Travel Guitar vs Guitalele vs ???

[steelmooch]

It was fun reading everyone's contributions...you can always count on "music" people...good stuff.   

Tom Seiler: Awesome comment about "key" vs "register of the instrument" in regard to one's ability to sing the notes of a song.  That was spot-on and gave this novice something to think about and to get right in my head.  Thanks. 

Tom: Shared territory with "making it work", even if it breaks convention or the formal "rules".  Great comment about the transposer.  I've found an online one (smartphone) that I love...it's Ultimate Guitar...an inexpensive app that has tens of thousands of songs...with lyrics, chords, and chord-forms...they can be transposed quickly as long as you have a phone signal...great for around the campfire for those of us who rely on such things.  The icon looks like a yellow, capital "G" if you're interested. 

8Muddypaws:  I'd be interested in your Baby Taylor if you think it would be a good fit for me, and if I could give you what you need for it.  Thanks...let me know. 

Have a nice weekend, all! 

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the heads up on the app. A phone would be too small for me to read & play from, but my tablet would work. Wish I'd thought of using it when we were recently struggling to play with failing light.

 

[8Muddypaws]

Or one of these:  http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/mighty-bright-encore-led-music-light-with-case?rNtt=music%20stand%20lights&index=3

I'd be surprised if nobody published a program that does all that without a network connection.  As Tom can attest I have a goodly number of fake sheets.  I've probably got 200 in my computer and 2,000 on paper only.  I know which ones I like and carry them with me.  Most of the stuff I've written uses chords & voicings that aren't easily transposable.  I might be playing notes on the 12'th fret, open, and second fret at the same time.  It could be done, theoretically, but it would make for some really ugly fingerings.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Russ. I have a couple of music stand lights, not quite as fancy as that one. But I didn't have the lights with me in the RV park in Wyoming    I could/should have brought out a bright floor lamp from the coach - like this.

 

[UTTransplant]

Regarding a Ultimate Guitar, I would like to hear more to determine if it is worth the $40-$50 cost. Yes, the app is free, but it seems like you need a $6/month fee or the larger "lifetime" cost. That's a chunk of change for an unknown application. With a book, I can scan it first, but an app doesn't let me do that. I played guitar in high school/college 40 years ago, and I just started trying to pick it up again.

 

[steelmooch]

That Ultimate Guitar app (the logo in the app store looks like a capital "G" with little horns on it) was either a $1.99 or a $4.99 one-time download. 

I've not paid anything since...had it for a couple of years now.  It asked numerous times if I wanted to upgrade...or to buy more...but as a basic "strummer", it's all that I need.  Thousands and thousands of songs...quick transposition from one key to another...lyrics right there...works for me. 

I actually write the songs out, then, in a tab notebook so that they're large enough to see and to use - especially at low light by the campfire. 

Something to consider, but I'm sure that some of the online "freebies" probably do some of the same things.  This one seems to have a large and active enough community that it has some neat, off-beat, and newer stuff that I've been interested in...so I like it. 

Happy playing! 

 

[8Muddypaws]

I haven't tried it but this PC app looks interesting.  Transposes, does capos, and can produce a printable PDF (Adobe doc).  And it's free.  MajorGeeks is one of the only places I completely trust for downloads.  Speaking of which, I've found that many of the 'Free songs' sites on the net are full of spam and malicious code, i.e. addbots.  So be careful out there.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/openchords.html

 

[SeilerBird]

Here is a website I found that does just about everything for the uke and it is free:

https://ukuchords.com/