Anniversary update
I bought my first guitar 3 years ago, so I’m in a celebratory mood today.
This was a good opportunity to change the strings on all my 4 guitars (unless I count the 12 string as two). It took the better part of 6 hours including checking for any loose nuts and screws, cleaning the guitars, a good amount of messing around with trying to leave no spiky little string-end at the tuning peg, then giving up on it and do everything as usual, taking a well-deserved dinner break, and god knows what else. But I wasn’t in a hurry anyway.
A few months ago I ordered this Music Nomad work mat (the luthier I go to is quite satisfied with their products) and this was the first time I used it. It’s indeed pretty handy. The mat has a rubbery feel to it so it doesn’t slip on the surface under it and the guitars also don’t slip on the mat. It comes with the blue neck rest that can be used with various neck designs. The “rubberiness” (if such a word exists) and the texture of the mat also prevent the pieces of strings from being accidentally swept off of it. The guitar detailer was also recommended by the luthier. It is pretty good, took the dirt off the frets as well, but parts of the metal pickup covers have some other kind of stains that could not be removed. Not that I’m particularly bothered about them, but I’ll keep on doing some research if they can be removed with anything. If not, they will attest to the fact of how good and playable my guitars are. 
I almost messed up twice; first with the very first string I put on the 6 string acoustic (direction of the hook over the tuning peg), and then on the Epi LP when I tightened the G string an octave higher than it should have been (fortunately, it was easy to correct as the last two strings were not on yet). Overall, I consider this undertaking a resounding success, although next time I won’t do all 4 of them in one go.
It was a good opportunity to test a new strategy where I don’t go from the thickest to the thinnest string but from the “outside” towards the “inside” (i.e. E, A, D, E, B, G). This way the positioning of my index finger that holds the string down for the windings is much more comfortable. Even on the 12 string. 
I found that if I tighten the new string just taut enough so as not to rattle against the fretboard, it’s roughly 1-1.5 octave lower than the target tone. This is a good opportunity to cut the slack off so that it doesn’t interfere with the turning of the tuning pegs anymore, and to clip the tuner on and check for the pitch while tightening the string. Also, when you’re done with a guitar, that one can be used as a reference for the pitches.
It seems that different strings (even within the same set) require different amounts of stretching-in; some of them were pretty stable right from the first tuning whereas others needed 4 or 5 rounds to stabilize. This was the first time I changed strings on my Epi Casino; I was curious how the trapeze tailpiece worked and it turned out to have a clever design, hardly more complicated to work with than with the Tune-o-matic bridge.
I took a few photos during the operation:
So what have I been up to during the past year? I can’t say I remember each and every little detail (and I’m just too lazy to re-read my previous posts tonight), so I can only mention the most important things.
The biggest new thing for me seems to be transcription. I think that my “musical hearing” improved quite a bit and I’m less afraid to tackle melodies that sound more difficult than the level I’m currently at. I’m super proud of having been able to transcribe a whole trumpet solo (by Chet Baker, you can find my post about it) and of course various other shorter melodies. I hope I’ll get to a level where I can play something by my main man Miles.
I started to play along with original recordings which is a good way to test and improve my transcription skills. My go-to “single-note” jam in the past 2-3 months has been Ike’s Rap III/Your Love Is So Doggone Good by Isaac Hayes. As the original has a very subdued guitar part, my “contribution” (including some improv) is quite easy to tell apart. I’m planning to make a sort of playalong recording this year. Another favourite single-note jam of mine is Born Under a Bad Sign by Cream that can serve the dual purpose of practicing pattern 1 of the minor pentatonic scale. Black Night by Deep Purple is the latest addition, though I still need to conscientiously decipher the little variation on the riff that is played during the transitions to the chorus and between the guitar and organ solo. My staple “strumming jam” is a long version of Jammin’ by Bob Marley (a fitting title that is). It sounds pretty good on the 12 string as well.
What about the future?
I have a few things on my mind, in no particular order:
- Do some proper song lessons from the website for the sake of some structured learning if nothing else.
- Revisit fingerstyle playing as it got sidelined by other things I’ve been doing.
- Explore the possibilities of DADGAD tuning as the drone effect is quite nice.
- Continue transcribing
- Continue the Practical Music Theory course (+ @Richard_close2u’s extracurricular tips here in the Community)
- Find some opportunities to jam with others, though it’s not something I can’t live without. And I’m not hell-bent on doubling as my roadie on public transport, either.
- Recently I became interested in the sitar. I found out that there’s a regular course at the cultural centre of the Indian embassy in Budapest and that the next beginner course starts in October. The fee will be c. 12 USD/EUR for 3 months with a lesson every week. I figured it’s a good opportunity to try it out without any long-term commitment and see what happens. I mentioned this plan to a few of my friends and I saw some bewilderment on their faces.
- Make use of the classical sheet music I collected so far.
- GAS: as the rate of inflation isn’t likely to decrease, I don’t think I’ll buy any new instruments for quite some time. What I have on my shopping list, though, are a tuner pedal, a volume pedal for swells, and maybe a hum eliminator though I still have to do some research on it. Fortunately, I’m not a gear nerd so equipment is something I can cut costs on.
Well, that’s about it now.