just have to accept its not for me; which I accept is my loss. Now, to me, a lot of opera ....(better not go there either...) Thanks everyone. FFJ
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