sweasel.com

I’ve been trying to learn the violin lately. But I think I was dropped on my head as an infant on that part of the brain that allows one to read music. I can study, stare, practice certain notes, and forget most of it by the next day. I envy those that can play something other than the kazoo.

I fiddled around learning classical guitar with both tablature and notation. Tab tells you which string but gives you no sense of whether the notes are going up or down. Notation tells you which way the melody is going but no clue which string to play it on. Neither really tells you which finger goes where. It’s like Twister on a fretboard.

Fortunately for my audience I developed a case of “trigger finger” where the middle finger, once curled up, jams in that position and requires both hands to painfully crack it out straight again. End of concert.

Get yourself a copy of Digipan =- or for the more adventurous, HamRadioDelux .. and make sure it is providing the right signals .. with harmonics.

Was on 20 meters just before – lots of curious activity.

Where are all the Subversive Elements?

You used to subscribe to “Banjo Newsletter”, didn’t you?

Full disclosure – I still have about 4 years’ worth of them boxed up in storage.

I’ll raise you Disclosure, and a DVD of Deliverance.

I still can’t get over how cool you are that you play the banjo! You were already the ultimate in cool! I have been learning to play the guitar and it was harder than I thought it would be. There is this thing called the pain threshold that you have to get over when playing the guitar. They say it takes a month and a half but it took me six months! When I first tried a C chord I thought I was deformed with too small of hands – and I’d always thought my hands were big. Seems you have to stretch and make your hands do contortions like a gymnast doing the splits. I actually cried like a baby the first time I tried a C chord. Now, it’s not too hard. Phew!

P.S. – see! I still lurk here everyday!

Is there nothing you can’t do?

I used to know how to write music. I even had one those special fountain pens for the purpose.

I couldn’t do it now to save my life.

Is there nothing you can’t do?

Sure: stick to any of these things long enough to get good at it.

Sure: stick to any of these things long enough to get good at it

That makes two of us.

Three… I’m the world’s worst self-taught piano player. My doberman physically tries to remove me from the piano bench when I start playing.

Oh my, Weasel. Halperin & Obama need some dick. Lots of dick.