drolow

Heard Impossible Germany while i was getting my car fixed at a Honda dealership by me. Hearing Nels' guitar solo made me feel better about the bill

something i like to do on guitar is think horizontally as opposed to staying in one position. The tricky thing about the guitar is the ability to play the same note in so many different positions. I find that trying different ways of playing the same phrase sometimes open up new ideas. Another thing to try is just experimenting with chord voicings a bit in new positions. I find that i get out of ruts at times when i least expect it. The last suggestion i have is maybe don't play or think about music too much for a few days, when I return to the guitar it helps me change my perception of my playing and lets me hear what i am doing with fresh ears.

Yeah store bought earplugs are terrible due to all of the resonance issues i've found in using them. One option is to see an ear/nose/throat doctor and have special ear plugs made by the doctor. They run around 100 dollars and are essentially a model of your inner ear cavity. I've had people in bands I've been in use them and they have nothing but good things to say about them. I am actually going to be getting them soon as well. Hearing is not something to be screwing around with. I already at 23 have been told that i have significant high frequency hearing loss. Scary.

I have a Jazzmaster with a mustang bridge. Make sure that the mustang bridge that you are buying is not one that has gaps between the saddles. Many of the reissue ones that you'll find at most of the mail order companies have saddles that are too small for a jaguar or Jazzmaster leaving gaps between them. The gaps cause both a ringing from the strings behind the bridge and also buzz. The vintage mustang bridges are ok but run about 100-150 bucks on ebay. Also you might be able to find some vintage mustang saddles which you could use to replace the ones on your stock bridge, creating a mustang bridge. That might be a cheaper alternative. I know Nels uses a vintage mustang bridge on his main Jazzmaster. I personally like the sound of the mustang bridge better than the stock one. It is possible to set up the stock one to remove the buzzing. You can always file down the grooves in the stock bridge to give a deeper slot for the string like a mustang bridge. I am not sure if with the fairly new mustang reissue from fender if that bridge has the same problems I've experienced with a mustang bridge. I personally do feel that the mustang bridge adds sustain. One other thing to do to work on the standard stock bridge is to use blue Loctite, which is a thread locker. You can buy it at any hardware store. Just apply it to the bridge on the saddles and intonation screws and it will tighten up a lot of the buzzing. Its fully removable and it will make it harder to make adjustments. The other thing about the mustang bridge is it locks you into the 7.25" radius which can cause fretting out with bends above the 12th fret. I think Jazzmasters and Jaguars are really cool instruments that are underrated by a lot of guitarists because they do require a lot of work to maintain, but the payoff is worth it. Good luck with whatever you decide.

You also might want to check out the Ibanez AS83. Its a semi-hollow like the dot but in my opinion a little bit better guitar overall. Its definitely a versatile instrument that you could use in a school jazz band context as well as anything else you would be doing. Traditional jazz guitar is all about having as clean a tone as possible. The problem with a lower wattage tube amp is while its great for rock because it breaks up and gives that nice tube overdrive sound, in the traditional hard bop Wes Montgomery school of jazz guitar, an amp with more clean headroom would be ideal. A lot of jazz guitarists actually use solid state amplifiers for that reason. A set of flatwound strings also would be helpful. I got through plenty of jazz gigs with a strat non the less just by rolling back the tone control on the guitar. You might not even need a new guitar. Its really all about personal preference with these things anyway. If i was you i would try out a bunch of guitars and see if you like any of them. Also to save money give the squire a try and see if it works. Another thing to try to fake a jazz sound on a strat is to roll the volume nob on the guitar back to 8 or so as opposed to full out. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Here's a pretty good link about it from a vintage gibson blog

http://vintage-guitars.blogspot.com/2005/1...ney-kessel.html

A PM please. I am sorry was traveling back from philly last night

Could i possibly get a pm of the three songs.

I've had one for about four or five years now. Mostly I use it for loops and such. If you want a sign wave type tone you can roll the tone control all the way back which is good for synthy type textures. Also you can get a lot of cool effects with lots of delay and a slide if you are into that kind of thing.