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Post by jack1982 on Dec 15, 2019 14:34:31 GMT -6
I mostly worked on Christmas stuff on the classical guitar this week. Today I decided to work on "Heart Shaped Box" again, except when I tried to open the Amplitube 3 amp sim program it told me "VPA plugin rejected VPA host" which is odd because it was working fine last time I used it and I did absolutely nothing to it since. But now Amplitube 4 works - I'm running it with ASIO 4 ALL drivers and Reaper with the Focusrite ASIO drivers, which I wouldn't think would work, but apparently it does. Previously I'd used ASIO 4 ALL drivers on both and got a lot of latency when recording, like it was recorded a half second after I played it.
Oh well, I suppose tomorrow it will quit working and there will be a 50/50 chance Amplitube 3 will start working again.
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Post by Phil on Dec 15, 2019 15:32:29 GMT -6
Hey Jack, I guess I'll jump in so you don't feel as though you're talking to yourself. I think the forum is dead, but we just haven't buried it yet. Software problems can drive you nuts and consume a lot of time. But I haven't had to deal with recording problems in a while.  I haven't been in real practice mode for a few weeks now. I still play daily, but not what I consider practice. I even let the Christmas songs slide. Hopefully that will change with the new year. It's time to look back and see if I reached any of my goals for 2019. I can't even remember what they were. I did learn a new song this week or "tune" as the jazzcats say. An old Fats Waller tune called "Ain't Misbehavin'". I'm certainly far from being a jazzcat, but I'm beginning to like the old standards. I never thought I'd ever like this kind of music. It's kind of addicting. On a lot of these songs just playing the chord progression is enough to hold my interest. I have a goal of making a recording before the end of this year.  |
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Post by grampalerxst on Dec 15, 2019 16:16:03 GMT -6
I see I forgot to chime in last week. Still been chugging away, 7 days a week. I'm also starting to think about what I can do to change things up a little when the new year comes. I'm not bored or dissatisfied, just wanting to ensure I'm keeping some breadth and variety. Hoping Santa brings me a baritone guitar this year. |
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Post by bluesbruce on Dec 15, 2019 18:10:50 GMT -6
Hey Jack, I guess I'll jump in so you don't feel as though you're talking to yourself. I think the forum is dead, but we just haven't buried it yet. Software problems can drive you nuts and consume a lot of time. But I haven't had to deal with recording problems in a while. I haven't been in real practice mode for a few weeks now. I still play daily, but not what I consider practice. I even let the Christmas songs slide. Hopefully that will change with the new year. It's time to look back and see if I reached any of my goals for 2019. I can't even remember what they were. I did learn a new song this week or "tune" as the jazzcats say. An old Fats Waller tune called "Ain't Misbehavin'". I'm certainly far from being a jazzcat, but I'm beginning to like the old standards. I never thought I'd ever like this kind of music. It's kind of addicting. On a lot of these songs just playing the chord progression is enough to hold my interest. I have a goal of making a recording before the end of this year. Wow, Phil, again you succinctly speak so much truth! I've got to proclaim a loud "AMEN!" to all the above highlights and insights. I don't have anything guitar-wise to add, didn't pick it up all week, lacking time and motivation. I did complete 30 days without alcohol and I think I made it to the gym 15 of those 30 days. Lost 6 pounds as a result of it all, and was absolutely astounded how much better I slept without the alcohol. The habit of a few drinks most evenings had just kind of crept up, without any real intent or awareness... Anyway, much improved on that front, and fully intent on MUCH more moderation going forward! Now the forum being dead... wow, that's a tough one. Should we just disband and let it go? Should we take time off? Should we try to make it into something else BYCU related? I know I haven't contributed anything musical in quite some time. I guess I've kind of got to decide myself where music fits in going forward, too. |
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Post by Phil on Dec 15, 2019 20:36:14 GMT -6
Wow, Phil, again you succinctly speak so much truth! I've got to proclaim a loud "AMEN!" to all the above highlights and insights. I don't have anything guitar-wise to add, didn't pick it up all week, lacking time and motivation. I did complete 30 days without alcohol and I think I made it to the gym 15 of those 30 days. Lost 6 pounds as a result of it all, and was absolutely astounded how much better I slept without the alcohol. The habit of a few drinks most evenings had just kind of crept up, without any real intent or awareness... Anyway, much improved on that front, and fully intent on MUCH more moderation going forward! Now the forum being dead... wow, that's a tough one. Should we just disband and let it go? Should we take time off? Should we try to make it into something else BYCU related? I know I haven't contributed anything musical in quite some time. I guess I've kind of got to decide myself where music fits in going forward, too. Wow, Bruce, it's not even sober October. At the beginning of the year I went almost 3 months without a drink. Now I limit myself to 2 beers a day. Often only 1 and rarely 3. I think I forgot what bourbon tastes like. 
Alcohol can really have an adverse effect on sleep. I've been reading a lot recently about the importance of sleep. Combine improved sleep with exercise and you're on the right track. I used to exercise regularly. Haven't done any in like 6 years. Gotta get back into some form of regular exercise. Hey, that sounds like a good New Year's resolution. Wonder if anybody ever thought of that before. 
As far as the forum goes I like to stay in touch with the usual suspects even if it's just once a week. I think Joachim is the newest member who posts regularly and he's been here for something like 6 years. Hey, that's about the same time I stopped exercising.
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Post by joachim on Dec 16, 2019 0:17:52 GMT -6
Like Phil, I would be sorry to see forum activity stop completely. I haven't been active on the forum lately, but I still enjoy reading the weekly updates.
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Post by joachim on Dec 16, 2019 4:02:20 GMT -6
Maybe we should try a simple study group next year, or something like Jack's challenges? Something that doesn't require a whole lot of practice, but which will still give us something to talk about, and perhaps bring some extra motivation for picking up the guitar and participating in the forum.
I have lots of projects I want to get to,
* Doing the free Berklee coursera course on Jazz Improvisation. It's only 6 weeks, and I think it is at a level where we can all take part.
* Playing through "Rhythm and Blues You Can Use", I chickened out midway a couple of years ago, but I love the songs.
* Total Rock Guitar.
* Start Using The Blues. Some sort of challenge or small shared projects using licks from the books over backing tracks. Not entire mind-blowing solos, just a single chorus. Sounds like Jack has some experience with this from another site. I bet John would chime in if we tell him about it.
But the important thing is take it managable and to get everyone onboard.
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Post by bluesbruce on Dec 16, 2019 8:07:35 GMT -6
Maybe we should try a simple study group next year, or something like Jack's challenges? Something that doesn't require a whole lot of practice, but which will still give us something to talk about, and perhaps bring some extra motivation for picking up the guitar and participating in the forum. I have lots of projects I want to get to, * Doing the free Berklee coursera course on Jazz Improvisation. It's only 6 weeks, and I think it is at a level where we can all take part. * Playing through "Rhythm and Blues You Can Use", I chickened out midway a couple of years ago, but I love the songs. * Total Rock Guitar. * Start Using The Blues. Some sort of challenge or small shared projects using licks from the books over backing tracks. Not entire mind-blowing solos, just a single chorus. Sounds like Jack has some experience with this from another site. I bet John would chime in if we tell him about it. But the important thing is take it managable and to get everyone onboard. Phil, thanks for the positive words about the alcohol. I've concluded that I need to set limits like you've done - it had just turned into an insidious habit to have a couple of drinks just about every evening (and most of them had become doubles....). I need to limit number of days that I drink, and need to limit number that I have. Probably need to take a couple of months a year completely off. Like I said, I was just absolutely astounded at how much better I slept - it had become almost routine to wake at about 3 in the morning... I'm glad to hear that everyone seems to be interested in keeping the forum going. I'd also hate to see it die away. I like the idea of a simple study - there's certainly no shortage of great material in the BYCU series books. It could be something as simple as a rhythm figure or a short lead lick taken from any study in any of the books. That could generate some interesting discussion of how each of us approached it, fingerings used, etc. I agree it needs to be something that doesn't require a whole lot of time or work. We could also rotate who selects the study, which would help keep everyone involved. Something like this maybe could also help draw in some other folks - kind of like a little weekly BYCU lesson. |
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Post by cunningr on Dec 16, 2019 15:27:32 GMT -6
Hows it going? Late to the party again. RoughSunday woke up to a broken fridge, tub on second floor leaking through, and the solar hot water tank has a significant drip leak.
Despite those issue manage a solid 6 hours of playing time, started new material but not sure what the name is but still albert collins, this week starting some Robert Cray.
Spent time on major pentatonic scales.
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Post by grampalerxst on Dec 17, 2019 14:22:08 GMT -6
Yes, it would be a bummer to see the gang disband (akin to the breakup of The Beatles in my estimation). I would be up for some sort of periodic group activity as an attempt to perk things up next year. I'll think about it to see if I can come up with any ideas beyond what's been mentioned already.
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Post by cunningr on Dec 17, 2019 15:15:14 GMT -6
I posted so fast I finally got caught up on the forum discussion. Frankly I would go into depression if we didn’t have at least the weekly thread. I can’t even remember when I joined up Phil still had hair and was working I think. Lol
I think some type of participation thread would be cool, maybe keep it simple. What about posting a lick with a rhythm track, then we use the new lick and a lick we know or made do like rounds or even 8 bars of a 1 chord. I know for me I still struggle with transition. Something to think about for after the holidays.
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Post by mikeybrew on Dec 19, 2019 13:43:10 GMT -6
Just getting into the swing of things, I have worked through lesson one of BYCU and am in lesson 2. As I was reading some other posts here, I saw a mention of Troy Stetina's metal lesson books. Forgot I had metal rhythm guitar volume 1, so I am starting that book from lesson 1 as well. Just dabbled in it previously but now i am going to learn it. Planning on bouncing back and forth between the two to keep it interesting. Brings me back to my metal days in the 80's.
Also playing with a few friends on Wednesday nights. Playing a little bit of everything, so that adds another aspect of timing, learning new songs, getting better at others. Basic stuff, but it is fun.
Setting up the dedicated practice area where everything is ready to go when I walk in is good so far. I don't have to set up anything, just sit down and start practicing.
Would definitely be interested in a weekly new lick or phrase as was talked about as well. Blues, jazz, rock, whatever.
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Post by cunningr on Dec 19, 2019 15:57:47 GMT -6
Just getting into the swing of things, I have worked through lesson one of BYCU and am in lesson 2. As I was reading some other posts here, I saw a mention of Troy Stetina's metal lesson books. Forgot I had metal rhythm guitar volume 1, so I am starting that book from lesson 1 as well. Just dabbled in it previously but now i am going to learn it. Planning on bouncing back and forth between the two to keep it interesting. Brings me back to my metal days in the 80's.
Also playing with a few friends on Wednesday nights. Playing a little bit of everything, so that adds another aspect of timing, learning new songs, getting better at others. Basic stuff, but it is fun.
Setting up the dedicated practice area where everything is ready to go when I walk in is good so far. I don't have to set up anything, just sit down and start practicing.
Would definitely be interested in a weekly new lick or phrase as was talked about as well. Blues, jazz, rock, whatever.
welcome. I have a dedicated spot to practice now makes it nice. |
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