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I play the banjo and lap dulcimer, and dabble with a few other things like the bodhran, ocarina and bones. A few years back I had a Blue Lion dulcimer which had a GORGEOUS, mellow, rich yet sweet tone. Hard times forced me to sell it (heartbreak!), but I'm about to get a new one, yay!  I can't wait. It looked just like this one...the sound in this video is AWFUL, the instrument sounds SO much better than this!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUZCpntLRHg In southern California, a fantastic traditional music, dance and storytelling festival is put on every year by the California Traditional Music Society, you can go and take classes or just sit in on them on many of the instruments talked about in this thread, or just listen to concerts or find impromptu groups sitting around and jamming. There are also numerous booths selling instruments and crafts. The next one takes place September 10-11th, I've been to several and they are AWESOME. GO. The CTMS also has house concerts throughout the year. Also in southern California, in Claremont, is the Folk Music Center, a mind-bogglingly cool store/museum of all things musically weird--intruments, books, accessories, CDs, toys, etc. It's an honest to God treat to go to and well worth the drive, be prepared to spend an hour or two just looking around the store and experimenting with instruments. Dorothy and Charles Chase used to own it, very cool folks, Dot taught me how to play banjo, mountain dulcimer, bodhran & bones. Both Charles & Dot have passed on, but it's still in the family--Ben Harper, who is their grandson, owns it now. They have a cool folk music festival every year, it's just like the one at CTMS but maybe a bit smaller--but equally amazing. I volunteered and worked it several times a few years back, got to hang out with a jam with people like Sam Hinton (VERY cool, interesting guy and a national treasure, sad he's gone). Fun times.  The Claremont village is a cool place to walk around anyway, go there! The Folk Music Center is right across from Rhino records.Bodhrans! The traditional Irish drum, you can change the pitch by holding your hand against the head from the back, some have a crosspiece that you can squeeze to get the same result.  Basic how-to and demo video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUO-rW6rcB8 Bones! Yes, originally made from rib bones. Mine are made of Cocobolo wood, but any hardwood will do...pine makes a very soft tone, usually too soft to hear in a group but good for practicing so you don't drive everyone in your home nuts while you are learning. Another instrument you can carry with you anywhere! Cute introduction video by Don Flemons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMokBr9cTxM&NR=1 Fun thing to try with your mountain (lap) dulcimer: Rather than strum or pluck it, get a wooden chopstick and holding the small end, use the large end to hammer the strings just like you would a hammered dulcimer. Just hold the chopstick lightly between your thumb and forfinger extended out towards the keyboard and tap the strings with it. Experiment with it, hit it harder some times, softer others, it's fun. A plain old wooden pencil works too, but I found I like the wooden chopstick best. Bouncing the chopstick off the strings gives the music a pretty, ethereal tone that reminds me of balalaika music.  fake edit: The second dulcimer pictured in the OP is actually a Banjomer, unholy bastard child of a dulcimber and banjo, invented by Doug Thompson--also from the Claremont Folk Music Center, nice guy, kinda quiet... Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 29, 2011 21:38
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Anyone play the banjola? I have a regular banjo but it's too loud to practice in my thin-walled apartment, even with a tshirt stuffed up under the head. I wonder if a banjola would be quieter.
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Jun 29, 2011 22:25
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Bolkovr posted:Anyone play the banjola? Ever tried a banjo mute? It's a metal piece that you press onto the bridge, doesn't hurt the intrument but makes it MUCH quieter. I have one like this, despite what they say here mine never fell off--just make sure and press it on tightly enough: http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/P180.htm Or, use this model: 
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Jun 30, 2011 00:18
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No, I didn't know such a thing existed. Thanks!
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Jun 30, 2011 01:24
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Bolkovr posted:Anyone play the banjola? I wouldn't get a banjola just for practice, as they're not terribly cheap. Though if you want to get creative you could probably take a beater guitar and banjoify it by restringing, and then using a banjo "railroad spike" to peg down the drone string at the 7th fret. Alternately, have you seen the clips of playing clawhammer ukulele? Wouldn't be the same thing, but would use the same basic skills, be a lot quieter, affordable, and fun. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5V4mtZ-0qg "Greasy Coat" clawhammer-style on a reso ukulele; of course, it'd be softer/mellower still on a wood body. Or, you could just get a banjo mute. quote:With the Uke, I have found that I am not good at all with stronged instruments. I think their is just too much going on by strumming and pressing down on the neck at the same time and it feels a bit overwhelming. I can sing, but not well. I am leaning towards a basic melody instrument. Are their any others besides the whistles and the ocarina? If you want a really non-intimidating instrument that is easy to sound good on, I'd stick with melodic-type instruments with relatively simple interfaces, and for extra ease consider pentatonic tunings. Overall, "pentatonic tunings" are 5-note scales, so pretty much everything tends to harmonise, "no wrong notes", etc. - Native American flute is a bit more mellow and stable instrument than ocarina or whistle (not that those are hard, just that NAF is even more mellow), and can be played as pentatonic, but can add the in-between notes with refined fingerings if you want to work at that later on. Definitely one of those "a week to learn, a lifetime to master" instruments that you can sound decent on very quick. As low as $50 for a good starter, $135 for a good drone flute.  If you want a little more accompaniment sound on the NAF, get a drone flute NAF like this. It's not any harder to play, but just has a secondary tube taking some of your breath to hold one constant note in the background. - Kalimba (thumb piano) is quite easy and intuitive, and in your case we can help you find one set for a pentatonic or similar simple scale to start with. Check out this clip and related clips for an idea of pentatonic/set-scale kalimbas.  - Did you also see the HAPI drums, last page? Those come in a variety of pre-set scales, and pretty much all you have to do is just strike the surface, and pretty much any points you strike will sound good together, so you just combine them all in different ways. They're a little pricier, in the mid-$300s, but are definitely unusual and distinctive while still being really accessible.  Those are a few ideas, any of these reach out to you? Again, I think a lot of it in your case is just comfort and confidence, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if you tried one of these out for a few months or a year, and then found out that you could easily branch to other instruments too. And yet all the above are great instruments in their own right, and pentatonic instruments in general are great for zoning out and getting in a groove, again because it practically takes concious effort to sound bad on pentatonic instruments. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 30, 2011 02:03
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I went to a music festival over the weekend*, and I have the sudden urge to build a cigar-box guitar. Anyone know a good guide to making one? i.e. has actual knowledge and isn't just googling (because I could that). And Bing Futch is a pretty good dulcimer player. And a really happy dude. *Old Songs in upstate New York ; it was loving nice. \/\/\/\/\/\/Why don't you just play lefty? Xiahou Dun fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 30, 2011 03:08
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Hey friends, I'm interested in learning a simpler instrument after failing miserably at guitar. Two instruments intrigue me greatly, namely the Ukelele and the Ocarina. My biggest issue with guitar was my left-handedness, as strumming to any sort of near-rhythm was painful and difficult to coordinate, but making chords was a simple affair. Would you recommend either a Ukelele or an Ocarina to a heavy lefty or should I stick with guitar and push through the awkwardness? ^^^ I don't play left guitar because I don't have one. If I wanted to pursue Guitar then that would be a strong possibility. Ukelele or Ocarina are cheap enough to take the risk. onecooldana fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 30, 2011 03:21
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Stand by, this is going to be a long one. I'll try to give you the wave-tops and not get into undue detail until you give some indication of what direction you want. Thanks for all the useful info. To be honest, I really fell in love with squeezeboxes from two sources: french accordion music (old school waltzes and also things like Yann Tiersen, the Amelie composer), and new school tango bandoneon (like Piazolla). I've played a piano accordion, but the drat thing was just too drat big. I'm only 5'6" and I want something more manageable size wise. Would I be able to manage with a concertina finding some sort of sound more full than just melody without having to resort to a big assed accordion?
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Jun 30, 2011 03:45
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onecooldan posted:Hey friends, I'm interested in learning a simpler instrument after failing miserably at guitar. Two instruments intrigue me greatly, namely the Ukelele and the Ocarina. My biggest issue with guitar was my left-handedness, as strumming to any sort of near-rhythm was painful and difficult to coordinate, but making chords was a simple affair. Would you recommend either a Ukelele or an Ocarina to a heavy lefty or should I stick with guitar and push through the awkwardness? This might be from my instrument, and guitars are different, but you know you can switch the strings, right? You just have to make sure you don't gently caress up the bridge or the nut.
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Jun 30, 2011 03:48
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Xiahou Dun posted:This might be from my instrument, and guitars are different, but you know you can switch the strings, right? I know about that, but not how to do it. That's beside the point though, as I don't own a guitar, I just use the ones my roommate lets me use. I can't modify hers without making her upset, so that's not an option. My interests in Ukelele and Ocarina overshadow Guitar at this point thanks to this thread.
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Jun 30, 2011 03:57
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Oooo... Okay, now I got you. Changing the strings is comically easy. You just unwind them until they come off, and then put them in mirror order. But yeah, if you're bumming a guitar then it's up to your room-mate whether she'll let you do some minor work on her guitar. (Which she might for a six-pack if she has a couple ; it's not like you'd be damaging it, just making it weird for her to play for a bit.) But yeah, uke is probably pretty good if you liked guitar. And you can do the same deal and swap the strings to make it lefty. You only really need to worry about stuff with a cut-away or something weird, like an F-style mandolin. They make really nice build-your-own-uke-kits that're pretty cheap ; I was just looking at some the other day and they sounded good.
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Jun 30, 2011 04:02
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Xiahou Dun posted:Oooo... Okay, now I got you. Build my own? I like that idea a fair amount. I'm also into picking up a beginners uke, but I didn't see anything about them in the thread (am I blind?).
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Jun 30, 2011 04:09
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Chin Strap posted:Thanks for all the useful info. Hmmmm, French free-reeds. My main suggestion would be to paste pretty much what you just told us, as a new thread at concertina.net/forums, and ask advice of those gents there. Though mainly concertina, many of them know other free-reeds well, and can give you sound advice. In the interim, I found samples of French music played on all the major free-reed platforms the French use, so take a squint at these and let us know which one jumps out at you. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miTOJGvRAcM Anglo concertina playing some Breton tunes; note how bouncy the bellows are, as like a harmonica it has to change air directions to hit half its notes. That rhythmic back-forth is what defines the Anglo sound. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogGrppmCFJI&feature=related French waltz on an English concertina. Note the bellows don't change directions, and note that the scale alternates between hands, so in an A is on the left, the B will be on the right, C# back on the left, etc. A lot smoother and less-defined than Anglo. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9j8YTTT6wU I couldn't find any clips of French music on Duet concertina, but here's a Shetland tune. Note bellows don't change direction, but that he's got all the high end on the right, and on the left can back up with bass chords or runs, alternate harmonies, etc. It starts out a little minimalist, but he amps up the accompaniment as it goes through. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlNzRyehDcU French chick playing "accordéon diatonique" ("diatonic accordion", "buttonbox", "button accordion"), albeit not very smoothly. Setting aside her pauses, note how the bellows direction changes dictate the rhythm - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA17a5Xr450 Dude playing a French waltz on a diatonic accordion; again dig how the bellows direction dictates the rhythm - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os8FNAAow1o Next, Chromatic Button Accordion ("CBA"), or in French "Accordéon chromatique" French dude playing a CBA: note now how it's still buttons, but the direction doesn't change with alternating notes.  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS3MbH2iCHo And here's a traditional bandoneon playing French waltzes. Note again the air changes on the bellows, though bandoneons have enough buttons (some of which provide alternate notes, so Ds going both ways) that they can "cheat" out of a lot of the changes. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A_NutBnMqY The last item is a hybrid bandoneon. Basically a bandoneon body with a CBA keyboard. Bandoneon-ish tone but with a simpler chromatic fingering. Only the beginning of this clip gives you a good idea, as partway through he turns on a backing track and just does melody, but the opening gives you a feel for the low-end.  So far as prices: - Any of the basic concertinas start as $350ish from Concertina Connection, the hands-down choice for and 'box under $1200. These are the go-to, buy-no-other, student concertina line. - Diatonic accordions, really depends on exactly what you want, but there are a decent scattering on the used market of various types, so offhand $300-700 used. - CBAs, a brand-new Hohner 48-button (a relatively small CBA) runs a little over $1000; don't know about the used market, but presumably if you can find one used $700ish. There are a ton of funky Russian CBAs (called bayan) floating around, since Russians play them too, but I don't know anything about those, though presumably you can find dirt cheap ones if any are decent (read up!). - Bandoneon pricing I don't know a ton about either. I'm under the vague impression that a lot of people buy beater ones and the spend as much fixing them as they did buying them. I would imagine you can get into a refurbished bandoneon for $1000-2000. - Hybrid Bandoneons: there are only so makers, so new ones are quite expensive, but Harry Geuns has some import ones made that are $975 new. Not in the slightest to pressure you, since I already have a couple of guys who want to buy it off me, but I have a Geuns I paid $600 for total, and could sell it for the same price if a chromatic bandoneon speaks to you. quote:I know about that, but not how to do it. That's beside the point though, as I don't own a guitar, I just use the ones my roommate lets me use. I can't modify hers without making her upset, so that's not an option. My interests in Ukelele and Ocarina overshadow Guitar at this point thanks to this thread. Given that ocarinas are like $15-20 for a totally solid student instrument, there's really no reason not to get one. I would say though that as a lefty you should get an "inline" ocarina, the ones where your hands go below your mouth as opposed to out to the sides, at least for starters. For uke, we have a whole uke thread on the basics in A/T (should be somewhere on the first couple pages), and you really can't go wrong with uke either. If you want to play uke lefty, all you have to do is switch the strings, and depending on the seller, if they re-string the uke with decent strings before shipping (which many good sellers do) you can ask them to string one backwards for you. Uke is one of the easier guitar-like instruments, and uke skills translate to guitar pretty easily. For uke, I'd get at least a Makala ($75ish), as a $20 uke you'll outgrow in a week or two of serious playing. You're really better off getting a Makala even if it takes a few more weeks of saving up. Make sure you get one from a seller who specifies that they do "setup", that is, when they take the cheapie ukes out of the crate from China, instead of just chucking it in a USPS box to you, they test them out, tweak any problem areas, and put on good-quality strings to replace the junk stock ones. Proper setup only adds $5-10 from a good seller, and saves you getting a lemon, as well as about pays for itself in better-quality strings.  Makala soprano, and baritone Get a $15-20 ocarina now, save up and get a uke later, and you're still probably coming in under $100 for two musical instruments that can last you decades.
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Jun 30, 2011 04:15
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Here, have a link : http://www.wolfelele.com/Model-Specs.html I didn't attend the workshop on building them (gently caress that ; there was a contra dance at the same time), but I was having a beer with a guy who did it and hosed around on his. It sounded good and apparently took less than an hour and some wood glue. Plus, I bet you I could train my cat to re-string it lefty. How's that?
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Jun 30, 2011 04:16
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Thanks friends. I will read and research and hopefully end up with some nice skills under my belt.
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Jun 30, 2011 04:22
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quote:Build my own? I like that idea a fair amount. I'm also into picking up a beginners uke, but I didn't see anything about them in the thread (am I blind?). Uke is a separate thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2690439 Uke is covered so comprehensively there, so we stuck more in this thread to odder stuff. Uke actually has a fair amount of mainstream popularity these days. Honestly, I think that a huge portion of people who "want to learn guitar" would actually be happier with uke. For just strumming out some basic chords and singing along, uke is easier to play, mellower-sounding, and more convenient than guitar. Once you get to higher skill levels, uke and guitar diverge a lot more, but at the "three-chord chump" stage they're pretty interchangeable, and uke is easier/smaller/affordable. EDIT: As a minor uke aside, note that Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) just put out a solo album of pure voice and ukulele. I'm ordering it on vinyl. 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Jun 30, 2011 |
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Jun 30, 2011 05:14
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Every time I pick up a uke the tuning just makes me go crazy. I understand that it makes it great for chords, but as someone who is used to normal tunings and plays melody exclusively, it just makes me  Why would you make the lowest string higher than the second lowest string. Why?! I feel like I'm the tuning-equivalent of a really old people. "Those darkies down the road are so strange with their reentrant tuning..."
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Jun 30, 2011 05:30
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Uke is a separate thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2690439 Double thanks, friends!
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Jun 30, 2011 06:53
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Hmmmm, French free-reeds. My main suggestion would be to paste pretty much what you just told us, as a new thread at concertina.net/forums, and ask advice of those gents there. Though mainly concertina, many of them know other free-reeds well, and can give you sound advice. To be quite honest, I really don't have the time to be picking up something as expensive as all that right now. My summer is being filled with moving into a new house and new pets right now, and I don't want to think about that sort of thing. I may wind up getting one of those cheapo 20 dollar ones to play around with for now. Probably at the end of the day I will wind up getting some sort of button accordion because that seems to best fit the full on style I want. Concertinas seem really cool, but if I am stuck with one squeezebox I want the kind that will let me do my own accompaniment as well. I think even bandoneons probably aren't quite as good in this regard. So my two last questions would be: 1. Are some of the button accordions much more manageable size wise than the piano ones? 2. Where would be the best place to shop for something like that used?
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Jun 30, 2011 12:25
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Gee, thanks thread. You've convinced me to pick up a $10 Feadóg tinwhistle and try to remember everything I barely learned with the last instrument I tried to play, a recorder in the 4th grade. Right now I'm waiting for my roommates to leave the house so I can practice breath-control and tonguing without letting out ear-piercing shrieks between notes! Edit: Does anyone know of any good online resources or games for learning to read musical notes fluently? MrGreenShirt fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Jul 1, 2011 |
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Jul 1, 2011 00:43
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Chin Strap posted:To be quite honest, I really don't have the time to be picking up something as expensive as all that right now. My summer is being filled with moving into a new house and new pets right now, and I don't want to think about that sort of thing. I may wind up getting one of those cheapo 20 dollar ones to play around with for now. No worries, but definitely read my earlier post about QCing them to make sure you get a good one. They're neat little boxes, but the factory that makes them puts little effort into consistently tuning, so you have to either do some QC, or just have it sent straight to Irish Dancemaster for re-reeding (which again gets you a pretty good box for $100). quote:Probably at the end of the day I will wind up getting some sort of button accordion because that seems to best fit the full on style I want. Concertinas seem really cool, but if I am stuck with one squeezebox I want the kind that will let me do my own accompaniment as well. I think even bandoneons probably aren't quite as good in this regard. The primary differences in method between accordions and concertinas (broadly) is that accordions tend to keep the melody on the right hand, while the left has buttons for bass and for full chords. On concertinas, each hand has a array of individual notes, so you can certainly form chords on either hand, at whatever octave, but it's more on intertwining notes and harmonies than pure "chord*chord*chord" backing. I'd just suggest you find as many YouTube clips as you like and observe the differences, of how they accompany themselves, and the differences in bellows behavior between unisonoric and bisonoric boxes. Once the differences sink in, you'll have a good feel for the behavior of each. I would still post pretty much your exact initial question at Concertina Forum (particularly as to whether bandoneon is an option or not your thing), as well as the Free Reeds section of Chiff & Fipple forum (particularly for specifically French questions). Between those two groups you should get a really good idea for what your options are, what keys you'll want for whichever schools of French music, etc. quote:So my two last questions would be: 1. Broadly speaking, yes. The very largest diatonic accordions aren't much bigger than the smallest standard piano accordions. Regular-size 2-rows are smaller still, and there are a few makes that do quite petite 2-rows that aren't much bigger than a Cajun accordion. They're still all notably bigger than concertinas, but the small buttonboxes aren't heavy or awkward like the piano accordions are. EDIT: a basic small 12-bass piano is like 10+ pounds, while even a big Hohner Corona 3-row is 8lbs. A Hohner 2-row (Double Ray, Erica) is just over 5lbs. Just looking at the difference in photos, you get the idea for how much smaller buttonboxes are:  2. I could have sworn there was a button accordion forum, then I recalled it's a Brit one, so they used the Brit term "melodeon": http://forum.melodeon.net/ I would definitely ask folks here advice about your situation, and this is also the site where I'd go when you know what you want to buy and are ready, to check their sales ads, to read up on buying used boxes (so you're prepped for Craiglist, eBay, used music stores), etc. I've seen used Hohner Ericas go for $300-400, but you want to be sure you know what you're looking for in a used box, and also what keys you want for French music. I think, not sure, that French uses G/C or C/F 2-rows, which is good since the more common Irish and English players don't like those, so should be less competition to buy used ones. Oh, if you happen to have an iPad, TradLessons has iPad simulators for various concertinas, button accordion, as well as various bagpipes. Here's their 2-row squeezebox: http://www.tradlessons.com/Accordion.html Hope this helps; I think button accordions have a lot more character than piano, and are certainly handier. Just read up, watch a lot of YouTube clips, and ponder your options. quote:Gee, thanks thread. You've convinced me to pick up a $10 Feadóg tinwhistle and try to remember everything I barely learned with the last instrument I tried to play, a recorder in the 4th grade. For whatever reason, hating recorders with a passion is a running joke among tinwhistlers. I kinda feel that too; never really warmed to recorder, love tinwhistle. I guess it's that I associate recorder with elementary school kids honking away, or guys in poet shirts sitting in front of music stands at a Renaissance Faire. While tinwhistle I'm used to seeing in a crowded Irish pub watching some buzzed dude blurring through jigs and reels, so easy preference there.  quote:Right now I'm waiting for my roommates to leave the house so I can practice breath-control and tonguing without letting out ear-piercing shrieks between notes! Great instrument; guess SA is a good place to convince people to risk  on a life-changing experience... EDIT: If anyone needs an inexpensive autoharp, this one looks pretty clean for $57 shipped: http://cgi.ebay.com/NICE-VTG-Oscar-Schmidt-Autoharp-Case-15EBH-R-/150626500704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23120a0060 . EDIT2: or this one closing in 14 hours: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-OSCAR-SCHIMDT-15-CHORDS-AUTOHARP-/220803066995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368e36c73 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jul 1, 2011 |
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Jul 1, 2011 02:10
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:For whatever reason, hating recorders with a passion is a running joke among tinwhistlers. I kinda feel that too; never really warmed to recorder, love tinwhistle. I guess it's that I associate recorder with elementary school kids honking away, or guys in poet shirts sitting in front of music stands at a Renaissance Faire. While tinwhistle I'm used to seeing in a crowded Irish pub watching some buzzed dude blurring through jigs and reels, so easy preference there. A big part of this is that people often mistake pennywhistles for recorders. Also, recorders tend to have poor intonation with cheaper models since it's much harder to tune a chromatic whistle accurately; pennywhistles are like the single-speed bike of whistles, they're not as flexible but they're really good at what they do. Although I ride a 21-speed and play pennywhistle, so I don't know what that makes me.
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Jul 1, 2011 06:58
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:EDIT: If anyone needs an inexpensive autoharp, this one looks pretty clean for $57 shipped: http://cgi.ebay.com/NICE-VTG-Oscar-Schmidt-Autoharp-Case-15EBH-R-/150626500704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23120a0060 . EDIT2: or this one closing in 14 hours: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-OSCAR-SCHIMDT-15-CHORDS-AUTOHARP-/220803066995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368e36c73 This thread will be the death of me but you have made autoharps very interesting sounding too. I'm a singer firstly and foremost so having some sort of strummed instrument to back me up would be nice. I have arthritis though so any time I've tried to learn guitar my hands have hated me. Do the buttons on the auto harp mean that gripping isn't as much of an action with it? How often can you really find them this cheap?
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Jul 1, 2011 14:11
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 fedex had a present! First the native american flute. I like the design more then the others, i think. I don't know how to judge it, but it plays well, all the holes seem to play even. other then a weird hole on the back end of the smaller pipe, it doesnt seem to do much. It reminds me alot of those train whistle toys, actually. Definitely worth the less then 40 dollars i paid for it. And the dilruba... It's a indian bowed instrument with a sarangi's body, and a sitar's neck. 15 sympathics, 5 jawari (buzzing) strings, and 4 playing strings. As far as i can tell, the sympathetic are suppose to be tuned to whatever raga (indian scale/mode thingy) is being played. The geared tuners are pretty crappy, which makes tuning all the sympathetics not too fun, but it sounds wonderful when tuned up. I hear replacing them with better quality western ones helps. It has movable metal frets, which arnt suppose to be played, just a guide ... (you stop the string with your fingernails) but i don't see why they can't, it sounds good enough. The bridge is fairly flat as well, and the nut has tons of precut slots, so if you wanted to play it plucked like a poor mans sitar theres really nothing stopping you. Overall, i think it was worth it for 200 bucks with free shipping, definitely a better purchase then my sarod i bought from the same seller. Took 2 days to get here from india as well, but i think it took a month to build first. The bow that came with it is pretty garbage though. also, it has a pickup in it, but it's a tad noisy. it wasn't advertized as being acoustic electric though, so, i guess it's an added bonus? I'm probably gonna order a santoor from the same seller (buy-raagini) in a month or so. sithael fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jul 1, 2011 |
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Jul 1, 2011 17:31
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I've recently started toying around with an old mandolin I dragged out of the basement. I've got a few chords down and there's a fair amount of tab to be found out on the internet to keep me busy. But for the life of me, an A chord is damned difficult. There's no way I can fret two adjacent strings with just my index (or middle) finger, but it's also a challenge to cram both of them in there to get the G and D on the same fret.
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Jul 1, 2011 18:46
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Chin Strap posted:This thread will be the death of me but you have made autoharps very interesting sounding too. I'm a singer firstly and foremost so having some sort of strummed instrument to back me up would be nice. I have arthritis though so any time I've tried to learn guitar my hands have hated me. Do the buttons on the auto harp mean that gripping isn't as much of an action with it? How often can you really find them this cheap? You're not really gripping, just pushing on one button at a time. On the autoharp I've played it still takes a decent amount of hand strength to properly fret though.
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Jul 1, 2011 19:16
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Ratatozsk posted:I've recently started toying around with an old mandolin I dragged out of the basement. I've got a few chords down and there's a fair amount of tab to be found out on the internet to keep me busy. But for the life of me, an A chord is damned difficult. There's no way I can fret two adjacent strings with just my index (or middle) finger, but it's also a challenge to cram both of them in there to get the G and D on the same fret. I was momentarily confused, until I managed to envision what you must be doing. I take it you're trying to form the chord 2245, yes? And you're trying to use the tip of a finger to cover the 22 part. Try instead barring all the way across the 2222 with your index finger, middle on the four, ring on the 5. I'd though this was pretty much standard, but found thread at Mandolin Cafe that discusses s few options. Though I still think barring is easier for a lot of the up-the-neck chords. Do note that you can take that A shape and slide it up one fret to be a Bb, another two to C, etc. Speaking of such things, this book (mentioned earlier in the thread) is the absolute best book on mandolin chords I've ever seen. It's not so much a chord dictionary, as a little booklet about broad concepts allowing to relate and create all the possible chord formations. It's only a couple bucks, so advise you get a copy ASAP and keep it in your case. If your strings are at all tarnished/nasty, you can just get the book sent from the same seller as some fresh strings to save shipping; you might want to get a light gauge packet of strings since you're starting out.  If you haven't checked it out yet, Mandolin Cafe is the massive central forum and site for mandolin issues. quote:First the native american flute. I like the design more then the others, i think. I don't know how to judge it, but it plays well, all the holes seem to play even. other then a weird hole on the back end of the smaller pipe, it doesnt seem to do much. It reminds me alot of those train whistle toys, actually. Definitely worth the less then 40 dollars i paid for it. Any chance of some YouTubage of the flute? The hole on the back of the smaller pipe is quite possibly a tuning hole, though I could be wrong. Have you tried applying NAF fingering and seeing how the scale comes out? The small E-drone from the same seller just didn't work because the highest hole just wouldn't note properly. Maybe it's easier to get it right on a larger flute? The E-drone also had a particularly weak sound, not just the NAF breezy, but kinda weak. Would definitely be curious to see some video of yours. quote:This thread will be the death of me but you have made autoharps very interesting sounding too. I'm a singer firstly and foremost so having some sort of strummed instrument to back me up would be nice. I have arthritis though so any time I've tried to learn guitar my hands have hated me. Do the buttons on the auto harp mean that gripping isn't as much of an action with it? How often can you really find them this cheap? You find them that cheap pretty much every week. Though again note that buying used autoharps is kind of a crapshoot. Provided the body is sound, no cracks or bowing, there are a few things that could be wrong with it: - Rusted strings. If they look generally silvery/bronzy, though a bit dull, they're probably fine, or can be polished up with a little steel wool and maybe some FastFret (white mineral oil). If the strings are toast, all black and crusty, that's $40-60 for a new set of 36 strings. - Notched or missing felt. On the underside of the bars are blocks of felt which silence the strings that don't belong in the selected chord. If the felt has fallen off and gone missing, or the string has worn a deep groove into it over the years, it won't work right. Felt is $2.50/ft or so, so for a 15-bar could be $40 total if all the felt is completely shot. - The springs could theoretically be nasty/rusty, but odds are that if the instrument was stored in such terrible conditions as for the springs to rust, the body would look terrible (as did one $50 'harp I bought recently, but it's a rare model I'm refurbishing). Springs are only 68c though, so unlikely and not costly. So, assuming the body is totally fine, a used eBay autoharp could cost you $0 extra if everything is working fine, or up to $100 if everything else is shot. That's kind of a worst-case scenario, and the strings are relatively easy to visually assess condition of if the seller has a close-up, and odds aren't too high that all the felt is shot, so much as you need $10 of felt to do touch-ups on the bad bits. So I wouldn't be soul-crushed if a $50 harp turned out to need work, but I wouldn't expect it needed something more than the above, provided you see good-quality detailed pics, ask the seller any questions as needed, etc. I would give a little more value for a hard case or gig-bag, but about none for a chipboard case since it does nothing but keep the dust off it, so a pillowcase is about as good. I think for mine I'll get one of those soft padded AH gigbags, since with an AH I'm more concerned about cushioning the chord-board than I am keeping the whole thing from being smacked. Feel free to PM me if you want a second opinion as to any autoharp on eBay. I'm decent at assessing body condition from pics, though in all honesty I did get saddled with an AH that needs 50% felt replacing, but thankfully I was planning to gut most of the felt and re-chord anyway, so not a large problem. On a minor sidenote, you can also get a cheap harp with the intent of just re-strings and re-felting as a "diatonic autoharp". Depending on chord system and string condition, you can use the original strings or buy new ones, but you'll be ripping out all the felt and re-felting if you convert. To explain the difference, here's a video: Autoharp Avenue - Chromatic vs. Diatonic EDIT: do not buy any mass-market autoharp unless it's by Oscar Schmidt or by Rhythm Band/Chromaharp; they're historically the only two good mass-market makers. Don't get any OS from before the 1960s or so, aim for a 1960s-1970s harp, but try not to get one of the more recent ones (where there's a plastic cover over all the bars with buttons poking up through holes) unless you're getting a brand-new one.
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Jul 1, 2011 23:38
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Any opinions on the hand strength required though, TTFA? I can do pressing motions like the piano just fine, and even recorder i can last for a while, but the gripping required for guitar just killed my hands whenever I tried.
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Jul 2, 2011 00:06
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Chin Strap posted:Any opinions on the hand strength required though, TTFA? I can do pressing motions like the piano just fine, and even recorder i can last for a while, but the gripping required for guitar just killed my hands whenever I tried. The one I'm holding now takes maybe a little more pressure than a piano key, but a much smaller motion, and it's pretty linear. So there's barely much curve to the finger, definitely not enough to be any close to a "clench", nothing at all like playing guitar. For holding it the weight rests on the table, your body, or the shoulder-strap, so the hands/arms are non-load bearing. I tried just for kicks hitting the buttons using almost all forearm motion vice finger motion, and that works fine too. Do note also that some folks sell even lighter springs, so if you're handy and want to make it extra easy, you can just unscrew the top and put new lighter springs in (a no-skill job except for juggling the bars). You could also lower the action slightly; I haven't done it, but I don't think it's too hard, it's mainly just putting little bits of shim at the bar-ends to start them out lower and closer to the strings, so there's less motion required to press them down. Just to add some visual appeal (not that this particular model applies to Chin's questions), I submit the OS "Guitaro" model.   Basically an autoharp re-arranged to be strummed guitar-style, below the chordbars. I don't know if it came out after the Carters got folks interested in autoharp, or if it was already on the market, but they played it for some shows. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oUEqIMY8BM you can't hear the Guitaro well here, but visually here's the Carters using it. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VTqdYEPGRY Not a great clip, but one of few solo guitaro clips I could find. It's only 24 strings, mostly lower-bassy ones, so not much good for melody, but easy to strum backup on. They stopped making these at some point far in the past, but they come up on eBay for $250 or so if you strongly desire an odd-shaped autoharp strummed from a different angle.
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Jul 2, 2011 00:28
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I think I might have to buy a cardboard mountain dulcimer. And I found a place that has them cheaper than in the OP. Here. Clicky.
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Jul 2, 2011 05:07
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Cheap dulcimers are the only thing that make me happier than your avatar.Chin Strap posted:Any opinions on the hand strength required though, TTFA? I can do pressing motions like the piano just fine, and even recorder i can last for a while, but the gripping required for guitar just killed my hands whenever I tried. Note bene : this is pretty much a given of all stringed instruments unless you work with your hands a lot. It's not that you are weak, it's just that you aren't used to using those muscles. If you don't like guitar or whatever, that's cool. Just keep in mind that it's one of those things you work up to. The worst part is that you eventually go through the rabbit hole and need to relax how hard your tugging on the strings to stop it from sounding bad.
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Jul 2, 2011 06:28
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"Hey goons, learn a weird musical instrument." Hmm... Okay. *Orders an ocarina.*
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Jul 2, 2011 06:33
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Xiahou Dun posted:Cheap dulcimers are the only thing that make me happier than your avatar. I think Chin Strap's issue is more the arthritis than needing to strengthen hand muscles. Like TTFA said, there's a still a decent amount of force required to play autoharp, but you can get away with pressing using a particular finger or thumb, or just keep your hand rigid and apply all the force using your arm. I don't know that much about arthritis so I don't know if that helps.
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Jul 2, 2011 07:09
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TheShineNSB posted:"Hey goons, learn a weird musical instrument." Can't go wrong with that. What sort of music are you fixing to learn on it when you get it? Honestly, pretty much anyone coming to this thread should get either an ocarina or tinwhistle in addition to whatever else they get or don't. They're inexpensive and indestructible, and it never hurts to have some compact music gear around the house. On a slow day, you just might find yourself accidentally learning how to play it. quote:I think Chin Strap's issue is more the arthritis than needing to strengthen hand muscles. Like TTFA said, there's a still a decent amount of force required to play autoharp, but you can get away with pressing using a particular finger or thumb, or just keep your hand rigid and apply all the force using your arm. I don't know that much about arthritis so I don't know if that helps. I did a little googling on the subject, and the general consensus seems to be that people often move to autoharp if they have arthritis or similar problems. Maybelle Carter herself was, in part, known for autoharp because arthritis cut back her lead guitar playing. Do note that, in order to save arthritis on the other hand, you want to find some pick options that don't involve clenching, like a thumbpick. Some book on GoogleBooks has a description of Maybelle Carter's pick options, link here. quote:Does anyone know how the "guitar-style" dulcimers compare to the normal lap mountain/Appalachian dulcimer? I'm talking about these guys: Question from a little bit back that I'd neglected. My overall feelings on strumstick (and the dozens of other names these things are called by) is kind of mixed. They're not necessarily bad or anything, but the tiny bodies don't get a ton of tone, and they're a little trickier to play fast since dulcimer is very linear in nature, and it's harder do slide up and down a neck than it is to run your hand left-right on a lap dulcimer. Overall, these tend to be travel/fun instruments; I can think of almost nobody who plays these as serious instruments. There is one company, Olympic Musical Instruments, who makes seriously nice "walkabout dulcimers", though at the point they build them to they're basically bouzouki/mandora/octave-mandolins with diatonic fretting, so you'd be about as good just getting a bouzouki. Here's the OMC "walkabout", which are actually awfully nice for $400ish:  I wouldn't necessarly advise against getting one of the $100ish strumsticks, but I would check around at EverythingDulcimer.com to get some critique as to which makes to go with. I got some random one for $40 on eBay, and though it looks lovely, and sound's decent, the maker doesn't seem to know music that well, the headstock design is a little impractical, and the neck is simply too narrow to do any chording on. So I would definitely buy from some maker where folks on ED say "have one, and it's great." Coming right back to my general "don't buy random stuff on eBay without knowing what you're buying" theme.
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Jul 2, 2011 07:52
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I really want to get a bowed psaltery, but all the places I've found that are located in Australia that sell them seem waaaaay overpriced, will buying from the US be my only option for a decently priced one?
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Jul 2, 2011 09:53
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I've been a harpist for more than 30 years now, starting on the pedal harp and classically trained, and 15 years ago starting playing the Celtic harp, including the lap harp. My .02 on harpsicles. They're a nice instrument if you don't really want to learn a lot about playing the harp. I've used them in music therapy sessions with the elderly and that's about as good as it gets. The harpsicle sound is dreadful and tinny, and for just a little more $$$ you can get a nice Dusty Strings (I have two of them) or a Blevins, which has a very lovely sound for the $$$. TapTheForwardAssist posted:??? It's the very first subforum in the main section: http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=c5883afa6213f75ce5b32b761e52e953 100% whistle-talk, all the time.
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Jul 2, 2011 11:40
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Can't go wrong with that. What sort of music are you fixing to learn on it when you get it?
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Jul 2, 2011 16:29
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screaden posted:I really want to get a bowed psaltery, but all the places I've found that are located in Australia that sell them seem waaaaay overpriced, will buying from the US be my only option for a decently priced one? We had a similar issue earlier in the thread with a goon who wanted a dulcimer, and his AU seller was offering one for $500, which is pretty steep. And in the US if you're just starting out you'd usually but a used dulcimer for $100ish, but not so many used dulcimers in Australia.  I would have no compunctions about ordering a bowed psaltery from the US. They're relatively small and sturdy, so should ship well, and there are plenty on the market. eBay usually has some decent ones, though I note that this week it's mostly one en-masse seller of generic stuff, but usually there are a scattering of used ones by major makers. Note that psaltery is kind of easy to build, so on the good side even ones by great makers aren't bad in price. Though the downside is that they're so easy you get some schucks with highschool-level woodworking skills turning out cheap clunkers, so definitely buy an instrument made by a recognised good workshop, or else don't pay more than $75 for an unknown. Oh, and well you're buying stuff from the US, try and pick up a second bow, as once you build any BP skills at all you'll want to do double-bowing. There is a forum for BP; doesn't get a ton of traffic, and made the cardinal new-forum mistake of creating too many subforums and thus dispersing their threads, but worth a shot: http://psalterystrings.ning.com/forum . Do also put a little consideration into what size you want (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass), glance around a few makers' sites and see what kind of aesthetics appeal to you, etc. quote:My .02 on harpsicles. They're a nice instrument if you don't really want to learn a lot about playing the harp. I've used them in music therapy sessions with the elderly and that's about as good as it gets. The harpsicle sound is dreadful and tinny, and for just a little more $$$ you can get a nice Dusty Strings (I have two of them) or a Blevins, which has a very lovely sound for the $$$. Though not a serious harpist, I've played both DS and Harpsicle, and the DS is definitely a great instrument, but the Harpsicle still seems a workable student piece in the mid-$300s. As noted in the thread, I have seen a little back-and-forth on harp forums as to picking it as a student model, but though the sound isn't amazing it's not any worse than a cheap guitar, and overall seems decently well-built. Given there's simply no other option under $500 except for Pakistani harps, I don't have any hesitation on mentioning to goons to read up on, and if possible try out the Harpsicle. I'm on board with the "the greatest economy comes from buying the best you can afford", and someone seriously interested would be well-advised to save up for the DS, but for a lot of instruments there is space for a starter that you'll either sell or upgrade within a year, or keep around for decades just to play casually occasionally, and Harpsicles appear to fit the bill. On the subject of Dusty Strings; if anyone is in Seattle or passing through and likes musical instruments, you really want to drop into Fremont (artsy neighborhood a bit north of downtown) and check out DS's store. Huge array of guitars, banjos, harps, both kinds of dulcimer, ukulele, etc. Also while in Fremont you can check out the neighborhoods vast array of outdoor statuary, including this post-1991 fire sale special:  And don't forget the Fremont Troll under the bridge: 
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Jul 2, 2011 17:22
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Yo guys, lovin' this thread. I played flute for middle and high school (about six years total), but kinda stopped after that - I'm itching to start playing something again, but monetary concerns prohibit me from getting anything in the range of a decent flute, so I'm going with the ocarina (which I've wanted to play for a while anyway). Would you guys have any suggestions for an ex-flautist? I'd like to get something kinda close to what I used to play (sound-wise, that is), and I'm guessing the the soprano sweet potatoes on Songbird would be kinda close to that, but I figured I'd check first.
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Jul 2, 2011 22:16
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I was momentarily confused, until I managed to envision what you must be doing. I take it you're trying to form the chord 2245, yes? And you're trying to use the tip of a finger to cover the 22 part. Try instead barring all the way across the 2222 with your index finger, middle on the four, ring on the 5. I'll have to see if I can hunt that book down. I've been using Mandolin Cafe and a basic Mandolin for Beginners book I picked up from a store. I think that a big thing as mentioned a few posts up is that I'm new to stringed instruments and just need to build up some finger strength before I can do a whole lot. There's no way in heck I can bar two strings with even my index finger at the moment. Thus far I've been mostly just working on two finger chords (like 2002, 2200, 0023) and occasional single-note tabs to keep those around me and myself sane in the midst of endless transitions. I'm prepared to wait for a little while until fingers 3 and 4 are ready to join the party. This thread is dangerous, though. I know there's an old Appalachian dulcimer sitting unused in my parent's basement that I really don't need around to distract me from getting the mandolin basics down.
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Jul 2, 2011 22:32
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