Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Apr 30, 2024 23:31:50 GMT
How about converting an originally major key song to minor?
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Apr 28, 2024 15:15:42 GMT
PS Half an hour later and I can't get this out of my head! Also, Riverman , it reminds me of some of your songs, not just the picking but the words/singing/phrasing/delivery. I think you'd do this one justice too, Richard ... Keith Well that’s extremely flattering Keith, many thanks! Pat Donohue is a bit of an unsung hero as far as I’m concerned. But, as Pat himself sings, “it ain’t easy for a boy from way up north…”
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Dec 7, 2023 0:22:46 GMT
Proof that there is such a thing as too much caffeine…
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Dec 5, 2023 0:57:06 GMT
This is all well and good. But what guitar did you buy for her?
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Nov 22, 2023 17:31:02 GMT
The guide price for the acoustics are actually normal prices for those guitars. I’m sure the fact they’re his guitars means the prices will go way beyond guide….. My thoughts exactly! There’s currently one of his signature Martins on eBay at £10k, several thousands more than the estimate on his personal guitar…
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Nov 12, 2023 12:46:29 GMT
Not a gig, but an online…..er…..thing, starting today. I’m the featured player for November in a Facebook group called Fretboard Blues. It’s a slightly misleading name as it’s nothing to do with blues, just all things guitar. It’s a private group but easy to join by answering a couple of questions and agreeing to the rules (which are the usual generic ones about no hate speech, no advertising etc). The deal is I get to post a couple of videos a week with music and blathering. I’m quite good at blathering when it comes to the guitar! Join me why dontcha? I’m approaching the half way mark with videos on this now - just posted another one today. Thanks to everyone from the forum who’s joined up, liked and commented - much appreciated
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Nov 1, 2023 12:12:48 GMT
Not a gig, but an online…..er…..thing, starting today. I’m the featured player for November in a Facebook group called Fretboard Blues. It’s a slightly misleading name as it’s nothing to do with blues, just all things guitar. It’s a private group but easy to join by answering a couple of questions and agreeing to the rules (which are the usual generic ones about no hate speech, no advertising etc). The deal is I get to post a couple of videos a week with music and blathering. I’m quite good at blathering when it comes to the guitar! Join me why dontcha?
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Oct 27, 2023 13:40:16 GMT
Pierre Bensusan covers various vibrato techniques like this for acoustic guitar in The Guitar Book, and you can hear a good demonstration and explanation of a few of them here: I think this demonstrates perfectly why guitarists (me included) sometimes do this, with no audible effect. We’re trying our damnest to be as good as Pierre Bensusan, and failing miserably.
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Sept 16, 2023 8:50:12 GMT
BTW, I have been trawling my way through youtube videos of various pickups as options for the Brook, and to be honest they all sound awful, apart from the Fishman Rare Earth Blend- anyone use this one? I could in theory use this in any guitar then. Robbie As has been said already, this is a terrible rabbit hole. I’ve settled on the Rare Earth Blend as my standard choice (love the simplicity of K&Ks but just don’t like the sound, for my playing). I only dial in a little of the mic, just enough to make a difference. There’s an indent at the half way point between mic and magnetic and I never get anywhere near that - maybe a quarter mic at most and three quarters magnetic. Never had a problem with feedback, but adding the mic element does reduce the volume somewhat, as it seems to draw a lot of power from the rather weedy batteries. So it’s not perfect by any means, but I prefer a slight magnetic edge to a piezo one. But choosing the pickup is just the start of it… I speak as the past or present owner of at least half a dozen preamps. The dedicated K&K one did nothing to change my feelings about their pickup. The Headway can be noisy and has stupidly small buttons. The Baggs Venue is very flexible but the tuner is rubbish. And so on. The Orchid has the benefit of simplicity and to my ears sounds best, but needs phantom power which can be a nuisance. In some ways I think the preamp is the most important factor, unless there’s a skilled and sympathetic sound person involved (usually not the case at my now infrequent gigs). In theory it gives you the opportunity to shape the sound how you want it, but there are two problems: first, you’re almost certainly not hearing what the audience is hearing (not that they’re always listening anyway!); second, you have to understand how to get the best out of them. I’m the first to admit that I struggle to identify what it is I don’t like about guitar tone - for me it’s often about a thuddiness in the mids, or a shrillness in the trebles, but how to dial those out often eludes me. I did a couple of (pub) gigs the other week where I was happy with the sound during the (very brief) soundcheck but, as the evening went on, it seemed to get worse and worse and I couldn’t identify why. Endless tweaking of the preamp settings (I was using the Venue) didn’t help. I’m sure this was all down to operator error/stupidity (which has given me an idea for a possible discussion at the Huddersfield meet - Martin, I’ll post something in that thread later), but it sure as hell was frustrating, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds poor sound tends to lead to a less than satisfactory performance overall. I’m not sure any of that helps forestdweller!
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Nov 1, 2021 18:48:48 GMT
Not a gig exactly, but between 6:30 - 7:30 tomorrow evening (Tuesday 2 November) I’ll be the guest on Rowland Jones’s Talking Songs show, livestreamed on www.talkingsongs.uk and Facebook. It’s an hour long interview/discussion on songwriting - normally the guest would play a few of their songs live, but because of a recent injury I can’t currently sit in a position to play guitar for any length of time. There’ll be some videos, hopefully, to compensate. In some weeks the show has apparently had thousands of listeners from all around the world, so maybe it’s just as well that I can’t make a fool of myself live on air, after nearly two years of musical hibernation….
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Oct 8, 2021 16:34:49 GMT
Sorry for the downbeat reply. The news about Andy has cast a shadow over my mood today. I feel the need to be among friends at the moment. Indeed so, Paul. Thanks for the supportive words, and likewise ocarolan, Cams and bellyshere. This is a good place to be on a day like this.
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Oct 8, 2021 10:32:23 GMT
You’re not alone, bellyshere. The last 18 months have severely undermined my enthusiasm for many things, including the idea of performing. I’ve dropped in here from time to time, but haven’t felt like contributing much. I was still playing guitar until recently, but it was mainly noodling rather than anything focused. Then three weeks ago I ruptured my kneecap tendon, leading to surgery and now being in ankle to thigh plaster. Even if I could find a comfortable position to balance a guitar on my lap, I’m too knackered to bother. I’ve just had an invitation to do a series of videos next year for a guitar related Facebook group, and I’m torn between saying yes - to force myself to snap out of it, but at the risk of letting people down if I can’t - and just basically retiring from playing for others until the desire returns, if it ever does. Sorry for the downbeat reply. The news about Andy has cast a shadow over my mood today.
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Apr 16, 2021 18:13:19 GMT
Some wonderful insights and sound opinions/advice from someone who appears to have really sorted his head out.Hope I can get to see you at some point when all this madness ends - where is your regular pub with the cellar? (must be not too far away, as it seem we are almost neighbours!) I think the operative word there is “appears”, otis1960... But many thanks for your kind words. Here’s the pub I was talking about. It’s a great little place, only about a mile from where I lived back then. I’ve now moved about ten miles further south, but no further really from your own location. As a fellow Fylde aficionado, I’d certainly be up for a get together once circumstances allow. Keep in touch! www.samueloldknow.co.uk/
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Apr 14, 2021 23:21:07 GMT
Thanks Cams for posting this - I’d forgotten all about it, but pleased to note that I was a) relatively sober for a Halifax Sunday morning, and b) sufficiently coherent to get some very nice comments from folks on here. Thanks all. I’ve not been around this corner of the internet very much lately, but the video reminded me of what the last year has made us miss - playing new guitars, drinking Barnsley bitter, and most of all the very basic but - it turns out - irreplaceable pleasure of just getting together with friends. I’ve had online, phone and even occasional in person contact with one or two fellow travellers here - geddarby , Phil Taylor and dreadnought28 - but I can’t wait to get back to our annual gatherings. We’ll all have our own stories to tell there, I’m sure. All the best everyone. RK
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Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
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Post by Riverman on Feb 15, 2021 19:44:32 GMT
What makes a great guitar? What makes a great guitarist? Is a Bown objectively better than a Gibson? Is fingerstyle objectively superior to strumming or accompanying a singer songwriter or playing rhythm guitar in a band? Is discernment the better part of performance? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions. What I do know, is that sunburst guitars are better than natural top guitars. That’s all I know really. Sorry.
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