I think they burn witches in NH, kinda picked that up from their Massachusetts neighbors to the south.   It's very noisy and produces a dry heat.

Yep furnaces and boilers are a thriving trend here in NH... I told you, as a friendly deed, I would have stored your vintage gear up here for you... the offer still stands, so send it all up to me!

For future reference, the vintage woods make good firewood, really dry with low creosote content. Pickguards make good fire starters too! 😉

Glad you made it through the cool, dark spell you had down there. 

Jim, oh those vintage guitars produce the best heat! I guess it's back to guitar shopping for you! I have some old Squiers I can send you if you need more firewood.

Like Chris pointed out.......that old 50-60 year old wood with the old fashioned lacquers and eager to fry old school plastic pickguards burn and heat up like champs!! A cord of oak wood delivered and stacked here deep in the heart of Texas sells for $350..............my method is probably at least 100 times more costly but it felt great to be momentarily warmer last week!! Unfortunately I had some self proclaimed NH moose fire warden crash into our freezing home and stomp out that nice fire!!

Hey! Speaking of Texas and great bluesman guitarists (OK.........bad segway I admit)..... I've added some cool Albert Collins licks to your recently released blues solo in that saddest key that fit like a glove!!! Octaves and cool slides and dramatic nice bends!!! Jim C.

Meanwhile, in Texas..

@clayton

@jncinn

Jim, now there is no longer any escaping: You always talk about your guitar playing but you didn’t share anything with us.

But I’m really excited about the fact how you combine cool Albert Collins licks, octaves, cool slides and dramatic nice bends with Robert’s new great sounding D minor blues solo.

I would prefer a video because, as a beginner, I want to learn from other guitarists. Seeing and hearing is better than only hearing.

Go under „Recordings & Jams“ in the forum and share your solo with us. I'm sure, many of our MGA members will be delighted 😊.

And I will appreciate it most!

Birgit

Jim, Birgit is right. You can not argue. I think I speak for all of us MGA members when saying that we are delighted to hear you play what you mentioned. Remember "now there is no longer any escaping"...

Crickets.... 

@clayton

Guys, if you don’t mind, please do not forget that this is my practice log.

Thank you, Birgit

Practice log 02-16-2021 until 02-28-2021

I continued with Robert’s lesson „How to learn the notes on the fretboard“ working on the 5 octave patterns beginning with the note A. Robert promised that this will work and yes, I confirm that it’s true!

It’s a little bit scary for me that it works, but connecting the notes by building little triangles, is obviously a good way the brain can process them. It really helps a lot. I’ll continue this training with the note D.

As Chris recommended, I tried, now and then, to close my eyes during playing. But at the moment it doesn’t work for me. I’m completely lost. Chris, if you read this, it will take me « more than many moons » to learn this.

And I worked with Robert’s last live stream video (Feb. 22) on how to hold the picking hand. I do now rest the palm of my hand on the bridge and that’s now my anchor point.

I can really feel and see the difference in my hand position between the last video (where my hand moved around more freely) and today‘s video. My hand is not flying around any longer. My hand position isn’t perfect at all but I’m still working on it.

Holding the pick: I think that my thumb/index finger position is not good at all because I do not bend the index finger as best as it should be. But I tried and tried and this position (here in the video) is not technically perfect and doesn’t look very good, but is best for me.

Here again Robert’s solo with the « 6 A minor blues licks » played at 90 bpm (instead of Robert’s original with 130 bpm)

Birgit

 Nice work! You are getting better. Your picking hand position is a little bit different than what I do, but that's not necessarily wrong. A lot of technique is a personal thing. I am guessing you can get more control of the pick if you try my method.

Thank you Robert. Correcting a malposition will take time but I’ll keep trying.

Birgit

Birgit... Yes, this is your practice log... sorry for my part in cluttering it up!

Re closing your eyes... I wouldn't worry about that now. I think that is only a good thing with regard to pieces you really know... discovering the fretboard is not likely the best time to work on closing your eyes... it would be more for getting more feeling into a piece you are comfortable with.

I noticed you are alternate picking and string skipping nicely... Keep it up girl!

03-01-2021 until 03-15-2021

I did a lot of repetition, tried to play old solos now at 100 bpm instead of 90 bpm before and rearranged the licks and played them against the backing track.

I continued with Robert’s lesson „How to learn the notes on the fretboard « working on the 5 octave patterns. The note A works now pretty well, I’m delighted, and I’m now working on the note D. The training helps a lot.

No matter what I’m working on: I‘m always focusing on my picking hand, resting the palm of my hand on the bridge.

As I never did rhythm guitar playing before, I’m now focusing on rhythm guitar.

To get a feel for the sound and the technique I had a look at different lessons which I highly recommend : Robert’s « Rhythm & Licks 1 », « Acoustic Blues Guitar Strumming Lesson – Got that straight » (video on Robert’s Youtube Channel),  « Swing Blues Rhythm in E»  and  « Robben Ford Funky Style Blues » where Robert gives a lot of tips to consider when practicing the strumming pattern and explains very well how to hit muted notes.

I’m now working with the lesson « Robben Ford Funky Style Blues » in the key of A, using the 8th note strumming pattern.

It’s not easy to get used to this kind of playing, letting the right hand going up and down and muting strings while focusing on how to put the accents on the right spots and always tapping the foot. But I’m learning a lot!  

I still have to work on the A7 bar chord (5th fret) to get a clean sound.  And I’m focusing on the chords D9 and E9. They sound so jazzy and colourful, but need a lot of practice.

I’m strumming in « slow motion » to move from A7 to D9 and from E9 to D9 to A7. It’s hard but makes a lot of fun.

And I realize now: Rhythm playing has a certain magic!

Birgit