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Man, you do some straight up effort posts. I really appreciate it. I've been reading up on buying used accordions in this thread and in a few other places for a bit. I know some about buying other used instruments (stringed, mostly) and electronics. Like I said, she wasn't super picky about what kind of squeezebox, but leaned toward accordion more. And yeah, I'm totally with you about not surprising someone with an instrument; I picked up a melodica as backup the other day when I thought this whole plan was going to bust, with the intention of saying "No, really, we can go return it," but didn't really feel good about it. So in true goon fashion, and against my better judgement, I broke some of the "How to Buy Used" rules. I also didn't wait around long enough for an answer here and rushed. I really wanted to have an instrument in hand today, as it's her birthday, and I needed to do something big and surprising (I don't think she was actually expecting it). I do really appreciate your post, though, and can see myself using it in the future. After spending some time on concertina.net, I think I want one for myself, and have some surplus stringed instruments not being played. I sent a friend (strike 1) down to a pawn shop (strike 2) to pick up a La Burdina student accordion for $185. I think it's probably a 1960s (strike 3) 646 model (based on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIQ1xnI49GU). I called ahead first, and they said it was in excellent condition, all buttons and keys were smooth, all reeds played, and the bellows were airtight. My friend also played all the keys and buttons when she was picking it up and verified that they were in tune as far as she could tell. When I finally got my hands on it, it all seemed in order. Cosmetically, it's beautiful, smells good, hardly any surface wear, no cracks, etc. I was really surprised. Compression felt very smooth and even all the way through push and pull strokes. I don't know precisely what I'm listening for, but I can say that all keys and buttons were in tune. All the notes are clear, loud, and even. Girlfriend did a lot of gasping and being giddy. I think for a risky purchase on an instrument not from a shop that could really check it out, everything turned out pretty well.     Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me the right things before I went ahead and ignored them. I'll post some updates in here eventually and maybe a sound/video. Good thread, this is my favorite lurk thread on SA.
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Feb 26, 2014 18:32
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I wish I had more cash for odd instruments, still want a lap steel.
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Feb 26, 2014 20:29
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Cached Money posted:I wish I had more cash for odd instruments, still want a lap steel. I have an Indy Custom lap steel that I picked up last year for $200. This is their current offering. Build wise, it's a nice piece. It's modeled off of the 60's/70's era Harmony/Supro/Whatever steels. Nothing fancy, but it sounds good and isn't a budget killer. Here's mine with bonus tone cat. 
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Feb 27, 2014 02:13
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BigHustle posted:I have an Indy Custom lap steel that I picked up last year for $200. This is their current offering. That's a really neat looking lap steel. But I've always found that calico tone cats give a warmer sound. Cached Money, you wouldn't happen to live in the San Francisco area, would you? I ask because I was in this music shop in North Beach a few weeks back and they had a couple decent looking used lap steels. No idea what he wanted for them... he was asking $100 for an older dulcimer, nothing special but it was in decent shape; I didn't buy it, though. He also had what looked like a saz, and a really clapped-out sitar.
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Feb 27, 2014 04:37
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Man, you do some straight up effort posts. I really appreciate it. HenryJLittlefinger posted:So in true goon fashion, and against my better judgement, I broke some of the "How to Buy Used" rules. I also didn't wait around long enough for an answer here and rushed. I really wanted to have an instrument in hand today, as it's her birthday, and I needed to do something big and surprising (I don't think she was actually expecting it). I do really appreciate your post, though, and can see myself using it in the future. After spending some time on concertina.net, I think I want one for myself, and have some surplus stringed instruments not being played. No worries, glad that you ended up finding a good piano accordion; PA is probably your best/cheapest bet for your immediate situation, because there are just so many of them in the US, and the piano keyboard is reasonably familiar for a lot of folks. If your girl is mostly playing casually, a 25/12 might hold her for the foreseeable future, and it’s a handy-sized package. Down the road, if she gets to playing more and finds the small one limiting, I’d encourage you to also read up on CBA as well as looking at larger PAs. There are some good pro/con write-ups online about PA vs. CBA: for an American PAs and teachers/materials are easier to find, somewhat the opposite in Continental Europe. PAs as noted have the advantage of a “familiar” keyboard, while the CBA keyboard has a lot of neat advantages one you get used to it, particularly in that it’s “isomorphic”. That is, no matter where you are on a CBA keyboard, the same stretch gets the same interval: eg choose a button, go two over and one up and that note will always be a fifth higher. So CBA, like Duet concertina, ties music less to specific pitches, and is more about relative note relations. Makes reading music a little harder, but transposing/improvising way easier. PAs tend to have fancier register switches and doodads, while CBAs tend to be smaller (though equal in weight) for the same amount of range since their layout is more compact. So far as concertinas, feel free to poke back in when you’re moving to ponder those. Are you looking for a folky/nautical singalong instrument and/or Irish trad piece like an Anglo, or looking for something more melodic/jazzy/classical/chromatic like an English concertina? quote:That's a really neat looking lap steel. But I've always found that calico tone cats give a warmer sound. The Siamese models are just really nasally, too feedback-prone. Anyway, if you’re wanting a lap-steel but short on cash, get you a 2x4, some nails, tin can, and one guitar string (or piece of wire) and get cracking. There is not a single person on this forum as poor as a 1930s sharecropper, so nobody has an excuse not to be playing diddley-bow. And those skills cross over most directly to lap-steel.  As others have pointed out, even factory 6-string lap-steels are also really dang cheap, like often under $100. Don’t blow the rent money or the baby formula budget, but if you’re hankering one it won’t take too long to save up enough loose change. Just do your basic due-diligence to get one of the more reputable cheapies, since some makes are better-received than others. EDIT: this cover of "Personal Jesus" is still my absolute favorite diddley-bow track. It's amazing that this is just a one string, a board, and some scrap parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0YWVm6OQEk
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Feb 28, 2014 03:17
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I'm getting together some Irish tunes on 1-row melodeon for my office's St Patrick's Day party. Just need to figure out which work buddy can play guitar and doesn't mind playing nothing but Em and Dmaj for a half-hour straight. Meanwhile, I'm setting up a missionary effort to educated GBS1.4 goons about bagpipes, so if anyone else is a piping enthusiast (for whichever nationality of pipes), your contributions are appreciated: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3613560 
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Mar 6, 2014 05:45
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Nice! Which tunes??
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Mar 6, 2014 05:54
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When I came home from work today, I was excited to see that USPS had delivered me a sex toy, judging by the shape of the package: The label did nothing to change my opinion:  What's all this poo poo?  Ah, finally we get to the meat of the matter... it's not meant for my butt, it's a flute!  Yes, TTFA had acquired a spare Spilåpipa, a traditional Swedish fipple flute, as a bonus in an instrument swap. He was kind enough to offer it to me provided I  about it.I've only had a few minutes to play with it. Tin whistle owners, you know how it's easy to overblow and jump an octave, or just misblow and completely lose the note? Well, it's even easier with the Spilåpipa  TTFA, do you have any videos or sheet music for this thing? Once I get the hang of it, I'll try to record some audio. Also, what's the patch?
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Mar 7, 2014 05:22
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Pham Nuwen posted:I've only had a few minutes to play with it. Tin whistle owners, you know how it's easy to overblow and jump an octave, or just misblow and completely lose the note? Well, it's even easier with the Spilåpipa And I thought an ocarina is easy to overblow. Maybe not by an octave, but... I read it has a strange tuning? Another instrument added to my "buy one day" list. You guys are going to bankrupt me, but at least I will go down singing. Speaking of whistles. My wife's tin whistle sounds like poo poo. Maybe I will make a recording, but not sure if that would help. I tried all breath pressures and I'm fingering it right. Sometimes it sounds right. Most of the time, even a couple of notes later, it sounds extremely wobbly and off-pitch, no matter which note I try to play or how hard I blow. It isn't the moisture either, the first note can sound awful too. Any ideas what may be going wrong? Some permanent damage, maybe? It used to play well...
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Mar 7, 2014 05:33
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slap me silly posted:Nice! Which tunes?? Probably just a few of the classics: Man of the House, Road to Lisdoonvarna, O'Keefe's Slide, etc. There are several cool tunes that I like playing on other instruments that I can't play on melodeon though, the tunes that have both an F and F# in the same D-based tune. So like Banish Misfortune, Rights of Man, etc. I'm not sure, but I'd be curious as to whether those tunes alternate between F/F# because in the past the tune had a "neutral third" that was somewhere between those two notes. If anyone wants to watch a clip of the music theory thereof, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5wftQlz3g quote:Speaking of whistles. My wife's tin whistle sounds like poo poo. ... Any ideas what may be going wrong? Some permanent damage, maybe? It used to play well... Key question: what kind of whistle is it? What sort of head? It if has a plastic head (Generation-style), about all that can actually "break" is either the fipple cracks somewhere, or the blade is damaged somehow. If it's a conical (Clarke, Shaw) where the mouthpiece is formed by mushing the cone square, those are more at risk for misshaping the mouthpiece if you step on them or something. Alternately, those ones you can greatly improve if you know how to much around with carefully bending the metal just right to improve the mouthpiece. I don't know how, so I gave Jerry Freeman $20 to tweak my Eb Shaw, and it plays twice as good. That man is just amazing; his actual (presumably retired) profession is tweaking stock tin-whistles to make them play better; doesn't bother trying to build his own, just shapes existing ones. If you have Generation-style (metal tube, plastic head), and there's no head damage at all, try cleaning out the fipple in case it's like grit, dried spit, etc. Also if you google "tweak generaation whistle" or whatnot there are things to check for like loose plastic burrs, etc. This is way easier to check if you remove the head, which you should do anyway for tuning/cleaning purposes. On any of the cheap Gen-style whistles, you just want to heat up the metal while not heating the plastic, often by just holding the metal part (below the head!) under a very hot fauct, let the water heat the metal, that'll weaker the glue, and you can firmly twist the head to break the glue loose. Now the head can be removed for cleaning, can be slid up and down slightly to fine-tune, etc. quote:Also, what's the patch? Bought it out of the spare-parts bin at a milsurp shop if furthest Cannuckistan. About 15km from the easternmost extent of North America. Will get back to you on instructional materials shortly. Interesting experience today, and again testament to getting out there and meeting other musicians. I've been bad about that, aside from a few existing buddies, since I returned to being a working stiff. I was way more musical when I was unemployed. So weather was fine in DC, went to the park to play concertina. As usual, every few minutes someone swings by to say something nice, ask what the instrument is, etc. Then this dude drops by with a big circular case, asks if he can join in. I figure it must be a bodhran or something, but then he pulls out one of these.  Yep, a Hang drum. And not one of the several derivative makes, but an actual original Hang from Switzerland, and from before the owners abandoned concert-pitch tunings. Gotta be worth a few grand. So he played Hang, I played concertina, and we just did a bunch of small jams around the limited scale his Hang had. Neat instrument; sounds somewhat like tinpan drum, clearly, but also a rather harp-like tone; it went surprisingly well with concertina. We had a pretty good rotating audience of 5-10 people the rest of the time after that, who of course had a lot more questions about the Hang than my squeezebox, but I can't fault them. We exchanged contact info, so we'll see if we can make something interesting of this, since my other mini-projects on the side are all progressing awfully slowly. A few friends that I just play at parties with for chill-out music, and I'm finally learning just the absolute basics of multi-track recording/mixing on Garage Band so that I can make tracks of me playing different instruments/parts and singing. It's been a good music weekend.
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Mar 10, 2014 03:45
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Probably just a few of the classics: Man of the House, Road to Lisdoonvarna, O'Keefe's Slide, etc. There are several cool tunes that I like playing on other instruments that I can't play on melodeon though, the tunes that have both an F and F# in the same D-based tune. So like Banish Misfortune, Rights of Man, etc. I'm not sure, but I'd be curious as to whether those tunes alternate between F/F# because in the past the tune had a "neutral third" that was somewhere between those two notes. If anyone wants to watch a clip of the music theory thereof, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5wftQlz3g Equal tempered major thirds suck rear end. I love a slightly flat major third - it's a wonderful tension. I have the impression that playing the major and the minor third or seventh in the same tune is kind of a modern conceit in Irish music for ET instruments, yeah. I'd usually rather hear it consistently one way or the other. I'm no musicologist though so maybe I'm full of poo poo. Also please christ play Road to Lisdoonvarna as a proper slide and not a loving dirge. I'm trying to think of some good melodeon tunes but I've been all about the B/C lately and I don't think I've got any good ones for the one-row. Other than a couple of polkas of course. Do you have that Johhny Connolly record? http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnnyconnolly It's just straight up showing off.
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Mar 10, 2014 04:00
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slap me silly posted:Equal tempered major thirds suck rear end. I love a slightly flat major third - it's a wonderful tension. I have the impression that playing the major and the minor third or seventh in the same tune is kind of a modern conceit in Irish music for ET instruments, yeah. I'd usually rather hear it consistently one way or the other. I'm no musicologist though so maybe I'm full of poo poo. I'm not a musicologist either, just a math nerd who fiddles with circuits, but it sounds like you're leaning towards a just tempered interval of 5:4 maybe?
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Mar 10, 2014 04:28
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Do you play guitar? Tune your D chord so that F# at the top doesn't beat. It is 5:4 and it sounds pure and lovely. Now play some other chord, and cringe. Basically, gently caress physics, you know? But the slightly flat third I'm talking about is smaller than 5:4, but not quite so small as 6:5. A nice crunchy bluesy sound. Used, in fact, constantly in all sorts of music.
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Mar 10, 2014 04:35
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Hey, some maybe good-ish news for people who want a mountain ocarina and don't live in the states. Mountain ocarinas can be had for much cheaper non-US if you go through Susato. The instrument costs 1$ more, but shipping seems much less. I haven't tried it yet, but probably will in the next few days. In my trial, in which I did everything except clicking the final confirm button, the shipping came to 10$. This is 19$ less than when buying from the official website. https://www.susato.com/konakart/Folk-Winds/Mountain-Ocarinas/1_333_-1_6.do
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Mar 14, 2014 05:43
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No Gravitas posted:Mountain ocarinas can be had for much cheaper non-US if you go through Susato. The instrument costs 1$ more, but shipping seems much less. I haven't tried it yet, but probably will in the next few days. Good catch there; if any foreign buyers have success with this, post back here to confirm. By the way, when ordering ocarinas from Susato, spend the extra $5 for their book of one-octave tunes, to fit the ocarina range. Note also for $7 you can get one of Susato's mini plastic ocarinas, small enough to hang as a neck pendant; come to think of it I think I have one buried somewhere in my cabinet.  quote:Do you have that Johhny Connolly record? http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnnyconnolly I do indeed own An Mileoidean Scaoilte; it's one of my top favorite 1-row melodeon albums, up there with Tom Doherty's Dance Sean Nós. Doherty's album uses an E♭, so to play along I have to use a music editing tool to get it to play in D with the standard melodeon. Connolly's album has what's my favorite slow air, an instrumental version of the early 20th C. sean-nos song Amhrán Na Trá Báine (sometimes called "the drowning song"). Supposedly a woman in South Boston wrote in (in Gaelic) about her brothers who were drowned when a wave overcame their small boat by the town of Tra Baine in western Ireland. Full story here: http://www.joeheaney.org/default.asp?contentID=781 . Here's a vocal version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABCS5ldVqyw and here's a woman covering it on Anglo concertina: https://soundcloud.com/anabel-3/amhr-n-na-tr-b-ine-anglo In any case, it's my favorite track on the Connolly album; he plays it on a G melodeon (the lowest-pitched tuning normally found), so it's got this deep rumbly growl to it, and the plaintive bits played up high. 
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Mar 15, 2014 14:40
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Tom Doherty's Dance Sean Nós
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Mar 15, 2014 16:37
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No Gravitas, did you find Ocarina material you're happy with? I can recommend a Korean book that is fairly rigorous-- looks like it was meant to take a student/class through as much basic music theory and technique as you can get through on ocarina, including triple tonguing if I recall. I'm kind of attached to my copy, but you're already willing to order instruments from Asia, so... In other news, I just found out that Electric Tenor Guitars exist and I guess I'm going to have to learn how to make one out of a cigar box because they're $500 otherwise for a decent one and I must have one.
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Mar 16, 2014 08:21
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Paladin posted:No Gravitas, did you find Ocarina material you're happy with? I can recommend a Korean book that is fairly rigorous-- looks like it was meant to take a student/class through as much basic music theory and technique as you can get through on ocarina, including triple tonguing if I recall. I'm kind of attached to my copy, but you're already willing to order instruments from Asia, so... Oh, I'd love some nice instruction booklets. I'm lately just holing myself up in the parking garage and playing whatever comes to mind. That being said, some practice material is always welcome. So, send me the title and I will try to get it. Thanks!
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Mar 16, 2014 20:47
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There's an A/T thread on Tomsk in Siberia and the question of local folk music came up. A couple of neat looking ocarinas here.utjkju posted:Each part of Siberia have individual folk music.
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Mar 17, 2014 08:50
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Paladin posted:
Have you checked out the e-tenors from Soares'y Guitars of Portugal? They sell a lot of their gear direct on eBay, and looking at "Completed Auctions" some of their simpler models sell under $300. Just from casual glancing, they appear to have good reviews on Mandolin Cafe and Ukulele Underground, and they have a pretty good writeup on the steps they take to make their 4-string conversions, as well as 8-string conversions, in a variety of tunings. May be worth reading up on, and watching eBay for one of their less-expensive models to come in with low bids. EDIT: Remind me, are you looking at tenor guitar because of ukulele familiarity? It is a pretty/really easy way for uke players to cross over to steel string. EDIT2: Here's an ultra-cheap franken-tenor if you want to roll the dice a little on a cheapie: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clone-Strat-Style-Electric-Tenor-Guitar-with-Gig-Bag-/251478301508?pt=Guitar&hash=item3a8d465b44 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 04:13
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:EDIT: Remind me, are you looking at tenor guitar because of ukulele familiarity? Nope! I mean I've messed with ukulele before, but if any prior experience would help me it might be some time spent messing with a mandolin years ago. I just almost bought a tenor banjo off craigslist and found myself thinking "Hm, it's too bad I can't run this through an amp and some effects pedals." I'd been liking what I've seen of Soares'y, though that ultra-cheap strat seems pretty great too. I'll probably just wait around and try to grab something like that. No Grav, here is a Korean website selling the ocarina book I like. I doubt this is the best place to order from, but it at least provides a picture and some of the info. I... really didn't think through the whole "everything is in Korean" part of this, though there are a ton of ocarina books in Korean if you're willing to dig around some online booksellers! http://book.11st.co.kr/Goods.do?cmd=detail&gdsNo=M0000000599543
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Mar 18, 2014 13:00
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Can someone post a link to a site selling a good/cheap tinwhistle? The only well reviewed one on Amazon is a Clarke conical style whistle. I'm willing to spend ~$15
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Mar 20, 2014 23:29
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I LIKE COOKIE posted:Can someone post a link to a site selling a good/cheap tinwhistle? The only well reviewed one on Amazon is a Clarke conical style whistle. I'm willing to spend ~$15 Are you preferring to stick with Amazon? If so, their vendors have Walton (same company as Soodlum), Oak, Feadog, etc. Those are three go-to standards. IIRC, Oak and Feadog are you basic Generation-style brass whistle (or nickel-plated brass), just with a slightly different fipple design and arguably better QC. A lot (all?) of the Walton models are aluminum, so they're lighter weight than the brass, maybe not as rock-durable, but they're also inexpensive and play well. Most all those models even on Amazon you can find well under $15 shipped. Some sellers have Waltons for like $5+$4ship, at which point you might as well buy two at once. With Clarke, important to note that there are more modern Clarkes like the Meg/Sweetone which have a cast plastic fipple, so the mouthpiece behaves generally like a Generation-style whistle, just body is different. But the old-school Clarkes have a wooden block slanted into the cone itself, so those feel a bit differently. Also, whether it's a design issue or a QC thing, you're not going to get the best performance out of a Clarke (or the similar Shaw design) until you tweak it a little bit, and that takes a little skill. I had a Shaw that played okay, ran across Jerry Freeman (famous whistle fettler) at a festival, and for $20 he did bunch of microadjustments to the Shaw fipple with files and pliers, and it plays way, way better now. So my point is if you get a Clarke as a noob, get the plastic-cast mouthpiece vice old-school wood. Whatever you get, if you're going to play Irish music get one in Key of D, since the vast majority of instruction on tinwhistle is Irish stuff on a D. I wouldn't necessarily buy one of the "packs" where it comes with a book and CD, unless you really like having a physical book, because there's so many tutorials for tinwhistle free online.
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Mar 21, 2014 14:46
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The wooden-fipple Clarks can sound delicious but are highly unreliable out of the box. The Clarke Sweetones are close to 100% pick up and play. I found the Waltons kind of squeaky. The Shaws and Susatos are their own special thing and I wouldn't suggest to buy one unless you know what you're getting. I've heard Jerry Freeman is great but haven't had the pleasure of finding out for myself. I have a Mack Hoover whistle head which is soft but very nice. Oh, link: http://www.amazon.com/Clarke-Sweetone-D-Whistle-Black/dp/B000VPFO7S slap me silly fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Mar 22, 2014 |
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Mar 22, 2014 03:57
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slap me silly posted:The wooden-fipple Clarks can sound delicious but are highly unreliable out of the box. The Clarke Sweetones are close to 100% pick up and play. I found the Waltons kind of squeaky. The Shaws and Susatos are their own special thing and I wouldn't suggest to buy one unless you know what you're getting. I've heard Jerry Freeman is great but haven't had the pleasure of finding out for myself. I have a Mack Hoover whistle head which is soft but very nice. Since I will be buying from Susato shortly, what is special about their whistles? Might as well pack my orders together...
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Mar 22, 2014 04:55
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They are loud as gently caress and have a unique gritty sound. I like mine but it is definitely not a polite whistle. Pretty responsive, brash, not sweet.
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Mar 22, 2014 05:40
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No Gravitas posted:Since I will be buying from Susato shortly, what is special about their whistles? Might as well pack my orders together... No Gravitas posted:Since I will be buying from Susato shortly, what is special about their whistles? Might as well pack my orders together... I'm not sure what slap me silly was referring to specifically, but I have a susato (Kildare S[small bore] Key of D). Susato seems to be divisive-people love them or hate them. They are ABS plastic, not metal. Some people think this makes them sound like a recorder and not a proper whistle. I personally like the sound but check them on YouTube to make sure you do. Also they have different bore sizes which affects both sound and volume. I have S (small bore) which is the standard, and it is LOUD. Great for a session; not great if you are in an apartment. They make a V/VS/Very small bore which is quieter. Also the mouthpiece is shorter than most whistles and takes some getting used to. Last, the upper octave/register of the susato requires a disproportionate amount of air compared to the lower notes. And it can be hard to figure how much air you need for higher notes. I personally love my susato. I keep it in my car or take to work cause it's too loud for my apartment. Thinking about getting a vs bore at some point. Edit: slapmesilly beat me to it.
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Mar 22, 2014 05:49
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Got a warm-fuzzy today as I divested myself of extra music gear. I've been selling or donating a number of instruments that I just don't play enough, so I can focus on the handful that I really want to get good at. And keeping a small bundle of cheap/durable things like tinwhistles and all that I don't feel bad about and they won't spoil if I keep them in a drawer for years. I've got almost all the surplus gear gone, but sometime last year on impulse I'd bought one of those pBone plastic alto trombones for $100 or so, only to later decide that I really don't need to get into a whole new family (brass) of instruments. For months I vaguely was intending to donate it to a school or church or something for them to give it to some poor young kid, but never got around to it. Eventually I just figured my neighborhood, being semi-scruffy, already has a bunch of poor young kids. Today when I was coming home, there were a few kids in their late teens busking with a trumpet, baritone, and a drummer playing plastic buckets. I dropped in back home, grabbed the pBone, and just gave it to them as a gift. They seems surprised and confused, but really appreciative, and by the time I got down the block and glanced over my shoulder the drummer already had it out and assembled and was playing it.  This way at least it's getting played, and hopefully the kids will get some pay-it-forward spirit out of just getting handed a trombone on the street corner. 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Mar 24, 2014 |
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Mar 24, 2014 01:13
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That's loving awesome that you just gave the pBone to some kids on the street. I think it's cool that they were just sitting out there playing around with a baritone of all the drat things. I don't think I have the balls to go out in public and play like that. Were they improvising, or did you recognize the tunes? Hell, if anyone has busking experience, I'd love to read some stories! I'm having a lot of fun playing around with the Spilåpipa, thanks again! It's got a mellower sound than my Clarke tin whistle, and with 8 holes instead of 6, I get a wider range without having to overblow (which is actually pretty hard to do). I've mostly been messing around, stumbling onto nice-sounding little sequences, but I've also worked out what sounds like a passable "Amazing Grace". What is it about that song--is it just so easy to coax out of most instruments? Maybe the slow tempo makes it easier. By the way TTFA, this is a prod to link me some Spilåpipa music/learning resources if you know of any, I haven't had a lot of luck with google.
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Mar 27, 2014 18:01
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Well, a bit of craigslist luck and I found myself with a decent tenor banjo for 100 bucks. Now to learn ragtime! This is a great deal of fun so far-- it is like all the things I like about other fretted instruments, but easier to hold and with enough space that my fingers don't get all bunched up. Not a ton of books out there for it, but that just gives me incentive to start hunting down antique sheet music again!
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Mar 27, 2014 23:32
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Pham Nuwen posted:That's loving awesome that you just gave the pBone to some kids on the street. I think it's cool that they were just sitting out there playing around with a baritone of all the drat things. I don't think I have the balls to go out in public and play like that. Were they improvising, or did you recognize the tunes? Hell, if anyone has busking experience, I'd love to read some stories! I've busked a bunch of times with my ukulele and another buddy of mine who's a ukulele/guitar/bass/etc whiz. What I've learned is that smiling, being able to play a couple Beatles tunes competently, and have a good setlist is really important.
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Mar 28, 2014 20:10
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quote:Well, a bit of craigslist luck and I found myself with a decent tenor banjo for 100 bucks. Now to learn ragtime! Outstanding! Once you get a few weeks on it, gonna drop back in here with some photos and update us on how your learning is going? If this goes well, will you be back looking for an electric tenor guitar later in the year? Pham Nuwen posted:By the way TTFA, this is a prod to link me some Spilåpipa music/learning resources if you know of any, I haven't had a lot of luck with google. Right, right. I'm intending to take a month of unpaid leave off work just to get my head straight, starting around mid-April or so, so ping me again in the latter half of the month when hopefully I'll be far more idle. After that sabbatical, it's quite possible I'm come back and give 2wks notice and leave to go work at startup run by a buddy back from my old days in the Marine Corps.
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Mar 29, 2014 18:24
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So, the ad for this thread about 3 months ago got me to pull the dulcimer out of the closet and actually play again (and I came through and posted a bit at the time). I'd done it on and off for about 20 years but I've kinda developed a new interest in it. Man, murder ballads are hosed up as it gets, but they are fun as hell to play, just with this cardboard pile of strings and my lovely voice. If I get another microphone that can actually manage to not sound like poo poo, I may even put up some recordings... just don't hold your breath, I'm broke. Either way, thank you TTFA for (maybe a little indirectly) giving me a reason to get this thing out of the closet a little more often. I'd almost forgotten how much fun it is. I'm working right now on an arrangement of In The Pines which is a bit of a merge between the classic, Leadbelly and Nirvana versions with vocals, dulcimer and a friend playing hand drums. It's been fun as hell when we've both had the time to work on it. We're trying to get a guitar playing friend in on it but he works like 70 hours a week and just doesn't have the time 
Fenrir fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Mar 29, 2014 |
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Mar 29, 2014 18:42
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Outstanding! Once you get a few weeks on it, gonna drop back in here with some photos and update us on how your learning is going? I suppose I'll have to record something and add some pictures, yeah! I found this great arrangement of the Bach cello suites for Tenor banjo, so between that and some general beginner stuff that will keep me busy for a bit. I'd certainly like to get a tenor electric in a few months, but I'd really like to go somewhere I could get my hands on one and compare the Soares'y to that Eastwood. I figure I've invested too many hours of my life getting even semi-competent at electric guitar ornamentation to waste it, haha. Also, I feel that Clutch and other minimalistic rock would sound really good on a tenor and I kind of want to make that happen, along with running one through a distortion pedal and playing ragtime.
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Apr 1, 2014 05:59
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Paladin posted:Bach cello suites for Tenor banjo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2fTQsUVS44
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Apr 1, 2014 18:07
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Yeah, right? I listened to that and ordered the book immediately. He plays the 2nd suite on a gourd banjo and the 3rd on a bass banjo.
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Apr 2, 2014 04:11
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And after all this... I got a Clarineo from Amazon. Think clarinet, but with a few less keys and made of plastic. My kind is in awful white and pink because it was on sale. Let's face it: I suck at music. It won't stop me from playing, but I will never be even good. I don't need a fancy instrument. Close enough is good enough! Here it is for 69$ (shipping included in the USA): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3QIN9W/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item It usually goes for twice (or more) that amount, so this is a pretty good deal. You can also get an actual clarinet in plastic for 120$, but that one has terrible reputation and will apparently disintegrate with no warning. The clarineo should last a little bit longer than that and I don't give a poo poo about playing a kid's instrument if it lets me fumble jazz in the parking garage all day long. I just hope this instrument is strange enough to qualify for this thread.  (If so, I will take pictures and write about it when it arrives in a couple of weeks.)
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Apr 6, 2014 03:28
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That is a shitlot stranger than, say, a concertina if you ask me. Please post recordings of yourself making it squeak
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Apr 6, 2014 03:31
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slap me silly posted:That is a shitlot stranger than, say, a concertina if you ask me. Please post recordings of yourself making it squeak Yeah, that will be fun. I have never played a reed instrument. Or one with keys. Nor an instrument which has a fingering stranger than a tin whistle. Well, OK. I have: The ocarina. It took me forever to learn to keep my pinkie down. This drat thing I got has 16 unique keys listed in the spare parts section. That is at least 16 keys, but some might be used twice? Maybe? That is a lot of keys. Ah, hell. It will be fun. All I need is 5 notes anyway, that's what the first part of "Simon The Sorceror" main theme needs. I will absolutely post recordings.
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Apr 6, 2014 08:13
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That octave-and-a-half fingering on the clarinet pretty much blows a gasket in my brain. Good luck!
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Apr 6, 2014 16:47
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