Yes, it's a twisted world.
152 2009-01-11 08:26:25
Re: Playing Level (26 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
Before anyone goes expending much energy on this. There are guitar grades already - for instance - http://www.registryofguitartutors.co.uk/downloads/
153 2009-01-11 08:10:56
Re: If You Weren't So Coy (4 replies, posted in Songwriting)
Thanks for the comments.
I suppose I was complicating things by wanting a specific flat sign. My sharp sign is in the same place as Phil's. It's a UK keyboard - I have a US one for work which I keep changing, but it keeps defaulting back to US. We have exclamation marks where the US has @.
As for herself, yes she's special.
154 2009-01-10 09:13:59
Re: Playing Level (26 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
OK the levels are
10 Arpeggiate and digitate robustly
9 Play a B if you're not a mutant
8 Find a song your granny can sing.
7 Bounce pick on floor, catch in teeth and do a hendrix.
6 Play a B - if you're a mutant or pick out the root note if you're not.
5 Use three fingers and your thumb in any order
4 Play an F in first position ( some people think this is in the wrong order)
3 Strum
2 Play a C using four bottom strings
1 Pick up your Uke
156 2009-01-10 08:54:33
Re: A naughty little limerick (8 replies, posted in Poems)
Awesome in it's grossness, Phil.
Reminds me of a teacher at school who got arrested for peeing in his neighbours plants. It was a grudge thing - of course he was the divinity teacher !
When do we hear it ?
157 2009-01-09 15:13:04
Topic: If You Weren't So Coy (4 replies, posted in Songwriting)
OK this is my first song. I realise that you won't have the tune. But here goes nothing. I've just kept it very simple.
I prefer this in E flat, but don't know where to get a flat on this keyboard. Still, you can capo up three frets and play as in C.
Chordpro error: This is not a valid artistname. You will have to specify an artistname in the form {st: Artistname} in the beginning of the code.
158 2009-01-09 07:35:21
Re: Strumming help (15 replies, posted in Acoustic)
Loved the description AcousticNoyz.
I hate /dislike intensely the C chord played with that bottom e, g will do, but e makes my mind froth.
Once you are happy playing and changing to the basic chords, you could start to pick out individual notes of the chord with your pick. You should at least be able to pick out the root - it will help you move your playing up the neck. It will sound like an old fashioned boom-chukka, but you can vary that till the cows come home.
159 2009-01-07 10:25:24
Topic: Straight Forward Blunt (8 replies, posted in Poems)
Thanks for the inspiration Yankeebee.
I thought that there was only one rhyme I couldn't use for this. Then I thought - when would you ever use that rhyme ? Then it came to me - but as you can see, I still didn't use it !
"Straight Forward Blunt
She was a fine kid, all laughter and play,
Mind like a gimlet, I loved her that way.
She would sparkle and giggle, dance and sway
And she was mine alone till that fateful day
Chorus
But for all of my fine words and whispering wiles
You stole her away and rushed down the aisle
It's the last time I'll leave it all up to front
Next time I'm gonna be straight forward blunt.
I introduced you late one spring night
No stars, just storm clouds - you were staggering, tight.
And I laughed as you kissed her and sat her on your knee
As I prowled off to the cooler to toast you with beer.
By the time I returned she was yours for the taking,
Standing half naked and babies a-baking.
Looking at you, you had one clear advantage
Chanel No5, not my nature-boy savage
And you talked about jewelery, false nails and knickers
As I strummed on my Martin and watched you convince her.
By the time that you left, I had lost her as well
And you'd wing her to bed, as best I could tell.
But there's no stopping spunk and you have it by the handful.
I salute your new conquest - she tells me she's blissful.
And despite your couture and your long golden tresses
I will sing for you both in your white wedding dresses."
160 2009-01-03 09:53:15
Topic: Pomes penny each ! (6 replies, posted in Poems)
Had some problems with the third verse and I'm not definitely finished with the last line of the chorus, but here you go : -
"Swimming in the Rain
You stirred the coals to start a spark,
Found an ember in the dark,
You tore it from its bed of ash
clutched it in your hands and asked.
If I remembered swimming in the rain?
It's burning still
It's burning still
It glows and burns and sears at will
In these end of December, dismal days
I couldn't love you more, I said
Knowing where the question led
And staring at the ceiling lest
Your eyes caught mine and somehow guessed
I well remembered swimming in the rain.
A day so hot, it hurt the eyes
The lake so cold that, no surprise,
We ended in the water - in the buff
One sight of your body was enough.
Yes, I remembered swimming in the rain.
You said that we were all alone
A little drunk and far from home
And I could warm you through, you said
And no-one else would know, you said,
That we remembered swimming in the rain.
But just like then, the weather's turned
Doused the hearth where the coals had burned,
Where once my fire had raged in you,
I take a straight and narrow route,
Though I remember swimming in the rain,
You stirred the coals to start a spark,
Found an ember in the dark,
But now I simply turn away,
And thank you for a lovely day,
Yes, I remember swimming in the rain."
161 2009-01-03 09:46:08
Re: TRY THIS: A MUSIC RELATED RIP LIMERICK or POEM (7 replies, posted in Poems)
Bazooka'd by a bouzouki !
162 2009-01-03 09:44:11
Re: A Limerick song. (9 replies, posted in Poems)
All the better for it being hoarse!
This sounds really good - let's call it a collaboration.
I'm going to put up another one to see what comes of it.
163 2009-01-01 16:20:48
Re: Meeting fellow learners (2 replies, posted in My local band and me)
Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for ( or how close to Portsmouth ), but some Music shops run Weekend Warrior sessions to bring together people who want to play together.
165 2008-12-29 16:19:10
Re: Since some have mentioned enjoying hiking (6 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
Not that awful poem - pleeeeeze !!!
166 2008-12-29 09:51:59
Topic: Uke Chic ? (0 replies, posted in Other string instruments)
In GB, Acoustic Magazine are running a number of articles on the Uke, including an interview with the Ukulele Orchestra of GB and a number of reviews of Ukes.
167 2008-12-27 07:44:11
Re: musical christmas gifts (13 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
I got a Bailey Strap for my mandolin. The Sunburst. He was a pleasure to do business with and will get repeat trade.
http://thebaileystrap.com/Straps.html
What with MAS and GAS, I'm in a bad way! I may even have a touch of the BAS !
168 2008-12-26 09:08:16
Topic: A Limerick song. (9 replies, posted in Poems)
OK - the thought was - how do you turn a limerick into a song? I suppose a limerick is nothing but a rhyme scheme, so here goes. I almost called this "The Cynical Song "
"I will confess.
You walked into my careless arms,
I felt you melting, soft and warm
Against my unrepentant breast.
I saved my faithless, lying breath,
Preparing for the coming storm.
Your love was like a beacon fire,
Burning hot and ever higher;
Mine instead burnt blue and cold
Charred and tarnished, dead man's gold
I should have closed my eyes and cried,
But a better part of me had died,
I looked down at your up-turned face
You saw at once that guilty trace
And banished me from your bedside
You were right, but I cared less,
The door you slammed, just hid the mess.
And here I am walking blind
Towards the next you I can find,
To do the same again, I will confess."
169 2008-12-24 11:21:35
Re: Today is the day (11 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
I reckon Doug got it right!
I'll be sitting down to a Bushmills whiskey this Xmas - a good glass of Irish cheer. I will, however, be as far from the top of a hill as I can possibly get. Some lunatic once dragged us off to the top of Slemish mountain ( where St Patrick is supposed to have kept sheep or pigs or something) on New Years day years ago. Awful, drenching, scheugh-sucking, shin-skinning misery it was.
This is Slemish - with some wonderful views of the Antrim Hills.
170 2008-12-19 10:37:02
Re: All Hail the Mighty Fix-It Man (26 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
"But I hated smelling like grease all the time."
Check this out
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop … logne.html
They're clearly looking for a Xmas headline.
There was a time when I used to cook for hours and enjoy it - tagines ( your breakfast sounds wonderful Doug !), rogan josh, chicken etouffe etc, etc. But I went and discovered the guitar and now her indoors says I have lost my cooking gene!
171 2008-12-19 08:00:48
Re: An Unexpected Christmas Box! (10 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
There's nothing beats practice, Headcase, but . . .
There are many different ways of holding the pick, some hold it tight like a fist and some hold it loose like butterfly. Either can work, depending how you want your guitar to sound. You can also hold it long or short (short meaning that there is only a short bit of the point showing). Most flatpickers would hold it long, allowing the pick to move when you hit the string.
You can start with a light pick - it will let you strum with less chance of catching a string.
However, you will eventually move to a heavier pick if you get into flatpicking, as you have more control of your sound.
Also you can try different ways of hitting the strings. Firstly, you can hold the pick so that it hits the strings straight up at 90 degrees to the string. It can be easier, however, to hold it at an angle ( say 45 degrees ) to the strings as you play. The pick glides more easily over the strings.
Also, if you twist the pick so that you hit the string more on its edge than on the flat will also make a difference.
But it will sound worse than your thumb for a while, you have to keep at it !
172 2008-12-17 14:24:11
Topic: RIP Davey Graham (0 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
Davey Graham, viruoso acoustic guitarist ( he wrote Anji which has been covered by just about everyone ) died yesterday of lung cancer. A very sad day.
It was Davey's music that first led me astray . . .
173 2008-12-17 07:35:29
Re: Not music ,but it is an artform (13 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)
Love the idea of using trees as art rather than cutting them down!
We have a "Forest of Belfast" project that includes an Art in the Park programme that provides sculpture in our parks. One or two of them were cut from dead trees, but most were made elsewhere and then erected. It's a bit ironic calling it the Forest of Belfast as Northern Ireland is the most de-forested part of europe. You can see the sculpture in this PDF.
174 2008-12-15 08:04:42
Re: I NEED SIMPLER ALTERNATIVE Bm and F CHORD (45 replies, posted in Acoustic)
The only problem with shortened chord forms is ensuring you only hit the strings you want to. Avoiding strings takes a long time to develop - probably longer than hitting the right ones !!!
175 2008-12-14 09:17:21
Re: Mandolin (87 replies, posted in Other string instruments)
Take your time, play them all - is the best advice.
I spent most of this summer cogitating, trying different mandolins, going back to check if my initial thoughts were right. I would suggest you avoid the really cheap ones, but when you try them you'll know that they don't feel right in your hands, they aren't loud enough or the finish is four inches thick.
I ended up getting a Garrison M20 in Cedar / Birch (http://www.theacousticmusicco.co.uk/erol.html#13651X13703 ) . It's wonderful for Celtic melody work. When you play it , it rings, rather than snatching at the notes.