Old Musicians

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Bill

Kinda tough to find music for that combination  ;D
 
Hey all you pickers, come on down to south Texas for music.  There must be a couple hundred organized jams a week from November to May.  All the way from Mission to Harlingon.  Whatever type of music you like from strictly acoustic blue grass to big band and from novices to pros.  Take an instrument out and start picking and you will have a group in no time. 
 
Tom said:
Bill

Kinda tough to find music for that combination  ;D

Tom,

I'd call it impossible.

I found an old instrument Pat's dad used to play. I think it's a baritone ukelele! It looks like a smaller guitar but only has 4 strings. So many instruments, so little time. :)
 
Jim

I really wish I'd learned to read and play music when I was a kid. I taught myself some basic music reading a few years ago, but playing is just too tough for me. I guess I don't have the patience to practice until the notes are second nature. I'll just have to stick to vocals. I have a reasonable ear for it and can pick up almost any tune I hear. Would sure be nice to plonk out an unheard (by me) tune from sheet music and learn new songs without having to rely on someone else singing or playing it first.
 
Tom,

I never did learn to read music. I played drums for awhile when in the Navy with a small shipboard combo. Didn't need to read music in those days. All the tunes were the same. :) We had a blast in the Far East. After that I joined the Pipe Band when I got out of the Navy. Played drums there for about 5 or 6 years. When the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards came out with their recording of Amazing Grace I told Pat I had to learn to play that on the pipes. Started practicing until I finally learned a couple of tunes, including that one. :) One day the Pipe Sargeant asked me when I was going to play on the street. I said I wasn't good enough. He said 'yes, you are'. Sure surprised me!!!

They only way I ever learned the tunes was to sit around the table with the practice chanter and follow the music while we played. After awhile I was able to remember the tune. Today most of the tunes are foggy as you found out in Moab. ;D ;D

Let's see...drums, pipes, tin whistle, uke....Man, I think I'm out of time!!!


 
Jim Dick said:
I'd call it impossible.

I found an old instrument Pat's dad used to play. I think it's a baritone ukelele! It looks like a smaller guitar but only has 4 strings. So many instruments, so little time. :)

There's a instrument that's a tenor guitar and has different a nice, different, tenor sound with only four strings and smaller. I [layed a Martin tenor all one summer while working at Lake Webster IN. I've always wished I'd bought one for the smaller neck and my big hands with small fingers.  8)
 
Bob Maxwell said:
I played a Martin tenor

Another musician comes out of the woodwork! I knew you could sing Bob, but didn't realize you could play.
 
Bob Maxwell said:
There's a instrument that's a tenor guitar and has different a nice, different, tenor sound with only four strings and smaller. I [layed a Martin tenor all one summer while working at Lake Webster IN. I've always wished I'd bought one for the smaller neck and my big hands with small fingers.  8)

Bob,

I tried looking this instrument up on the internet and could only find 4 string bass guitars or the 4 string ukes. I didn't realize it but there are about 4 or 5 different size ukes! This one does sound a little more like a guitar than a uke. It was made in America but looks like it might have been an Italian company from the wording that's left on the tag inside. Wish I had the name of the company!

Martin guitars are quite popular. We toured the Martin factory with the Parks a couple of years ago. What a great tour! You are actually in the plant and can talk to the individuals that are working on the guitars. I may have to do the tour again. At the end of the tour we passed a cubicle where a young lady was holding a very fancy guitar. It was called the Tree of Life. All inlaid pearl on the neck. Chet got a picture. After we ooohed and awed she told us it cost $50,000!!! They are so busy filling orders it would take about 2 years for a custom built unit.



 
WOW....nice instruments....I couldn't afford a complet guitar....I am saving for the rest.... see  http://home.earthlink.net/~rvparkmusic/id4.html    scroll down
Cliff
 
Another neat guitar is by Taylor I think.  It is the Liberty Tree guitar.  The wood comes from one of the last of the thirteen Liberty Trees planted in each of the 13 original states back in 1776.  This was the last surviving tree, and it was either knocked over or had to be cut because of it's health, howeve, the company bought the wood and is making a limited edition guitar,  The inlay has the battle flag, and all sorts of neat items.  Look it up in Google.  Great guitar, great story, may even be a great investment.

 
Taylors are great guitars....but I traded mine for a Breedlove guitar. Probably the best sounding guitar I ever owned.
Cliff
http://home.earthlink.net/~rvparkmusic/
 
Cliff Boyd said:
Taylors are great guitars....but I traded mine for a Breedlove guitar. Probably the best sounding guitar I ever owned.
Cliff
http://home.earthlink.net/~rvparkmusic/

Thanks for sharing your music.  :D  :D  Enjoyed some of the clips.  :D.

Regards,
Liz.
 
:) I think it's great that we have RV'ers interested in making their own Music. I still have my 1960's EKO Les Paul look-a-like that I bought in Singapore and a 12 string EROS 612 Nevada that I bought on-route through the USA in 1969. The EKO's neck has unfortunately warped and the tension bar has snapped. But the EROS is as good as the day I bought it. Apart that is from the original strings which are still fitted.? ;D I took up the Guitar again 5 years ago after we retired from Karaoke and went Full-Time RV'ing. I bought myself a Yamaha Pacifica and a small practice amp. Keep singing and playing boys. I only wish I could join you. ;)
 
We have a karaoke system that plays video CD format (time to upgrade) and plugs into the TV and stereo system. My many years of travelling in Asia taught me that it's a great party piece.

I've been singing since I was knee high to a coal miner and have always been able to pick up the tunes by ear, but I always regretted not being able to read music. When I sang with a barbershop chorus I was envious of the guys who could pick up a music score and blurt out a tune. So a few years ago I bought myself an electronic keyboard and a few books to teach myself to read music and even took music lessons. I picked up enough to be able to follow along on a score, but I play the keyboard about as well as I type on a PC. (My wife tells me I'm the fastest 1-finger typist she's seen.) I still haven't made the connection between what's written on a score and what comes out of my mouth though  :(
 
:D I know where you are coming from Tom. I learned to read Music at school and learned Guitar chords from a book. I could teach anyone (and have done) how to read and play from music. But can I do it myself? No way Jose'. Unless I do it a note at a time. I originally learned to play Intrumental by ear, mainly The Shadows music and went onto improvise from there. I mentioned elsewhere (I think) I have just spent 6 months burning 3000 songs from my 12" Laser Karaoke Discs onto Hard drives. I have also burned them onto DVD's too. We will be doing a Karaoke next Tuesday for the Old Folk when we visit the Mother-in-Law. I also began singing when I was as tall as a Davey Lamp (Miner's Lamp). Of course you Guy's from the Valley have an advantage. IMHO.  :D
 
JohnSandyWhite said:
I learned to read Music at school

You had a big advantage. I signed up for music my first week in grammar school. They gave me a violin, I went home and played a few screeches, and was told to "get that thing out of here". That was the end of my music lessons.

I could teach anyone (and have done) how to read and play from music.

If we ever meet up in a campground or at one of the services on the M4, you're booked!

The Shadows music

Ah, that takes me back. Haven't heard of them in a long time, but I understand Cliff Richard is still going.

Of course you Guy's from the Valley have an advantage.

That comes from a combination of chapel 3 times on Sunday and being forced down the pit the rest of the week by the rich coal mine owners from the other side of the Severn. The golden aera of Welsh rugby in the 70's helped a little too, especially when Wales was playing England  ;D
 
:) Yes Cliff is still Singing and Touring as is Big Tom of course. If we ever meet on the M4? That will be a booking I will keep. Weslh Rubgy of the 70's? They were a good team for sure. I played against the 'All Blacks' in Singapore.  :eek: That was something else.  ;)
I worked down the Coal Mines for 16 1/2 years. If fact our Local Colliery is one of the few still open. Not for long though. Tha's closing too.  ???
 
JohnSandyWhite said:
I played against the 'All Blacks' in Singapore. :eek: That was something else.

That must have been a wonderful experience. Were you playing for the Barbarians or England? I attended my first game at the ripe old age of 6 months and my Dad used to take me to watch all the home games of the local club. Used to be a religion in those days.

I worked down the Coal Mines for 16 1/2 years.

Ah, you know all too well how it was then. My Dad started in the mines when he was 12 years old. Finally had to quit when diagnosed with pneumoconiosis and start a new career. But the disease was a constant memory for the rest of his life. Hope you were able to escape its effects. Both grandfathers and all my uncles except one were coalminers and I grew up with the threat "If you don't do well in school, you're going down the pit". That was quite an incentive to pay attention in class  ;D

our Local Colliery is one of the few still open. Not for long though.

Reminds me of a Max Boyce song from the 70's (I still know all his songs) - the first line went "In our little valley, they closed the colliery down".
 
So Tom, you must have read "How Green Was My Valley" as one of your first reads?  I read it as boy from Guyana in boarding school in England sometime between 1949 and 1955.

Also, ISTR that you have a good CD collection?  Do you have CDs of the famous Welsh choirs?  What a fabulous sound, along with the brass bands. (Hmmh, a wave of nostalgia just engulfed me; methinks I'm off to locate one of mine and put it on for a play.)  Oh, and what about the Eisteddfods?  Did you attend any of those.

My connection with Welsh men singing comes mainly from an uncle of mine, with whom I spent some of my English summers, and who played in a good Salvation Army band.

Ciao,

Doug
 
DougJ said:
you must have read "How Green Was My Valley"

Oh yes and also saw the original movie. A later re-make of the movie was filmed in the village where I grew up, but I've yet to see it on the screen.

Do you have CDs of the famous Welsh choirs?

Most defintely. Also have some of them on old tapes. Wonderful harmony.

One time when I was over there on a visit, I went to a pub where one of the choirs goes after choir practice. I gave the landlord (aka bar tender) some beer money for the guys and they didn't stop singing all night. Quite an emotional moment when they stood around me in a circle and sang "Well keep a welcome in the hillsides".
 
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