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Location: Newington, CT | Welllllllll...after all the recent back and forth, I figured I needed to do a recording with the Custom MWoody (the now legendary "DBWNSHEW") that I bought from Mike (MWoody) some months back.
So I did.
When I bought the guitar, per MWoody's suggestion, I tuned it to an Open G and started playing around.
Well, at first it was a REAL challenge, but after a while I was able to play some things that made some sense to me. Developed a bit on them, and soon enough had some things that I kinda liked.
The guitar is, as I mentioned, a custom MWoody, with a deep bowl, a wide neck, a slot head and a Josh White signature. It's a red burst -- a really pretty color. It came equipped with an iDea preamp. Very nice!
The guitar has a really nice sound, unlike any other that I have, and unlike any Ovation that I own. In a good way.
The sound is very much in the mid-range; not the booming of the 2080, but, then, it's not supposed to be a 2080.
It resonates well and is a lot of fun to play. In the high ranges, it's kind of tinkly and light, and all in all, very pleasant.
Its action is high and I think my next step will be to lower it.
The fingerboard is a tiny bit rough in places, but that makes me think that I can manhandle it a bit. I usually have a light touch on the strings, but I feel that I can wrestle with this one, and I like that.
By contrast, the OFC II is probably more rugged, but because it cost a tad more, I treat it in a more gingerly way.
The song I posted on my ning page is called "OpenInG." Get it? Open in G? First song with an Open G guitar? Opening? Awwwww...fergit it!
Anyway, it's there, and there are a bunch (16 or so) of pictures of the guitar in a new album that I placed on the same page, and called, in true eponymous fashion: "MWoody Guitar."
I haven't named the guitar yet, but will give it a woman's name soon enough. Only women get to sit on my lap, after all.
The song is entirely acoustic, and consists only of the MWoody, except for a cameo by the OFC II. It appears at about 4:44 in the song and is there to provide contrast.
I have to apologize: my recording equipment is not all that great, so I fear that it just doesn't permit a good comparison. Anyway, at 4:44 and after, the OFC II is in the left channel and the MWoody is in the right.
The song reflects my usual modus operandi: (1) one take, (2) a basic backing track to set mood and key, and (3) the rest is improvisation. As a result, there are more clams than I'd like to admit. However, you all get all my practice sessions straight up and unedited.
So, here's the link to all the above-mentioned fun and frivolity: OpenInG |
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Location: south east Michigan | That is just awful.
It's got to the point where I can't even find any words of support.
Sorry Alan. |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | WTF!?!?!?! |
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Location: south east Michigan | Yeah... that's just what I thought of it too. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | well, it is different......... |
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Location: Flahdaw | I have trouble finding ONE guy to jam with....how do you manage to find 37? |
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Location: Vernon CT | Whether you like it or not,why not be positive and/or supportive? :confused: |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | OK, That's quite unique and truely a composition that the creator can love. |
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Location: Flahdaw | Sorry Alan, just kidding around with ya. (Feel free to trash everything I have ever recorded.) I think I'm WAAAAAY too Vanilla, and you're more Heavenly Hash. Somewhere in the middle are the people that actually make money doing this music stuff. |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Originally posted by BT717:
Whether you like it or not,why not be positive and/or supportive? :confused: Because it would not be honest.
When my practice partner & I first got together we put down some ground rules. Sure we agreed to be supportive of respectful of each other but the over riding rule was to be honest with each other.
When I'm doing something that is just not working, even tho I think it is, I can depend on an honest opinion given without malice. The objective is to sound presentable to the type of audience we sometimes play for. This has helped me to get better at my own humble level of musicianship.
And we have other check and balances that we welcome. One time Brian's wife knocked on the door to room where we practice, opened it and said, "What you were just doing a minute ago.... don't do that."
Then again... maybe I'm misreading the room. We talk about the great friendships we have here yet it seems they can't go beyond the level of blowing smoke and empty praise. The friendships that mean the most to me are the ones that can include some criticism along with the support. A least thats the way it used to be around here. |
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| We talk about the great friendships we have here yet it seems they can't go beyond the level of blowing smoke and empty praise. The friendships that mean the most to me are the ones that can include some criticism along with the support. Amen to that. In other words, friends take your keys away when you're too drunk to drive; pull you aside when you're about to take home the crackhead skank; etc. If they don't, they're not worth calling friends. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by Slipkid:
Originally posted by BT717:
Whether you like it or not,why not be positive and/or supportive? :confused: Because it would not be honest.
When my practice partner & I first got together we put down some ground rules. Sure we agreed to be supportive of respectful of each other but the over riding rule was to be honest with each other.
When I'm doing something that is just not working, even tho I think it is, I can depend on an honest opinion given without malice. The objective is to sound presentable to the type of audience we sometimes play for. This has helped me to get better at my own humble level of musicianship.
And we have other check and balances that we welcome. One time Brian's wife knocked on the door to room where we practice, opened it and said, "What you were just doing a minute ago.... don't do that."
Then again... maybe I'm misreading the room. We talk about the great friendships we have here yet it seems they can't go beyond the level of blowing smoke and empty praise. The friendships that mean the most to me are the ones that can include some criticism along with the support. A least thats the way it used to be around here.
Thanks for all your comments!
I DO want the honest ones. I'm not at all sensitive as regards my playing. When something doesn't work for you, please let me know without sugar-coating!
Don't forget that the idea of the "song" was twofold: (1) to kick the DBWNSHEW's (pr.: DIB-win-shoe) tires publicly. (2) to post some pictures of it.
One quick note about the pictures: I am (it soon will be made very clear) NOT a photographer with the gifts of a Damon67, so my photos don't show the guitar at its best. In addition, some of the photos show the DBWNSHEW next to my '01C. That's just not fair! That's like putting ANY woman next to Jessica Biel. So, I DO owe the assembled multitudes (and MWoody) a more diligent attempt to portray the DBWNSHEW in a more flattering light and context.
Now, as regards kicking the DBWNSHEW's tires more publicly, I now realize, based on this reaction, that "OpenInG" should have the name: "Lead Balloon," or "T*rdInPunchBowl," but I have gone back to it several times, and I actually DO like it! I've probably gone back eight times or so to re-listen, and liked it a bit more each time. However, of course, the clams made themselves more evident each re-listening, too!
I think it DOES show in parts what the MWoody guitar can do. However, in retrospect, I think that Beal's comment probably most closely hit the proverbial nail on the head. Just as I have a face only my mother could love, maybe I AM the only one who could like this song. Not everyone else's cup o'tea! And that's just fine too.
To answer StephenT28's question, it's all just track duplication in Audacity (though I suspect he knew that already...just wanted to make sure). There are a couple of tracks that I duplicated, then offset by a half-second or so, and reduced the volume, to provide an echo (quite a different effect from using Audacity's "reverb" effect). I liked it so much that I did it a couple of times and with sometimes 5 or 6 echoes. Hence, the effect of a bunch of guitarists, when there was only one.
Make one track, then another, then another, duplicate a track or two, and all of a sudden five or six guitarists are playing together! Makes for some fun experimentation.
Please DO continue any constructive criticism you may have. And please pull no punches. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Okay...
Perhaps by just saying it's "awful" is just a gut reaction and not a constructive criticism.
To me it sounds like a number of instruments warming up before a performance. It's that combination of sounds that tho they may be in the same key have no relationship to what that the other is doing.
Maybe I'm not enough of an ethereal ar-teest to "get it" but I can't pick out a melody, chorus, bridge or even connective theme to the piece. It has no beginning, middle or end. The only emotion I feel when listening is confusion.
Maybe it's the subliminal mathematical component that I'm missing. No matter if its Classical, Rock, or Country, 2 plus two will equal 4. I don't find that in any of the "meditations".
Yet it's apple and oranges. Your apple is the "high concept art" thing while my orange is British Invasion tunes.
I won't suggest that you change your ways or that what I like should be what you like, it's just that I can't listen to it. |
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Location: Connersville, Indiana | Alan, I really don't see what the problem is. You were having fun, are you selling it, NO are you trying to be the re birth or Led Zep NO, did you enjoy what you were doing Yeah. Now in my opinion, too much echo all the time, use it at certain times, some of the leads were lousy, yet some were right on the money for the body of work. And I think it was played at a tempo just a little too fast, slow it down some let all the sound come forward and be absorbed. In a lot of way it is not much different than music from India, Italy or the greek islands. Re mix it, slow it down some. listen and you will hear the bad lead parts, get rid of them, and then to top it all off, if you are just starting to learn what you can and can't do with that tuning over all it is unique. In my younger days as a teen on acid it would be perfect. I guess what I'm trying to say Alan is give it another shot, take the feedback you have received and try it again. That's my humble two cents worth and in this economy that ain't worth squat. Just have fun. ;) |
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Location: closely held secret | Alan, sometimes less is more. But most often more is less. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Time to catch back up just a bit:
• Dark bar -- my apologies. I replied to YOU not T28 regarding the Audacity track duplication.
• Brad: Thanks...I didn't mind the "awful" reaction one bit. If that was your reaction, then that was your reaction. I DEFINITELY prefer your honest reaction to some unhelpful attempt to spare my feelings! I've had the same reaction to things that others have thought was just the best stuff ever. I suspect you'd have the same reaction to "Walkabout" (also on my ning page)...another experiment in taking whatever one could label my technique and trying to extend it a bit. I remain very mindful that most experiments are failures. Also, your comments about melody, chorus and bridge are well-made, and I'll be mindful of them in the future. Just to give you a bit of a chuckle, I've been on a "Green Grass and High Tides" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" jag lately. Not "high concept art" by any means, but GREAT jamming tunes! And, I think that one form of the ultimate musical fun for me would be a session where three or four great guitarists get together and someone starts playing some rhythm, while the others improvise to the key that the first established. That interplay, kind of like a guitar gabfest, with interruptions, back and forths and lots of spontaneity, would be HUGE fun for me. After a while, one of the other guitarists signals that he'll take the rhythm and off they go again. And so on, 'til the end who knows when...
• Kit: Thanks for the support AND the very helpful critique. Your remarks make it evident that you REALLY listened, and I appreciate it. Based on what others have said, that probably wasn't all that easy! And I do appreciate it. Don't worry, there wasn't any "problem," just that many didn't like the song. I very much appreciate the very specific comments you had. I'm going to try to do a re-mix that removes some of the echoes and clams, and see what that does. If I think it has some worth, or improves it, I'll re-post. BTW, you're right about the Russian, Indian and other influences...
• Waskel: Much agreed...future attempts will keep this in mind as well!
• G8r: On the nose...By the way, I think I liked your post BEFORE the edit...you know: when "friends" were "fiends?" Lol! And, where were you when I was getting married to my now ex-wife?!?!?!?
• DB: Loved the Vanilla vs. Heavenly Hash comment! Sooooo...what do you think of "Heavenly Hash" as a band name??? At least as a song name! Probably WAAAY too copyrighted for a band name, though!
• All: many thanks for the critiques! I KNOW that I play a style that's just not for everyone, and even that some will absolutely hate it. NO PROBLEM! Please feel free to tell me you hate it! I just appreciate that you gave it a shot!
Now, before THIS response becomes an insincere-seeming attempt to agree with all of you, here's what I get when I listen to it (disclaimer: this is all JMHO, of course!): There ARE some REALLY pretty parts in there. I think it starts out pretty and contemplative, then quickly moves into the discordant. I like that kind of contrast. I like also that it then moves back into the more melodious at about 1:47. I like the little riff that gets repeated and echoed for 30 or 35 seconds. At 2:37 another melody and mood start up. The section starts slowly and builds speed and last about a minute. I really like the effect. At 4:00 I like the jangly note repetition harmony and I love the echoed pinch harmonies at 4:39. I also like the interplay between the OFC II and the MWoody right after that. The idea was to give some opportunity to compare and contrast the two guitars, but my recording equipment doesn't really permit a good comparison. This guitar dialogue/argument/duel/whatever lasts 'bout a minute and a half...then the song goes totally into dissonance to stop the dialogue. I liked the wind-down ending. That's the good stuff I took from it. The bad stuff is, of course, the the clams, the fact that the whole recording is crude and unpolished, and the other things that you all pointed out.
Now, before schroeder grumps that this has become nothing but a self-promotion thread, the prime directive REALLY was to fulfill a commitment to MWoody that I made when I purchased the DBWNSHEW some months ago (Review, recording and pictures)... In the meantime, if I can score some helpful hints at how to be a better guitarist and musician, well I admit I AM all about that!
So, thanks, all! |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Schroder grumps about everything, it's his job.
I'll say it ain't my kind of music, it strikes me like modern art, trying to make a picture with splashes of color that appear to be random splahses, even though they may not be. Like some of the Mahaveeshnu shit from back when, nice for a while but not really any staying power. A lot of people like this so more power to them.
I'm just in a totally different place for what I try to play and want to listen to. A good song that will make you feel something, delivered in a way that you can understand, with good sounding and interesting guitar parts, the sum or which makes you want to hear it again.
And they need to be fun to play. |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | I'll stand by my original post, however, I'm sure Buddy Holley didn't "get it right" during his initial experiments with overdubbing.
Go for it Alan! |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Alan, you put yourself out there open and unedited for all to see/listen to. It's kind of saying "this is who I am, love me or don't." I respect that. You are asking for honest feedback and listening as well. I respect that too.
This honestly isn't the kind of music I enjoy, no biggie. NO matter how much advice and criticism you get and adhere to, I'm sure you will always sound like Alan! That's great.
My advice, FWIW, is start with a simple melody. Add simple parts. Be conscious of how each part adds to the whole.
I am with Brad on the song structure thing. That's just something we are used to. Even if it's a loose structure to hang a bunch of jamming on. The songs you mentioned, In memory of Elizabeth Reed and Green Grass and high tides are big jam songs, but they have a very definite structure with strong melodies. Even the solos are built up melodically.
When two guitars or more guitars are playing together there is a lot of listening to the other players involved. Just listen to yourself and think about what to add to compliment what is already going on. Don't be afraid of space in the music. It helps the listener digest and feel what you are saying.
Good Luck. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | not sure why I keep getting drug into the Audacity thingy (and being confused with ANY COMMENT by Darkbar is just damn insulting). I never mentioned anything about it or the recording.
This was my only comment to date:
Originally posted by stephent28:
well, it is different......... I think Beal's last comment echoed my feelings on the piece pretty well. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | This is why I don't post the crap that I create! :p
That piece could be quite good if I were stoned, depending on what I was stoned on.
I actually listened to the whole thing yesterday, and I am listening to it now.
I do some free-form finger-picking stuff on the street corner and get occasional compliments.
But I actually had one dude a coupla weeks ago comment that I was the worst player he had ever heard.
(he must not get around much)
I didn't let it bother me, cuz about a dozen other people had thrown in dollar bills.
Guess it depends on where you are coming from.
Feel Free to create anything that makes you happy.
-- The next track, Babbling Brook, just came up and it is Nice.
Yeah, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Ravi Shankar, some of that Free Form Jazz whatever. :cool: |
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Location: Upper Left USA | I am way too delicate to expose myself to this crowd. Way to go Alan!
I think the Woody needs to play Malaguana and Four and Twenty for us as well. |
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| "The song reflects my usual modus operandi: (1) one take, (2) a basic backing track to set mood and key, and (3) the rest is improvisation. As a result, there are more clams than I'd like to admit. However, you all get all my practice sessions straight up and unedited."
So who else here when they post some
music posts their first attempt/practise and invites everyone to listen to it?
All of the great stuff on bobbo's Song of the Day thread - was that first shot and "clams included'? I think not. I think all of those people had the decency to create something worth listening to.
I can think of no serious musician who has ever released his practise tapes.
I have spent most of my life playing in jazz clubs and even at the height of the free form movement nobody played shit like that. If it is free form it requires other players to have any validity. Simply covering up the fact that you can't create a harmonic or melodic sequence that can then move and develop by playing self indulgent wanderings is not free form jazz. And the fact that the various guitars are out of tune doesn't make it art. The fact that they are then out of tune with each other just makes it worse.
And the fact that every piece comes with a 500 word essay explaining it to us morons is further evidence of the insufferable ego that thinks we want to listen to him practise.
I notice none of this stuff is ever offered to the general public in clubs or bars. |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Well said Schroeder.
That old tale... "The Emperor Has No Clothes" also comes to mind. |
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Location: Location Location Location | This is too funny...anyway, here's a video that will go perfectly. Just keep the sound turned off..Uh.. I mean the sound of the video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPnGPIMUnus |
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An MWoody Recording
