Sans Direction

Jim Campilongo, "The Prettiest Girl In New York"

2012-01-27T11:00:00.004-05:00

Man, if that isn't Chet Atkins meets Roy Buchanan, I don't know what is.

The man will teach it to you, too.

Riding With The Wind

2012-01-14T22:13:00.002-05:00

Steve Vai.
Orianthi.
Joe Satriani.
And, coming in at the 6-minute mark with the guy with the camera-phone not knowing where to look, the amazing Tony MacAlpine.

All going through Hendrix' great song, "Little Wing".

(Seriously, look up Maximum Security. It is about my second favorite shred album, still after all these years.)

So, That Was Something

2011-12-12T00:55:00.000-05:00

We just had our Christmas concert. Normally, the holiday-themed event is better explained as a play or a musical or the like, and there was a bit of a theatrical element, but by and large, it was the band -- bands, really, involving both Sunday bands, with the bassists switching off and the percussionists trading positions between the plexiglass cage for the kit and the bongos and shakers and such outside -- and the choir just playing music.

We guitarists simply decided that the other would generally play lower chords while I would play higher chords, because it is silly to have two guitarists playing the chord form. So, I'm up the neck, set to bridge pickup, and playing a chord form I learned from Richard Thompson. Listen to "Shoot Out The Lights" from the album of the same name and and you'll hear a bit that you will not immediately recognize as E-D-E, because of the joy of voicings. The first E is basically the D form barred and moved up two frets, roughly 022450, which you'll notice is all roots and fifths. When playing with distortion, the third makes the chord sound bad, so that's a nice chord to have. I've taken to that as a go-to chord form, the D-style barre, going there more often than A and E style barres, which we've come to take as standard.

So, I had roughly 2 hours practice on Tuesday, general playing on Wednesday, 2 hours practice on Friday, 2 hours practice on Saturday, 1 hour practice/soundcheck and 2 services Sunday AM, and the gig Sunday evening. And boy, is my shoulder still sore. But it was fun.

Cool Floral Teles from Fender Japan

2011-11-23T15:21:00.001-05:00

Those in the know are well aware that many of the coolest, best made Strats and Teles come from Fender Japan, and this floral Tele, one of a series of kimono-inspired floral designs, shows it. Hat tip to Guitarz for making me aware of these.

Indianola, as played by Eilidh McKellar

2011-11-23T14:09:00.001-05:00

Stratoblogster annonted Eilidh McKellar as a Strat-o-Sister, sure, but notice the lack of top horn on her guitar. She's one of us Tele pickers. Come to think of it, when Robbin Ford (whose song she's playing) plays single coils, doesn't he play a Tele too?

I love a top-bound sunburst Tele. Don't you?

The Lick: Post-Game Analysis

2011-11-21T09:21:00.001-05:00

I played the Lick a lot this weekend.

As presented to me when I saw it first, it was a Dorian lick: 1 2 b3 4 2 b7 1. I could force a Dorian mode lick into an otherwise major scale bit, but that's not thinking modally. Also, it's forcing a minor third where the listener is expecting the major third. So, as I played it, it was more 2 3 4 5 3 1 2. In the context I got it in, it was an F-heavy C song, and as it is in C, the 2 is D, and where I played it, it followed chords going to G, and of course D is the fifth of G, so it just layed on nice.

If you don't know this lick, learn it. Now.

2011-11-17T16:35:00.001-05:00

Because everybody else knows it and uses it.

Everybody.

Note To Soundmen

2011-11-17T11:00:00.001-05:00

I play with a multi-effects processor, into a D/I box. I generate no sound except what the guitar does acoustically and what you let get through the PA system.

During soundcheck in venues where there is no monitor mix, when we're asking for more or less sound, I will ask for enough volume that I can hear myself. I am sensitive to the idea that others don't want me to completely overpower what they're doing, and that, in a guitar/keys/vox setup, the singer wants to take most of the queues from the keys.

This means, at the end of sound check, I am literally running at the lowest volume I can effectively hear myself at. If you decide to lower my headroom, there might be a place I can push myself, but you are giving me a choice between not being heard and sounding like a garbage disposal.

I do not want to be a prima donna.

I do not want to be silent.

I do not want to sound like a garbage disposal.

If given a choice between silence and garbage disposal, I will pack up my gear mid-song next time. Just watch me.

Did 2011 Develop A New "Umbrella" Without Telling Me? Or, "Yes! Oh My Gosh!"

2011-10-12T12:30:00.000-04:00

And, of course, the sources :

How To Not Suck, Chapter 23: Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail

2011-10-11T11:22:00.000-04:00

I am subscribed to the Flatpick-L mailing list (although I rarely read these days) and I checked in and saw poster Bryan Kimsey post the following:

I'm reading the FGM with Grant Gordy on the cover and I saw a statement that struck me; "if you don't have a goal when you're practicing, then you're not practicing."

He went on to explain how, to him, he plays guitar without goals because it is the one area in his life where he allows himself to not be goal-oriented. Good for him, but not everyone is him. Personally, I have two or three points providing goals for my guitar playing. There's what I want to play and what I actually play.

What I want to play tends to come with technical limitations. I want to learn to play against a tap-tempo delay. I want to play with a guitar synth. I would love to have a computer interface and program effects that relate to how I'm playing the instrument. I have no audio interface or software. I have no piezo bridges. I don't have a tap tempo delay pedal, and I cannot interact with those goals until I take steps forward in my gear acquisition, which is not going to happen any time soon.

What I actually play is what I play every Wednesday and every other Sunday at church. Each song has challenges and parts to learn, but very little of it is challenging. My goal, at best, is to get a sense of the changes, a sense of the melody, and get this lick or that lick under my fingers so I don't have to think about it when the time comes. Sometimes, I have to work through the sounds on a track -- it has a sitar-like bit and a digital delay set for the U2 thing here, and then a distortion here -- but that's not really practice.

So, my suck comes from a lack of direction (see blog title), but the way of not sucking is to set goals and practice to work toward them. Without the goal, you're just playing.

Profile of Clarence White on Deft Digits

2011-09-29T11:36:00.000-04:00

Joe Walker, Seattle guitarist and blogger at From the Woodshed, has started a new blog at Deft Digits, where he started a series called "Discover a Guitarist". He started out with Stevie Ray Vaughn, deservedly one of the most acclaimed guitarists of the late 20th century. He then opened it up to other musicians, and frend-of-the-blog Stratoblogster wrote up an introduction to the Big Dog, Scott Henderson.

I had to stand up for the Tele after two Strat players showed up, so I entered my discovery of Clarence White, touching on other favorites such as Marty Stuart and Tony Rice. Read, enjoy, and suggest your own favorites. If you find yourself wanting to learn more, I strongly suggest the Adios Lounge multi-part bio.

Shoot Out The Lights

2011-09-08T23:13:00.000-04:00

Richard Thompson and Al Kooper on one iteration or the other of the Dennis Miller Show. And RT the Strat master rocks a Tele here.

Flag Day Countdown #2

2011-08-26T14:03:00.000-04:00

It has been said that hardly anyone was into the Velvet Underground, but everyone who was started a band. From a historical standpoint, that's a good place to be, but as a working band, that's a miserable place to be.I think this is part of the reason for the band's last release, Loaded. John Cale, the violist, bassist and classical/art influence of the band had gone, and drummer Maureen Tucker, whose standing drum style was unique, replaced by Doug Yule. Style experiments like "Black Angel's Death Song", "Sister Ray" and "The Gift", are gone, as are the drug and sex references of "Waiting For My Man", "Heroin" and "Venus In Furs". The things that make the Velvets distinct were largely missing.And it's one of their better albums.If there's one Velvet song that most everyone knows, it's "Sweet Jane", thanks to the Cowboy Junkies and their cover from the Trinity Sessions. The thing about it is that the "Heavenly Wine and Roses" part was originally edited out of the release. The Cowboy Junkies knew it from bootlegs. I originally had the one-disc CD release of this, and bought the newer Rhino release with two discs. I sold the first copy, and the clerk said, "Tell me you're not selling this!""Rock and Roll" is another favorite, dedicated to the transforming power of music. "In spite of the amputation, she could dance to a rock and roll station", Lou sings. "It was alright."The biggest difference between takes that I can think of is "I've Found A Reason", which went from country to a mostly voice-and-bass interpretation before release.The "Fully Loaded" Rhino release contains both the edited and original mixes of the album, in addition to bonus tracks such as "Ocean" and "Satellite of Love". Yes, the satellite from MST3K is named after a Lou Reed song.

Countdown to Compact Disc Flag Day #1

2011-08-20T14:00:00.001-04:00

I'm signed up to Spotify, to the Google Music beta, to Amazon. I had Rdio for a while, and might go back. I have several gigs of music on my own drives, too, largely ripped from my CD collection.

The future of music media is digital and streaming.

I have declared a personal flag day. After January 1, 2012, I will no longer buy or accept compact discs. I'll keep my collection, of course. At least for now.

I've decided to go through my music, one disc per day, and write about them. And the first one is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Roses/dp/B0000004V2">the eponymous release of the Stone Roses</a>. This was one of the first CDs I picked up, and I'm pretty sure it was used.

The first two songs to catch my ear are the first and the last. The first is "I Wanna Be Adored".

It's nice, droning, very much in line with the alternative stream from Britain at that time. I like it. It's good. Really good. What it isn't is transformative. With very little change, it could've come out in 1969 or 1979, rather than 1989.

What is new and transformative. "Fool's Gold" is.

From the 70s on, dance music and rock music were like oil and water, never meeting. This is entirely rock and entirely dance without being pop, using dance beats.

Anyway, brilliant album. See you tomorrow.

A Reflection on "Stop Doing Stupid S***"

2011-08-09T15:23:00.001-04:00

Most of my bedroom playing is me sitting up in bed. Not too surprising, as I have a queen-sized bed in a not-big bedroom, but there are downsides. I can't play out laying down in bed, and there's bits I'm trying to work into my playing that are probably negatively impacted by my playing position. Slide is I'm sure largely uneffected, but I'm very sure that I'm not gonna get anywhere by continuing to try to start progressing with sweep picking if I'm not standing up while practicing, and I'm sure my current status in sweep picking shows that.

How To Not Suck, Chapter 22 or so: Stop Doing Stupid ... Stuff

2011-08-08T00:27:00.001-04:00

Saw this blog post through Hacker News. Basically, the way to be better is to stop doing stupid ... stuff. (I decline to curse.) He started in chess, and the stupid stuff he was dealing with was falling for stupid tactics. He then adapted it to piano. There's short shrift given to the specific stupidities he was falling for, because he was hurrying to get to the application in a developer context.

I suppose, then, that each person has their own stupidities to deal with, and identifying them is the first step.

Speaking of Top Gear

2011-07-26T12:56:00.003-04:00

Testify

2011-07-25T11:21:00.001-04:00

Found this through the Leftsetz Letter.

"It's like listening to 'Kashmir'. Crossed with "The End". A mysterious trip into the heart of darkness."

I'm getting more "When The Levee Breaks" than "Kashmir", but other than that, I agree entirely.

Evidently, the singer is playing Spidey in the Broadway musical.

Where The Image Breaks Down

2011-07-21T02:01:00.001-04:00

I've been a fan of the BBC show Top Gear for a while, and, of course, the question is "Do I like this show because it's British, or because it's funny, or because it has cars?" And the answer clearly isn't the third, because I have the Speed Channel and don't watch it that often. I suppose the dream of getting a junkyard special and building it up to hot-rod status with welding and cutting and all sorts of chrome-plated parts is different than getting a factory-perfect supercar and driving the wheels off it.

BBC America shows this show, and clearly this is one of the top shows on the network, so someone noticed that America has an appetite for fast cars that Britain (!) was there to feed. This was clearly a problem, and the History Channel came out with Top Gear US. I saw the episodes as they broadcast last year, and it was fun, but clearly this was a show that was feeling itself out.

The Speed Channel, appropriately enough, has come up with the Car Show, which I am watching right now. I think they take more from The Best Damn Sports Show Period (although more in the set design, which is more standard talk show and less folks hanging around a warehouse somewhere, which you might think of as a bit of a win. Plus, of course, John Salley. But I'm thinking that the mix is closer to the Top Gear UK formula, which is, of course, 1) stereotypical middle age blowhard who likes guy stuff and sarcasm who is the main focus of the show [Jeremy Clarkson (UK), Adam Carolla (US)], 2) car pedant who can give the boring details for those who like them, but can be ridiculed for doing so for those who don't like them [James May (UK), Dan Neil (US)], a very enthusiastic car fan [Richard Hammond (UK), Dan Farah (US)], 4) who don't necessarily like each other. I don't think The Car Show doesn't really have #4, but I've shown that they have folks that clearly fit slots 1-3. I think that Adam is clearly joking, while Jeremy is able to pretend to be earnest about his opinions and bits. But looking at Top Gear US, you have Adam Ferrara as the crank, but he's one among equals and not the leader, and Tanner Foust and Rutledge Wood have mis-matched chunks of Richard Hammond and James May and the Stig mixed between them. The points where Hammond gets into a race car and doesn't really know what to do with them are some of the more interesting parts.

And there's still the part of me that remembers The Man Show and thinks that Adam Carolla needs to get more imagination with show names, but between that and Best Damn, I think they were more prepared to hit the ground running than Top Gear US.

So, I like Car Show so far, but I'm waiting for the other one to show up on the History Channel again.

"Me Steve Kirk and Keith"

2011-07-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

There used to be this thing called "Anti-Folk". It wasn't really anti-folk the way that, for example, Kraftwerk or Philip Glass are anti-folk, coming from entirely different view of music. It's more like an attempt to reboot folk. It kinda didn't go anywhere. Except Beck.

Anyway, there was a great album on SST (Black Flag's label) by Roger Manning, and another by Kirk Kelly called Go Man Go, with a first verse to die for but I can't quite remember.

I once had a dream where I came home from school. My parents left a note on the screen door, saying "Dear son, we've moved."

Anyway, this is very much on the model of Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. A guy with a voice and a guitar. Some clever words, some memorable stuff, a nice energy, but a guitar and a voice.

Roger Manning, "Pearly Blues"

I heard that Cindy Lee Berryhill was in the same scene and was coming out with an album. Naked Movie Star.

We all know some Dylan. We know the early political folksinger stuff. We know the later stuff with Bloomfield and then the Band. Now, imagine picking up an album thinking it's Freewheelin' and playing it to find it's Blood on the Tracks. That's what it was like for me.

"Me, Steve, Kirk and Keith" was the first song, and Kirk Kelly is the Kirk in question, I'm lead to believe. There's lots of Patti Smith stuff that I didn't know yet that they were referencing. It's just one of the best albums I let fall through my fingers. But it's on Spotify.

No Secrets to Conceal

2011-07-18T10:49:00.001-04:00

Every see something that directly related to you, like it was written for you?

This blog is named "Sans Direction" for a reason. A faux-French interpretation of "No Direction", which is an early band for Rich Show, who then lead Flag With Hank, a band I loved in the early 1990s as a student in South Dakota. It's from a Dylan lyric on "Like A Rolling Stone".

But, it is also a statement of where I was, and kinda sorta am, as a guitarist and musician. I hit a point that I can play songs. I know how to break apart most songs and figure out a good way to play them, and if I can't break it apart myself, I know the wonder of adding "tab" to the end of the song title and searching on Google, or looking for demo vids on Youtube. I find myself finding the structure of songs and asking my kids if they can figure it out, too. (For those who don't know, "Wipeout" by the Surfaris is a 12-bar blues. Not remotely bluesy, but there you go.)

So, for most anything I want to figure out, I can. But what I can't figure out is what I want to figure out next. I have no direction.

Guitar Player Zen has a four-year-old post on that subject, called "If You Don't Know Where You're Going, Any Road Will Take You There". The author takes inspiration apart and focuses on different parts. What excites you? What are your abilities? Very good for the "How To Not Suck" portion.

Pick up your money, pack up your tent

2011-07-15T15:23:00.000-04:00

"Shoot the Hostage"

2011-07-14T16:21:00.001-04:00

So, you walk in and find the gig's just you and a guy on vox and acoustic guitar. You're playing electric guitar through stomp boxes into a D/I box.

Acoustic guitars are very percussive, so he is doing rhythm, and this is very vocal-centric. It won't be like there's too much time to go on extended breaks.

First thing I did was keep above the fifth fret. Acoustic guitar guy was in first position, and there's no reason for two guitarists to play the same voicings.

I also played lots of sustained chords, maybe arpeggiating them when I thought there was room. Acoustic guitar is punchy, so he can handle the rhythm.

I sorta thought about Mark Spencer playing with Jay Farrar and decided that I couldn't be that busy. Except in one spot, and I didn't take that to the full extreme like I could.

So, when you're supporting a folksinger with an electric guitar, what do you do?

Soul Dressing

2011-07-14T15:14:00.000-04:00

Roy Buchanan on Austin City Limits, I think. I mean, I know that's Roy, I just believe it's ACL.

Thanks to Reverberate! for pointing toward this.

Thrill-less Night

2011-07-11T15:57:00.000-04:00

Some Folks Say I Look Foolish

2011-07-04T11:41:00.001-04:00

You Can't Lie On A Telecaster

2011-07-03T06:59:00.002-04:00

The Soup is Weird

2011-06-26T01:06:00.000-04:00

Ever watch The Soup? It's on E! and is evolved from Talk Soup. It's a clip show that shows bits of various television shows, most often reality TV or talk shows.

I bring it up because there's a segment called "Let's Take Some E!", which, yes, is a drug reference, but mostly it's a regular segment where they make fun of the shows on the network it's on. Chris Hardwick has a similar role on G4 with Web Soup, except instead of reality show freakouts and talk show hosts making fools of themselves, Web Soup has YouTube videos of ball hits and other grotesqueries instead of Kardashians, but both regularly make very critical statements on the networks that show them.

Which is so weird.

Think of it. Is there anything on Comedy Central saying half of what it airs is crap? SyFy? CNN? CBS? No. Some news sources have ombudsmen, people on staff meant to take the audience's side against the editors and publishers, but they are not normally nearly has critical of their paper/magazine/channel/station/whatever as Joel McHale is about his.

There's More Than One Way To Pick A Tele

2011-06-21T00:17:00.000-04:00

The Angels Want To Play My Red Strat

2011-06-09T20:29:00.000-04:00

Well, not really. I don't have a red Strat.

What I do have is a set of Ernie Ball Extra Slinky strings on my top-loader Tele. That's .038 on the low end to .008 on the high end. Effortless playing, I have to say. I have no knowledge about how well they'll last, but right now, they're feeling great.

Ironically perhaps, I have Not Even Slinky strings ( .012-.056 ) on my Rondo. It is set for slide and I keep it tuned to Open D. It takes all kinds, and I love them.

What Do You Do When The Guitarist's Gear Doesn't Work

2011-06-07T16:29:00.000-04:00

Cook up a jazz groove and tell a heck of a story.

Stompin' at the Savoy

2011-06-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

If I recall correctly, Tommy Emmanuel is one of the treasured few who has earned his CGP.

Lived Here My Whole Life

2011-05-23T13:16:00.001-04:00

St. Vincent covers Big Black's "Kerosene"

Derezzed Telecaster

2011-05-23T11:52:00.001-04:00

Make it better

2011-04-29T11:45:00.001-04:00

Son of Dave covers Daft Punk

The Coolest Part of Tubular Bells

2011-04-19T09:35:00.002-04:00

Start 18 seconds in. I thought I could be cool and set it up myself, but no.

Quick Repairs

2011-03-24T00:45:00.000-04:00

My control plate has had problems staying on. The hole for the rear screw is stripped, and has fallen out.

Don't worry, don't worry. I know the fix. A toothpick and some wood glue add material to the hole, giving the screw something to grab onto. But I've fixed a hole and had it strip out on me again, so I'm more and more considering my options.

First one is to start fresh. Get a new body from Warmoth or somewhere. Black hides a multitude of sins, and mine has experienced enough that the black is flaking off in places. Yeah, I know that folks pay extra to buy a beaten-up guitar, more power to 'em, but part of me wants a pretty black guitar again. And if I go this way, I can go ahead and get something routed for a neck humbucker or 2 Strat pickups or something. The downside here is that I'd be looking at $300 or more when I'd rather hold onto that much money for a while, if I actually had it sitting around.

The second is threaded inserts for where the control plate connects to the body. Then it would be just metal screws to connect the plate to the body. Hardware and superglue to hold it in place and I should have a control plate I can be in and out of all day, for under $20.

I think I'll try that first.

I also think that, when I get to where I can start making my own dang guitars, I'll do that for mine. I know of folks who put inserts on the neck so they can get it on and off quickly over and over without stripping. I so like.

RIP Melvin Sparks

2011-03-23T00:27:00.000-04:00

Honestly, I hadn't heard of him until I saw notice of his passing, and upon hitting play on this Youtube vid, I felt immediately sorry for his passing but joyful at discovering his playing.

The Thing That Should Not Vee

2011-03-22T09:29:00.000-04:00

This is why I love Premier Guitar! As is clear, it is a guitar with Telecaster stylings on a guitar with a Flying V body style. It's called the Tee Vee and it's from RS Guitar Works. This one draws from the original blackguard look of 1950s Teles, while the one Premier Guitar reviewed is more drawn from a 1960s Custom Tele, sunburst with a rosewood fretboard.

On TDPRI, the great guitar sparkler Buckocaster once put holographic sparkle on a Tele-V body, but I don't think I ever saw the completed guitar, so this is not quite as original as it seems, but it's a great and wonderful thing.

I Want Red!

2011-03-18T09:46:00.000-04:00

St. Louis and Sammy Hagar go together like Philly and cheesesteak, and since I lived there, I've had a soft spot for the Red Rocker. This footage was played on MTV in the time before Thriller, and IIRC it was filmed in St. Louis at the arena where the St. Louis Blues played hockey. I point in the part starting at about 5:30 where Sammy plays lap steel. Of course, he's getting that accelerating car sound, who would expect anything else from him? He's on top of a red Pontiac Firebird when he's playing it! The coolest part is the way he throws it. I think that might be the only lap steel ever hooked up to a wireless system.

Cool Stuff with Slide

2011-03-14T03:40:00.000-04:00

Leatherman: Don't Leave Home Without It

2011-02-14T12:04:00.003-05:00

I play at church, two services every other Sunday. This Sunday, as I'm getting ready to play second service, my strap falls off the neck-side strap lock. This suddenly drops the neck and puts all the weight on the tail strap button, and the screw hole was all but stripped, and with this sudden weight, just came out.

It was easy to get the neck button back to normal, although this does argue that the Grolsch/Dalco solution is preferable to Schaller straplocks, but I won't go there too far, because the urgent issue is the second button. Here, I pull out the trustly Leatherman and screw a new hole in the already-tortured end of my Tele. I tell the worship leader, "Hold on until I finish", but I was not a reason for delay.

I did notice before too long that my high E was halfway to F, but I could lay out and tune up with the tuner pedal during the first verse and come in strong on the chorus, so I count it as a win.

A Leatherman (or other multitool) is great for these kind of last-minute things. Don't leave home without one.

Roger and "Clarence" Together Again

2011-02-10T09:40:00.000-05:00

I think, if you want to quickly grab all the trends in Rock through the 1960s, you can pick up everything you need by getting all the Byrds and all the Yardbirds. Every trend is represented. While the known songs from the Byrds are the early Byrds, my favorite era is Sweetheart of the Rodeo and after, the less vocal-harmony-oriented and more jam-bandish version, mostly with the masterful guitar work of Clarence White and his B-Bender. Marty Stuart has had Clarence White's B-Bender Tele as his #1 Tele for years now.

Here we have Marty and his band, the Fabulous Superlatives (which has to be the best band name ever!) backing Roger at the Grand Old Opry, doing a very true-to-the-Byrds take on Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere".

Which One Is Pink?

2011-01-24T22:29:00.000-05:00

How many of you remember Twisted Sister? "I Wanna Rock"? Metal meets Animal House meets Warner Brothers cartoons? If you remember them, you remember lead man Dee Snider, especially him testifying to congress besides Frank Zappa and John Denver against record labeling. You might remember Eddie Ojeda's pre-Wylde bullseye superstrat. And, if you really liked them, you'll remember Jay Jay French, who played a pink-to-red sunburst Les Paul.

The February issue of Premier Guitar has an interview with French. His daughter, it turns out, has uvelitis, which is the leading cause of blindness for American girls. The funding and awareness for this condition isn't near the levels of other illnesses, so French convinced guitar and amplifier makers like Fender, Gibson, PRS, Martin, Gretsch, Marshall, Vox, Mesa/Boogie and others to make 25 pinkburst guitars and amps to be auctioned off as a fundraiser for MERSI, the specialists in the field. It's called the Pinkburst Project, and images of the instruments, along with more information of the disease and the auction.

A Long Long Time Ago ....

2011-01-11T12:39:00.003-05:00

A Long Long Time Ago ....

2011-01-11T12:39:00.001-05:00

Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies

2011-01-05T00:03:00.001-05:00

Turn Your Lamp Down Low

2010-12-14T21:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, the Allman Brothers Band.... from Brett Underhill on Vimeo.

This is absolutely brilliant.

The only kind thing to do is to put it out of it's misery

2010-12-13T15:21:00.001-05:00

Blues for Roy

2010-12-13T13:23:00.000-05:00

This is a perfect take on the style of Roy Buchanan.

I'll take the "Yee-Haw!" option

2010-12-13T12:02:00.000-05:00

Personally, I like a 4-way switch that gives me serial and parallel both-pickup positions. But this is great, too.

The Video I wanted when I first blogged about the Moog Lap Steel

2010-12-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

The Telelele

2010-12-10T16:08:00.002-05:00

Maybe We Can Find A Groove

2010-12-09T02:11:00.000-05:00

I know I bash out chords way too much. I need to learn popcorn.

Don't say "Don't"

2010-12-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

Creston Guitars: the TV Ad

2010-12-02T23:28:00.000-05:00

I don't have one, but he likes to make top-loader Teles, like mine, so you gotta love that. Plus Sarah Ryan's art is so perfect.

Tone.

2010-12-02T09:40:00.001-05:00

Good Enough For Me

2010-12-02T06:35:00.001-05:00

Waylon Jennings ~ Me & Bobby McGee
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More D'oh!

2010-11-30T17:21:00.000-05:00

When we left our hero, he had neglected to change his address before ordering a $5 Fender Chorus pedal. He had talked to the vendor and been unable to change the address mid-shipping. Their theory was that the package will not be accepted, be sent back, and I'll be credited.

So, I check the tracking number.

Delivered.

My package was delivered at the house where nobody lives.

So, I called my wife (who has to drive near the old place to pick up my middle kid at school) and had her look, and sure enough, my package is on the doorstep.

I'll be trying it out tonight.

D'Oh!

2010-11-29T12:50:00.000-05:00

I saw two things I wanted this Black Friday Eve. Sam Ash was giving away Fender Chorus pedals, and Musician's Friend had EHX Nano pedals. So, I logged in and pressed buy.

Be aware that I order online about once every two years. And I've moved since I last bought. And so, about 24 hours after I bought, I realized that these would be going to my old address.

Sam Ash said they'd recall, refund, and make me buy again.

Musician's Friend is trying to redirect it.

Next time, I'll triple-check the destination address, but next time, I think you know who I'll favor.

Oh, I HAVE To Go There

2010-11-25T07:55:00.000-05:00

I saw this on a French music blog. This is Billy Cardine. He plays lap steel. Look to his right, toward the bassist in the background. Do you see the logo on the headstock? Do you?

Here. Let me give you a hint.

It's a Moog logo.

There's another pic on the site which shows neck-and-bridge Moog Guitar-style pickups. It's a Moog Lap Steel.

I've talked about the Moog Guitar before. Impressive works. Impressive works that take more than a little getting used to, and require a battery that the showroom model might not have, but impressive works nonetheless. I've been more and more thinking about how to access the power of electronics in the with the tools I'm already familiar with, and it seems that there could be something with the Moog lap steel.

It isn't just the increased sustain, though. You have a huge one-piece body, high action and a huge movable fret, so they sustain well naturally. It's controlled sustain and muting. The Moog concept is far beyond the Sustainer/Sustainiac concept. I'm waiting patiently for video, and more importantly, audio of this thing.

I ran into this looking for Melobar (which deserves a dedicated post), and I think this is so cool. Obviously, Moog's syst em is more involved than a Fernandes Sustainer, but it makes you wonder what you could do with all that. Somebody wondered if anyone ever took an EBow to a steel guitar. I'm sure it's not too common to do, but it has been done. In 2000, Robert Randolph made a Sacred Steel album with John Medeski and the North Mississippi All-Stars called The Word, and on one of the tracks, "Call Him By His Name", starts out with Robert sounding like a melisma-laden black-gospel singer just going off, done with steel guitar and EBow. That's a good track to start to show the possibilities of this thing. Or, at least what I think they are.

Concert Review - Disfarmer Project with the Bill Frisell Quartet At Purdue's Loeb Playhouse

2010-11-20T20:14:00.000-05:00

Bill Frisell - guitar
Greg Leisz - steel guitar, dobro, mandolin
Jenny Scheinman - violin, mandolin
Victor Krauss - bass

Isn't that good?

I could get into a bunch of gear talk, which of course is my wont. I will say that if an instrument had an amplifier, that amplifier was a Deluxe Reverb, but that's really beyond the point. The point is, the band is good. Yeah, they can do the weird distancing stuff in that video, but one of the songs in the set is a take on "That's Alright, Mama", and they rock it. I tell you, you wouldn't expect him to stand between Keith Urban and Marty Stuart on the Opry stage doing "Working Man Blues" like the video I linked a few days ago, but I'd love to hear him take a verse.

Little Wing

2010-11-20T18:28:00.000-05:00

Dave Kilminster is one of the guitarists playing behind Roger Waters on the new tour bringing back The Wall.

Don't Fret

2010-11-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

A recent post on TDPRI made me thing of this again.

A couple of years ago I bought a neck on Ebay from a guy who had sold a lot of neck and had a lot of positive feedbacks. Unfortunately, he must have been having a bad day when he built my neck. Edges that should be square were rounded over, the end of the heel was cut for a Strat instead of a Tele and the frets were a mess. I didn't pay a lot for the neck and hate Ebay hassles, so I just tossed it on a shelf and forgot about it.

Several months later I got to thinking about a Tele lap steel and thought this neck might work. I removed the frets that hadn't already fallen out and inlaid brass strips in the slots. I refinished the neck and installed some tuners, then decided that the neck was really too thin for a lap steel. So, back on the shelf.
A couple of months ago I got to thinking about a fretless Tele and remembered the orphan neck. I matched the neck up with a mahogany body that's been lying around in my shop and got to work.

I've looked at fretless guitars for a long time. I've even owned one for a while, but I decided to put it out of it's misery the last time I moved. Now I want one again. And being the Teleblogster, I know I want it to be a Telecaster.

I am fairly sure that, when this happens, I want it to have a glass fingerboard, so it doesn't suck sustain as much and sounds like this. Well, more like this. You need to be Ned Evett to sound like this, more than any other guitarist I know. But a glass fretboard on a blackguard Tele just wouldn't work for me.

This is closer. I mean, I'm not going for a doubleneck. Not yet, anyway, and if I do, the Gatton plan of baritone and standard, not glass and normal. Not that that isn't a plan.

The plan is, chrome pickguard, control plate and big bridge plate. Non-standard pickguards are a plus. So is a chromed-up bridge pickup, be it lipstick or PAF. And, come to think of it, an Alumitone pickup from Lace would look sweet on a black body.

There's something to discuss here. Glass won't suck up string vibration the way even the hardest woods will, but still, I think going with a Sustainer in the neck position would be the move. It might be obvious, but I've been wanting a Sustainer guitar (or Sustainiac; I'm not THAT particular) for at least five years. Also, I'm thinking that I'll want to play with compression most of the time, so as noiseless as possible for the pickups. I'm wanting to try Lace Sensors.

Plus, it seems that having a maple headstock at the end of all that black and silver seems to be so wrong. Something more like a John 5 neck, except with, of course, the silvery mirror fingerboard. (If it's fretless, you can't call it a fretboard, can you?) Not there for the Les Paul switch, but that's OK.

So, I know how to play with pickups. I'll be able to step up and learn how to do the Sustainer thing. The thing that I'm not 100% about is the fretboard removal and the glass part, but now there's an Instructable about that, too.

The last thing I've found, the last thing I'll find until I start putting it money into this, is that coated strings like Elixirs rattle much less if you slide on 'em, and if you're playing fretless, that's all you're gonna do with 'em. They're best with the action dropped way down, and you're sliding not bending, so going thicker is smarter, too.

So, action items are: Tele body, Tele neck with rosewood fretboard. Sustainer. Lace bridge at least. Steam the fretboard. Get glass. String up. Low action. Elixir strings. Now, I suppose I should go earn some money.

I'll be working long as my two hands are fit to use

2010-11-10T06:49:00.000-05:00

Get Bent

2010-11-08T01:43:00.000-05:00

Reading the Holiday 2010 issue of Guitar Player. The one with Carlos Santana on the cover. The part that really gets me reading is the Marty Stuart article on page 50. A good big chunk of the interview is about his #1 guitar, the original B-Bender originally belonging to Clarence White. I like Marty Stuart because of Clarence White. I started buying Marty Stuart albums because of Clarence White. I now get his work on his strengths.

The one thing he recommends for B-Bender players is long-pull bender. I wish I could find more information on how to play the thing, but then again, nothing can really tell you how to play it until you have one to play. Nobody could've talked me through playing mandolin or lap steel without having a mandolin or lap steel. Which, again, makes me want to get one more.

What I find most interesting is, while there are many guitarists dropping D, tuning to D-standard, dropping C, getting baritones, 7-strings or 8-strings, and Marty, for one song, tunes a Tele that used to belong to Mick Ronson up to F. That's an interesting thing.

My Up-In-The-Air Life

2010-09-29T23:04:00.000-04:00

We are going from a house that's full of expensive to an apartment that's full of cheaper. This should be a good and happy thing. Anyway, I am crazy looking forward to it, but tomorrow much of our stuff will be collected by some people who will auction it. Which should mean money but certainly means I won't have to move it or trip over it anymore. So, yay.

In the mean time, though, I am spending my days serving my community as a juror. Which is about the alpha and omega about what I can say about it.

But, right now, at this moment, I have my PCs shut down and packed up. I just have my netbook and my phone.

I Don't Want To Talk Anymore

2010-09-21T15:39:00.000-04:00

I like covers, I love fingerstyle and I begrudgingly accept Lady Gaga. Good stuff here.

New Pedal Day - Little 'Gator

2010-09-17T15:25:00.000-04:00

I am now the proud owner of a Morley Little Alligator volume pedal. I have plugged it in just long enough to be assured that it works, which it does, but soon it will hold a prized place near the end of the pedal chain, after the dirt but before the tremolo (and the eventual delay pedal).

The Morley has an optical mechanism, so there should be nothing that wears out and needs to be replaced. It does have a minimum volume pot which should last as it's not connected to the main mechanism and fairly fire-and-forget. I had planned to make it drop to zero, but I'm curious if I can set it to tame my Digitech Death Metal pedal and have it still be able to handle nice, clean steel-type swells.

The Morley volume pedal has a reputation for being closer to an on-off switch, but I've talked to Morley people and I feel confident that I can adjust it to what I need it to be. Tonight I'll be testing it out some.

Maximum PC: just for the articles

2010-09-12T00:00:00.001-04:00

I'm a software guy, and for many reasons, I haven't really been able
to focus on hardware for a good long time. Bits and pieces here and
there, sure, like getting a USB Bluetooth dongle so my phone can talk
to my netbook, and of course my netbook, but by and large, I've missed
hardware changes over the last ... oh, let's call it a decade. I
learned about SATA just as the last run of IDE drives was scheduled to
run off the assembly line.

So, reading Maximum PC to me is a bit like reading Playboy. Well,
looking at the pictures, anyway. There's something out there that's
attractive, beautiful, expensive and I will not be able to put my
hands on it this lifetime. (I don't read Playboy, just making a
metaphor.) I'm looking at HDMI being mentioned and I still do not have
a strong sense of what HDMI connects to what. I have used DVI before,
but not often.

Ain't There One Damn Song That Can Make Me Break Down And Cry?

2010-09-10T11:06:00.000-04:00

I first heard it by Chris Smither on a CD of songs done at Newport Folk. Every version I heard makes me cry.

I want to have a band that plays David Bowie's "Young Americans" just to break at that line, move into "Killing The Blues" and, when done, switch back to Bowie.

Who's your favorite artist?

2010-09-10T08:42:00.001-04:00

I've just finished a compact-disc census, creating a list of all the (non-burned) CDs I own. It's in a database and everything. So, a simple SQL query* tells me how many CDs I have by artist, thus giving a hint at who my favorite artist is.

various artists	72
bob dylan	13
richard thompson	12
the byrds	9
miles davis	8
neil young	7
johnny cash	7
neil young and crazy horse	6
marty stuart	6
dwight yoakam	5
the jayhawks	5
wilco	5
john zorn	5
uncle tupelo	5
junior brown	4
the last poets	4
chris thile	4
stevie ray vaughan	4
the allman brothers band	4
ricky skaggs and kentucky thunder	4

I think this list contains items that everyone expected, as well as items that nobody gets.

* select artist, count(album) as count from compact_discs group by artist order by count desc limit 12

Songs Separated At Birth?

2010-09-08T12:56:00.000-04:00

"On The Dark Side"

"Keep The Car Running"

Henry Kaiser doesn't HAVE to play weird

2010-09-07T20:31:00.001-04:00

Henry Kaiser And His Allan Beardsell Guitar from fretboardjournal on Vimeo.

Ad-Hoc Guitar Fixing

2010-08-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

I have had my acoustic, a Fender A/E dreadnought, for nearly a decade, and while I have changed the bridge pins and the strings and have had the end pin jack resoldered a few times, but really, it's as it was made. And, while I play up the neck a lot, I by and large play the dread to play blues, folk and country and other first-five frets stuff.

Today we had practice for a big special musical event we're having in September, where I'm the acoustic guy. Last practice, I noticed a little bit of buzzy, sitar-like sound coming from the high E when the 3rd fret is played. Which, if you're playing first-position cowboy chords, you hit all the time. Even more if you're using the James Taylor jangle chords, like G (320033), C2 (x32033), Dsus4 (x00233) and Em7 (020033). That high G popped out and hit my hearing like a poke in the eye. I tried to retune to D and capo 2, but I hit two problems. First, the tuning stability was AWFUL, and second, I began to notice that the B string also had the buzzy sitar problem.

First thing when I got home, I cut up an old membership card and placed it under the saddle, in order to shim the saddle up and avoid these sound problems. It's only been together for a bit, so I don't know if everything is solved, but it seems good so far.

87 Dollars and a Guilty Conscience

2010-08-26T09:42:00.000-04:00

Richmond Fontaine. This song is country as anything, except this would never be accepted as country by radio. It's a beautiful, terrible song. This is why alt-country had to happen.

Ghost Train

2010-08-25T00:25:00.000-04:00

Marty Stuart - Ghost Train Preview by Sugar Hill Records

This is from Marty Stuart's new album, Ghost Train, which was recorded in the famed Studio B in Nashville. The track is "Hummingbyrd" and man, doesn't it just scream of that Clarence White vibe? It's Oh So Very Nashville West. All the more reason I need a B-bender.

Autumn Leaves

2010-08-24T17:27:00.001-04:00

New York City Has A Lot To Do With It

2010-08-22T07:09:00.000-04:00

Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris doing "Big Mouth Blues" in 1973. "Big Mouth" is the first GP song I recall hearing, and honestly, it doesn't reward a close listening to the lyrics. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. It is fun, though.

Gonna Make You Burn, Gonna Make You Sting

2010-08-10T23:57:00.000-04:00

This is from a gallery on Premier Guitar, showing Robert Kantor's Swarovski-bead-encrusted guitars. I of course went to the Tele Deluxe, which is named "Black Dog". Evidently, they're available at Rudy's Music in New York. As you might guess, the Black Dog is a little plain compared to some of the others. For example, take the Crash guitar Eric Clapton has been playing recently. Then, redo the art in glass beads.

And Now For Something Completely Different

2010-08-10T21:37:00.000-04:00

This is Henry Kaiser playing Q-Tuners. You can look at other Kaiser videos and fall over in pain, but here, while I'm not sure about the note choices, the guitar tone itself is solid. It's a decent sounding recording, not too different from some of Zappa's work, like "He Used To Cut The Grass" or some things from Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar. And when I say "I'm not sure", I'm not saying that I hate it. I haven't decided that way, either.

Words To Live By

2010-08-10T18:35:00.000-04:00

Not "Get yourself some cheap sunglasses", although that works. "Think Buck Owens". Although I think "Think Don Rich" might be slightly better advice.

As a listener, I get and like Jack's tone here, but as a player, I always want something that has more of the fundamental tone and less of the buzz. But still, great guys to listen to.

New Tele Documentary

2010-08-10T13:22:00.000-04:00

How could I consider myself a Tele blogster if I didn't cover this?

That's James Burton, Redd Volkaert, Keith Richards, John 5, Sue Foley, Ritchie Kotzen, Albert Lee, Jerry Douglas, Greg Koch, G.E. Smith and Steve Cropper, all talking up the King of electric guitars, the Telecaster. (Kinda sad that Arlen skipped to Gibson, because he wrote the book on the Telecaster. Literally. I'm thinking I should put this on my Christmas list. Thanks, Fender Blog.

Stand and Deliver, Your Tele or Your Life

2010-08-06T20:54:00.001-04:00

(Link taken from Guitarz)

What it's Really Like To Work At A Music Store

2010-08-04T15:24:00.000-04:00

I'd Like To Settle Down, But They Won't Let Me

2010-08-04T11:11:00.000-04:00

Bryan and the Haggards. And yes, Merle's organization knows about them.

I wish for a drunken, off-time failed take on the signature intro. Otherwise, it's a perfect thing.

June Lullaby @ le Réservoir, Paris, le 27 juillet 2010

2010-07-28T13:15:00.001-04:00

June Lullaby @ le Réservoir, Paris, le 27 juillet 2010
Originally uploaded by bcbfan

I wasn't there. Don't know if it rocked. But this is a great Tele shot.

Steady-cams on stage are better than unsteady-cams in the audience

2010-07-28T11:53:00.000-04:00

Still, this is absolutely gorgeous, but a mere fraction of the power that was achieved at the Crossroads concert. I need this in my collection.

Guitar-A-Palooza

2010-07-27T23:08:00.000-04:00

Just got back from watching the footage from the 2010 Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. A few notes....

Listen to Gary Clark Jr.

I'm older than Robert Randolph and I still want to be him when I grow up.

I have read interviews with Sonny Landreth. I have heard albums. I've searched on Youtube. Now I have seen him do it on a screen taller than I am. I still have no idea what he was doing.

There's a beautiful song that Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi did, called "Midnight in Harlem". When it comes out, I need to get it.

Listen to Gary Clark Jr.

Vince Gill, Keb Mo, Albert Lee, James Burton and Earl Klugh? It worked, but still, ???

John Meyer can do a convincing version of "Power of Soul".

Buddy Guy has been a recording artist since 1958. He has been recording for over 50 years. The man doesn't look 50. It's amazing.

I get why Eric closes these with Steve Winwood. I get it. I do. I like Blind Faith as much as anyone. But I think Steve phrases enough like Eric, on guitar mostly, that having both play guitar, having them both play Eric Clapton Signature Stratocasters through similar amps, doesn't allow them to distinguish themselves enough.

It'll be out on DVD/Blu-Ray in October.

Goin' Down To The Crossroads

2010-07-27T00:42:00.000-04:00

Fathom is a weird thing. Using the silver screens of movie theaters to show streamed video. And tomorrow, Tuesday, July 27, they'll be showing Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. It was filmed the day before Gearfest. Live, the show featured Albert Lee, BB King, Bert Jansch, Buddy Guy, David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, Derek Trucks, Doyle Bramhall II, Earl Klugh, Eric Clapton, Gary Clark Jr., Hubert Sumlin, James Burton, Jeff Beck, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa, John Mayer, Johnny Winter, Jonny Lang, Keb' Mo', Pino Daniele, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Sheryl Crow, Susan Tedeschi, Sonny Landreth, Stefan Grossman, Steve Winwood, Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, and ZZ Top. I don't know which of those names they'll show.

I have two tickets. Tell you about it tomorrow.

A Bunch of Nothings

2010-07-23T21:00:00.000-04:00

Got the new Premier Guitar. Haven't read much yet. There's a story on Parsons Guitars that includes many great guitar shots. There's a story on the Black Keys that looks to be good. Love Brothers. Like the "Unsung Heroes" story, but they missed a trick by not showing his rig, which is the wildest head-and-cabinet set I've ever seen.

And there is word coming of a Premier Guitar TV show. I would DVR that and replay the heck out of it.

Have the new Guitar Player. Read more of it. Haven't read the Steve Miller article yet. Don't know if I will. Don't really like Steve Miller.

I've been having an idea. The Sonuus is a guitar-to-MIDI converter. It's monophonic. The MoPho is a monophonic synthesizer, in the old-school analog sense. So, any signal that a Sonuus could handle, a MoPho could handle. The MIDI Mouse would allow you to go between presets so you could have it all floor-mounted. And thats only $600, which I don't have, and that's before the A/B/Y switches you'd want to switch between normal and synthy. But wouldn't be cool? Wouldn't you sound like nobody else?

A Good Thing

2010-07-07T06:58:00.000-04:00

The white old-style strap looks good on a white-guard blonde Tele. And the second recorded player who actually used the ashtray bridge cover.

MLP - Clayton Golds

2010-07-07T06:32:00.000-04:00

Steve Clayton on Clayton Golds.

Get Clayton Golds direct.

NGD: LPB1, plus

2010-06-30T12:39:00.000-04:00

I have failed to take pics of either the unboxing or my assembled rig, but I am now the proud owner of an EHX LPB-1. It's a linear power booster, basically a clean boost pedal. I haven't yet decided on the placement for this pedal yet. I tried it right after my Boss CS3, which was OK, but there are a few places left to try. But I have to say that I like it. I really like it a lot.

I mentioned previously that I plugged my #1 into a Mesa Boogie amp. It has ruined me. I know how good my guitar can sound, and now I'm shamed and offended by my tone. It may be too many patch cables. It may be my AX1500G. It may be settings on my AX1500G. But I must fix it. I must!

Just Got Back From Gearfest

2010-06-27T02:50:00.000-04:00

Well, no. I got back. I played with toys. I crashed. I woke up. And now I'm reporting.

As always, it's a good time. And this time, I came home with something more than the freebies. Eric's been needing a strap, and I got him a nice Levy strap, suede so that it grips the clothes and fights neck drop. And I got myself a new pedal, an EHX LPB1. I like being Mr Clean with my amp, so I don't need some dirt, I just need some more. I've played with it some at home, and it's more.

I also got my #1 restrung, and I took the liberty of taking it into the guitar room and running it head-to-head with some other Teles there. And I found a few things.

My Tele, a late 80s MIJ toploader, has a certain grace and certainly sounds like a Tele.
The series position, the fourth position on the four-way switch I added, adds a noticeable and nice amount of volume.
Sweetwater has a number of sweet Telecasters. This one has the great baseball-bat neck, but it was a little too sticky with the poly, but the size was perfect.
I think I want a Mesa-Boogie Lone Star Special.

This was not part of my head-to-head. It is a Custom Shop Ghost Paisley Tele, and that's sweet.

I saw Greg Koch, who is truly a mutant. Imagine Chet Atkins playing "Stairway To Heaven". Greg can do it. David Grissom also showed off his PRS guitars and the new PRS amps. I knew David was good, and I knew PRS guitars sounded good, but man, I was impressed.

I also met Mandy Marie, who I kinda know from TDPRI. She was looking at a Jazzmaster (I think) and my son was playing with a Sustainiac-equipped Jackson, and they jammed. It was cool.

I played a Nord Stage EX. I played a Korg KAOSSilator. I want both. The Nord has exactly the Rhodes and Hammond sounds I want in a keyboard.

I took some pics of some cool stuff, and I'll try to get them up tomorrow.

A Day In The Life

2010-06-24T09:08:00.000-04:00

They have campus all jacked up. There's one main drag through campus, and they have it blocked off to build a new building. So, the main drag has been redirected in front of my building.

This leads to me following me like they're on the main drag when I'm looking for a parking space. As often happens, I have to go down to the end of the street to get a spot. I'm OK with that — it's a way for me to force myself to get exercise — but today, someone thought I was pulling into the right turn lane and pulled right in after me.

I am continually amused by my life.

Well, That Was ... Fun

2010-06-24T06:22:00.000-04:00

The FCC has kicked every everyone off the 700MHz range. By "everyone" I'm meaning folks with wireless mics and earphones and the like. I'm certainly not talking emergency services, which is the primary user of this band, now.

Specifically, our Wednesday Pack-1 and Pack-2 are history.

This meant only Pack-3 was available. So, out of vox keys drums bass guitar, only the keys got to hear what he was playing. Everyone else had to listen to the house, with all the speakers facing away from us.

But wait, there's more.

Keys' keys, they have onboard speakers. which can be switched off. Of course, there's one volume, not separate volumes for the output jack and the onboard speakers, which means if you turn down the built-in in order for him to not blow the band away, he has to have the board really push him.

I brought my #2, the white Rondo w/ .012s that is really loud. That was good. But if you're relying on the acoustic sound of electric instruments, that's not good.

Sad Songs Say So Much

2010-06-17T14:39:00.001-04:00

Elton John singing Ryan Adams

Say a word for Ginger Brown

2010-06-16T17:28:00.001-04:00

More on that Unpaid Endorsement

2010-06-16T10:56:00.000-04:00

You can see the bevel I've generated. The tip of the pick looks kinda like "\". I understand why they went with the black block rhino, because while this wears like rhino horn, the image doesn't. I swear and affirm it's a 1mm, even though the text on the pick is long gone.