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

[DaveP]

Glad I checked back in on your thread, Dave. I have no clue how to wrap my brain around how collaborative music put together online would work, but if you all do it, it'd be a blast to hear. And, 73ckn797, I'm working on "House Of The Rising Sun" right now, so I laughed at that comment! Still very much in the newbie practice, practice, practice phase...

When you get that mastered, Smoke on the Water is your next assignment! We've all been there and it's a good way to build chops. Every move you make and master is another step toward proficiency. The important thing is to Keep on Playing. Some people put it down, try to start back, and decide that they don't want to go through the peeling callous syndrome again, so they give up!

Mature callouses finally develop into smooth hard fingertips. It's like the early sunburn peel that eventually results in a nice tan if you keep it up.

 

[Plaz]

Mature callouses finally develop into smooth hard fingertips. It's like the early sunburn peel that eventually results in a nice tan if you keep it up.

Definitely true. I'm a finger-style bassist primarily, and while if I go too long without playing I'll still get blisters on my plucking fingers, I don't get them as bad or as painfully as I did when I was a true newb. I almost never get a blister on my fretting hand any more, even if I've gone an embarrassingly long time without playing.

 

[Pipeous]

oh man, I have built my fingertips up now playing mando, but playing bass is another thing. I jammed on the bass a few weeks back and I got a blister!! different part of the finger...

the guys on mandolin cafe suggested soaking fingertips in rubbing alcohol to harden them. I never tried but sure were veteran guys saying it works?

 

[beckyblue]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. The tan analogy doesn't quite work for me...I go from my typical transparent white to ripe tomato in no time flat. Finally becoming proficient in this guitar, then trying my hand at the bass is the dream, though. How's it coming along with the ECF music collaboration ??

 

[DaveP]

About this time of year, my fingertips begin to dry out and crack on the corners of my fingertips ... painful. Jimi Hendrix found that superglue would fix that for him. I use Liquid Bandage. Just apply it to those cracked parts and it seals them shut and helps them heal. I keep a bottle in my gig bag. It's wonderful stuff that will heal up the painful cracks in a day or two and let you keep playing.

BTW, today (my birthday) is the day that UPS is supposed to deliver my new Epiphone G-400 Pro guitar. It has Alnico Pro Humbuckers with coil split. You lift the volume controls to switch each pickup individually to single coil operation.

 

[beckyblue]

You know that I'm a HUGE fan of yours (and happened to "meet" you on my first day posting here, coming up on 3 years ago)...

I hope you have a FANTASTIC day!!

 

[DaveP]

You know that I'm a HUGE fan of yours (and happened to "meet" you on my first day posting here, coming up on 3 years ago)...

I hope you have a FANTASTIC day!!

Thanks. I become old enough to draw early SS today! I'm finally going to get some benefit from all those years of paying FICA and SS tax on my paycheck! I might just buy a new truck ... I'm looking at quad cabs to replace my old single cab pickup. I need space in the cab for my amp and guitar and gig bag and my wife at the same time.

 

[bassnut]

Happy Birthday Dave! Love ya, man!
Remember why and what I told ya?
"No matter how old I am, you..."

Happy Birthday!
Here ya go. Sorry that it's used....but it'd been gone through.
New caps and tubes.
I think you'll like it. Great for recording.

 

[Plaz]

BTW, today (my birthday) is the day that UPS is supposed to deliver my new Epiphone G-400 Pro guitar. It has Alnico Pro Humbuckers with coil split. You lift the volume controls to switch each pickup individually to single coil operation.

HBD! Excellent.. picking up an SG is on my bucket list. Will have to wait awhile, I fear, I've been buying too much juice.

 

[Controlthebleeding]

About this time of year, my fingertips begin to dry out and crack on the corners of my fingertips ... painful. Jimi Hendrix found that superglue would fix that for him. I use Liquid Bandage. Just apply it to those cracked parts and it seals them shut and helps them heal. I keep a bottle in my gig bag. It's wonderful stuff that will heal up the painful cracks in a day or two and let you keep playing.

BTW, today (my birthday) is the day that UPS is supposed to deliver my new Epiphone G-400 Pro guitar. It has Alnico Pro Humbuckers with coil split. You lift the volume controls to switch each pickup individually to single coil operation.

this makes me want to get another sg. loved mine but had to sell to eat (since i had no job).

 

[DaveP]

I got a chance to plug in the G-400 last night and hear it through my Roland Cube 60. It's gonna need a little more tweaking here and there, but I'm impressed at the quality and the setup right out of the box. Had to lower the action a little and will have to balance the pickup heights to my taste, but the neck relief was right where I like it ... about .010 or less relief at the 8th fret when fretted at the 1st and 15th.

The coil splitting produces what you'd expect from single coil versus dual coil operation. It's not quite like a Strat since there's no middle pickup in the mix, but it's reminiscent of going from Fender to Gibson and back and being able to mix the two and get unique tonal qualities. The feature will be useful to change up the sound for songs that need it.

I probably won't need to change any hardware on it. Everything is nickel plated and has a nice shine to it. The pickups are faithful to what I remember from my SG days and the neck feels just like my Les Paul ... D shape slim taper with a 12" radius. Gong back and forth between the two will be seamless. I can play this one all the way up to the 22nd fret. That's a plus from Les Paul where anything above the 12th fret starts to get a little crowded.

 

[Pipeous]

I went to a drop in in Hope, BC yesterday. When you work graveyards getting up at 10am to go to a jam is backwards hehe. Here are a couple clips my girlfriend took with her camera.... my bud got some audio of most of the event but is processing the sound a bit before I get a copy. I had never played with these guys before

very talented... vic nicholson (lead guitar for the headpins) was playing in simple man. him and I did going to california together... I really hope we have good audio of that one, he sang it

 

[Pipeous]

 

[Pipeous]

 

[Pipeous]

ok all those involved in the song, send me your email address so I can send access to the storage files. mine is madpro.ca@hotmail.com

btw my name is Barry. I will upload my parts as a stereo file in the next couple days. got sidetracked with the jam. they invited me out to gig with them, maybe once I have more time. it is almost 2 hrs drive to get there. and I'd have to take a night off work to make it....

as of this weekend I am debt free so taking time off isn't going to hurt hehe. well I am ordering the mandola as a birthday present to myself this weekend

 

[Ayce]

email sent.

 

[DaveP]

I'm about to walk out of the house to be somewhere right now, but I will email you with my address. How do we upload the files and/or add our parts? Can you give us a short tutorial or link to somewhere we can read about the process?

 

[Pipeous]

I sent invites to dave and ayce for the skydrive. no word from our drummer yet

probably a good thing since he is next to put his part down and I am not finished... I am going back to hope on sunday and taking my midi strat to play keyboards (sax, organ etc) though have to bring the mandolin to jam a couple with steve. him and I started playing together and we are going to record some originals together. he is coming as well. should be fun. I sent him a copy of Grisman doing kentucky waltz cuz I want to play that this weekend

 

[DaveP]

After doing some setup on the new Epiphone G-400 Pro, I'm finding that it feels really comfortable. The neck is pretty much like the 59 profile neck on my Les Paul and that's a good thing. It came in with the truss rod loose, right at the point of starting to generate some pressure. A half turn tighter allowed me to adjust the string height where I wanted it without buzzing. It's starting to feel like one of the family at this point.

The alnico pro pickups are a little different from the Seymour Dunca Pearly gates pups I installed on my Epi Les Paul, but they are close. I still need to play with pickup height to get into the sweet spot. Right now, I have the neck pickup almost flush with the pickguard. The bridge pickup has to be a good bit higher to match the string height at the bridge. Somewhere in between will be where I end up. I like warm wood tones (lower) mixed with some brightness (a little higher). I hate pickups too close to the strings. That's where you start to get harshness and magnetic string capture, even on Gibson style guitars. Fender single coils are notorious for creating warble effects on the high frets when you raise the pickups too high as the string gets too far into the magnetic field attraction of the pickup.

 

[Pipeous]

I have to learn more about guitar setup. I know how to setup a mandolin but not exactly sure about string heights like at nut for guitar. I should do some research and setup my strat a little better.

well I finished writing the tune, melody lines and harmonies. Dave you will get 2 or 3 good solos (Plus fills where ya feel like hehe. I am a satriani fan so go nuts), I am going to toss a short mando solo in too for fun... I will record my parts tomorrow afternoon. it is a bit late and I don't have the cave soundproofed yet...