Hey Mojo, I'm hoping you make it through this craziness with a sound mind and all your guitars and family members intact.

Dirty Ed - You're a sturdy (though only marginally sane) individual capable of shoveling lots of skyborne weirdness.

Here in Virginia, we've seen rain, ice, snow, sleet, and a variety of precipitation that has wiped out all my patience and all my salt.

Rock on, everyone. Do the necessary.     

102

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

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sa12LNJX8e8ciHue8

Head to head between Nashville tuning and regular tuning. Finger picking the introduction to Live Forever by Billy Joe Shafer.     

103

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

Peatle Jville wrote:

Zurf I love that crisp sound your guitar strings make . The high tones sound great without too much bass sound.

Thanks.

I realized that I failed to describe what Nashville tuning is.

It's much lighter gauge low E through G strings such that they tune to an octave higher than regular strings. The B and high E strings are the same as a regularly strung/tuned guitar. It's a little strange when you pick through string by string because the G string has a higher tone than the B string. When I broke the string during stringing and had to dig up a replacement, I had to pull it from an electric set of strings I had laying about because it was only .009" diameter. I don't have any acoustic strings that light. The lightest I've got is .010". 

It wounds up sounding a lot like a 12 string to me.

104

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

I haven't tried finger picking it yet.

I was trying to get the background rhythm guitar you hear faintly on some of the old outlaw country songs, and on songs in the Country Rock continuum (Eagles, Petty, etc.).

I'll give finger picking a try once I get the rhythm sound I started this adventure out seeking down a little better.

105

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

Dirty Ed wrote:

Excellent Zurf!  I bet that Breedlove sounds great.  As you know, I've played around with Nashville tuning for years. My latest set up is on an all-mahogany Alvarez Mastercraft parlor (MPA66SHB) that just sings with those high strings on her. Besides the songs you mentioned, I suggest trying "Someday Soon", "Sounds of Silence", "Mr Tambourine Man" and "If You Could Read My Mind". Those four are probably my favorites I play in Nashville tuning. I finger pick them with metal finger picks.

I'm looking forward your video.

DE

Thanks. Those are good recommendations. Probably not Mr. Tambourine Man for me. But the others maybe. BGD recommended Del Shannon's Runaway. I gave it a quick try and it made the cut.

I'm so used to trying to play both a bass line and the strumming pattern or the picking pattern simultaneously that just strumming has been the biggest challenge for me trying to make this tuning sound good. I'm eager to try some multi-track recordings with it.     

106

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

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QSHE2ncLU8kGyq4V7

Recording.     

107

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

I have a Breedlove OM Retro that I bought from Dirty Ed a while back. It's a wonderful guitar that I've always thought sounded better with lighter strings than heavier ones. It has a terrific mid and high tone response.

I had put an extended nut on it and was trying to learn lap steel, but that did not work out so well. Mostly just me not taking the time to practice with intention.

Last night, I took off the nut extender and restrung it with Nashville Tuning strings. The G string broke, but fortunately I had a replacement string of the same diameter in my "spare strings" drawer and was able to replace it.

Boy, it sounds wonderful set up like this. I was surprised that I didn't need to do a neck adjustment with the much lower string tension, but the action was great. I did a fret leveling while I was at it. It plays like butter now.

I'll post a video in a couple days once I've had a chance to figure out a proper arrangement for the new sound. I tried playing Cat Stevens Wild World and also Steven Still's Southern Cross, and they both sounded pretty good. I think some Tom Petty may sound real good on it too, since he has some real good 12 string strummers. 

A song like that, simple and heartfelt, gets you right in the gut. I'm not so sure about the "Etc. So forth" verse...  LOL.     

109

(4 replies, posted in Other string instruments)

RobertDiamond wrote:

I'm a newbie here. I would like to know more about it. Please share more details. Thank you!


LOL! 

Wonderful droll sense of humor Robert. Nicely played!     

Thanks Jim.     

111

(23 replies, posted in Other string instruments)

I've grown weary of the Dean Markley Cryogenic strings tearing up my fingers. They sound good. I like the tone. But by the end of a two hour practice, my fingers are raw. They literally file the callouses from my guitar playing off of my fingertips. So I'm going to put some I've got three different types of bass strings in my string drawer. One is a set of GHS Boomers in light scale (.40" as the thinnest string) and the other is a set of D'Addario XL half rounds (which are round wounds that have been lightly filed to knock down the roughness) in a slightly heavier "light" scale (.45" being the thinnest string).  I think either of them will be better than the Dean Markley's for finger soreness. I also have some Hartke strings that are pretty brutal, so I'll not use those.

I'm going to try the GHS Boomers.

Also, I got in a thingy to hold down the D and G strings against the nut better (in black). And I got black strap buttons. So all the chrome will be off the bass once I do that. But the strings and frets are still shiny. I don't expect to do anything about that.     

While I'm at it, I'm going to switch my Breedlove OM Retro from being modified for lap steel to being regular action, and will be stringing it with Nashville tuning strings as an experiment. I'm eager to hear how that sounds.

112

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

Robert - If you know the manufacturer of the sound card, you should be able to download the driver from them. If it came with the computer, you may be able to get a driver pack from the manufacturer's web site. Good luck. Missing drivers can be a real pain.

BlueJeep - Try this. It may work. It may not. In the little white box in the lower left corner, type on Cortana. When you find Cortana, look for a setting to keep her quiet. Shooting your computer will certainly quiet it, but it will also hamper your ability to use it for Chordie access.     

Good luck Easy Beat.     

I've got a song idea on a similar topic. I've made a few passes at it, but can't put anything together.     

It's about someone I knew, which makes it harder I think. But I'm not such a good abstract thinker, which also makes it hard.  LOL!

115

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

Merry Christmas a day or two late.

And Happy New Year a few days early.     

Peatle Jville wrote:

Zurf Merry Christmas reading your post about mortgage lenders these words came into my head.
Mortgage lenders steal a man's soul.
While putting him in a hole.
So deep you wonder if there is light at the top.

Yeah.  I wish they would!     

TIGLJK wrote:

mortgage lender, mortgage lender you ought to be ashamed
useless inspections, long distanced drives, I'm tired of your games
I told you everything you asked so you could make this sale a go
termite n' septic tests, and a title search - but now you just say no !

smile

Zurf

Have a Happy Holiday anyway!
Cheers

Jim

That is fantastic!     

TIGLJK wrote:

mortgage lenders, mortgage lenders,  they prey on the poor
usury interest rates,  always more,more more

here is a start smile

That's not my problem. My problem is that they WON'T lend on a property I'm trying to sell. But they made the decision on the basis of an issue that was freely disclosed two months ago before they put us through the expense of termite inspection,  dye test on the septic field, and a title search. I just love hiring exterminators, plumbers, and lawyers on a fruitless and unnecessary exercise. Bear in mind the property is 200 miles away, so I have to drive there whenever someone needs access, or if the realtor lets them in then I at least have to go check out the property to make sure it's secure and they work was done in a proper manner and correctly cleaned up after.

I'd LOVE to find one of those greedy usurious aggressive lenders if he'd just make the deal.     

Thus the need for excessive, creative, and voluminous profanity.

I'm not sure I know enough cuss words. 

120

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

I don't do well in the cold, nor the dark.

The winter solstice is usually a celebration time for me. I invite the neighbors over. I have the rare fire in the fireplace (my wife is allergic to the ash and it's a huge deal to introduce known allergens into the house). There's usually whiskey, egg nog, and wine (sometimes mulled). Guitars are picked. Songs are sung.

Tonight, there's a pandemic on. My wife is diabetic and at high risk. I'm a big fat load and at high risk. The kids would be fine. There's tons of insurance money to keep them in frozen pizzas until they graduate college.

No neighbors. No picking and singing. No whiskey. No fire. But I'm opening a bottle of wine. And it's going to be up to my wife as to whether she participates in the emptying thereof or not. 

121

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

easybeat wrote:

here in NZ we`ve got 2 feet one on each leg!


Ha ha. I do love your word play.     

122

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

We were well under predictions. I'm about to go shovel out the cars. A neighbor has already run a snow blower down the sidewalk. That was nice.     

123

(12 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Peatle Jville wrote:

DE I ;love the way you use the weather as a metaphor to describe what's going down in the relationship.

This is why I don't write songs. I'm too literal for folk, and too metaphorical for country.     

124

(6 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Well that just gets down to the root of the matter right quick.

Kind of blown away by it, actually.  I'm going to give it a try, I think.  I'm just wondering if I should listen to your SoundCloud version first.  LOL!  I sometimes like to bring my own approach to songs before hearing how it's supposed to sound.     

125

(12 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Dirty Ed wrote:

I look forward to the time we can again sit around a campfire, tip a few adult beverages, talk about the things we've been up to and play some tunes together my friend.

DE

Amen.