Announcing... RiffMasters!
- Thread starter TVvoodoo
- Start date
In 1972 I was in the 8’th grade
My Dad bought my younger brother and I a Teisco from K-Mart, we then went to the local music store, and he bought me an Alamo amp, one of the small practice amps , a strap, a glass slide, and a tuning fork, then enrolled me into lessons.
I had no clue on what string was what, and the tuning fork meant nothing to me, same thing with the pitch pipe.
When I went for the first lesson, I was shocked that I would not be using my electric guitar !!
They handed us all classical acoustics. There were about 20 of us in the class. We were never properly taught to tune the guitar, the instructor’s would walk around an tune everybody’s instrument, and they didn’t teach us the string names or notes they represented.
So to put it bluntly, I really didn’t learn much.
But I still had that fire inside to learn how to play.
One of my friends taught me how to play
Down on the corner, by CCR.
That would have been the first song I could stumble through.
I then managed to get Smoke on the Water, and I don’t need no doctor, but not complete.
The rest would have to wait till I was 18 when I was finally shown how to properly tune my guitar,
So from 72-76 I really didn’t play.
The clip will be coming, after I relearn it, ha ha
My Dad bought my younger brother and I a Teisco from K-Mart, we then went to the local music store, and he bought me an Alamo amp, one of the small practice amps , a strap, a glass slide, and a tuning fork, then enrolled me into lessons.
I had no clue on what string was what, and the tuning fork meant nothing to me, same thing with the pitch pipe.
When I went for the first lesson, I was shocked that I would not be using my electric guitar !!
They handed us all classical acoustics. There were about 20 of us in the class. We were never properly taught to tune the guitar, the instructor’s would walk around an tune everybody’s instrument, and they didn’t teach us the string names or notes they represented.
So to put it bluntly, I really didn’t learn much.
But I still had that fire inside to learn how to play.
One of my friends taught me how to play
Down on the corner, by CCR.
That would have been the first song I could stumble through.
I then managed to get Smoke on the Water, and I don’t need no doctor, but not complete.
The rest would have to wait till I was 18 when I was finally shown how to properly tune my guitar,
So from 72-76 I really didn’t play.
The clip will be coming, after I relearn it, ha ha
ibmorjamn
Ambassador of Moar Jammin
Are you sure that's not planet 420 ?
ibmorjamn
Ambassador of Moar Jammin
Damn it Jethro, sounds great. Get in and enter this riff master contest !
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
@LiveeviL2000 seems to be suffering the worst of the introductory RiffMaster Guitar duel at the hands of @Clockworkmike
VOTING THREAD LINK RIGHT HERE - GO VOTE, SLACKER!!!!
Vito's sultry fever dream submission is not exactly scratching the voting itch of the TTR immoral majority - SO FAR! Even while his body went FULL viral, his intricate shredfest is still waiting to blow up. Thankfully, Liveevil2000 still has plenty of time to cajole and convince any who've not yet voted that his fretboard tap-dancing was superior. However, even if he is unable to do that, he can take solace in that it's all still worth a valuable THREE RiffMaster points and plenty reason to celebrate.
I think I will limit voting on Guitar Duels to four days in the future to help move things along, unless there are any objections.
BUT IF YOU HAVE NOT VOTED YET, watching RiffMaster from the sidelines, you owe it to your TTR brothers who have put themselves out there, entertaining and delighting us all.... Please hit the link above, go listen and drop a vote.
A lot of talk about woodshedding lately. I've got two different types dominating my life right now. Second delivery this weekend. Another two cords to lay up in the shed over the next couple days, and I can be rest easy we won't freeze to death this winter. Thankfully, it's of a nice size this year, not a whole lot of splitting required.
All this manual labour is gonna to make my hands and fingers even stronger, so watch out brothers!
VOTING THREAD LINK RIGHT HERE - GO VOTE, SLACKER!!!!
Vito's sultry fever dream submission is not exactly scratching the voting itch of the TTR immoral majority - SO FAR! Even while his body went FULL viral, his intricate shredfest is still waiting to blow up. Thankfully, Liveevil2000 still has plenty of time to cajole and convince any who've not yet voted that his fretboard tap-dancing was superior. However, even if he is unable to do that, he can take solace in that it's all still worth a valuable THREE RiffMaster points and plenty reason to celebrate.
I think I will limit voting on Guitar Duels to four days in the future to help move things along, unless there are any objections.
BUT IF YOU HAVE NOT VOTED YET, watching RiffMaster from the sidelines, you owe it to your TTR brothers who have put themselves out there, entertaining and delighting us all.... Please hit the link above, go listen and drop a vote.
A lot of talk about woodshedding lately. I've got two different types dominating my life right now. Second delivery this weekend. Another two cords to lay up in the shed over the next couple days, and I can be rest easy we won't freeze to death this winter. Thankfully, it's of a nice size this year, not a whole lot of splitting required.
All this manual labour is gonna to make my hands and fingers even stronger, so watch out brothers!
Last edited:
LiveeviL2000
Ambassador of Pentagonal Pentatonics
Brad, you got some nice size wood!@LiveeviL2000 seems to be suffering the worst of the introductory RiffMaster Guitar duel at the hands of @Clockworkmike
VOTING THREAD LINK RIGHT HERE - GO VOTE, SLACKER!!!!
Vito's sultry fever dream submission is not exactly scratching the voting itch of the TTR immoral majority - SO FAR! Even while his body went FULL viral, his intricate shredfest is still waiting to blow up. Thankfully, Liveevil2000 still has plenty of time to cajole and convince any who've not yet voted that his fretboard tap-dancing was superior. However, even if he is unable to do that, he can take solace in that it's all still worth a valuable THREE RiffMaster points and plenty reason to celebrate.
I think I will limit voting on Guitar Duels to four days in the future to help move things along, unless there are any objections.
BUT IF YOU HAVE NOT VOTED YET, watching RiffMaster from the sidelines, you owe it to your TTR brothers who have put themselves out there, entertaining and delighting us all.... Please hit the link above, go listen and drop a vote.
A lot of talk about woodshedding lately. I've got two different types dominating my life right now. Second delivery this weekend. Another two cords to lay up in the shed over the next couple days, and I can be rest easy we won't freeze to death this winter. Thankfully, it's of a nice size this year, not a whole lot of splitting required.
View attachment 96086
All this manual labour is gonna to make my hands and fingers even stronger, so watch out brothers!
NOW it makes sense why you decided to name your strap company Well-Hung!
As for voting for my entry... who am I kidding, I didnt even vote for it. The silver lining here is, it makes me now want to get better at it. Can't get any worse (I hope).
Clockworkmike
Ambassador of STACKS in WV SHACKS
Hey, I voted for you lol was the very first vote cast actually
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Well the thing with wood, as some of you may know, it's ideal to have a good combination of both length and girth.
You see, too much, or not enough of either, not the best situation to keep that firebox aglow.
OK, I'm in with my Main Event #1 "Opening Act"
It's a TLDR if I ever saw one. I was so entertained by @Clockworkmike 's submission, I couldn't stop.
My guitar beginnings: I started with a guitar my dad received a gift at about age 22, from his brother-in-law my Uncle Al. He toted it back brand new from West Germany after his Canadian Armed Forces NATO tour ended. It’s a ‘64 Framus Television, came with a small Grundig combo tube amp. They got separated over the years, but I do recall messing with the amp quite a bit playing "radio announcer" as a kid, a microphone came with it.
Pop would bring the Framus & amp out usually once a year, and try to sadly work through old Cash songs, like "I Walk The Line" and "Ring of Fire." Never dedicated to it, just seemed something he’d do to pass blues. Ended up, he's the only one in our family who was basically un-musical.
Still have the Framus. Actually worth a little dough being vintagey, one pickup is dead, trem bar long gone.
As I recall, I my urge to rock came from getting into pop music in my young teens. Around 1980/81 around age 13, I was into Foreigner, AC/DC, Loverboy. Dirty riffs made me want to play frickin guitar man! Asked for lessons as a birthday gift. Nobody local, (small village of 250) offered such, but my parents convinced the Sunday School Teacher to take me on.
She was kinda hot, around 30 or so, a bit intimidating. She knew the basics, cowboy chords for “This Little Light of Mine” type material. So, after school, I ended up totin' that Framus to the local church for forty minutes of lessons once a week for 3 months. Never learned individual notes or single note stuff like Camptown Races etc., but she did show me how to change strings and tune, all the string names, etc.
I had somehow got a hold of a pop songbook, loaded mostly with 70’s hits. Some Seger, Eagles songs in it, all piano music. But it had chord diagrams up top. I was fortunate I could already read music, verse turnarounds, codas etc. in the books, as I’d been in school band as a trumpet / cornet player since age 10. Still have that book somewhere, couldn't dig it up.
For lessons, she was all about rhythm strumming. Taught me simple bass note alternate picking, cowboy style. First song I ended up learning was John Denver: “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” Super saccharine, cheesy ballad. The line “Sunshine almost always gets me high,” was cool to me though. Next was ANOTHER Denver tune, same book, “Rocky Mountain High.” Not sure why I was so concerned about being so high all the time, but the C/G/D numbers allowed some learning momentum.
Anyway, she was SUPER forceful on spurring me to sing while I played, my teen voice all cracky & everything LOL! BUT.... I’m so appreciative I learned that right from the start.
Third song I piled into was my intro to barre chords, same book, song by America. Had Gm / C#m and more of that effing F chord which caused me so many problems even years later. With diligence I built up strength and calluses, able to power through. That was the end of my lessons though. Drove me plain nuts I could never figure out why my guitar couldn't make those wicked sounds like Malcolm Youngs' or Mick Jones's. Just me, clean ‘n thin, strumming that hollowbody jazz thing acoustically, no amp, no power. No surprise I gradually lost interest.
Maybe a year later, 1982, a regional cover band called Killer Bees were booked for a Grad party in our town hall. I was on a crew setting up chairs, and was volunteered to help the dudes unload. They had Stryper-ish black/yellow outfits and seemed like Gods to me! Lordy! Then, they started plugging in... OMG!!! I was hearing mic’d drums, all the guitar toanz I craved on the records, I was suddenly re-inspired. I worked up the courage to ask a bandmember how he was nailing that super nasty intro riff to Loverboy’s "Turn Me Loose," he played during soundcheck - He was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me, showed me his pedals, my first power chord, how it was so moveable, and that ‘ol boogie blues pinky thang. I recall he played a little "Radar Love" and "Tush" to demonstrate. I. was. in. Awe.
Next time I was in the city, I was on a pawn shop hunt for pedals, ending up with a Boss OD-1 and a battery-hungry Pearl delay via my meager savings. Didn’t have an amp, but somehow rigged ‘em to play though the aux input of my precious bedroom stereo combo cassette/record player/8-track/receiver thing, with detachable 6" speakers so common at the time. I was much closer now, but anything amped out of that Framus, just sounded “off.” A big part of that was a floating bridge on the guitar. I had no understanding at all about intonation.
By the time I graduated ”Class of ‘84,” my first week at the University in Saskatoon, I picked up a black bolt-on Hondo LP, an original HM-1 pedal and a used Peavey Backstage Plus with my student loan money LOL! Soon enough I met another student who was a decent drummer and we jammed out quite a lot on “Looks that Kill” “Metal Health” “War Pigs” “Play Guitar” (J. Cougar), “The Jack,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Highway2” etc., in the basement of a house he and others were renting. Never did find a bass player. A year or two later, hanging out with musician stoner types, first semi-real band I angled myself into was for an outdoor summerfest thing around 1987 - “Scarlet Fever” I think we called ourselves. Did three numbers, “Run Like Hell” “Final Countdown” and “Highway to Hell.”
The other guitarist was way better, so just to be a part of that outfit I ended up taking the majorly unwanted job as pretty awful singer, and added some simple single key keyboard parts nobody else wanted to do. Gave up on electric for many years after that though. Eventually, picked up a cheap dreadnaught and stayed with acoustic, learned a little harp, did a little busking, writing my own simple tunes, and a lot of drunken bonfire jams with other dudes in the TV business who played and sang, ‘til about ‘99.
Eventually, the electric urge returned. But, other than busking maybe 7 times (avg. take $40 for a few hours), I never made a dime playing music, for reasons plainly evident.
My musical submission, the third full song I recall learning back around 1981, is the yacht rock classic "Sister Golden Hair" by America -
You see, too much, or not enough of either, not the best situation to keep that firebox aglow.
OK, I'm in with my Main Event #1 "Opening Act"
It's a TLDR if I ever saw one. I was so entertained by @Clockworkmike 's submission, I couldn't stop.
My guitar beginnings: I started with a guitar my dad received a gift at about age 22, from his brother-in-law my Uncle Al. He toted it back brand new from West Germany after his Canadian Armed Forces NATO tour ended. It’s a ‘64 Framus Television, came with a small Grundig combo tube amp. They got separated over the years, but I do recall messing with the amp quite a bit playing "radio announcer" as a kid, a microphone came with it.
Pop would bring the Framus & amp out usually once a year, and try to sadly work through old Cash songs, like "I Walk The Line" and "Ring of Fire." Never dedicated to it, just seemed something he’d do to pass blues. Ended up, he's the only one in our family who was basically un-musical.
Still have the Framus. Actually worth a little dough being vintagey, one pickup is dead, trem bar long gone.
As I recall, I my urge to rock came from getting into pop music in my young teens. Around 1980/81 around age 13, I was into Foreigner, AC/DC, Loverboy. Dirty riffs made me want to play frickin guitar man! Asked for lessons as a birthday gift. Nobody local, (small village of 250) offered such, but my parents convinced the Sunday School Teacher to take me on.
She was kinda hot, around 30 or so, a bit intimidating. She knew the basics, cowboy chords for “This Little Light of Mine” type material. So, after school, I ended up totin' that Framus to the local church for forty minutes of lessons once a week for 3 months. Never learned individual notes or single note stuff like Camptown Races etc., but she did show me how to change strings and tune, all the string names, etc.
I had somehow got a hold of a pop songbook, loaded mostly with 70’s hits. Some Seger, Eagles songs in it, all piano music. But it had chord diagrams up top. I was fortunate I could already read music, verse turnarounds, codas etc. in the books, as I’d been in school band as a trumpet / cornet player since age 10. Still have that book somewhere, couldn't dig it up.
For lessons, she was all about rhythm strumming. Taught me simple bass note alternate picking, cowboy style. First song I ended up learning was John Denver: “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” Super saccharine, cheesy ballad. The line “Sunshine almost always gets me high,” was cool to me though. Next was ANOTHER Denver tune, same book, “Rocky Mountain High.” Not sure why I was so concerned about being so high all the time, but the C/G/D numbers allowed some learning momentum.
Anyway, she was SUPER forceful on spurring me to sing while I played, my teen voice all cracky & everything LOL! BUT.... I’m so appreciative I learned that right from the start.
Third song I piled into was my intro to barre chords, same book, song by America. Had Gm / C#m and more of that effing F chord which caused me so many problems even years later. With diligence I built up strength and calluses, able to power through. That was the end of my lessons though. Drove me plain nuts I could never figure out why my guitar couldn't make those wicked sounds like Malcolm Youngs' or Mick Jones's. Just me, clean ‘n thin, strumming that hollowbody jazz thing acoustically, no amp, no power. No surprise I gradually lost interest.
Maybe a year later, 1982, a regional cover band called Killer Bees were booked for a Grad party in our town hall. I was on a crew setting up chairs, and was volunteered to help the dudes unload. They had Stryper-ish black/yellow outfits and seemed like Gods to me! Lordy! Then, they started plugging in... OMG!!! I was hearing mic’d drums, all the guitar toanz I craved on the records, I was suddenly re-inspired. I worked up the courage to ask a bandmember how he was nailing that super nasty intro riff to Loverboy’s "Turn Me Loose," he played during soundcheck - He was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me, showed me his pedals, my first power chord, how it was so moveable, and that ‘ol boogie blues pinky thang. I recall he played a little "Radar Love" and "Tush" to demonstrate. I. was. in. Awe.
Next time I was in the city, I was on a pawn shop hunt for pedals, ending up with a Boss OD-1 and a battery-hungry Pearl delay via my meager savings. Didn’t have an amp, but somehow rigged ‘em to play though the aux input of my precious bedroom stereo combo cassette/record player/8-track/receiver thing, with detachable 6" speakers so common at the time. I was much closer now, but anything amped out of that Framus, just sounded “off.” A big part of that was a floating bridge on the guitar. I had no understanding at all about intonation.
By the time I graduated ”Class of ‘84,” my first week at the University in Saskatoon, I picked up a black bolt-on Hondo LP, an original HM-1 pedal and a used Peavey Backstage Plus with my student loan money LOL! Soon enough I met another student who was a decent drummer and we jammed out quite a lot on “Looks that Kill” “Metal Health” “War Pigs” “Play Guitar” (J. Cougar), “The Jack,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Highway2” etc., in the basement of a house he and others were renting. Never did find a bass player. A year or two later, hanging out with musician stoner types, first semi-real band I angled myself into was for an outdoor summerfest thing around 1987 - “Scarlet Fever” I think we called ourselves. Did three numbers, “Run Like Hell” “Final Countdown” and “Highway to Hell.”
The other guitarist was way better, so just to be a part of that outfit I ended up taking the majorly unwanted job as pretty awful singer, and added some simple single key keyboard parts nobody else wanted to do. Gave up on electric for many years after that though. Eventually, picked up a cheap dreadnaught and stayed with acoustic, learned a little harp, did a little busking, writing my own simple tunes, and a lot of drunken bonfire jams with other dudes in the TV business who played and sang, ‘til about ‘99.
Eventually, the electric urge returned. But, other than busking maybe 7 times (avg. take $40 for a few hours), I never made a dime playing music, for reasons plainly evident.
My musical submission, the third full song I recall learning back around 1981, is the yacht rock classic "Sister Golden Hair" by America -
Last edited:
Clockworkmike
Ambassador of STACKS in WV SHACKS
Haha, this was great man! Awesome story ( and yep, I read every single word so not "Too Long/Didn't Read" PS, that HM-1 is a rare beast!) Loved the cover too: the guitar and the vocals are like if Billy Gibbons would've tried his hand out in America (which would've definitely helped their stock in my opinion lol)Well the thing with wood, as some of you may know, it's ideal to have a good combination of both length and girth.
You see, too much, or not enough of either, not the best situation to keep that firebox aglow.
OK, I'm in with my Main Event #1 "Opening Act"
It's a TLDR if I ever saw one. I was so entertained by @Clockworkmike 's submission, I couldn't stop.
My guitar beginnings: I started with a guitar my dad received a gift at about age 22, from his brother-in-law my Uncle Al. He toted it back brand new from West Germany after his Canadian Armed Forces NATO tour ended. It’s a ‘64 Framus Television, came with a small Grundig combo tube amp. They got separated over the years, but I do recall messing with the amp quite a bit playing "radio announcer" as a kid, a microphone came with it. My Dad would bring the Framus & amp out usually once a year, and try to sadly work through old Cash songs, like "I Walk The Line" and "Ring of Fire." Was never dedicated to it, just seemed something he’d do to pass blues. Ended up, he's the only one in our family who was basically un-musical. Still have the Framus. Actually worth a little dough being vintagey, but one pickup is dead, trem bar long gone.
As I recall, I my urge to rock came from getting into pop music in my young teens. Around 1980/81 around age 13, I was into Foreigner, AC/DC, Loverboy. Dirty riffs made me want to play frickin guitar man! Asked for lessons as a birthday gift. Nobody local, (small village of 250) offered such, but my parents convinced the Sunday School Teacher to take me on. She was kinda hot, around 30 or so, a bit intimidating. She knew the basics, cowboy chords for “This Little Light of Mine” type material. So, after school, I ended up toting that Framus to the local church for forty minutes of lessons once a week for 3 months. Never learned individual notes or single note stuff like Camptown Races etc., but she did show me how to change strings and tune, the string names, etc. I had somehow got a hold of a pop songbook, loaded mostly with 70’s hits. Some Seger, Eagles songs in it, all piano music. But it had chord diagrams up top. I was fortunate I could already read music, verse turnarounds, codas etc. in the books, as I’d already been in school band as a trumpet/cornet player since age 10. Still have that music book somewhere, couldn't dig it up.
For lessons, she was all about rhythm strumming. Taught me simple bass note alternate picking, cowboy style. First song I ended up learning was John Denver: “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” Super saccharine, cheesy ballad. The line “Sunshine almost always gets me high,” was cool to me though. Next was ANOTHER Denver tune, same book, “Rocky Mountain High.” Not sure why I was so concerned about being so high all the time, but the C/G/D numbers allowed some learning momentum. Anyway, she was SUPER forceful on spurring me to sing while I played, my teen voice all cracky & everything LOL! BUT.... I’m so appreciative I learned that right from the start. Third song I piled into was my intro to barre chords, same book, song by America. Had Gm / C#m and more of that effing F chord which caused me so many problems even years later. With diligence I built up strength and calluses, able to power through. That was the end of my lessons though. Drove me plain nuts I could never figure out why my guitar couldn't make those wicked sounds like Malcolm Youngs' or Mick Jones's. Just me, clean ‘n thin, strumming that hollowbody jazz thing acoustically, no amp, no power. No surprise I gradually lost interest.
Maybe a year later, 1982, a regional cover band called Killer Bees were booked for a Grad party in our town hall. I was on a crew setting up chairs, and was volunteered to help the dudes unload. They had Stryper-ish black/yellow outfits and seemed like Gods to me! Lordy! Then, they started plugging in... OMG!!! I was hearing mic’d drums, all the guitar toanz I craved on the records, I was suddenly re-inspired. Worked up the courage to ask a bandmember how he was nailing that super nasty intro riff to Loverboy’s "Turn Me Loose," he played during soundcheck - He was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me, showed me his pedals, my first power chord, how it was so moveable, and that ‘ol boogie blues pinky thang. I recall he played a little "Radar Love" and "Tush" to demonstrate. I. was. in. Awe. Next time I was in the city, I was on a pawn shop hunt for pedals, ending up with a Boss OD-1 and a battery-hungry Pearl delay via my meager savings. Didn’t have an amp, but somehow rigged ‘em to play though the aux input of my precious bedroom stereo combo cassette/record player/8-track/receiver thing, with detachable 6" speakers so common at the time. I was much closer now, but anything amped out of that Framus, just sounded “off.” A big part of it was the floating bridge on the guitar. No understanding at all about intonation.
By the time I graduated ”Class of ‘84,” my first week at the University in Saskatoon, I picked up a black bolt-on Hondo LP, an original HM-1 pedal and a used Peavey Backstage Plus with my student loan money LOL! Soon enough I met another student who was a decent drummer and we jammed out quite a lot on “Looks that Kill” “Metal Health” “War Pigs” “Play Guitar” (J. Cougar), “The Jack,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Highway2” etc., in the basement of a house he and others were renting. Never did find a bass player. A year or two later, hanging out with musician stoner types, first semi-real band I angled myself into was for an outdoor summerfest thing around 1987 - “Scarlet Fever” I think we called ourselves. Did three numbers, “Run Like Hell” “Final Countdown” and “Highway to Hell.” The other guitarist was way better, so just to be a part of that outfit I ended up taking the majorly unwanted job as pretty awful singer, and added some simple single key keyboard parts nobody else wanted to do. Gave up on electric for many years after that though. Eventually, picked up a cheap dreadnaught and stayed with acoustic, learned a little harp, did a little busking, writing my own simple tunes, and a lot of drunken bonfire jams with other dudes in the TV business who played and sang, ‘til about ‘99. Eventually, the electric urge returned. But, other than busking maybe 7 times (avg. take $40 for a few hours), I never made a dime playing music, for reasons plainly evident.
My musical submission, the third full song I recall learning back around 1981, is the yacht rock classic "Sister Golden Hair" by America -
LiveeviL2000
Ambassador of Pentagonal Pentatonics
That was awesome Brad. That song took me back to my childhood. Exellent story too. I'm actually jealous of you guys, you got to play guitar at an early age.Well the thing with wood, as some of you may know, it's ideal to have a good combination of both length and girth.
You see, too much, or not enough of either, not the best situation to keep that firebox aglow.
OK, I'm in with my Main Event #1 "Opening Act"
It's a TLDR if I ever saw one. I was so entertained by @Clockworkmike 's submission, I couldn't stop.
My guitar beginnings: I started with a guitar my dad received a gift at about age 22, from his brother-in-law my Uncle Al. He toted it back brand new from West Germany after his Canadian Armed Forces NATO tour ended. It’s a ‘64 Framus Television, came with a small Grundig combo tube amp. They got separated over the years, but I do recall messing with the amp quite a bit playing "radio announcer" as a kid, a microphone came with it. My Dad would bring the Framus & amp out usually once a year, and try to sadly work through old Cash songs, like "I Walk The Line" and "Ring of Fire." Was never dedicated to it, just seemed something he’d do to pass blues. Ended up, he's the only one in our family who was basically un-musical. Still have the Framus. Actually worth a little dough being vintagey, but one pickup is dead, trem bar long gone.
As I recall, I my urge to rock came from getting into pop music in my young teens. Around 1980/81 around age 13, I was into Foreigner, AC/DC, Loverboy. Dirty riffs made me want to play frickin guitar man! Asked for lessons as a birthday gift. Nobody local, (small village of 250) offered such, but my parents convinced the Sunday School Teacher to take me on. She was kinda hot, around 30 or so, a bit intimidating. She knew the basics, cowboy chords for “This Little Light of Mine” type material. So, after school, I ended up toting that Framus to the local church for forty minutes of lessons once a week for 3 months. Never learned individual notes or single note stuff like Camptown Races etc., but she did show me how to change strings and tune, the string names, etc. I had somehow got a hold of a pop songbook, loaded mostly with 70’s hits. Some Seger, Eagles songs in it, all piano music. But it had chord diagrams up top. I was fortunate I could already read music, verse turnarounds, codas etc. in the books, as I’d already been in school band as a trumpet/cornet player since age 10. Still have that music book somewhere, couldn't dig it up.
For lessons, she was all about rhythm strumming. Taught me simple bass note alternate picking, cowboy style. First song I ended up learning was John Denver: “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” Super saccharine, cheesy ballad. The line “Sunshine almost always gets me high,” was cool to me though. Next was ANOTHER Denver tune, same book, “Rocky Mountain High.” Not sure why I was so concerned about being so high all the time, but the C/G/D numbers allowed some learning momentum. Anyway, she was SUPER forceful on spurring me to sing while I played, my teen voice all cracky & everything LOL! BUT.... I’m so appreciative I learned that right from the start. Third song I piled into was my intro to barre chords, same book, song by America. Had Gm / C#m and more of that effing F chord which caused me so many problems even years later. With diligence I built up strength and calluses, able to power through. That was the end of my lessons though. Drove me plain nuts I could never figure out why my guitar couldn't make those wicked sounds like Malcolm Youngs' or Mick Jones's. Just me, clean ‘n thin, strumming that hollowbody jazz thing acoustically, no amp, no power. No surprise I gradually lost interest.
Maybe a year later, 1982, a regional cover band called Killer Bees were booked for a Grad party in our town hall. I was on a crew setting up chairs, and was volunteered to help the dudes unload. They had Stryper-ish black/yellow outfits and seemed like Gods to me! Lordy! Then, they started plugging in... OMG!!! I was hearing mic’d drums, all the guitar toanz I craved on the records, I was suddenly re-inspired. Worked up the courage to ask a bandmember how he was nailing that super nasty intro riff to Loverboy’s "Turn Me Loose," he played during soundcheck - He was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me, showed me his pedals, my first power chord, how it was so moveable, and that ‘ol boogie blues pinky thang. I recall he played a little "Radar Love" and "Tush" to demonstrate. I. was. in. Awe. Next time I was in the city, I was on a pawn shop hunt for pedals, ending up with a Boss OD-1 and a battery-hungry Pearl delay via my meager savings. Didn’t have an amp, but somehow rigged ‘em to play though the aux input of my precious bedroom stereo combo cassette/record player/8-track/receiver thing, with detachable 6" speakers so common at the time. I was much closer now, but anything amped out of that Framus, just sounded “off.” A big part of it was the floating bridge on the guitar. No understanding at all about intonation.
By the time I graduated ”Class of ‘84,” my first week at the University in Saskatoon, I picked up a black bolt-on Hondo LP, an original HM-1 pedal and a used Peavey Backstage Plus with my student loan money LOL! Soon enough I met another student who was a decent drummer and we jammed out quite a lot on “Looks that Kill” “Metal Health” “War Pigs” “Play Guitar” (J. Cougar), “The Jack,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Highway2” etc., in the basement of a house he and others were renting. Never did find a bass player. A year or two later, hanging out with musician stoner types, first semi-real band I angled myself into was for an outdoor summerfest thing around 1987 - “Scarlet Fever” I think we called ourselves. Did three numbers, “Run Like Hell” “Final Countdown” and “Highway to Hell.” The other guitarist was way better, so just to be a part of that outfit I ended up taking the majorly unwanted job as pretty awful singer, and added some simple single key keyboard parts nobody else wanted to do. Gave up on electric for many years after that though. Eventually, picked up a cheap dreadnaught and stayed with acoustic, learned a little harp, did a little busking, writing my own simple tunes, and a lot of drunken bonfire jams with other dudes in the TV business who played and sang, ‘til about ‘99. Eventually, the electric urge returned. But, other than busking maybe 7 times (avg. take $40 for a few hours), I never made a dime playing music, for reasons plainly evident.
My musical submission, the third full song I recall learning back around 1981, is the yacht rock classic "Sister Golden Hair" by America -
I'll explain why the jealousy when I turn mine in sometime after turkey day.
ibmorjamn
Ambassador of Moar Jammin
I am about to come unglued trying to copy that video to my phone so I can record over it. Angry barely describes my state. Laughing insanelyWE HAVE A DUEL!!!! @Clockworkmike V.S. @LiveeviL2000
OMG!!! We could not have hoped for a better first match! It's gonna be SICK!
@Clockworkmike has chosen to bust down door #9 - Here's the surprise waiting inside determining the Field of Battle
View attachment 95941
They both have 10 days to submit a 1:00 (or more) clip of intense fiery lickage in this thread over the below backing track. However, this is a very special solo circumstance. All that incendiary wailiing must include at least 30 seconds of EVH style two hand tapping, whatever best they can muster. As shown in the window, the spoils are SIX points to the winner, THREE points to the "not winner." In the case of a tie, 1st submission wins as per usual. If either combatant turns tail and fails to show for this duel, the community will decide on harsh manhood-shrinking penalties.
Submissions will be judged by your TTR brothers via a poll vote once they both come in.Good luck gentlemen!
I have opened up the guitar duel challenge to ALL TTR members for an automatic single point (within any given round). However, only the main 2 combatants get poll-vote judged, with more points at stake
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Clockworkmike
Ambassador of STACKS in WV SHACKS
There's a way to convert it to an mp3 actually
Jethro Rocker
Ambassador of Live & Loud Action
Internet download Manager allows one to download any video.
I think there are still YouTube to mp3 online converters avail as well.
Clockworkmike
Ambassador of STACKS in WV SHACKS
Yep! That's how I steal I mean uh, "borrow under the Fair Use Copyright Act" all the tracks I use lmao
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Well, looks like 4 more days of trial remaining for Liveevil2000, his TTR jury of peers to deliver a verdict on the 26th.
May both his brain and guitar fog dissipate afterwards, and he launches an "Opening Act" submission competitive in
the Main Event. Even with 3 points, and a minimum of 5 for his next submission, he's guaranteed NOT to be named in.a duel for the next round, so he'll be able to lick his wounds and recover fully.
To help even the field, ONLY the bottom two in points are eligible to take part in the Showcase Official Guitar Duel for each
main round, MANY points available there! There are nine more super fun & interesting surprise battles coming anybody.can try for an automatic single point!
What further strange secrets lie behind these mysterious doors to gex and reward RiffMaster combatants and all of TTR?
I believe most of you will be enticed to jump in for the fun of the single points, and I sure hope you do!
We are still awaiting many TTR "Opening Act" Submissions. A 1:00 clip of one of the first three songs you learned back when, and a bit of a story how and why you picked up the guitar in the first place, (rather than the clarinet).
What a better way to get to know each other?
May both his brain and guitar fog dissipate afterwards, and he launches an "Opening Act" submission competitive in
the Main Event. Even with 3 points, and a minimum of 5 for his next submission, he's guaranteed NOT to be named in.a duel for the next round, so he'll be able to lick his wounds and recover fully.
To help even the field, ONLY the bottom two in points are eligible to take part in the Showcase Official Guitar Duel for each
main round, MANY points available there! There are nine more super fun & interesting surprise battles coming anybody.can try for an automatic single point!
What further strange secrets lie behind these mysterious doors to gex and reward RiffMaster combatants and all of TTR?
I believe most of you will be enticed to jump in for the fun of the single points, and I sure hope you do!
We are still awaiting many TTR "Opening Act" Submissions. A 1:00 clip of one of the first three songs you learned back when, and a bit of a story how and why you picked up the guitar in the first place, (rather than the clarinet).
What a better way to get to know each other?
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OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Did @LiveeviL2000 recruit his co-workers together to join TTR and vote for him? He's making a run in Guitar Duel #1 voting now at Five VOTES! He's wearing down @Clockworkmike, who got his good shots in early but is just dancin' around and clinching at this point
Can you believe we have only TWO Main Event musical submissions in so far? Are we in actually in danger of hearing renditions of Iron Man, or Smoke on the Water in coming days? Pretty sure we gonna get a Fab Four tune, but that's just a guess.
What's @mcblink gonna play? Was his Sweet Home Alabama? @Thatbastarddon is old enough to have started with La Grange
The new guy @Ku² told me via Reverb he can't even remember what he started with, but I think if he digs deep he'll remember it was Take it Easy or some such
Half the fun for me is speculatin' what you guys gonna bring.
Can you believe we have only TWO Main Event musical submissions in so far? Are we in actually in danger of hearing renditions of Iron Man, or Smoke on the Water in coming days? Pretty sure we gonna get a Fab Four tune, but that's just a guess.
What's @mcblink gonna play? Was his Sweet Home Alabama? @Thatbastarddon is old enough to have started with La Grange
The new guy @Ku² told me via Reverb he can't even remember what he started with, but I think if he digs deep he'll remember it was Take it Easy or some such
Half the fun for me is speculatin' what you guys gonna bring.
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LiveeviL2000
Ambassador of Pentagonal Pentatonics
I have 5 points!?!?
THATS AMAZING!!!
THATS AMAZING!!!
OP
TVvoodoo
Ambassador of The Comfortably Slung
Five VOTES lol. sorry to get your hopes up
LiveeviL2000
Ambassador of Pentagonal Pentatonics
Still amazing.
I’m already working on my main challenge.