Another new recording

A second new recording in less than six months! That's almost a record for me! The song is an instrumental version of the Scottish (or is it English?) folk song, "The Water Is Wide". This was my submission for the RMMGA 2008 arranging project. The project's Web page is here; my submission is also on my Soundclick page.

A New Recording

I'm a little late with this, but I recently added a new piece to my Soundclick page, called "Sunday Morning Ramble." The title was suggested by Steve Perry (no, not THAT Steve Perry - THIS Steve Perry), but it seems a little ironic to me, as Sunday mornings around here are usually more scramble than ramble. At any rate, it was done on the Larrivee, with John Pearse PB lights. For some reason, the MP3 artifacts are more audible than usual on this one - my WAV file of it sounds much better (from a purely sonic POV - it's no better from a musical POV).

Guitars of the Past - Part 4

My first electric was a Hondo copy of a Les Paul, paired with a Fender Vibro-Champ amp (both purchased used). The Hondo may have been a decent enough Les Paul copy when it was new, but by the time I got it, it wasn't in the best of shape - it wouldn't play in tune and made various rattling noises. I don't remember now if I traded it in or sold it outright, but in any event I didn't have it long. The amp wasn't bad, but it was neither very powerful nor very versatile; it probably went away the same time the guitar did.

Wish list, part 1

Number one on the wish list: another nylon-string guitar. I haven't had one in a while, and there are times when a nylon-string would work better than anything else. I don't have any specific model in mind - just something comparable in quality to the Larrivee OM-03. The Pavan guitars look like they might be good possibilities.

Guitars of the Past - Part 3

For a short time I owned an Ovation Folklore. This model has (or had) a wider than usual neck (1 7/8" at the nut), supposedly to facilitate fingerpicking. I did like the neck on the guitar, but eventually found myself dissatisfied with it - my first encounter with the fact that, for me at least, Ovations can be impressive at first but don't "wear" well in the long run.

Gig report

Playing at church last Sunday went fine - no major foul-ups, the timing was just right, and it seemed to be well-received. The only real problem was balance: the (unamplified) guitar didn't project as well as the flute, but we expected that and decided we could live with it for the kind of performance it was.

More Gig Preparations

I've been away (without a guitar!) for a couple of weeks, and since getting back a few days ago have been trying to concentrate on practicing for the July 29 church gig. I feel that the hiatus has left my left hand fingers rather weak, and I need to get my strength back. On the other hand (no pun intended) I also put a set of mediums on the Larrivee as soon as I got back (feeling that I need the extra volume for the gig, plus the intonation is better), and that's also probably making my fingers feel weaker than I remember.

Overall, though, the practicing is going well. My wife and I ran through the pieces together last night, and even picked out a possible additional piece to do.