Lunch Report, Wednesday May 19, o'er da hump

O.K., so we’ve enjoyed a Cliff Bar or two over the past couple of days. While nutritious and tasty, I’ve decided to bring some real variety into my lunch cuisine. Today I’ll step out of the box, push the lunch envelope, and indulge in a Zone Perfect Bar. I believe it was a Zone Perfect Bar that was described as “Rice Crispy-ish” on Monday in a response. I used to eat Balance Bars, then Zone Perfect Bars, and of course now Cliff Bars. But for the sake of variety, I’ll grab a Zone Bar for old time’s sake, and variety. Accompanied by a boysenberry yogurt, it should really hit the spot. One thing about protein bars, you've got to have water handy, as they can get pretty dry. So, again water it is. Sure, it's boring. I save the exciting stuff for my hobbies, etc.

Speaking of Zone Bars, etc., which were formulated to match the Zone diet’s protein/carbohydrate/fat ratio suggestions for a snack, how many of you out there have tried the Zone diet? Did you have success in losing weight, and/or improving your health?

10-12 years ago, I went on the Zone diet. At the time I was tipping the scales at around 170 lbs. This was heavy for me, being that I’m 5’11” , with a small frame. I really wanted to be around 155-160lbs. So, I read “Enter the Zone”, by Dr. Sears, and started to count my protein/carb/fat intake. I liked the idea of this diet as it wasn’t an all-or-nothing type of diet that calls for virtually all protein and such. Instead, it analyzed food like it was a natural type of medicine, when taken in the proper “formulation”. For breakfast I would have oatmeal with protein powder mixed in, all in the proper ratios. Almost everyday my lunch was comprised of a Yves soy hot dog for protein, perhaps a yogurt to get the carb’s, and a small amount of unsalted cashews or some avocado, to get some good fat in the meal. Less than 30 days later, I was down to around 152 lbs. This was a bit light, and I needed to increase my intake a bit to get things in proper balance. Today, I pay only loose attention to ratios, and have a genetic weakness for munchies before dinner. Damn the salt. So today I tip the scales at around 165 lbs. and have been considering hitting the Zone again. Now, all I have to do is find my book. Bad excuse, there’s stuff all over the internet about the diet. It does work.

So, are you a dieter? Have you tried many different diets? Which did you find the most effective for you? Why do you think that was?

G&L/Music content

While I am well-reputed to have very "acute 'earing"(Think John Cleese, "Yellowbeard"/jewelry), I can’t say that I hear that much difference in tone that comes from a guitars with different fret-board woods. I like maple and ebony, over rosewood, because they are more dense, and can stand up to my fingernails contacting them when fretting open chords in particular. Admittedly, I have not A/B’d guitars that have all other things equal, except fret-board woods, in order to really say unequivocally that I cannot hear an obvious difference. Also, it seems to be consensus among most guitar players that there is a difference.

Are you a player who hears a lot of difference between maple, rosewood, and ebony fret-boards? If you prefer a particular wood, is it due entirely to difference in tone, or is durability a factor?




Now, back to the fundamentals subject.

In studying a book on modes, it seems that many notable players operate within a particular favored mode, or scale progression. I’ve been enjoying messing around with harmonic minor scales after working on a passage from Randy Rhoades that’s in this particular book by "Basix". I kind of dig the sound of harmonic minors. To me they sounds very classical. And, it’s making me learn the fret-board layout much better as I work in what is an E harmonic minor, up and down the board. So far, it’s as close as I’ve come to getting sort of lost in the music as I play it. I mean this in a good way.

Question: Do you have a particular scale that you do most of your writing and/or improvising in? If you are versed, and versatile, in playing many different scales, did you start out on one particular scale that “struck a chord” with you? If you have a favorite scale to work in or off of, what is it? Forgive me if something here doesn’t make sense to you pro's, and amateurs alike, out there, as I’m very new to this.

For a porn break, here are a couple of pictures of my early ASAT. The second one shows that it's a rather early example, and presumably shared factory shop time with a few Broadcasters. As you can see, I use the fuzzy lens technique to take away the obvious signs of age on this beauty. Is it obvious that I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to taking pictures of my guitars? It's a rhetorical question.

Enjoy and pack out your trash.


[/size]

You mention your fingernails contacting the fretboard. I can't imagine playing with my nails that long. My nails don't come close to contacting the board. Ever since I was 7 years old and was taking violin lessons my left hand nails have been shorter than the fingertip pads and when I started guitar at 16 and was learning fingerpicking styles, I had long nails on the right and extremely short nails on the left. It would be extremely weird for me to feel my nails come in contact with the fingerboard. Does anyone else here play that way?

It would be extremely weird for me to feel my nails come in contact with the fingerboard. Does anyone else here play that way?

Trust me, it isn't that I want to play that way. It's the way my fingers are formed. My fingernail comes down too far toward the tip, and cannot, I repeat, cannot, be cut shorter to avoid contact. My index finger is especially problematic, as it's formation causes me to hold my hand at an angle in order to get good fret contact. I have tried to "train them back" for 6 years now but, I am what I am. Without a doubt, it makes guitar playing more difficult for me, but I persevere. And no, I wouldn't expect anyone to lend me their guitar for an extended period.

Now I know how these newscasters must feel with HD TV and such. Eewww.....not while we're eating!

Example: Ring finger is better design for guitar playing, and is best of the bunch.



Example: Index finger's poor design, and the worst of the bunch.



Middle finger is, if you'll forgive the expression, somewhere between the two. Unfortunately, it's closer to a bad-finger design.

Again, no, they cannot be cut any shorter without hitting the HYPONYCHIUM, aka the quick.

Well that explains it--must be a bit frustrating.

Fret-board wood tonality is probably not as subtle as you think. All things being equal, rosewood is definitely warmer/darker sounding than maple. I like them both --- and have guitars with both --- but there is a difference, though it's certainly not as discernible as some other tonal components, namely type of guitar/pickup/amp/and so on. I just had a hot chocolate. It was delicious. I'm not a fat feck, but I would like to look more like a professional athlete. As it is, I look like a professional rocket scientist.

Scales: Many years ago I found myself "soloing" (for lack of a better term) in the pentatonic scale. I didn't know at the time that it was the pentatonic scale, but I was told so by someone that knew. He was right. Now I do all my soloing in lydian demolished minor.

Honestly, more than anything, I learned to play by listening to Jimi Hendrix. Then, when I lived in Georgia many years ago, I lived with this musician who showed me the ropes in blue grass and country styles. Now I play a form of rock and roll that draws from these plus some punk rock. I'm the only guitarist in my band, so there are no solos in the songs. Good songs are much more important than good playing.

I diet, but not in that sense. I manage what I eat closely to get going with my physical training. Make sure any mass gain, is muscle, and that muscle growth is promoted in what I eat. You cannot really lose weight just by altering your diet, you can shock the body to temporarily lose a bit before your metabolism adjusts. The best way to lose weight is to find your balanced diet level, eat it - 250 cal, and then add 250 cal exercise to your day. That is a 500 cal deficit daily. The exercise is important to keep your metabolism going, and hopefully running hot. 3500 cal = 1lb of fat. aka that should drop 1 lb a week if you do it right.

As a player I do not hear a large difference due to fretboard wood, mostly because I don't choose to imagine such differences existing. The quality of wood on sound is greatly over-exaggerated in electric instruments. At best it makes a subtle change, Amp , pickups, and strings are the be alls in the electric world, by design if nothing else. Acoustic instruments where levels of energy lost are much much higher, different ball game. Basses also likely have more nuance due to wood than guitars, as there is A LOT more energy going into the system. But I still do not think any of these has a SIGNIFICANT impact on the sound, nothing slight EQ'ing cannot fix. there is also far too unstructured variance in wood to pigeon hole any species.

As for the harmonic minor scales. I generally like them also. I would play melodic minors but. well. it is much more difficult remembering to flat the 6th and 7th on descending

I think I scared people away with shear verbosity, coupled with what may be an unpleasant subject (dieting) for some. I suppose if somebody posted something asking what successes we've had with marriage (I'm recently divorced) , I might avoid the subject too. (Half kidding). However, by having so few responders, it enabled me to answer you all, at least to a degree. I was waiting around for other responses but I thought I heard the grass growing outside and I didn't want to miss it. Thanks for your responses.

I'll keep the post shorter tomorrow.

suave eddie: Yes, it's a bit frustrating, but I work with what I have. What are my choices? I suppose I could play the drums.

El Fug; I get you on the demolished minor. I demolish them all, major, minor, harmonic minor, etc....Actually, mine may be more like a demonic minor. Ask the nuns in my grade school. (That's a joke, son. I wasn't too bad in school, when I showed up. (Dang, another joke.)

sirmyghin: It sounds like you've got the diet/exercise thing down. Congratulations. My exercise regimen is not what it once was, but it's still pretty good. I agree that the way to have most success at dieting is to work a good exercise routine in along with it.

That's funny what you said about melodic minors. It is rather odd that ascending and descending have different forms/intervals where you mentioned. Of course there is logic in it. For some reason my brain is having a hard time just remembering the forms for the melodic minor. I'm getting decent at the harmonic. I guess it all takes time and effort. Right now I have different "segments" of knowledge that I hope will come together someday.

Are you a player who hears a lot of difference between maple, rosewood, and ebony fret-boards? If you prefer a particular wood, is it due entirely to difference in tone, or is durability a factor?

I've reached the level of tone dorkdom where I can actually hear the fingerboard difference. Could I do it blindfolded? I question that. Pickups have far more effect than fingerboard, as does neck wood and body wood.

I don't hear a huge difference. I'm partial to the more snappy ebony and maple. Rosewood puts a blanket on the tone that I don't care for. It's not a deal breaker, though.

My preference is Ebony, by the way.

That's funny what you said about melodic minors. It is rather odd that ascending and descending have different forms/intervals where you mentioned. Of course there is logic in it. For some reason my brain is having a hard time just remembering the forms for the melodic minor. I'm getting decent at the harmonic. I guess it all takes time and effort. Right now I have different "segments" of knowledge that I hope will come together someday.

All my music knowledge of scales and whatnot is from big band sax playing in high school. The structures can easily be applied to bass but multi note structures I get lost between them. And some dink decided the have the B string on guitar not be the same even 5th away.. gar. BASS FOREVER