Hand Made Music

Re: Hand Made Music

Bruce, a MN galoot

>I've caught a few episodes and found them particularly useful when I was making my first dulcimer. It would be nice to be able to play like the guys I've seen.

Bruce

Re: Hand Made Music

Matthew Springer (Mtn View, Ca)

>>it'd be nice to play like the guys I've seen

Buy wouldn't it....

I heard a quote though from a well respected luthier, whi said something to the effect of: "You can make em, or you can play em." Meaning you can't, alas, focus on both. I know my 'lectric playing suffers a great deal from G.A.S (Gear Aquisition Syndrom). I'd play alot better if I'd stop fiddlin with my gear....

-Matthew

Re: Hand Made Music

Dean Burke - Yakima, WA

>I think the real problem with doing both is how your hands beef up when you do manual labor, like woodworking with hand tools. Your fingers get stronger, thicker and less flexible. Stuff like that.

Dean

Re: Hand Made Music

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>If you are losing flexibility, maybe you aren't using your tools ergonomically? Maybe they don't fit your hands? Maybe they aren't designed properly? Maybe you aren't using the right tool for the task at hand? Maybe you are pushing too hard because your edges aren't as sharp as they should be or are less than optimally shaped?

Pianists, and even violinists, get lots and lots of physical manual exercise, and in general, unless they're playing Schoenberg, et al, they are not getting so ham-fisted that they can't continue to play.

Re: Hand Made Music

Dean Burke - Yakima, WA

>With all due respect, none of that applies.

Yes, musicians get lots of physical exercise; but they have to be very careful of their hands and how they're strengthened.

Dean

Re: Hand Made Music

David Miller from Iowa

>Does this mean I can't play the Strat down at the pub on third Thursdays? Did you know that "Riding the Storm Out", "Cat Scratch Fever", "The Story in your eyes" are all the same 3 chords? I suppose Dean meant "serious" musicians, of which I'm not.

Re: Hand Made Music

Dean Burke - Yakima, WA

>Do you remember all those old movies of the '30's through '50's, in which a poor musical prodigy (usually with the violin) had to work at truck driving for a living while he became recognized? I wondered for a long time how such a ridiculous premise made it past the censors, figured it had something to do with the level of the musician.

Growing up I played piano, guitar, basketball, and tennis, no problems joining the four. Then in my thirties I took up woodworking with hand tools, concentrated on this for a few months, at the end of which, brought on by extreme cold in the garage, I picked up the guitar again. There was no way I could even begin to play it. My fingers felt incredibly stiff, couldn't reach chords I could easily play months before, had always been able to play, even though I now had stronger hands, fingers in particular. It took a month to get it all back.

And the same thing happened in reverse a couple months later when I tried to wield a mallet, although it wasn't as drastic. That is, I could still pick up a mallet, just wasn't as secure a hold as before.

Dean