Musical technique hints and tips

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Apr 16 - 06:55 AM

Cane clarinet and sax reeds last about ten times as long if you store them in alcohol. I use the Co-Op's own-brand white rum in medical sample bottles - these are big enough for anything up to a tenor sax reed (some have a little projection inside the cap that you need to snap off to get a tenor reed in). Independent chemists usually stock the bottles, about a pound each. Or pick one up free next time you visit the STD clinic. The plastic is a bit fragile, you have to treat them carefully.

I use synthetic reeds most of the time nowadays, since I switch instruments a lot (you don't need to wet a synthetic reed). People have different preferences, I like Legere Signatures.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 10 Apr 16 - 03:59 AM

I agree Flora, an old irish friend of mine used to call them flutters, he used to teach the tune without any flutters first, however I am not saying that his system was right or wrong another good musician friend taught the tune with the ornaments, both of them were good players.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 10 Apr 16 - 03:54 AM

I think of the twiddly bits as making the tune your own. There are certain musicians that you nearly always recognise within a few bars of listening - how do we do that?
FloraG

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 08:10 PM

Moving swiftly on...

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 07:46 PM

Ain't that an upside-down skip-beat sign?

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 07:24 PM

Is there a standard ornament sign for "gob over the mosh pit"?

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 04:48 PM

I'm a punkrocker... I find ornamentation boring...
no effin guitar solos and get the song over and done with in less than 2 minutes.. 😜

1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. rama lama thrash bang.. the end.... applause

1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. next near identical song...

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 04:33 PM

Let's change the subject. I know what you meant about getting bored.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 03:52 PM

Steve, I am stating an opinion which is that musicians have introduced ornamentation as a way of preventing boredom after they have played a tune incessantly for dancing.
I am not advising anybody to do anything other than what works for them.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: meself
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 01:02 PM

(While there are obviously similarities, I wouldn't call that strathspey played by John MacDougall 'Stirling Castle' - but I have no idea what the correct name for it would be. I suspect it's in the old books somewhere; maybe Skinner. Btw, that clip is well up on my top ten. Nothing against the big names in Cape Breton fiddling - but John MacDougall should be prominent among them.)

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 08:34 AM

You are misunderstanding the exchange I had with Jack. I am not saying that ornamentation (and variation while we're at it) should be learned as part of the tune (because it IS the tune), nor am I saying that the same ornamentation should be played over and over again. The very opposite, if you read my last post. I'm actually arguing AGAINST rigidity, which has no place in the playing of the tunes. I don't learn to drive by getting in the car and making it go forward in a straight line, then learn about the gears and brakes later. The gears and brakes constitute an integral part of driving the car. You learn about ornamentation and variation by playing with and listening to good players of your genre, getting the music under your belt as an organic whole and developing your own style, flexibility and confidence. I understand what you say about about different learning systems, but I think that you make it much harder for yourself if you learn a tune first as a separate process from using ornamentation. In fact, I can't do it, and I wouldn't mind betting that you, as an experienced musician who has learned hundreds of tunes, don't do it that way either. So why advise anyone else to do it?

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 07:32 AM

"Whoa, Jack, not for one second was I implying prescriptiveness in the matter of ornamentation."
yes, you are because you are saying that it should be learned as part of the tune.
What matters is the final music, how people learn ornamentation is going to be different for everybody what learning system works for one may not work for others.
As i understand it ornamentation was often used by musicians because they had to play a certain tune over and over for dancing and the musician SUBSEQUENTLY introduced twiddles to stop dying from boredom.
you try playing the same tune 30 times for a dancing competition where the same tune has to be used [so that it is fair for the dancers],to play the same ornaments as if you learned it as a tune is as boring as playing the tune without ornaments.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: AlbertsLion
Date: 09 Apr 16 - 06:49 AM

"It's taken me over 50 years to play as badly as I do . . ."


exactly Brian May - although I think I might be getting a bit better, others may disagree!

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 08:37 PM

Whoa, Jack, not for one second was I implying prescriptiveness in the matter of ornamentation. I'm disappointed if you think I came across that way. All I meant was that the concept of learning the bare bones of a tune (a notion I don't actually recognise), then bolting on the ornamentation, is not the way to go. The underlying concept is that ornamentation is integral in traditional music. The beauty is that, just as it is with the barebone notes of the tune, it's your call as to how much or how little you use it, how you play around with it from one playthrough to the next (along with variation) and how you adapt according to the expressive capabilities or limitations of the instrument you're playing. Above all, how you respond to the knowledge and experience you've gained by having immersed yourself in your chosen genre of traditional music. This is not bullshit, Jack, as you'd quickly realise if you've ever had the misfortune of playing with a dyed-in-the-wool classically-trained musician who's used to playing from a script.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 07:08 PM

I don't agree that you should be learning a tune and then adding the twiddly bits later. The ornamentation of a tune IS the tune. Play the ornaments right from the outset and you'll make them second nature in no time (as long as you also listen to lots of good players who play idiomatically).

C'mon, you know you're havering.

Tunes cross idioms or are made to serve different functions all the time. Almost all the oldest tunes in the Scottish repertoire started out as songs (and we can locate the words) - nobody sings the ornamentation that a piper or fiddler would use whan playing them as dance tunes. You've probably learned tunes that you play on the moothie from players of many other instruments - you don't do the semitone-wide glissandi that whistle players use routinely ("smears"), you don't have any way to get the sound a fiddler makes by ringing an adjacent string, and you can't do a slide that leaves 5 adjacent scale steps all ringing before you hit the melody note, as a harpist can. It's still the same tune, no matter if a harpist, moothie player or fiddler plays it, but the ornaments CANNOT be the same.

Breathnach's collection tries to allow for that by presenting a sort of abstract ornamentation system - identify the points in the tune that get ornamented, leaving out the instrument-specific details of how to do it. This is sensible, until you get to the point where the same tune is being used for different functions (e.g. a different kind of dance). Breathnach would probably write the reel and polka versions of the tune out as two different tunes, as his system doesn't have a way of marking an ornament "only do this for the reel version". An experienced player would just know to play the tune differently for the two different uses.

There are very, very few occasions in traditional music where an ornamentation pattern is genuinely idiosyncratic to a specific tune. In practice patterns of ornamentation are specific to particular styles - learning the style is about learning how to fit the pattern to any tune you come across. It doesn't have to be learned with the tune. One of the standard tunes in the Highland pipe repertoire is GS MacLennan's 3/4 march "The Kilworth Hills" - it's an adaptation of the Russian song "Stenka Razin". You can bet the Russian sailors GS learned it from weren't singing Highland pipe ornaments.

Example. The strathspey "Stirling Castle" (a "traditional Irish strathspey" according to the dumb fucks at TheSession). This is a minimally ornamented and rather boring take on it (Jeremy Button, fiddle):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLleYyDXSPE

This melodeon version (Curly Mackay) doesn't have much more ornamentation, but it's helluva dramatic thanks to the stretched dotted patterns:

http://www.raretunes.org/recordings/DeesideMelodies/

And this (John MacDougall, Cape Breton fiddle) makes it into a solo display piece, maybe not as danceable, but every detail of the tune is made to express something with unbelievably dense ornamentation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2K7nvmnb_k

A version as a "Donegal Highland" - not much ornamentation, very much straighter rhythm than any of the others, but presumably it makes sense for that kind of dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcyUZYR5Mnw

That makes three versions of the same tune I could make an argument for as worth learning. But nobody in their right mind would try to learn MacDougall's version as an isolated artifact. What you'd learn would be two independent things: the tune itself, and how to play tunes his way. Having learned those, you are most of the way to knowing both how to play that tune in other styles, and how to apply MacDougall's style to other tunes.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,Peter from seven stars link
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 01:12 PM

I tried using metronome and click track for recording but could,nt get on with them without first laying down a simple drum track to it. Obviously the fault is with me but I was unwilling to spend who knows how many hours needed to get it right!.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 11:30 AM

I play with a fiddler who does that, and it's no fun.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Brian May
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 10:45 AM

It's taken me over 50 years to play as badly as I do . . .

Never took a lesson and it shows . . . that said, unbound by other peoples' rules I've had a ball and I please myself. Sometimes someone else (probably with low standards).

I used to be apologetic about not being able to play like other people, then i realised that all the 'great' players all said basically learn enough to be able to play like YOU.

Good advice.

There are tips galore on YouTube, but then they're subject to other peoples' opinions and they almost certainly will disagree with each other.

Have fun - disregard everybody!!

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Apr 16 - 03:34 AM

For the english concertina practising co ordination between left and right, practising percussion techniques like the 5 stroke roll, can help.
likwise for thew violin practisng the pencil exercise for good wrist control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj_dx-ZgQWU
it is my opinion that one cannot be too didactic about how to play trad music or how to learn it, what works for some does not work for others, in the end as regards ornamentation the tune must have variety and hopefully spontaneity, playing silences and leaving ornaments out is as important as putting them in,
my aim [which I do not always achieve is to play the tune differently each time], but that is only my opinion. Iagree the belfast hornpipe is a good exercise so is atholl highlanders and meggys foot and madame bonaparte with nothumbrian variations

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Apr 16 - 07:15 PM

A good tune for helping with rhythm and tempo is the Belfast Hornpipe. Plenty of arpeggios, triplets and long runs of fast notes, and you have to work hard to give it good lift.

Incidentally, I don't agree that you should be learning a tune and then adding the twiddly bits later. The ornamentation of a tune IS the tune. Play the ornaments right from the outset and you'll make them second nature in no time (as long as you also listen to lots qof good players who play idiomatically).

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Apr 16 - 07:04 PM

Speeding up in a tune, or playing scale runs of short notes too fast, are the results of inexperience and/or failure to get feedback on your own playing, best achieved by recording yourself and listening back with a critical friend. A metronome will not fix these things once you have to do without it. Achieving a good sense of rhythm and tempo is an integral part of learning to play your instrument. It's all about control and technique and hearing yourself. Music-making is an organic thing, not mechanical. If you don't believe me, listen to any midi file. You use crutches because you can't walk, not to teach you to walk.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 07 Apr 16 - 10:16 AM

Several years ago, the metronome drove me nuts. My brain just couldn't integrate it with my playing, so I put it away and forgot about it for several years. But recently I got it out again, and it's helping. Who knows why?

Thoughts on speeding up and slowing down:

As someone said above, watch out for people who don't play long notes long enough.

People may speed up on easy passages, such as runs that go up or down the scale, thinking, "I can play this! Watch me go!"

People may slow down unconsciously for harder parts, such as those that have big jumps or unexpected accidentals.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 07 Apr 16 - 10:16 AM

Play the tune as slowly as you can but still sounds right.
Play it as fast as you can before it sounds fudgey.
Find the speed that is best for the tune within those 2. Work on learning it at that speed and then add twiddley bits.

PS An accordion base is often too heavy - play fewer base notes and play them light.
FloraG

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Marje
Date: 06 Apr 16 - 03:15 PM

The thing about a metronome is you can't blame it for speeding up or slowing down. If you play with others, you may think, "Someone keeps speeding this up, who is it?" or, "Why do they all keep dragging?", but if you try things on your own with a metronome, you may find you're the one who always rushes that third line or holds a certain note too long.
And if you don't discover any flaws in your timing, you have the satisfaction of knowing that when things get out of joint, it's NOT YOUR FAULT!
Marje

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 06 Apr 16 - 03:04 PM

Lol, Steve, I thought you'd catch the inverted commas and all ~ the reverb reference with a bang [!] suggested, I had hoped, a little smile. I have zero use for any effects for my personal playing, but I now have a better amp than the garage sale/pawnshop junk I've had. Keep the thread fresh, folks. Look forward to Will's next tenor video. You are an inspiration. [So are all of you who share here!]
keep pickin'
dennis

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Apr 16 - 04:40 AM

Easy on the reverb. As Ron Kavana used to say, all you need is "a little touch of magic!"

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 05 Apr 16 - 09:33 PM

Hey 'cats! My longest post ever ~ to this thread ~ lost in the æther somewhere the other night. So, 2 b brief: Will, I wasn't being critical,I loved the Bach! B cool to hear it with your bass track; cooler still to find a bassist! I was merely noting the non- human aspect.
glad to see others benefitting from the strap advice. Just got my first _real_ amp ~ it has "reverb"!, so I'll be pickin' and grinnin' more than ever. But I will pause to check on this thread, so keep the tips coming …
here's one: if you can't remember when you last changed your strings, change your strings.
keep on pickin'
dennis

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 05 Apr 16 - 06:17 PM

refresh.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 04:52 PM

This from Jim Carroll
Subject: RE: warm up vocal exercises
From: Jim Carroll - PM
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 07:12 PM

Hi Cap'n
Yes, I have examples of MacColl's exercise programme.
They fell into several parts.
1.   Four basic vowel-type sounds
The objective was to produce them in a pure, open, relaxed and unrestricted tone in order to work out where your 'natural' voice was being produced in order to have control over it.
2. A number of singing exercises to handle different aspects of the voice. They consisted of:
Two short pieces of Wagner ('Tis Ended' and 'By Evil Craft') to help with the handling unfamiliar (small and large) intervals and unusual tunes accurately.
One short piece of Gilbert and Sullivan (Rising Early in the Morning; from The Gondoliers; but similar G&S will do) for precise articulation while singing at speed.
One piece of Mouth Music (Tail Toddle - 2 choruses and one verse sung in one breath) for speed and articulation also breath control (sometimes Rocky Road To Dublin was substituted - one chorus and one refrain sung in one breath).
These can be memorised in a week, once learned, never forgotten, still can do most of them after forty years, though breath control is not as good as it was (takes at least 2 breaths for Tail Toddle and Rocky Road nowadays)
3. Series of relaxation excercises (neck, shoulders arms, back, legs) to help control tension (starts off as full exercise, but once mastered, full exercise is seldom needed and tension can be contolled wherever it appears) Probably the most useful work I was ever given; can help with activities other than singing.
All the exercises came with full explanation of their purpose and uses, along with a breakdown of the theory of their necessity.
They might sound complicated, but they come automatically once learned.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 01:19 PM

It did taste good, GUEST, and with a goatskin head it would probably have been better but, alas, I'm a vegetarian.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 01:07 PM

Don't worry, gillymor - you're doing great: wearing a comfortable strap, getting the right position, relieving muscle pain - and the banjo will taste even better!

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 10:12 AM

Is Skype [or similar conference cam apps] reliable enough to have informal sessions with other players ?

Or are there still problems with latency and lag... ???

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: gillymor
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 09:56 AM

That's a great site, Dave. I learned the one they called Slow Barn Dance in A as The Road To Glountane in D some time ago and forgot all about it.

Wearing a strap while seated is a revelation for me, helps hold my instrument in the desired position, frees both hands to work on computer, encourages me to get up and walk around which gives my poor sacrum some relief. One drawback though, I splashed marinara sauce on my banjo head while cooking dinner last night.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 08:42 AM

For those wishing to play along in the comfort of their own homes The BBC session is pretty good. Cautionary tale though. I have tried it with 'Planxty Irwin' and found myself coping quite well. When I tried it with a a good guitarist friend of mine it was a lot more difficult! Something about others watching I guess?

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 08:29 AM

Just breathe through the instrument without forcing air through. Force is the quickest way to wreck harps and it won't make you any louder. A very nice bloke I know got drunk one night, and in a fit of bravado he seized a harmonica from my table and blew down it just once. Bye bye seven-blow, bye bye harmonica.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 08:09 AM

practise the voice as if it was an instrument,use breathing exercises[ [playing the harmonica helps], use vocal warm up exercises before singing,
Steve, your harminca tips are good, presumably by huff you mean play quietly and likewise draw instead of suck

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Apr 16 - 03:58 AM

here is a useful exercise for 5 string banjo which also helps with finger picking guitar, practise drop thumbing across the strings on the banjo 12 13 14 15 index then thumb then try middle and thumb. then reverse starting with thumb.
Steve, unfortunately great players are not always available in the flesh, listening and playing with them on you tube is the next best thing.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 05:28 PM

I share your taste in great players. But YouTube can't interact with you. Not saying it can't be useful, but the best thing is the experience of interacting with good players. It did it for me, that's all I can say. Yeah, I have a bash playing along with YouTube myself occasionally, I must confess.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 04:12 PM

I agree, Steve, recording oneself is instructive, but I would also say that if you learn to listen to a metronome you will learn to listen to people that you are playing with,
however playing along to good players on you tube] which was not avaialable 30 years ago is much better .
I sometimes do this particularly, Chris Droney or Seamus Creagh,

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 03:12 PM

Well I agree with the last bit. As for that internal rhythm thing, not speeding up between parts of a tune, etc., I found that recording myself was instructive. Like wearing a hair shirt. Of course, not everyone will be their own best critic. Let someone else have a listen too, a good musician, and give you tough love. Metronomes are like stabilisers on bikes, except that we're not toddlers and we can't learn like they can. The best metronome on the planet still lacks the humanity that is true music. Not a small thing.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 02:28 PM

Steve Shaw,To me, a metronome helps you to play in time with a metronome."
it depends how you use the metronome, it is useful to take a tempo listen, then switch it off.
playing with a metronome has one other advantage it teaches you not speed up between parts of a tune, it can help to steady playing, but nothing beats listening to other people and playing with them

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 01:51 PM

even better way to play kind of carter style guitar is use thumb for melody, and always use index to pluck harmony on string 3 middle to pluck harmony on string two and ring to pluck harmony on string one, even if thumb plays one string, fingers always playing up, thumb down

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: meself
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 11:03 AM

In most Canadian traditions, it is usual for, and expected that, a fiddler will at least tap a toe or heel along with his music - how could you not?

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 09:48 AM

Good foot stamping takes practice"paticularly if treading grapes

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 09:29 AM

I've been slowly learning how to stamp my foot. It isn't something I used to do at all. Dick Hensold relayed a useful idea about it to me from David Greenberg the Cape Breton fiddler, who stamps his foot a lot. The foot is a bit like a metronome, but the point is that the accents in the tune DO NOT have to correspond to the stamps - the idea is that the tune flows around them, with the accents pushed or pulled, but the overall tempo doesn't change.

Good foot stamping takes practice.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 09:29 AM

another useful flat picking exercise is this make a c chord, play c on 4 string down then g string open up,then d open down, then g open up, then e 4 string 2 fret down, then g string open up, then f natural down[3 string 3 fret] then g string open up, this way you practise., jumping one string and two strings with plec.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 09:19 AM

PRACTISE A MAJOR SCALE ON THE CONCERTINA ALTERNATING FINGERS ON EACH BUTTON,Practise the same scale, going up in thirds, for example g major scale, gg bb aa cc etc alternating fingers,Dave I am sure i have mentined that before on concertina threads.
some advice for guitarists for flatpicking or thumb index finger picking, practise rght hand seperately, try up down on strings 65 54 43 32 21, then come back 12 23 34 45 56 down up then 64 53 42 31.
with finger picking thumb index , come back down 12 23 34 45 56.
then make a c major chord, try playing an octave scale starting 4 string cd de ef ga bc using hammering on when necessary, thumb index, or plectrum up down ,filling in a harmony note string above on an up or occasional brush, this is the bass for maybelle carter style, you can of course use middle finger too on an upwhen inclined

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 05:01 AM

By the way, Dennis - don't underestimate the amount of creative energy required to create an interesting bass line. Every note had to be decided on and put in it's melodic place - with length and volume - and then played back by itself over and over again to test it out. And then played back with the tenor over it again and again - to further test it out.

It would have been nice to have had a live bass player to play that line, which was written out in musical notation first - but, alas, my bass skills, such as they are, don't stretch to that level.

My next musical tip: Play with other people!

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 04:45 AM

Hi Dennis - yes, the moving bass line in my Bach arrangement is metronome-ish - which is what I wanted my initial foray into the piece. I did create a reasonably interesting counterpoint in terms of bass melody (I hope), which makes it a little less like a click track.

I'm currently looking at the Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 in G - no bass line for this one because the bulk of the piece is constructed on a lovely arpeggiated chord sequence - including a bass line which tells its own story. There's also a very important pause/accent about 2/3 of the way through, which precludes a constant rhythm.

Subject: RE: Musical technique hints and tips
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 02 Apr 16 - 05:33 PM

Hey Steve ~ ain't this a great thread? You are [probably] blissfully not exposed to the Canadian legend "Stompin' Tom" Connors! Yeah the metronome IS in your head ~ it took me forever to develop rock solid rhythm. I find a "click track" more hindrance than help. I do note Will's use of accompaniment and love it when he backs his tenor with his guitar, but in the Bach 'cello piece, I wonder if the software track is tantamount to a metronome; i.e., machine timing ? Agree, Steve, that a great rhythm model is a good vocalist and live players to be preferred to canned stuff. Keep the comments coming, good 'catters

the strap thing ~ YES! Rarely bothered, 'cause the tenor is just a little thing, but you're right Will, even when seated. Would probably be indicated for the uke too   And yes, THE tip at the TOP is daily work. Love the thread DtG
keep on pickin'
dennis