Joe G

Wacky!

Pretty sure it was Jim. Yeah, that was lame.

Talk to Sangrey. He's the one who started the dancing thread.

I've been following Fareed Haque's advice and playing along to CDs with a shaker for a couple of weeks now. Haven't seen any immediate changes in my guitar playing, but it's fun, and it can't hurt! One interesting thing I have noticed is that when I'm playing along, keeping that shaker rhythm centered and finding the right accents, I become aware of rhythms, melodies, and harmonies in the recording which for some reason had escaped my attention previously. Shit just jumps out at me, and I'll say, "I never heard that before!" So I recommend this practice for that reason alone. Here's Fareed's article, from his website: A Natural Approach To Chops, Speed and Virtuosity The Nature of Virtuosity ON Virtuosity, Technique and Rhythm There are a few basic principles that need to ALWAYS be applied to avoid injury, and develop virtuoso technique. What is Virtuosity? One of the most striking examples of virtuosity on the classical guitar is John Williams' Version of "El colibri"(The Hummingbird) by Julio Sagreras. [sony Classical] As a young guitarist I wore this track out, so moved was I that I played it over and over again. Williams playing took my breath away. SO FAST!! WOW! SO AMAZING!! Soon I was playing classical guitar myself and collecting records - checking out different guitarists - AND different versions of the same pieces. ESPECIALLY my favorite - El colibri. I found recordings of almost every other fine guitarist playing this short 'virtuoso'piece. NOBODY played it as well or as fast as John Williams. I found all of the other versions competetent, but they didn't have that 'thing' that WOW that took my breath away. What did those other versions lack??? Soon my inner nerd took over. I began practicing 'El colibri myself. Comparing different versions I timed them all to see who played the fastest. Imagine my SHOCK and SURPRISE to find that Williams' version was the SLOWEST version of all of them. This blew my mind, shattered all of my illusions, and raised the right question, "What is it about Williams' version that moved me, WOWED me every time, even after hundreds of listenings???? The answer, after years of playing and experimenting, finally came. Williams' version GROOVES! Simple as all that. Williams plays with RHYTHM. It was not the speed that wowed me. It was the rhythm that created the feeling of speed that wowed me. [ Did you ever notice that almost all great jazz virtuosi play drums or percussion??? Chick, Jaco, Al Dimeola, John McLaughlin….and many many others…] SO I began to work on my Rhythm not speed. I practiced accenting…GROOVING…the notes. I also picked up some percussion toys, egg shakers and the like and I started out playing along with the radio. I practiced some with a metronome…but mostly I just tapped my foot and accented the notes that were important to the phrase…making them groove. All the while Id practice my shakers everyday through a couple of songs on the radio. Suddently I found two things happening: 1 - after playing with my shakers my SPEED on the guitar was increasing…almost exponentially - all by itself. HUH? NO hard work?? No hours in the practice room? Just a few minutes a day jamming along with the radio with an egg shaker - and my GUITAR chops are finally getting better. WHY??? Well in retrospect the answer is simple. For every note played a signal needs to go from head to hand, right? The better one knows WHEN to play that note [rhythm] the less confusion between hand and brain. 2 - I ALSO found that I could GROOVE my [by this time] old favorite El colibri and get that same WOW that I loved about the Williams version at any tempo. I could make it feel' Virtuosic' - I could make it feel fast - just by grooving - playing with good rhythm and accenting the important notes - at almost any tempo - even slowly. This for me was a huge realization. Think about the implications. You get off the plane, hands cold, no warm up and must play a recital. How do you play vi\rtuoso music??? Before I'd just pray. NOW I know that virtuosity is Rhythm not speed…so all I have to do is find a comfortable tempo for THAT room, Those cold hands and frazzeled nerves…I just play it slower…make sure it grooves….and the people still get their breath taken a way…they get that WOW at any tempo…and I now sit down to play with CONFIDENCE knowing that not speed but groove will get my message of music to my beloved audience.

I paid $900 for mine - it was a blemish discount. Not much of a blemish, either. Normally $1200 for that model, iirc. They've got another model that's a double cutaway (rachel found it online and posted it in my birthday thread), but it's not on their website, so I think it's just now being released. Looks pretty cool, though. Yeah, it came about pretty quickly for me. I saw Fareed Haque playing one at the Jazz Kitchen in Indy, checked into them, and placed an order.

See here. I'm enjoying my Monterey! Did have a couple of beefs: had to replace the volume pots, as they didn't roll off very smoothly. And, the highest note is C, rather than D like my other guitars. Other than that, the guitar is very well balanced and has a great tone. Fine guitar at a good price.

So, what aspects of hip-hop culture is "star" critical of again? Uh-huh.

Same here.

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it. It cuts through the mix quite well without being brittle. The bridge pickup sounds great, too.

What if Dick Cheney is my choice for Vice Prescient? At least you'll know when to duck.

I know. I cancelled cable last year, and don't watch any tv (same with you guys, right?). But as I was telling someone recently, the computer has become my tv - I'll just sit in front of it for a couple of hours in the evening - and youtube is one of the reasons!

Yep! Pretty cool to see those two together.

That's an interesting take. I think you may be onto something there.

I'm lovin' the amp in that pic!

All stellar stuff, but this one took the prize. Especially loved Thomas Dolby making guitar faces while pushing buttons on that little keypad thingy.

I guess another truism is that no one likes a complainer. :rsly:

PLEASE tell me you're kidding!

No one in life gets a free ride. Pain is the great equalizer, and everyone, rich or poor, beautiful or not, experiences their share.

Give us a link! And thanks!! (Sorry if there's a link in your sig; I have them turned off.)

I danced at a few concerts: Ziggy Marley, Pancho Sanchez. We need a good dance like we need a good cry once in a while! And I do love playing for beautiful dancers.

I leave all that to GregN.

Thanks, everybody. Love you all. We had three gigs in three days here, and today I was up earlier than I should have been to attend a workshop, so I've just been chillin' at home tonight. Sure wish I had some of what Chris made for dinner - sounds damn good!

We wondered where you went when we were getting ready to play Mimosa, and you were not to be found! Oh well, it was a good night, and I'm glad you could hang as long as you did.

Don't make me post that garage band doing The Final Countdown.