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I. M. Gei posted:I mean if this is the kinda fear I'm gonna have about going to lessons then I'm not gonna make a lot of progress Try starting with Justin Guitar. That'll take at least a year (IME) and will at least get you comfortable with the instrument and some of the lingo.
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Aug 7, 2022 02:22
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I. M. Gei posted:How does one go about convincing themselves that it's okay to play guitar? Read the book “Art and Fear”. It’s so common there are books about it!
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Aug 7, 2022 02:23
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Also, in the end, you've got to remember the thing inside of you pushing to create is an uncommon thing and what you make always has to be for you first, and so long as you are enjoying it that's the primary goal external validation should be a nice bonus but never your intrinsic motivation
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Aug 7, 2022 02:32
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I. M. Gei posted:I'm just trying to have money to buy ONE trumpet Right now the sales are paying for the purchases, and what I've sold this year wouldn't pay for half a trumpet. I'm also old as balls and have been buying and selling for ~25 years, so I've been sitting on some of this stuff for a long time. One day you will be able to look around and go"jesus christ, what the hell is wrong with you?"
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Aug 7, 2022 02:45
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I actually put off practicing a lot and just noodle around because I'm afraid I'll be so bad once I actually play to a click or record myself, that I'll get depressed even though I'm already depressed. Brains are weird. I also play unplugged a lot of time as well because I also get paranoid I'll wind up hating whatever tone I dial in(I blew a lot of money on a helix so I guess I'm afraid I'll wind up not being capable of putting it to good use) and again, get depressed and feel bad. Did I say brains are weird?
Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Aug 7, 2022 |
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Aug 7, 2022 02:47
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but remember making art and music is one of the first things our primitive cavemen brains ever wanted to do long before we built cities or banks or office buildings, we put handprints on walls and made drums and bone flutes let yourself tap into the primal joy and the lawlessness of just making the noise because all the fear is coming from the poo poo that came long after the cavemen wanted to just toot their flutes when some assholes said "that's not how that's supposed to sound"
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Aug 7, 2022 02:54
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I used to feel really self-conscious about it all but then I put years and years and years into it and got pretty good, now I feel confident enough to try my best and enjoy it when an audience likes what I did. That's a good feeling and a nice payoff for the many times I worried that I was just making people's ears hurt. That said it sounds like maybe you could talk to somebody (therapist, maybe? therapy has really helped me in my life when I was struggling with various mental blocks and issues!) because you shouldn't feel such a pressure on yourself or like you should not do what you want where you want to, especially in your own spaces or spaces into which you have been invited. You're valid, and your creativity is valid - the universe itself vibrates always, and it welcomes you and awaits your movements to pluck sound from things that can't make it on their own and thus also to give meaning and purposeful movement to what was only silent air moments before. It is good to create, and sing our songs, make our noises - we are noisy and wonderful and the music is such a beautiful part of what it is to be human, partake my friend.
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Aug 7, 2022 02:56
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I actually put off practicing a lot and just noodle around because I'm afraid I'll be so bad once I actually play to a click or record myself, that I'll get depressed even though I'm already depressed. Brains are weird. I also play unplugged a lot of time as well because I also get paranoid I'll wind up hating whatever tone I dial in(I blew a lot of money on a helix so I guess I'm afraid I'll wind up not being capable of putting it to good use) and again, get depressed and feel bad. Did I say brains are weird?  
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Aug 7, 2022 03:37
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Sometimes I feel pretty basic because guitar is like, the most popular and common instrument. And I will never be "good" at it in the traditional sense. I'm getting better at simply enjoying it without worrying if I'm good enough at it. Perhaps paradoxically, this mindset seems to be improving my progress. I'm not saying I'm always in that better mind-state but like, it's just a hobby it doesn't matter. At least for me. Reminding myself of that helps. I will check out that Art and Fear book, though. I added it to my Audible cart, which already held a Star Trek audiobook narrated by Shatner so we'll have to see which wins out for my attention first.
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Aug 7, 2022 03:50
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Its just like learning the trumpet, you just gotta get out there and make a doot doot. Sometimes you are gonna make a deet when you shoulda doot’ed but thats cool too.
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Aug 7, 2022 04:04
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I. M. Gei posted:I actually feel this way about a lot of things. It took me well into grown-rear end adulthood to convince myself that it was okay to listen to my choice of radio station in my own car. I don't know if there's a trauma behind it but it fucks me up BAD. what on earth.. is someone changing your car's radio to the wrong stations or something? or is it that some imagined bystander won't approve of your music taste? wishing you luck in overcoming this stuff. when i was first starting out, i felt some anxiety or judgement in the guitar store, maybe because most beginners are future quitters, and i wasn't sure if i had what it takes to stick with it. but it doesn't have to be a big deal, it's just one of the many little difficulties to overcome in your guitar journey
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Aug 7, 2022 06:22
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Hellblazer187 posted:Sometimes I feel pretty basic because guitar is like, the most popular and common instrument. And I will never be "good" at it in the traditional sense. I'm getting better at simply enjoying it without worrying if I'm good enough at it. Perhaps paradoxically, this mindset seems to be improving my progress. I'm not saying I'm always in that better mind-state but like, it's just a hobby it doesn't matter. At least for me. Reminding myself of that helps. Yeah I definitely get this. I feel as you get older you just care less though which is good. I do find myself not telling most people I’m playing guitar again because I don’t want to be put on the spot and asked “are you good?” Etc.
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Aug 7, 2022 08:21
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I'm just banking on someday going to Australia and defeating Tommy Emmanuel in battle and absorbing his powers like Mega Man.
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Aug 7, 2022 08:24
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Red_Fred posted:I do find myself not telling most people I’m playing guitar again because I don’t want to be put on the spot and asked “are you good?” Etc. i’ve been playing guitar and telling people about it for almost 30 years…people rarely ask this. they just assume you’re good
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Aug 7, 2022 12:24
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Dr. Faustus posted:
i thought about coming again if you would be down for wiring the new pickguard, whenever the hell that happens. i'm just real busy; school starting again soon and everything. plus i ran up a credit card last semester, still trying to pay that off before i do any less than absolutely necessary (like, "i broke a string and need to replace it") instrument stuff. i know how i would do it now... probably wouldn't do it at 8 PM :P
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Aug 7, 2022 13:06
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a.p. dent posted:i’ve been playing guitar and telling people about it for almost 30 years…people rarely ask this. they just assume you’re good People assume: 1) you're good 2) that the bar for being good is way lower than you expect 3) you're some kind of willpower demon for being able to learn an instrument. If you can play something they recognise (literally anything) on top of that then you're golden. They also really really want to tell you about how "I always wanted to learn guitar but I was rubbish at it". Yes, so was I. That's how it works: you "practice" doing the thing until you "get better" at "playing" the "guitar". 
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Aug 7, 2022 13:17
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a.p. dent posted:i’ve been playing guitar and telling people about it for almost 30 years…people rarely ask this. they just assume you’re good I remember when I was 14 and had just gotten my first guitar, mentioning to a kid in my middle school class that was way cooler than me (I think we were seated together in science class?) that I had a guitar and him immediately being like "really? We should start a band right now!" and having to explain to him that I had only just gotten my first guitar and taken about 3 lessons and was still very bad.
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Aug 7, 2022 13:50
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a.p. dent posted:i’ve been playing guitar and telling people about it for almost 30 years…people rarely ask this. they just assume you’re good But that's so much worse! 
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Aug 7, 2022 14:13
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Think of it like tennis: when a person tells you they play tennis you make a reasonable assumption that they have put in a lot of time and work and are pretty good. But you don't assume they're on the pro tour. You don't go, "Oh hey guy at a party who just told me they play tennis, how many grand slam titles do you have?" Just like there's a wide range of "good at tennis" there's a wide range of "good at guitar" for people who don't play. They don't automatically assume you are EVH. If you can play 8-10 chords in time, you are good at guitar to 99% of the people who hear you play. e: And really, the trick to being "good at guitar" is being able to play 8-10 songs well enough for people to sing along to. If you have an hour setlist in your head, most everyone will say you are good at guitar. If you want people who are good at guitar to think you're good at guitar, go practice scale runs, or chord melody, or clean up your riffs. If you want regular people to think you're good at guitar, go memorize the lyrics to Harvest Moon. Huxley fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Aug 7, 2022 |
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Aug 7, 2022 14:24
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Huxley posted:Think of it like tennis: when a person tells you they play tennis you make a reasonable assumption that they have put in a lot of time and work and are pretty good. But you don't assume they're on the pro tour. You don't go, "Oh hey guy at a party who just told me they play tennis, how many grand slam titles do you have?" well put. additionally: you’re allowed to be bad at stuff
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Aug 7, 2022 14:44
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a.p. dent posted:well put. additionally: you’re allowed to be bad at stuff Of course! And you aren't under any obligation to play for anyone. If you play for 80 years and never perform once, so long as your time with the instrument brought you joy or peace, that's valid and good.
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Aug 7, 2022 15:31
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I hate when I put off practicing and when I finally do practice I can't believe that I am not doing it 12 hours a day because it's one of the only things in life that brings me happiness. Like, I'll literally get all worked up and stressed out talking myself out of it and then I go do it and it feels like I was a whole-rear end different person before I picked up the instrument. Emotional vs intellectual is a rough battle. I know that playing makes me happy but then emotions get in the way and stop me.
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Aug 7, 2022 16:58
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I. M. Gei posted:Surely this is a feeling other people besides me have had too? Oh yeah, for sure. I've been playing off and on since I was a teenager and I'm mid-forties now and its still there for me. Now its more of a "I should be better than I am, I've been playing for 25 years!" kind of feeling but it comes from the same place I think. But like other people are saying, its ok to not be good at it as long as its fun and you feel like you're doing what you want. And of course you will get better. Its almost inevitable if you even somewhat consistently do the thing. a.p. dent posted:i’ve been playing guitar and telling people about it for almost 30 years…people rarely ask this. they just assume you’re good I just had someone at work ask me if I was any good when he saw me looking at guitar poo poo on my phone. I just went "eh" and did the so-so motion with my hand. Its fine and no one really cares that much.
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Aug 7, 2022 18:10
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a.p. dent posted:well put. additionally: you’re allowed to be bad at stuff Totally. Some of the best guitarists are “bad” guitarists!
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Aug 7, 2022 18:20
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I spent months putting together a classical/recorder duet for church that I flubbed so badly I haven't picked the classical up in months. Today, I sightread a melody line on the LP and my wife played piano behind me while the congregation milled around. The entire thing was 6 notes. A couple of slides and doublestops the 2nd time through. TOTALLY identical reactions from people to both. They can't tell and/or they don't care. People are just happy you're doing something.
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Aug 7, 2022 18:26
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you can write album after album of beautiful material no one will ever listen to or you can learn to play blackbird and make strangers think you're a guitar god
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Aug 7, 2022 18:29
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:you can write album after album of beautiful material no one will ever listen to or you can learn to play blackbird and make strangers think you're a guitar god lol Red_Fred posted:I do find myself not telling most people I’m playing guitar again because I don’t want to be put on the spot and asked “are you good?” Etc.  "Are you good?"It's good to know what to say when this comes up. Here are my answers:  "I learned guitar as an adult, and I don't make any money from it." "I don't get many complaints!" "I have my moments." "I can string a few notes together -- wanna jam with me?" "Someone told me I was, but then they paid for the pizza with exact change."
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Aug 7, 2022 23:00
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"yeah bro i can play that part of that song youre thinking of at roughly 25% speed"
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Aug 7, 2022 23:18
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Everybody’s got their own story and goals behind it - I started on bass specifically because I was promised a slot in a band if I did, and writing and performing original music is always Where It’s Been At for me. Anyway, sorry… it’s been a bit. I’ve been dealing with a lot of… things. I hope I’ll be able to keep on top of the thread. Faustus’s post did inspire me to come in and ask something of the people who have been gigging recently, which is how you’re dealing with the COVID-risk situation. And ramble, I guess. We played our first show since just before the start of the pandemic last week, and it was… well, it just was. The “sell X number of tickets” style of pay-to-play, which is a model I’ve only ever had bad experiences with. But the bass player set it up, and I expressed my concerns early on, then let it slide. Figured it would be a learning experience for him, and, at worst, be like renting a practice space for a night. Somehow managed to con/guilt people into buying my share of tickets (only one actually made it to the show, though… ugh, it just feels… dirty), and, true to form, the guy tries to screw us the minute we get there. (“Um, I gave you 50 tickets to sell, not 25, so you need to give me 25 tickets or a couple hundred dollars. Oh, and even though I said there’d be a house drumkit and that bands would only have to bring cymbals… there isn’t, so you’ll have to deal with that.”) Thankfully, bass player produced both the emails where they had set up the 25 ticket agreement and our old practice drumset, since his house was only a few blocks away. Still not the most auspicious start. That guy also set up all the bands, and we were a bad fit stylistically: there was a white funk band, a white reggae band, a two-piece that described themselves as “The White Stripes meets Tom Petty,” and us (leftist nerd punk). We were louder and heavier than anyone else there, both in sound and in content, and were unlikely to win over anybody there to see any of the other bands. At any rate, we played our set, the lights were too bright to see how many people were out there (which I really don’t like, I try to play to an audience) and Ihe buddy I brought said we pretty much cleared the room. Whatever, been there plenty of times. Here’s the part where this show was different. Usually, even when I’ve been playing in a band that doesn’t fit, I go out in the crowd and really take part, which tends to balance out the stage comedown. I get a little feedback for how we did (something I feel a need for even more, since , in the last band, I just played guitar and did backing vocals - now I'm front and center). But this time, I felt incredibly self-conscious, to the point where I couldn’t make myself mingle: me and my buddy were the only ones masking. He had a whole getup with wraparound shades, which, with the mask, made him look like a cyberninja in a denim vest with metal patches. Me, I was just wearing what I wore onstage, with the mask, and it felt incredibly alienatin. Maybe it was more than the mask itself, I felt like I was just in a different world than these people. I backed off and hung out at the merch spot for the rest of the night, just kind of… stewing. Weirdly, this is still bothering me a week later, to the point where I’m hesitant to go find more opportunities to play out. If I was single, I might go full “Open Biden” (as our own COVID threads put it), but my partner’s higher-risk, and it seems like the variant we caught in April doesn’t provide poo poo against the current one in terms of antibodies. On the other hand, part of me feels like I’m being hugely irresponsible by playing out at all, even with a KN95. How is everyone else handling this? Staying steadfast in masking? Going without, but dutifully testing a few days later? Just going “YOLO, gently caress it?” I feel like this is something I need to come to terms with before we start trying to line up more gigs. Anyway sorry for the  . Guitar, man. Takes us to the weirdest goddamn places.
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Aug 7, 2022 23:32
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After The War posted:Everybody’s got their own story and goals behind it - I started on bass specifically because I was promised a slot in a band if I did, and writing and performing original music is always Where It’s Been At for me. Anyway, sorry… it’s been a bit. I’ve been dealing with a lot of… things. I hope I’ll be able to keep on top of the thread. Faustus’s post did inspire me to come in and ask something of the people who have been gigging recently, which is how you’re dealing with the COVID-risk situation. And ramble, I guess. oh hey. i didn't read this post but i've been thinking of you lately, because i remember you being a huge dinosaur jr. fan. i recently kinda got into sebadoh. my favorite rivers cuomo poo poo is some of his demos -- turns out he was a big lou barlow fan in the 90s. soul and fire specifically reminded me of one of my favorites -- really good stuff.
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Aug 7, 2022 23:48
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so if anyone has any recommendations for songs that sound like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm0L77G6VnI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=427cKssMigM in terms of vibe (kinda wistful and sad) and melody (long and motivic), please let me know, cause it's my favorite stuff
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Aug 7, 2022 23:52
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I don't know, here's some melancholic wistful stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOi3F00oJtI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHK5WQrcCl4
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Aug 8, 2022 00:12
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i read your whole post -- i can give you my assessment as a non-gigging bedroom-player tier guitarist. It's hard for me to write this, because you seem both sensible and sensitive, and its not gonna be what you wanna hear: You are needlessly putting yourself thru a lot of cognitive dissonance by playing gigs in enclosed (potentially crowded) indoor spaces, while also (wisely) staying up to date with the latest horrors in the covid thread! If you nevertheless choose to continue, then see how many corsi-rosenthal cubes you can set up before people start to shout at you  Or perhaps disguise your cubes them as guitar cabs?  EDIT: consider P100 respirators, or at least N95 -- KN95 is rolling the dice! Whatever you use, make sure to get a good fit, and shave if you have to Helianthus Annuus fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Aug 8, 2022 |
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Aug 8, 2022 00:30
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You really need to either like or learn to be ok with Billy Corgan's voice to listen to some of the best 90s/early 2000s music
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Aug 8, 2022 01:20
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muike posted:You really need to either like or learn to be ok with Billy Corgan's voice to listen to some of the best 90s/early 2000s music Zwan is loving great but doesn't really fit LG's request at all
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Aug 8, 2022 01:29
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N95 masks are great, and pretty affordable on Amazon now. I paid like $35-40 a box of 10 at the worst of the supply crunch during the pandemic, and sometimes went without them, but now you can get registered ones that are $10 a box and good brand ones for $10-$15 depending. I've done two hour gym workouts hitting everything hard in 'em now, and always wear them when I'm out playing. "Alienating," I mean, gently caress the behavior of the crowd, you can't find virtue in a crowd but you can find the pandemic there, if you want to be safer that's totally fine, do it. Nevertheless you can still connect, talk to people anyway. I've never had anyone make a deal out of it and I talk to a lot of people when I'm out and about, I enjoy socializing and the mask is just there, no big deal. If someone gets curious I tell them the truth - my wife and I got COVID back in Delta when she was pregnant with my youngest kid, and he had to have oxygen when he was born, so I while I still try to live my life as normally as I can I take good precautions. Never had anyone be a dick about it, personally, but I'm also not trying to talk to, like, assholes with Trump Won 2020 stickers on their giant trucks or whatever.
Agreed fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Aug 8, 2022 |
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Aug 8, 2022 01:36
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https://bonafidemasks.com/powecom-kn95/?sort=bestselling&page=1 https://bonafidemasks.com/n95-masks/ these are covid thread favorites, the powecom repeatedly test 99%+ from 3rd party watch-dog type groups, they're very good for the KN95 certification (better than some N95s). they also have a bunch of N95 options, including a 20 for 20 pack. most importantly they're all cheap!!! $1-1.50/mask made a difference in my life vs the $3-5/per options locally so passing it on to keep people breathing if same for you
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Aug 8, 2022 02:36
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The Guitar Salon YouTube channel has had an interesting composer/player on recently, Chrystian Dozza. He seems to play with a pick of some sort taped(?) to his middle finger, which makes for some textures you don't typically hear on nylon string guitars. Here's two pieces, the first with some precise and energetic strumming with pulloffs, plus guitar drumming. The second is my favorite piece from him, variations on a really lovely melody, played over a drone note. https://youtu.be/b2whitztqNc https://youtu.be/f7ogzgB_m7U
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Aug 8, 2022 03:47
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JamesKPolk posted:https://bonafidemasks.com/powecom-kn95/?sort=bestselling&page=1 The Powecom is exactly what I was wearing, in fact, ordered from that very link. I had bought them a month earlier based on (probably) those same reviews when I wanted to get something in black - I had a work event, and I just couldn't bring myself to wear one of my white "sanding a deck"-lookin' N95s with a dark fitted suit. The Powecoms have been the most comfortable for prolonged wear. We have two sets of N95s: the aforementioned deck-sanding ones that get physically painful to wear after 3-4 hours, and some duck-looking ones that tend to slip up my chin if I'm doing a lot of talking. Given how long I'd have to be there, the Powecom just seemed like the (literal) best fit. The "alienation" effect was probably the combination of all the poo poo going down that night, with the masks being the most visible aspect. The next show will be outdoors, at least, to a more receptive group that will mostly be people that know me. After that... we'll see. I'll try to get everyone to buckle down into recording. With COVID looking pretty indefinite at this point, I don't know how likely the guys are to sign off on never playing indoors again. Omicron boosters are theoretically coming, but they'll probably be gatekept again (we're all too young and, somehow, healthy to even qualify for the second wildtype booster). So yeah... we'll see. Maybe we can find people who want to do outdoor parties once the weather cools down. At least I'll have some more time to build up the Mask Library. Thanks for listening to me gripe, everyone. landgrabber posted:oh hey. i didn't read this post but i've been thinking of you lately, because i remember you being a huge dinosaur jr. fan. i recently kinda got into sebadoh. my favorite rivers cuomo poo poo is some of his demos -- turns out he was a big lou barlow fan in the 90s. soul and fire specifically reminded me of one of my favorites -- really good stuff. Sebadoh and Folk Implosion definitely influenced a lot of people, in approach as much as in sound. Musically, they can both be all over the place - but that's kind of the point. Barlow got his song ideas shot down in the early days of Dinosaur, so afterwards each and every one got explored. DIY as it can tend to be, his music really does benefit from a tight group, though. He's been getting two songs per album since the Dinosaur reunion and they've always been stellar.
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Aug 8, 2022 04:54
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landgrabber posted:so if anyone has any recommendations for songs that sound like these: How about some Smog? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXdDfeL2g58 Possibly heading into a more Americana kind of thing, but certainly melancholy and wistful.
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Aug 8, 2022 10:04
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