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Flamenco, Luddites and Looping (Oh my!)




On 1-Aug-06, at 1:28 PM, Todd Pafford wrote:

There's
something satisfyingly natural, almost primal, about sitting down with
just you and the guitar and making music. Guess I'm living the
ludite's life at the moment. :)

Oh boy! I can identify with that. After so many years staring at the monitor doing MIDI music, steeped in blinking LEDs and VU meters, it DOES feel good to not have to throw ONE SWITCH to enter paradise. But I'm trying to de-Luddite myself and get back at it. LOTS of resistance though.

But there's also something really sweet about walking into a gig with just an acoustic guitar, plugging it in or mic'ing it, and going to town. And then leaving town with just the same guitar and a little more lettuce in the wallet.

We'll see for me how it all ends up. The jury's still out. I'm enjoying looping for now and think it will help a lot with my performance with my daughter live. I layered so many parts on her CD I just don't have enough fingers to play them. So I'm hoping the looper will help on that front.

Met a great flamenco player from Spain recently, Juan Martinez. He humbled all of us string wranglers at the festival back east.

richard sales
glassWing farm and studio
vancouver island, b.c.
800.545.6846
250.752.4816
www.glassWing.com
www.richardsales.com
www.hayleysales.com
www.blueberryfieldsfarm.com


On 8/1/06, Krispen Hartung <khartung@cableone.net> wrote:
This is what I love about it...I actually like hearing the acoustic sound
and the amplified/effected sound...it gives me a few milliseconds of time to
comprehend my playing before it comes out of the PA. I can see how it would
be awkward for others.

Kris

----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd Pafford" <calenlas@gmail.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: OT: New Nylon String Through my Laptop system....oh my!!!


> What I've never liked about running my nylon classicals through my
> effects rig is the disparity between the accoustic sound of the guitar
> riding over the sound coming from the speakers. For example, when
> laying down a loop, I'm hearing both the accoustic sound plus the
> electric passed through the looper (& effects). The sum, in this
> situation, is greater than what actually gets layed down in the loop
> and subsequently played back. It makes it a pain to balance the
> levels.
>
> Of course, there's also the feedback issues as well. Gotta have those
> notch filters tuned up.
>
> I've considered (when I win the lottery) picking up a Godin Multiac.
> Nylon strings full classical scale & neck width, but built to be
> plugged in with minimal accoustic projection. Dreamy. Maybe I'll
> sell off some of my old gear.
>
> Todd
>
>
> On 8/1/06, Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com> wrote:
>>
>> Awesome, Krispen! I'm really excited to hear what you do with it.
>>
>> What I like about messing with the nylon-string, besides the contrast of
>> the rich tone, is the fingerstyle possibilities. It's possible to play
>> fingerstyle on electrics or steel-strings, of course, but to really dig
>> in
>> without destroying your nails you need one of these. And I haven't heard
>> many people really going in an experimental direction with one. Though
>> there's Dominic Frasca (who I found out about here), who I hear uses a
>> laptop for his effects, and does amazing things on nylon-string.
>>
>> Someday I hope we can play together, I'll bring my four-track, you bring
>> your laptop and we'll have a super-lo/super-hi-fi nylon-string duet...!
>>
>>
>> Daryl Shawn
>> www.swanwelder.com
>>
>>
>> I just bought a new Taylor Nylon string today, oh my....why I didn't I
>> buy a
>> nylon strong years ago baffles me, even when I had a traditional
>> classical
>> guitar sitting in my corner for years and years. This may very well be
>> my
>> main guitar now for looping. These Taylor's are really interesting
>> guitars,
>> because even though they are often shunned by traditional classical
>> guitarists and even some acoustic jazz players (based on some reviews I
>> read) as sounding very flat and sterile unamplified (which I agree is
>> partly
>> true), they sound tremendous through the electronic pickup system. I
>> believe these guitars were designed to be played amplified, not
>> "unplugged".
>> In fact, my inexpensive Yamaha classical guitar sounds better
>> unplugged...but that is not the point here.
>>
>> I bought the NS32-CE, which is the entry level model for Taylor nylon
>> strings....after weighing the options I got with higher models, and the
>> fact
>> that the neck and fretboard (playability) is basically the same on all
>> the
>> models, I went this route because I prefer a simple guitar, rather than
>> one
>> with exotic woods and all the other bells and whistles. This guitar is
>> basically the sibling of my Taylor steel string electric, the 310 CE.
>> They
>> look very similar.
>>
>> http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/model.aspx?model=NS32-CE
>>
>> What I like most about the nylon string and what I like to do
>> looping-wise
>> is that the tone of the nylon string sounds very traditional and
>> authentic
>> (maybe because I was trained on the classical guitar and it is often
>> considered the instrument for academic study), yet I am placing this in
>> juxtaposition with some serious tone mangling and experimental effects. I
>> just love the contrast of these two extremes. It would be analogous to
>> placing a microphone on a grand piano and running it through a bunch of
>> insane soft synths. You have this beautiful and warm bell-like tone of a
>> nylon string guitar, but driving the most wild and bizarre VST effects.
>> It
>> really is a wonderful thing. The tone of the guitar can be so soft and
>> warm,
>> yet the effects it triggers can take a whole new course of action and
>> life
>> of their own.
>>
>> I hope to bring this to Y2K6, unless I think I might not be able to get
>> it
>> on the plane safely. I had no problems last year.
>>
>> Kris
>>
>>
>>
>
>