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Post by delb0y on May 12, 2014 12:38:57 GMT
Wouldn't say I've had one guitar spoil another - but I'm very wary that the Martin is so easy to play that if I'm not careful I play it too much then struggle when playing something else. So I tend to play the Tanglewood (lovely sound, slightly harder to play) a fair bit just to keep my chops, such as they are, together. I also have a masochistic tendency to learn fingerpicking tunes on the 12 string even when intended to play them on the six...when I go back to any 6 string after the 12 it's like the weights have been taken off my ankles and wrists and I'm allowed to skip along unfettered!
All that said, I recall thinking when I bought it that the Martin was a lot more difficult to play than I'd anticipated. But I guess I've adapted to it.
Cheers Derek
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Post by delb0y on May 9, 2014 13:58:42 GMT
Superb!!
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Post by delb0y on May 9, 2014 8:10:38 GMT
In the interests of science I thought I'd provide the raw material to enable a proper and scientific comparison to be made. So here's a version of Thwarted in my natural accent. As I said previously I'm over in Gloucester, so there's a very slight West Country twang to this version, but other than that is there a lot of difference? soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12784779Cheers Derek
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Post by delb0y on May 7, 2014 13:43:43 GMT
I stopped the car last year when Darrell Scott was on Bob Harris's show doing an acoustic session. I just had to listen. It was awesome. I wish that session (conversation and songs) was available somewhere, it was great. Superb artist!
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Post by delb0y on May 7, 2014 13:19:39 GMT
As mentioned in the thread on singing, one of my favourites when I'm in a mellow mood:
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Post by delb0y on May 7, 2014 11:45:58 GMT
Best I chime in as it was my American accent.... First of all, I'm from Gloucester, and if I sing in my normal accent it sounds like I'm a poor version of a Wurzal. Nothing wrong with the Wurzals - I can't remember if they were the first or second band/artist I ever saw live (it's between them and George Hamilton IV). But it was a good gig (as was George). Anyway, singing with a West Country accent is great for cider drinkers or Bill Bailey comedy sketches, and maybe I'd get away with a tale of Elver fishermen in my natural accent, but it's not great for singing story songs about blues-singers, devils, morticians, cowboy outlaws, or any of the other characters that inhabit my songs. I suppose I could put on an accent from somewhere else in Blighty, but that would be no different in a way to the one I've adopted. In fact - I no longer realise I do it, as there was no intent behind the accent. I opened my mouth to sing and that's what came out. Years of listening to music from across the pond, I guess (and Mick Jagger). Hints and tips - always open to learning about singing. I'd like to learn how to do it properly... I know, take lessons. I keep thinking about it and one day when the £££s are in better shape I might well do. That said, I do tend to enjoy the story-teller like vocalists - John Prine, Jeffrey Foucault, Ray Wylie Hubbard - and that's kind of why i sing like I do. We use what we've got, I guess. Probably the one and only thing I dislike about singing and singers are those very skilful and talented folk who have the amazing ability to use 24 notes when one would do. I much prefer to hear an unadorned melody (unless it's Django doing the adorning) or a tastefully adorned one, rather than a demonstration of vocal pyrotechnics. Things do seem to have improved in this regard lately, but a few years ago you couldn't turn on the wireless without hearing such things. Kind regards Derek
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Post by delb0y on Apr 17, 2014 21:32:38 GMT
How about covers of John Prine material? Bonnie Raitt doing Angel From Montgomery comes to mind. Susan Tedechi did a great version, too.
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Post by delb0y on Apr 17, 2014 6:42:10 GMT
This is a great song and I often keep it in mind when out walking the dog and I see old folks. A little smile and a hello doesn't cost much.
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Post by delb0y on Apr 13, 2014 18:12:18 GMT
I fancy a dread. Maybe a 335 style guitar, too. But I think a dread will be next. No idea when - almost pulled the trigger on an eBay Stonebridge the other day but the seller removed it on the last day of auction before any bids had been placed. There's a couple more advertised, too, but alas, in the last few days my central boiler has given up the ghost and I think it's going to cost at least D-18 or J45 £££s to replace. Maybe double that. So for the foreseeable future I think I will be buying strings and thumb-picks but little else
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Post by delb0y on Mar 11, 2014 13:22:33 GMT
Phil, thanks for the comments. It's interesting you say you wouldn't have guessed it was in DADGAD. My DADGAD learning since doing this tune has been to play in the key of G in DADGAD. I actually did a version of John Prine's Speed of the Sound of Loneliness in G in DADGAD and all the opening strings and 'accidental' 6th and 9th chords really added a new texture to it without (hopefully) being overtly DADGAD. Alas, I inadvertently deleted the recording... I really liked For Keira - a beautiful light touch (something I'm hoping to achieve one day!) and a really nice melody. Lovely sound out of the Brooks, too. Leo, trust me... DADGAD mastery is always just one more sacrificial virgin away... Either that or Doug Young's superb book
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Post by delb0y on Mar 8, 2014 18:06:26 GMT
Thanks guys Mark - the chord element of DADGAD isn't as awkward as other tunings on account of the ADG bit is the same as normal so it's reasonably easy to use 50% of what you already know. That's the theory anyway - this piece was more riff and scale based. I've always tried to make my finger style pieces sound full - usually with plenty of alternate bass going on. Here I thought why not just let a simple melody and the tone of the guitar do all the work rather than me! Ocarolan - I agree re. the reverb. There's no intent to use on this on a CD. I'm pretty simplistic in my recording knowledge. With the G-Track mic there was some free software (Sonar X1) and I used that without having a clue what I was doing. I just choose the "small classical ensemble" reverb setting and left it at that. It sounds very different on different headphones but I'd have no idea how to go about creating a sound that would work well on everything. Kind regards Derek
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Post by delb0y on Mar 7, 2014 13:22:19 GMT
Mark
Here you go - this is my first DADGAD tune. As mentioned above it's really just a series of shapes and scales that I've tied together, but it kind of works I think. Weirdly - because I don't think he played much (if at all) in DADGAD I had John Fahey in mind when putting this together.
Kind regards Derek
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Post by delb0y on Mar 6, 2014 13:38:29 GMT
Nice playing Mark - great sound on the little TW.
I've been focussing on DADGAD recently and have been working up my first DADGAD tune. I've more or less got it together and must record and post it for the good folks here. I think I might call it Broken Down Treadmill because really it's just a bunch of exercises linked together that I generally get wrong!
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Post by delb0y on Feb 17, 2014 10:01:13 GMT
I recently put a new set of strings on the Fenix 12 I bought last summer. Wish I'd done it sooner. It made an amazing difference to intonation, playability, and tone. But I suspect it'll be a long time before I do it again...!
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