József's Learning Log

Since this is your Learning Log…

Lesson 1 Learned: a capo is replaceable, a friend is not.

Lesson 2 Learned: don’t leave your friend alone with your guitar! :grin:

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That’s true. At first I was quite angry, but then I felt a bit relieved that not the guitar was damaged. And it was completely unintentional, anyway.

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Been working on Is There Anybody Out There by Pink Floyd for the guitar challenge. It’s becoming recognizable compared to the original recording. I think today’s practice was useful but a bit overlong as I got the tempo quite right, but after playing it a dozen or so times, I started messing up the picking pattern of the first section. I hope it’s just fatigue.

Also tried my new Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 and the microphone (see details here: NGD - as in New Gear Day). I’m starting to figure out how to place the mic in front of my acoustic, but I still have to work on my posture so that I’m comfortable and manage not to bump into the mic. I tried to record my amp as well, but that will require more experimentation with the mic placement in relation to the amp and my place as well so as not to record too much pick noise.

Now only the video part needs to be sorted out.

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Sounds like you’re having fun Jozsef. Looking forward to the Floyd recording. :sunglasses:

Sounds good, Jozsef. OBS will take care of the video and not too tricky to setup.

So I recorded myself today for the first time:

It’s take 10, not counting the ones for sound/video adjustments.

:sweat:

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It was good Jozsef I could clearly tell you were in a zone and you did a good job. Quite a sharp angle there for holding a neck which is coming from keeping your leg the other one. Would check out if it’s easier to play conventional way for you as in some songs you might have issues with this postion. All the best.

I think the angle is good and helps with natural hand position (I prefer having the neck angled such that the headstock is about level with my eyes), but I agree that the crossing one leg over the other isn’t the ideal way to achieve that angle. I’d look at a guitar footstool, or maybe using a strap to get the guitar positioned, even when seated. Another option is a “guitar support” like an Ergoplay or Gitano; there are a bunch of different kinds – very common in the classical guitar world, just not often seen outside of it.

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I think it was pretty great, 10 takes is nothing. I have the same Fender acoustic as you, you played better on this guitar then I ever did :slight_smile:. Well done!

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Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile: I think the angle of the neck seemed bigger on the video than it really was. I find myself using a bigger angle when trying to get small details right, like here the parts after the C chords. At other times, I keep the neck almost horizontal. I’ll try to be more conscious about the angles in the future.

I’ve been thinking about a footstool or something like that to help with raising the guitar a little bit. I checked some images for the guitar supports, but I’ve never used such sharp angles. But who knows, maybe if I’ll spend more time on classical-like fingerpicking…

Thank you, I try my best :smiley:

Personally, I don’t use super sharp angles, either. Most of the supports are adjustable, though, to get the angle that you prefer.

Nice job, putting that first one out here takes guts, especially with a difficult song like that.

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Hey, on the neck angle thing I just came across this post/video in another thread. The positions those two are using in the video are almost exactly the way I prefer to position the guitar, seated and standing. (And it looks like the seated guitarist is using a rest.)

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Szia,

Mennyire vagy megelégedve az LP-vel? Nagyon jól néz ki, bár Gibson-ban jobb lenne, az egy másik liga anyagilag.

Tuti venni fogok egy ilyet, nagyon tetszik.

Keep rocking!

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Szia,

Ez az első és eddig az egyetlen elektromos gitárom, úgyhogy kevés összehasonlítási alapom van. Nekem nagyon bejön, a nyak kialakítása kifejezetten kényelmes. A gyári action-t picit lejjebb vettem, ezt leszámítva minden alkatrész és beállítás eredeti rajta. A hangolókulcsok is prímák - pár nap után most vettem le a falról, és csak minimálisan kellett 1-2 húrt hangolni (nyilván ez függ a hőmérséklet változásaitól is). Elég sokféle zenéhez passzol, bár nekem fingerpicking dolgokhoz nem igazán illik , de talán csak a vékonyabb húrok (vagy az ujjaim) miatt. A coil-splitting funkciót viszonylag ritkán használom, eddig valahogy kimaradt a fókuszomból. Amit az LP-knél hátrányként szoktak felhozni, az a súly, de szerintem nem vészes. Pár nap alatt meg lehet szokni, meg nem kell hozzá extra erős heveder sem.

Összességében nagyon szeretem. Az Epiphone amúgy már több, mint 60 éve a Gibson egyik leányvállalata, úgyhogy elég közel vannak a hangszereik az “eredetihez”. Kifejezetten ajánlom, szerintem még van is készleten a hangszerboltokban. Én annak idején a Mezzofortében vettem, érdekes módon ebben a színben olcsóbb volt, mint pl. kékben…

Mostanában tervezek venni egy Epiphone Casinót (ez teljesen üreges testű és P90-es, egytekercses, pickupok vannak rajta), elvileg márciusban már lehet készleten az üzletben, ahol kinéztem magamnak. Remélem, nem kell hónapokat várni rá. :smiley:

Még csak két hónapja kezdtem el gitározni, de ez az LP nagyon tetszik. Olvastam, hogy a mahagóni test miatt a Gibson gitárja nehezebb, bár én úgyis ülve gyakorlok, nem hiszem, hogy zavarna.

A hangjára nagyon kíváncsi vagyok, vesszek meg, ha nem ilyen lesz a következő gitárom.

A Mezzoforte-ban vettem én is a Marshall gitárkombót, úgy láttam egy Gibson LP-juk van, Slash signature, 1 milláért. Mondjuk gyönyörű. :slight_smile:

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So the practice I planned for this weekend came to virtually nothing. I haven’t felt so sleepy for a long time, I guess this was a long week. However, there were a few small discoveries nonetheless:

  • Started to “transcribe” the trumpet solo from “Summer Sketch” by Chet Baker & Russ Freeman. I don’t want to rush this, so I’ll take my time. I already have the kind of main theme down, played at 2:30-2:48 and repeated at the end.
  • Justin talks so much about James Taylor, so I decided to check him out. His name was familiar to me but haven’t heard any of his music so far. I listened to an expanded edition if his debut album tonight, very pleasant music and a really likable (for want of a better term) voice. And what happened?
    – There’s a demo version of the song Sunny Skies. Pretty upbeat and jaunty music. I started to just jam along with the song with a pattern 1 C major scale on the first 3 strings and it sounded really good. I didn’t even look up a tab for the song and I don’t know if it’s really in C major but my playing sounded largely in place.
    – There’s another demo for a song called “Let Me Ride”, with a prominent electric rhythm guitar part. Turns out that playing along G, C and D chords to the song pretty much fits in the sound.

After all this, I’ll try to do some “real” practice before calling it a day.

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It sounds as though you’re exploring a rich, fertile ground of musical discovery Jozsef. I’m excited by the treasures you’re finding and polishing.

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It seems like that to me too, though sometimes I feel my “projects” are a bit impulsive; anyway, I try to make the most of them.

For example, I’ve just realized that I got 2 notes wrong in the introduction of the trumpet solo yesterday – fortunately, I managed to find the correct ones today. I look at it as an alternative way of ear training to the one Justin offers in the course, and as a sort of challenge if I can find out/decipher what I hear.

It’s another thing that if I identify a D in this piece, I won’t recognize and other D notes in other songs off the cuff… I guess that’s where perfect pitch could help.

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