It was new lesson day with a new class. In this case, mostly adults who have previously taken music lessons and dropped out. Good. They know what they don’t want. Within the hour, I had them playing one each of rock, country and pop music. They amazed themselves. Most popular item was my tricks of the trade with stage presentation. Mainly [advice on] how to make things look more coordinated than they really are, this sometimes takes newcomers by surprise. They think I’m not paying attention. But I never miss a cue.Here’s the skinny on guitar tuners. First, do not overspend. The best one I’ve ever owned cost $20 brand new. These tuners fall into to categories, active and passive. Active are those which output a tone and passive are those which “listen” to the string you are tuning and display a dial or lights to guide you to the correct note. My opinion is that the active types are inferior for stage work. First of all, the tone they emit is easily lost in the background clutter of other stage noises. Trust me, the audience does not think listening to you tune is “neat”. You also have to use active tuners in isolation because other people tuning nearby will clash. Tuning one person at a time is a drag. Worse, tuning to an audible tone has the same problems as tuning to another guitar, that is, some people will naturally hear too sharp or too flat.
Avoid crappy models where you have to slide a switch for each note; those are 1960s technology. Get a digital readout, preferably with an LED that turns or shows green when you are in tune, and is red otherwise. Many passive tuners, which by the way are easier on batteries for some reason, have a microphone on the front which picks up your notes, but can be made to work better by touching the tuner against the body of an acoustic guitar. Make certain the tuner has a standard ¼” phono jack for tuning an electric guitar, that is, no specialized jacks which are easy to misplace. I use a pigtail phono plug (a small cable around six inches long) and leave it permanently plugged into the tuner.
Smaller is generally better, so they’ll fit a pocket in your guitar case. Some guitars have built-in tuners, but avoid them if they share battery power with any other feature. Other tuners are designed to be used in-line. I don’t like them. If they are the brand that lie on the floor, you have to squint to see them. If they attach to the guitar, even a few ounces of extra weight becomes noticeable. It is also questionable whether adding yet another gadget between your instrument and guitar is a good idea. In-line tuners also encourage excessive on-stage tuning, a time-waster that fools nobody. I’ve covered elsewhere that you should only buy guitars that stay in tune at least six hours at a stretch. I need only tune my bass twice a week.
Never buy a tuner that requires special batteries or has an external charger or transformer. You’ll be sorry. I get around two years out of a set of AAAs. To tune up in a pinch, if you have an iPhone, there’s an app for that, too.
Eddie has been in touch to schedule band rehearsal for Sunday. I told you, when there is decent progress, these sessions become fun in themselves. We are still short a drum box since my Red Devil trial has expired and I don’t have a credit card to get the licensed version. But that’s okay, I sort of know the programmer. Incidentally, the two guys who were supposed to show up at the shop for the meeting never made it. Who knows, maybe they actually found jobs. I had high hopes for that meeting. Whereas I can program, I don’t know many things about the Internet. For example, how to make a time limited trial offer, or how to distribute software licenses on-line. All the things the Red Devil guy does. If I knew where these people learned these things, I would sign up there tomorrow. Please don’t say college, because colleges also teach you the junk you don’t need and charge for it.
That gal that looked at the room two weeks back, the one I found quite negative, is still trying to recruit me. I’ll call her Tash, which rhymes with her real name. She was one healthy bird, and did know a lot about nutrition. I mentioned she sold health food. I asked her to get in touch concerning several products, and she finally did. My point is that all the information she’s provided is sound. I may attend a seminar to find out more although I know it is just a sales pitch.
I’ve seen many products on TV that claim to eliminate triglycerides and I so much want to look like the guy on the right side of the screen. Tash says everything has a money-back guaranty. Again, she really knows her stuff and I just have to make sure nothing works because it is a Granny Klampett. You know, it works because of all the other things you have to do, like rest in bed for ten days after taking her cold medicine.
Tash is okay, but a little too New-Age.
Return Home
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
