Reminder:
Paraclete live @ The Harborside Bistro in the Bellwether Hotel
5-8pm
Now, time to go tune up fiddle and practice...
Friday, March 12, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Strings, guitars, and a new gig
I've been playing a lot of classical guitar lately. That's in addition to whatever I happen to be learning on uke. My Ramirez guitar has been strung with Thomastik ropecores for the last year or so, but as much as I love those strings for folk and jazz playing, they are less suited to the more formal classical stuff. I restrung it last week with Savarez red cards.. wound G and B. I really like the sound. Unlike plain nylon strings, the plastic-wound G and B have a brighter treble and more sustain.... less of that unfortunate tubbiness, particularly common to the G string.
But of course now that I have just restrung, Paraclete has landed a 3-hour gig at the Harborside Bistro for Friday, March 12 from 5-8pm. We will probably mic the guitar anyway, as I haven't gotten a pickup ordered yet. I don't do a lot on guitar for our sets anyway... mostly fiddle. We are very excited and hope that this gig will lead to more playing opportunities and maybe something steady.
As for my last post about D tuning on the uke, I gave that up after a couple hours. It was amusing at first and then it got annoying. So I am happily back to C tuning. I've been trying to learn more jazz chords and getting completely frustrated with my inability to learn it all faster. Slow and steady, I have to remind myself. Of course, I should spend less time obsessing over jazz uke chords and more time practicing my double stops on violin.
And speaking of strings and ukes, I had clear Worth strings on the tenor Kala archtop uke, but I just put Aquilas on it over the weekend. I still prefer Aquilas to Worths. I know some people really love the Worth strings, but I'm just not seeing or hearing it... might try classical guitar strings one of these days. Honestly, one could spend a lot of time and money trying to find the perfect strings for guitar or uke. I don't have a strong committment to anything particular yet. That said, I've always used Thomastik Dominants on my violin. I know there are a bunch of other good strings out there, but I've no particular interest in experimenting with violin strings... probably because they are soooo expensive.
But of course now that I have just restrung, Paraclete has landed a 3-hour gig at the Harborside Bistro for Friday, March 12 from 5-8pm. We will probably mic the guitar anyway, as I haven't gotten a pickup ordered yet. I don't do a lot on guitar for our sets anyway... mostly fiddle. We are very excited and hope that this gig will lead to more playing opportunities and maybe something steady.
As for my last post about D tuning on the uke, I gave that up after a couple hours. It was amusing at first and then it got annoying. So I am happily back to C tuning. I've been trying to learn more jazz chords and getting completely frustrated with my inability to learn it all faster. Slow and steady, I have to remind myself. Of course, I should spend less time obsessing over jazz uke chords and more time practicing my double stops on violin.
And speaking of strings and ukes, I had clear Worth strings on the tenor Kala archtop uke, but I just put Aquilas on it over the weekend. I still prefer Aquilas to Worths. I know some people really love the Worth strings, but I'm just not seeing or hearing it... might try classical guitar strings one of these days. Honestly, one could spend a lot of time and money trying to find the perfect strings for guitar or uke. I don't have a strong committment to anything particular yet. That said, I've always used Thomastik Dominants on my violin. I know there are a bunch of other good strings out there, but I've no particular interest in experimenting with violin strings... probably because they are soooo expensive.
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