Delicious Grace

[alcaponedudu]

Hi John. How are you my friend? Sorry for taking too long to answer.

Excellent work on the guitar. It looks pretty cool.

As I promised you here it goes the pictures of my instruments. I forgot to take a picture of my acoustic guitar.

You'll notice the guitars are protected by a plastic cover. That's duo to the fact I live next to the sea and the sea air really affects the strings. They rust very fast without this protection.

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu! It feels so nice to see you typing Hi John. It's not too late to start using your real name.
I've had a few new beginnings here. That means I've redefined myself as a new member, doing that now.

I've never heard of anyone covering their instruments because of sea air, and I'm thinking ocean air.
I have to be more specific, if I'm right, because I'm in between two Great Lakes, Ontario and Erie.
Fender had an "Antigua" colour, but yours looks darker. That's really nice.
The body shape of your Les Paul looks nicer than traditional Gibsons,
and I like the black pickups with the black sunburst, something I never saw before.

The first thing I noticed in the piano photo is "DUDU" on the seat.
That reminds me of when my mother would knit sweaters or toques with my name on them.
I haven't been tripping around music stores for a long time, but I have never seen an all-white electric piano like yours.
That's ready to make videos with, a nice contrast for you and any kind of clothes you could wear.
I like playing in low level lighting, or in the dark, and always liked the white and black keys of a piano that way.

I have always used a piece of suede to clean my strings at the end of the night,
and that really helps my fingers, keeping them feeling smooth.
I had a band practice one afternoon this week, and went downtown after.
Some girls were surprised when I said I wasn't hot about playing outside,
so I showed them my dark fingertips, saying that's the dirt the guitar attracts.

You've got me wondering what kind of strings you use. I recommend Ernie Ball.
They moved from a city in California to a desert factory, and have air-tight packages for their strings.
When guitar players were buying banjo strings to get thin strings, stepping down Fender and Gibson gauges,
Ernie Ball was the first to have thin strings, down to 008, maybe .007, and what they called balanced gauges.
They've only gotten better and the price doesn't seem to go up.
For your Strat I'd use .010 for the high E string.

Here's a photo of my cherry Strat with a new and final cover for the right-handed cord input hole.
When I made the leaf with the green plastic it looked like another version of the pick-guard.
When I shaped it and added detail, and then buffed it up with an electric tool,
it looked like jade, and the thinner outer edges showed the transparency of this illuminated sign plastic,
looking like a lighter green, adding to the jade effect.
When I used the nail polish I bought to cover the bare wood around the carving of the new cord input,
this is what it became, looking like a sugar maple leaf. Maple syrup is one of my favorite things to eat.
I'd explain more about sugar maple leaves, but that's in the following cut and paste.

I had to mess with some minds on Kijiji, so I posted this ad... uh... about musicians for a new band.
And I used this photo of the cherry Strat with the sugar maple leaf.

new/old, hot/cold, soft/bold band seeks to expand its' sound.

The Pane People, as seen on Windows, could use a wider sound.
"We used to live in a world of windowpanes,
and all we could be was inside,
until our music looked through all our panes,
now we travel both far and wide.
The Pane People are out there, so you don't have to hide."

Did you know that beavers pack part of their den with sugar maple leaves?
After they have fermented by the end of winter, the beavers start to eat them.
The Pane People see through that, just like we see through you.

yeah... I'm starting to see through you Eduardo, with your immaculate presentation.
You must have some royal Brazilian native blood in you.

Here's some news from the world of John Watt.
Graph Tech invented a new material for making nuts and bridge pieces for guitars.
It releases molecules so your strings slide easier when you're using a tremolo unit.
When I read about this invention and new company in a guitar magazine,
they didn't even have distributors in Ontario, just British Columbia.
I wrote a letter, mailed them a money order, and used their product ever since.

I sent an email asking about buying a piece so I could make a part out of it,
typing about my semi-solid-body guitar, and suggesting other uses.
I said I've been asking about this, making them for my guitar, when everyone says I'm the only one.
That's making frets on single coil pickup covers.
The one fret on my middle pickup is a fourth octave E, a nice additional note to have.
I got the typical computer reply, and then I got the personal reply from support.
And then I got another email with a link saying an account has been set up for me,
so I could visit their domain and log in to their forums so I could comment.
And then I received another email from Doug Dunwoodie, talking about my use of his material,
asking me for my mailing address and phone number.
I got another reply from support.
I got another email from Doug Dunwoodie, again asking for my mailing address and phone number,
saying he only has two pieces the size I could use, that were his.

This made me look at the domain again, and I was very surprised.
If you see the video about their new invention, tuners they call "Ratios",
that's Doug Dunwoodie, the inventor, founder and owner of Graph Tech.
They don't even sell the products with the material I bought,
having newer versions called TusQ, with the qualities of ivory, NuBone and Fossilite.

When I finished my semi-solid-bodies, they did everything new that was electrical with more acoustic harmonics,
but the guitar itself sounded tinny as an acoustic, not like a banjo, but getting there.
I didn't want to change my Graph Tech bridge pieces and nut to brass and ivory,
to get as much of a warmer sound, because that was just changing accessories.
I thought about my entire build, and came up with a new part.
I saw the pivot point where the tremolo plate pushed against the body as a problem.
That's a pivot point, where the angle of the plate acts like a hinge, nothing glued or screwed.
I saw the vibrations and the tensions of the strings and springs as getting lost,
not being translated or transmitted from the chromed metal of the plate to the wood of the body.
I decided to make a sub-plate underneath the tremolo plate out of softer material, to change that.
At first I used aluminum, thinking it was a softer metal, but it didn't do much.
I eventually used a vinyl plastic and the entire tone of the guitar changed, really nice.
The semi-solid-body has more of an acoustic quality to begin with,
so this sub-plate makes it sound more tonal compared to any solid body.
I'm going to add the photos I sent Graph Tech.

When I saw the photo of the pickups on the computer I saw how grimy they got.
That's from sticky clear-coat fingers trying them to see how they look before everything dries.
There could be some maple syrup and popcorn butter stickiness on them too.
That's over eight years of not being in a finished guitar I was playing.
It's exciting for me to be getting close.
I'm up at six this morning, going to put some clear-coat on the top and center section of my second semi-solid-body,
so when I glue the top the middle any glue that squeezes out won't soak into visible wood.
I'll also be washing my hands to dry them out so I won't leave any fingerprint smudges.

I could easily say you're lucky to be right-handed,
but when you're born in such a way that you have to adapt the world to yourself,
especially at my senior age, it makes life more interesting, whether you want it or not.
I bought a Thorold Music guitar strap,
so now I've got no excuse about standing up playing guitar to not make a video... sigh....

 

[alcaponedudu]

Thank you for the lesson about guitar specifics. You really know the thing from inside-out.

I'm glad you liked at least the visual part of my instruments. I'm very attatched to them. This piano in the photo is not the one I used to record ''On My Way To You''. On this track I used the piano from studio. It was an Yamaha Baby Grand I think. Beautiful piano with a great sound.

Your guitar looks awesome. I think it's time for you to show us what this thing capable of. Really looking foward to it.

Have a good weekend!

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu! So far it's been a good weekend, making a nice profit today.
Not a big one, but a nice one, everyone being happy all around.

I was just watching four videos put up by "onacarom" in, I think, jazz-fusion music.
I thought they looked and sounded wonderful, getting into all of them big time.

Thank you for saying my guitar looks awesome.
Compared to my semi-solid-bodies, it's not one-third the guitar.
I put up some new photos from today, showing how I'm working on those,
in my Fender Stratocaster thread in musical instruments,
and if I typed about them here I feel I'd just be loading you up with font, and fotos.
I had to type fotos. For a while people were using foto a lot, and I liked it with font,
but I haven't seen that in years.
It's the thought of just riffing off to show how fast I can play that brings me down.
That's something other musicians who post on Kijijij want to see, but it's not me.
I might ask a friend to play backup guitar and riff off a song. That makes more sense for me.
I never ever did an electric guitar solo onstage all by myself.
In the late sixties and early seventies, a ten or fifteen minute electric guitar solo was ordinary.
Guitarists usually had an Echoplex, a tape based effects unit, using that to get into sonic space.
You could lay your guitar on the stage and hit it so it starts making a sound,
and then take it from there. I've had amps that did amazing things that way, just not onstage.
And I only ever played in two trios in my entire life. I like to play rhythm and need chords to really solo.
I was asked to be in both those bands, not something I started.

I'm thinking of using bigger bass boosted speakers for my computer,
and jamming along with your video.
But I don't want to think you'll be going back to your guitars,
hanging your head down, and sobbing quietly to yourself,
knowing you're not left-handed upside-down like me.

When I meet new musicians who invite me over to jam,
I always make remarks about what happens if their dog likes me better,
and that's always funny because people think I'm just joking around.
Oh no, that's true.
Just last week the keyboard and bass players brought their dogs to a backyard session.
One of the dogs came up and was lying onstage in front of the keyboard player,
but after one of my first intense solos with feedback sounding sustain,
the dog got up and rushed towards me, pulling against the keyboard wiring,
pulling the Korg synthesizer off the top of the electric piano,
the guitar player band-leader stopping to grab that,
as the dog rushed up and tried to climb up my knees with a goofy look on its' face.
That's when I got looked at, like oh, you weren't kidding.

I hope you're having a good weekend. I like shaping and sanding my guitars,
something that doesn't involve a lot of stress, or fancy dress, just working away by myself.
I would think the ease of manufacture in our modern world would see more left-handed everything,
but it doesn't. I still can't find another left-handed tremolo unit.
Forget sobbing, you should shed a quiet tear of relief that you are right-handed.
I might cry a little when I finally refinish my first semi-solid-body.
The date on the headstock, when I first finished it enough to try it through my amplifier,
is 1995. It took a lot of criminal action to keep me from working on it,
and that's the pain I'll be reminded of, when I get to plug it in.
Look at how much of my life has gone by, without my guitar to play.
That might work for me as an older man, not being played out naturally,
but rebooting myself as being back from that time... maybe...

 

[alcaponedudu]

You should definitely jam to my video. That would be really cool to see. Nobody ever did that. Delicious Grace it has been a duo thing so far. So... with that in mind you would be the third person, as far as I know, to play/jam to a Delicious Grace song. If you feel comfortable with that you should do it, John. Please don't look at it like a I'm pressuring you or anything. It's just a wish. That's all, my friend.

 

[John Watt]

I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it right away. Now I can see playing guitar to make a video.
Not just me playing fast to show off, but making some music, and being involved with you.
I was just riffing off when I typed that, but seeing you getting into it makes it real for me.

This is nice timing. I'm going on a bus trip to Thorold Music to buy a portable amp tomorrow.
That's for this strolling troubadour gig I've got, and what I'm seeing as a hobby band of old pros.
I'll be able to put that beside the computer and record both of us.
It will be a meaningful attempt here to be the third person to play along with a Delicious Grace song.

Maybe you could help me.
Despite previous instructions, I've never been able to get a video to show here, just using a link.
If you think you can describe that for me, please do.

I'm thinking of having a soft, mild distortion with some phasing, to blend with your production,
but I don't have a 9-volt phase shifter.
Here's a link to the amp I might be getting. They have one in stock.
I hope you're not possessive, because if this works out I might jam with an onacarom song.
This Boss amp, owned by Roland, costs $139 and is 7 watts.
Roland has a portable amp with more electronic inputs, like MP3, but it's 2.5 watts and costs $149.
Oddly enough, I'm down with the Japanese name Katana as a name.
When English military first came to our country, the natives pointed to their village and said Kanata.
The English thought they were pointing to the country and changed it to Canada.

https://www.boss.info/global/products/katana-mini/specifications/

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu, I have something to thank you for, a new musical activity.
It's May 1st, my birthday, but that also means it's the end of April.
My landlord, now living in Toronto, came to collect the rent. He's a friend, why I'm here.
I was telling him about jamming along with your video and said I didn't want to add streaming charges,
because I'm not paying for hydro, the phone or online.
He said he's got unlimited service and I could jam along with You Tube all day if I wanted to.

I won't do that, but I'm going to rearrange my computer table so I can.
I wasn't going to do that for your video, thinking it was just a one-off.
Compared to using my Sony radio and taping a song on cassette to learn it,
sitting by a computer screen to play along with songs and get the words,
does use a lot more electricity, and online, but I can see myself doing it.

I'm going to get the Altec Lansing speakers with the powered bass,
that I use to listen to CDs and the radio with my other Sony in the studio,
to set them up here to play your music and record myself playing along.
I read about this Sony unit in the Toronto Star.
The reviewer wondered why Sony put their best cassette and CD motors in this unit,
that looked like a bigger clock radio, with no tones or eq's for the cassette,
just recording direct, with an input for anything you could plug in and audio out.
I thought right away, yes, I can record songs off the radio on cassette,
because nothing for sale around here lets you burn a disc off the radio.
I've been recording songs off the radio with a cassette player since 1970.
When I went to the store and told them about it, they ordered eight.
I went back to get batteries for my camera and the owner came out.
He was saying they sold all eight right away, but had a return.
A man said he had to push a button twice sometimes, so he didn't want it.
After complaining for a while about such a frivolous complaint,
the owner said I could have it for half price without taxes, so I bought that one too.

This Boss amp says it's a 7-watt amplifier but it's got to be more than seven watts.
It's far louder than anything I want to sing along with, and I know singing along with stereo wattage.
When I tried the third tone setting for distortion, without even being pre-amped up full,
it started feeding back, holding a note until I made it go away.

When I first bought my 1964 Stratocaster I used to carry it everywhere I went, even on my bike,
just plinking away.
Now I get to adjust my volume and tone depending on where I am.
Life is getting better.

And now I get to make a strolling troubadour guitar cord, and I like making guitar cords.

If you ever hear about a wandering, singing electric guitar player,
whose music is heard coming down the Welland Canal, Lake Erie,
along the Niagara River and across the top of Niagara Falls,
who people are calling Riverend John, and John the Raptist,
you'll know it's me.

Dr. James Watt invented horsepower.
He didn't like the industrial revolution of Europe using crushed Egyptian mummies and whale oil,
so he travelled through all countries and improved manufacture by over 60%.
He travelled the world explaining his understandings of electricity and wires for those outside of Europe.
Other scientists named the watt and wattage after him when there was only direct current, DC.
The Gaelic spelling of water is watter, why I can be watted up as Riverend John.

I can only be me, jamming along with your song.

 

[alcaponedudu]

What a nice reading, John. Thank you for that.

I don't think it's too late to wish a very happy birthday! I really wish you all the best.

Getting back to our subject... I really liked this Boss amp. Never saw it. Yes, my friend. I really got excited about your plan to jam to my song. It could be the beginning of something(?).

I didn't quite get what you said about me helping you with tips to record a video. You mean advices on the recording itself or how to post it here? Sorry I got confused.

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu, it's been a long day, the third day of my birthday. It's not easy having just a good time.
One thing my mother and father would say, on my birthday or for Auld Lang Syne, New Years' Eve,
is to find something new for myself, and see if I want to follow it up.
Making a You Tube video of me jamming with your video is definitely going to be something new.
Here's why I'm not doing it tonight, thinking tomorrow.

I woke up and decided to see if I could sleep some more, and I did.
It was time for lunch, and I was all set for a treat.
I bought a loaf of "toaster size" cinnamon raisin bread,
and used two Kraft cheese slices to cover the bread, putting the extra in the middle for two layers,
and made toasted cheese sandwiches.
I had my favorite cheesies to go with that, and put orange marmalade on my favorite chocolate chunk cookies.
That was a real orange meal.
I have three big lemons, so I bought two liters of diet lemonade pop and squeezed a lemon into a glass of that,
and the pulp was floating around the surface.
I watched the new Blade Runner as I ate and kept watching it. Oddly enough, it was a peaceful movie,
not like the hectic city life of the original, almost like a 2001 Space Odyssey version, or the first Star Trek movie.
I went to see the first Star Trek movie with a keyboard player I was working with and I feel asleep after a while.

I'm saving playing guitar for later on, still working on hardening my finger tips.
I listened to another anocarom video and thought of some production values.
I'm thinking of being inspired by Vincent Van Goghs' "The Potato Eaters".
That's a poor family sitting around a table in a dark room lit by a candle.
I'll be a poor and lonely Niagara Peninsula senior citizen, in low level lighting so you can't see my face,
sitting, hunched over his electric guitar, jamming along with his computer,
making a You Tube video nobody wants to see.

I'm confident about being able to do that.

No no, you're not confused because I'm probably typing too much.
I can cut and paste a link to any video, I can't get them to show the way you did.
I would call that embedded.
When I build my domain for the upcoming election, I'd like to have the videos showing.
You can see how important for me that can be.

When I write a song I just strum the guitar on the beat or rhythm and sing it just to sing it.
That's as much about working out the words as the music.
I don't try to give it a style because depending on any future band that could change.
If I put up one of my songs I can easily see you playing along, influencing any potential arrangement.
However, if I thought you were going to come up to the Niagara Peninsula and make it popular before I got out,
I'd be thinking about making some adobe bricks and walling you in.
okay... okay... with the price of topsoil around here I couldn't afford it.
You might not believe this, but below the escarpment you can't find rocks in fields any more.
People take them to use for their lawns or along driveways.
Even farmers sell them at roadside stands for more than their produce.

The only downer about using this portable amp as a strolling troubadour,
is not being able to carry a wah-wah pedal or phase shifter.

My fingers feel a little stubby right now, after sanding around the edge of my guitar.
I'm trying to make a raised edge along the edge, and grew out my fingernails to get in there.

And I don't know if you noticed or if you care, my Brazilian friend Eduardo,
but you're part of a duo that got a thread going that has way more than a thousand views.

And speaking about adobe bricks, this is south american, maybe not in Brazil.
American geologists have been wondering about a big mound of mud along the ocean shore,
and really didn't believe what locals had to say about it until they started to dig.
What they thought was a strange geographic mountain feature turned out to be made of mud bricks.
It's so old the outer bricks got washed down by rain, but the interior is intact.
I've been looking for more news or photos, but that's all I know.

Around here, the natives lived within nature, and there aren't any ancient remains.
There used to be a huge tree on top of the escarpment in Thorold, where natives had a big trail.
The branches were grown and pulled out to show their four directions in the peninsula.
That was as old as anything else around here, but it got chopped down by a real estate developer.
Some people go into the old and abandoned sewers and water pipes that lead into the Niagara Gorge,
but that's not the same as entering an old Egyptian tomb. I know that for sure.

Please don't get upset if it sounds like I'm just blasting through your music.
What sounds like violin sustain to me might sound like heavy mental to you.
It would sound better with effects that soften and spread the sound around.
I'm going to jam along with it a few times until I feel ready, with my fingers warmed up,
and then go for it with the first video attempt.

 

[alcaponedudu]

Hi John. Your morning sounded like a lot of fun. It made me remember of my childhood. I could almost feel the taste of it. That happens a lot when I listen to songs from the 50's and doo-woops.

I'm really excited! Whenever I read you saying that you're warming up and stuff that's a thrill, my friend.

About the amount of views.. Well, that's because of you I believe. Since the first time I made a comment here you were the only one to respond and then support my work. I don't know how things work here. If people prefer to read and watch instead of taking part in the conversation. So, with that in mind, you're responsible for this thread as well in a good way. That's a pleasure to share this with you!

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu! No... I think it's your elegant and terse replies that keep people reading.
And then they wonder why I keep typing all about me.
It's noon this Monday, and I'm here to help pressure myself to get set up today.
I'm only going to move my bass powered Altec Lansing speakers into this room with the computer,
to record with your video, and it's taking a while to change things around.
I got a small table to put beside this computer table.
Hey! I'll take a photo so you can see what I'm looking at.

That's this posting you're seeing on the computer screen.
That's a Canon scanner on the right and on the left.
Those Dell speakers were given to me and they're okay.
I got those eight Spiderman lunch boxes when a department store was being cleared out,
by Americans who came up from the States.
Spiderman is the only comic book I bought as a teenager.
They have my computer discs stored in them.

I got Windows 10 when it was offered for free.
When the update came along, I had two computer stores tell me this.
People who got the free Windows lost their sound after the update.
So my computer speakers are plugged into the headphone jack at the front.
I know the Altec Lansing speakers will be loud enough to jam along to.

I am feeling some pressure about putting myself on the line online.
I know I'm not going to work out a note for note piece to play with you,
probably having to ignore your guitar and just riff out with what I hear.

That's a very good observation about feeling childish.
When it's Christmas, New Years' Eve and my birthday, I like to be alone.
I always say when I'm alone I can have the same feelings I had when my parents and brother were alive.
That's also about no smoking, drinking or drugs as part of the party.
Scottish people like to eat mint leaves in the spring, thinking of it as a body cleanse.
We had some growing around the clothesline stoop of our house.
My mother and I would eat them when we were hanging out the wash.
I made sure I had lots of peppermint patties. Nice ones.
I used to sit in the washing machine as part of the wash party, my mother singing along,
helping to pull clothes through the wringer and pick up any buttons that came off.
I can't do that any more.
My mother used to have a couple of parakeets and one was blue.
That's a very realistic Japanese ceramic that's clipped on to a wire, watching over me.

This is the fourth day in a row of warm, sunny weather with no wind.
The hydro and phone lines blew down last week, so did a huge tree in the park across the street.
I'm going to see if my playing can blow you away.
Old 70's rock stars who are almost seventy have to say that.

 

[alcaponedudu]

Hi John. How are you, my friend? It's been a busy week at work. Sometimes it gets crazy here but that's a boring thing to talk about.

Thanks for the elegant part your comment. I try my best to reply to you because you have been a really supportive person for me.

Looking at the photo you posted made this conversation a little bit more ''real''. That's a funny feeling. You sure got a lot of stuff!

You birthday morning sounded a lot a like a christmas morning. That's exactly what I felt reading it. The things you write is always fun to read as I've said before. I really like. I don't know if you write lyrics to your song or not but you got a style of writing that would make nice lyrics to songs in my opinion.

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu! Oh! Saying that photo made this conversation more real is what I hope the video does, on a musical level.
This is a strange thought for me, making a video of me playing along with your video.
That will be real, only it's just a new reality for me.
Something tells me your work and what's going crazy for you would be very interesting for me.
One of my constant lines in public, when I'm holding open doors or helping someone with something,
is saying it's nice to feel useful... or I wish I had your job, at least I'd be working...
okay... maybe I'm happy being where I'm at without having to punch someone elses' clock...
I'm still keeping the birthday party going... as long as I can...
Today? I'm getting out early and coming back this afternoon to play guitar to your music,
hoping to be video ready, and then work on my guitars.

You say I've got a lot of stuff. Let me explain.
See that brand new, out of the box Canon Pixma scanner and colour printer, top left?
That cost $44, or three hours of minimum wage pay, now $15 an hour.
Someone in a social services agency left the same one outside the front door,
saying there's a man who looks around for used machines, and this one stopped working.
I got the toner cartridges out of it, what could cost as much as the machine.
When I logged in to the computer today, Canon had a "customer survey" they wanted me to agree to.
They can tell what I'm doing with the machine, and if I'm using their toner products.
I hardly use it. I only printed out two photos, one to look at for a painting,
and the other is my bike on the bike rack in front of a Niagara Falls bus.
I look at that to remind me there is a world of nature out there waiting for me.
I think of it as my backup scanner.

The Canon scanner on the right, with a green book on top, "The Encyclopedia of Gambling",
is the most expensive Canon scanner of that year, now five years old.
It was after Christmas, after New Years, after Boxing Day, and they still had one on sale.
Staff said it had the best Canon art program in it, if I wanted to try doing some digital art.
I thought it looked like the coffin Spock was in when he was sent down to the planet surface.
I could have bought a nice Canon printer for the cost of the toner, what the special that week was,
but staff gave me a very low price on this scanner, surprised I wanted it. Just over $50.
It goes down to over 13,000 d.p.i. I can alter currency and bank documents with this, pixel by pixel.
I don't do that. I just like it for scanning things to use online, and for me, that's being here and email.

If I buy a new bulb before this one burns the glass, it's supposed to last forever.

The Panasonic phone, with only redial as a feature, cost $19.95 brand new.
The Microsoft computer keyboard cost $12.00 brand new.
The Brother printer, just black and white, cost $125.
I bought it at a stationary store I've been shopping at since 1980,
when I could have got it at Staples for $75, that weeks's special.
The girl at the stationary store even told me that, but I said I want to be a customer.
I also was living just five minutes away, so I could walk and carry it.
The Dell computer screen was given to me by someone who got a bigger one.
I paid $325 for the rebuilt Hewlitt-Packard computer, from a friendly computer store.
Hanging around a computer store isn't the same as hanging out at a music store,
but they don't kick me out, so I'm lipping off to everyone who walks through the door.

That mouse is the last mouse with a wire that Staples had, so I bought two, $9 each.
I sanded the paint on this table I got from the side of the road downtown, as my mouse pad.
I'm saying mouse here so you know what I mean, because I call it a clicker.
It's got red plastic with a red light that glows more when you move it, why I like it.
And I don't want anything wireless. There's too much of that coming down from the skies already.
And wireless is just a disruption waiting to happen.

I paid $5 for the Dell computer speakers, when a friend wanted to give them to me for free.
He had something else I wanted to buy in his store, so I didn't want to start off with a cheaper.

Oh! I'm letting the drama build here, before I come back and try playing guitar.
I won't have the soft, phasing sound with reverb, just having the Boss with some echo or delay.
I looked at the instructions, and it's delay in English and echo in other languages.
I should get my Boss half-rack micro-digital effects out of my main amplifier road case,
and try those. I'll take a photo later. I better go. I really want to come back and try some guitar.
I hope you're not disappointed, riffing off with your music.

I like writing lyrics... and it's taken a long time to develop my writing style... a long time.
I've been typing with my own typewriter since I was fifteen, getting conversational with it back then.
It's too easy for me to change the words to songs I've heard all my life, all those styles,
but I should concentrate on writing some new songs if I'm going to be a new, portable musician.
Don't forget, you inspired me to want to play along with your music,
and getting this portable Boss amp for this strolling troubadour gig that was offered to me,
is the combination it took for me to think I could jam along with your video.
At my age, it's amazing to feel something new, do something new, have something new.
And that's you too, alcaponedudu, my musical Brazilian friend.

You should run some lyrics past me, to see what my English, Niagara Peninsula translation could be.
We can live our lives font-free.

 

[alcaponedudu]

I'm amazed by the way you remember things. I'm affraid I couldn't do that.

Take your time, John. Don't rush yourself. Playing is very intimate for me. It's almost a ritual. I understand you perfectly. Anyway, looking foward to what you are up to.

Just yesterday I started a new song. It has a positive vibe to it. Do you believe it came to me while I was driving? I grabbed my phone right away and recorded a kind of melody and some lyrics. It's a very good way to keep it fresh. My mind is very tricky. That's why I like to keep the ideia as original as it came to me and from there I can move on.

Have a very good weekend, my friend.

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu! I've been coming back here this last two nights, wanting to try a video.
Seeing what you are saying here is very reassuring, for me, as well as giving me insight into your mind and creative process.
I will just say it's been a strange social pressure that got me involved, taking me away from playing guitar at all.
I decided to do something about it, and yes, refreshing my memory is part of it.

For the first time, I decided to surf You Tube for videos of bands I grew up with and musicians I worked with.
I must have sat here in front of this screen for over two hours, seeing Ontario and Canadian bands.
And that was late sixties for bands I saw in high schools, and seventies for when I was out there gigging.
It became strange for me, seeing guitar heroes and remembering how much that sound and those songs meant to me,
when they seem so old fashioned and way the bands are playing seems so simple now.
yes... you could say I've gotten more rhythm and more jazzy with my playing... but it's about more than that.
I'm having a hard time about being me, when it comes to playing over your recording.
It's easy to say I have the technology to do something new like that, putting up that kind of You Tube video.
For all my looking, and I watched some guitarists doing their version of someone elses' song,
I never saw someone with a video of them playing along to another video.

But that's just a recording concept, not who I am as a musician and how I can play along with you.
That's really getting to me, and that surprises me, because it's just an online thing here with you and me.
I must be more lonely, more musically desperate, when I think I don't feel that way.
I've been alone too long. I've got my head shoved up this screen too much.
I slept this evening, Friday evening, and I'm typing after four in the morning.
I'm going to make myself this promise, tomorrow I'll make this video.
For sure, I'm going to want to show off, playing fast if nothing else, my first impulse.
But I won't do that. I'll try to play as part of your music, and see how it feels.
And no matter how it feels, or how I look, I'll put it up.
And if I put it up as part of this thread, here on Magle.dk, I'll leave it up.
Even if I look at it again and again and think I don't have what it takes as your kind of musician,
it might motivate me to get some musicians together and try to grow as a player.

You're right about you, but for me, I should carry a pen and paper to write down lyrics.
I get singing along and think that would be a good song, and then I lose track of it.

Times have changed.
Here I was today, walking over to practice with another guitarist-vocalist songwriter,
wearing a toque over my long winter hair when it was warm and sunny outside, looking like a stoner,
wearing a very colourful jacket made in South America, kind of a hippy looking thing,
having baggy, dark grey pants on with blue running shoes that almost glow they're so blue,
wearing the cherry Strat, not using the gig bag, and having a turquoise sports bag for the portable amp and chord.
And I was walking, walking along King Street, famous for the sex and drug trade,
walking along the canal, using the recreational path like a sidewalk, with all the other poor people who walk to the mall,
and what did I hear when I said good afternoon? Everyone, and I mean everyone, called me Sir.
I had walking by conversations, sharing a few lines, but everyone was saying Sir, yes Sir, and take it easy Sir.
I don't want to be a Sir. I'm not just Scottish, I'm a Son of the Gael, and I don't even want to be a Mister.
I can't keep telling people that any more, or I'll be spending too much time doing that.
It's got to be the white hair. Maybe I should figure out a way to use being old as part of my act.
I know you can't give me any feelings about that.

If I can give you some real advice, don't get stupid drunk.
If you knew how to defragment your mind, and remove the night of drunkenness from it,
your memories would continue in a sensible reality.
I know people who worked all their lives, drinking only on weekends,
and they say they can't remember being teenagers.
People I know who only puffed weed don't have that problem, even if they're slower.
If your mind is tricky, you want to keep it that way, and learn more tricks.
Being positive and writing songs about life and love in an affirmative way,
is part of what kept me on the fringes of the rock scene in the seventies.
That was before "singer-songwriters" were taking the stage.

It might not be a good weekend, but I'm going to be putting it out.
I hope I don't put you out.
The same sun and moon will be shining down on you and me, and that makes us global friends.

 

[alcaponedudu]

Hello John!

Busy monday morning for me here in Brazil. too much going on at the same time.

Talking about my creative process one thing that definetely changed was I must always find a way to keep it fresh and get down to paper or phone or something elese. That's so simple but makes a huge diference. At least for me. In the past I used to have some ideas for a song but never could conclude it because everytime I tried to replicate what I wanted, I never could. It kept changing and I was very upset about that. So my advice for you would be always try to find a way to ''capture'' your idea and from there you can develop it. That really helps. I think you know that.

So tell me, how is your recording going? That's so exciting in the world of Delicious Grace. We're honored to have Jonh Watt playing with us.

I have another question for you: What were you listening to when I talked about those bands that influenced you? It doesn't have to be a full list of it but if you could mention a couple I'd be very grateful.

 

[John Watt]

alcaponedudu! It's with a sad sense of defeat that I'm here without a video.
I'm working my fingers, trying to toughen them without callouses, as I used to be.
I was poisoned last week, sleeping and laying around, barely able to watch DVDs, for three days,
and that really got me down. I didn't play guitar for four days, and when I did, my fingers weren't there.
I am expecting a lot of myself, wanting to be a lead guitar virtuoso,
and if I'm going to think of myself as recording for the first time with this video, I have to be as best as I can be.

You're asking me an easy question, about my musical influences, and you're also making me wonder what yours are.
I see every South American who immigrates here as wanting to be heavy metal or draw comic book art,
and for us locals, it's about where we used to be, so seventies and eighties, more about American culture.
Who cares if you can sound or look like something from the past, that's not going to take you into a new future.

As a teenager, I basically had fifteen albums as my learning collections.
They were jazz records, mostly sessions by McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and John Coltrane.
I could jam along with them and start over again and never get tired or used to the music.
Elvin Jones on drums, his "Agape Love", with Joe Farrell on flute and sax and Buster Williams on bass is incredible.
My favorite solo piano is McCoy Tyner playing "Naima" on "Echoes of a Friend".
John Coltrane came down to being "Alabama" and "After the Rain", two slower songs.

I would take out albums from the library, classical pianists and violinists, to learn riffs from.
Nicolo Paganini on violin, Vladamir Ashkenazy on piano, figuring out Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven,
Les Gymnopiedes by Eric Satie, and all kinds of albums, was learning music for me.
After that, rock, fusion, funk, raggae, were all easy.

You seem to have the same sense of open musicianship, being a player, not a poser.
That's playing with feel, but having the technique to be truly expressive.
If you notice, I didn't mention any guitar players.
Playing with the records I mentioned set me up to play like Jimi Hendrix and George Benson.
I think of them for their sounds and tone, not wanting to just play like them.
Seeing violin virtuosos on the Ed Sullivan show and other TV talk shows, always turned me on.
I'll never forget one violinist who just held his bow up in the air, and played a piece without it.
Incredible, simply incredible. I used to play with one hand and conduct it with the other,
but I can't do that now. That's going to be the last finger strength I have, if I can get it back.

I'm not mentioning rock bands, because what's hit music there is usually about the technology.
You can say I'm still up there when it comes to having what's new, and that's my semi-solid-body.
I'm not waiting until I'm done refinishing that, but having that to play with you would be special for me.

I'm taking this for granted, but I'm pretty sure you didn't grow up with Detroit and Buffalo TV.
That's where I saw and heard r'n'b and soul music, getting into rhythm, what so much music doesn't have.
That's one big reason classical music leaves me cold, most of the time, it's got no rhythm.
There's a flow, there's dynamics, there's all kinds of harmony and notational excitations,
the grandeur, the meditative, but you can blame that for the rise of electronica dance music.

And look at the reality of where we are right now, inside Frederik Magles' domain, on his forums.
I wouldn't be here if his playing, his sound and tones, weren't inspiring for me in real time offline.
He also has really good videos and graphics.

Please remember I turned down every recording opportunity in the past, being a dance band player.
I never tried to be a professional as a full-time player, even if I was doing that for over eight years.
As a non-smoker, non-drinker, I didn't get into the scene around me, more about getting out of Welland.
Forcing myself to play lead guitar as making a video of me jamming with your video, and putting it online,
is going to make or break me as the born-again musician I am.
It will be a new activity for me, but I might not like what I see.

all this font is black, at the end of my day,
I'm just online dreaming, when this screen won't go away.
All this typing goes, as I go to log out,
but I'll be thinking of you, to play along, have no doubt.
Whatever I do tomorrow, is going to be what it's going to be,
and it's what this camera captures, that will be what we shall see.
I wish it was this easy.

 

[John Watt]

I have to add this about playing with my semi-solid-body.
Fender Stratocasters have 21 frets, my semi-solid-body has 24.
That's eighteen more notes, a full two octaves, that I never had before.
I also have a fret on the middle pickup for a fourth octave on the G, B and E string.
Having a smaller scale lets me play bigger chords lower on the neck than before,
and having slanted lefty frets means I don't have to hold my elbow out as much,
and that makes it easier to slide my hand up and down the neck.
This means that even at my older age I'm faster and move around more,
and feel like a virtuoso, even if my fingers aren't 100%.
That's not just a dream, when I can pick it up and know it will soon be ready.
I'm not chasing the Stratocaster and Marshall with effects dream I used to have,
not just because that's become a stereotype, but because I was always looking past that.
If only the suffering and torment of my life could be over, crime and politics in my city and Ontario.
They just won't leave me alone, and it's their fault.

 

[John Watt]

okay, alcaponedudu... it's after midnight and I didn't try a video today.
I did work on my first semi-solid-body, not being in a hurry until I can afford new hardware.
When I took a break, I did something I rarely do, and that's look around You Tube.
I even logged in so I could comment, yeah... as in who cares.

This movie segment is probably an old style of American movie you have never seen.
To be open and honest, it challenges my ideas of what entertainment is,
and the difference between talent and painful physical demonstrations.
You can see this kind of show as being a "barn stormer",
where overseas talent that was used to entertain the troups during the war,
kept the show going by travelling around and performing wherever they could,
just like pilots flew around putting on airshows wherever they could take off and land.
These three sisters, born in England, performed under their own name, The Three Winter Sisters.
I kept waiting for Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz,
to rise up out of the hay bales and chase these girls around,
but that didn't happen.

 

[John Watt]

okay, alcaponedudu... it's after midnight and I didn't try a video today.
I did work on my first semi-solid-body, not being in a hurry until I can afford new hardware.
I stayed in all day, just standing outside once to feel the sun.
When I took a break, I did something I rarely do, and that's look around You Tube.
I even logged in so I could comment, yeah... as in who cares.

This movie segment is probably an old style of American movie you have never seen.
To be open and honest, it challenges my ideas of what entertainment is,
and the difference between talent and painful physical demonstrations.
You can see this kind of show as being a "barn stormer",
where overseas talent that was used to entertain the troups during the war,
kept the show going by travelling around and performing wherever they could,
just like pilots flew around putting on airshows wherever they could take off and land.
These three sisters, born in England, performed under their own name, The Three Winter Sisters.
I kept waiting for Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz,
to rise up out of the hay bales and chase these girls around,
but that didn't happen.
I've got to forget my dream of everyone you know giving you money,
so you can send me a ticket to come and play with you for real.
That's putting too much pressure on me.

If this video doesn't do it for you right away, wait until they stop singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1J3NLNWAPU