TapperMike

Live and let die .. Paul McCartney

Winter wonderland. Just because I love wersi organs.

Bill Tyers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU5cIS0KjsU

This Guy. He has the largest personal collection of jazz boxes I've ever seen.

Thirty Years. Wow. I'm sure it will be a challenging transition. All I have to say to you is thank goodness you play the guitar. So many people I know don't have any hobbies. Playing guitar will always give you a goal, something to achieve for that day. As well, something you can look forward to. My sister lives in a retirement home, I see her neighbors all the time. Those that are the happiest are those who maintain their interests.

The apartment complex I live in won't allow cable. It's ATT or nothing.

Man is that fast Tom

There is much contention over the 1.+ and the 2.+ variax tones. Some feel the 1.X is more faithful to the original instrument models... Not me. As far as working with the workbench software to modify the guitars.... I love it. I've built more then a few "custom" guitar tones from it. I'm not the only one... http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=138.0 I just wish I had a line6 effects processor to complete things. I'm saving my pennies for a firehawk FX. I figure by the time I can afford one the prices will drop on the used market. Firehawk is known for it's ease of use over pod floor/rack and helix as well as having "classic tones" in the presets so famous sounds are easy to just find. With regards to finding presets Line6 has a vast library of user created custom tones for most models - http://line6.com/customtone/ Oddly Firehawk is not listed among the devices. That being said, If you don't have the ear for building custom tones line 6 also has... Tone templates http://line6.com/tone-templates/ Granted the values aren't expressed so you would need to spend some time with that but it's a foot in the door. Another source I've found is..... GP5 and GPX (Guitar Pro) files. They have RSE virtual guitars, effects and amps. Depending on the arrangers skills you can just open up a guitar pro song and then select the Guitar and Effect icons and figure out the effects and settings of various songs. Before turning over a new leaf and heading away from my fingerstyle jazz I looked around at my collection and said.... My tone catalog is complete for jazz. I need not more then what I have. But part of me wanted to move away from what I'm doing because I'm so very bored with it all. Moving into a different style gives me something to challenge myself with.

I was thinking about stopping my broadband landline and simply using my phone carriers 4LGTE However It would be $10 cheaper for half the speed.

I'm sure most of you will beat this. http://www.speedtest.net/

I had to come back to this thread to state one thing.... Recently (last two days) I've gotten an itch to play melodic metal. While I wasn't a fan of the magnetic single coils that come with the variax I'm enjoying them quite a bit now. They have that punch and grit without the sweetness that I'm familiar with playing on Seymour Duncans or other pups.

That reads great Rudi, I've always had a fascination with flying but never pursued it as a pilot. I've been a passenger on military (transport, communications, helicopters but not fighter) planes as well as commercial and personal crafts Most of it I've rather enjoyed but I've never taken to the stick and throttle.

My sister gave me a regift hp laptop circa 2010 with Windows 8 installed. Apparently it had collected dust for so long it missed the free win10 upgrade. Now I know what everyone was complaining about. It only took me about four hours to get the os fully recovered. I'm going to install android on to it. Although I'm going to have to invest in a Bluetooth usb It's funny you get a new computer that has nothing on it and then you realize the implications of that. (spending all that time transferring your stuff)

Well I "rediscovered" something I'd already known about the firehawk. External editing can only be done via android or iOS. Not win and not any flavor of OSX. While I do have an android phone it's smaller. It would be cheaper for me to buy a chromebook to edit the thing then ipad. It also would be easier as my android phone isn't very large. My needs for a laptop/tablet have changed through the years after leaving support..... But that's a story for another day. Yeah, I've read countless things on issues with string gauge changing on older variax guitars. Not much on trying it with recent ones. I too would always play 10's on my solid bodies and 12's on my jazz boxes. It was oddly my gigging days playing the blues and advice from a friend that I try going to a lighter gauge. That was the tipping point for me when I could finally do some serious country bends all night long. Which even though I don't consider myself a country player converted me to playing with lighter gauges thereafter (it also helped to speed up my chops) Regarding performing with various guitars...... I'll never perform live with an acoustic ever again. Not only have I had issue after issue with acoustics through the years. But I've had not one but two "Belushi" moments playing acoustics live. My 30+ year old strat would need work before it saw the stage. The 9th fret is all out of whack. What's more the finish looks horrible. For the price of a refinishing job I could get two or even three new american made Strats. Actually I could prolly get a 920D custom shop replica of my Strat (as fender no longer makes em that way) for less then I paid for the original. As for carrying around picks it's just natural for me. If I'm playing with a pick, when I'm done it goes into my pocket and when I change pants the pick, coins, keys come out of one pair and into another.

Since I've started working with workbench I've had less desire to buy other guitars...... And I play the other guitars I own less. On the other hand I desire more Line6 stuff. Like... Firehawk FX, or Helix or Pod 500 X Pro. Though I think it will be a Firehawk FX reviewing price consideration. Not that I expect to own one in the near future. In the distant past I too would get rid of a guitar when acquiring a new one. Back then I stopped because in a short while I'd miss the old guitar. Many of my professional friends would also have seller remorse. Recently I haven't had much time for playing. As a result I've lost callouses. It makes playing slow chordal playing a struggle to get clear tone from. As a result, I'm reaching for my Parker with 09's while I build things back again physically. The only drawback to the variax is you have to play with 10's and in standard tuning. Otherwise it wreaks havoc with the piezo pups. Yeah I remember a Anderton's video on youtube regarding various POD HD models and how the 400 wouldn't accept the vdi port. It would be nice to store your guitar modeling along with your amp/effects preset but It's not the end of the world if you can't.

Bass is always fun for me to play,,,when I have one around. That being said the basses I've owned I would never record with. That and after awhile they tear me up. A buddy of mine had one of those guild rubber string basses way back when. If the action were a little lower I would have bought it off of him. It's the original concept from which Kala refined for the U-Bass Ubasses come in solid and hollow and Kala sells different types of strings. So you aren't saddled with an upright bass tone if you don't want to be. They also are quite affordable on Ebay. Another thing to consider if you are looking for a bass or alternative string instrument is... Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1 http://artiphon.com/ Honestly I like my baby z more then one of these

I get nothing for Christmas and I give neither. December and January are the hardest times of the year for me. Last month I saved a kitten from the wild. Tonnes of shots, veterinary visits, Toys to keep him happy and.... Got jacked around by my apt complex with a huge increase in rent as well as a huge security deposit increase. The little fellow ran out the door and never came back. I posted wanted signs posted on craigslist and spent 6~8 hours a day searching for him over the last 3 weeks. Yes, he's chipped. No sight no sign. I just hope a good family has found him.

I'm giving myself the same thing I got last year.... Nothing and plenty of it.

That is a highly inaccurate process at best. Even the best digital audio recognition can have a bear of a time with monophonic sources. As well you can forget any dynamics being translated accurately. If it's simply a matter of you "cop'ing" licks you might want to try something like riffstation. If it's a matter of importing wav files to a daw there are plenty of daws that can play both midi and digital audio (wav etc) on multiple tracks at the same time.

https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/ableton-live-history-interview-founders-berhard-behles-robert-henke?utm_source=vicefbus I used to be an Ableton Live user. I now use Mixcraft for the features without the headaches. Nonetheless I remember how I felt when I finally figured out how to use live and looked around at all my sequencers, samplers, romplers and synths that I'd spent years and fortunes on. Their relationship is interesting. I won't spoil the story.

It certainly has a Richard Marx vibe about it.

Both. At ten watts output and having to limit the master volume to 5 (neighbors) It's just not there for me. While I've got a 60 watt roland cube sitting in the corner anything past the 3 mark and the cops are at my door.

Great read Rudi. Things will change with a variax. Line 6 strove for authenticity as much as humanly possible with the models included. This means that the output and tone control varies widely from model to model. One of the forum members from VGuitars created a customized bank based on all the original settings but...Volume levels. He normalized the volume across the board so if you are switching say from a Les Paul to a Gretsch Duo Jet the output is the same. I have his custom bank which I've modified a little on my variax. It's convenient but not authentic anymore. As a result I'm going through a "unbalancing" act in my own modded model guitars. Sure I can't change the virtual string windings, gauge, bobbins and base plates but there is much that can be done with regards to varying the output on a per string basis and altering the pots capacitance and resistance. It's nothing that I would advise a working musician to do. My first "serious" modelling attempt is trying to recreate Frampton's Les Paul Custom. His signature model is not far from the truth to the original one he owned. Which was modded before he acquired it. Originally it had soap bar P90's not humbuckers. Though Gibson states that his original "modded" LPC had two Gibson humbuckers and a humbucker of "unknown origin" in the middle. I personally have every reason to believe that all three humbuckers were SD's. two Jazz and one JB in the bridge. As well Frampton's original had a different wiring then every other 3 pup. On the original one it was two tone and two volume. On LP Customs with 3 pups the wiring goes.... Neck only, Bridge Only and the middle position is bridge and middle. On Frampton's one that he played he had the middle pup always on. And the tone was bypassed for the middle pup. The three-was selector was... Bridge-Middle, All Three, Neck Middle. When you take out the tone control completely on a pup the character of the pickup sound changes. The problem with my noble idea is that the variax won't allow a position which uses all three pups at ones. Or to use two pups at the same time with one pup having a tone control while the other one doesn't. Crazy cork sniffing stuff I know. In the end I opted for middle pup only for the middle position and boosted the middle pup levels as Frampton's pup levels are set (the middle pup has a higher output then the bridge/neck. It's been fun and I just wish I had an amp that was loud enough to capture the whole thing.

We are living in both the best of times and the worst of times for music creators. For a time before the advent of home CD burners I spent a small fortune for music production equipment with the hopes of operating a small but profitable recording studio. It bankrupted me and I'm still carrying some of the notes 26 years later. As for talent, and performance. Many many great musicians I knew left the scene pre internet. One of the greatest guitarists I knew put down the guitar, never to play again. There are many who try but not hard enough, or try and find other interests. Persistence is always key. With regards to "DJ's" I usually run into a lot of them on other forums that are daw and plugin centric. They all want to be the next big thing. When I ask them about who they admire as "artists" I do research and find out that those same ppl had experience as musicians and engineers before switching over to acid, or dubstep or whatever. The frustrated ones refuse to accept that hard work, dedication and practice are the key. Instead they think they can be all juiced up after midnight and the magic will come. There are always those who think owning a guitar is the same as being good at guitar. As there will always be those that thinking they have logic or live or reason makes them a DJ/Producer. I've had students that I couldn't get to sit down and play a simple scale to save their lives. Honestly, week after week would go by and it seemed like the only time they would put guitar in hand was for the lesson. That's why I don't teach anymore. I teach to teach so that someone can apply and learn. I don't teach to babysit.