TapperMike

I played a plastic guitar when I was 8 (though I couldn't play back then ) and again when I was 22 which was a gift from an estate sale. To be honest I never liked the sound of them even when D'jango was playing them. I also don't like the sound of those large soundhole manouche guitars regardless of what they are made from. I think they are rattle boxes. While I do like the tone that springs forth from Ransongs and Roundback ovation type guitars with solid tops. I've yet to enjoy the tone from most of the carbon fiber type guitars. I'm not saying that one can't carve great expression out of them. I just don't like the tone. FYI you can have microphonic pickups that are still potted however potted or unpotted the more microphonic they are the less they produce lows and the less mids sustain they have.

Umm yeah, no, maybe. Exactly the same guitar aside from the tonewoods. I can here the difference. Everything affects tone. neck thickness, body style, wood, pickups, tone pots, wiring. I've got three tele's Swamp Ash, Alder, Pine. though if equally equipped the alder and the swamp ash would sound near the same. I find the pine to be the most "woody warm" (enjoyable to hear) There was a company (forget the name now) making a parker fly copy all carbon fiber with a roland gk pre installed. I played it for an hour wanting to fall in love with it but I didn't.

It all depends on the personal maturity of your bandmates and yourself. My first band the drummer and the singer would argue over the time of day, which was a good thing. They were brothers and usually they could blow off steam at one another without taking it out on the rest of the band. I've walked into three bands where..They knew all the material and I'd have to learn it by ear on stage while performing. Quite maddening. Usually after one does this for awhile playing blues or trad jazz or classic rock it gets easier. Mostly it's hell. In Blues and Jazz there is an element of improvisation which the audience expects. In "Pop" performance of covers there is an expectation of adherence . The audience wants the music to sound exactly like it is on the record. When not performed to an exact standard the audience quickly loses interest. Many band members go to extremes with their rigs so the equipment sounds the same as the equipment used on the record. Those who most faithfully recreate songs make the most money. Those who can't do a decent cover usually get pushed back on open mic night to give someone else a chance. Learning a song by verbal instruction is extremely difficult in as far as retention. A simple chord chart can go a long way in learning a new song that is currently being written.

Fortunate Son - CCR

The thing I hate most about play.riffstation and Chordie.com is the lack of measure formatting. We recirculate to your original questions and your original needs and add one one more question to the pile....Format. .MID is pretty much a dead format. Publishing house have sued the pants off of anyone who hosted them. Guitar Pro http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php is the most accurate way to tab things out for guitar. GP files are generally written more accurately then other files. There are other places to pickup gp format songs then "mysongbook" Which to it's credit is fully legal. On the looser side of things Band in a Box - http://pgmusic.com It's an accompaniment program but nothing like those auto accompaniment keyboards. While you can play any style of music jazz players gravitate to it most and it's really how jazz players perceive / interpret then note for note. There are still plenty of pop/rock/country standards in biab format. This> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Band-in-a-Box-Files2/files is a huge archive of biab songs without melodies making them perfectly legal for downloading/use for free. (requires membership in the yahoo group) And finally.... wait.... Wait.... The Beatles The beatles have influenced everyone in the pop rock field since they first came on the scene. Sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. Most (90%) of beatles songs are relatively easy to learn and they offer something to grow on/with. When I was a kid back in the 70's every would be guitarist had at least one if not several beatles fake books. Love Me Do Hard Days Night Eight Days a Week Can't Buy Me Love Twist and Shout Do you want to know a secret (okay that might be a challenge for a newbie player) I wanna hold your hand.

If you play a simple song well then that's all that matters. Till you get bored out of your mind. What's funny is many of the songs I found in early "easy guitar" songbooks were completely wrong. My ears kept on arguing with the written material and I just assumed that the guy who wrote the stuff new better then me. It was a hars reality. Here's an easy one... http://play.riffstation.com/?v=7uJL8er_tV0 Though I take umbrage with certain chords. -The first chord not recognized is a C Major spelled open G C on the first fret and open E then it moves up to an open D chord -The G major is always open in the song and.. It should be a G Major 7th. -Where it represents a Bm chord it'a actually the same GM7 open and the Am is actually an Am9 bar at the 5th fret C and E notes and B on the 7th fret. I kind of take umbrage with a lot of riffstation stuff. This one is "mostly" accurate http://play.riffstation.com/?v=Sc4l5EpCMEc

With EVH.... he's always been insecure. With Jimmy Page it may have been that he was locked into a contract with Gibson. Gibson was funny that way. They would show up to concerts with free guitars just to make sure the audience saw the brand name. They would do full page advertisements for the guitar and artist when the artist hit the cover of a magazine. If Jimmy Page was on the cover of Guitar Player gibson would sell X more gibsons for that month. So it was important for gibson to have their artist featured prominently with the guitars and dangerous when they weren't. When a guitarist had a big league contract with Gibson it would work for the guitarists career as well. Keep his face in magazines and interest in tours and records alive. I used to get bent out of shape with that type of stuff. Especially Eddie Van Halen who was really bad about lying and caused quite a number of guitarists to sacrifice amps. http://ultimateclassicrock.com/eddie-van-halen-reveals-his-biggest-lie/ It's not the only lie he's told in his career. However it was the most damming. People went out and got marshall amps and He told people he cranked the variac up. In truth when you crank a variac up you not only fry the tubes you fry the amp. EVH lied about almost everything. The actual body he used for the guitar he built. The fact that the bridge pickup was the only one that worked. The fact that he bypassed the tone pot. He didn't design the 5150 amp...That was Soldano. He didn't design the EB/Music Man guitar that was all in house at Music Man. After I wrote this which is famous early keyboard sounds .... http://tappermike.com/?q=node/32 I was going to do a follow up with famous guitar sounds. Guitars, amps effects and settings. The more research I did the harder it was to get to the truth and people who believed things for a long time weren't about to shake off the the belief for truth. Another example.... All the journey songs of the 70's Neal Schon was playing an Aria Pro PE not a Gibson Les Paul. I've pointed out this video before... Scott Grove hist many things right on (and some thing s bit off) My contention isn't as much the ghost build but the tonal representation. Let's say you have a bazillion dollars and you buy A Schon signature Les Paul. Goddamit that thing should sound exactly like the guitar he used. Nor sorta or maybe or possibly. I've played a 1980's Eric Clapton strat and ..It does sound exactly like the signature strat he played in the 80's (not quite blackie) I've also played a Peter Frampton Custom signature and it doesn't sound like Peter Framptons during the 70's I had a 78 custom which hit the mark much better. I ignore the signature status for guitars these days. With maybe the exception of the Jimmie Vaughan signature strat model. I just like the tone for it's own sake. It's reasonably priced.

Fields of Gold - Sting

Strawberry Letter 23 / Brothers Johnson

Thanks for those John. It's funny to listen to Jimmy Page through the years and his evolving stories. As much as I idolized him in the past and wanted to believe every word he said. The whole Randy California thing, The Les Paul story was the one that broke the camels back for me. Jimmy Page was a paid endorser for Gibson and Marshall. I can recall several times when he stated that for the recording of Stairway he specifically stated it was a Les Paul fed through a marshall. I tried everything I could to recreate that tone in my early years with a LP standard and various marshal amps. There was even an article in Guitar player where he was called out on the LP thing and he stated "yes I've got a coil tap switch under the pickguard for the nasal single coil tone" Matchingly bad is this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven#Composition Jeff Beck had his 59 esquire stolen and when it was returned he exchanged it with Seymour Duncan for a Telecaster with humbuckers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YB9EX7YpFk

When I worked in restaurants unless they had an open kitchen I'd be listening as much as humanly possible. In larger kitchens with 4 to 7 cooks on the line it's just not feasible. But during down time the radio would always be on or someone would bring in CD's or tapes to listen to. In the 70's and 80's there was no shortage of musicians / singers working in restaurants. We'd often bring our instruments to work and have impromptu jams before and after work. When the local Kroger (supermarket) first opened they were open 24/7 After midnight it was hilarious as they would crank out the classic rock and the stock boys would be singing and dancing in the isles as they loaded up the shelves.

I'm listening to the radio right now which is extremely rare for me. I'll often cue into posts in the Song Association thread but as a matter of daily listening I rarely do for the sake of listening. Usually I'm trying to figure out a cover or improvise over something.

As Tears Go By - The Rolling Stones

Actually they really do. Big name stars like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift wouldn't be as rich as they are without labels. Labels handle tours. What's cheaper spotify or a big name concert? http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/03/08/the-10-most-expensive-concert-tickets/

I read that. I was pulling my hair out with Ableton Live when I first got it. I figured with all the prior daw experience I had it would be a snap. I had to take a rest from using it and then.... Then I stumbled upon some youtube videos and got down to brass tacks with the help files / manual.

Part of it is agism. And the other part is being out of the industry for so long. Last year I only worked a few months at the sports bar before it closed and prior to that I'd been out of the field for 10 years. Oddly when I was in the industry I cooked for almost 30 years

Singers have preferred keys. Heck everyone (musicians) find themselves working in preferred keys after awhile. Quick when was the last time one of you played a song in Ab? Unless you are a guitarist who tunes down a half step from standard prolly not ever. Sure old blue eyes loved Ab but no many who came after him.. If you are used to always working in your preferred key then it's harder when you push boundaries. On the other hand it never hurts to expand your range of material in order to familiarize yourself better with a given key.

Much debate about that one... Most monophonic instruments used in producing harmonies as group (vocals, brass, etc) found in the wild (performing live) don't operate on the even temperament system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament But that's the standard we use for tuning musical instruments. It's not perfect because it's based on compensating all pitches to equal value which means all harmony is off by the same degree rather then some harmonies being more in tune and others less so. Those really good singers who do harmony for a living focus on "the best possible" harmony to the lead vocal. Which may be a few cents off from what a midi keyboard might produce. When I'm smart (and that isn't always the case) I take a very unscientific approach to learning a song. First I listen. I don't sing/play along. I'll listen a few times and imagine myself impersonating the singer and I'll hold that in my head. Then I'll try to hold the song in my head without actually listening to the recording and imagine myself singing/playing the part. And finally I'll try my hand at singing/playing the part. It's not that easy. It's not easy to not sing/play along and it can be difficult to let the song play in your head without becoming involved by singing along. But it works for me. I am a fan of relative pitch and I study it for life. Play the note then let it rest then try to sing the note I played and finally compare the two making adjustments for pitch after the fact. I don't think singing diatonic scales makes one better at singing songs because melodies rarely if ever follow the straight path of a scale. ( I can name a few but very few which do) So my advice is... Find songs that are similar in style to what you currently play but are in (not too distant) different keys. Listen, Listen, Listen then try to play/sing along. The reason why you prefer G and D is that you are familiar with them using them so much. The only way you'll get comfortable with other keys is if you familiarize yourself with them in context with songs you've already heard. Key of E Key of C While researching my response I happened on this - http://www.songkeyfinder.com/ At first glance the keys for the songs appear accurate.

Thanks, all. I thought I was a shoe in but alas, no call back. Funny I worked at that location (different owners different name) for 12 years. Even had a buddy of mine who worked there way back when put in a good word for me... Nothing.

I agree. There is a huge difference between a "lease" and a purchase a subscription is a lease of service. A tractor can have a very very long life if built right and maintained well. Which may be the source of the problem for tractor manufacturers. Farmer's issues have more to do with Monsanto pulling land grabs. It's not just tractors. I'm without car and have been for a few years now simply because I can't afford to own one. When I did most of mine were used cars that had long since past their prime but were good transportation specials. Buying a car that I own as opposed to leasing one allowed me to save money by not having to go to a dealer for simple maintenance and repair which any reputable mechanic or I could take on myself. Why do I need to take a car to a dealership to put air in the tires or gas in the tank. This is the path we would find ourselves in if such a ruling were allowed to stand.

Everyone seems to think that the pro capitalist movement in china started because of western intervention. It didn't. Under the Mao regime workers didn't even legally own their own teeth. http://listen.sdpb.org/post/secret-document-transformed-china When you technically can't own anything there becomes little incentive to work for anything. At least with the apple model you still own the hardware however using it in a non standard form voids any warranty. (like jailbreaking an iphone.) Property Rights (originally land and then extended) were the foundation of the american free enterprise system and any seller who claims "sale" of a specified good releases rights of ownership to the recipient. IMHO if the seller is not willing to sell said product and wave ownership rights then maybe they ought not sell it at all.

I'm going in for a second interview at a local restaurant tomorrow. For those in need of a recap... My hours were cut below where I could afford to live last year. I worked at a sports bar trying to put money away when a fire came along and closed the place. Since then I've been scraping by between my current part time status (which won't last long) and my savings (which I've just about completely tapped out. The place I'm interviewing at - http://www.baysidesportsgrill.com/ I had worked at that location (different owners / different staff) from 1990 till 2002

That scared the heck out of me. Kubota would be wise to use this as advertising

Have you considered re recording the kick and cymbals on new isolated separate tracks?