Spinny's Strumming Practice Redux

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daryl
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:41 am

Thanks for the details. I'm guessing it took a little while to get use to Logic's way of doing things. BTW how did you settle on 31.3ms for the delay?


spinland
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:36 am

daryl wrote:
Thanks for the details. I'm guessing it took a little while to get use to Logic's way of doing things. BTW how did you settle on 31.3ms for the delay?
Yes, I spent a lot of time climbing the learning curve. I've only gotten back into actual playing since this past December (after many years away from it) but I've long been into messing around with sound and MIDI from the production side. I love the geeky/art aspect of it.

The delay is a multiple of 1/16th of a beat at 120BPM.

Mark


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daryl
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 7:30 am

spinland wrote:
daryl wrote:
Thanks for the details. I'm guessing it took a little while to get use to Logic's way of doing things. BTW how did you settle on 31.3ms for the delay?
Yes, I spent a lot of time climbing the learning curve. I've only gotten back into actual playing since this past December (after many years away from it) but I've long been into messing around with sound and MIDI from the production side. I love the geeky/art aspect of it.

The delay is a multiple of 1/16th of a beat at 120BPM.

Mark
You really are a geek! (I mean that in the most sincerest way). A multiple of "a sixtheenth" at 120BPM?!?! Me? I'll just either do 25 or 30 or 33 depending upon how much I want to affect the sound.


spinland
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 7:43 am

Heh. I take "geek" as a compliment, you bet! :silly:

Full disclosure: I didn't have to crunch any numbers. The "Delay Designer" plugin for Logic lets me pick the resolution I want (in this case, a 1/16th grid) and then syncs itself to the tempo I set for the song. Then I can just click up increments until I like the sound. If the increments are too large to zero in I just choose a finer resolution.

I generally record four representative bars of the song dry and then play that on a loop and keep dialing in different settings until I'm happy.

Mark


spinland
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 8:03 am

Quick update. I almost have the "warm, acoustic" tone I want dialed in. Playing could be smoother, but what the hell. :silly:

Strumming Practice V002

No video this time, gotta head out soon for client meetings and didn't want to take the time to set up and then edit after.

Mark


NOTE: I changed the thread title because, rather than litter this forum with new threads every time I start working on a new song, I feel I should just collect my clips here.


wrsomers
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:30 am

Hey Mark,
The sound is definitely better...but...here comes another golf analogy...and I mean it in all good humor :) ...this is something I tell my students all the time..."stop buying new clubs and first learn to hit the ball with the ones you've got. That bigger, longer, better new driver is only going to make you hit the ball farther into the woods." ;) :) :laugh: :silly:

Bill


spinland
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:38 am

Oh, I hear ya, Bill!

Related anecdote: one of my golfing buddies recently retired and his gift to himself was getting fitted for a full PING set that cost him somewhere north of US$3K. He doesn't play one tiny bit better but he says he feels better about it when he knocks one out of play. :lol:

It's mainly that the GAS side of things, and the tinkering with sounds, adds another dimension to the experience for me and helps keep me lively and interested. I'm in this for the fun, the relaxation, and the stress relief. Playing better is certainly the biggest slice of the pie, and I'm practicing hard at that even as I tinker, but it comes as a complete package. :side:

Mark


wrsomers
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:44 am

Mark,
That's a funny golf story. If it were me, I'd be pissed that I spent that kind of money to end up OB...but that's me :laugh: .

GAS is certainly a popular topic here at TG and most of us are guilty as charged.

I just hope you know I was pulling your leg. :)

Bill


spinland
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Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:47 am

wrsomers wrote:

I just hope you know I was pulling your leg. :)
Oh, absolutely! B)

I'm fond of saying that the most important piece of kit I need to add is a new nut to hold the fretboard. :silly:

Mark


spinland
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Fri Mar 24, 2017 4:07 pm

This is primarily for Daryl's entertainment, as I know he's about as big a gear geek as I am.

This is how I learn a song. First I put together the arrangement I want to play/sing, which can sometimes be interesting depending on the original. I set up all the parts as MIDI tracks in my DAW, that exercise being a huge help to me in learning scales, keys, timing and tempo. Zeroing in on those aspects of the song, analyzing it to the point where I understand it enough to think about playing it, is IMNSDHO extremely important.

Once I get all the tracks I'm interested in nailed down, I can then use them as backing/practice tracks. I also experiment with various strumming/picking patterns so I can not only get a feel for how they might sound in context, but also so I understand the proper beat each strum falls on. Then I can select a portion of the song, alter the tempo to slow it down while I learn it, and loop that part over and over and over and over some more while I play along with it.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Eventually I get to the point I'm doing a full play-through at tempo; after I've done that several times I can start thinking about improv and embellishments. I haven't gotten any songs well-rehearsed enough for that yet but I'll be there before long. I'm determined enough to keep at it until I'm where I want to be.

So, Daryl, your eye candy for the day: here's a screen shot of my current project all set up for practicing. Chord changes color-coded for quick reference. Below is that full mixing panel I was talking about; several of the tracks are unused because most of the sound shaping is happening in my new pedal board and there's not much left for the DAW to do.

Image

I'd hoped to be busking this tune by this evening but I'm just not there yet. I laid down a vocals track that I was really happy with but the playing isn't smooth enough yet and I want to take a stab at playing and singing in one go.

More to come.

Mark


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