6,201

(12 replies, posted in Acoustic)

I don't have any suggestions, but do want to thank you for taking an interest in society's most often forgotten people. 

- Zurf

We're in agreement on Victor Wootten and Terry Crayford.  Sweet.

- Zurf

6,203

(11 replies, posted in Acoustic)

We apparantly have very different friends.  Here are some that will work at my house.

A Boy Named Sue
Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road
Take Me Home Country Roads
Rich Kid Doctor
Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Amie
Fox on the Run
King of the Road
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Ring of Fire
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Amazing Grace
Amazing Love
Yellow Submarine
I'll Fly Away
How Great Thou Art (someone's got to play it on piano, 'cause I don't do it on guitar yet)
etc., so forth

- Zurf

6,204

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

alansheeran wrote:

"Anytime you're ready for it!  Just make sure that you've had a lot to drink before we start and can't see straight or have any balance to speak of because I really need all the advantage I can get. "

Sounds good to me! We should of course appoint seconds who will have to be in a similar inebriated condition. Any takers ?

Guitar Doc - actually the gallic is a varient of the Irish spoken in North East Ulster. The Kings of Dal Riada, known as the Scotti, spread from Antrim to Inverness, I imagine they took their good looks with them as well as their propensity to drink and hairy knees.

Kenneth McAlpine, first King of Scotland ( if I remember correctly ) was descended from this line of Irish Kings. Interestingly the Stone of Scone on which the Kings of England sit to be crowned was originally McAlpine's coronation stone and came originally from Ireland. We are not asking for it back, by the way.

You misunderstand me.  I intend to be fully sobor while you are inebriated.  How am I supposed to win if we're on equal footing?  You'd kick my butt!  That seconds thing is a good idea.  We could let them settle it while we drank to their health at a nearby pub.  Shoot, they could do the same thing at the pub next door to ours and just make up a story about who won.  That'd be best for everybody involved I think. 

- Zurf

6,205

(7 replies, posted in Songwriting)

I thought a standard deviation was what the gal wearing too much makeup at the end of the bar offered for $75.  Oh well, just goes to show... what it shows I don't know.  I did do well in stats, though, somehow.  While at the same time I nearly failed Econometrics, which is merely statistics over a body of macro-economics (in which I performed very well).  Bad software.  Bad, bad software.  It's ALWAYS the software's fault.  I learned that in business school. 

Good song Jsn37. 

- Zurf

You're all wrong.  He has hydraulic underwear.  It was first used by Motown artists like the Spinners and such.  They used to pump them up by rotating one hand around the other, and then deflate by rotating the hands the other way.  That's how they hit the high notes.   Later, some gospelesque pop stars started using hydraulic underwear to hit the high notes, but activated it by lifting the mic way way up in the air above their mouths and then deflate them by lowering the mic and chin at the same time.  Michael Jackson's hydraulic underwear was inflated by the Moonwalk and deflated manually by pinching the valve. 

- Zurf

6,207

(4 replies, posted in Songwriting)

My wife asked me about whether I had put chords to the songs I had written, which took me somewhat by surprise that I had written any songs.  It seems that in my stoned and irresponsible state of mind, I put down some lyrics for a couple of songs and shared them with you all.  While I got some very nice comments from you, that proves only the kindness of Chordians.  It was the Percocet and anesthesia!  That said, I may go back and approach them with a clearer head.  In the meanwhile, my apologies for afflicting Chordie with the ramblings of a whacked out river rat. 

- Zurf

6,208

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

Jump in, the water's fine.  Welcome.

- Zurf

James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, The Eagles, Gordon Lightfoot, Cat Stevens, Steve Goodman, John Prine, John McCutcheon, Johnny Cash (decidedly NOT sissified, however), Bob Dylan.  My Songbook is public.  If you go into Songbooks and search on Zurf, you'll see a lot of what I play (plus a lot of what I aspire to play).  I've also got songs from Selso, Last Rebel, James McCormack, Russell Harding, and Jets 60 printed out from the Songwriting forum in my printed songbook. 

I don't do justice to any of them, but music is supposed to be fun, and that's the attitude I bring to playing. 

I recently played a 12-string at a music shop.  The tolerances were very tight - it was an extremely well set up guitar and barre chords were SO much easier.  I'm thinking of biting the bullet and taking my el-cheapo (but best I've got) 6 string in for a set up.  It came from the factory set up for ultralight strings, but ultralight strings sound tinny and awful on the guitar.  The light strings I use pull a bit more than the ultralights and have a bit too much 'tolerance' from the frets.  I hate the thought of going a week without my guitar while the luthier sets it up, but it's probably the right thing to do. 

- Zurf

Open chords, finger style, sissified 70's folk/pop on a folk style acoustic.   I don't do true covers, but rather interpretations on covers.  It turns out that those professional musicians that write the songs and perform them are really talented, while I am not.  Therefore, I simplify songs and to them the way I feel like it, which means everything winds up sounding pretty much exactly the same.  So really, I play one song with about 90 different titles and sets of lyrics. 

- Zurf

6,211

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

SouthPaw41L wrote:

Zurf,

If you log in and access a previous post of Oldnewbie, his e-mail should be included with his post. (lower left corner) Hows the shoulder ?

Fellow Virginian,
SouthPaw41L

Shoulder is progressing along nicely, thanks for asking.  I've always been a quick healer.  I had a one-month follow-up with the orthopeadic surgeon today who was very pleased with my mobility.  We're going to begin working on restoring some strength.   I should be back on the river by July.

- Zurf

6,212

(21 replies, posted in Acoustic)

I've got nothing for you but sympathy and comeraderie.  Good luck and keep practicing.

- Zurf

6,213

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

He came on and was very active for a time and then disappeared.  He's another Virginia Piedmont fishing, hiking, bourbon sipping picker like Jets60 and me.  (Actually, I have no idea whether Jets60 sips bourbon, so take that with a grain of salt)

Hey Oldnewbie, if you're out there, I lost your e-mail.   I want to keep in touch and see if we can spend a little backyard picking time now that Spring has sprung!  Get the three of us together and have a little fun sometime. 

- Zurf

6,214

(7 replies, posted in Acoustic)

If you want to play it like Clapton, I can't help you. 

If you want to play it like Jaminfesteddonkey, then listen to the song carefully while looking at the tabs to pick up on the key 'signature' riffs.  Figure those out in a way that kind of sort of sounds the same (but exactitude is not necessary - just enough to suggest the same thing to a listener who knows Clapton's version) and then do the rest the way your fingers tell you to.

- Zurf

6,215

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

alansheeran wrote:

Zurf - "the Scots make the best whisky." Now that is fightin' talk, Sir. U-Y-KILT was as nice as nice , but you have to go and spoil it !

Do I remember talking in a previous thread about Lagavulin being like chewing peat, or is that just  the whiskey talking?

Anytime you're ready for it!  Just make sure that you've had a lot to drink before we start and can't see straight or have any balance to speak of because I really need all the advantage I can get. 

For day to day, I'm all about the bourbon or sour mash, but when it comes to a special treat, well chewing on peat's not so bad. 

- Zurf

6,216

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

Thanks!  In the meanwhile, you've given me good cause to face the evil B chord and force it to submit to my will - or at least to find an easy cheat.  I'm thinking to play with someone who's a better picker than I am and just drop my pick or slip on the neck of the guitar when the B comes around and let the other guy carry on until I can come back in on the A. 

- Zurf

6,217

(17 replies, posted in Acoustic)

Thanks for the support there getfiddle, but Upyerkilt is right too.  It's not the WRONG way to play the chord, it's a DIFFERENT way to play the chord.  Now, it might sound fine in some songs and not in others.  Well, that's Upyerkilt's pickle to munch.  So long as the sounds come out and don't make me cring to often, he's welcome to play the chords anyway he likes at my campfire. 

- Zurf

6,218

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

Russell_Harding wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll0LloLurY  zurf heres a little booze song for you a drinking mutant lol

Seems I've got a chord chart of that song sitting right here on my desk.  If it weren't for the B chord in the chorus, it'd be the perfect new old-style country song.  I'm not real excited about having to learn C#m either, but I'm going to.  The F# might just get extended a bit when I play it, which I will claim as an arrangement on A Few Too Many by Russell 'the mutant' Harding. 

Hey, love the hat.  That's sharp!  The band is nice.  I've got a hand-made brown leather bent-brim cowboy hat with a similar hatband, but the conchos are smaller and not nearly as pretty. 

- Zurf

6,219

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

OK Mixster, I had my brands mixed up.  It's Glenlivet I usually drink in Scotch, not Macallan.  The bottle of Macallan you mentioned was priced at $169 as of last night in our store, so it looks like I'll have to go to California and buy enough booze while there for the savings to pay for the trip.  Which will take a lot because I'll have to rent a truck to get it home to Virginia.

Ken, There is no need to add anything to Southern Comfort.  In the winter, I drink it straight from the bottle (well, actually from a glass, but that's filled straight from the bottle with no mixers).  In the summer, I chill it down by pouring it over ice and then draining back out into my glass.  It is sweet beyond reason, but sometimes I like that.   Like, right now, for instance.  Nah.  It's only 9AM on a work day.  I'll wait for a more reasonable time.

JustDeb, Makers Mark is some of the finest bourbon style whiskey I've had.  I don't recall if it's a sour mash or a bourbon by proper definition, but it is delicious nevertheless.  Perhaps the best I've ever had.  It is also more expensive than Elijah Craig.  Me being a cheapskate, I can forgo a bit of taste for a lot of savings, especially because I usually mix with a dash of ginger ale and a couple drops of lime juice.  No sense buying expensive booze only to mix it with something.  But you surely do have good taste in whiskey, there is no doubt about that. 

Still, when all is said and done, the Scots make the best whisky.  Stupid exchange rate.

- Zurf

6,220

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

I think Black Light House is a pretty cool name for a band.

- Zurf

6,221

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

I've got both of them, but neither is permitted to sell hard liquor in Virginia, only beer and wine.  The Costco prices on beer and wine aren't much better than the large grocery store chains.  Trader Joe's on the other hand has awesome prices on wine and beer. 

Hard liquor is in Virginia at Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) stores that are owned and managed by the Commonwealth.  It works surprisingly well, except for the lack of competition.  Still, the prices are comparable to what I see in competitive stores in Maryland and West Virginia.  What you DO get in exchange for a lack of competition is an excellent selection of liquors at reasonable (but never good) prices in even the most podunk little towns where river paddlers often find themselves feeling thirsty. 

In fact, you should probably come here - looks like our Scotch prices are lower than yours.  The 18 y.o. Macallen 750ml bottle is usually around $60 rather than $140.  12 y.o. is around $42.  I never could taste the extra six years.  Still, $42 is too much for me to pay for Scotch when I can get a bourbon I like for a lot less.  I've got a neighbor who's got a Scotch closet.  If I ever really need a dram, I can beg. 

1.75L Elijah Craig 12 y.o. is usually around $28!!!  That's right a whole liter of booze more than the competitors for a lower price than their 750ml bottles.  A 750ml bottle of JD is a little over $30 and a 1L will set you back about $45.  The magazine ads aren't that good.   

- Zurf

6,222

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

Been chased by a black bear on the road.  I was driving a Mercury Bobcat at the time, which was nothing more than a Ford Pinto with extra chrome.  Frankly, I was a little worried.  The road was windy enough that I couldn't speed up much and the bear was keeping pace at just over 30mph. 

As far as road kill, armadillo.  I understand it's normal for western folks, but for this Appalachian hillbilly, when I went to see my Dad at his new home in Little Rock, Arkansas, I don't think I'd ever seen an armadillo alive but I saw a whole lot of them dead on the side of the road.  Saw some roadrunners running alongside the road.  That was a lot less scary than a bear.  Not scary at all really. 

None of the roadkill came back to haunt me as a ghost. 

The Mercury Bobcat did.  Had a Chevy Malibu come back to haunt me for real.  I gave the daggone thing away and I STILL got it back somehow.  I guess the guy didn't understand THIS IS NOT A LOAN - TAKE THE DAGGONE CAR ALREADY. 

I think that ties it all up in a nice little package.  And it's even all true.  Not that that matters.  This is the internet after all.

- Zurf

6,223

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

Oh, Ken, you should try a good quality bourbon or sour mash on ice with just a couple drops of lime juice in it. 

They are sweet, though, that's for sure.  Bourbon is aged in an oak cask that has been burned on the inside.  I heard on a tour once that the burning gets rid of the nasty things like tar and creosote, and then the alcohol gets into the wood grain and picks up some of the alcohol soluble flavorings available in it much like wine aged in oak without picking up the nasty flavors of tar and creosote.  I don't know if that's true, it's just what I remember hearing (and my memory's only so-so).  Of course, American white oak is used rather than French oak.  American oak has a stronger, harsher flavor than French oak, but the sweetness of the mash stands up to it just fine, unlike wine.  I don't like Chardonnay aged in American white oak.  It's like sucking on a twig.  Blech!  But a nice glass of bourbon on ice with just a touch of lime, or maybe even some ginger ale (for the bubbles you mentioned) and it's smooth sailing and sweet picking until bed-time. 

- Zurf

6,224

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

Bourbon is made only in Kentucky.  A liquor made anywhere else from the same ingredients and process is called Sour Mash, unless it's Tennessee, in which case it's Tennessee whiskey unless they want to use Sour Mash in Tennessee. 

It's all good though.  Elijah Craig 12 year  is my current favorite ever since Jack Daniels reduced their alcohol by volume from 45 percent to 43 percent and then finally to 40 percent.  When it went to 40 percent, I stopped buying Jack Daniels automatically and started sipping other brands.  I found the Elijah Craig 12 year is inexpensive, delicious, and 43.5 percent alcohol by volume (aka 87 proof). 

I don't know about Irish whiskey.  The only Canadian whisky I've had and enjoyed was Crown Royal, and I enjoy it just a little too much most times it's available.  As far as Scotch, I've a friend who informs me its uisge and not Whiskey or Whisky.  I don't know about that, but I sure do love a bit of Glenlivet with a chill put on it. 

- Zurf

6,225

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

"a little strange" is perhaps one of the highest complements I've ever received.

- Zurf