|
Post by delb0y on May 17, 2016 21:23:51 GMT
Lovely!
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on May 4, 2016 20:48:51 GMT
Johnny Hodges with the Duke Ellington Orchestra - just Heavenly!
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on May 3, 2016 19:57:44 GMT
On my iPod I have a lot of each of jazz, classical, gypsy jazz, finger-picking (ragtime, blues, country, bottleneck etc), bluegrass, flatpicking, country, swing, rock'n'roll, rockabilly, and singer-songwriters. I have a medium amount of classic rock and classic pop - Beatles / Stones / Kinks / Who / Hendrix / UFO / Clapton etc. A very small (but growing) amount of folk. And no opera at all.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Apr 29, 2016 14:06:58 GMT
I tidied my little home office last weekend - put all of my acoustic guitars away except one. It was lovely and spacious and... tidy. But I did need to get a second guitar out to save having to keep re-tuning the one. Then I pulled a third back out of the wardrobe, my gigging guitar, because I figured if I was going to use it this weekend I ought to give it a run-out. Then I fancied a bit of flat-picking so I pulled out the dread... and also the oval hole. And suddenly the room was full of guitars again :-) Looking at them, it struck me that I'll probably never need another guitar. Accidents aside, these will see me out. But that's need. Not want. I quite fancy a really good electro acoustic with a tuner built in and top notch electrics that could become my main gigger. I fancy a resonator, too. Maybe a parlour. And I definitely need a J45 before my time is done. Maybe once I've added those four I really will be GAS free...
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Apr 23, 2016 8:46:27 GMT
Went to see Wizz Jones last Thursday in Cheltenham. Excellent all round. Perfect little room for an acoustic gig, was close enough to Wizz to have tuned his guitar had he needed it (he didn't). He played through a lovely Little AER Compact 60 (I think it's a 60). That's the third person I've seen recently with those lovely little amps. Puts my cheap and huge Cort Acoustic amp to shame. One day! Wizz's set was great - a lovely mix of old blues and folk, all with a great thumb and a "Wizz Whack" heel of the hand thump against the guitar on off-beats in some songs. I tried it when I got home but my hand is held in a different position - but it works great for Wizz. Really engaging and funny and a lovely tone from his only guitar - a 1964 Epiphone that he bought in 67 and has played on every gig since, and is the only guitar he has. Loads of interesting tunings, too.
It turns out that Wizz has been recording in London with Pete Berryman - he's on a bunch of John James albums I own and love - and Pete was on his way back to Cornwall on Thursday and stopped by the gig to play, too. So we got some Pete Berryman solo pieces and lots of duets, too.
Very inspiring evening. I had a chat with them both afterwards and shook hands - I assume that the magic is catching so watch out for some Wizz inspired picking soon.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Apr 21, 2016 6:54:58 GMT
Kazoo!!
That's what my buddy and I do when playing in a duo - acoustic and cajon. He has a kazoo taped to his mic and I occasionally put on a harmonica rack. Sometimes I put a harmonica in the rack :-)
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Apr 2, 2016 7:55:05 GMT
I've decided to continue working my way through the Richard Saslow book (almost there!), then tackle some John James material that I already have. Once that's done I'll look again at some of these teaching options. It's all part of the long term plan so no rush :-)
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 31, 2016 7:03:06 GMT
There are some great versions of FT linked here. Like others, not overly keen on the "Tommy" style version, but I really like all the others especially Martin Tallstrom's. I wish I could play like that!
I think there's a time and place and it's always good (IMHO) to have a few chops in the bank for those rare times and places where a bit of flash goes down well. Most of the time this means an occasion when there are lots of musicians watching, rather than real people. I've played my "flash" version of Staggerlee ("flash" here is relative - it's still more Tommy Cooper than Tommy Emmanuel) at Open Mics frequented pretty much only by musicians (*) and it's gone down pretty well but at a proper gig it's died a death whilst my partner in crime's two chord strummed song about the Malvern Hills stopped people in their tracks.
I have a love hate relationship with Tommy E - although he's blissfully unaware of this relationship. I like to watch him, and I most enjoy the little impromptu after-show jams and demonstrations you can find on YouTube. Many of those are sublime. But I've yet to find a recording that I want to play more than once, or even own. It's as if it's more visual than aural. I guess you could say I like to watch Tommy Emmanuel and listen to John Fahey.
(*) Round these parts you can go to an OM every night of the week, sometimes more than one, but they're all populated almost exclusively by musicians. It feels like pay-for-play: buy a pint or two and get to play three songs in public. I do go a few times a year to try out new songs, and listen to others, and to catch up with friends, and to practice playing in front of folks, but somehow it feels very musically incestuous and as if the general public aren't included.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 24, 2016 10:39:59 GMT
Lovely looking guitar, Mark. I've long hankered after a Yamaha SA2000 that looks a little like that. Sounds great, too! My darkside activities are mostly restricted to on-stage, but I do have to get the Fenders out once in a while (usually just before gigs) to make sure I still know how to do widdly widdly over a blues using just pattern # 1 of the minor pentatonic. That's about my limit on the electric!
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 17, 2016 6:43:12 GMT
Indeed, sounds like they've changed it a lot. The peer review were very time consuming (if you wanted to do a decent number and a decent job - not everyone did, of course). I can't recall how long the quizzes took, but I do recall that it was quite structured and you couldn't race ahead.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 7, 2016 20:20:20 GMT
It was very much lyric-based, Mark. When I signed up I was hoping for more about harmony and melody. I did get this song out of it: "Thwarted (Girls Like A Picker)" before I bailed.
Derek
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 7, 2016 9:18:06 GMT
I tried the Pat Pattinson course and bailed - it got very time-intensive very quickly and I wasn't getting enough out of it to warrant continuing. YMMV of course! :-)
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 6, 2016 15:00:36 GMT
Yep, Stonebridge / Furch owner here. I've played a fair few of these guitars over the last few years and I'm never disappointed. Mine is a dread - a D32SM, I think. Really nice sound - it was the resonance in the bass and on the open chords that did it for me. I fell in love. Might well get another sometime in the future - maybe a smaller body with a cutaway for fingerstyle.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 2, 2016 23:11:29 GMT
Woody Mann is a great call. I didn't know he did video exchange lessons. Might look into that. Cheers muchly!
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 2, 2016 19:25:13 GMT
I'm a massive fan of the video exchange type of online guitar lesson. It's a wonderful way to get really cost effective lessons from world class players. My annual sub with Bryan Sutton expires tomorrow and I've decided not to rejoin - nothing wrong with the school, far from it. It's brilliant. I've learned so much from Bryan, not just about flat-picking, but about musicianship, song-writing, performance, and so much more. He's a great guy, a wonderful teacher, and I'd highly recommend his school. But I rarely flatpick these days and it's time for a new teacher - ideally a fingerpicker. I thought about joining Martin Taylor's school - I have a ton of his albums and he's a great guy, too, but it may be more aimed at the jazzer than the country thumb-picker. Any other ideas? Anyone out there taking fingerstyle lessons with someone they'd recommend - ideally a two-way environment?
Cheers D
|
|