Dad3353

Good evening, BM, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Good evening, SiBiRiDi, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Firstly, that's an 'open-ended' exercise, in that, if no line is drawn, it's never declared 'Finished..!'. Setting oneself a deadline (at any point, not just 'first version'...) is almost always a Good Thing. Secondly, and, in my case, even more importantly, 'fiddling and fixing' makes things steadily and remorselessly worse..! This, in many walks of life ('Oh, just another pinch of salt and it'll be perfect...', or 'I'll just ease another millimetre off that wobbly table leg...'). There are many examples of classical compositions that are better unfinished than polished (or sometimes, re-polished...), Schubert's Eighth being the prime example. It's a healthy quality, knowing when to stop. It's a pity our Lenny has never 'twigged' this simple fact. ...

For the last time: 'No..!'

Our Eldest is interested in these methods, as he's started making his own guitars; I'll see if I can acquire a wet grinding wheel for modest expense. My own personal requirements are for sharpening to surgical degree my modelling blades (mostly X-Acto n°11 or similar...). Whilst not needing the same 'elbows dug into ribs' technique, there must be a better way than my present system, consisting of leather stropping, using green paste/wax stuff. Sometimes I get a good cut, but it's hit'n'miss. The blades, even from new, are not apt for cutting the balsa woods I use, and they dull all too quickly, resulting in torn wood if they're not changed. Anyone got any tips, then, for keeping these types of blades at their finest..? Thanks in advance...

The general policy is to let nature take its course, and have topics 'sink or swim' depending on the frequency of posts added. Any subject not attracting replies would then, naturally, sink down (but would still be found by searching, of course...). Some topics, such as warnings about Paypal scams, are of permanent interest, and would normally not, in themselves, solicit replies; hence the pinning. It's also true that, when pinned, topics tend to become 'part of the furniture', and no longer receive any visits at all, because they're pinned..! Having said all that, and recognising the quality and value of the OP, I'll pin this, as it's in the proper section for those interested. On my head be it, then; let the pinning commence..!

You'll have to give it back; he'll starve to death, the poor so-and-so. Have you no shame..?

£5..? No, but a passing nod to your sense of scansion. S'not even complete, and the 'grammar' makes one shudder..! Poor attempt; shut the door on leaving, please.

Hmm... Yes, it's better, but not by much. A grudging 'Pass', then; should study more. Next, please...

Fail. 'Ability' does not rhyme with 'fly'. Try again, please.

Good evening, Witters , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Bring it on. ... ...

Good afternoon, Paul, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Sigh... No, this is an orange...

No, Lenny, I'm not going to dare you. I was just posting to agree with you, for once: we don't want to hear what you'd play to that ..! (Although I think we often have, in past posts ..!)

And the winner is... JBP..! Here, then, is your Winner's Certificate (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ... BC_Chal_Cert_2018_08.pdf ... which looks like this (but bigger, of course..!)...

It could be made to work by allowing replies, but any replies need 'vetting' before appearing, which we know already works. Just a thought; does it help..?

Ah, that's the tell-tale clue..! An unusual time-stretch, or hard-to count (feel..?) beat or pause, I can live with . There are many examples of such in classical music, and folk singers often use time in this fashion. But it has to be consistent or, as you say, it all falls apart. If the bloke can't understand that, or doesn't even notice that it's all gone South, there's not much can be done. I doubt that writing it out, in any notation, would help. In my long-distant youth, one of our friends would play guitar, as we all did, but with no sense of timing, melody or structure. He was surprised that he wasn't invited to join any of the 'buddy bands' that sprung up spontaneously all around. It's true that his lyrics were painfully , too, which didn't help.

I use a different DAW (Reaper, with a PC...), but I think it must be common to have, for each track recorded, a choice of which MIDI device to use. For a drum track, select the Akai; for a melody track select the MIDI keyboard. The software will sort out which device to 'listen' to when recording. Hope this helps Subject to correction, completion and/or contradiction from others.

Depends on the site, though. ...

Good afternoon, Marshall , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

The poll only accepts one vote, not two. 'Finger trouble' from an inexperienced pilot, I expect. This probably explains why I'm not picking up all those 'secondary votes' I'd been counting on. I call 'Swindle..!'. Harrumph..! ...

These two notions are often lumped together (maybe rightly so..?), but are, in fact, quite distinct. One's prowess at reading does not impart knowledge of theory, harmony, musical styles (although helps considerably when studying those...), any more than the inverse; the study of music theory does not automatically make one a good reader, even less a good sight reader. Both skills, plus, of course, a degree of playing ability, are very useful indeed, but separate notions. Just sayin'.