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Post by creamburmese on Feb 4, 2018 21:40:43 GMT
I'm going to try this too... hopefully it's not too late to try it on pieces that are in progress already like this one where I have the hardest time keeping it relaxed and fluid...
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Post by creamburmese on Jan 3, 2018 1:22:28 GMT
What a great idea minorkey - I'll post a link on my blog too!
Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Jan 3, 2018 1:18:50 GMT
I love your blog Jonny. Lots of useful info there - and I'm glad you are enjoying your new double top ! I think you are right - they can sound fairly distinctively "un -sweet" but as with all guitars it depends upon who is building them - I actually bought my double top because of the sound, which can be incredibly sweet, particularly in those treble tones...
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Post by creamburmese on Jan 3, 2018 1:00:30 GMT
I'm glad you sorted this Breedlover - but I'm grateful you posted the question - not least because Dave White posted that useful info on calibrating hygrometers! Not for the same reasons as you all though - I keep an almost permanently running HUMIDIFIER in my "guitar room" and if I'm lucky I can keep the humidity up around the 45% level without having to refill it more than once a day. Having had one crack when I erroneously thought that 30% was high enough (made in Western Canada - another humid region) I'm now completely batty about checking the hygrometer at least twice a day. Of course I haven't calibrated it.... but I can see it go up and down.... and BTW I don't want to hear all this stuff about temperamental guitars - you sissies don't have a clue about temperamental until you've had a double top classical - mine goes out of tune if I even look at it wrongly, and I'm convinced it knows when I'm playing well because it instantly goes out of tune so it sounds horrible anyway
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 25, 2017 12:22:30 GMT
Great lessons Jonny - haven't seen that method of tuning before so I'm busy trying it! Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 25, 2017 12:10:58 GMT
Hi Spug Personally I think having a guitar teacher really helps accelerate the learning process and prevents you from developing bad habits that impede your ability to play what you want. However it has to be the RIGHT teacher, who helps you play what you want to. I had a dispiriting experience with 2 guitar teachers before finding the right fit (the first could play but couldn't teach, we'll draw a veil over the 60's drug culture that still hung around the second), but I knew the third guy would be a good fit right from the first lesson - I still look forward to the lessons 4 years later - they're rewarding and often fun, as well as being educational. I didn't stick it out as long as you did with the first two though - I felt terribly guilty (as though it had been my failure that it wasn't working). So I would say get your enthusiasm back with some of the online recommendations and then try out some different teachers for a good fit when you need help
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 22, 2017 22:06:27 GMT
Hi Everyone - thanks for reading - it's easy to see why classical guitar isn't a sport pursued by millions! Though it does appeal to those of us who like a challenge I think if i could sing I would never have gone down this rabbit hole, but having started, it's become an obsession. Turkey day tomorrow! (though we are having roast beef on Friday- us Brits like to be different ) Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 21, 2017 15:17:55 GMT
Sometimes I think I'm making no progress at all in my efforts to learn guitar, so in an effort to convince myself otherwise, I posted a list of the ten things I learned (or ought to have learned) this year. And yes, they are all about guitar playing, and some of them might even be relevant to non-classical players! I also wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving (otherwise known as turkey day over here), but who needs an excuse to eat turkey, cranberry orange sauce and stuffing? Best Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 16, 2017 19:46:33 GMT
I would encourage you to join the jam session as soon as you can switch basic chords fairly easily. I learned a lot from that, and despite having since gone over to the "dark side" (classical) I still hang out with my acoustic buddies and try to sing while strumming not too accurate chords! ps - keep these tips in mind for the future - many of us which we had paid attention to this earlier! Best Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 11, 2017 12:20:42 GMT
Speaking as a Brit who lives on the other side of the Atlantic I can confirm that the US sense of humor (if there is such a thing) is "different" and you have to try quite hard to avoid offending any groups that might potentially be offended. As a result, slapstick and self-deprecating humor rules. Everything else: proceed with caution. Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Nov 5, 2017 2:21:26 GMT
Good luck with trying it Alison! I can say that I managed to play it through with no major errors for my guitar teacher, which is pretty much unheard of for me. l seem to learn something new every time I try it- there’s a part I always fumble in Maria Luisa- I found out when playing it slowly note by note that I needed to change my hand position, which allowed me to relax and everything got easier... I think I’m convinced it’s a useful technique not just for learning but for ironing out problems.
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Post by creamburmese on Oct 30, 2017 20:07:53 GMT
Glad to hear that I'm not alone in this, although I have to admit that going -that- slowly is a bit extreme, and although I've had it suggested to me, I haven't actually done it - I'm typical of Riverman's students - way too impatient to get it up to tempo. However this time my teacher " promised" me he was going to make me play like that as soon as I walked in the door next (- er - this) week....... I don't know whether it will work when under teacher-stress, but when I'm at home it does seem to be getting better - here is my day-to-day log on progress posted HERE Also, I hope, fervently wish for, get down on my knees that this process will actually supplement the memorization process so I'm not totally dependent on muscle memory (that least dependable of memory types) to get through a piece. The crawling along seems to make me think about what I'm doing, so If I'm lucky I actually know what's coming next in my head instead of just in my fingers. Time will tell.
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Post by creamburmese on Oct 30, 2017 16:11:24 GMT
I am on a mission to improve my guitar playing and to be able to actually play for someone other than myself (preferably one or more Homo sapiens) without falling apart. So this week I got instructions to play a piece that's meant to be fast (a classical guitar study) slowly. Ok you say, you've heard that before. But what I mean is SUPER-slowly - so slow the tune is kinda missing and you can concentrate on each note... in my case slowing down a piece that I could realistically hope to play at 110-120 to (gulp) 30. What I found is that a) I actually can't remember it very well when going really slowly - something about interrupting the train of thought (or at least muscle memory), b) I find out all kinds of things (mostly negative things) about how I'm trying to play it, and c) trying to keep the tempo down is really really hard! Oh and did I mention this had to be done cold, when first picking up the guitar? Anyway, this week I embarked upon the project of playing it like this every time I pick up the guitar, and although the first attempt was an out-and-out disaster, things have gradually improved day by day. I had one furtive attempt to pick up the speed again (I'm supposed to be only playing it slowly) and was amazed to find that I could actually play it faster than before with fewer mistakes even though I didn't practice it at even normal speed in the meantime. Has anyone else tried this? Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Oct 11, 2017 0:12:03 GMT
Thanks Colins - please note I'll swap posts for a miniscule amount of your playing Genius any day! Julie
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Post by creamburmese on Oct 10, 2017 18:02:56 GMT
I too am waiting for the real musician to show up! However I can say that Riverman appears to be good on inversions If the third is in the bass it's a first inversion, the 5th it's a second inversion, and the 7th is in the bass it's a third inversion... I wonder if there's a 4th inversion for weird jazz chords?
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