Subj : this echo To : Joe Bruchis From : Richard Webb Date : Thu Apr 09 2009 02:50 pm Hi Joe, On Tue 2037-Apr-07 19:05, Joe Bruchis (1:123/789) wrote to Richard Webb: RW> I"m mainly a folky when it comes to guitar, because that's RW> what my technique allows. PRimarily keyboards and a bass RW> player. RW> My current guitar is a nice Martin, D series, but newer. RW> BOught it in NEw ORleans. JB> They have a nice tone. Indeed, and I haven't even recorded mine yet. My studio system was down for awhile after I first bought it, and then when it came back up I think I got one recording of it started when the process got interrupted. wE lived in a townhouse center city NEw ORleans, and I liked to record downstairs in the living room. HIgh ceiling, with the area containing the stairs offering big high open space. My preferred technique with most acoustic guitars of that type is to put a small diaphragm condenser microphone a couple feet away, business end pointed at where the neck joins the body. tHen, in case I can use it, a nice stereo pair of condensers back a few feet and up to get some "room tone" and some air in it. My thing about acoustic guitars is or any other instrument is that you don't put your ear right up to it to hear it, so you shouldn't record 'em that way. YEt for a good mix of the tracks you might need to close mic. FOr example, that nice rhythm part might discard quite a bit of the frquency spectrum to sit right. sO, I use the stereo pair and close mic approach both, and utilize the one that works in the final product. because I had to record guitar and such downstairs the only time it would work was during the small hours of the morning. Iirc a neighbor/tenant had an urgent situation going on and I had to go solve that problem. RW> REdid a friend of mine's strat with DeMarzio for the treble RW> pickup. Man that thing screamed for the blues. Sustain RW> that wouldn't quit, even without the brass nut. JB> I love my Strat. I'd like to have a Telecaster too. I can easily JB> afford it. I just know it'll wind up in the closet with the other JB> two, so it's not really worth doing. IF you were playing out occasionally it would be a nice thing to have. Friend of mine used to bring 3 to gigs. One, an Ibanez of some sort he used for slide, a tele, and a Gibson. Having the Gibson was nice for us because if another guitarist sat in often he had a FEnder or FEnder copy. wHen you've got the two electric guitars thing happening I always like hearing one playing a FEnder of some sort and the other playing a Gibson, or something else with humbuckers. SPeaking of that, I only ever saw one in my life, but in Des MOines Iowa years ago I ran into a Tele that had been redone with humbuckers. A tele is a nice playing guitar as well, and that was about the perfect combination. A friend of mine owned the tele referenced, and I think I borrowed it for a couple of gigs. WAs sort of funny, both me and another fellow playing guitars on the bandstand, both playing teles, but I'd borrow this tele with the humbuckers, and we've got that fender/gibson blend. JB> My first guitar was an Epiphone Strat with two pick-ups. My Father JB> bought it for me at a pawn shop I had found when I was 13 yrs old. JB> I couldn't make the rent one month in the 70's and sold it for $50. JB> Man, what a mistake! I've sure said that about a bunch of instruments, especially those basses I mentioned earlier. I hocked the Martin once since we've been here. Frozen pipes, plumbing needing redone and temps near zero, had to decamp us to a motel. NO $$$ on hand so hock the guitar and camp us at a motel 3 days. tHEn when money was on-hand again hurry down to get that guitar out of hock. Didn't care for that one at all. RW> Basses I've owned over the years: RW> Classic 58 precision, left t hat one in a pawnshop in RW> California back in the '70's. A white fEnder jazz, early RW> '70's vintage. My first wife sold that one on me while I RW> was on the road playing keys with acountry band. A few RW> years later I bought an Electra jazz copy. JB> I know you wish you had the Fender back too. (-: Both of 'em! tHe P bass especially. RW> At one time, for a short while I had one of the old GIbson RW> LEs Paul recording basses with the low impedance pickups and the regular RW> xlr connector to plug it in. HEavy, man was RW> that thing heavy! JB> Yep. All Les Pauls are heavy. They do have great action and sound JB> great, though. YEp, that's why I liked that tele with the humbuckers I mentioned earlier. Had the sound without the weight. RW> FOr me guitar is primarily a writing instrument when I don't have my RW> piano handy. IF I get serious about another RW> recording project of my own music I"ll ahve the guitar RW> sitting on a stand near my office chair and most times when RW> the hands aren't busy it will be in my lap as I work on RW> getting my chops back up. JB> I have never attempted piano. That seems to be an instrument parents JB> introduce kids to through lessons. I don't know anyone that just JB> decided to jump in and learn piano. I'm sure there are some, but JB> nothing like the mobs of guitar players that are self taught. I know a few that self taught themselves piano. I tell many folks that it's a good instrument to learn because it has all the elements necessary, rhythm, melody, chord structure. Once you've a good handle on piano you can translate to just about anything else, especially when it comes to writing and arranging. JB> Guitar is not any easy instrument. It's easy to learn chords, and if JB> one sings well, you've got a snappy campfire type combination. I'm JB> not a good singer, though, so I have to concentrate on being a good JB> musician. THough I"m not a true technical "singer" I write some good storytelling songs, and a guitar can be a lot of fun with a minimum of hassle. I always left the flashy guitar playing to somebody else, and use it mostly for either self accompaniment solo or support. I find that since I"m not recording self written music these days and my piano is handy usually I end up sitting down at the piano for a few minutes a couple times a day. I go in spurts then with the guitar. I'll probably end up playing more with nice weather approaching, as I can just sit back on the front porch in a chair with the guitar. JB> Sounds like you've had several nice guitars. I know how to play bass JB> only because I know how to play guitar. I've sat in for bass JB> players, but I've never owned a bass guitar and amp. I prefer the JB> full range of sound of chords with notes. true, and bass takes a special sensibility I note. I'm rather picky about bass players, and have often chose to do key bass if I couldn't find a top notch bass player. That bass is your bridge between rhythm elements that are percussive and the rest of it. WOrking with a good bassist and drummer is a real treat, working with one or the other being mediocre or poor is a struggle to get through the gig, especially with a bass player that's not up to it. That reminds me of a humor bit on musicians and their roles I found on a newsgroup. Ought to post that . One of those humor bits that mimics the creation story in Genesis, first GOd gave man the guitar, and it was good, but it really picks on bass players and is quite the knee slapper. dOn't recall if it was before or after Katrina. IF after then it's probably on this machine somewhere. MOre later. Regards, Richard --- timEd 1.10.y2k+ * Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901) .