52 minutes ago, n4gix said:

After thinking about this I realized that at least I still had one good hand and two feet! So I began training my left hand to take over as the dominant hand, and used my thumb and forefinger as best as I could.

Good on ya Bill. It takes real fortutude to overcome something like that. When I got my cancer diagnosis I thought my world had ended. But then I realized I was still here and there were many others far worse off than I. I take a lot of inspiration from your story. I can only imagine what you went through.

Of late I have noticed, there have been some real wonderful threads that stimulate such a participation on subjects totally no-Flight Sim in a sim Forum, instead of the usual MSFS20 circus🤣

1 hour ago, vc10man said:

Having lived in Dublin, before I joined the RAF late 60s, my pals there taught me to have a liking for all things Irish, from Guinesses to ceilidh to bodran, as they took me to fleadh cheoil all over Ireland, and now RTE is my favourite radio station.

Although I didn’t listen to radio much (apart from when I was driving) prior to the lockdown and only rarely listened to RTE, I have found myself listening to various RTE channels quite a lot during the last few months and it seems to have improved considerably in terms of the quality of its programs, with some very good documentaries in their archives too. I particularly like the John Creedon show on RTE1 at 8pm on weekdays  - apart from the most eclectic mix of generally good music both Irish and worldwide which I have ever heard on one radio program, the presenter himself seems to have a great human touch and his words seem to have a inexplicably calming effect during these difficult times!

Bill

2 hours ago, Chocorua said:

t's been hard on the finger tips

I tried to learn the guitar once. But I quickly came to the realization that I had a choice to make. Either play the piano with blisters on my left finger tips( which doesn't work real well as the piano style I play is 70% left hand) or play the piano the way my left fingers have always been. End of guitar career. Our lead guitar player thought I was a real sissy. He kept telling that eventually my finger tips would harden a bit and everything would be OK again. But, I had no time for that. As my daddy always said...life's too short to dance with an ugly woman............Doug

Another guitarrist here, but I'm just an amateur. Last year I had joined a band, but due to time constraints on my side, I only had one gig (my only one ever) before parting ways. Those were interesting times.

3 hours ago, Stratocruiser1 said:

""I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band"

I loved that song. But, we all know that, here in America, real rock 'n roll ended 10 years before when those kids from Liverpool showed up.............Doug

46 minutes ago, vc10man said:

Of late I have noticed, there have been some real wonderful threads that stimulate such a participation on subjects totally no-Flight Sim in a sim Forum, instead of the usual MSFS20 circus🤣

Just like a RL hangar where a LOT of the talk has nothing to do with airplanes........Doug

51 minutes ago, W2DR said:

I tried to learn the guitar once. But I quickly came to the realization that I had a choice to make. Either play the piano with blisters on my left finger tips( which doesn't work real well as the piano style I play is 70% left hand) or play the piano the way my left fingers have always been. End of guitar career. Our lead guitar player thought I was a real sissy. He kept telling that eventually my finger tips would harden a bit and everything would be OK again. But, I had no time for that. As my daddy always said...life's too short to dance with an ugly woman............Doug

With regard to the 'blisters' when you learn guitar, to be honest a lot of that is caused by not having good technique when new to playing (because you are learning). What happens is that when you aren't used to the chord positions and also not used to the fact that you have to have your fingers perpendicular to the fretboard in order to get a clean sound whereby you are not accidentally muting adjacent strings.

So what happens when you haven't got that technique down yet, is that when you strum, the thing sounds bad when a lot of strings are muted because you're accidentally stopping them from ringing out cleanly owing to being new to it all. Because of that, people who are learning tend to think that it sounds muted in that way not because they are crashing into other strings and blocking them, but imagine it is because they are not pressing the strings down hard enough, so they assume they need to press harder and harder in the hopes of this solving the problem, which of course it doesn't, but what it does do is cut ruts into your fingers and that can get really sore and can indeed bleed. 

This is of course not helped by the fact that you kind of have to do three things at once when playing guitar and that can be tricky to master: Fretting the note with your (typically) left hand, plucking or strumming the string with (typically) your right hand or finger, and possibly singing to a different rhythm too at the same time, which is a bit like rubbing your stomach and patting your head simultaneously. But, when you learn how to do all that, then you know how sloppy you can do things and still get away with sounding okay, and that is ultimately what gives your playing its individual feel.

What doesn't help either, is that when you are learning, you're usually young and poor, so you can't necessarily afford the best guitar; better, more expensive guitars have a lower action (action = how far the strings are off the fretboard so that they clear the frets when they vibrate, so a guitar with a lower action, is easier to play). These days with the advent of CNC machining, which is accurate and inexpensive compared to days of old where things had to be hand crafted, things can be made much more accurately for less money, so even a cheap guitar from China or wherever is usually pretty good these days, or at least can be tweaked to be pretty good, so the finger bleeding problem might be consigned to history somewhat by that change in the availability of better guitars which don't cost an arm and a leg.

When I was learning as a kid, we all used to have crappy copies of Gibsons and Fenders with terrible actions and cheap electrics, so what that meant is quite a lot of guitarists got pretty good at customising and improving stuff themselves by sticking better pick ups and potentiometers on them, dressing the frets or refretting them entirely and so on.

Edited June 18, 20205 yr by Chock

Alan, Ive seen you play in your video and I thought darn that guy looks like Rod Stewart. I bet you do a mean MAGGI May.

Welcome back Doug! I too have been primarily a keyboard player since childhood. Mainly organ and synthesizer, I never had access to a piano growing up, but my mother owned a full size Gulbransen President organ, and I initially learned to play on that. In the serventies, after I returned from active duty in the Air Force, I owned an ARP 2600 and Mini Moog, and had a 50% stake in a Hammond B3 that had been re-cabineted for live performance.

My main inspirations as a keyboard player were and always shall be, the late Jon Lord of Deep Purple and Ray Manzarek of the Doors. 

When I got married and moved to the east coast in the early 80’s, I sold everything, and drifted away from music for many years. (Somewhat ironic, as the place I settled is only 25 miles from Trumansburg, NY, where Bob Moog had  his first shop and factory).

In  2012, I bought my first Mac Book, and discovered the many keyboard emulators available for the Mac platform.  I now own the complete V collection from Arturia, which includes software emulations of virtually all the classic analog and digital synths from the 70s 80s and 90s, as well as classic rock organs like the Farfisa and Vox Continental, and even the Hammond B3, as well as several excellent pianos. I use an 88-key MIDI keyboard.

As Chock said, when you learn an instrument, it’s like having a life-long friend. Very glad you have rediscovered the joy of making music!

Edited June 18, 20205 yr by JRBarrett

6 hours ago, Chock said:

A guy goes into a shop and he says: 'I want a Fender Stratocaster, a WEM Copycat tape delay, and a Fender Twin amp.'

The guy in the shop says: 'What for? You're a drummer, aren't you?'

The guy gets indignant and says, 'NO, I'm a guitarist! I want the Strat, the echo and the amp!'

The shop guy goes: 'Come on, admit it, you're a drummer aren't you?'

The guy finally relents and says: 'Yeah, alright, I'm a drummer. How did you know?'

The shop guy goes: 'Because this is a chip shop.'

 

Question: What do you call those people who hang around with musicians?

Answer: Drummers.

Well, about 10 years ago I thought about taking up the guitar after hearing a guy sitting outside of Whole Foods in Boca Raton, Florida strumming the opening chords to "Stairway to Heaven"  with bunch of people gathered around him. I said to myself, I'd like be able to play that someday as well.  So in my late 50's, I went out  and bought an acoustic guitar, and signed-up for lessons at the same music store.  And a week later, got a phone call for my first lesson.  The guy told the appointment date, and then told me the name of the instructor:  JImmy Hendickson.  Well, I at first thought I wad being punked by someone.  Jimi Hendrix?  I said, say that again.  The name was actually JImmy Hendickson.  And when I first met him for my 1st lesson, he himself was using an electric guitar and was pretty good, of course. (was he inspired by Jimi?)  

But alas, after six weekly lessons, learning the chords, and to how to read basic sheet music, I became the full-time caretaker of my (late) wife and had to drop the guitar thing...  Still have it though.

1 minute ago, overspeed3 said:

Well, about 10 years ago I thought about taking up the guitar after hearing a guy sitting outside of Whole Foods in Boca Raton, Florida strumming the opening chords to "Stairway to Heaven"  with bunch of people gathered around him. I said to myself, I'd like be able to play that someday as well.  So in my late 50's, I went out  and bought an acoustic guitar, and signed-up for lessons at the same music store.  And a week later, got a phone call for my first lesson.  The guy told the appointment date, and then told me the name of the instructor:  JImmy Hendickson.  Well, I at first thought I wad being punked by someone.  Jimi Hendrix?  I said, say that again.  The name was actually JImmy Hendickson.  And when I first met him for my 1st lesson, he himself was using an electric guitar and was pretty good, of course. (was he inspired by Jimi?)  

But alas, after six weekly lessons, learning the chords, and to how to read basic sheet music, I became the full-time caretaker of my (late) wife and had to drop the guitar thing...  Still have it though.

When I was at college in Cornwall years ago, we knew a guy whose name was John Lennon, and he had a guitar. Of course everyone wanted to have a go on it it so they could genuinely say they'd once played John Lennon's guitar.

Now, that's a hoot, Chock!

Wow are we all musicians as well!?

OK, confession - 2 Sims but 5 guitars (4 Fenders) and  Fender Deville Hotrod amp.

Playing with amazing Guitar Amp Sims like TH-U while I wait for the P3D v5 update.

Love it. I've even got the arthritic left thumb lol

I hear my P3D aircraft sounds through a Fireface 802 sound interface, studio monitors and a Lake People Headphone amp.

@Chock - love the chipshop joke - reminds me of when I used to be in a band. Spot on!

Ray