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Post by MartinS on Jan 16, 2023 17:12:38 GMT
BB King changing string mid song, which I think is arguably even better!
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Post by MartinS on Feb 14, 2020 13:31:13 GMT
This is great, last song is very touching (and I'm not one for songs) and great playing.
m.
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Post by MartinS on Feb 10, 2020 22:17:47 GMT
Thanks for posting this, my wrist was falling off just watching that.
She's pretty amazing on fiddle and mandolin too!
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Post by MartinS on Jan 28, 2020 11:02:10 GMT
Lovely video to go along with a great story.
Looks like RTP are a broadcaster - you must have got a lot of interest from this, nice one!
m.
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Post by MartinS on Jan 24, 2020 16:06:02 GMT
I've actually been listening to Ed Boyd a lot recently, I'm sorry to say I hadn't twigged how good he is, maybe because a lot of his subtle stuff is buried in the layered sound of Lunasa. There are some great recordings of just him and Brian Finegan on Youtube which opened my eyes, so I've been working out some of his favoured voicings and trying to work some into my playing. He does use a capo quite a lot, e.g. when Brian plays in E (seems quite a favourite of his) and F#, but I'm quite sure if he lost his capo he'd still sound awesome :-D But we can't all be Pierre Bensusan, and if you want to use a capo, then fire on. I often do for Emaj, or accompanying highland pipes (!) in Bb , or playing in e.g. A at a higher voicing. Also I use a capo for flatpicking tunes for two reasons, firstly because the frets become closer together, so it's a lot easier, and flatpicking say with capo at 3 or 5 just cuts through a bit better acoustically. m. edit to add that I hadn't read all the posts on page 2 when I posted
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Post by MartinS on Apr 29, 2019 8:27:23 GMT
If sound quality is paramount, don't rule out RCF. I bought a second hand pair of 312a's a few years ago (about £400), and they've never put a foot wrong.
I run a Behringer XR18 which I'd recommend, but depends if you want to carry a tablet/PC around with you to drive it. Before that I had an Allen and Heath analogue desk, but the weight of it with it's flight case was a back killer. A QSC Touchmix 16 might be better for you as it has the interface and saves the extra devices, but you do lose a bit of flexibility.
You haven't mentioned monitors, be aware that you need to hear yourselves playing, so I'd suggest thinking about adding at least a couple to your requirements, depending how you sit/line up.
m.
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Post by MartinS on Mar 11, 2019 16:12:25 GMT
Hello Curmudgeon,
Just logged in after a while away and noticed your post.
You were asking about players who had DC, well I can give some first hand (geddit?) experience of both DP and a guitar player.
I had DC in both hands, very severely in my left hand such that my pinkie was flat against my palm, and my third finger was about 60 degrees off the palm. My right hand third finger was about 120 degrees off the palm. It was one of those things that crept up on me, but eventually became really annoying when playing the fiddle and windsurfing/climbing. (I wasn't as deep into guitar playing then.)
I had operations in both hands - about ten years ago I had my left done first, under a general anaesthetic, and a year later my right hand under a local.
My recovery went well, it probably took 5 or six years for the nerve damage to completely repair. This was worse on the left hand because of the extent of the surgery. The feeling was as a loss of sensation on the finger surfaces), but now my hands are fairly normal, and no signs of it coming back soon. The actual improvement in movement in my hands was fairly instantaneous, about 6/8 weeks after the ops I had regained most of the movement I had lost. It really felt to me like a minor personal miracle, and I was kicking myself I hadn't pushed to get the operations much sooner.
There's a risk with any surgery, but with a good surgeon, I would be confident of going through the procedure again if I had to, there really hasn't been any downside at all apart from the stress of being in a hospital for the first time in my life :-)
And I have some great scars on my hands to impress people with, so there's yet another upside!
m.
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Post by MartinS on May 7, 2018 16:24:48 GMT
Nice review, and love the youtube link. I was thinking that it was bit of a change in style for Charlie McKerron, then I read closer!
m.
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Post by MartinS on May 4, 2018 9:00:12 GMT
I can only say that it is noticeable on mine, you don't need to look too hard at the finish to see it's not perfect.
The story with mine was that it was owned by an elderly gent who had arthritis and couldn't manage to play with the original thicker neck, so he had thickness taken out of it. So people get re-profiles for different reasons.
I've often wondered how much it cost to do it, because my other guitar is an OOM with a thick neck :-)
m.
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Post by MartinS on May 3, 2018 23:22:59 GMT
I have a Furch with a re-profiled neck. I would say, if you really love the guitar, go for it (after appropriate discussions with a luthier as to practicalities).
Downside is that it it would affect resale value, but if it's a keeper then who cares?
m.
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Post by MartinS on Mar 22, 2018 19:43:52 GMT
My technique of dealing with the stress of carrying instruments long distance was to put an outrageously high quote in.
Money soothes!
(Not expecting to get the gig, though!)
:-)
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Post by MartinS on Mar 18, 2018 20:15:13 GMT
Why can't you bring your guitar down from Glasgow? Are you flying? Although I haven't encountered this issue yet, I have got some festival gigs booked for the summer where I might not take my main guitar and I bought a Yamaha LL11 specifically for this situation back in the summer - I'd been after one because of the Bert Jansch link anyway, but I figured it's a guitar I could take to those gigs where I wouldn't want to take my more fancy guitars... Although, to be honest, I'm slowly coming round to the fact that I pretty much only play my Martin and should just use that for everything and flog the rest! Yes, I'd be thinking of flying, but see the disaster stories of folk's instruments in pieces after baggage handling treatment and it puts me off slightly! And it's not that my gigging guitar was like super-expensive, but we have bonded nicely. Alternatively a long drive (driving for 6 or 7 hours in not my bag), or train (put off by carrying a guitar for most of a day on public transport) is possible, but not exactly an attractive prospect... I guess those musicians who are constantly touring have got it all sorted in their minds about risks to instruments and take a pragmatic view or else they would never leave the house. I think I'm just a wuss! Anyone here travel much by plane with their instruments? m.
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Post by MartinS on Mar 18, 2018 12:42:34 GMT
What do you guys do if you have to travel to play a gig, and it's inconvenient (or you just consider it too plain risky) so take your own instruments?
We seem to be getting enquiries to play in the south of England for functions, which is not exactly close if you live in Glasgow. The latest is in darkest Didcot. (Although it may be very bright there, I have no knowledge :-D)
Have you found it easy to hire instruments, or do you just end up networking and borrowing?
The PA is not a problem of course, as there are plenty of places who will do a wet hire. And it seems there are people that exist who seem to be happy to pay for that, travel and hotel costs.
Me and the missus are also playing a wedding in California in the Autumn, but we're trying to borrow instruments from the pool of musician attendees.
Any suggestions/good stories?
m.
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Post by MartinS on Feb 17, 2018 19:04:11 GMT
Holy s..t!
That's awesome, thanks for sharing!
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Post by MartinS on Feb 5, 2018 20:02:02 GMT
Our band is doing the support slot at Edinburgh Folk Club on Wednesday 14th February, which we're really looking to. Here's an idea of what we sound like: linkThere will be some fingerpicking and flatpicking from me - maybe slightly nervously done, because the main act on the night is Paul Downes, who as many on here will know is no mean guitarist! :-D
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