shelter

Do you still have the bobkat?

I used to play classical guitar technique. It doesn't work for me. By that time I used stainless strings and had a small amp. I used to break all my fingernails (which I still do on some fingers) trying to match with the bands cressendo. Maybe I've got soft skin. Btw I was pretty sure that Bert Jansch used a thumb pick. Also S.Grossman uses a thumb pick sometimes. When he doesn't he uses a very different fingerstyle technique (pulling strings as you said). Maybe some guys can make it, and I'm pretty sure that some do it well. But not me. Ry does it. Mark Knopfler too. Maybe more that I can't remember know.

Btw, excuse me for some signs of bad use of the English language. Open tunings are a huge musical world on their own. But they can lead you to diffrent ways of playing and every single of them has a different character. I think that open G is a very good tuning for beginners. And there are many rock songs on it. Delta has many different tunings cause it seems that the bluesmen tunned their guitars acording to the key it was comfortable for them to sing.

Well there is something more. If somebody develps a very good righthand palm muting technique, then will be able to play slide and create clear notes even with Standard tunning. But I thing that the traditional essence of slide guitar as it derives from delta blues, is the harmonic strings resonance of an open chord. So open tunings are a "must" thing if you are into the delta or N.O stuff. If you just need to play a simple melody and need the sliding sound, you can try the Standard tuning with heavy use of palm muting to isolate the melody from the other non necessery resonant notes. One more advantage of the open tunings when they are applied on heavy gauge strings is that you can produce some really heavy and thick riffs with that combination.

Thank you EJB

I know, what I meant was that we are all influenced by what we like even just by hearing music and never played a tune. The telecasters used to be twins (both C.A.R am.standards of 1997). Peter’s is almost in stock condition. He just added a kill switch and changed the knobs. Mine got some serious modifications and should be considered as a partcaster. I changed the neck with an allparts U-shape maple neck with 6100 frets, cream 5 point pickguard, new Joe Barden 3-brass saddle bridge and Bill Lawrence pickups. The guitars geometry now is perfect for me, but it's almost like a fender Nocaster.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky I know it may sound a bit off conversation musical context because he is a classical singer but the articulation and his technique are out of this world which I never heard in any other rock, pop, blues, or even country singer. Although there are some really great singer in all of the above mentioned genres. Samuel Ramey is great too.

I ve tried several stuff and ended up to be a dedicated heavy brass slide user. I like the sound and the feel. I'm not so much into that "articulated" glass slide sound. But a very important thing is open tunings as well as medium to high string action and heavy gauge strings. If you can have a guitar dedicated to slide playing with the appropriate setup, it would be great and it would make your playing easier.

I always play hybrid picking cause I can't play in another way. I used to play with my fingers till they bleed and then I found out that there are two magnificent things that can make your life easier. The first is thumbpick and the second is hybrid picking with a flatpick! Being a guitar hybrid picker in Greece before the Internet era was a hard thing. Now I feel like an idiot that reinvented the wheel or something like that because I never paied close attention to the Muddy Waters pictures....

Nice guitar. Old Fender amps match perfect with old Gretsch guitar. If you can afford a blackface fender, go for it. If not, silverface fenders are very good too. Tweed amps both fender and good handmade tweed fender copies are perfect but most of them very expensive.

Thanks guys, It’s flattering that you mention that it has a “Doors vibe†cause me and the singer/lyricist used to listen to the Doors a lot. Though we never tried, not even at least, to copy their style cause I thought that the try wouldn’t have a positive result… The Blue Side Band is a music collective where the Blues, western ballad, rock, jazz, classical music and ambient music film soundtracks get in a musical osmosis. So many things can happen cause every single composition or pre-recording song material may challenge you in a different way. I am happy when I feel that a song finds its own way to sound as it should. When it does, I don’t care which way it took. The problem is that sometimes you find yourself with material which has potential but it can’t work in a single musical project because there is always the aesthetic homogeneity matter. So either you start a side project, or you end up with a closet full of songs!!!

Many thanks, Yes I'm the one in the suit. There is nothing wrong in saying your honest opinion. Thats the reason I put up this video. Feedback helps us become better. Argiris

Thanks for listening Tom.

Hello everyone, This is a video we made a couple of weeks ago, performing three songs. The second song is being performed for the first time. The Blue Side Band got together in 2010 and started to work on original material. The band members were coming from very different musical roots and we had to work quite a few to find our style. Argiris

I think it was beethoven's 5th symphony. Totaly blew my mind. After the First listening I asked my parents to take piano lessons. But it was also important that my father was a semi pro choral singer and both my mother and my older brother were piano players.