My Guitars are Calling Again

Posted on July 10, 2018 by SusanG

You know that feeling, when you can’t wait to get home to play with your new toy? You get a new computer, or a new book, or new guitar, or whatever your thing is, and then you have to go off to school or work and you just can’t wait for that to end so you can get back home and get back to your new toy. Yeah. After some really cool stuff this weekend, that was me at the day job. And no, I did not get a new guitar or other instrument this weekend. Though, in some ways, I might as well have.

I’ve been struggling a little lately. Both with singing and with playing. I practice and practice and sometimes feel like I’m not getting it quite right. But I get to the best I can and then give it a go. I think I have been taking the approach that I’m just going to give it my best and see what I can learn from it. I also think I just assumed that that was the way something was going to sound if I sang or played it. Or in the case of playing something, it was as close as I could get right now and I’ll just keep getting better as I keep playing it. Which is true. Yes. It’s also true, that somethings, I may have been doing the hard way, or
even made them harder for myself without realizing it.

That seems like that might be the case with the guitar. And for starters, it has to do with the strings. For the longest time, I knew and understood very little about my strings. While I know a little more now, I am nothing close to an expert. I don’t expect to be. Used to, when I needed strings I just asked for the super light ones. I paid no attention to gauge or even what they were, nickle, cobalt, steel, whatever. Then I had someone suggest a particular string for the guitar I was getting. I still got a light gauge string though. That changed earlier this year. I was getting a new guitar and wanted fresh strings for it and I asked my sales guy for a recommendation. He recommended the 10’s in the D’Addario NYXL. Ok. So that’s what I got.

For those not quite clear as to what I’m talking about when I say 10’s, it has to do with the wire gauge of the highest pitched E string. It is typically the thinnest string. Each string, as you go to the lower sounding strings on a guitar, gets a little thicker. The lowest sounding E string, on my guitar that has a 10 on the highest, is a 46. Before, when I asked for super light weight strings, as far as I can tell, they usually gave me 9’s. So the high sounding E string is a 9 and the low sounding one is a 42. This is really important because of the amount of strength it takes to play the notes and the chords, and especially the barred chords.

For some reason, and I’m not entirely sure the what or the why, I decided I was going to put 10’s on everything. I think it had to do with looking at some specs on a manufacturer sight or something. I really don’t know. But that’s what I did. Except for two guitars. I had sets that had been specifically bought for each of them based on the guitar’s characteristics. Those were and still are 9’s. Everything else got 10’s when I restrung things earlier this year. After which I struggled with the sound of several of the instruments and I got frustrated with them. Then I bought the Gretsch. The thing that is important about the Gretsch is it’s scale length. It’s shorter and works more comfortably for my hands. That was such a difference for me that I didn’t even think about the strings being 10’s and besides, that is what the manufacturer ships them with.

I didn’t think much about the strings on any of my guitars at all until a conversation this weekend. I went to the Carolinas Box Guitar Club meeting and in amongst everything we all talked about, Fred and I had a discussion about strings and scale lengths and
physiology. He made some suggestions and recommendations of things to try. And as I was processing all this information, I was still processing it a day later by the way, it started to dawn on me that some of the things that I had been getting frustrated with or were causing a lack of satisfaction on my part were all problems I had created for myself. By changing everything, or nearly everything to the 10’s I had made each of those instruments more difficult for me to get a satisfying sound out of and I had made learning new techniques that much more difficult.

Here’s the how and why. I am reasonably small in size, and I’m female. The person who’s recommendation I took when I got the 10’s is knowledgeable, has typically given good recommendations, and plays guitar. He is also twice my size. This is important. Because,
I will need to play and practice for a very long time to develop the strength in my hands to play some of what he can. The thicker strings take more effort to fret. It doesn’t mean I can’t ever get there. It means, it will take much longer and my frustration could win out before then.

 

Now that I know that, I am in the process of changing out strings and trying some lighter gauges. Even lighter than I have used before. I have ordered some Reverend Willy’s in 7’s. That’s super light. I think they will be fun to try on the Les Paul. I’ve moved one over to 8’s and have another I think I will do the same with. I have one that I will keep 10’s on it because I’m using it to learn to play slide on and that requires more of a touch than full on strength. I put 9’s on the Gretsch and I fell in love with playing it all over again. I couldn’t wait to get home from the day job to get my hands back on it. My guitar was calling again.

My head is still spinning from some of what I learned this week and the week before. There has been so much, and so much that I could discuss. There have been more than a few things that just a bit of additional knowledge has made a huge difference in how I
think about things and have left me feeling like my head has been blown wide open. One thing that has come out of it for me is that, recommendations are fine and helpful, but also take into account your playing style, and your physiology. Yes, a certain string might be ideal for an instrument for many people, and even the manufacturer. Try it. But if it’s not working for you or, if you know, your playing style makes better use of something different, or your size or strength mean something different is better for you, then work with that, not against it. Playing music is fun. Learning to play music takes work. Why make it harder than it’s already going to be.

I’ve included a couple of pictures I lifted out of my video from the Carolinas Box Guitar Club meeting. I can’t thank Fred enough for inviting me. And everyone there for their patience and tutelage. The pictures might look like I’m leading things. I wasn’t. I was there to sing and learn and I sure got to do that. We’ve got another Charlotte Blues Jam coming up this next weekend. That should be interesting with all the new information spinning around in my brain. I’m a bit excited about it all.

 

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It’s Just Something You Do

Posted on July 3, 2018 by SusanG

It was a nice quiet Blues Jam. As quiet as a band playing in an Ale House or bar can be. There was no controversy that I was aware of. And for me no huge revelations just a sort of quiet acceptance of a norm. Which is kind of cool all by itself.

I’d really had my revelations days before when I was given a verbal lesson on how to play slide guitar. The tips and instruction imparted to me sent me off to look up things that lead me to whole new information which then had my brain buzzing and head spinning with all sorts of possibilities. Unfortunately I’ve had very little time to experiment with this new information so I can start to make use of it. That’s ok. The creative possibilities it exposed are still there and I’ll get to them.

The other realization I had was as I was getting ready to head to Halligan’s. It occurred to me that somewhere in the last few days I had quit caring, I’d quit worrying. Don’t misunderstand here. I care very much about going to the Blues Jam and doing the
very best I can and learning everything I can to improve. But I quit caring about what songs I played. Whether I played them the last time at Moochies or at Halligan’s. It didn’t matter to me. I just want to get to play and sing and it doesn’t matter what it is. This is significant because I had been worried about doing the same songs every time or every other time and it no longer mattered. I no longer felt the need to control which song we were doing. I was good with saying ‘Here’s what I’ve got in my repertoire right now. What do you want to do?’ It’s a whole new place for me.

It doesn’t mean I won’t learn new songs. And it doesn’t mean I don’t still have a lot to learn. Quite to the contrary. I have plenty to learn and I’ll still be adding songs to the repertoire. I have several pulled out to learn. I’ll just be open to more things that people suggest, sooner. So, if someone says ‘hey what about…’ I’m more inclined to say, ‘let me see what I can do with it.’ New songs help to keep things fresh and keep me moving forward as well as keeping me humble. So, we did a new song this week. I have been working on ‘Don’t Start Me to Talkin’ and thought I had the lyrics down but I still managed to get my brain and mouth out of sync. This is happening often enough that I have made peace with the fact that the first time out of the gate, I’m probably going to flub something. Once I’ve done it though, it becomes easier to get it right. So I don’t feel near as frustrated or devastated as I would have a few months ago. I knew that song was going to be a little tricky because it has a lot of stops. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. And Nick tore up his lead on that one. So, yeah. Wow. That was great to hear.

It was nice to get to pull out a couple of songs I haven’t done in a few months. Though that only proved to me that at least one of those needs dusting off a little more often. Now, ‘Shaky Ground’. Oh that was fun. This was only the second time I’ve sung this one and in fact, that I’m aware it’s really only the second time I’ve heard it done at the Jam so it was a nice one to change things up. I was pretty pleased with how it was sounding as we were playing so I was excited to get to see the video. Now I’ve seen the video and can say except where we didn’t really get stopped at the same time, I think it turned out really good.

It’s nice to start to settle into a level of normal where the butterflies and jitter bugs aren’t holding a rave in my stomach every time I get ready to play. They’re still there. Just not quite as active all the time. I know for some people, they don’t feel like this goes away at all so they find ways to deal with it. Dark glasses are a great solution I hear. And even for the
people that seem to still feel that fear getting up on stage, it’s still worth it. I know I’ve said it before. It is scary getting up on that stage. Especially the first time. After a while though, it starts to feel normal. It’s just something you do.

As usual, I have video from the Blues Jam. I’ll get it posted as soon as I can. In the mean time I’ve included a few photos. It was a bit dark inside which means the video and the pictures are a little dark. I’ve lightened these up some to make them easier to look at.

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Hits, Misses, Keep Trying

Posted on June 26, 2018 by SusanG

First off, a quick apology for not getting this post up around the usual time. I’d offer up excuses but it would just sound like a lot of whining and since it’s my own stubborn fault, I won’t be doing that. Suffice to say, I spent most of the time I would normally be writing this post staring off into space like a zombie as that was about all I could do. Now that the cravings for brains has passed and I’m starting to feel more human again, I’m ready to get to this.

I had originally thought to write a different article than what this is going to be. I’d had a few encounters over the last week or so that made me think of something that I think we forget about, our health, and I was going to write about that. It would have gone nicely with why this post is late. That will have to wait because we had a Blues Jam out at Moochies and I think, since it was such a fun time, it will be more fun to write about and I’ll get to that other post another time.

Charlotte Blues Jam. Moochies. A Cigar Box 4 string guitar. That was fun. I do have video. I haven’t seen any of it yet. It’s downloading to my computer as I type. But I will get it up as soon as I can. I widened the field of view for this try so I could hopefully get everyone in the picture. I hope it doesn’t look too fish-eyed.

It’s kind of cool to see those of us doing stuff that is new to us start to learn and make progress with it. We’re pretty good at cheering each other on and offering encouragement and advice. And taking it when we ask for. So it’s cool when you see something start to come together for someone trying something new. I don’t know about anyone else, for me it just makes me want to cheer them on more. It was fun to get to see some of that this weekend. Progress being made and a niche being carved out, quite nicely.

I don’t have a large selection of songs that I can sing and play. I’m always working to expand that selection. As I’ve noted before, I usually target a few songs between each jam. Even with that, there are songs I’m really comfortable doing and so if someone wants to do one of those, I’m game. Even if I’ve sung and played it at the last six jams. I’ve noticed, this may not be unusual. We all have our favorites, or the songs we are most comfortable with and I suspect, when it comes time to play we tend to gravitate towards those comfortable old friends. It’s scary enough to get up on stage. Now you want me to do something different? You’re joking, right.

Seriously, we don’t grow and progress in our craft if we don’t stretch and step out and do something new or something outside our comfort zone. Sometimes that means taking on a song that you maybe don’t feel that confident in and doing your best. Sometimes it means taking on a lead and flubbing what you wanted to do. Sometimes it means taking on a song you know you can do but you can’t do it quite the way you want it. I did all these things this week.

It seems everyone does ‘Further on up the Road’. It’s a good song to do because everyone does it. But all the vocals I’ve heard on it, except one or two of the guys at the Blues Jam, sound a bit forced. I don’t really sing forced vocals so I’ve been having a challenge feeling like my vocal for the song really fit. But, when it came time to do that first set, and we chose the first two songs, and I nixed a couple, that was one of the ones left so, instead of Nick singing, as we have done before, he counted us into it and then I sang it. I’ve seen some phone video of it and I’m pleasantly surprised. It felt like it went ok and the video shows it did. I guess it’s a keeper and I’ll get better at it.

I tried to take a lead on ‘Rock Me Baby’. I’ve been working on it. But it didn’t feel quite right. So I was a little disappointed in that. Though not enough to let it get in the way of the fact that we managed to end all at the same time, on queue three times in one set. I know. Isn’t that what is supposed to happen. Yes. Yes it is. It’s one of the things I’ve been struggling with. This counts as a full on success all by itself.

I also took a chance on one of the songs I’m working on that I call ‘not ready for prime time’. In some cases, these songs will never be ready for prime time until you take them out and give them a whirl. So that’s what we did with ‘Everyday I have the Blues’. There are like a dozen versions of it out there. I’ve heard B.B. King and Albert King. I like Albert King’s a little better. It’s a little slower and grooves a little better. B.B. King’s sounds like it’s played with a big band and is a bit faster in my opinion. The tempo is probably the same it’s just the added instruments that skew it for me but I don’t think so. Anyway. We took it out and gave it a whirl. Again, I haven’t seen the video but I didn’t finish it thinking how awful it went so I figure that is a good sign. Since I was playing with Bryan for that set we did ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. This had both some hit and miss for me. I felt pretty good about the vocal. I had to stop playing part way through because I got off beat. And my lead didn’t go as nice as I would have liked. Then again, Bryan sounded great. So… The cool thing about playing with Bryan is that he’s got these instrumental pieces that either are or just sound like they are surf guitar songs but slightly bluesy. I love surf guitar. I don’t
play it well yet. But, I might get there. Anyway, for our last song for that set we did one of these songs. This was my second big hit for the night. He offered a lead, I took it and… it just happened. That was the best feeling lead I’ve done. It felt like it fit. It didn’t feel like a struggle to fit the rhythm of it to the song and all of that. It just…oh cool. I can’t wait to see
the video.

So yeah, we have hits and misses. Sometimes in the same set. Sometimes in the same night. Sometimes in the same song. The key is to keep trying. Work on it. Make it better. I was recently viewing some Justin Guitar tutorials and his tips video in particular stuck out, for two reasons. The first being that he says basically the same thing I tell people. And that is to practice everyday, even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes at a time. You can still learn that way. You don’t have to do marathon practice sessions and you’re probably better off not. The other thing he mentioned is to practice the hard stuff. The stuff you are struggling with. We all practice the easy stuff more because it feels good to play it. But if you don’t practice the hard stuff, it won’t get any easier. I know I have been doing this with ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. I didn’t at first. But, using the excuse that I was adding new songs and needed to practice them to learn them, I have slacked off practicing that song. After this weekend, I know, it’s my hard song. I need to practice the crap out of it. I need to work on it every session. Even if it’s just one time through it. I need to do it. I need to remember to practice the hard stuff. And to keep trying.

As I said. I have video. I haven’t seen it yet. It’s just getting downloaded from the camera to the computer so it may be another day still before I get to it. But I will get things posted as soon as I can. Which could be a little challenge since I’ll be preparing for the Halligan’s Jam coming up this Sunday. Yes, back to back jam weekends. Enjoy. See you soon.

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I Need to Practice!

Posted on June 19, 2018 by SusanG

I thought I was doing pretty good during this extra little time between jams. I was continuing to practice and work on a new song or two while starting to work with my new recording solution and get a few other things done that I had been neglecting. I thought. Then I read the announcement for the next Blues Jam this coming Sunday. After I finished being excited because; “OH BOY! We get to do it again!” My next thought was “Crap! I need to practice.”

We had an extra week between jams because of Father’s Day. I hadn’t heard until Father’s Day if we were even going to have a second jam for this month and I guess I let my guard down a little, or something because, I suddenly felt completely unprepared for it. Maybe because I have a new tool to work with and I don’t feel like I’ve had near enough time to make good use of it. Maybe because something finally clicked with me for my vocals that I’m still working on and I feel like I’m learning everything new again. Or because I am learning some new stuff on guitar that I want to incorporate but I’m not sure I’ve got it down well enough to do it.

In art this place is called the valley of suck. Artists enter it when they go from creating art in a manner they feel relatively competent at to trying a new technique or medium to create their art and they have to spend time learning all over again how to create a circle. It’s frustrating. It’s exasperating. And you feel like you are never going to be good enough again.

I might have known that this same experience was possible in music. I’ve heard about Neil Peart, at the top of his career, learning how to play drums all over again in a completely different way. He probably had something of the same feelings at times. As I don’t feel I’ve mastered anything to a level that changing things up should give me that feeling, I’m a little surprised to be here. I have a feeling, I will be visiting this valley often as I continue to learn new things. Still. Wow.

While I’m working on my guitar playing, learning lead, getting better at rhythm and finding more interesting ways to play the rhythm parts, I’m also working on my vocal. Some songs feel like they just fit. Maybe I’ve heard them enough or they have a groove that I can really get into. Whatever the reason, they just feel really easy to wear. Which is what finally clicked for me. What each song is supposed to feel like. Every song is going to be different, and have it’s own feel as the nature of the song, but singing it, performing it should have a certain feel of comfort. Not that I should feel comfortable with it. Though that too. Rather it should feel comfortable to perform. Like when I get just a little cold and put on my leather jacket. Kind of like putting on that perfectly worn pair of jeans straight from the dryer on a cold day. Minus the hot zipper.  That’s what I’ve started working on for my singing. Getting to that feeling with every song. Since this only clicked a couple of days ago, I have not had the time to make near as much progress with it as I would like before the next jam. Which, no doubt, is contributing to my feeling unprepared. I’ll get there though. I have that new tool.

My new tool is the recording solution I mentioned. I think I mentioned it last week as well. I’m sharing photos and a little more about it this week. I had most of it already. The computer, the microphone stand, the cables, and even the microphone. I just needed the interface. So I got the Presonus Audiobox 96. I’d like to give a shout-out to Paul at Sam Ash for the recommendation. It was as easy to set up as he said it would be. The only trouble I had initially was that I forgot to install the Universal Controller so the recording software couldn’t see the box. Once I installed the controller it worked like a champ. Well, until Microsoft insisted I update Windows 10. Then it didn’t work. But a quick look though the help for Presonus and I got the idea to re-install the controller software. Now it’s all better and working again. It connects and is powered via USB. It has two inputs for instrument or microphone and phantom power. It has headphones out as well as left and right speakers out. Oh, and I believe it takes midi in as well. I’m using the two inputs and then just the headphones out. My microphone is a Sterling and requires phantom power for it to work so this covers that.

As much as I have a feeling this is one rabbit hole I could really get lost in if I’m not careful, I also have the feeling that will make a big difference in how I progress. I can’t wait to get back to it.

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The Gift of Lessons

Posted on June 12, 2018 by SusanG

No. Not voice lessons, or instrument lessons. More like just, lessons.

My recent performance at the Jam did not go quite as I would have liked. Which is part of why I don’t have the videos posted yet. I’ve been procrastinating owning up to the fact that I did not do as good as I could have and I did not do as good as I wanted. I got fixated on something and tried to make it fit and things didn’t go as well as I would have liked.

I thought about ignoring everything and not posting any of it. That would be silly, and unfair to everyone else. Especially since, there were some really good bits in there. I thought about making a bunch of excuses for how things went. That would be even sillier in my opinion. Once you see the video, you see where the short comings are. That’s the beauty of recording the performance. And as hard as it can be, it’s exactly why I do it. And I’m not going to keep it to myself. I’m going to share it. I’m going to share it because sometimes it helps to see someone else learn.

I recognized, pretty quickly, some of the lessons in that experience. I never had any intention of ignoring any of them. I just had to take some time to come to grips with what to do about them. So here are some of the lessons I learned from having a ‘not up to my liking’ performance, and having it on video.

The lesson I’ll start with is that I do know how well it’s going. I just need to listen to my instincts. And if it’s not going well, it can be turned around. I just have to pay attention. I knew my performance on the first song did not go as well as I wanted. I could hear it and I could feel it. After seeing the video, I can say, I was right. Now I get to learn from that, and learn how to turn it around so it is going better, quickly.

One of the most important lessons, was more of a reminder. I forgot to breathe. I forgot to breathe properly and I forgot to breathe to relax and enjoy what I was doing. If I had done that, my performance would have been better, in so many ways. So I need to remember that. I know it seems odd, but remembering to breathe takes practice. I’m just going to have to keep trying. Maybe I should write it on my hand before each Jam. Breathe.

Probably the biggest lesson, partly because it covers so much and also because it’s just a big lesson, was that I still have a lot to learn. I still have a lot to learn about playing the guitar in general, as well as playing the guitar in the songs I’ve been playing. And I still have a lot to learn about my own singing. Oh yeah, and I still have a lot to learn about leading the group and communicating with everyone. I’m going to come back to this because it is big.

The last lesson, that I’ll cover is that as hard as it may be to watch, that video really is a friend. It tells it to you straight. It’s that friend that says…’girl, those jeans make you look fat, what the heck were you thinking with that hair and what sort of color is that sweater you’re wearing. Lawd have mercy, who dressed you this morning?’ So I’ll keep using the video camera at jams. This way, not only do I have record of my progress, I also to get to experience the performance again.

Back to that big lesson. I’d say this was a shock except it wasn’t. It wasn’t a surprise. I really knew this. Well most of it. But it was still frustrating. I have come so far and to realize I still have so much further to go took a bit to process. So what do I do about it? Mostly, I’ll just keep learning. But more specifically, for the guitar and singing, I will keep practicing what I’ve been doing and if that doesn’t work I’ll try something different. I am still making progress, even this last week, I’ve seen some improvement in my ability to finger some of the rhythm patterns. And I’ve identified something vocally I want to adjust, so I will work on that. I still want to learn to play some lead on the guitar and as much as the loop pedal has helped, I think I have a better solution so I’ll give that a try. As far as the communicating and leading? I will pay closer attention and be more aware to start with and I’ll figure out the rest as I go.

I tried not to beat myself up over the performance. I tried to accept it for what it was, a chance to learn. But, because I thought I’d been getting so much better, the experience did leave me in a bit of a funk for a couple of days. I didn’t let it stop me from practicing. It helped that I already had a song picked out that I wanted to work on. And I had some ideas for how I could better assess myself I just need to start using them. Like that better solution to the loop pedal. That was something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I just needed some information.

That information came from a very helpful salesman who could answer all my questions and make a recommendation for a reasonably priced recording solution. The recording solution will not be replacing my friend the video camera for performances. This is for
my home practice. It allows me to record two tracks at a time into my computer, and then I can add more tracks after that. It was easier to setup than figuring out how to use my fancy loop pedal that is still in the box. It can help with both my singing as well as my guitar playing in so many ways. The most important way it will help is that it will allow me to record what I’m doing and then step back and listen to myself. Just listen. Not try to listen while I play. Just listen. I’m kind of excited about this.

It’s not easy facing it when you don’t do as well as you could and you know it. But, it is a great opportunity to learn. Some of how you do that is to keep trying and to not hide from the goof ups, mistakes, or short comings. With that, I will work more diligently to get the videos posted soon even though I’ll be cringing every time you watch one.

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