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No Gravitas posted:Yeah, that will be fun. My first instrument was the clarinet. I like it a lot... You know how you'll be trying to work out some song on the tin whistle, but you either run out of range or it just doesn't have the right note available? Not a problem on the clarinet. I recently bought a secondhand clarinet for $70 at an antique store... You can find good deals as long as you can spot warning signs like missing pads, mold, loose pieces, etc. If you enjoy your new instrument and want to make the jump to clarinet, I recommend scouting second hand stores and craigslist. Bring a reed with and you can test them on the spot!
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Apr 6, 2014 17:01
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The clarineo price has just fallen by another 2.50$. It was 74$ just a day ago. Now at 66.31$, shipped in the USA. No telling how long this trend will continue. Looking at price history it has been dropping about 2.50$ a day for a while now. I guess someone really hates the white and pink. No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Apr 7, 2014 |
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Apr 7, 2014 01:31
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The Clarineo is a pretty interesting creation: The same company also makes keyed flutes (retail $170). The one with the curved mouthpiece is for small kids, so they can still reach everything (a similar bend is used to make huge bass flutes playable for adults):  The company that made the pBone plastic trombone (which apparently has been really well-received) are about to come out with a trumpet, though I did notice at least two other companies coming out with competing plastic trumpets. I haven't seen a mentioned price, but since a trumpet has moving parts it's got to be more than their $100 trombones. Here's the prototype pTrumpet:  I remember there was some unsuccessful attempt at a plastic saxophone a few years back, though I'm finding this "Vibrato Sax", which is however not an ultra-cheapie like the above, but more like $700: 
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Apr 7, 2014 03:48
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:The Clarineo is a pretty interesting creation: A bit of backstory: It's a kid's instrument. It started as the Lyons C clarinet, a fairly well regarded student clarinet. The Clarineo is a sequel of the Lyons. Same bore, but little else. It now can be taken apart, they changed the keys to work better and the mouthpiece is cheaper. Not sure if it takes regular ones. The thing is lightweight so that kids can handle it. All plastic, so it should survive if they throw it around. Also fully washable. The thing is "field repairable" too, just buy a spare part and slot it in yourself. Here is the Lyons clarinet dropped and then played right after: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCyx1mBZ8Y&t=91s There are two differences with a regular clarinet that I can see. 1) It is in the key of C, so unlike most clarinets (which are B-flat, usually) can play a ton of music without too much messy transposing. You don't see many C clarinets nowadays, they are supposedly too cheerful. Being a gloomy motherfucker, this is a plus to me. I could use some extra cheer any day. 2) The "less keys" thing is supposed to be mostly benign, mostly a loss of redundant fingerings. The holes and distances between keys are small, so best played with small hands. In theory you get 3.5 octaves out of it, about as much as a regular clarinet. I expect 3 or even only 2.5 to be usable. This is still a lot for me. And it is known not to be tuned perfectly either. Not that anyone ever used a tuner to find out... might be just people seeing the plastic and whining. There are a bunch of videos of children playing it, but I don't think they are very good. Here is the inventor of the gizmo playing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSgpjL34Z1A drat. Not bad for plastic, but then again I'm tonedeaf and could not tell a difference even if it were ginormous. TapTheForwardAssist posted:The same company also makes keyed flutes (retail $170). The one with the curved mouthpiece is for small kids, so they can still reach everything (a similar bend is used to make huge bass flutes playable for adults): And won't you know it, someone in that company really hates white and pink. See, the flutes in that color combination are also 73$ shipped. You do get the funny bend, but it is a flute for 73$. http://www.amazon.com/Nuvo-N200JFPK-jFlute-Curved-Accessories/dp/B00E3QIHIY/ Ok, now I shut up. 
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Apr 7, 2014 08:00
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Tom Doherty's Dance Sean Nós
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Apr 8, 2014 03:02
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slap me silly posted:Finally got this! Great stuff. Some jigs played really slow for the fancydancers, which I never heard on records usually. Also great lift on the reels. Honestly kind of hard to believe it's all on the one row. The man is a wonder; the Rambling House article on melodeon says he took All-Ireland at some point (presumably for melodeon), though I'm not seeing him on the Wikipedia list, though it may not be fully current and/or synched-up. There are some good clips of players from the All-Ireland competition here: http://comhaltas.ie/music/tag/Melodeon . At some point in my life I'd like to attend the main event, or at least check out one of the regional competitions. I've debated entering one of the first-tier competitions just for the experience, since Duet-system concertina is by no means an Irish mainstay. That or try to work up some more traditionally-rigid skills on the 1-row. So far as cool plastic instruments, ran across a fascinating one online:  Carbon-fiber alpenhorn: http://swisscarbonalphorn.net Apparently someone took one up Everest to set the alpenhorn altitude record with 8850 meters. It weighs 3.4 pounds, and when disassembled is as little as 2ft long in its case. So yeah, for a massive instrument it becomes awfully handy. The downside is that the Swiss ain't cheap: CHF3700 (about $4k). In fairness, huge wooden alpenhorn are pretty expensive as well, and the carbon fiber ones are presumably way more durable and certainly more portable. There are some ways to build an apparently okayish beginner alpenhorn from PVC, or one guy online built one from papier mache. The clips of homemade alpenhorns I've seen aren't great, but honestly it's impossible to suss out whether they suck because the person who made them has no idea how to play one (or maybe doesn't play brass in general) vs. the actual instrument being bad. Given that I've seen clips of pro brass players sounding good playing a trumpet mouthpiece tucked into a roll of garden hose with a funnel at the end, I'm guessing more the former. Here's a somewhat involved construction tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_kpwIeagP8 - Das 5€ Dachlatten-Alphorn / The 5€ Roof Battens-Alphorn. It appears to take more effort than PVC, but sounds pretty good. - Here's one where despite the player the PVC horn may be decent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRrL6ko8Uyo - And some serious trad playing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0lqZZTU-3E - World record for massed alphorns (508 players): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynP5bsDOLlg 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 04:49
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My Clarineo arrived. Well, that was sure something. After an hour of awkward squeaks I can get some good low notes out of it. I love it. So if you want a Clarinetty-thingy for 50.08 US$, freely shipped in the USA... Get it. I'd say it's easily worth it. If not, then get it in a week, the price is still dropping. You miss out on trill keys and not much else as far as I can tell. Hard to play though... I'm probably doing it wrong. It will help me get through the next few weeks though. And now back to the regularly scheduled final project crunch... EDIT: OH GOD! I realise why the pink is so cheap. Help. Cannot stop myself. Must make cupcakes! Cannot fight it. AAAAAAA! Fate worse than death! They are comi No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Apr 15, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 03:31
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No Gravitas posted:My Clarineo arrived. Make sure your embouchure is firm enough. Seems like half the problems back in band class were embouchure related. Really matters for brass and double reed instruments but it's important for clarinets too
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Apr 15, 2014 03:54
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Pham Nuwen posted:Make sure your embouchure is firm enough. Seems like half the problems back in band class were embouchure related. Really matters for brass and double reed instruments but it's important for clarinets too Yup, that sure helped. I'm almost up to playing the entirety of the Simon the Sorcerer theme music. Yay! If someone else decided to jump in on the cheap clarinetty-thingy craze, a note: One of the joints in the keywork required some greasing. The key that is tripped by a finger on either the thumb-hole or the index finger of the left hand gets stuck sometimes, making the instrument sound awful. A tiny dash of grease on the interlock between the part of this key that connects the thumb-hole ring with the upper ring fixed all issues there. The grease that was included with the instrument worked great and the key is now supper-snappy and does not stick anymore. I will take pictures of the greased joint together with recordings once I finish some of my final projects... The thing sounds pretty great to me though, at least in the low register that I have explored.
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Apr 17, 2014 05:07
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I passed the Clarineo info over to a guy in my band, and he may end up getting one now, so thanks for passing the word. I particularly like how the keywork on these is home-repairable, which has got to be awesome for parents of small children. As cool as the Clarineo is, the innovation is more in the modularity than the plastic itself, but I'm really curious to see how the pTrumpet comes out, and if it does as well as the pBone what their next instrument will be. My impression is that French horn has some weird complications to it, but maybe a pBaritone wouldn't be any harder than a pTrumpet? In other plastic fields, I spent a few days traveling around this last week, and carried a small all-plastic ukulele with me everywhere I went. Not an absolutely amazing player, but decent enough, so I always had something to do when waiting around, got into some fun conversations with people, and also I had no trouble hanging the uke off of a chair by its pegs, resting it on top my pint glass at a bar, letting my buddy's kid muck with it while we were having a beer, etc. A lot of musical instruments are relatively fragile, so it can be liberating to have an instrument that doesn't need a case because the case would be more easily damaged than the instrument. The brand I have is Outdoor Ukulele; their sopranos are a little clunky, but supposedly they made some major design improvements for their tenors that they just crowd-funded. I've got a pre-order, so should have a clear tenor soon:  As much as I love concertina, I'm annoyed that there aren't cheap plastic Duet concertinas I can carry around and bang up. The only real equivalents are the toy accordions (for one row players) which I do indeed occasionally carry around and bang up, though not as severely as the uke since a squeezebox has more moving parts. For Anglo concertina players Brunner/Stagi make an all-plastic (exterior) 20-button, though I'm sure some of the parts inside have wood and all that, so not totally weatherproof, but certainly more durable than wood. 
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Apr 17, 2014 18:15
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I passed the Clarineo info over to a guy in my band, and he may end up getting one now, so thanks for passing the word. I particularly like how the keywork on these is home-repairable, which has got to be awesome for parents of small children. As cool as the Clarineo is, the innovation is more in the modularity than the plastic itself, but I'm really curious to see how the pTrumpet comes out, and if it does as well as the pBone what their next instrument will be. My impression is that French horn has some weird complications to it, but maybe a pBaritone wouldn't be any harder than a pTrumpet? Wow, I have done a possibly good thing. French horns are crazy complex. Here is a very good explanation of history and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK0UFgnrIqY You need the valves. Valves are complex. The whole video series by those guys on the history and working of concert instruments is pretty much golden, although there is a ton of duplication between them. Each video is supposed to be standalone, I guess.
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Apr 17, 2014 20:15
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No Gravitas posted:French horns are crazy complex. Here is a very good explanation of history and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK0UFgnrIqY A Good Video.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:17
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Speaking of good videos, I recently came across an amazingly awesome video on youtube, which has made me super enthused about the possibility of trying to learn how to play the didgeridoo. So apparently Eric Anzalone, who is famous for being the leatherman/biker dude in the Village People, has an online show titled What Matters Most. And I discovered an episode of What Matters Most that features Phil Shiva Jones and the work that he has done to spread the word about the spiritual meditative healing properties of the didgeridoo. I'm a huge fan of Phil Shiva Jones because he was the lead singer of that super groovy spiritual rock band called Quintessence and because he's also made some maximally mondo music with other musicians and as a solo artist. And I love watching him and Eric Anzalone play the didgeridoo together and talk about what a cool instrument it is! And I really like the part of the video shortly after the 16-minute mark where a didgeridoo healing session is shown, during which Phil Shiva Jones plays his didgeridoo while slowly moving the end of the didgeridoo over the body of a seated woman. So here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WERPNnAYcj8 I think Phil Shiva Jones is a fabulously fantastic guy and that video I linked totally makes me want to learn to play the didgeridoo! If I ever do try to learn to play the didgeridoo, I hope I don't give up on it right away like I did when I wanted to learn how to play the singing saw. Maybe the didgeridoo would be easier for me to play...
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Apr 19, 2014 05:44
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This thread has been bubbling around in my brain for the last couple months and it finally prompted me to buy and begin learning the mandolin. Just ordered one. Thank you thread.
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Apr 19, 2014 23:07
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:The man is a wonder; the Rambling House article on melodeon says he took All-Ireland at some point (presumably for melodeon), though I'm not seeing him on the Wikipedia list, though it may not be fully current and/or synched-up. http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_395_8_aongus_o_maicin/ God dammit. Now I'm seriously considering trading in my B/C for a four voice one row.
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Apr 19, 2014 23:25
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Big Hustle, I just wanted to let you know that you made a sale, dude. I've been trying to teach myself to play washboard for two years now, and having little success. I just noticed this post:BigHustle posted:That is part of David Holt's "Folk Rhythms" DVD. He teaches how to play the bones, spoons, washboard, hambone and paper bag. The whole thing is worth a watch if you are interested in old time percussion. And as soon as my paycheck comes in next month, I'll be ordering one. Thanks! Edit: Also, the washboard gloves are loving genius. If I can scrape together the cash, I might trade up from my thimbles too.
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Apr 20, 2014 11:05
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quote:This thread has been bubbling around in my brain for the last couple months and it finally prompted me to buy and begin learning the mandolin. Just ordered one. Thank you thread. Groovy, what make did you get, and what kind of music are you intending to play? While you're waiting for it to arrive, make sure to order the cheap little chord book referenced in Pham Nuwen's avatar. It's the best bang-for-buck available in mando instruction. Math Debater posted:I think Phil Shiva Jones is a fabulously fantastic guy and that video I linked totally makes me want to learn to play the didgeridoo! If I ever do try to learn to play the didgeridoo, I hope I don't give up on it right away like I did when I wanted to learn how to play the singing saw. Maybe the didgeridoo would be easier for me to play...   Huh, I did not know that's how things turned out for him. Glad to see he's still doing music, albeit different aesthetic. So far as learning to play one, a lot of instrument learning is a) committing to play even just a tiny bit as often as possible (5m a day is better than 1hr a week) and b) having a reason to be playing. Singing saw is fun, but if you're not already music-familiar and don't have a vision of what it is you want to do with saw, I could see it being hard to grasp. If you're learning saw because you really want to work it into your storytelling act, or because the band you're in wants you to switch it up with your guitar a little with some interesting novelty, that's probably easier to motivate on. With didg, as you probably know it's not really a "play this melody" instrument, so much as a drone that you can vary in character, so if you've watched videos and read up on the instrument, you should have a pretty good idea as to whether you'd have a role for that in your life. While you're deciding, you may also want to read up on "circular breathing" since that's a fundamental technique, and some of the exercises you can do even without an instrument. Years and years ago I heard something about how for, iirc woodwind players in India, the way they taught circular breathing is they'd give the kid a bowl of a water and a reed straw, have them blow bubbles into the water, and every time the bubbles stopped the instructor would smack the kid upside the head. But there are probably more chill ways to learn that. We have a little advice back earlier in the thread about buying didges, but overall there are just so many "how to choose a didgeridoo" articles online it's probably best to read just a few of those and congolmerate them into an opinion. From looking at a few myself, a few broad trends: - If you're short on cash, building a PVC didg is pretty workable, something most sites consider pretty decent. - If you're looking for a cheapie, look for a reputable cheapie from a serious didg seller as opposed to just whatever is on eBay. Like with Native American flutes and other such instruments, there are shops in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc churning out cheap copies in indifferently-sourced wood. For little more (or even the same price) if you poke around the focused didg sellers have decent cheapiers, in either natural woods or synthetics. - For your first one, get a "standard" size, not a tiny one or a massive one, since the medium sizes apparently are easiest to blow. - Me personally, I'd tend to at least start with a synthetic since that way you can take it everywhere without fretting it getting damaged, and that might make you more comfortable keeping it handy next to the couch, hauling it out to the park, etc. But if for whatever personal reasons you want natural materials, those aren't hard to find even in cheap.  I used to live in the High Desert, so I always found the idea of agave didges cool Not sure if your particular purposes (meditational?) have any spiritual requirements, but in the more abstract sense one thing that comes up in didge buying is the whole Aboriginal cooption thing and whatnot. So there's at least part of the community that's big on not buying "aboriginial artwork" not made by actual indigenous Australians. The US has the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Indian_Arts_And_Crafts_Act]1990 Indian Arts and Crafts Act[/url] which makes it a crime to claim/imply an American Indian origin for an item not made by indigenous craftsmen; I'm not sure what Australia's protections are to ensure the genuine article. So there's some argument that if you want a traditional "eucalyptus hollowed out by termites, painted in Aboriginal patterns" you should buy from someone who carries just the genuine article, and otherwise just get an item (wood, bamboo, yucca/agave stalk) that's generically geometrically painted or unornamented and you can paint it yourself. Basically the usual "if you're going to tie in to traditional artwork, recognize ownership by the originating culture." As a sidenote to that, there are some good serious writeups on the "women can't play didgeridoo" taboo myth. Long/short, apparently the areas where didg is most traditional didn't have women playing it in ceremonies, but women played it recreationally and in informal settings. The areas of Australia biggest on the "women can't even touch a didg" are the Aboriginal groups in areas that didn't receive the instrument until the modern era, where they were soaking up as much Western perception, New Age marketing, etc as assimilating culture from Aboriginal groups of other regions. There seems to be an expansion in the last few years in "box" didges, which I've always thought were awesome. I see some divided opinion as to whether they're good for beginners or no, but if anyone has a need for a compact instrument and has a less-traditional focus, these are pretty awesome. Akin to bassoon, the instrument is "longer than it looks" since the bore winds back and forth through the instrument, so you can fit an five foot didg into a 9 inch box; I see them around for like $40-60.  EDIT: I also picked up another beater Italian-made 20-button Anglo concertina. It's a little wonky so though it plays and is in decent tune, probably should still go to someone who isn't shy about taking a look inside, making new leather hand-straps for it, basic unskilled but handy stuff. I'm going to put it up for $39 in SA-Mart later. EDIT2: quote:The clarineo price has just fallen by another 2.50$. It was 74$ just a day ago. Now at 66.31$, shipped in the USA. Two weeks later, it's back up to $77 shipped, so it looks like the fall wasn't non-stop. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Apr 21, 2014 |
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Apr 21, 2014 18:06
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Groovy, what make did you get, and what kind of music are you intending to play? While you're waiting for it to arrive, make sure to order the cheap little chord book referenced in Pham Nuwen's avatar. It's the best bang-for-buck available in mando instruction. Wow, thanks so much for producing such an effortful and encouraging reply to my post! In all honesty, I think the main reason why I posted in this thread is because this thread seemed to me like the most appropriate place to post the link to that What Matters Most didgeridoo-playing video! But yeah, getting a didgeridoo does seem appealing to me because I would like to see for myself if the experience of playing the didgeridoo is as mindblowingly consciousness-altering as Phil Shiva Jones seems to suggest that it is in that video. And yeah, a synthetic didgeridoo sounds nice to me. I think perhaps I would want to get a colorful and inoffensive didgeridoo along the lines of the one being played by Village People Biker Eric Anzalone in the attached snapshot. Thanks very much again for your post and for this maximally mondo thread!
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Apr 21, 2014 21:32
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Two weeks later, it's back up to $77 shipped, so it looks like the fall wasn't non-stop. It was as low as 48$ shipped at one point. Then it went up to 84$. Now down at 77$ again... Give it a few days.
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Apr 21, 2014 21:42
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No Gravitas posted:It was as low as 48$ shipped at one point. bitcoin.txt edit: poo poo I've been reading too much GBS lately. Content-wise, are you using sheet music from the Internet with your clarineo? I'd like to find some good music for my clarinet but haven't seen a lot out there, I might have to (gasp) pay for sheet music.
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Apr 21, 2014 21:46
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Pham Nuwen posted:bitcoin.txt You should have seen the variability on their Jflute. Went from 60 to 120 overnight. I usually play whatever I feel like, without any sheet music. I feel sad, so I play something that sounds sad. I feel happy, so I try to play something that sounds happy but ends up being sad anyway. The clarineo is in C, so things are very compatible with it without too strange of a key, as long as you don't desire clarinet music. Which you probably do... Uhmmm... Try the local library? Look for fakebooks, maybe? Despite playing for almost an hour every day, I can play a total of four pieces of music: Simon the Sorceror, Seikilos epitaph, Yellow Submarine and the Ode to Joy. That's it and all four very badly too! Don't expect to get solid sheet music advice from me, even though I can read it. EDIT: bitcoin.txt indeed! Up to 130$! No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Apr 22, 2014 |
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Apr 21, 2014 23:07
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Groovy, what make did you get, and what kind of music are you intending to play? While you're waiting for it to arrive, make sure to order the cheap little chord book referenced in Pham Nuwen's avatar. It's the best bang-for-buck available in mando instruction. I went with this guy, a hard case, some flat picks (e: a tuner) and a strap for about a $240 total investment. After reading a few reviews, I felt like it was a good jumping in point for a total beginner without soaking myself for a loss if I just can't get into it. I'm enamored with bluegrass as a personal preference, but I really like the idea that I can take to multiple styles. That's turned me away a little from other instruments in this thread, and I like that if I find a particular genre that's easier or more natural for me to play, or that I want to branch out into at some later time that I'm not hindered (as much (I think so far from reading about the instrument)). I thank you for the recommendation of that guide, and for your other so thoughtful posts in this thread. Big Beef City fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Apr 22, 2014 |
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Apr 22, 2014 03:08
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Captain Bravo posted:Big Hustle, I just wanted to let you know that you made a sale, dude. Good deal, that David Holt video is some good stuff. As an update, I stopped working there in August of last year after some poo poo went down between the owner and myself. I haven't been back over there since, but I understand that he still runs a good shop so don't be concerned about ordering from him. quote:Edit: Also, the washboard gloves are loving genius. If I can scrape together the cash, I might trade up from my thimbles too. Before I started working for him, I made my own gloves using a pair of motorcycle gloves and bottle caps with a generous portion of hot glue that worked just as well. His are a lot cleaner looking, but if you're a washboard player "homemade" might be what you're looking for.
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Apr 22, 2014 03:58
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quote:Try the local library? Look for fakebooks, maybe? Note also that aside from just .jpg/.png/.pdf of sheet music online, a lot of older/public-domain stuff is available in "abc" notation. There are a number of free "translator" java apps and whatnot online that'll turn "abc" coding into standard sheet-music. quote:But yeah, getting a didgeridoo does seem appealing to me because I would like to see for myself if the experience of playing the didgeridoo is as mindblowingly consciousness-altering as Phil Shiva Jones seems to suggest that it is in that video.  No worries, glad you enjoy. If you want a basic plastic colorful dig, there are many makers indeed that are quite inexpensive, though I'd still suggest buying from a didg-specific dealer so you get good customer support, and some level of quality-control. I'd also suggest you consider ornamenting the instrument yourself as your beliefs/tastes indicate, whether by painting it or just putting stickers/etc on it. You really can't go too wrong trying this; synthetic didges are inexpensive and at worst probably not hard to sell to whatever local hippie kid if it doesn't work out for you. Plus just the experience of learning to circular breather, work with drone, etc can't help but be a constructive experience. Not to distract you from your didg course, but if you end up liking droning but find you miss having melody options (either as supplement or alternative), take a squint at the drone-flutes roughly based on Native American flutes (which themselves were influenced by European instruments, not purely indigenous): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqxQ0XqZxG4 Big Beef City posted:I went with this guy, a hard case, some flat picks (e: a tuner) and a strap for about a $240 total investment. Good deal, a basic mando is nice and inexpensive, compact, and as you note quite versatile. From the pic of your model, it appears it has adjustable bridge height. Don't fret it immediately, but if you start getting past the utter basics, you may want to read up online as to making basic adjustments to bridge/action height for smoother playing, since your bridge has those little metal thumbscrews that adjust height. Or if you have a friend who's serious into guitar tech (not just a decent player, someone who does actual mechanical adjustments), have them google a bit on action measurements and take a look at it for best results. Here's a good MandolinCafe post about using coins as makeshift feeler gauges to check out action height: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?100752-set-up-without-feeler-guage-using-coins As you've noted from the thread, mandolin is one of the most versatile of the "weird" instruments, probably about as cross-culturally applicable as guitar, or even more so. Just about wherever you go in the world, there's at least some mandolin tradition, or similar instruments you can base your riffs on. Bluegrass is also a great mando genre to start on, since the instrument has a very established role in that genre, both as a rhythm instrument (playing the snare-like upbeat while the bass plays the downbeat) as well as fiddle-like melody breaks. I don't play mandolin much these days (used to play a ton), but I still think of it as a great instrument with a very wide applicability.  - brief documentary on South Indian mando expert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJRNX4fM6jI - amateur North African octave mandolin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--CHQnjQO8 - Argentine tango on mandolin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k48vJW27rrE - Led Zeppelin "Battle of Evermore", one of the most famous metal mandolin pieces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUiy_6hI-xU - Swedish polska on mandolin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gx5qXmN8tk - Vietnamese folk music on mandolin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e13JmQwQXrM - Delta blues from the famous Yank Rachell (towards the end of his life): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYMsRzVFXQ (he's pretty old and stiff by 1993, but you get the rough idea, his old recordings are impressive) TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Apr 22, 2014 |
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Apr 22, 2014 05:49
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BigHustle posted:Before I started working for him, I made my own gloves using a pair of motorcycle gloves and bottle caps with a generous portion of hot glue that worked just as well. His are a lot cleaner looking, but if you're a washboard player "homemade" might be what you're looking for. I didn't want to be rude and suggest something, but since you're not working there... Have you considered cutting the tips off the fingers, running the thimbles through the inside of the glove, and gluing them to the edges? It would need to be custom-fitted to your hands, so not something you could realistically do for an online store, but for a personal pair it seems like it could look really slick. Also, has anyone ever tried to washboard with Banjo Picks? Does it work well?
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Apr 22, 2014 09:59
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I received my mandolin today. There was a strip of that white foam packing cloth under the bridge, held in position by tensioned strings... as I expected. I am not a luthier. I did this: I cut post-it note stick'ems to mirror the width and angles of the bridge, tacked them in place, loosened the strings enough to to tap the bridge out, removed the plastic padding. Re-aligned the bridge, re-seated the strings, and used a neck tuner to absolutely tune my absolutely cheap and absolutely awesome mandolin. And then I played some 2 finger cords and felt pretty good about things. Lost. But good.
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Apr 23, 2014 02:16
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Captain Bravo posted:I didn't want to be rude and suggest something, but since you're not working there... Have you considered cutting the tips off the fingers, running the thimbles through the inside of the glove, and gluing them to the edges? It would need to be custom-fitted to your hands, so not something you could realistically do for an online store, but for a personal pair it seems like it could look really slick. There are plenty of folks who do that, but coming up with a way to mass produce something that looks decent is a pain. When I left his plans for thimble gloves had ground to a halt because he couldn't find a decent way to mount them on the gloves and finding a reliable manufacturer for thimbles that met his standards was nearly impossible. quote:Also, has anyone ever tried to washboard with Banjo Picks? Does it work well? I know a few folks have done that. One bought some thin dress gloves and stitched the thimble to the glove tip to keep them from flying around or shifting. The trick is finding picks heavy enough to make a decent sound. Most finger picks are pretty thin. I've gotten out of playing mine lately, but I was leaning more towards using cheap sockets from Harbor Freight. They're tougher on the board but make a lot of noise.
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Apr 23, 2014 02:51
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TTFA, I can say you've thoroughly got me started on some fun stuff and also put a dent into my wallet, but it's been worth it so far. My collection so far: A set of Great Highland Bagpipes, with which I'm training with a small band to play in my area that's just starting up. I was lucky enough to find a GHB teacher in the area. The actual playing of the chanter isn't that difficult, but it does take some strength that I don't quite have yet to play for more than a few minutes in both my arm and lungs. The middle set is a set of Scottish Smallpipes which I use for indoors / non band practice. The fingering on the chanter is approximately the same as the GHB though the instrument is quiet enough that you're not going to bother everyone around you, which is a benefit. The distances between some of the notes on the chanter is a bit different between the GHB and SSP chanter but it doesn't screw me up that often. I started learning on a practice chanter with my pipe teacher before I moved up to both the SSP, and more recently the GHB. Finally, the sackpipa which intrigued me because it has an awesome sound and some pretty cool music for it. I looked up Seth Hamon based on the reference to him that TTFA had on page 2 of this thread, and grabbed a set of his poly pipes. They just arrived a day ago and while I'm pretty terrible at them because I keep trying to use GHB/SSP fingering on the chanter, I've managed to get at least one tune down from Olle Gällmo's website, which is what I'm using to learn to play. They are extremely easy to play compared to even the SSP and very lenient on air, so they're a pretty awesome introduction to bagpipes if anyone checks them out. They seem much more chill to play as compared to SSP/GHB which have very well delineated rules on gracenotes and embellishments as well as the type of music, so they're probably going to be the instrument I go to for just relaxing and having a good time playing stuff.
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Apr 30, 2014 17:41
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TapTheForwardAssist, thanks for directing me to this thread from my 'sore thumbs' thread. The idea of picking up a concertina has got me excited. I love those old celtic sea shanties and it would be really cool to play with that sound. If I understand the differences correctly, the anglo concertina is the type i'd need for this sound, correct? I see one for sale in my local classifieds. How does this look to you guys for that price? http://www.kijiji.ca/v-other-musical-instrument/vernon/concertina/584658685?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
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Apr 30, 2014 22:50
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I'd say Anglo is the thing for that, yeah. 20 buttons should be fine for sea shanties and general farting around, you only need a 30 button if you want to get into the fast irish tunes or care what key you're playing in. Now that particular instrument... concertinas under the $1k price point are notorious for being complete junk, and those brightly colored nameless ones are the worst sinners usually. You'd need to make sure all the keys and reeds work, and they can actually be pretty miserable to play due to stiff bellows and general leakiness. If your budget allows, consider talking to these guys instead: http://www.buttonbox.com/concertinas-in-stock.html#anglo I have ordered instruments from them sight unseen before. Anything of the sub-$1k instruments on that page I'd happily recommend to a beginner. They know their stuff and you'd be sure to get one that's well set up. I would send you my old Stagi 30-button for a few dollars but I wore it out and it's not even really fixable any more
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Apr 30, 2014 23:13
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barren_sky posted:TapTheForwardAssist, thanks for directing me to this thread from my 'sore thumbs' thread. The idea of picking up a concertina has got me excited. I love those old celtic sea shanties and it would be really cool to play with that sound. If I understand the differences correctly, the anglo concertina is the type i'd need for this sound, correct? I see one for sale in my local classifieds. How does this look to you guys for that price? No worries, glad it's of interest to you. Anglo is the traditional type for sea shanties, but English and even Duet styles work for that too. The latter two aren't quite as "bouncy" in rhythm unless you add it in intentionally. The "bounce" in Anglo playing comes from the fact that, exactly like harmonica, the note changes whether you're pushing (breathing out) or pulling (breathing in). Whereas English or Duet the note is the same on the push or pull, so you can play it fluidly or deliberately change directions for effect. Big picture, any of these would work for you. If you want something really straightforward and harmonica-like, where the keys are limited but it's very easy to naturally harmonize, Anglo is good for that. If you want something that's a bit more melodically agile (kind of like a fiddle) with some options for simple harmony, that's English. Duet is kind of in-between, able to do complex melody/harmony but neither quite as fast as Anglo or English. For your stiff thumbs' sake, Anglo just uses the right thumb to "flick" the air button occasionally English doesn't "use" the thumbs for buttons but does strap to the thumbs to stabilize itself, with the pinkies resting on a shelf (no idea if this would be good or bad for your purposes, take a look at a pic: link). I note also that while not a stock item, some folks rig/improvise "wrist straps" to their English to further spread-load any pressure, which would be even easier on your thumbs (photo). Anglo: playing some basic Irish and English trad tunes. Note how his right thumb occasionally hits the air button when he needs to get more space for a long push or pull coming up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHg6la96sNs. And here's an amateur singing a sea shanty with Anglo, note again the many small back-forth direction changes to change notes (and this guy is playing a modern cheapie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5tjRshOZdo English: a few Irish hornpipes, note how compared to Anglo he only changes directions when he runs out of space, but he can still add rhythm by just varying hand pressure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p90KS-rK8eQ An Irish lament sung with English concertina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpCrFbf_ZDY. Oddly enough there are limited shanty concertina clips on YouTube, but historically Anglo was big, but in the 20th C. English concertina got big for singing old sea songs, so again, 6/half-dozen.  I'll only partially agree with sss, in that the cheaper Anglos make decent starters/beaters, particularly if you're not doing something crazy fast like Irish dance music. And in the $300used/$400new range the "Concertina Connection" brand of offshore concertinas are clunky but sound and used by a large number of beginners and recommended by the Concertina Forum. Upgrading to a nicer 30-button Anglo concertina can be a little pricey, but if you find a 20-buttons sufficient there are really nice vintage 20b for as low as $500 or so for a refurbished Victorian-era instrument, some really nice ones. Similar for some of the smaller English and Duet concertinas, you can get good refurbished vintage ones in the $600 range or so. The vintage market has huge demand for 30b Anglos for the Irish scene, but good deals otherwise, and great "they don't make them like the used to" quality. If you're strongly interested in concertina and not too short on cash, you might find buying a less-expensive vintage one from refurbisher Greg Jowaisas to be a good way to start strong, particularly as you can easily make your money back re-selling most reconditioned vintage concertinas if you move on later. For the Stagi you link, it's not a terrible price but not an amazing one either, but being able to try it in person locally is a big advantage. I'd suggest reading up a little on what to check for in a used concertina, and giving it a look, and also seeing if it's comfortable for your hands, and if flicking the air button isn't bad on your thumb. But it's not such an amazing deal that you have to leap on this if you are more curious about English. If it has no leaks, and sounds all in tune, $100 is a solid deal. While a very, very rough approximation, TradLessons makes smartphone/tablet concertina apps for 99¢ if you want to just get a quick feel for how Anglo vs. English operate: http://www.tradlessons.com/apps.html  slap me silly, if you have any clapped-out concertina you've run into the ground, I recently gave a Cnet guy a junked Stagi (he paid for the shipping) and he rebuilt it to give away to a beginner. So if yours won't go and you're willing to give it up, I know a guy or two who can clean it up to give some new kid a start on an instrument. Did you wear out the joints on the keys (easy fix), or wear out the bellows, have some reeds get clogged? TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 03:20 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 02:59
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Yeah, ok, I'm a total snob, I own it... case in point,TapTheForwardAssist posted:he can still add rhythm by just varying hand pressure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p90KS-rK8eQ One is a piano accordion though so I'm not disagreeing with your point. Just saying that people have a harder time making it work on unisonoric boxes because the instrument doesn't help you at all in finding the lilt.Possibly I also just really like the Anglo My old Stagi... I dunno. The metal bits in the action are literally worn away. And they're stapled to the wood bits, not screwed on. So making it work again would be a massive undertaking, it would need new pieces custom-made and fit somehow. Then you'd still have to do all the reed setting, tuning, new pads... slap me silly fucked around with this message at 03:23 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 03:20
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Such tremendous help! Thank you guys so much! I can't afford to sink too much money into what may be a passing fancy, but i'm at least going to get my hands on some different devices and see how it feels. If It ignites a passion, i'll buy something nice then! I'll update here once I've tested the waters a bit.
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May 1, 2014 04:09
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barren_sky posted:Such tremendous help! Thank you guys so much! I can't afford to sink too much money into what may be a passing fancy, but i'm at least going to get my hands on some different devices and see how it feels. If It ignites a passion, i'll buy something nice then! I'll update here once I've tested the waters a bit. No worries. Tell you what, if you're okay with very basic low-skill mucking around (gluing cardboard, bending springs, nudging pieces of felt for a better seal) I might have a good deal for you on a 20-button Anglo, even counting shipping to Cannuckistan. PM me if you want to hear about it before I post it on SA Mart. Other folks: if anyone is into weird instruments and has the skills to design a banner ad, I could stand to have a new one to draw in yet more readers to be corrupted into playing weird music. quote:Finally, the sackpipa which intrigued me because it has an awesome sound and some pretty cool music for it. I looked up Seth Hamon based on the reference to him that TTFA had on page 2 of this thread, and grabbed a set of his poly pipes. Outstanding, I think you're the first reader to buy a Swedish bagpipe and report back. Hamons sets are great and sturdy little things. Did you also buy his synthetic sackpipa reeds? While not necessary, they can be very convenient. I need to get back into playing sackpipa, been distracted by concertina for a while. And you're right, sackpipa has a much less rigid sense of right/wrong in playing, largely because the instrument died out entirely in the 1930s before being revived in the 1980s, and zero recordings and only a brief writeup/pics of the last player exist, the rest is all just musty cardboard boxes of bagpipe bits in various Swedish museums. The Swedish historical society in the US is quite sure that several known sackpipa players (including women) emigrated to the US, so there's always the hope that someone digging in great-grandma's old junk box will find some sackpipa parts in Iowa or Minnesota and bring it to the attention of historians... 
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May 5, 2014 06:39
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Time to give a Clarineo update! Wow. So much fun. First of all, it will ruin your love of all things whistle: Recorder/ocarina/irish whistle. The volume control and the range available are great. Secondly, it is too much fun. Pretty much indestructible, so there are no worries about it getting dropped, etc... I put it by my bed and play it often. I did identify a new problem with it though. It comes with three reeds. A colored plastic one, which is great to start on. The black plastic one, which you should start using as soon as possible because it sounds better and gives you more range. The cane one is so loving soft to be utterly worthless. I think it may be warped too. Garbage. Even the black reed won't carry you to the top of the middle register, it is too soft. Want to make it sound a bit better for free? There is a trick to it. Mount it higher than you normally would. I have a good milimeter of my reed visible from the other side of the mouthpiece. This bought me three more semitones and things squeak a lot less all of a sudden. Things sound much better now. I think it is time to buy a proper reed. I moved the ligature up together with the reed, but I'm just experimenting for now, so maybe there is some other trick to it too. Apparently the Clarineo's problems that people report are really caused by the one sticking joint in the keywork which makes some sounds go awful and the crap reeds. I don't expect it to ever sound super fantastic, but it can sound much better than it does out of the box by messing around with the reed and by greasing up the sticky joint. I really gotta record something... No good deals on the Clarineo for now. The best possible one is 122$ within-US-shipped, although it is black and does come with a DVD. The DVD is probably for kids and probably sucks. Still, 7 bucks less than the usual price for a white Clarineo without a DVD.
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May 10, 2014 03:54
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If it's just a clarinet (which it looks like, only plastic), soft reeds are easier for people to play. Having played clarinet and bass clarinet for years, I can tell you that soft reeds are good for learning the basics. When you can, move up to harder--go ahead and buy a few packs of different. You should be able to see about a millimeter anyway? It depends on the reed; most reeds have sweet spots, but you typically are going to see a tiny sliver of the reed if you look dead on from the opposite side of the mouthpiece. I like french cut clarinet reeds, but do try a few different cuts and hardnesses to get a feel for them; you'll eventually settle on something you like too. Getting a good sound out of the top range takes practice and good flow control if you want to not sound like rear end. Stick with it, and it eventually gets much easier. Glad you're enjoying it~~ Clarinet is still one of my solidly favourite instruments.
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May 10, 2014 04:33
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FelicityGS posted:If it's just a clarinet (which it looks like, only plastic), soft reeds are easier for people to play. Having played clarinet and bass clarinet for years, I can tell you that soft reeds are good for learning the basics. When you can, move up to harder--go ahead and buy a few packs of different. Yeah, a goofy clarinet though. It is in C. It takes Eb clarinet reeds. Less keys than a full clarinet. At night whispers to you about how your friends and family want to betray you. Good far small hands, keys close together. And yeah, plastic. Light as hell. The thing has a notch to help you mount your reed and if you do it with the notch then you get your reed to be about a 0.5 milimeter under the edge and not visible from the other side.
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May 10, 2014 07:38
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Hi weird instrument thread! At the start of the year, I bought a mandolin. I came from fiddle and self-taught guitar, so it was relatively easy to pick it up quickly. This summer, I'm looking at getting another piece of kit, but not sure which to look at. I'm currently torn between the Irish bouzouki (or a cittern, if I were to find one), a mandola or a 12-string guitar. Essentially, the mandolin has made me realise that double courses are what I need in my life. How easy is the bouzouki in terms of tension? I'm finding that due to the mandolin being so small, the strings don't ring for all that long compared to a guitar, so I'm trying to find the perfect combination of mandolin-style sound, but able to hold a note.
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May 10, 2014 13:33
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QuantumCrayons posted:multi-course with sustain Have you considered something like this crazy piece of work here?
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May 10, 2014 21:09
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Paladin posted:Have you considered something like this crazy piece of work here? If I was based in the US, I would buy that pretty quickly. I should say, I'm based in Scotland.
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May 10, 2014 21:19
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