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deepseacatfish

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Posts posted by deepseacatfish

    Jazz Guitar

    in Solid State Technology

    Posted

    The Dots are pretty good for their price, I don't know too much about lower priced Gretsch's specifically. With any guitar under $500 the key is to go to a store and actually play on them, they are going to be variable in quality and finding one that you like is important, as well as finding one that has good workmanship. Some of them have cheaper electronics, but that can be switched out if you want. Another thing to consider is finding an older used hollow-body guitar--often the workmanship on these is pretty good and some have aged quite nicely, but just play around and see what you like, just because most jazz players are playing hollow-bodies doesn't mean you have to either...after all Nels mostly plays Jazzmasters. Jazz generally calls for a slightly muddy, warm, mellow sound--so wider pickups (ie. not single coils) tend to work better...other than that, it's more up to you than anything else.

     

    As for pedals, I wouldn't use a lot. Your best friend in this situation would be just playing out of a nice tube-amp. Talk to your teacher, if there's more fusion material maybe a phaser or chorus/sustain might be recommended...but unless it's really avant-garde most jazz people stick to pretty much a guitar and an amp and maybe one or two pedals.

    Another day, another Blender list

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Aren't a lot of them released by major labels?

    Yes.

     

    A lot of the albums on this list were well before "indie" even became a music term. I mean "Another Green World" is great, but I certainly would never call it indie--they're probably just using it as a catch phrase for "hip." It's just not cool to say the 100 "Hippest" albums these days or something.

     

    Also, Slanted and Enchanted doesn't beat out Daydream Nation. Also, my list would be named differently and look different, but Wilco deserves is place (and probably a few more up too).

    Letters to Santa

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    I will never forget two years ago watching Sue convince Jeff to do the three shows and couldn't stop thinking how geniune. I tried to thank Jeff for his charity work at Lolla this year but all that probably came out was mumble mumble.

    So agian, THANK YOU!

     

    This is really a great cause. I don't know pay pal but we should set up a donation fund on here again!

    Wilco's and specifically the Tweedy's generosity towards both their fans and causes like this amaze me. They are great people.

     

    I won't be able to make this, what with the school thing and all, but I hope that everybody who goes gets a chance to enjoy a really wonderful performance. :thumbup

    My Barney Kessel Story

    in Solid State Technology

    Posted

    Yeesh, that sounds traumatic. Shipping Hollow-body guitars, particularly vintage ones always seems like a risky gamble to me. I'm glad that in this case it worked out pretty well for you (and not as terribly as it could have for the guitar). Glad you got a guitar that suits you though...that's the real important thing. A Barney-Kessel would be neat, but I'm thinking the college student budget will be prohibiting any serious guitar purchases for me right now. I'm sure someone will be interested though, once repaired that guitar deserves a good home (and hopefully a better trip there) :thumbup

    Coming to Chicago

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    So a pair of people I work with at Grinnell have some sort of conference in Chicago and they needed a ride, so I volunteered after their other options fell through. Which means I'll be in Chicago this weekend from Friday through early-Sunday...wooo!

     

    I've been a number of times, and I took a glance through a couple different sites like the Chicago Reader to see what was going on, but if anyone has any recommendations on the following I'd greatly appreciate it: reasonably priced lodgings, favorite restaurants that I may have missed on other trips, and anything happening particularly Saturday that I may not have caught looking around...a good free-jazz show would rule, but I didn't see anything off-hand.

     

    Thanks.

    Eric

    Best of 2007

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    I have to be honest, I really think Iron and Wine's cd is a big step down from his other stuff

    what happened to the beautiful stripped down raw music-melodies

    his new cd sounds too unoriginal or something, I don't like it so much.

    Huh, that's interesting, because I thought that this new one and the Woman King EP were the best things I've heard from him, period. I think the music just thrives with all the layers (particularly with the varied percussion to drive the texture). The older stuff is good too...but I like this a lot more.

    Best of 2007

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    These were my favorites of this year so far, can't really rank them yet, and there's still time for plenty of shifting.

     

    Battles-Mirrored

    The Sea and Cake-Everybody

    Radiohead-In Rainbows

    Andrew Bird-Armchair Apocrypha

    Wilco-Sky Blue Sky

    Deerhoof-Friend Opportunity

    Iron and Wine-The Shepherd's Dog

    Low-Drums and Guns

    Spoon-Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

    David Vandervelde-The Moonstation House Band

     

    -

    I do want to pick up copies of these before too long, but I haven't gotten around to them yet.

     

    The National-Boxer

    New Pornographers-Challenger

    Kevin Drew-Spirit If

    Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago

    Thurston Moore-Trees Outside the Academy

    Dr. Dog-We All Belong

    Georgia James-Places

    Guitar Tone Help

    in Solid State Technology

    Posted

    Prunes and Custard (which Im really not sure how to use to maximize potential - any advice?)

    Send me this and I'll let you know--I would love to have one :lol Seriously though, I'm under the impression that these are especially good for creating really out there sounds, so if you're not looking for crazy sonic color this may not be that useful. I've heard they're great in tandem with an E-Bow, but you can also probably get some more subtle warbly distorted sounds with it on a lower setting, maybe just play around.

     

    Trio's definitely have the potential to sound weak, but there's a couple things you can do to aid that. Yes, a strat is going to sound thinner in the mix of things, but through the right combination of things (and the Holy Grail will certainly help here) it won't sound weak, making sure to push the amp will definitely help.

     

    One thing to consider is using sparseness as an effect in and of itself, consider the opening to Radio Cure space and silence can be just as effective as having lots of notes. Try reducing what you're playing down to it's most basic elements of pitch (root, 3rd, 5th of a chord, and then maybe a coloring note like a 7th) and rhythm...then try and rearrange how you'd normally play the elements. If you don't feel as confident on the guitar let the bass player take more of the melodic lead and play more of a harmonic, complimentary role, it could lead to interesting sounds. Also, I always suggest paying close attention to the drummer (the better they are the more help this will be), try following them rather than the other way around.

     

    Also, don't hesitate to solo with combinations of dyads and triads instead of single note runs, this will give you a little more "fullness" without relegating you to just a rhythm guitar part. It can also create a more colored sound because you get the interplay of the two sets of overtones against each other.

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