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Hey all,

    Detman101 checking in here. Just wanted to say hi to everyone and let everyone know that things are going great. I've been studying Jimi Hendrix for the past 5-6 months and trying to figure out his technique. Well, I have the technique down for the most part.

I also....FINALLY....got a real guitar teacher for a month. I had four hour long lessons on guitar music theory with a little technique and stuff thrown in. My guitar teacher was excellent and I'll probably go back after the summer and have another set of lessons more focused on the blues.

So now I'm working on converting playing all the songs I knew into using the Hendrix-grip (Since it's easier and frankly better sounding).  Combining the Hendrix-grip technique with the music theory I have learned has helped me come up with better songs and allowed for better expression when just fooling around or when playing at church.

And that leads to the only downer I've experienced in the time I've been away...

Since I've been playing better and more expressively I've encountered even more bullcrap from the rest of the musicians in church. Their first shot was complaining that my Fender amp was making a hissing noise when plugged into the mixing board. (Duh...its a Fender amp!) So I fixed that by unplugging from the board and turning the amp up.

Their next issue was that I was playing too loud. I told them that if I'm not plugged into the house that it's the only way to compensate. So I miced the amp and turned it down.

Their follow-up complaint was that I was playing in the house and the mic was picking up everything from the people sitting near the audio booth.  So I bought an XLR to 1/4" cable and plugged that from my guitar and pedals directly into the board but only routed through the rear speakers amplifier.

Then they complained that they could still hear me playing in their headphone monitors. At that point I got upset and told them to reroute their frickin headphone monitors or deal with it. Unfortunately, I told them loudly and in front of the whole bloody church during bible study. I was reprimanded for that.

So, I rerouted my signal out of the rear speakers amplifer (which seemed to be on the same signal path as their headphone monitors) and put it on the same line as the house speakers.

No complaints. However, I can't hear what I'm playing because I'm at the rear of the church (at the audio booth) and everything is setup at the front of the church....including the house speakers. So everything I hear is literally delayed 1/4 to 1/2 a second before my ears hear it.
But...whatever...I'm playing....enduring the bullcrap...and enjoying what I'm playing. It's also a lot easier not having to lug my amp in every sunday.

I am resisting being a total jerk to them and cutting them out of the mix in the audio. I could be a real jackalope but I don't want to mess with church. I'll stop playing there completely and walk away from the audio section before I do that. Then they can manage it all on their own and I can sit with my wife and son at church.

But that's been my past few months.
I pray that everyone's doing well. I'm on vacation in Ocean City right now and we have had a GREAT week and a half here. Going home tomorrow is going to be rough...lol

Take care,
Dm