Guitars

[Dom]

Hi Guys

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2486561.htm

Regards.........Dom

[Oscar]

It may sound great, but it sure is cumbersome to carry around.....

[Bensdexta]

But both 'channels' are the same?
Is that stereo?
All the best,
Ben

[Mark]

I'd like to have one of those just to pick here at home.

Oscar is right about it being to cumbersome to carry.

[Dandy Dave]

Hey there y'all. Dandy Daves an old picker too.

Guild F212, 12 string.
Gibson 5 String Banjo.
12 String Mandolin, built in Canada.
Fiddle
Dulcimer Daze, Appalachian Mountian Ducimer.
Ray Frank, Mike Pavo. Number 8 out of only 16 built, 5 string banjo. West Lebanon Banjo Works. NY, USA.
A couple of 6 string beaters...

Some other stuff in the closet... Dandy Dave!

[Mark]

Looks like you been pickin along time Dandy. You have a good supply of pickin material too! How long have you been collecting your instruments? Do you play music anywhere? And like Oscar always says "we need pictures"

Can't wait to see all your toys, and I wish we weren't so far apart. Would love to pick with you.
Have a good one, Dandy.

[Dandy Dave]

I got me first guitar when I was 16. It was one of those cheepies with plastic strings and when I graduated to somthin better I passed it on to a poor soul who wanted to learn to play...Here is the collection.



Here is the Ray Frank...





Here's the Guild F212....



Mountian Dulcimer

[Dandy Dave]

More....

12 String Mandolin. Three in unison....



Fur Fiddlin around....



Gibson 5 string...



A couple of Beaters ...The Fender (Left) is a nice gutiar. I keep this old 12 String strung up with 6 just to take to partys and such. Never played for money, Just for fun. I did record one song that I wrote. Dandy Dave!

[Mark]

Hey Dandy,
I have started back playing with a group I've picked with for over 25 years. We have a banjer "banjo" player that has a Gibson Mastertone, he and I play dueling banjos, sugarfoot rag, and many more he sounds awesome. We also have an elderly gentlemen "70's" that just bought and old Gibson J45, it sounds good. (I think my Takemine sounds better) Another guy has a Takemine 12 string that sounds pretty good. Then we have a young man that plays a Fender Strat. I play rhythm mostly.

The first guitar I ever had was one called "Kent" with a little amp. Just a starter guitar, then I graduated to my 1959 Gretsch Tennessean, I played it for years, but I mostly play my acoustics with a SWR strawberry blonde acoustic amp. We play all kinds of different genres of music, but mostly Gospel now.

[Oscar]

Great stuff, Dave!!

[Mark]

Dom,
I got the snake pics in the mail and they are pretty good. I liked how good they stay on your finger. They will take some getting used to as to have played with flat picks all my life, but I'll give them a go. I sent you a PM but you may have not noticed it yet.
Thanks again Dom for the picks.

[Mark]

Oscar, while on this thread I went to listen to your playing and they were all gone! Where did they go? I really liked the one you wrote to you daughter.

[Oscar]

Oscar, while on this thread I went to listen to your playing and they were all gone! Where did they go? I really liked the one you wrote to you daughter.

Hi Mark!

Wow, I'm flattered! Never thought that anyone would ask for one of my songs!

I removed those files because I felt that I had not done the songs justice. It was a rough recording, a sketchbook basically, that was really never meant to be shared. Since then I have put up a MySpace page with some new songs where the recording quality is better (though still far removed from what I want it to be). You can find it HERE. The second-to-last tune is a straight-ahead instrumental rock tune with blazing guitars (though one with a very catchy chorus), the first three and the last one are all acoustic.

My greatest hurdle is finding recording time. Obviously I share the house with 3 small kids and it is impossible to record because each little noise is mercilessly captured by the mic's. So I have to plan ahead and make use of the odd hour here and there when the house is empty, and even then it's challenging (I've had the neighbour starting up his lawnmower in the middle of a great take ). To make matters worse, the time squeeze prevents me from being relaxed so I don't play my best at all. It's always a rush job and that really influences the quality of my playing. It's gotten to the point where I'm reluctant to record, to be honest, because the results typically make me cringe. I decided to put the MySpace page up and initially I was happy with the songs I put up there, but I'm now 6 months down the line and now I think it's pretty terrible. I'm my own worst critic and I have a tough time to tell if my criticism is justified or if it is just nitpicking.

Anyway, you might like the songs on MySpace (I have a hunch you'll like Lavender, it's a lovely little song I wrote and I'm really proud of that one, even if I did not manage to play it the way it should be played).

As for the song you're looking for, the one I wrote for my daughter, I'll listen to it again and see if I could still sleep at night if I knew that one was on MySpace. If so, I'll add it. If not, I'll email it to you so that you can listen to it privately.

Cheers!
Oscar

[Oscar]

As for the song you're looking for, the one I wrote for my daughter, I'll listen to it again and see if I could still sleep at night if I knew that one was on MySpace. If so, I'll add it. If not, I'll email it to you so that you can listen to it privately.

I revisited that song, normalized it a bit so that its volume level matches a little better with the other songs I have on MySpace, and added it. So you can listen to it at your convenience. It's the fifth and last tune.

Cheers!
Oscar

[Mark]

Hey Oscar,
I don't want to embarrass you, but you have out done yourself with you guitar playing. Those songs are really really good. My favorite is the one you wrote for you daughter and Lavender was exceptionally well done.
What kind of recorder do you have? How many tracks can you record simultaneously. I hear a good bass guitar in them, have you been practicing playing the bass? I'd love to be able to sit down and listen to you in person.
Sadly I have to admit that the car wreck I was in that broke my neck is taking the strength out of my hands and it's hard to get a good bar chord now, and sometimes my pick slips. Dom sent me the "snake pick" and it works really well, a lot better than I assumed it would. It's an ugly looking critter, but it is really a good pick.
Well don't let your head swell, but I do like to listen to you play, you have really been practicing a lot, and the love of your music shows in the styles you play. I can sit back and close my eyes and visualize where you are at on the neck and what chords and notes you are playing. Great stuff, well done.

[Brian]

Oscar is a very talented man.

Who else do you know who drives a train, runs the best Fordson web site in the world and writes and plays music like that!

[Oscar]

Hey Oscar, I don't want to embarrass you, but you have out done yourself with you guitar playing. Those songs are really really good. My favorite is the one you wrote for you daughter and Lavender was exceptionally well done.

Thanks Mark! Coming from you, a fellow picker with decades of experience, that means a lot to me.

What kind of recorder do you have? How many tracks can you record simultaneously.

I use a typical cheap digital multi-track recorder, a BOSS BR1200CD.



Bought it used a few years ago. It's a rather deep machine; I had to put in some serious study before I could use it. I've been working with multi-track tape machines and analog mixing boards all my life and the switch to digital was harder than I thought it would be. Anyway, this thing can record only 2 tracks simultaneously and 12 in total, though with digital bouncing you can effectively create as many tracks as you like. I use two condenser mics: a Rode NT1000 and a cheap Samson C02 and both of them run on the phantom power provided by the BOSS. That Samson is a must-have: it costs only 50 euros yet sounds incredible. My Rode NT1000 is a large-diaphragm studio mic. I point both of them side-by-side towards the fretboard around the 15th fret at a 45 degree angle, roughly 10" away from the neck. That gave me the best results with my acoustic. With other guitars, I might position the mics differently.

I hear a good bass guitar in them, have you been practicing playing the bass?

I've been playing bass for ages. I love it! The only MySpace songs with bass on it are First Steps and Been Done Before (the electric tune). I use a very cheap Ibanez bass but I always get a big sound out of it.

Sadly I have to admit that the car wreck I was in that broke my neck is taking the strength out of my hands and it's hard to get a good bar chord now, and sometimes my pick slips.

It saddens me to hear that you are having difficulties - I wish there was something I could do. The important thing is to keep playing! Many pros have sufferend terrible injuries during their careers but with lots of hard work they got back into shape. Django Reinhardt played with a severly burned hand and only could use 2 fingers - and he's the godfather of Gypsy Jazz! Neo-classical rocker Yngwie Malmsteen was told he could never play again after a car accident, but he wouldn't have any of it and re-learned the guitar. There are many more! Perhaps you should play electric guitar for a while, with a set of .010 strings...? Or perhaps a classical guitar with nylon strings? We all know how hard it is to play a steel-string at concert pitch with .012 or .013 strings.....

Keep playing Mark! One note at a time!

Regards,
Oscar
PS: recently I found back a bunch of old pop/rock tunes from my old band that I was in 14 years ago. I was teaching at a high school back then and was asked to re-invigorate the school band, which I did. Since there was no suitable guitarist around, I took that up as well. I wrote all the songs. Listening back to those old tracks, there is a certain naive charm to the music. It wasn't anything special, just ordinary pop and rock, but I am not ashamed of any of it - I think some of those songs withstood the test of time rather well. Anyone interested will find some songs HERE. The page is in Dutch, but the music knows no boundaries. Be warned though, that some of the songs rock quite hard!

[Mark]

Oscar,
I listened to all your songs and they were really good, your guitar playing is spectacular for a 14 year old boy. I'm impressed again! I saw where you were online, and I tried to send you a message through my wife's my space page, but after I sent it you were off line. So if you are wondering who that was it was yours truly.
Is that you singing in the band?
The first band I was in was when I was 12, back in the early 60's, now if I heard that today it would be quite amusing, I had a electric starter guitar. The brand was Kent, with an amp. I don't remember what kind. That was when dinosaurs roamed here in the states. My Uncle gave me his Kay acoustic guitar, and that's when I started to love these instruments. I have since played in a few bands, but now I play in a gospel band. I still listen to all genres of music, and love it all. Music is the standard bearer between all cultures of people in all the country's of the world. 99.999% of people like music. We may not understand the language, but we all understand the music, it speaks for itself.
Like Brian said, "who else do we know who drives a train, and runs the best Fordson web site in the world and writes and plays his own butt kicking music."
This web site is so amazing that everyone knows each other so well, yet most of us have never met in person. I only wish the world could get along like everyone on our web site, it just amazing!
Once again Oscar you are a talented man, and I'm glad to know you.

[Oscar]

Oscar, your guitar playing is spectacular for a 14 year old boy. I'm impressed again!

At age 14 I had just begun playing guitar! No, those recordings are 14 years old now, some of the kids who played on it were around that age as well, but I was 25 or something. I was teaching at that school, the other people in the band were students.

Is that you singing in the band?

All the songs with a bloke singing on it are me. But "singing" is a big word for my limited vocal talents. I was providing a sketch so that our singer could re-do the vocals, but somehow we never got around to that. The lyrics were also supposed to be re-done, as I am a truly lousy lyricist, but we never got around to that either.

The first band I was in was when I was 12, back in the early 60's, now if I heard that today it would be quite amusing, I had a electric starter guitar. The brand was Kent, with an amp. I don't remember what kind. That was when dinosaurs roamed here in the states.

It would be fantastic to hear back your first band efforts. Like you, I also did not record my very first band experiences. I wish I had.

Like Brian said, "who else do we know who drives a train, and runs the best Fordson web site in the world and writes and plays his own butt kicking music."

You and Brian have perfectly singled out my greatest weakness: I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none. I've always been drawn into various interests and have never been able to really focus on one. When I finished university, we needed bread on the table. A teaching position came by and I took it. From that moment on, things just steamrolled by on auto-pilot and I was sucked into steady day jobs. With that, any chance of doing what I really wanted to do just disappeared. I'm not complaining, as I've got a pretty good job but if I could maintain my family from playing music, that would be a no-brainer.

This web site is so amazing that everyone knows each other so well, yet most of us have never met in person. I only wish the world could get along like everyone on our web site, it just amazing!

It is thanks to great people like you that this site is what it is!

[Mark]

Oscar,
Your vocals were actually pretty good singing in English with your accent. I'm curious as to why you were singing in English. I'd like to here you in Dutch, that's where you would no doubt excel.
So many of my friends here speak and write English very well. Is English taught in school as a second language like Spanish is here in America?
I would like to learn the cultures of your countries, that would be awesome. Maybe one day I can get over there.
Here in America we have different accents depending on where you live. If you live up North in the New England states they have a totally different way they pronounce there words. In the South, as in below the Mason Dixon line, we have whats called a southern drawl. And in my part of Appalachia they have a different why of talking from the deep south. When you go out in the western states it's the same way.
I know in England it's the same way as here with different accents.
Is it like this in your parts of Europe?
I like learning and have so many questions, but this will have to do for now.
You all have a great day.

[Oscar]

I'm curious as to why you were singing in English.

I never even consciously thought about that. In pop and rock music, English is the way to go. There are bands that sing in Dutch, but they're not known outside of Holland (basically a pinprick on the map). I have been criticized by many Dutchmen when I set up this site in English - they wanted me to do it in Dutch. To me, that was never an option. I realized from the outset that the site should be a global site.

So many of my friends here speak and write English very well. Is English taught in school as a second language like Spanish is here in America?

Yes, definitely.

I know in England it's the same way as here with different accents. Is it like this in your parts of Europe?

Yes. Even a country as small as Holland, there are strong regional dialects and we even have a region that has its own language.