StringTalk

[Iron]

Robby lake,
I did'nt forget about you,I'll get to it as soon as possible..

[Cathy]

Originally posted by Iron:
Been outta touch for a while,just got the computor back from the shop the day before X-mas.
Got some catching up to do whenever time allows.
Cathy, did you try the site for the restless bridge that I mentioned to Someday?

No, I didn't see the link to it. Can you repost it?
I'm not home this week. I spent last week in NY and this week in Southern Maine at my son's house. If it would stop snowing, I might work my way home. Presque Isle, where I live in Northern Maine, got over 2 feet of snow yesterday. Places further north got 4 feet, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.
We're taking off for home soon. Wish me luck!

Cathy
http://www.cathycowette.com

[Robby Lake]

The Restless Bridge has some of the most obscure chords that Gord has ever displayed.Even though he rarely ever shows it,he knows his way up the fretboard... that was quite evident when I saw him play,"In My Fashion" live in Clearwater.
In one of my songs I use some of what I hear in
the bridge of "Restless".
And Mary,Make sre your truss rod and saddle are adjusted accordingly.Verrrry important...especially during the colder months.
I've gone thu every string brand known to man.
On Gords'12 string,he uses Ernie Balls with a wound octive E and B,so it's less steel sounding.
I believe he uses 12-52's on the 12 string and they come with plain steel octive E and B,so he substitutes them.I myself haven't owned a 12 since my crazy ex bashed mine(it was signed by Gord and Terry)but I have a 6 string.
I switch between 10s and 13's ,depending on how I feeel from week to week.My Electric has been in the shop for the past 2 months son when I play gigs all my songs from Hank to Hendrix have to be on my 6 string.D'addario EXP's are the best strings ever by far.If you're smart you'll by ,em

[Iron]

As for the R-bridge,I had my own improv.that worked for me,then I aquired the R bridge tab,as I mentioned.I don't know what I'm doin wrong,but I do know it don't sound like it should.Maybe someday it will just "click".That happens once in a while.
Robby,
What does winter,or for that matter,spring summer or fall,have to do with a setup? Kinda got me scratchin' the side of my head on that one...

[New 12 String Mike]

Mary,

You like Pony Man, huh? Got those fingers working?

Great!

[Robby Lake]

You guys are gross!We're soppose to be talkin bout Lightfoot here!Only kidding.
So Restless...some kind of diminished and augmented chords i guess,
Whenever I have trouble writting or finding chords
I start with the bass.What is the Bass DOING?
In the case of Restless,the bass is hard to hear until the chorus.O.K.,so as I remember it,you got the Capo on the 2nd and the main chord is the "A".
Just work on the bass notes or root from the A string.I guess ..that's my 2 cents-if that!

[Cathy]

Originally posted by Robby Lake:
[clip]I myself haven't owned a 12 since my crazy ex bashed mine(it was signed by Gord and Terry)but I have a 6 string.
[clip]

God. Your ex must be related to my ex, 'cause mine smashed up a guitar, too. Mine was just a cheap old Aria OM something or other, but it was by far the best guitar I owned at the time. If he'd have done that to one of my Martins, I'd have beaten him silly with what was left of the neck. And I'd have enjoyed each and every THUD.

[Iron]

Must have been some sort of one of those ma naj a twa things goin on.

[Iron]

Wow,these guitar bashing stories are gettin better and better.My DY45 Alvy ended up with the top crunched halfway down to the back.....
It was "The Ghost in The House",or my best friend at the time,,,"Wagged His Tale Into It"...

Go Figure

[Iron]

Robby lake,
I finally got around to getting some ODR's done.If You want to send me your mailing address(on priv.mess. or E-mail),I'll get it out to You.I sent You an E-mail to the address You gave me,but if You don't check em any more often than I do,I thought this might get to you quicker.
I made two extra,so if anyone else is interested,GitterDone.

[talbot10]

Originally posted by someday:
Just checkin in on String Talk.. finding that I'm trying to learn too much too fast and need to go back to strumming on the 12-string for a while... been concentrating on finger picking songs on the 6-string for about a month. These are all the songs in the pile I've worked on/learned since September.

Finger Picking songs:

Changes


The Pony Man
Circle of Steel
Pussywillows, Cattails
Restless - still working on bridge
If You Could Read My Mind - in progress
Bitter Green - in progress
Steel Rail Blues - in progress

Strumming Songs:

The Wreck
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Sundown
Cotton Jenny
Black Day in July
Early Morning Rain
I'm Not Sayin' - in progress
Lovin' Me - in progress

Wow! Quite a workload Mary! Good luck with them all. If you need any of the tabs let me know. see ya in the chat
Bill Hall

[Iron]

Someday,
When You get the R-bridge down,let me know how it works,if it works as per Mathew's tabs.It is really easy to "finger out",but I just cannot get it to sound right. You mentioned a few of my favorite 12's,The Wreck,EMR,and one You did'nt mention,SoT. Just was wondering if Your adding any lead with yer strumming tunes?On the Wreck,Terry's lead is a bit tough with all the bends,at least for me,so I do a version just using the E and B strings,and a little sliding, on the 12.It ain't Terry's Gretch,but it does get the point across if your workin it solo.Let me know if Your interested in the easy tabs for the Wreck,and I'll find a way to get them to You.(hey Hon,can You come here for a minute..)

Bill,
Could You hook me up with the tabs for Terrys's lead in "Baby Step Back"?I've been tryin to work this out,off and on,for a couple years.Believe me,I need the tabs....
What is the "Chat"?. Is it Gord stuff or more oriented for you masters of the strings?{don't take that wrong,That's a compliment}

[charlene]

it's some folks who post here and some who post on the newsgroup - alt.fan.lightfoot - we just yack about everything and anything...some gord, some not....follow the instructions at John's CHAT post earlier today and join in at 9 on Friday's.....

[Cathy]

Originally posted by charlene:
it's some folks who post here and some who post on the newsgroup - alt.fan.lightfoot - we just yack about everything and anything...some gord, some not....follow the instructions at John's CHAT post earlier today and join in at 9 on Friday's.....

I thought the newsgroup was at alt.music.lightfoot

[charlene]

yep - that's it cathy!

this has been a test and you scored 100%
!!lol

[Cathy]

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.
Do not adjust you're TV sets.

Does anyone still see these? It seems like since cable TV took over, and since the Soviet Union fell, they no longer air these EBS tests. I used to see them all the time, but possible it was because we lived near Loring Air Force Base, which was a nuclear facility.

Hey, when did this 2nd foot grow on my right leg?

[Iron]

Second foot on yer right leg!!!
Hows about shairing some of that stuff....

[Cathy]

I remember, as a teenager, I used to be scared to death of the Loring base. I was sure there would be a nuclear war, and the Russians would blow the base up, and it would take a 100 mile diameter of surrounding land with it.

I remember one time in the late 1970s when they evacuated the entire base for some reason. They lined all the people up in cars and they stretched from Fort Fairfield, to Caribou, to Presque Isle. I remember I asked one of the soldiers what the heck was going on, and he said, "I'm sorry. I'm not at liberty to say." Spooky.

Another time, they found a strange craft hovering over the base and sent F-11s up to shoo it away. It took off at warp speed and needless to say, the F-11s couldn't keep up. They blamed that on some kind of temperature inversion. Many people in the area saw it, and claim it was a UFO. I just know that I didn't dare look out my north bedroom window at night for about 2 years after that, because the aliens might show up or something. I'm telling you, living near that place traumatized most of us.

[johnfowles]

[quote]Originally posted by Cathy:

Hey Iron, do you think you could share the Restless bridge tablature with me? I used to have it, but I lost it, and never learned to play it right. I play a version of it, but something is different.

Thanks,

Hey Cathy Brian iron was quite correct the Restless tab is on my web site still (I found on a floppy having saved it back in about 1998 when Matthew Fifer's site still existed).. I must contact Mathew as from what I saved plus delving into the internet Archives Wayback Machine I have most of his site saved for prosperity and provisionally uploaded to my site already is the Restless tab plus a small wav file of Matthew himself playing it as linked from:-
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/matthew...sbridgetab.htm
John Fowles

[Cathy]

Thanks, John.

[New 12 String Mike]

Hey Fellow String Talkers.

I'd like to recommend a book to each of you; CLAPTON'S GUITAR, by Allen St. John.

Any acoustic guitarist will cherish this book for years. It is the true story of Western Virginia luthier and guitarist Wayne Henderson and how he builds an OM guitar for Eric Clapton.

The book isn't really about Clapton at all, but about acoustic guitar playing and building, filled with Virginia mountain humor, (Something I grew up with,) and a great deal about guitar history and Martin Guitar lore.

You will come away from this read, moved, more knowledgable about guitar making and playing, (Henderson is a Bluegrass finger picker, teacher, recording artist, etc.,) than you will imagine.

A warning though. It will very hard to avoid a serious GAS attack for a new, or particularly old, Martin while reading this book

I really cannot recommend the book more highly for every guitar player here.

Enjoy it.

[Iron]

Thanks Mike,
Gloria loves shopping on E-bay,and I like to read.I will put this book on the E-bay list.

Someday,
Congrats and all that good stuff.You gotta be counting the days.I'm happy for You and Your friend(s).I'm sure You will have a great time when You see Gordon and the Guy's.You sure got something to look forward to,and this sure otta put "less important" stuff,in the shadows.In the meantime,keep on pickin and grinnin...

[johnfowles]

Originally posted by Iron:
Thanks Mike,
Gloria loves shopping on E-bay,and I like to read.I will put this book on the E-bay list.

OK for those unable to afford a real signature edition Martin D18GL
there is on ebay at:-
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gordon-Lightfoot...QQcmdZViewItem
a very nice guitar pick


for the relatively bargain price of $100.00
John Fowles
'Cause he's the best of all the auctioneers

[Iron]

Thank's John,
I did'nt see this one.You cannot have too many of these pickers.I have many,but I need more.[watchout for the bootlegs]
The 100 junior bacons is for buy it now.I put in a bid,what the heck. I got shnookered into payin about $25 for a couple when they first appeared on E-bay.The seller claimed that"they were only issued with the d-18GL guitars."That was a "crock-o-bull".
If my rememory serves me right,I think Val helped me out with gettin to the bottom of "The Great D-18GL Pick Caper". I took it upon meself to contact Martin to see what they had to say...."The picks were not included with the guitars,they were GIVEN out to dealers and Given out at the guitar conventions that were advertising the guitar.They[Martin] also sent me several of them.
I would hypothesize that You have one,or many.In the highly unlikely event that I am wrong,correct me,and I will rectify the situation promptly...

[New 12 String Mike]

Speaking of Martin guitars...

Saturday my wife and I stopped by the guitar shop. I wanted to pick up a copy of "The Sounding Board," Martin's newsletter. They are available free at the dealers. Honestly, that was ALL I intended to do.

Yeah, I was feeling some GAS after reading the "Clapton's Guitar" book, but I felt I had the syndrome under control. I was happy with my Alvy 12 and my DXM Martin and although I had read lots about rosewood guitars and pre-war Martins, etc., I was cool.

But since I was there...

I played a couple of guitars anyway.

Now my wife, being the daughter of a string musician knows something of wooden instruments and how they sound. She's a woodwind player herself, and I shared with her much of the Martin guitar lore from the Clapton book as I read it. She's been listening to me play for some time too.

It was then I picked up and began to play a D-28. Now for those of you that don't know, a Martin D- 28 has sorta been the "standard" for 6-string dreds since Martin began making them in 1931. Gord doesn't play one now, but did years ago. In fact, he's holding one on the Don Quixtote cover.

The guitar just sang as I played it, almost playing the notes before my fingers touched the strings. I was in heaven, but my wife...

Maybe some of the old Martin lore, from the book, had rubbed off on her, or she could really hear the difference as I played it. When the salesman checked back with us, SHE ASKED HIM THE PRICE!!!

I hardly said a thing.

The price was a good one, and half an hour later we walked out of the shop with a copy of the newsletter and a new Martin D-28.

I've been married to her for 30 years and yet she can still surprise me!