|
Post by bellyshere on Nov 3, 2021 22:24:08 GMT
You hyave to have the appropriate instrument for every purpose ... Dreads for bluegrass and comno work, resomator for bottleneck, 000 for teaching and playing light stuff, old time etc. Archtops for jazzy How else could I justify my colloection That’s how I’ve always justified loads of guitars to my other half.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 30, 2021 18:08:19 GMT
My initial thought is that fingerpicking sounds lovely on my S12 Lowden (in spite of me most of the time) but chords don't sound right (or as good as i'd like). On another thread recently someone said J45 Gibsons really suit chord work. I've never played one so can't comment. Chords fit certain styles whereas fingerpicking fits others. John The S12 sounds good with open tuning chords. It is a fingerpicking guitar for the most part as are most of the Lowden guitars IMO.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 16, 2021 16:56:56 GMT
I’ve often detuned for years and some guitars do sound better. I’ve taken the evil one step further recently and started tuning guitars off the standard 440hz. My old Guild D40 sounds just great tuned to 450hz. I’m sure it’s indiscernible to the ears really but I don’t know it just sounds better on some guitars.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 16, 2021 16:51:53 GMT
Played my guitar for most of the day today. My fingers need a good half hour to warm up nowadays but it’s all there. Even wrote a few miserable tunes as usual.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 9, 2021 23:08:10 GMT
Good to see I’m not the only one who stops for a bit.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 8, 2021 11:42:54 GMT
You’re not alone, bellyshere. The last 18 months have severely undermined my enthusiasm for many things, including the idea of performing. I’ve dropped in here from time to time, but haven’t felt like contributing much. I was still playing guitar until recently, but it was mainly noodling rather than anything focused. Then three weeks ago I ruptured my kneecap tendon, leading to surgery and now being in ankle to thigh plaster. Even if I could find a comfortable position to balance a guitar on my lap, I’m too knackered to bother. I’ve just had an invitation to do a series of videos next year for a guitar related Facebook group, and I’m torn between saying yes - to force myself to snap out of it, but at the risk of letting people down if I can’t - and just basically retiring from playing for others until the desire returns, if it ever does. Sorry for the downbeat reply. The news about Andy has cast a shadow over my mood today. Hope you are back on top soon man. Bloody life getting in the way of music. Grrrrr!!! Boils my head that does.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 7, 2021 22:35:49 GMT
I could never see myself playing nothing even if just for a short time. They are gonna have to prise something out of my hands as they stick me under or whatever. 60 years of music Keith. That makes me smile man. Just think of how many times you’ve picked, strummed a string and made a lovely sound adding to nice things on this rock. Maybe I’ve taken myself out of my comfort zone with something else. It might be a good thing. I’m going to have to stick an acoustic song up soon to address the balance.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Oct 7, 2021 22:11:24 GMT
Well I’ve not been about for a while but I’m not dead, I think. It’s because I’m playing less guitar and I feel like I’ve betrayed you all. (0: I’ve been playing more piano. Don’t judge too hard. At least it’s not the drums. There are some long time players on here. So my question is, have you had periods where you played less? I’m still writing songs with my guitar but not like I was.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Jul 28, 2021 18:17:47 GMT
This one. It looks well comfy.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Jul 12, 2021 20:16:13 GMT
Barry Manilow didn’t write the song “I write the songs”.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Jul 12, 2021 12:56:40 GMT
Leo Fender couldn’t play the guitar.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Apr 27, 2021 21:49:16 GMT
I put some Martin Silk and Steel strings on my Larrivee Silver Oak on Sunday. Left it to settle down cos you know how they are when you put new ones on. You have to retune it every 5 minutes and after doing it twice I couldn't be arsed anymore. Just picked it up. Holy Cow. It sounds amazing. I like D'Addarios and Elixirs but I really must experiment more. Those two are so ubiquitous there's something almost generic about the sound. I going to go on a bit of a strings binge later and will get some Ernie Ball Earthwoods along with a few more packs of those Martins (they're awesome to my ears). Would any of you like to suggest / recommend other brands to try? Are they the new Martin authentic ones? I love them as well. They don’t last long mind and not great for lower tunings but other than that fab.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Apr 26, 2021 5:24:11 GMT
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve written something only to find it sounds like something I’ve written before. I’ve even started writing bits on the piano to get some new sounds. Don’t judge me on that. Everything comes from somewhere. We don't invent it we just steal it and then change it just enough to make it sound like we didn't. It's like this guy said.
It’s subliminal stealing though. I’d never consciously rip a track off.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Apr 20, 2021 10:20:15 GMT
I used to write loads of songs when I was in my teens, 20s and early 30s. I was always terrible at writing lyrics though. I was happy with all the music I came up with, so if I had been able to finish them off with lyrics I'd have regarded them as 'finished' songs which I would have been very happy with. It's a bit of an impossible question though: nobody can tell you whether you've written 80 really good songs unless they listen to all 80 of those songs! Is less more? Not if all of your songs are totally amazing. I would say though that it totally depends what you want from your music. I once played with a moderately successful singer-songwriter: the only band I've been in that ever got anywhere. It was a very instructive experience, in that he basically had 10 songs and we played pretty much nothing but those 10 ten songs for about 3 years. He had other songs I'm sure, but he was a very sharp, focussed musician who wanted a record deal and got one. We were a very well-drilled tight band. Any time we recorded for a radio session or whatever, those songs were perfect. They remained fun to play, we only really needed to rehearse if we had a rare new song to learn. When he got to the second album, then there was a further 10 songs to play. I often thought at the time 'Ah, so this is how you do it'. Yeah, out of all the stuff I’ve written this year it’s not all good for sure. Occasionally I hear one and think that’s actually not that bad. That’s about as much praise as I can give myself though. I was just sat wondering the other day when I’d written 3 new tunes in a day, should I just keep knocking them out like this in the hope one day one will be fab or should I take time over them.
|
|
|
Post by bellyshere on Apr 20, 2021 7:41:40 GMT
I’ve always found the longer I take to write something the worse it gets. I have revisited old abandoned songs but only to rip off the words or progression.
|
|