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By nature I am a night owl as well.  So when I wake up in the middle of the night, I'm awake.  Also a stressful job.  I'd love a bit of time in a travel trailer but would surely miss my family for it to happen that often.  Inside a travel trailer alone would let me turn on some music or play some tunes on my guitar to occupy my mind on something other than the bit of gristle it won't let go of.  Everyone's got their own window on the world. 

But, last night... I SLEPT!!!  I did have a little chemical aid in the form of an aspirin and a kava kava pill.  I felt a migraine coming on, and I've found that combination does wonders if taken in time before the migraine hits full force.  The kava kava has a side effect that I will abbreviate here as "WGAS".  It is difficult to care about anything at all when taking that herb.  It's expensive stuff, but I found a health food store in town that stocks it from a good quality producer.  Anyway, I slept, slept, and slept some more.  I got a good four hours at the beginning of the evening when my little girl needed to be tucked back into bed and sung a song.  Then the dog had to go out.  That's when I felt the migrain coming on.  I took the aspirin and kava kava and within 1/2 hour I was out for another six hours.  My wife had to wake me at 9:30 to tell me that she was heading to a doctor's appointment.  She could have left a note.

- Zurf

Try some resin on the pegs.  The kind that baseball pitchers use.  It worked on the friction pegs on my fiddle.  It was recommended to me by a luthier who sat next to me on a plane.  He was hand-delivering a violin he had recently restored.  The violin was too valuable to trust to freight, and so he hand-delivered it 2,000 miles away.  I expect he knew what he was talking about.  Give it a try and see if the $4 fix works before trying something more intense and expensive (unless you want intense and expensive, in which case I'm sure resin will never work). 

- Zurf

First Night.  Our town has a family friendly celebration starting at around 6:30PM with kid entertainment like children songs, juggling, puppet shows, etc.  As the night progresses, it moves more towards adult entertainment (not "adult" as in "adult videos" but "adult" as in "older than a child") mostly oriented around music in all manner of styles.  At midnight there's a candle lighting and sing-along at the town square then everyone goes home, sober and safe. 

This year my brother and his family, and also my sister are coming to my house for a respite before heading out in New Years Day to meet up with the rest of the family at a cabin in West Virginia where my brother-in-law and I will be making some tunes.  I'm hoping that there'll be space in the van for a bass and amp because I haven't had a chance to jamm on bass with someone for over a year now.  I'm seriously considering an e-Bay special acoustic/electric bass guitar for campfire season. 

- Zurf

He did define good sound Doc.  He said it's matching your equipment to your music style.  Would Willie Nelson sound the same on a Fender strat?  I don't think so - but Fender strats are still good guitars. 

I'm rather glad that you asked this Lievan, because I've been toying with the same question.  I've gone back and looked at Youtube videos of the artists whose songs I attempt - James Taylor, Neil Young, Jim Croce and the like.  They all of them were using microphones to amplify straight acoustic guitars.  Neil Young still plays on the Martin dreadnaught he bought back in those days when he first started to make some money, and he still mics it.  When I listen to Prarie Wind or Harvest Moon or Harvest or any of his recent acoustic work, I don't think "Wow, that would sound a lot better if he had installed a combination piezo/internal mic pickup."  I think "That's good music." 

For what it's worth. 

- Zurf

Thanks Old Doll for those good hints.  Before I became Christian, I practiced a sort of mind-over-matter Taoism and learned a lot of body control tricks like those.  I have gotten sloppy and allowed my mind to become undisciplined. 

The rest of you, thanks for your concern.  You are all exactly right on target.  I cannot shut down my mind.  What I used to do is go downstairs to the family room and lay down on the couch.  I'd put some classical music on the TV and that would occupy my mind enough to permit me to get to sleep.  But right now my family room is stripped down to cement floor and cinder block foundation in preparation for remodeling so I can't do that.  I can't play music in the bedroom because that would wake my wife.  I can't play music in the living room because that would wake everyone.  So, I just sat and stared.  I've found a copy of The Hobbit that I'll read if it happens again tonight. 

- Zurf

Work stress.  Can't go into it on-line.  Or even off-line for that matter.  Haven't had a decent night's sleep in a month.  I slept from 11:something to 12:30 tonight.  It doesn't look like I'm going to get any more rest, either.  But both those hours of sleep I got last night should do me for a while.

OK, so I've never heard of a busted string in an electric socket before.  The fastest I've ever seen a dog get housebroken is when my first beagle decided to take a pee in my sister's house and urinated on an electric socket.  The charge went right up the stream and knocked him across the room by that most sensitive of appendages.  He never peed in the house again!  He checked out fine aside from a little burn that quickly healed, so it's OK to laugh.  That has nothing to do with guitar because that dog never could get the hang of a six string. 

Anyway, I was going to recommend RICE too.  The only thing I'll add to what was said is that "elevated" means "elevated above your heart."  If you lie down on a sofa, rest that arm on the back of the sofa.  Also, cold compresses don't do much for swelling after the first day of an inflammation, but they can help with temporary pain relief.  Don't do more than twenty minutes, and don't put the ice right on your skin.  I usually put the ice in a ziplock bag (double bagged) and put a tea towel between the ice and my skin, and then tie the whole thing on loosely with a bandanna.  Not tightly, as there's no need for a tourniquet. 

Don't fight through the pain.  Swelling and pain is a clue that there's something amiss.  If you fight through it, you could well cause more permanent damage.  Take a couple day's break.  You've got a whole lifetime of playing ahead of you.  Use the time to listen to some songs and try to figure out how they do what they do. 

- Zurf

Tubatooter, I don't think that's a Gospel song. 

OK.  "Lost Chord" is available.  Now can anyone tell me where I can find my youth?

Ah, Art Rock stuff.  Yeah, Bohemian Rhapsody is a good one.  I think you'd have to include The Moody Blues' "In Search of the Lost Chord" album.  Each song is good, and together they tell a story.  Plus, they are exquisitely engineered and mastered.

Look to Yes and Kansas for some other well-crafted and produced orchestrations. 

I should see whether In Search of the Lost Chord is available on CD or MP3 download.  Of course, there's a certain perspective one used to maintain when listening to that album that is no longer socially acceptable or acceptable for a man with a family who depends upon him. 

- Zurf

There's problems with the song-books?  I hadn't heard of it.  Mine have been working great.

Russell's a mutant if he carries that many songs in his head.  Long live the mutants. 

Hi Daisy.  Welcome to Chordie. 

- Zurf

Every single song I play in the key of D would count. 

- Zurf