Musicians check in here. If you play, tell us about it!

[Pipeous]

I don't even use amps anymore, though I am going to be playing bass in a trio coming up. Been a hectic while gigging for me. Done 121 shows this year so far phew. I did a 5 and a 4 saturday. I was sure glad to have some days off. I am taking my electric guitar at least for part next weekend. my fingers have taken a beating. I can't keep up to sanding LOL... I had to take a rasp file to my fingers a couple weeks ago as the calous' were lifting my fingernails

Been taking the motorcycle a lot. I rode right up on stage a few places and sat side saddle... here's one. I just pulled my speaker and guitar case back for my break... there was a dog parade going across the stage hehe.

 

[Pipeous]

Want a laugh? Just a roland mobile cube up front and a vox soundbox mini pointed back. A few days before I hurt my right arm tendons and was wearing a wrist locking brace... dam thing drove me nuts. I had to do everything with my elbow. It's an original piece

 

[Pipeous]

I know it's not totally music, but I just got back from a bike tour. We have massive forest fires all over our province right now. I went up the west coast, cut across the interior, back down through the upper okanagan, to the west kottenays, then back through the south okanagan and valley. I saw a lot of bc, camped in a tent... the night before I came home I played bass in a cover/death metal band. quite the experience that. I saw what the fires have done to this province... funny story... I was arriving in Grand Forks about dinner time. As I enter the city I had to stop at a crosswalk... 4 deer were walking across haha. I near pizzed myself laughing. The downtown area is overun with deer. I saw 10 walking alone the main drag and the soccer field had about 40 grazing. They can't have gardens there.

 

[BreSha6869]

I know it's not totally music, but I just got back from a bike tour. We have massive forest fires all over our province right now. I went up the west coast, cut across the interior, back down through the upper okanagan, to the west kottenays, then back through the south okanagan and valley. I saw a lot of bc, camped in a tent... the night before I came home I played bass in a cover/death metal band. quite the experience that. I saw what the fires have done to this province... funny story... I was arriving in Grand Forks about dinner time. As I enter the city I had to stop at a crosswalk... 4 deer were walking across haha. I near pizzed myself laughing. The downtown area is overun with deer. I saw 10 walking alone the main drag and the soccer field had about 40 grazing. They can't have gardens there.

The fires there are crazy.

I was at a wedding last night and the bride and groom lost their house in Fort Mac a could of years ago to fire and moved to BC. Lost their house in BC recently too. I told them to buy lottery tickets and move to a condo in Vancouver. Imagine the odds?

 

[DaveP]

Well, the Praise band I've played in for almost 11 years has finally succumbed to lack of interest. Actually, the problem is lack of replacement musicians. The bass player quit a year ago and the keyboard guy has been doing left hand bass on a split keyboard. The drummer isn't real reliable and you never know if he'll make it to practice or Sunday morning rehearsal.

So, the preacher decided to hire a band from Campus Crusade at GA College. They will be paid to be there and provide sufficient musical talent. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. We were more electric than he liked and the new band is using acoustic guitars, drums, and a grand piano, with a Cello player for bass.

My wife and I have been driving 30 minutes each way all that time to church. We decided to change churches and go where we have family who are members. It's a 10 minute ride away! They also have a good praise band. I've talked to the assistant Pastor and he's on board with working me into their band, so that should be happening soon. They have two acoustics, bass guitar, an electric guitar player who does mostly rhythm, a good drummer, and a strong keyboard player. I should be able to play riffs, power chords, and lead licks without conflicting with anyone. That's my strength and it's where I'm happy.

 

[Pipeous]

Bre sounds like your friends have had some real luck LOL

Dave sorry to hear but for every door closed another opens. sounds like you are getting a better situation anyway. I did gig 131 for this year today. They asked me to take a position on the board of directors for next year, which I accepted (after I confirmed it won't conflict with me gigging). Have to admit I am glad it's slowing down finally. I am getting burned out. Winter is recording time so I will be hiding out in the man cave.

my new octave mandolin is almost finished.


The binding was done in ebony


And the neck has been mostly done

 

[DaveP]

Dave sorry to hear but for every door closed another opens. sounds like you are getting a better situation anyway. I did gig 131 for this year today. They asked me to take a position on the board of directors for next year, which I accepted (after I confirmed it won't conflict with me gigging). Have to admit I am glad it's slowing down finally. I am getting burned out. Winter is recording time so I will be hiding out in the man cave.

The Mandolin is looking good! Congrats on the board appointment. I didn't quite understand who you will be working for. Burn out can happen when you have a full time job and a heavy booking schedule. The band I played with for a decade or so mostly played Friday and Saturday nights, but from Thanksgiving to Christmas we were hopping. By Christmas we were Zombies. After Christmas week off we had recovered and were ready to play New Years Eve until 2AM.

I had mixed feelings about the all volunteer Praise band being dropped after almost 11 years of great participation. We had some members who fell in and out, but always had what we needed. Some of the younger members are in college now and that's understandable.

The new church is much more convenient and we have family and friends there. I went to school with a lot of the members, so it's familiar and a very friendly environment. They have a similar setup with a sound booth in the rear of the room and very nice stage lighting from a light bar in the ceiling. PA speakers are also ceiling mounted.

They've done away with amps for most instruments except bass. The drums are in a sound booth like ours were. I'll probably mic my Roland Cube 60 amp like I did before. With in ear monitors I can turn the amp down, mic it with an SM57, and listen to the mix through Shure earbuds and a belt pack receiver. I'm not sure if they have the Ipod setup we had. The Ipod app mimicked the mixer board and let each member adjust his own mix with sliders. I could adjust each instrument and tweak my level to sit on top of the mix in my ears. All the back line players had their own channel in the computer mix.

 

[Pipeous]

I have never played with in ear monitors. Heck yesterday my pa was so far away from me I could barely hear it so I felt totally acoustic. well off to the bank shortly. I have to deposit over $800 in rolled up change lol

 

[DaveP]

I have never played with in ear monitors. Heck yesterday my pa was so far away from me I could barely hear it so I felt totally acoustic. well off to the bank shortly. I have to deposit over $800 in rolled up change lol

The money after the gig is always fun, even if you have to buy a coin roller to get it ready! Sounds like you have a good revenue stream if that was from playing. I can see why you've done that sort of gig all this time.

 

[Pipeous]

Oh ya, I insured my bike with change, paid half of my car purchase too. I am doing a celtic pub next week. should be one thursday a month (maybe every second depending how many acts they line up). I can't do a full 2 hrs of celtic music though. it's right on the beach by the pier and a tiny pub. should be fun

 

[Pipeous]

Hey Dave, just saw this in an Epiphone guitar group I just joined. I picked up another acoustic guitar, 12 months interest free and on sale... got an Epiphone EJ 200. It's a jumbo in Gold Metallic. dual pickups. you can blend or each has a separate output. Sounds awesome too. Anyway, this video explains the product and I was watching as I restrung my mandola. I got the string squeak on my middle string because it is the old Gibson style layout as well. I can see a few of my instruments that will benefit from this type of idea. I might have to come up with my own version for some but I think my acoustic and the 339 are going to get this added



Oh ya, power pins added one of my videos to their website showing a speed string change on my Taylor acoustic

 

[DaveP]

Cool! How does the string ball end fit into this device? Does it use bridge pins or is it a slide through bridge with separate saddle and tailpiece like most solid body electrics use?

 

[Pipeous]

The power pin bolts through the pin hole with a plate underneath. there is a slot alongside the metal part for the string to go in and the ball fits into a sort of pocket. I did a before and after vid with same strings on the fender acoustic. I have had them for 2 years now on the Taylor. Being bolted through like that virtually eliminates the chance of the bridge lifting. I believe it increases sustain and evens out the tone. Big Rock Engineering makes them. I am also going to be trying out their F1 picks and the X1 stick on thing. I think for mandolin tremolo they will kick ..... Bigrock Innovations

I like cool gadgets that help. I will likely order a couple of those butlers for my Epiphones. I also ordered a new per amp and under saddle PU for the octave mandolin. the pre has a 3 band eq, phase shift button and can add delay or reverb one knob or chorus/width with another. I will have to cut a hole in the side but it's just a gold tone. I checked with the maker of the new OM and he said the iRig acoustic will fit into the F hole, so I will go that route. It's a condensor mike that clips in the sound hole and a small pre amp. amazing product.

so for outdoors I now have the gold tone om and epiphone acoustic guitar and for indoors I will use the Taylor and the Hovington. I had a buzz in the Taylor was driving me crazy. turns out the 2 sided tape holding the wires came loose. all the temp changes I am guessing. it's pickier to humiditiy

 

[Pipeous]

This was about 9:10am this morning. I mounted my cel with a gorilla arm on my mic stand so it's about 2 feet from my face. This is almost totally acoustic sound. The Epiphone EJ 200. I played last night got home around 1:30am and had to wake around 6 am after unloading the car and plugging stuff in to charge. Loving this new guitar. For $600 cdn it is an amazing guitar. I am dressed up as Batman lol ... so much fun. we did a costume parade at noon and I used my cel through the little roland mobile cube. we marched to marylin manson this is halloween and then werewolves of london. surprising how many young people knew the words to the manson song

 

[DaveP]

Tone is good on the vocal and the acoustic. I can hear the AVC on your phone varying your attack by increasing and decreasing the volume ( expansion and compression ) along with the peaks and valleys between the vocal and the guitar. My guess is that when you sing the volume is slightly decreased and in between the guitar volume is raised. If there's a way to control the automatic volume control it (AVC) would be a great way to record your performance.

Backing off a bit in distance may be all you need. I'm being ticky because it does sound good and possibly would sound great if the phone didn't compress and expand the audio so much. The article below talks about several options for using the USB mic built into the phone (charging port) VS using an external mic through the earphone/mic jack.

Audio Recording With a Smartphone

 

[Pipeous]

Thanks Dave. I saw external mics for the phone. I will check some of those apps. I had no idea what it would be like until I got home. I did 3 videos, one had 2 songs (there was a group dancing to my left so I just banged another song off to keep it going. so funny watching 2 inflatable dinosaurs dance lol)

I even had a note dropped in my case with a phone number and yes I called her last night and we chatted for a long time. Turned out it was who I thought it was.

here's one up close and personal. I got lost one point. brain glitch. oh well lol. hard to see in those masks. the size of the guitar is different. my first jumbo. that's my excuse

 

[Pipeous]

Well I finished 2017 doing 157 shows. I have never in my life played that much.

I started vaping again a few days ago. I have to beat this smoking thing. I picked up a kanger nebox. what a beast of a vape. my old 18650's couldn't keep up to sub ohm. I was going through 2 batteries a day. I picked up a new 3000 mah from a vape shop today and I barely used a bar

I have been working every weekend so far, much better than last year and I have a few things in the works. We applied for Juno grants and waiting to hear back. 112 applications went in. A seniors home saw me at one of my Christmas shows (I did 6 this year) and have booked me in to play in feb which should turn into 1 every month or 2

I finished recording all the backing tracks for my country cd, and 4 for the americana cd. I just have vocals and a couple acoustic tracks left to do. I picked up an Audio Technica 3035 condensor a few days ago to finish that, I just have a tough time because of the massive construction going on here now (new roofs, windows and siding all units and my kitchen is being done as of monday). The fellow that sends me lyrics got his movie script picked up and it is being made into a movie. pretty exciting stuff. I originally got to write one song for the film but a few days back he showed the producer all my recordings (I did country, rock, bluegrass, blues and some heavy stuff to show versatility) and I have applied to do the whole sound track. hey even if I don't get it, I consider it a win to even be considered.

Tomorrow night I am sitting in with that celtic band I played with before... no the accordion player isn't going to be there (if you remember that is why I quit the band). They have released a second cd and getting some killer gigs. the main guy said he wants to play drums and get a new front man, then asked me to join them tomorrow night... I was rehearsing the originals yesterday and surprised after a few years I still remembered most of the licks. It's fun playing mandolin the way it is supposed to be played..

anyway, I am having my 5th beer so rambling a bit.. I will leave off with a video showing my instrument being built. it's almost finished. the neck is installed. he made a new head stock inlay (my instrument got the first one) and the fretboard inlays are done... it basically just needs final sand/tap tune and french polish now...

 

[DaveP]

The video was great. I couldn't stop watching once it started. That guy is a master craftsman. If I tried to build a guitar the error count would rise to the point where I'd probably trash it at some point! I'm better at furniture. Close is good when the measurements don't affect tone and accurate tuning up and down the fretboard. All I have to worry about is that all four legs touch the ground equally!

 

[Pipeous]

How did that new church work out Dave? Ya the chisel on the body under the fret board just not my kind of work. I'd be afraid to screw that up

 

[DaveP]

How did that new church work out Dave? Ya the chisel on the body under the fret board just not my kind of work. I'd be afraid to screw that up

Right now we are sliding back and forth between the two. When I approached the Praise Band leader about joining he mentioned that I had to join and be a church member to be in the praise band. That was reasonable, IMO, although the new band at the old church are just college students hired on an ongoing weekly basis.

We've attended 5 or 6 times and listened to the praise band at the new church and they are good, but lacking in lead guitar. The one guy who plays electric 6 string is novice level. He uses a capo and plays everything by playing in open position using the capo for the key of the song. The leader is better, but he usually plays acoustic and is tied down with most of the lead vocals.

I can see myself standing in the back corner of the stage next to the drummer and wailing in lead licks as played on the original recording. I sit in the congregation for now and find myself thinking about what I'd be playing at any given moment.

We haven't committed as of yet on joining that church, but the options are limited for Methodist churches that have contemporary praise bands.