Feynman

Shucks. Thanks! I hate to argue with a thread complimenting me, but a lot of these little giveaways are as much about me as they are the recipient. I do like sharing my excitement over this gear stuff with my friends, but there's more to it than that. As the wise Sir Lathrop noted, having things around that I don't use bugs me. I like to keep my superfluous material possessions to a minimum, and if I can give some toy I don't need to someone else that will get use from it....great. Specialk's story is an old one, and he got a new stand because I had some Musician's Friend store credit sitting around in my account. I found out that it would cost nearly as much to ship him my old stand as to just buy a new one and have it delivered to him. Since I had the credit, it was easier to just make a few clicks on the web. Fast forward several months from then and I STILL have this annoying extra stand. I'm going to put it in the closet soon just to get it out of my sight. Sincerely, your resident nutjob. Edited to add: Oh yeah, I got another Princeton Reverb. I sure like these little amps. Edited again to add: Don't think it's lost on me that if I added up all the things I've given away here I could have bought Murkat's Soloist instead.

I am thinking that some of you are taking this too seriously.

Can we get back to talking about her breasts?

Haha! That would be cool, but... I figure that's like walking on stage with an SRV Strat, a Rhoads V, a JEM... If I showed up sporting a Zenmindbeginner strap I'd be setting everyone up for extreme disappointment.

Whew - thanks. Everyone go watch it again.

Ohmygod - where did the video go?! Did the link change? I am behind on my dosage... I'll be downloading it if there is a new link...

For what it's worth Zen, you more than paid back your Mom's sacrifices - you're one of the best players I've heard. It was a guitar in the right hands. I'm sure I've told my story here before, but I'll recap since I started the thread. I always wanted to play guitar, but we were poor and my father had a pretty stern policy against useless things like music and literature (my two favorite things). There's no way in hell I could have gotten a guitar or lessons. When I was 25, I was in the Air Force and working at a coffee house in the evenings. A guitar playing friend from the coffee house gave me the Yamaha he used through his music degree, on the condition that I promised to learn to play someday. It sat in my apartment for over a year (he had since moved out of state), but I finally decided to buy myself guitar lessons for my birthday. My first lesson was the evening of my 27th birthday, and I was hooked in no time. I played that Yamaha for years before I was in a position to buy something nicer, but that was a pretty great guitar anyway. I only recently found a deserving home for it which I'm very happy about, but I had logged thousands of hours on that guitar over the last sixteen years. It was bittersweet to see it go, but far more sweet than bitter. I got pretty decent with the ole Yamaha, so I feel like with some effort I can be decent at electric someday too. I really like theory, and fingerstyle anything, and Bach and Bossa Nova and jazz and flamenco and...well, everything. Unfortunately, between work and night school and a bunch of kids, practice time is next to zero. The things I learn are given no time to reach my fingers...it's very frustrating. Someday I'll actually finish school and have some time on my hands to work on improving. I suppose until then I'll just hack away in my spare moments, try out new guitars and chat with you lovely people. Thanks for listening.

Nice!

Total agreement here.

Come on folks - entertain/enlighten me! Brooks? Zenmindbeginner? Brother Lathrop? Harry65? JeffRo? Bruce919? Shredmeistermonster? JackC? Etc...

i had a mini-debate at work which got me curious. I'm completely a guided-by-educated-teacher proponent, but I realize that isn't how everyone thinks. We all have differing abilities, goals and interests anyway. What did you do? What works best or doesn't for you? Did you listen to records and try to copy? Read any books? Play with better musicians and pick up tidbits? College? Do you like learning theory or have no use for it? You get the idea. This place is full of fantastic players - I'd love to hear your stories. Edited to include our bassists.

My favorite Strat model. Good luck with the search.

What fun is that?

Fine. Don't click it.

That's some funny stuff right there.

Forge Steve Stevens signature, with a message thanking you for teaching him to play and turning him onto Hamer.

I just got mine too - thank you very much! For those who haven't ordered it, what are you waiting for? As a teaser for you, I've scanned in the first chapter here. If you don't want to buy it after this, shame on you:

Assuming our love for you isn't enough, try this:

Because Beethoven wrote great music.

Edited to add: or Jason Newsted

Lovely, lovely Ludwig van!

He has a link to the POD settings in the video's description...

It really is. I've probably listened to it about 25 times in a row so far. I've always had a thing for Lynch's tone and phrasing (don't we all?), and few can pull it off I think. The ever humble Zen has it down. Zen and his Pod are clearly as one. That Hamer is in worthy hands.

Channeling some serious Lynch in all of its toneful goodness.. http://youtu.be/JMy1UNuXUS0