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Post by creamburmese on Sept 22, 2014 17:12:58 GMT
I use glucosamine/chondroitin MSM - started using it with biotin as recommended on Delcamp, - or somewhere - details details. My nails do seem to grow faster but I don't know which (if any) of the components is doing the trick so I daren't stop. I also paint on that Onymyrrhe stuff on the nailbed when I remember. I know that the onymyrrhe isn't responsible for the faster growth because I only paint it on the 4 I use, and all my nails are growing faster. I never used to be able to keep nails long enough, despite obsessive buffing, but as a result of these interventions I've had 4 nails working for around 6 months now - that being said I painted on some "hard as nails" varnish a couple of weeks ago and Immediately (i.e. within a few hours) my i finger chipped and I lost several mm. From which I conclude that increased flexibility /resilience is involved and I kyboshed it by adding a hard inflexible coat. Of course patience is required - have to wait several months or so for new treated nail to reach the working end...
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 22, 2014 13:53:22 GMT
Congrats on the "playing by ear" Alison - I hope one day I'll be able to do that too, though currently I can only figure out single notes and arrangements are a murky cavern of the unknown. I'm just starting to learn to sight read on the guitar - my level currently is at about minus 6.... sucks totally. And I DID learn to read notation through piano lessons and playing recorder in school - I can still sight read on the recorder - it just doesn't help much in finding the notes on the guitar. Anyway I think I'm about to remedy this - I merely mentioned the fact to my classical guitar teacher in passing (who is way flexible) and he got all excited, promising me lots of 'fun' sight reading during lessons and recommending books to buy. I just can't wait....
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 22, 2014 13:43:34 GMT
I am venturing into uncharted territories - now taking an official music theory class - I missed the first 2 classes which may have been crucial but I guess I'll never know Nugget I'm trying to wrap my head around is that the chord on the fifth note of the scale contains 2 of those tones that are dissonant (7th and 4th) - i.e. with respect to the tonic not with respect to the 5th chord - thus the 5th likes to resolve to the first. I THINK that's what he said anyway,,,,,
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 22, 2014 13:25:13 GMT
https%3A//soundcloud.com/creamburmese/brook-taw-yesterday I have a Taw. I agree that you should play the actual guitar you are going to buy, and if possible take it home and play it there. I had a Brook Torridge (walnut/spruce) for about a year (for me that's a long time !) that I really liked. I had an especially sweet tone when capo'd or playing up in the thin air frets, although it didn't appeal to American tastes because it wasn't a very loud guitar. I heard that tone on at least one other guitar when I was in the Brook workshop, and to my ears is especially desirable. Anyway I sold the Torridge when my mum bought me a new Brook Taw (Yew/spruce) from the workshop ... unlike the Torridge it is much louder with more sustain, and has more of a 'twangy" Gibson vibe. It records really well. - edit - posted it here - I think I have something played on the Taw posted on one of the boards here somewhere (maybe on the recording thread) if you can get past the rather basic playing. I have to say that to my ears the Taw sounded much different when I got it home than it did in the shop - I'm putting it down to differences in humidity - I presume that in the Devon the humidity is high, which seems to have a damping effect on guitar sound, whereas here on E Coast US the humidity is generally much lower, either because the AC is running, or because the humidity is much lower! It does like Newtone Heritage strings...
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 20, 2014 19:53:10 GMT
I play both nylon and steel string and am still trying to figure out the best shape for my nails... my teacher (classical) has ramps on his nails and they are a lot longer than Michaels - mine are also longer than his - however I'm now going to try that reverse ramp on my a finger I find that finger on the 1st string is usually where the worst tone can emerge....-
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 20, 2014 19:32:50 GMT
Great challenge! I liked all 3 but for different reasons... for #1 I thought the individually plucked strings were the most resonant and had the most harmonics, but the strummy bits were a bit more mixed up probably for the same reason. #2 the individual notes had less extraneous stuff going on and held it together better during the strums - also had a nice mellow base notes. #3 to me seemed to be half way between 1 and 3.... Can I have one of each please?
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 20, 2014 19:18:48 GMT
Really enjoying this thread. I'm never likely to sing in front of people as a performance (and this sentiment will no doubt be appreciated by any potential audience!), but I do wish I was more confident and LOUDER when leading songs at guitar jams. I just started theory lessons today and the coach is a classically trained singer with a lovely voice, so I have the impression that we will be required to sing intervals and the like as the weeks go by. I'm tempted to think that this will be a punishment that he will inflict on himself more than on me, but maybe I will learn something about singing in the meantime! I wouldn't mind singing exercises in the shower... BTW having lived over here for a fair number of years I'm told I now have an American accent.... at least as far as Brits are concerned. However to Americans I still sound British - I just can't win! All I can say is that if British people sound as bad singing in an American accent as Americans do when faking a British one, then you'd better stick with British English Bear in mind that over here, people really really like the British accents (unless it's the public school one - which they think is put on for show) although they usually can't distinguish between Australian and British...... duh.
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 16, 2014 13:15:43 GMT
Ok so no specific suggestions for improving the sound (apart from better technique, which obviously goes without saying!). I think my setup actually "warms up" the sound - to my ears the Brook doesn't sound as mellow as it sounds on the recording - and on the other hand the Taylor, which has an uncharacteristically mellow sound, seems to lose its bite altogether when recorded. Perhaps I'll record the same thing on the Taylor for comparison.
Anyway thanks for all the reassuring comments and encouragement... I shall keep secret how many hours it took me to learn that piece (hint - I lost count). And I also appreciate the sage advice that perhaps further investment in equipment will be a game of diminishing returns... Keith's recordings are lovely and certainly bear witness to the fact that if you put fantastic material in the front end, no-one is worrying about the equipment used! And I'm definitely not the kind of person who likes to manipulate the digital file to get different effects, unlike my other half, who refuses to go out for a run/bike/swim unless he's all hooked up with his GPS watch so he can upload the data and analyze it later!
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 15, 2014 18:23:37 GMT
Thanks for all the responses! I have tried different microphone positions, but not with the degree of accuracy suggested, so I can have another go at moving it around in a more structured manner. As for manipulating the room - that comes into my "fuzzy" category. I just sit in my chair up the corner and point the mic at the 12th fret and move it away if it's clipping. Ditto post-recording manipulation -all I actually know how to do is cut off the beginning or the end of the recording... Does garageband have the capacity tp manipulate the recording? Actually I wouldn't mind being able to play around with it afterwards if it was possible, but I certainly don't want to run into problems just related to having 2 microphones so I'm giving up on that idea! ... perhaps some of you experts could comment on if there is something obvious about the recording where I could do better with this? Please ignore the playing - I'm a pretty recently minted player (doesn't that sound better than beginner!) Julie
https%3A//soundcloud.com/creamburmese/brook-taw-yesterday
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 15, 2014 13:30:56 GMT
I find the planet waves humidipacks do a reasonably good job - 2 hanging in the sound hole and one by the headstock - we can get down to about 15% RH in the winter here and the cases usually run around 30 -35% when outside humidity is that low. However when the humidity is really low they only last about a week before they have to be recycled in a plastic bag with a wet sponge. The Hiscox cases do better than the plywood ones and nothing much works for gig bags - I guess they are too permeable. However I found the best method for our winter was to run a portable humidifier in the room in addition to the humidipacks in the cases - got the room up to a minimum of 30% and the cases were up to 40-45%. I had to refill the humidifier every 2 - 3 days, but the humidipacks then lasted for weeks and weeks, so it was less work. Interestingly, the humidipacks also keep the humidity down in the summer - when our AC isn't running, we run really high humidities (can be upwards of 70%) and my classical guitar sounds like its filled with wet socks.
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 15, 2014 13:19:20 GMT
Thanks for all the missives of support, for what, after all is a sad decision for me. However I went to a folk camp this weekend and hung out with people playing such unlikely instruments as a washtub bass, autoharp and funny triangular stringed things i've forgotten the name of, in addition to the usual panoply of fiddles, harmonicas, hammer dulcimers ukuleles, mandolins and the occasional tin whistle! (and the odd guitar of course). The washtub bass lady said she had been unsuccessfully looking for an English tea chest to replace her galvanized washtub - for a more woody sound - unsuccessfully I might add. Anyway I had a blast - took a "try a ukulele" class and thoroughly enjoyed playing and singing songs with simple chords - just think - pick it up and play, what a concept - tried unsuccessfully to sight read some klezmer music, and on Sunday did my best to be part of the band accompanying (3 and 4 chord songs by ear) a local well known gospel singer plus attendees in a little historic church (historic at least by American standards - 1800's) - they have to bring in a generator for power because it isn't connected to the grid. Saturday night I didn't play in the contradance band, but did do some dancing, and discovered I was by no means the worst despite being a beginner. I really like the folk music crowd - they don't take themselves too seriously and of the groups I've visited in my quest to find my niche (classical guitar, acoustic guitar, folk) they are probably the friendliest to all comers. Not sure about the fiddle music though....
Mark I"m sorry classical guitar playing was such a downer for you - sounds like my experience with piano lessons as a kid. Fortunately my classical guitar teacher seems to have the opposite view - a even to the extent that I actually had to ask for exercises to practice over the summer.
Alison - I'm sorry we are not hearing your pieces on the Spanish guitar currently, though I'm sure we will eventually!
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 11, 2014 17:27:37 GMT
I have a simple set up for recording my acoustics - a blue spark microphone into a Scarlett Box that then gets manipulated almost not at all by garageband before I upload. I didn't really know what I was doing when I bought the bits... actually I was grateful that when I plugged them all in, that something arrived on my computer..... And on the whole I've been happy (I'm not very picky). However I noticed when recording my recently acquired Taylor that the sustain on the recording doesn't reflect what I'm hearing - of course this could be for a bunch of reasons, for most of which my knowledge could be described as "fuzzy" at best. I did read that having 2 microphones strategically placed may better record the guitar sound. So should I get another microphone? Or delve into one of those "fuzzy" areas?,
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 11, 2014 12:33:00 GMT
Thanks Mark... I hate to give up on anything (must be my British upbringing !) but reasoned reflection did show that this was destroying my pleasure in guitar playing, and as it is currently pretty much my only hobby and a major source of enjoyment it seemed really stupid to turn it into a chore. I still think I would like to do it, but I would need to get a great deal better at playing and sight reading so I could participate without putting in countless hours of tedious effort outside actual rehearsals. On the other hand got an impromptu lesson on jazz chords from my classical guitar teacher (managed to distract him and avoid too much attention to those pesky scales in thirds) so I'm slowly working on getting those Bossa Nova chords a bit faster.
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 9, 2014 22:55:29 GMT
Well - I'm sad to say this is not the update I expected to make. I've been diligently practicing my parts for the guitar orchestra and doing reasonably well at getting them nailed. However for the first time in my admittedly limited guitar playing experience I was beginning to actually avoid practicing - all sorts of excuses suddenly became justification for doing something else. Even after a couple of days travel without guitar, when I'm normally liable to hit the guitar for a few hours straight on my return, I was just "too tired" to play. What was going on? It then it dawned - I was getting no satisfaction from the orchestra music I was practicing - on it's own, a part wasn't really music. As a result I wasn't getting the constant positive feedback from learning to play a tune or even nailing scales. Even several months hence after the concert I still wouldn't actually be able to play anything as a result. And in the meantime guitar playing had transitioned from fun to work. Aargh! So I quit the orchestra ....sense of relief was enormous so I knew I had done the right thing .. am looking forward to playing something fun tonight... Maybe legato scales in thirds?!
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Post by creamburmese on Sept 9, 2014 13:52:34 GMT
Yup - that's the book! There are some truly lovely pieces in there though I have only tackled 3 so far. I don't currently have it in my possession because my guitar teacher borrowed it and has had it over the summer... however it's about time it was returned
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