What? Has it been two months since my last learning log post? Sheesh time is flying.
We are emerging from winter FINALLY and I am feeling a better mood emerging as well, although I will temper that with saying that I am so ready to retire from work (still 20 years to go) because traffic has been bothering me more than ever lately to the point that sometimes I think I might legitimately lose it on somebody because of all the red lights that I have to sit through day after day after day, year after year.
I haven’t learned anything new on guitar, but I am still trying to pick it up a couple of times a week, even if I am just practicing songs that I learned last year. I still can’t get motivated to restart scales practice. Scales just seem too much- too many patterns and too many keys. I know, I know, they’re really really important. Its just that my brain is too tired almost all of the time for it.
Meanwhile, I got a turntable for my birthday last month. My dad had all the record player gear and tons of records when I was a kid, but this is MY first turntable. I have dove into the fun world of record buying. I seriously don’t want a wall full of records, so I am buying only my ultimate favorites right now, and they have to be records that I already know front to back and I know are excellent songs front to back.
I had one lonely record from when I was a child- Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl from 1988. But it had warped over the years, so I had to spend money to replace that. I’ve gone on a couple of sprees over the last few weeks and picked up some new pressings by Def Leppard, Falling In Reverse, Marilyn Manson, Chevelle, Bad Omens, Motley Crue, Rob Zombie. Also Paul Cauthen, Gregory Alan Isakov, Tyler Childers, and a few more.
I bought a record stand with a cubby in the bottom part for record storage. The kit came with wire dividers for that cubby, and I determined I need to buy some cheap records to act as buffers to get pushed against the wire dividers and absorb any dents the dividers might create.
I surfed the bargain bins but I couldn’t bring myself to buy just any old thing, so I selected a handful from bands I’m familiar with that had either a few songs I knew and really liked, or at least had a cool cover.
I grabbed Jim Croce Greatest Hits, Aerosmith Live!, Jefferson Starship Red Octopus, Steppenwolf 7, The Best of The Animals, Cher Half-Breed, and Three Dog Night Harmony. Each one was either $4 or $3.
These records were in bad shape. They were so dirty, scratched, fingerprinted up. I seriously figured they were trash, which was the whole point. When I played them, they crackled like a bonfire! But man I like all these bands so much, so I decided I’d experiment with some at home cleaning methods.
I washed them all in the sink with dishsoap and rinsed with tap water (I have a water softener). To my shock, they cleaned up so well. Most of them had probably 75% less crackle. Then I read that I should have used distilled water for a rinse, but I didn’t have any so the next trip to the grocery store I bought some.
After a distilled water rinse, I’m here to tell you a couple improved even more! To the point that now I might need to buy buffer records to buffer my buffer records that are actually no longer buffer records but legit additions to my collection!
The sad part is that Three Dog Night Harmony is still fairly crackly on Side A. But my goodness that’s got I’ve Never Been To Spain and Old Fashioned Love Song on it. I bet it was loved and played so much.
Its been a fun ride the last several weeks learning about turntables, maintenance, records, and bargain bin digging. I’ve already encountered warps and off center pressings (technically a defect). Keeping me busy for sure.
And learning about the history of Three Dog Night has been a blast (RIP Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and a few other of their musicians).
