The Steel Guitar Forum

November 3 update: I went back to the Rheumatologist to get the results of the blood tests taken back on October 20. All of the "fine tuning" blood tests came back normal. At the very least this means that I don't have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Now I go back to the Orthopedist. I suspect I'm i...

It's been a couple days. The finger splints are working out pretty good on the index and middle fingers. Because the knuckle on the ring finger is locking up in addition to the middle joint, I'm not having as much success. The pinky or little finger is just plain shot. Wearing the splints, I have be...

So, if you know someone in a similar finger situation, or if you happen to find yourownseff in a similar finger situation, you just might want to know where I got these here finger splint things. In a word, Amazon. The ones I bought are Dr. Clarke's Original Wishbone Finger Splints. They cost about ...

Yet another update. The finger splints arrived 3 days ago and yesterday I had my first appointment with the Rheumatologist. 1. The Rheumatologist took more blood tests to kind of "fine tune" what was learned in the previous blood tests. He told me that while out of the "normal range&q...

For me, finger picks have always been a gigantic pain in the cuticle. While I've been looking around for finger picks, I've also been looking for something to make them hurt my fingers less. And I've found something that not only cushions the cuticle ... it also keeps the pick from sliding off the f...

I have spent a little time looking at various finger picks on the 'net. For those who might like to see what is out there all in one spot, Elderly Instruments has a fairly large representation of types and brands. https://www.elderly.com/collections/category_picks

MEDICAL UPDATE : The cardiologist was able to "fix" one of the problems and the ear specialist was able to fix another. But the orthopedist is another story. Today the splint came off my hand and the exercises are done ... no improvement in the fingers from either. Also the blood tests th...

Seeing the charts on paper or the video of a player demonstrating with tab is great, but it oftentimes leaves out the technique required to play double stops smoothly. How and when to change string pairs (from 4&3 to 3&2, for example), which fingers to use for fretting and picking - this is...

Some updates: 1. I checked the MuseScore and it does do both notation AND guitar tab as well as a number of very interesting stuff with chords. I will have to dig deeper into this program. I changed my goggle search parameters and found some stuff. 1. It turns out that Mel Bay DID put out a book, ca...

Ignore double post. Stoopid cast, splint, brace ... thing.

I’m with John. The fretboard map is good for learning where the notes are, but for learning a song or lick note-for-note, it doesn’t get any clearer than notated tab. At least, for me. An interactive map is great for pedal steel, so you can see where the notes and chords are when a pedal or lever i...

... in songs like "Raining Blood" ... Thanks John. It amazes me that some couple will have that tune played at their 25th wedding anniversary as "Their Song". They will look fondly in each others eyes and dance close while its being played, while the band is doing God knows what...

MS Paint might be more work than it is worth. I just use Google Sheets to map the fret board. Here is a harmonized scale I just did in google sheets. Takes less than a minute. Yet ANOTHER good reason for the internet. Bill, that is an OUTSTANDING idea. I don't know about google sheets, but I do hav...

Nowadays it is possible to collect what you’re looking for online, publish it all for yourself. You never even have to print it. And you will never go anywhere or do anything else or eat or sleep! Although I don't publish anything, I have been doing that for years for all of my hobbies and interest...

Curiosity got the best of me and Mister Google did not disappoint. Here it is, guitar fretboard charts of harmonized major scale in 3rds and 6ths, all 6 strings. https://acousticplayer.wordpress.com/fretboard-knowledge/doublestops-3rds-and-6ths/ Thanks Fred! Over the past couple weeks I have been u...

You want this for guitar or pedal steel? Casey Saulpaugh has a book for E9 pedal steel on harmonized scales. As mentioned, I am looking for this information on guitar, not pedal or lap steel. But the real question is: why not just map it out yourself? Actually, over the past 2 or so weeks, I have b...

Susan Alcorn wrote:I'm also a fan of the old Polytones and sometimes play through the Mini Brute II. It has a reverb, but I've never been crazy about the reverb, so I just use a reverb pedal.

I really like mine as well, but it looks as if you like yours twice as much as I do.

Sometimes I deal with printed material a lot better than watching videos. Does anybody know of a book, or a book that has a comprehensive section covering how to harmonize a melody or solo on guitar using double-stop 3rds and 6ths? Something having good guitar neck diagrams, as well as notation and ...

Be careful when working on the inside of a Polytone amp. There is insulation in there and over time is gets loose and fiberglass particles fly around. Don't I know it. :eek: That's where I stopped and started rethinking all of this. The Polytone reverb is somewhat weak. A reverb pedal would be bett...

Ted a replacement "long" decay tank would be a 8DB3C1D, I didn't find one. I didn't either. I really don't know ANYTHING about this and am feeling my way as I go along. The article I saw and the shops website said that the "long decay" is the one for guitars ... and then they do...

....Very helpful for those of us who only know about that crashing, echoing sound when your girlfriend slams your car door for the last time. ....uh yeah...been there...🤕 There might be a Country song in there somewhere ... if you could get the bass player to reach over and kinda give your amp a ki...

Does it have a long tank, or a short one? In all these years I've never had a reason to take the back off this amp ... Considering your question, and since I'm curious as an old raccoon, I took the back off ... and can't find the tank right off. Looks like I'm going to need to pull more out of the ...

I didn't remember this III amp having a reverb circuit, but memory is not my long suit. As it turns out, your memory is probably better than mine. Its a MB II ... and yes, it has a reverb. I adjusted my post ... and I am sorry if there was any confusion. Thank you for your reply. I went to that sho...

I guess I'm just bored waiting around to find out how the doc is gonna fix my fingers. I bought this Polytone Mini Brute II back when I was messing with Jazz a million years ago. It's still in good shape, sounds real good, and living on Social Security, I'm not going to replace it in the foreseeable...

Ohhhh, now I see. It changes your tone, but it does not affect your tone. The same...but different. I'm glad we got that clarified. :mrgreen: You are 100% correct. :D As stated, it changes the tone by shifting the high frequency, but it preserves the highs and lows in that nothing gets "bled t...