TapperMike

Glad to read things went well. Yeah with my bigger boxes I'd always have to stuff them with foam... What George Benson and Howard Roberts used to do is seal the lower F-Hole with tape Look at the F holes you'll see it all smudgy.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2015/09/prs-battles-soundcloud-threat-uploading-music/

Spinning Wheel (what goes up must come down) Blood Sweat and Tears

So far,,, It's been good. I've worked the last 4 days and finally I got thrown in the fire so to speak. Busy and I was left to my own devices (as opposed to a helper / trainer ) It worked out great. Plenty of compliments from the manager and staff on my timing and presentation. Along the way my past has caught up with me. A co-worker of mine at a 4 star restaurant I worked at in the early 90's is now a salesman for a food distributor. He and I had a brief chat. Two other former co workers from later years at Denny's (early y2k) are also working with me. And of all things a waitress I worked with back in the early 80's is also working with me now. It is not as busy a place as I've worked in the past. In the past I've worked for some extremely busy demanding places and it required much more then I think I can handle today. There is a huge difference between 800 dinners a night and 200. Nonetheless I have validation that I can accomplish the demands of the business which is something I had feared in the past. My greatest fear now is if I'm going to be able to afford to live on my take home pay. I can calculate all I want but the margins are thin. With my schedule being what it is. Day and night shifts and mid shifts it would be hard for me to find a second job. As I'm low on the totem pole it's not like I can write my own schedule. So lots of positives and a glaring negative.

I start tomorrow at another job (Wixom Station) The wage is far beneath what I'm used to but there is a promise of hours and an increase in wage depending upon proving myself to them. I've heard that one before. But beggars can't be choosers.

Dammit my Z6 ztar finally bit the dust. Every summer something stops working and then as fall begins it comes back. It's not on Starr Labs. The prior owner abused the hell out of the instrument. Now whenever I play on certain "buttons" it either does not send the midi message or sends the intended note and an unintended note. The entire 4th fret position is (each row (or string" on the column (fret) I'd let the ztar collect dust for several months now as I was happy to simply play guitar. Atleast I still have a functioning babyz but it's not the same when you go from 24 frets to 16.

I've read that. It's a strange thing regarding consumer needs/wants and corporate operations. Gibson does some stupid stuff. They didn't fully test the zero nut / tuning system before it was released. They didn't ask if anyone wanted it and they put Les Paul's name and face on everything. Les Paul hated the SG design. First released as the les paul special guitar (later abbreviated to SG) LP through a fit and demanded that Gibson take his name off the model. Not really honoring the man in that way. All of Gibson's experiments over the last 20 years have been propogated in the board room which explains why they fail so miserably. Like the Gibson Dust Tiger which really didn't sound anything like the non tele tones it was trying to emulate and it used the same tuning system (sans the zero fret nut) Gibson's Firebird X also has been a disaster. They don't claim "virtual modeling" rather then "good old analog" to drive guitar sounds which are "interpretations" of tones. The effects while nice aren't virtualized either. When you can have something like a Line6 400 or other unit of being able to conjure up various different very realistic visualizations of famous effects and amps the question is why bother with a poor substitute of hard to find patches. Line6 has led the way in effects/amps/guitar modeling. Other brands have either tried to keep up (kemper etc) or have been lost in the dust. Gibson also pursued (imho) a bad strategy with Cakewalk. Cakewalk has had some rather good sound libraries but the daw has languished behind all the bigger (and some of the smaller) Brands in the market. I know I've been using Cakewalk since windows 3.1 Gibsons acquisition simply meant going to a subscription model for Cakewalk. which means Cakewalk doesn't have to keep up on advances they'll just charge you monthly and so long as a regular paycheck is coming in they don't have to advance their product to what it could be. That may be fine for fanboy's who can't get enough of cakewalk and don't want much more then they already have. Not me.... When I look at the advances in Mixcraft 7 over Mixcraft 6 I say good job well worth the upgrade price. They've earned my money. When I look at the advances of BIAB 2015 from 2013 I say... ehh I can still use my version and be quite happy without getting the upgrade. Although they did make some advances. The subscription model (like cakewalk) is based on "you'll pay us whether we do anything or not all the time" The traditional EULA states that you can use the program you paid for as long as the company is around and they still have to release updates (not upgrades) for free. On the other hand I'm a big fan of the Gibson Custom Shop. Pretty price for a fine instrument with detail you won't get in a high production environment. No I don't have 5k+ to drop on a Peter Frampton Les Paul signature. If I did I could be assured that the highest paid most skilled luthiers were building it to a point of precision that is way beyond anything production made. Would it be worth the 5k? Tough call. They are selling like gangbusters and they are actually increasing in value in the collectors market.

A funny thing about Les Paul guitars. They were intended as upscale jazz guitars when designed. Les Paul was the only famous jazz guitarist who ever used one. None of the big name jazz guitarists at the time switched to the LP even though Gibson gave them plenty of incentive to do so. The Fender Jazzmaster (guitar) was another guitar intended for jazz players that never caught on with the jazz crowd either.

One thing to note about transcriptions. In jazz every artist (and sometimes publisher/transcriber) likes to embellish things. This often includes scoring chord substitutions. I remember many years back I got ahold of a transcription for Pat Metheny's version of "Around Midnight" The transcription wasn't based on PM's version nor was it a representation of Thelonious Monk version. I don't have your ear so I piecemealed together my own version which was acceptable but really didn't have the flavor of the Metheny version (which was my goal) or the Monk version.

Many of my favorite current jazz player play.. Telecasters. Ted Greene Ed Bickert Tim Lerch That was my driving inspiration to buy a Tele when I went looking way back. I just love tele-jazz tone.

The Real Book has been the defacto standard around here since it first came out. Same with Chicago and Denver. I know because I used to frequent those places. The thing is when you have singers they tend to be prima donna's and will only sing tunes in keys they feel comfortable with. When I was playing in Florida with the Bobby Cole trio He had his own books. He was a hack imho. Most of the songs were no where near key or proper chord changes. They were all "easy piano" songbooks. But he didn't share even the publishers name. I had to pretty much learn how he played the songs by watching his left hand. I wished I could have recorded his sets to transcribe for myself. There is something so lyrical and bouncy about BK's playing.

I love Jimmie Vaughan often I think his brothers fame may have been why his own talent wasn't as recognized. Also of all the Signature Stratocasters on the market, his is my favorite. anyway.. Fever - Peggy Lee

trust me, I was in a quiet rage today. I went back for my paycheck later and I was told my paperwork had not been processed. The waitresses supported me. But there was no win in the fight. I had spent some money on new clothes to dress appropriately (most places supply chef coats) It may turn out that I lost more then I made. I won't know for a week to be sure. They've lied about everything else so far I wouldn't be surprised if they lied about my rate of pay as well.

Well that was short lived. They only really wanted a cook so that one of their other cooks could go on vacation. Today that cook returned and I was let go.

When I was playing in jazz bands early on they would be constantly seeing if I could cut the mustard. Songs would be played both in faster tempo's and in different keys. Sometimes they would play it songs in different time signatures as well. To them it was separating the wheat from the chaff. To me they were simply a bunch of old jerks. Truth of the matter is all of those same people had to go through the trial by fire process and it was some sort of "right of passage" To earn your spot on the stage.

Have to watch out for which real book you get. Some are for Bb Instruments. At least the band agrees on "The Real Book" as a single source. You wouldn't believe the variance in notation from one book to another. In jazz it's common to transpose songs sometimes changing key by surprize live in the moment to accommodate some prima donna. (I knew one sax player who would only play in C) Depending on the size of the band you can reduce chords. If you are working with a keyboard player or 3 piece horn section it's preferred that you do. Stick to comping 6th/7th chords and forget the extensions.

I'm still working at SZ and I have my new job cooking. If I'm frugal and things go on track I might be able to buy myself this very nice christmas gift.

I've taught guitar before. Competition is tough. The first students go to the teachers with the highest seniority. And if you aren't into a particular style (heavy metal) you then it's harder to get students. Overall I liked teaching to supplement my income. Another problem I have now is... Transportation. Even if I maintained both jobs for an extended period of time it still wouldn't be enough to support a car. It's still early on cooking after my first week. I know that things can change month by month. My next few weeks will be low hours. I'm told it's a seasonal drop off. I'm not bothered by it for the short term. If however time reveals something different I'll have to augment my income with another hourly job.

Looking for Love - Johnny Lee

Paul McCartney. So simple and straightforward. Chuck Rainey Leland Sklar

Thanks Steve. And now the good news. I just got done with a job interview. I start on Tuesday!!! It's not a fortune but enough that I can live within my means.

So here's the update. There is a problem with our ecommerce system for where I currently work. That may be the sign that the doors are finally closed or it may be a glitch which is too expensive to fix. Every month for the last few years I've been sitting in a holding position that this may be the last. Well.... I've got my invoice in for the last month and haven't seen payment (it goes from the 20th to the 20th) So I could be out cold without money. My boss has always been good to me over the last 11 years so I'm hoping he'll honor it and the time I've worked since submission. Also... I have an interview tonite at a coney island. It's not far from me and I'm really really hoping that they'll hire me full time. Wish me luck I really need it. Mike

It's still a great little amp. Though I confess I no longer spend endless hours tweaking tones with the editor. I've yet to touch my Roland Cube since getting the THR-C

It's nice to have a guy working on the audio and midi in windows 10 who has experience with music production and performance. The new midi and audio API's look very promising. I also like the way he addresses usb in regards to midi and midi in general.

Psychologically it's still there gnawing at me. Physically it's still there as well. I've been using e-cigs so I still get a little dose of nicotine.