MORNING
It’s still too cool to scooter, so I stayed home and studied music theory. Pat-B clued me in to the CAGED method of guitar soloing and today I closely examined this. A few things surprised me, such as how most guitar chords are comprised mainly of roots and fifths. Is this the reason behind why for so many years I’ve insisted the thirds I play on bass are important? If you are not a musician, the third is the “note in the middle” that gives the chord a major (happy) or minor (sad) sound.
See this diagram? It looks like a lot of random notes, but today I learned to slice them into the patterns suggested by the CAGED tutorial. Interesting.
The CAGED process picks out these notes up the guitar fretboard by likening them to underlying chord patterns, literally c, a, g, e, and d. It was watching the individual notes that showed me how few thirds are used. Could this also be the reason guitar music sounds “twangy”? And what would happen if some clever fellow was to add those thirds into the scale? Because, say suppose, he had been playing them on bass or years and was inclined to think along these lines.
Once again, there is no claim here of originality, so no finger-wagging on that count. If this blog is original, it is because I’ll describe the journey and how much it cost as well as the destination. The nucleus of my writing concerns the learning process, not the final exam. I’m a long, long way from doing anything fancy, but here is something that I can work with.
NOON
Russian weather control. First the cold, then a blinding (as in can’t see out the driveway) rainstorm, and now balmy sunshine. I happen to like documentaries and I’m glad there are so many I have not seen. This time I saw an interview with German war veterans who flatly denied most of the charges shown in western propaganda. For example, they deny rape was prevalent on the eastern front, that such incidents were severely punished. Or that the Germans combed Europe for laborers to deport, saying this was only done in reprisals to partisan attacks.
But the most surprising was the denial of wrongdoing on the part of the German army (Wehrmacht) on the Russian front. That, I will agree, is largely Allied spin, to portray all German troops as Nazis and without any code of honor. The natural temptation is to say all these German soldiers were indoctrinated. Yeah, explain what the US was doing in Germany during that war? Making the world safe for democracy? Now that’s indoctrination.
Of equal interest to me is unusual woodworking products. Here is a bookshelf that suggest the old tree of knowledge. Why, Wallace could have that straightened out in ten or so hours. If I had to do it over again, I’d have gotten the scroll saw before the drill press, but once more, there was nobody around to ask. That’s correct, in all the land, I do not know of a single person with a workshop dedicated to learning and innovation.
Hence, I should not say a scroll saw first, but rather a “subtractive forming device”. Where a 3D printer is an additive device, adding what isn’t there, the cheapest decent models run at 24 times the price and if you have ever waited on one to produce something, buddy, they are slo-o-o-o-w. The substrate (wood) is also cheap and easy to find. Remind me as spring approaches to keep an eye out for solid wood objects thrown out, a lot of that exotic wood isn’t available any more.
AFTERNOON
I studied more guitar patterns before rehearsal. Look out if any of this starts making sense to me. I’ve often stated I’ve spend my life making guitar players sound better and I may be in the process of learning why. What’s most revealing is that I was absolutely correct about the position of a rhythm guitarist in a band, but also correct about why so many guitar players don’t want to be one.
For now, I will continue on the assumption I will never amount to more than a beginner rhythm player. But if it is not already clear to everyone, I’ve been often amazed how men who are otherwise such ignorant specimens could wail away on the guitar. Like they bought into the lyrics of “Johnny B. Goode” or something. While I’ve always known they were doing it, I may be on the verge of discovering how.
Next item was rehearsal itself. While we lack mileage on our material, it is starting to sound more cohesive. A lot of bands spin their wheels at this point, as it involves adapting to the other parts even if they may be wrong—and most people find learning such things unnatural. I certainly do. We are able to completely play though a number of tunes now and more importantly, recover from errors.
I feel I may be over-strumming a bit, as I get tired after and hour. I noticed other guitar players don't. So could it be my guitar, my beautiful Ibanez?
EVENING
Trent informs me there is a railway car on display up in West Palm. How could I have missed that all these years? Upon reviewing the advertising, it is quite easy to miss it. You see, the museum is in the swank part of West Palm, where the locals are not known for inviting tour groups into their midst. Called Car #91, it was not built by Pullman, but by Jackson & Sharp, a Delaware company that closed shop in 1952.
But tell me there is a railway car, and I’m for making a special trip up there asap. Ride the train to see the train, or the sidecar—if I ever get that clutch cable right. Careful, what little advertising there is does not specify if the $18 admission fee is part of the museum’s entrance fee or not. You know how American business like to lie about such things until you after you are too far into the process to back out easily.
Speaking of ditzy Americans, who is this Dave Pakman? He’s got some kind of talk show where he’s going for brownie points on the politically correct slate. I watched a few of his scenes and the guy is a blithering moron. Worse example would be his criticism of Fox News for not buying the story of another jackass, some Dr. Anthony Fauci(?). The doc claims sealing the borders against ebola doesn’t work. Where do you even? A doctor, claiming quarantine doesn’t work! And this guy is in charge? Lord help us all.
Anyway, back to this Pakman. What a moron, calling other people fools. He should listen to himself, but then again, that might be a major part of his problem. I have no idea where such bozos are in the rankings or what kind of following he has, but the guy needs to be taken out behind the barn and sharpened up with a tire iron. He reeks of the typically clueless type of dork-breath coming out of journalism school these days, out to make a crooked buck over anything he can.
And as for this Dr. Fauci, find whatever school granted his degree and tell him to go get his money back. I’m also put off by his “Bill Gates” look, I mean, some people plain look so plain dumb that they should hire a stunt man to make their public appearances. I’m certain Dr. Fauci and others like him will be remembered for their lack of intelligence and the watering down of respect for the medical profession. Imagine that, sealing borders won’t work—apparently he has never heard of Mother Nature. Here are the two jackasses, cheek by jowl.
Fauci is the ass-clown who called the American public stupid for wanting to close the borders to people from ebola areas. Clearly they meant people coming out of the zone, but Fauci the imbecile pretends they meant to stop aid from entering. And this guy got into medical school?
But then, you consider the motives of these nobodies who plug their lives away at some nothing government post. This might have been his big chance to get noticed, you know the type. Has to add something slightly off-topic to every conversation. In this particular interview, he actually pretended to not understand when the hostess explained that of course she did not mean cut off supplies. Then again, I never did trust a doctor who does not know how to tie a full Windsor.
And those Dumbo ears.
ADDENDUM
IBM is laying off 111,800 people. The only good news is that MicroSoft can’t be that far behind. I’m not sad for either, considering the overall negative impact their policies have had on computer innovation for forty years. I’ve seen good products go under, like Lotus 1-2-3, and the bad crap become industy standards, like C+ code due to machinations by these corporate bullies. And no, I don’t think my opinion is worth any the less just because I have never bought anything new from either outfit.
I spent the evening last following tutorials on country [guitar] rhythm strumming. Those guys make it look easy. I was correct in often stating that, when played properly, there is not that much overlap between guitar and bass—only those who play one or the other badly even think so. Having learned around four new strums, it is still not certain I will be able to play them along to singing. This was a major challenge with the bass and I can only hope it does not take as many years on the guitar. Either way, I still have to watch the neck while I’m playing to keep on track. This is not to be confused with heads-down players, which is a style, if a dumb style.
The Royal Society says its studies show men are less likely to fool around when women are scarce, with scarce defined as a 50/50 ratio or less. I would say careful here because quite a number of other conclusions and explanations which could be derived from that same data. Consider that when there are too many men around, like in this town, the women get utterly gross. The fact men like me won’t touch them hardly constitutes an improvement in mass behavior patterns. For instance.
Burn-on-read, a term you should become familiar with. It means a type of electronic message, like email, that destroys itself upon being read. A company called Natural Message has a new system that splits the email address and body apart, so nobody in the chain can piece them together. This is different than joining TOR or VPN which automatically flags your computer for special treatment. While it uses encryption, Natural Message can only unlock a message with a master key, say in response to a warrant, and that key makes the message burn-on-read. The rest you figure out on your own.
And in case you still don’t know, never leave hyperlinks open in your stored computer files. You know, the links that turn blue when you type them in. Always use the remove hyperlink option. Or you are just asking for trouble. Lighten up by watching this
Last Laugh
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