3,501

(8 replies, posted in Songwriting)

when i was working in a factory, i'd have shifts (usually night shift) where all i'd have to do is put stuff in and take stuff out. so i'd have a lot of free time on my hands. so i started setting myself "projects" where i'd make a list of maybe 20 titles then try to write songs around them. this was after i first joined chordie so most never even made posting, but they did make a CD or two. writing this way made it's own difficulties, as i was writing words down, i usually have a tune in mind which the words would follow rhythmically. by the time i'd pick up the song (sometimes a week later) the melody would have escaped my mind completely, therefor making me find a new one. when i found one, the words might no longer fit, so re-writing would ensue, which made it more difficult as i like to write stories, so the new text would have to have relevance to the theme i already had.

i have many other ways of writing too, a chord sequence first or a riff. i have even woken-up with an almost complete song in my head. but i find the thing that changes a song mostly is the recording of it, especially if your doing a multi-track recording as i do.

3,502

(3 replies, posted in Poems)

hi aarbear98,

nice work. i kinda get the feeling this is meant to be a song, if so i'm sure everyone would like to see the chording. if you haven't written a tune to it you can ask the members if they'd like to put a melody as a collaboration, we've done these many times.

again nice work

phill

PS WE HELP NOT STEAL.

what about "the top-up moderator"?

3,504

(8 replies, posted in Electric)

hi JT, i bought my 1st guitar at 14, back in 1965, so over the years i've picked up some bad habits. but one thing i've found is that when you play electric, open chords do seem to sound out of tune. what i do for the A chord is to barre my middle finger over three strings. this might make the open high E buzz a little, but i dont find it matters too much. for D chords i use finger tips, i know some people use the index finger for F# & A notes, but i find they also cause buzzing.

you might find that leaving the G string open whilst playing A chord, adds a different dimension.

3,505

(18 replies, posted in Poems)

whitewater55, nicely put.

FYI, i dont smoke but i've heard smokers use very much the same argument, "alcohol kills more people than smoking" which is probably true, but then you never hear of passive drinking as a cause of lung cancer in non-drinkers!!!

i guess i know how you feel, if the government turned round and banned loud live music, because it destroys the internal organs, i would want proof and fight against 10 watt amps

3,506

(18 replies, posted in Poems)

this kind of proves my point, if guns were not easily available, because they are produced by the thousands for sale not just to good law abiding citizens, but also for terrorists and murderers. there is a lot of money made selling guns. the arms manufacturers are never held responsible for the carnage their weapons create. if the cretin that shot you had not been able to buy a weapon because it had not been mass produced then somehow got onto the black market, you might not have been shot, you wouldn't have needed to shoot the guy. then your family and his would not have been worrying about you in the emergency room. it could have been worse. you or he could have died. how would you feel about taking the life of another person? in the UK you might also have been up for prosecution. carrying a deadly weapon. causing actual bodily harm, etc. it may sound stupid and in some cases it is. but the law is there to protect everyone. what if you'd missed and hit an innocent bystander?

i'm sorry, but i cant get over the fact that you shot him 11 times? i thought guns only had 6 shots?

if he had known you were carrying your "glock" i wonder if he would have attacked you? i obviously dont know the circumstances of the attack, day/night, on the street at home, seeing as you were carrying a gun, maybe you should also have been wearing a bullet proof vest?

your story has not changed my mind. GUNS KILL

3,507

(18 replies, posted in Poems)

there are several good points brought up here;

1) the guy next door has a gun, so if he loses the plot i can defend my-self. maybe he's thinking the same thing?

2) human kind has killed each other since we came down from the trees. all animals do this even cows that eat grass, lets face it, grass lives, it grows, it pro-creates so if a cow can eat grass to the roots so that it can no longer grow isn't that the same thing? remember, we mow our lawns or dig-up fields to build houses on, there are no innocents!

3) if you have a gun and i have a gun and we get into a real bad argument we may trade blows. if you get the better of me, i might well run into my house get the gun and shoot you down in my fear and temper. i'm still holding the gun when your family come out with your gun and shoot me down.
by tommydone's reasoning, his family then has to protect it self from the SWAT team that will turn up. but these are well trained marksmen that may kill your whole family. this is how wars began in prehistory. question; why would you need to defend yourselves against your own police and military. the USA is supposed to be the most enlightened country in the world. it seems it is also the most suspicious of it's neighbours and itself. we all watch American TV programmes, which is why the most of the rest of the world hate guns and what they stand for.

4) as twangtown, and my friend arkady point out, our police don't carry guns. you cannot buy a gun over the counter. the police only carry guns when they are called to an armed incident (or since 9/11) at airports. if you want to buy a gun, you have to have a damn good reason, pass mental and environmental checks, be a farmer and/or be a member of a gun club, which means you cannot take the gun from that club. and even with a licence, you have to renew it every year (i think) or so.

i am by no means saying that our system is any better or safer than the US, but violence breeds violence. once upon a time, we Europeans carried guns and swords, some countries police still carry guns, but i think (AND THIS IS JUST MY OPINION) guns breed fear, fear that the guy next to you has a gun and if you don't shoot him, he will shoot you. ergo; NOTHING GOOD CAN EVER COME OF A GUN.

3,508

(18 replies, posted in Poems)

It doesn't rhyme cos I don't want it to rhyme. I feel this is too serious to frivolise it by rhyming. Please give your thoughts...and GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

3,509

(18 replies, posted in Poems)

I've read and seen on TV so much lately about shootings; gangs and drive by's not to mention all the killings in the middle east. So in a fit of angst I wrote this down.

Money & Guns (one begets the other)

Nothing good can ever come of a gun.
It's not pretty
It's not friendly
It doesn't make love or life.

It doesn't heal or soothe
The fools say "it's not the gun that's evil
" It's the hand behind the gun;
That holds it
That loves it
Fires it
Desires it...

But if it didn't sit there
If it hadn't been made
If it didn't have the capacity to maim and kill
Then the weak, stupid, murderous men
Wouldn't pick it up,
Aim at you
Squeeze the trigger
And shoot you down.

No different to swatting a fly
That landed on your cup
The Bible says that "money is the root of all evil"
But nothing gets made unless there's money to be made
Lots of money to be made.
It's easy to say " I didn't kill anyone, I just made the gun."

Nothing good can ever come from money or a gun.

3,510

(14 replies, posted in Songwriting)

nice bit of rock/blues there mister. i always knew you were a clever so-and-so. the picture in picture is really effective. love the riff

i was a bit dubious about the drum machine when you showed me the other night, but it sounds real nice.

phill

3,511

(2 replies, posted in Songwriting)

hi robert, nice to see your still writing, it's been a while. another cracker...rock on

3,512

(21 replies, posted in Other string instruments)

hi yaris, welcome to chordie

please note, if you have a question or request please begin your own thread by clicking the new post button on the top right.

phill

3,513

(17 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)

hiya brownjet, welcome to chordie.

as joey has said, if you have a question or want to start a conversation, it would be polite of you to begin a new thread. it's simple to do, just click on the "new topic" button at the top right. you are in the correct forum for your enquiery, your just crashing a topic that has nothing to do with yours.

please dont let this deter you from posting again. for myself, i use a boss-me50 which is exactly what i want.

3,514

(14 replies, posted in My local band and me)

yep that's a big improvement on the web-cam mic, i had to keep the vol down (baby's sleeping) so do i detect a little reverb? nice bit of blues

phill

3,515

(20 replies, posted in Electric)

hi fine art

it's very likely that the lead is a lot to do with the problem, a lot but not all! have you got a friend or neighbour that has a guitar so you could try it out on your amp? or try your guitar on theirs? if money is an issue, why not try a music shop where you can sit and play a guitar through an amp to see the difference between what you've got and what a new one sounds like? i'm sorry but it sounds like you've been sold a lemon. short of spending a lot of cash on amp maintenance and getting your guitar set-up by a professional, there's not much you can do but grin and bear it.

phill

ps. just had a thought; do you live near high tension cables? static from these could cause noise too. or maybe you have a bad earth on your home electrical system. worth checking

3,516

(20 replies, posted in Electric)

definitely sounds like an earthing problem. in the UK we have 3 core electric mains leads which go to a 3 pin mains plug, so if your in the UK check your plug  for loose wires. in other countries you may need a grounding wire, but i don't know how they work. as i said before, don't stand too close to the amp and if your using a cheap guitar lead get a good one.

phill

3,517

(34 replies, posted in Songwriting)

saying of the week; "I just strum chords without knowing really what I'm doing"  don't we all?

3,518

(20 replies, posted in Electric)

hi fire art, i'm sure your post makes perfect sense to you, but i get lost after; "amp buzzes at mid range volume..."
i dont get the; "the plug in guitar and lot louder when in plugged." sorry, can you clarify?

if you mean you get distortion then turn down the gain knob.

if you mean you get a hum when you switch on and it gets louder when you plug your guitar in, then you seem to have earthing problems. if so be very careful as you could electrocute yourself should you touch something wet, or a live microphone.

get the amp checked out by an electrician, or ensure if you need a grounding lead that it's plugged in...the results could be shocking or even fatal

it could also mean your standing too close to the amp. does the hum fade when you turn away?

3,519

(17 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)

i normally buy 5 or 6 sets at a time to get a good deal, there's usually 1 set of acoustics in there. my tele gets changed every couple of months as that's when the strings lose their bright sound. funnily enough, when i decide to change them, following a gig, they seem to sound better, like losing a toothache when you go to the dentist, i suppose? the acoustic gets changed twice a year...

i used to play in a band with a guy who used to boil his strings in water and vinegar!!!! but this does not take into account that constant strumming also wears the strings, so you're more likely to break one during a gig. i'm not willing to take that chance.

phill

3,520

(231 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

i heard a kid say this one on tv this morning....

KID:  please sir, do farts have lumps?

TEACHER: no Johnny.

KID: oops, i think i just pood in my pants.

3,521

(3 replies, posted in Poems)

that's what winter does to me, i actually thought that spring was springing, till the clouds came and covered the sun and the temperature dropped through the floor....it was a nice dream though

3,522

(5 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

hi pete. you are right, there is a "reality programme" about the boss pretending to be one of the workers, trying to catch them out i expect so they can fire them. i have no idea what it's called. i cant be doing with all this "lets pretend we dont know there's a camera on us" BS.


phill

3,523

(8 replies, posted in Electric)

"the gig bag was too small?" buy a guitar to fit it, seems like the most logical thing to do.

welcome young sir, join in and enjoy. you may ask any question (pertaining to music) and expect an experienced, educated and sometimes comical answer.

phill

3,524

(3 replies, posted in Poems)

Thursday 27th 8.30 AM, I was in the garden when these thoughts came to me, so I wrote them down. Hope you like them.


Clouds invade the southern skies.
And hide the sunshine from the land.
The warmth from solar radiation,
Becomes a chill.
A saturation.
Where thoughts of spring in gentle breezes,
Chill in winds that pass through layers,
Shirts and vests, and warm wooly cardies,
Are scant protection, return depression.
And still desire for sun and warmth,
Impels me through the winter months.
Spring will come.
Spring will come.
For now, December. Outlook; COLD

3,525

(12 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

hi russ, must say i've never used one of those filters. i find (lately) that positioning the mic so that i'm singing across it not into it serves the same purpose. just a tip if anyone gets that problem.