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Showing content with the highest reputation on 18/09/23 in all areas

  1. I've found quite a bit of stuff for it in my various bits-boxes and rubbish bits-piles. Including - and I have NO idea why I have a set of these - some classical guitar tuners!: I found a mahogany offcut from one of my bass builds. Would the tuners fit? Wow - clearly this was meant to be : So, after cutting a headstock angle, out came my little Proxxon pillar drill: Back to the band saw to cut the rear face of the headstock, then back to the pillar drill and scroll saw to drill/saw the slots: Well - that went better than I thought it would!
    3 points
  2. I've just started a build thread on this in Basschat. I hadn't posted for a while and they were fretting. But surely fretting's my job!! So for folks who follow the Basschat build threads too, don't worry - this is just cut and paste. For those who don't, and are interested, this is a cut and paste version of that thread It's a build for my two grandchildren for them to pick up and try if and when they are able to or want to, or use as a cricket bat or wall hanging if they don't. But you never know - if they get hooked, they may well turn into guitar and bass players when they grow up I'm going tenor-uke size, but definitely a 6 string guitar. Nothing against uke's but this way - if they do take a liking to it - they can progress to larger guitars without having to re-learn all of the chord patterns and tuning. So spec is going to be : 17" scale Ball-end nylons tenor uke body size Sitka Spruce top Mahogany back and sides Mahogany neck Purpleheart fretboard 'Standard' X-brace And, broadly, it is going to look like this: I'm about halfway through - I'll do a few quick posts and then stuff will slow down to actual progress rate (that is, pedestrian! )
    2 points
  3. @ShawnE : OK, good. You're making very good progress, and you'll find, as we all do, that progress can be appreciated in steps, or plateaux. You'll think that nothing's happening, until suddenly it happens, and you realise that you've progressed. This is where the Patience part kicks in; one has to continue to do the mundane, daily routines, assiduously, in the certain knowledge that it all pays off, and handsomely, and faster than one thinks..! One little test to do every now and again (three months or so..?) is to turn the guitar round, and try to play the exercises left-handed (or right-handed, for lefties...). That's the level of control you had at the very beginning. Now turn it back to your normal playing fashion and appreciate the difference..! One more little thing (well, not so little, really...), concerning the right hand, or rather, the right arm. Swinging the arm up and down, strumming with a piston movement, is a technique that's useful for some styles of playing, but it's not really conducive to good right-hand technique. Can you try relaxing the right arm completely, and using a wrist movement instead..? A relaxed hand and wrist, too; just enough effort to have the pick brush the strings. Adjusting the force of this brushing is what gives life to the strumming, with only very slight effort, so it's not tiring. Light, measured strokes, with a relaxed arm, will bring much benefit. The swinging piston can come later, if context calls for it; a more delicate approach allows the music to come through for most playing, though. Worth trying..? In any case, keep it up; you're doing very well, and the videos are very useful, for us to see what you're doing, and certainly for others treading the same path. Good Stuff.
    2 points
  4. The thumb on the back of the neck will help a lot with everything, I'm sure.
    1 point
  5. @Dad3353 I know, the damn piston arm I find there's a correlation between how much I pump the arm & how well specific chord changes have progressed... as soon as I get more comfortable switching specific chords I naturally relax the strumming arm without even realising... I noticed that when my time was focused on the D, A & E 2 weeks ago as suddenly my strumming typically became much lighter & was just from the wrist - it also naturally swings much lighter when I just sit there switching between Em & Am. As soon as Dm is in the mix it starts swinging two to the dozen like a tense mechanism while the rest of me zones in on the switch.... hopefully just a matter of another week or two's focused practice & the piston will subconsciously relax until I more consciously call upon it. Nevertheless, will monitor it for sure! I make sure it's relaxed each time I do a few minutes of strumming exercises each day. As always.... big thanks!!
    1 point
  6. New introduction of Em, Am & Dm.... lot's of work to do with these minor chords before I'm comfortable enough to move onto a new chord & whatnot.
    1 point
  7. And she’s done! Strung with D’Addario 12-56. Just need to let the settle in and then add the dots to cover the bolts. It sounds lovely acoustic and plugged in.
    1 point
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