Sounds really good Jason, nice few chord progressions you’ve built together there!
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Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, Jason, sounds wonderful.
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Started learning Babe I’m Gonna Leave You a couple days ago. The fingerpicking on this one is not easy to get smooth (more because of the left hand than the right – you want to keep notes ringing while you’re switching chords, and there’s a lot of thumb-over to catch bass notes, which I’ve always found challenging). I’m going slow and trying to get the “foundation” right. It’s beginning to shape up.
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Look forward to hearing you perform this, Jason.
Not a performance, but here’s a recording of the current state. This is the main ostinato with a couple of variations. I’m not playing the whole piece, just playing an “end of practice” kind of thing to see where I’m at with it.
This is the (new) Martin DJr-10E recorded with its internal pickup going through a Boss Acoustic Singer Live amp and taking a direct out from the amp into the interface. I added some EQ and plate reverb in the DAW, but nothing fancy. Just a mono track, no microphones, et cetera. You can probably hear the “piezo pickup” quality of the guitar’s timbre, but I think it’s at the “tolerable” level. If I were recording this “for real” I’d probably just go with microphones (and I’d probably use the OM-35).
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Sounds very good to me. 
Very nice dynamics too.
It would be actually interesting to hear the final performance recorded through a mic to see how it compares with direct-out sound.
Thanks, Kamil.
Next time I record some practice I’ll mic it and capture the line out at the same time, and make two audio files: one that is just the mic(s) and one that is just the line out. Should give a very apples-to-apples comparison since it will be the exact same input for each output file.
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I think this sounded really good! Is it in standard tuning?
Sounding good so far, Jason. I thought the tone of the acoustic was sounding good with the benefit of the Boss fx in the amp. I achieve a similar improvement when I play my acoustic through the Play Acoustic pedal that includes the TC Electronics Bodyrez pedal.
Look forward to hearing you play and sing this tune in due course.
Many of Led Zeppelin’s songs used an alternative tuning, but this one is just standard tuning. While I like pretty much all of Led Zeppelin’s acoustic-oriented stuff, the fact that this one is in standard tuning is actually one of the main reasons I selected it. I just didn’t feel like changing the tuning of my new guitar.
Thanks, David. I think using an acoustic amp or an acoustic pedal of some sort before going into the interface/board often helps quite a bit. Otherwise the quacky piezo sound is (usually) just too much for me. Good call on the Bodyrez pedal, in my opinion.
The sound I’m getting through the amp’s line out would be an acceptable “live/stage” tone, in my opinion. I’d still mic for any serious recording, though.
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Made another recording with the Martin DJR-10E. This one is a pretty basic microphone recording. Just some strumming and singing of Tom Petty’s You Got Lucky. I posted the recording in an AVOYP thread.
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I received an invitation to play out (sitting in at someone else’s regular gig), but I haven’t done that in a while, so I’m putting together a list of potential songs to perform and working on memorizing them. I’m way too used to playing from sheet music (or at least a lead sheet), and I know he doesn’t have anything like that on stage. Trying to play songs I thought I knew well from memory has been humbling. I didn’t realize the lead sheets had become such a crutch.
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Random observation: I’ve been experimenting with different picks, and I’m finding that I really like the tone I’m getting with far thicker picks than I typically use. For example, on acoustic I’ve long used 0.60mm Tortex, but I’ve been trying strumming-type songs with a thick Jazz III pick (must be over 1.0mm – maybe 1.5mm or so?) and it’s sounding better, to my ears. Interesting.
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In my continuing quest for the best solution to address acoustic piezo pickup quack I bought a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI preamp pedal.
As I may have mentioned in this learning log, the only acoustic guitar pickup I’ve truly been satisfied with is the one in my Martin OM-35E, which includes the Fishman Aura technology (but only the image for that specific guitar). The pedal I just bought has many images from different acoustic guitars, and you can also download/load more. So it basically adds the Aura tech (i.e., the thing I liked on the Martin) to any other acoustic pickup.
I’ve been trying it out, and I have to say I’m pretty impressed. It’s worth it, in my opinion. Blending in an appropriate image absolutely transforms the sound of a plugged in acoustic. (I’ve mostly been trying it with my latest acoustic and experimenting with different models of mahogany concert guitars/mics.) I can’t say for certain yet, since the purchase is so recent, but I suspect this is going to be one of the best bang-for-buck gear purchases I’ve made.
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Not long after I bought that preamp pedal in my earlier post I injured my hand, and my practice and playing fell by the wayside. Even after recovering I didn’t end up playing music, again, until the past few weeks. I think that’s the longest “dry spell” I’ve had in years.
Feeling rusty (obviously), and the fingertips on my left hand are sore, which is something else I haven’t experienced in years. Kinda funny. Calluses should come back shortly, though.
My musical goal for 2023 was to record an EP’s worth of original music. That didn’t happen! The songs are written (mostly), but not recorded.
Ah well, time to climb back into the saddle.
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Sounds like a good wraparound goal for 2024. Glad you have recovered and back to playing again. Just take your time and all will soon be back to normal.
Decided to work on a fingerstyle piece that I started learning before, but never finished: Bransle Gay, from the Danseries of Claude Gervaise (which is a collection of dance tunes originally published in the sixteenth century). It’s a challenging piece for me because of the tempo and time signatures (it changes). Last time I worked on it I got the first half down fairly well, but never finished learning the second half.
This morning I played the entire piece for the first time. I didn’t play it well, and I didn’t play it up to tempo, and I didn’t play it smoothly, but hey, I played it. That’s progress.
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Today I got put a Tele through a Blues Jr and did some blues improv stuff. That was fun (it’s been a while). It’s also been a long time since I worked on arpeggios, so I found an A7 vamp on youtube and just focused on dominant 7th arpeggios (with a bit of pentatonic stuff sometimes for spice). That was very useful, as it made me think about the intervals a lot, and staying on A7 with no changes really made me think about the G in that chord, and that made me go for some G’s outside the arpeggio “box.” Anyway, very satisfying practice.
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Vamping improvs are always good fun Jason and a good way of concentrating on what works and what doesn’t. And of course “why” in the post match analysis.