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Hey there tom -

In my humble opinion I like Ibanez - I have had two and they make a real nice guitar for not a lot of money. I read someone said dont go too cheap and I agree with that too. The Ibanez I have right now cost me about $600.00 but its an acoustic electric. But for a beginner you can get an Ibanez AE accoustic as inexpensive as $150-200 and it will really sound good too. As far as new opposed to used, like anything else you never know what youre getting with used and if you could get an Ibanez (or what ever you decide on) inexpensive enough you may as well go with new. A new guitar will come with new strings and you will be the 1st and only one to play it.

Hope this helps! :dance:

Michael

Michael -- I too am solidly in the *buy better*, rather than *cheaper* camp.

There's good instruments on the market that may cost more than some,

but by the same token -- the extra $$$ you pay costs you less head-aches, in the end.

Good instruments are easier to play, they sound better, you don't have to *work* as hard, etc.

And if one decides that that particular instrument isn't *their cup of tea*,

it's MUCH easier to sell a better instrument, than one of poor quality.

I've not had an Ibanez before, but I have a friend who has a Sigma.

It's an *offshoot* (read subsidiary) of Martin, made in Japan,

and it sounds almost as good as my 1968 D-35 Martin. :(

He found it in a pawn shop for $100.00.

Good guitars are out there for cheap, with quality included! ;)

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Oh now hold on to your toys, A la. :rolleyes: I'm getting back into the postings a couple pages back, and catching up. On the down side of some bad-boy stomach cha-cha.

Love the link, and have to compliment your taste!

Yah, good advice Michael B and welcome!

Overall, buy the best you can afford, as waysider put it so well, is my advice too.

Right now I may have a line to a great deal on a Les Paul Studio. If I can get it, I'll post a pic.

Just bought "Thesaurus Of Scales And Melodic Patterns" by Nicolas Slonimsky on Amazon.com. Looking to work some more on that this year.

First guitar I learned on was a loaner Silvertone flat top acoustic, sunburst. Nice guitar, in it's day, low cost. First owned guitar was a Kay single pickup single cutaway semi-electric. Horrible guitar in it's day, unless properly set up and I only got to that about the time the neck popped off. My Dad had it fixed in the wood shop at the company he worked for, and I ended up playing it for maybe 3 years total.

Still and all I was able to learn a great deal on them, and they did their job. I think nearly any guitar that had a stable neck and fretboard, accurately laid out and overall solid construction, can be worked on to be playable and produce a decent sound.

New players suffer from learning on a badly setup instrument, where the strings are too high off the neck and have to be that way due to buzzes in a lower height. That's the biggie I think - because when you're first learning everything's in 'first position' and you're playing on the first 3-5 frets. If the actions way-high there, it's going to be hard to press the strings down, and it's hard enough when you're first learning.

On a "first guitar" intonation can be a little tweezey, although that's not desirable, as long as the first 5 frets worth of neck will play in tune. Thats where you're working most.

Which is all economic survival - if the best you can get is a funky used guitar that won't play in tune above the 5th fret, that's what ya got, y'know? But with determination, it can be handled, with a little nursing and care. It makes the Martin or Gibson or Epiphone or whatever that much more wonderful when it comes. If you love playing by that time and you probably will, you'll never forget that first 'good' guitar you have. It will come to mean the world to you.

Ibanez and Yamaha both make production line acoustic steel string guitars that are very playable and sound good. The Yamaha FG750S I posted awhile back about that I got my daughter is holding up very well. She's got electrics and this was to be an all around acoustic to have around the house. It's really more than that, with a great sound, full with nice range of highs and lows, not "boomy". They run about 250.00 retail and we got a deal with the hardshell case for 300 bucks even. Can't beat it! I confess I do enjoy playing it when I do just knowing her music is running through it.

Found some new Tommy Emmanuel -

Very simple melodic song, poignant and full of sweet little surprises, typical of his arranging and style. I love this tune and the way he grabs at the notes sometimes, embraces them as if they were dear little loved children. He's so respectful of his music, so absorbed and enthusiastic. I hope you all enjoy it. Chatty, if you're on, I hope you give it a listen. And if you all like it there's another performance of it right here, too.

Edited by socks
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....thanks socks! Its nice to feel welcomed! :redface2:

...I just had another thought...

Alvarez also makes a really nice beginner guitar for an affordable price too. Also Ibanez makes whats called a 'jam pack' that comes with the guitar, tuner, case and strap - and if I remember right it is less than $200.00 - that may be the way to go, that way you are all set up!

Cheers!

Michael

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You are! So - what are you playing, guitar wise? Interests, favorite music, play-uhs, et certerata?

A la, can you interpret? I had no idea what he's singing but I could hear some French stuff in there, and it sounded friendly.

But - even for YouTube, I thought this young lad's performance was somewhere between an 8 and a 9 on the Unusually Interesting scale. The clapping, as if he's listening to a different song, the hair. The whole thing just seemed ... different.

So what's he singing about? hopefully it's not "die, you @#$%#! booger heads....you tu-u-ube will eat your chins! youuuuu tube...."

:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

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:offtopic: a little bit.

Hubby and I are going to the Grand Ole Opry March 10 to see ALAN JACKSON. I am so excited. It has been several years since we attended the Opry.

Anyway, just had to share that bit of guitar news with you......

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Mr. Music Man,

Who's Charlie McCoy? He has mighty fine chops!!!

Chairman of the Sock Drawer,

Ala here, holding on to all of her toys... :D

I keep smirking for some unknown reason when I watch the video you posted ... it's a most bizarre phenomenon :lol: :blink: :lol:

Regarding your video - the guy with the very flat notes

he posted these lyrics so that other people could sing along (I guess :huh: )

"Quand je me reveille le matin , You tube.

Quand je reve le soir , c'est de toi You tube.

Au plein milieu du jour , You tube

Tu consumes ma vie , You tube

Je ne peux pas aider mais penser à toi

J'aime juste les choses que tu fais

Autoriser les gens à poster nos vidéos

On t'aime You tube

J'aime les fondateurs

Des asiatiques et des types blancs

Mais plus que toi

J'aime You tube

Quand je me reveille le matin , You tube.

Quand je reve le soir , c'est de toi You tube.

Au plein milieu du jour , You tube

Tu consumes ma vie , You tube

You tube , Vous pouvez tous commenter sur moi

You tube , Tu me feras l'amour passionement

Vous pouvez repondre à ma video si vous le voulez

Je posterais juste après

Oh je pense que je pourrais

Woah

Vous pourriez m'ajouter à vos favoris

Et je les posterais sur votre bulletin

Peut etre meme vous enverais un message

Si vous promettez de me repondre

Je me connecterais et deconecterais, s'il vous plait

Oh vous savez les choses que je ferrais

Oh You tube Oh You tube

Quand je me reveille le matin , You tube.

Quand je reve le soir , c'est de toi You tube.

Au plein milieu du jour , You tube

Tu consumes ma vie ,

Tu consumes ma vie ,

J'ai dis Tu consumes ma vie ,

Oh You Tube"

The words in french are pretty much the straight forward translation of the ones in english. (wanted to use the words 'literal' translation...but I seem to shudder when I think of doing so) :wacko:

Now, here is the original version of this song

and this is the video that this young french gentleman is clapping to...

a couple more notes...

Tommy Emmanuel wow.... lush, but yet simple and direct and not too busy. NOT TOO MANY NOTES. I like. There's a certain beauty in simplicity isn't there! :wub:

Chatty

Nice to see you. :knuddel:

Edited by A la prochaine
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Have you ever had something come full circle for you in music in your life?

Here's a really strange coincidence...

Kristopher is really into this singer that's on Disney Channel and Sesame Street. The guy has wacky hair and plays some really vintage-looking gear. Every time I saw him, I thought... "gee, I know this guy from somewhere... what the...?" The music is some of the better children's music I've heard - it won't rot your teeth - it's something I'd listen to without the kids around. I can't say that about any other artists in that genre...

His name is Dan Zanes...

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I thought, I gotta Google this one...

I found that this guy was the front man for the Del Fuegos...

Damn...

Okay, back in 1985 (I think it was...), I saw the Del Fuegos open up for INXS in Portland, ME in a t-i-n-y little venue - it wasn't much bigger than a basketball court. I liked the Del Fuegos and knew they were from Bean Town (Boston) - I had one of their albums (until Uncle Harry got it...) Del Fuegos were an up-and-coming band - one of those "you gotta hear this!" type of bands...

Now, my kids know who their front man is - but for a totally different reason!

The cool thing about Zanes is not just the vintage gear he plays, which makes him interesting to watch, but he's collaborated with some big names on some of his songs - Bob Wier, Aimee Mann (the best female bass player!), and Lou Reed... Zanes just won a Grammy for his album "Catch That Train"

Here's a link to his videos page - worth checking out - especially if you've got kids or grandkids buzzing around. It's good music.

http://www.danzanes.com/flash/video.shtml

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Rick-------I'm thinking you might have heard that Roy B. tune on Bluesville 74, is that correct?

Have you ever listened to "The Wash Cycle"? There was a popular jazz DJ in (I think) the D.C. area named Washington. He used to pick a song and then play multiple versions of it. In his memory, Bill Wax,the on-air personality does a similar thing with blues songs and calls it "The Wash Cycle" as an homage. It airs at about 4 or 5PM on Tuesdays. This week the tune was "Everything's Gonna Be Alright". It's very interesting to hear how differently it was done by Little Walter, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield,Van Morrison,etc. I think he did about 2 dozen versions of that one. I like to listen to the harp work in them and observe how differently each artist interpreted it. For me, it illustrates how futile it is to try to copy solos note for note unless in doing so you are trying to gain a deeper insight into how that artist utilized a specific technique. I have heard guys cover famous solos note for note with great precision yet not realizing that parts of it were actually mistakes. That's especially true on some of the old time "open mic." recordings done before the days of multi-track. I'm wondering what will happen to the blues programming if,indeed, the mrger goes through with XM and Sirius.

edited to clarify that the "mistakes" were the result of listening to the "open-mic" recordings and not realizing that rather than record the entire tune over again(Since mixing and editing was not an opton) mistakes were sometimes left to stand if the overall result was acceptable.

Edited by waysider
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Cool stuff waysider. That reminds me of how blues is described as a "mistake" by - think it was B.B. King I read that said it but it's been put that way by others too. The "blue note", the minor 3rd, bent and stretched up to and down from in a melody.

The major and minor scales each have the 3rd clearly defined, and in Blues it's toyed with. There's a world of expression between those two little adjacent notes, and an infinite number of ways to play it.

Learning the style - I remember learning Tommy Tucker's "Hi-Heel Sneakers" guitar stuff, note for note, before I had any idea of what a "blues scale" was. Each little squink and squank was like a score in and of itself. In time I realized it wasn't etched in stone that way, at all. Given another take in the studio he would have come out with a whole new library of squanks and squeets. Jimmy Reed, same thing. Used to wonder WHAT in the world he was doing. Learning it was just the start, doing it a whole different thing. Keith Richards seems to have a sound that thrives on that - see what comes out and what can be done with it.

How all of these players do it is fluid and flexible, even as they have a defined style and sound to do it with. B.B.'s sharp trill, Chuck Berry's double-stop riffs. Learning them all is just the beginning... :) There's always more!

Love that Buchanan clip!

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Waysider, it was either Bluesville or Deep Tracks. Those are my 2 favorites, although there are a couple jazz stations that are great also.

Deep Tracks is kinda cool cause they play a lot of off-the-wall kinda stuff...cuts from albums that you don't normally hear on the radio. I DID hit Mem to save the track info so I'll look later and see if it also saves the station info.

Cool stuff waysider. That reminds me of how blues is described as a "mistake" by - think it was B.B. King I read that said it but it's been put that way by others too. The "blue note", the minor 3rd, bent and stretched up to and down from in a melody.

Now I understand why I've always liked playing the blues. No one realizes all the mistakes I make, cause it's ALL a mistake. :biglaugh:

Rick

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Now I understand why I've always liked playing the blues. No one realizes all the mistakes I make, cause it's ALL a mistake. :biglaugh:

Rick

Ha! I hear that!! Used to be a common joke in the Bluegrass community ---

If you were playing a song or a tune, and made a mistake --

make sure you repeated it the second time around.

Then when the song/ tune was over and everyone asks you about *that funny lick you did*,

You could ALWAYS say -- I was trying for the Jazz/ Blues effect ----

and get away with it!! :dance:

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