Subj : My axes and rigs
To   : Nelgin
From : Joe Bruchis
Date : Wed Nov 22 2017 06:24 am

Nelgin wrote in a message to Joe Bruchis:

N> On Mon, 20 Nov 2017 06:14:24 +0000, "Joe Bruchis"
N> <joe.bruchis@1:3828/12> wrote:


>For $100 you did well. It appears to be better quality than a Squire.

N> Anything must be better than a Squire, other than a First Act maybe.

For a beginner those are fine. Check out the YouTube videos that compare
Stratocaster to Squires. The main difference is the quality of the parts, but
the sound and playability appear to be acceptable in the Squire. I have never
played one and don't intend to. (-:

Remember the Sears Silvertone guitar and amp? Those are worth a ton now. (-:

>I've learned most songs, lately, from YouTube tutorials. There are some
>excellent ones out there. The better ones take what appears to be very
>difficult riffs and isolates the patterns so that they can be learned
>in small
>portions until mastered. It takes effort and practice, but it can
>certainly be
>acheived. I was looking at "Sultans of Swing" and I think the oddest thing
>about it is using finger strums and finger picking on an electric guitar.
>Knopfler has a unique style but he repeats his riffs across many
>songs, with
>some minor changes in pattern and speed, so his collection of
>writings is not
>really unique. I like to watch his music being played, and I like the
>sound of
>it, but for some reason I don't have a desire to spend the time on
>learning it.

N> He certainly does use a lot of similar phrases, chords...especially
N> Dm, a lot of songs are written in that key. The good thing is once
N> you get the technique down...Things like the accoustic clikcs, using
N> the back of the finger nail on the down strokes and stuff like
N> that...it's easy to transfer to other songs. That said, some of his
N> riffs are pretty fast and do take some dexterity. Even after a year
N> or two I still struggle with the final instrumental.

Yes. There are certain things our fingers have a hard time doing. When I was
young, I lost the very tip of my little finger after slamming it in a car door.
So the bone is just under the skin, and it feels weird pressing on steel
strings. I use it fine playing chords, but it gets difficult when playing
scales, and especially walking octaves up and down the neck. Subconciously, I
suppose, I'm trying to protect it and it adds to the difficulty with dexterity.
But then I look at some of these guys like Keith Richards, whose finger joints
are bent from arthritis, being able to overcome that and still play great
music.. amazing.


>For right now, I'm stuck on some of the acoustic songs by George and
>Paul like,
>"Here Comes the Sun", "Michelle", "Blackbird"."Norwegian Wood", "Till
>There Was
>You", and others. These are good for playing when people come over to
>visit and
>want to sit around and sing after dinner and/or a few drinks. The guitar
>portions of the songs carry the melody and rhythm and don't require
>drums or
>other intruments. I learned a long time ago, the average
>non-guitarist doesn't
>care to hear you play a cool riff from a rock song unless you play it
>with a
>band and vocalists. (-:

N> That's true. A few decent ones I like to strum along to are
N> Champaign Supernova by Oasis, and Wonderwall I guess if I have a
N> capo with me and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd of course. One
N> thing I should mention is that I don't play with a pick, never have.
N> Since my main interest was Knopfler and Dire Straits songs, I never
N> needed one. The reason is, I can then pick up any guitar and play it
N> without needing anything extra. I once saw a video of Slash at some
N> event or another and they wanted him to play something and couldn't
N> until they found him a pick :)

You've got me wanting to learn "Wishing You Were Here".

I am just now learning acoustic picking techniques (mainly Travis picking). I
can't play electric without a pick either. If I did, it wouldn't sound anywhere
close to the same. Also I would lose a lot of speed. So, I can understand where
Slash was coming from. What I don't understand is how he didn't have picks in
his pockets, wallet, and guitar case like any other professional. (-: I could
do without a capo, but I'd always be in the wrong key unless I re-learned whole
songs in other keys.

N> Talking of, try listening to Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd with
> N> the stereo panned to one side or the other so you can barely hear
> N> the 12 string guitar...interesting listening.
>
>I will have to listen to that. I'm not sure I've listened close
>enough to it to
>remember there being a 12 string guitar in the song. (-:

N> "[Gilmour] performed the intro on a twelve-string guitar, processed
N> to sound like it was playing through an AM radio, and then
N> overdubbed a fuller-sounding acoustic guitar solo." - Wikipedia.

I will give that a listen. I like David Gilmour's style also. He really knows
how to use a tremolo bar.

Regards,

Joe
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