1,151

(12 replies, posted in Acoustic)

I've been plateau-ed for a while now.  Like, a million years or so.  I can bang out some strummers and have developed a little bit of my own style for flourishes (mostly just cross-picking on static chords and the occasional hammer on).  So, I've embarked on learning to improvise solos and flatpick melodies better. 

After ten years of picking, I feel like a new beginner.  My fingers don't stretch that way.  I am constantly having to remind myself to use my fingertips and keep my wrist forward.  I want to give up everything I've learned about alternate picking and down stroke every note.  It could become frustrating if I lose my sense of humor and humility about it. 

Wish me luck.

1,152

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

joeyjoeyjoey wrote:

Nice. Nothing better than NGDs. Now you need a breadmaker.

Now I need a breadmaker.

1,153

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

Dirty Ed - That was at Jimmy Guana's on Sunday night.  Jeff didn't play.  Other than me,  Topdawg, Cowboy Keith, uh...uh...uh....Southpaw of course because it was his gig.  There were a bunch of Topdown's local friends.  The Stanleys, Cristyn did some of her beautiful jazz originals, Ed jumped in with just about everybody and absolutely killed it, I know I'm forgetting a big list of people.  It was a lot of fun and all the music but mine was stellar.  I choked out Distantly In Love, Duncan, Country Road, Cold Day in July and I honestly can't remember whether or not I did Solitary Man.  I had some songs picked out at the beginning of the evening, but given that Southpaw also likes sissified seventies folk/pop, I had to start knocking off songs as his set continued.  :-)

1,154

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

Thanks Jeff.  I forgot I could use my work computer.  Here's another shot, which conveniently shows my other fashionable new hat.  I think Topdown took this picture.  Either him or Cowboy Keith. 

Yeah Russell, I know those shoes are ugly, but it's like Guy Clark says, "I can work in them all day, and dance all night."  You know, if I danced.  Plus, if you've been following my shoe sagas on Facebook, you'll know that I have a thing for shoes and ugly shoes in particular.  I think I have more shoes than my wife has. 

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-0/p296x100/1377497_10209027208907577_5445127536063589564_n.jpg?oh=c7c2016a1840adf24276728479ed6d01&oe=57879121


Well.  I guess the black hat at night doesn't show so good.  You'll just have to trust that I'm wearing a hat because the flash isn't reflecting off my chrome dome.

1,155

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

I came home with a nice treat. Topdown let me have the guitar I played all weekend. It's a Takemine with a cutaway and a cedar top. I've already started to learn the extra range for some flatpicking. My computer is down - if some could nab a photo for me from the Chordiestock pictures floating around on Facebook, it's the guitar with the beautiful wood inlay around the sound hole that I was picking all weekend.

1,156

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

NELA wrote:

Oh, I beg to differ. Just look at Zurf. He can't make a B chord with a good or a bad guitar.

Nela

LOL!

I finally figured it out, after only about six years of effort. It takes me three fingers to play a two finger chord. I even played some songs at Chordiestock with B in them (including A Few To Many, Russell) to see if anyone would notice.

Topdown solved my problem. I came home with a new Takemine cutaway with a cedar top.

...and a semi-permanent grin...

Well that didn't suck.

I am leaving with new friends, great memories, two fashionable new hats, a full belly, an exhausted liver, and even a new guitar!

At the airport...had a nice draft lager for brunch and considering a dessert. In 3 hours, I'll be in sunny Tampa Florida stripping layers and hoping Topdown doesn't mind stopping for a sip on the way to his house.  My tablet has been acting up, so I've brought three notebooks full of tunage. I wonder how many old frie ds I'll find in them and whether my fingers remember them.

Yeah. I'm getting dessert.

1,160

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

That's Steve Carrell rather than Tom Hanks, but point taken nevertheless.

1,161

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

So on Facebook, there's this picture of Stryper, which was a heavy metal Christian rock band, and the meme is that Ted Cruz must be the lead singer because there's a strong resemblance. 

Well, without getting into politics, I was reminded of a praise band for which I did sound, and the guitarist was the former lead guitarist of Stryper.  I can't even remember his name.  I do remember these things: 1. He was extremely talented, 2. He could play any key no matter how many sharps and flats and do it the first time or two through, 3. He was very nice and kind.  I never did get to jam with him.  I was way out of my league with that crew.  It was hard enough turning the mics on. 

Anyway.  That's it. 

- Zurf

1,162

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

You've made national news.  Well, maybe not YOU specifically - but your region.

1,163

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

Good luck to you and your neighbors NELA.

1,164

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

Welcome to Chordie Rustneversleeps.  Often, folks introduce themselves in the Chat Corner section.  There's nothing wrong with putting it here in Acoustic since you're an acoustic player, but I'll move it over to Chat Corner for you so that more folks will see it. 

I look forward to reading your insights.

1,165

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

Dirty Ed wrote:
Zurf wrote:

Perhaps some time it would be fun to rent a couple side-by-side spots at the Bluestone State Park.  I'd suggest Dianne's place, but she doesn't allow hard sided campers and the one time I took my family there there was a HUGE miller hatch and the women-folk are all still freaked out by the number of bugs.  Sonya's Mom and mine both passed before their time, so  I know my kids could do with Miss Jen's wisdom and kindness.  I know I could do with your friendship.  We'd pour wine for Sonya and she'd be fine, plus she'd like the picking.

Great idea Zurf.  It'd be fun to hook up with our families along.  I could bring my raft so the kids would have a ride on the river. Maybe Sonya would be agreeable to getting out on the water too.  I'm sure Jen would want to paddle her yak if the water wasn't too bad.

The National Park service has been building a new full-service campground just downstream from Diane's place. It's supposed to open this year. That might be an option.  Also, Jen wants to camp at Watoga State Park on the Greenbrier.  We stayed there many years ago in my old pop-up and she has wanted to go back.  KInda cool- you can shuttle yourself by using the bike trail (Greenbrier River Trail).  We did it that way the last time and it worked really well.  Pretty easy water with a lot of little smallies.

I'll bring copies of our calendar to Topdown's.  We need to make this happen.

1,166

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

I like it.  You're welcome at my campfire any time.

1,167

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

Perhaps some time it would be fun to rent a couple side-by-side spots at the Bluestone State Park.  I'd suggest Dianne's place, but she doesn't allow hard sided campers and the one time I took my family there there was a HUGE miller hatch and the women-folk are all still freaked out by the number of bugs.  Sonya's Mom and mine both passed before their time, so  I know my kids could do with Miss Jen's wisdom and kindness.  I know I could do with your friendship.  We'd pour wine for Sonya and she'd be fine, plus she'd like the picking.

Baldguitardude wrote:

I was trying to make it but due to some family stuff we are going to have to miss. You guys have a blast. Hopefully I'll see you in '17.

Well.  Get your fanny to Washington then.  Heck, the Infamous Margarator may even fly up for a weekend like that.  He's not into fly fishing, but he is in to drinking on a boat.

It's a shame that we'll miss her, but we're surely no competition for a new grand-baby.  I'm glad we'll get to catch up with you, though.

1,170

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

A new sawmill.  Nice. 

I'm sure you'll figure out the best places to store a guitar or two, rods, lures, paddle craft, big comfy outdoor chairs, fire starters, Devils Cut, Bacardi, a new favorite coffee mug, space heater, beach-books, and all the other necessities of camping life.


We've been looking at a very similar model in a bunkbed layout.

Will Miss Jenn be joining you Dirty Ed?  She classes the place up a good bit.

Welcome Paco.  Good to have you drop by.  Also welcome to SFDonovan.  I must have missed your first post. 

As for chord changes, there are two usual problems that folks have.  First, they have a hard time making the chords ring out cleanly no matter how slowly they put their fingers down.  SFDonovan's instructor gave good advice for that issue.  Having your thumb on the back of the neck and having a gap between the webbing between your index finger and thumb and the back of the neck allows you to push your wrist forward on your fretting hand and get your fingers around to the front of the neck.  You want to come straight down on the strings with your finger tips.  You'll have to bend your fingers at the first knuckle up near the tip in order to do that.  It's a bit unnatural feeling at first and takes some getting used to.  Don't worry - it WILL come to you if you practice it. 

The second problem people have with chord changes is getting from one chord to the next.  There are a lot of exercises for this, but the one that helped me the most comes from Justinguitar.com, and it is what he calls "one minute chord changes."  With these, you pick two chords that you have to change between to play a song.  A couple common chords to change between when you're learning are G and C.  So the One Minute Chord Change (again - check www.justinguitar.com for the source of this exercise) would have you start with your fingers off the fretboard.  Start a one minute timer.  Put your fingers down on a G chord and play it to make sure you got it right.  Pick your fingers up.  Put them down on a C chord and play it to make sure you got it right.  Take as long as you need to put your fingers down to get a good, clean sounding chord.  Pick them up and put them down on G.  Play it.  Then C.  Play it.  Every time take as much time as you need to get a good, clean sounding chord.  Do this over and over again for a minute.  Stop.  How many times did you switch?  At first, it might only be three times.  But, if you keep at it, doing the changes back and forth for a minute at a time, and do that several times per day, you'll get it nailed down pretty quickly.  You'll be doing twenty changes a minute before you know it. 

Do the One Minute Chord Change program for each chord change you have in whatever song you decide to play.  For instance, if you are playing a song that progresses from Em to Am to G to Em to D.  Then you would do the One Minute Chord Change for Em to Am,  for Am to G, for G to Em, and Em to D. 

As for Justinguitar.com, I do not have any affiliation with them.  They are a free resource (they'll take donations!) that many of us have found to be useful. 

Good luck, stay the course, and most of all have fun.

1,173

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

He was a talented, funny, and genuinely kind man.  He showed us how it's done on some of those Skype jams, though, didn't he. He had an encouraging word for everyone.

I haven't taken the trip, but it sounds like it would be a blast.

1,175

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

I agree with your buddy, Dirty Ed, but getting away isn't real easy. Taking the family along is even more effort.