Comment

Comment by norman moody on June 10, 2011 at 12:47pm

Hey now! I got your comments and say thanks from the heart. I played keys for twenty- five? Years and one day Dr told me I will go down one day; not getting back up. Hands are going too. I would gladly post a vid with some of the basic stuff I borryed ...T Bone plays up toward the neck a bit. That's called choking. A lot of the tone is from stuffing a little back into the soundhole. You can see it. A studied player, I went for the three chords. Then found a way to play them in a jazz/Blues context. You can get the chord forms from YouTube a vid called Ukulele Jazz Chords. I can't reach the first chord. Too much bend in my hyper-mobile joints. The second two...both are basic movable ninth chords. One fret barred and three on the second fret leaving the top, or low string played by the barred fret. My fingers have to turn sideways to reach it. This makes watching me a trick until you realize that one thumb over the top and you got the one chord played as a simple thirteenth. It doesn't do well as the normal sixth chord. I use fills to keep the movement feel. Simple it out. I overplay a lot. My earlier bids. My PC is fried so I can't make videos fly with this Droid 2 yet.it keeps needing a hotspot.and its almost old now....thanks. I hope this helped a bit. Email or msg me with any questions I might be able to answer. Keep Playin The Blues

Comment by Bad Finger (Eric) on June 3, 2011 at 5:56am

I hate people.  I mean, you guys are OK, but I hate people.  There is one group that ranks above the over loud, over played and over dressed scene described in this post (and I shouldn't digress from the topic at hand, but I will) and those are the self-important moms yacking with each other and facebooking during the kindergarten chorus.  Just stay home.  Either them or me.  :)

 

CBGs, with a few notable exceptions, are small crowd, small venue, huge appreciation instruments, in my humble estimation.  Keep rockin'.

Comment by Uncle John on June 2, 2011 at 3:34pm

I think I am with you guys.  Keep the sound level below 'broken eardrums',  don't play on and on (my mind wanders), keep it simple, keep it good, try not to pose, don't keep people wating -- and a hat is a good thing.

Comment by JonBouye on May 30, 2011 at 11:03am

Hi Mark. I think you, Steve and I all belong to the same club. I gave up on "concerts" a long time ago. And I'm amazed at some of the great times I've had with an encounter with a couple of pickers playing acoustic guitar in the park, at the lake or the beach. I was brought up with the belief that weird strange sounds that are usually considered noise when amplified to raise the roof is still considered noise.

 

I remember in the late 60's how impressed I was as an audiophile with an album Bobby Christensen did where he took such pains to have a 6' oblong gong specially constructed and rolled a silver dollar down it to produce and capture a particular sound he wanted on one of his compositions: The Mt Fujiama Suite. I loved being able to use a graphic equallizer to shape the sound and listen to a sax player doing riffs in the background to enhance a piece instead of an audio man thinking it was an additional volume control.

Ok, so I've had my say. But Steve if we went to the concert and threw eggs we would probably just be thrown out and/or arrested and bad mouthed about un-cool we were. Some will never know what they missed.

Comment by Slowpaw Steve T on May 29, 2011 at 8:22pm

Interesting piece Mark, I go to fewer gigs these days as large venues with expensive tickets, poor seating arrangements and poor acoustics and sound levels such as the 02 seem to be becoming the norm these days, i liked the Apollo sized venues where you felt part of the band rather than a distant observer, though well-biased tube amps do sound better when cranked the sound does not have to be overwhelming. 

I attended many pub open mic events where everyone was trying to "cut through" and be louder than everyone else, tiny amps cranked up to 11 and gave everybody ringing ear syndrome for the next two days... "can't get enough" seemed like an ironic joke always played at these things, and when are guitarists going to realise shredding is really actually very boring...? As you say, people want to hear 3 or 4 minute songs with maybe the odd squeal thrown in (-:

Then there is always the Hendrix effects box dive bomber freaks...even more tedious and boring.

One place which gained a lot of criticism over the years for poor sound in UK was the Wembley Arena, which was surprising as i'd always enjoyed the sounds bands made here, especially Dream Theater a few years ago where their set was almost hifi-crystal quality!

I would recommend the use of industrial ear plugs to any future events like the one you describe, and a few eggs and rotten fruit to throw at those long jams and solos, they'll soon get the message! (-;

.