the rick, not the sg

so i'm back to the rick for my  next gittar, maybe around the end of 2012 or spring 2013.  Either a 620 or a 350.  It's just more different from my 339 and strat than an sg would be.  I'd have a guitar from the big 3, in a collector's sense.  Anyhoo, I"m in no rush.

still working out the syncopation of spike driver blues.  and working on the next piece, Make Me  A Pallet, another Misssissippi John Hurt piece.

the stuffed 339 is working great and is my main axe now.  The strat is taking a break.

Make Me a Pallet

that's the next song I'm working on.  Another Mississippi John Hurt piece.  Still ironing out the kinks in Spike Driver blues.  And, trying to sing and play at the same time!  Hold on to yer hats, people!

So, I'm back to favoring solid body guitars.  My 339, when I'm playing fingerstyle, gets loud enough at the right frequency to get my one ear ringing.  Well, I mostly solved that by stuffing the top f-hole with a hankerchief.  I was playing my strat more, but with the Spike Driver piece the stretch with the fender scale length got in the way.  So now my mind is thinking of an ideal guitar for me would be a solid body with Gibson scale length.  A Les Paul or an SG.  I'm favoring the SG -- it's solid, lighter, not chambered or otherwise overly resonant, and has double cutaway.  So my next gitar might be an SG -- maybe a white 60s tribute with p-90s.  That would be at the end of the school year, in 2012.

For now my modded 339 (just did the hankerchief thing today) seems to be working well -- ear not ringing beyond the usual.

Spike Driver Blues exercise

Spike Driver Blues exercise

my youtube video

give it a listen.  got to work on bass notes and syncopation.  sure is fun to play!

Mississippi John Hurt

My first delta blues piece is Spike Driver's Blues, by Mississippi John Hurt.  It's only 10 bars long, and stays in the G chord.  A good beginner's piece!  Here's a great instructional vid that shows how to play it:

spike driver's blues

give it a try!

acoustic style blues exercise

2nd syncopation exercise

here's a youtube video to show a little of what i'm working on.  getting the hang of syncopation and fingerstyle picking, delta blues style.

fingerstyle blues has begun

this semester i'm starting to learn fingerstyle blues -- on my way to delta blues.  got my first textbook, and i'm working on the thumb bass with finger picking parts, with some syncopation.  I've done two years of improvisation, and now i want to learn songs, blues songs, for solo guitar.  that would be delta blues.

Yellowstone Summer 2011 Tour

Sunday, July 3: Crystal Lake to Sioux Falls, SD.

Monday, July 4: Sioux Falls to Rapid City, SD. Badlands state park.

Tuesday, July 5: Mount Rushmore, Custer State park.

Wednesday, July 6: Rapid City to Cody, WY

Thursday, July 7: Cody to Yellowstone, back to Cody

Friday, July 8: Cody to Yellowstone, then to West Yellowstone, Montana.

Saturday, July 9: West Yellowstone to Yellowstone, then to Cody.

Sunday, July 10: Cody to Bismarck, ND

Monday, July 11: Bismarck to St. Cloud, Minnesota

Tuesday, July 12: St. Cloud to Crystal Lake.