Guitar Talk

[Bluzeman]

Oh, it's cool. Guess I didn't read that far back.

I have a fiddle by the way. It's the ONLY stringed instrument that I've tried to learn that has just totally mystified me. Not so much in HOW to play it, but more like my wrist just won't work like that. The left hand one, I mean. I can't seem to manage to get the hang of supporting the neck of the thing while trying to get my fingers to curl up and over the fretboard. Any suggestions?

[socks]

Young man's a playah, Bluzeman! Been awhile.

I always check how a player holds there guitar, these days. Quinn's holding his mid-chest high and that's good to see. The low down slung thing is bad for the wrists. If he (like many) goes the route of planting it up a tad higher like that he'll have the advantage of being able to adjust his wrist position up and down the neck, get where he needs to quickly, as well as see the whole range of the fretboard better.

Govan's position is "classic" (little guitar humor there) and accomplishes the same thing. I find I'm using that position these days unless I'm just squanking chords. If I'm strapping it in the upright positon I like it higher up mid-chest though.

Bought a mando awhile back, online. Inexpensive Aria, in near perfect condition, for 65 bucks, no case. Two sets of strings with it. It's fun to work on it. Little neck though.

[dmiller]

Oh, it's cool. Guess I didn't read that far back.

I have a fiddle by the way. It's the ONLY stringed instrument that I've tried to learn that has just totally mystified me. Not so much in HOW to play it, but more like my wrist just won't work like that. The left hand one, I mean. I can't seem to manage to get the hang of supporting the neck of the thing while trying to get my fingers to curl up and over the fretboard. Any suggestions?

Yes. Your chin (pressed down on the chin rest), should be supporting the fiddle more than your hand.

The left hand does so (somewhat), but it isn't the primary source of support for the instrument.

Arch your left wrist. Palm away from the neck. Fingers vertical to the fingerboard.

I've never taken fiddle/ violin lessons, but that's advice given to me by my grandmother (who taught me piano).

Arched wrists are where it's at, so you can "attack" the string/ keyboard/ etc. with maximum efficiency. :)

[dmiller]

Bought a mando awhile back, online. Inexpensive Aria, in near perfect condition, for 65 bucks, no case. Two sets of strings with it. It's fun to work on it. Little neck though.

Cool Mando!! Solid spruce top can't be beat!! I agree -- small neck, but fun to pick!

This is me with mine. (1917 Gibson F-2) :)

[socks]

That's a nice one for sure, dmiller.

Mine's just a wacker. I'd had my eye out for one and when I got it at that price was happy. I have a feeling it sounds "okay" but not great. I'm mostly interested in being able to have it in my bag, chord fills, up-chucks and chinks kinda stuff and a line or two here and there. I can see it takes some work to get a decent head of steam going on one. I'll just whittle away at it. Got a harmonica too recently, "C", at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA. Lost the one I'd had, an ancient Marine Band. Same with it, just messin'. :)

[waysider]

Here's an interesting post I found on a music forum:

"LOSS OF EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH MUSIC

One thing that has not been mentioned is that in the last 10 years there

has been a seismic shift in the sonics of music. Parallelling the decline of

the music industry has been an increase in the loudness of records. By

loudness I am talking about the increase in rms (average) volume of a disc in

comparison to peak volume. The difference between the two is the dynamic

range. The smaller the difference, the louder a disk will sound when compared

with a disk with more dynamic range. The music industry thinks this will

make a record stand out when on a playlist or in a CD changer.

Up to about 1996, dynamic range was almost always 12 dB or more. Between

'92-'99, isolated releases began reducing their dynamic range in an attempt

to sound louder. Starting in 1999, this isolated trend became generalized.

Today, we see major releases with a dynamic range of 2 dB (Metallica).

Virtually no major release today has more than 6 dB of range. And just like

listening to a monotone speaker is dull because no emotion or sense of

dynamism can be transmitted without fluctuations in volume, so too music has

become increasingly boring and unengaging. I am not talking about the type of

music or the quality of the music itself, but the type and quality of the

sound. Musical qualities are things like lyrical content, chord structures,

beats etc. Sound qualities are things like volume, dynamic range, distortion,

etc. So I am not saying that the music is worse or somehow less creative

than it was 10 years ago, only that the sound quality is worse.

It's not that people are listening to less mainstream music, it's that

they are listening to less music period. And those that do listen to music, do

not listen to it with the same degree of attention or emotional

involvement. Music has lost it's passionate followers, and become sonic wallpaper to

most. And I think part of this is because the music released today contains

little to no dynamic range, and has digitally induced distortion and

clipping from the process of dynamic compression.

To my knowledge, the music industry has not acknowledged the lessening of

people's emotional engagement with music, nor have they sought to find an

answer to it. And without being able to captivate and emotionally involve

their listeners, their customers won't buy their products." - Fritz Gerlich

http://harp-l.org/pipermail/harp-l/2009-May/msg00404.html

Edited May 15, 2009 by waysider

[tippy]

I have a friend who is selling a 2007 /12 String Larrivee for $995. If anyone is interested, they can email him at jeffron54@gmail.com for details and pictures. It's in mint condition and comes with a hard shell case.

He used to play in Rescue in the mid 80's.

Edited June 7, 2009 by tippy