I cannot confirm or deny if the casualties were part of my lunch as well…..
Tomorrow – I go in search of TimTams or as was said yesterday, the ‘Penguin’ biscuit which might be the UK equivalent.
G&L topic: To my mind G&L Asats and Legacy’s are amongst the finest instruments one can buy. They seem better built than most, and have bags more tone than anything I’ve played ‘off-the-shelf’ from the main rival brands. This might be due to the fact that these guitars were what Leo did best. He and George knew these formats and improved them to within and inch of the guitars life. It was probably like coming home when Leo decide to revisit the strat and tele with G&L. One thing I am not so sure about, and hear very little about around here is the Invader guitar. I suppose it’s a kind of ‘super strat’ and aimed at that market (i.e., Ibanez, Kramer, Jackson, Charvel, BC Rich – though please correct me if you think I am wrong). I hear little about G&L Invader guitars on here – so does anyone out there have one, has anyone played one, and what do you think about these guitars? What defines them? What's the vibe?
Also, have you customised your G&L in any way that you feel the rest of us should know about as it may be something we should consider if we buy the same model as you and want to play similar music? Do you play a certain sort of music that requires a certain sort of tweak? Except for this forum, I rarely read about people changing the pickups in G&L – probably because the MFDs and improved alinico’s are very good as standard (though i know nothing about the pups in the other models). However, many of you have very specific tastes that you have developed over time – so do you rip out the standard pups as a matter of course and if so, for what replacement and what does that give you in terms of tone? Differing wiring circuits? Mid boost?
nonG&L topic (i): re-discovered albums you have long forgotten. You know the feeling. Years ago you bought an album – loved it – played it for weeks – then moved on. But now, more recently you have re-discovered it and it feels new and exciting again. Why did I forget about this? - you may ask yourself. But now, you also listen to it with more mature ears and perhaps even more from the perspective of playing the songs as well. Any suggestions out there for an album you feel, we all need to re-discover, to help make us all better players and more appreciative of the range of music that is out there. An album you feel we all need to hear? Fav tracks on the album and why? Don’t be embarrassed – I recently rediscovered the “Beach Boys” – there is something very uplifting about the music even if it is not the sort of thing I see myself playing….. it brings back memories of summers from my youth – and that is never a bad thing. Great harmony. I have also recently re-discovered “The Smiths” and the wonderful playing of Mr Marr. If you have never heard of him check him out on youTube. A melodic style that runs underneath the vocals – kind of atmospheric in a way ….
nonG&L topic (ii) - Something new to me and something I hinted at to sirmyghin yesterday. I have a couple of friends that are classically trained musicians and they both work in schools and colleges as school music teachers (they are pianists). If you put a piece of music in front of them – they can play it note perfect in the first take. They are very talented. However, I recently suggested an informal jam to both of them and was met with a rather odd surprise that really shocked me and I did not expect it. “oh”, they both said “we can’t jam or improvise…I have to have the notes in front of me to know what to do..” they both said. What the f**k? Why can they not improvise? A long discussion ensued and it came down to how they were trained and the fact they never really had to do it so did not have those skills. They also cannot write music – just play it. Is this common? Do you know of any musician (personally) that was classically trained and simply cannot have a jam or improvisation session – yet can at the same time be very gifted musically???? They were genuinely unable to jam and it was not a musical snobbery thing (my first thought)….they were well aware of this limitation and I got the feeling others had asked them the same thing and they were quite embarrassed about it. Is this normal? Obviously this is just based on two of my friends – but their skill on the piano / keyboards is such that I would have thought a simple 12-bar blues would have been a breeze. Apparently not.
In contrast I’ve had no classical training and much prefer improvising over backing tracks rather than learning songs note-for-note (though like everyone here – I obviously do a bit of both).
. The PTB tone controls seem better calibrated to the MFD pickups though. i.e. there's a better range of tones available from the MFD's.