matonanjin

@DianeB, I've been absentia for a while and as a result, until now, have missed this delightful thread. What a fun, rewarding show this had to be. I stress the "rewarding" because I venture it had to be somewhat that for all the hard work you have put in learning. I can't speak for @Steve Krenz but I do suspect he is proud of one of his students.

@lebapiv ????????? Helloooooooooooo? What are you converting into mp3's??? Did @Fretless's, @DianeB's or my response help at all?

Convert from what? What are you converting to mp3? Are you talking about "ripping" from CD? I would first second what @Fretless shared. One can not convert high quality to mp3 since mp3 is not high quality. I know that in today's convenience first music listening environment a majority of us do use mp3 as our music source choice. And if one is jogging or listening in a noisy car maybe it is "good enough". And mp3's do have the advantage of taking up less space on our hard drive or SD card. Although I think this argument is less relevant now. You do say that you "need something that supports multiple formats (like FLAC, WAV, AAC) " . There are a lot of file conversion utilities out there and many of them are free and/or open source so I don't think you have to "be open to paid options". I'm a believer that for just about any utility there is an open source program that does a better job than a paid option. For my music playing on my desktop I use a program called Quintessential Music Player, https://quintessential-player.en.softonic.com named becuase the author of the program is named Quinn. It is a player but as one is listening to music one can highlight songs in the playlist and convert them to a format of choice. As an example if you are listening to a loaded CD you can convert the songs, "rip", to a location on your hard drive. It will also load from the database all the song info, album, artist, etc. And you can make a playlist of any list of songs. And you can edit metadata. There is also a program called OcenAudio https://www.ocenaudio.com which is not a converter, but an audio editor. But one can load a file of one format and then save it in a different format. I think it has a batch conversion function. Lastly, I know the entire defense of mp3's is the small file size. But with storage so cheap now I think that argument is largely moot . I am building a new computer and just bought a 2 TB NVME drive for just slightly over $100! I convert all my music to WAV. Most of my music is WAV although I have some, from the "old days" in mp3 format. I have 1780 songs both on my phone, mostly wav, on a 64 GB sd card with room to spare and a 64 GB USB thumbdrive in my car.

@Triple-o @Plantsman13 I love these!!! they are great but the “bar code” on the bottom of my foot says best used by 2016. Sadly, the mind says go … but the body says WHOA !! 😢😜 I'm going to have to plagiarize these🙄

As @Eracer_Team-DougH just stated this is a guitar forum and as @Fretless just stated, he doesn't use AI to play his guitar. And despite the minimal activity on this forum of late, I can see the ethical considerations of this subject causing some heated and unneeded conversation. Accordingly, I am going to lock this thread.

Wow Cindy! Thanks for starting this very thoughtful, memory invoking thread. Great to hear from you and I have fond memories of so many of those mentioned. I'm still here but not as active, or supportive, as I should be of late. For the recent few months have just not been very motivated to pick up the guitar. My wife and I just got back from a mental hygiene break that involved quite a bit of shopping and nice restaurants! 😉 Maybe that will recharge some batteries (or neurons?). And, yes, I did finish the course. I would need to look back at my posts to see when I did so but it's been a while. Thanks again for starting this.

This is Steve's, "Guitar Gathering", website. This is his medium for promoting his guitar lessons and, to a lessor extent, for getting his name out there for session work and gigs. But this is primarily his lesson site and its members, like me, are his students and followers. And to be clear, you are trolling for viewers and lessons on his site?

@Ice9 Really nice looking Gretsch! I'll bet it sounds and plays every bit as nice. Thanks for sharing the photo with us.

Before starting on this learning guitar journey I didn't know such a thing as a cigar box guitar even existed. And then I did see mention of them from time to time, probably on a forum somewhere. And then at a concert on occasion I would see one. And I thought, never seriously, that might be fun. Then a year or two ago at an arts festival here in Omaha a guy had a booth, Smok'n Strings, selling his cigar box guitars. I, of course seeing another fellow guitarist, had to strick up a conversation. I expressed really mild interest; we exchanged a couple emails; but it went no further. Last year we went on the Bonamassa Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea again. As we usually do, we extended the vacation by spending a few days in Florida, this time in the Florida Keys. While in Key West, on the popular shopping and dining Duvall Street, we came across a shop that sold, of all things, cigar boxes. And there it was! The perfect cigar box to me and, more importantly to my wife who has a say in the cosmetic aspects of such things since it is going to hang on the wall! Anyway, the Cohiba cigar box went to its new home in Omaha. But the cigar box just sat in my man cave for months. But a couple months ago my wife saw that the Summer Arts Festival was on again and we saw that the guy had a booth again and I delivered the cigar box. We, of course, discussed what type of pickup (s) I wanted, (humbucker) what colored fret markers, etc., and a few weeks ago he deliverd the finished product. What fun it is! I haven't been taking serious practicing very, well, seriously, lately. Instead just plaaying with this.

@Six String thank you for trying to resuscitate this forum. I have been as guilty as anyone for not participating. So much so that I did get a new piece of gear and didn't announce it here. Although a minor one. I'm rectifying that now.

"Stacked humbuckers""? I did not know this. Thanks Doug and @Per. I'll dig out my Clapton autobiography also and find that part. Thanks again, guys. Interesting.

Yeh, I have tried a Clapton Signature Strat and it was really enjoyable. I also came really close to buying a Martin Clapton Sig 000 but that is unrelated. But I'm a little confused. Every Clapton Strat I've seen has single coils not Humbuckers.

Most of you know my interest in guitar playing is Blues. For anyone with similar interest here are some Blue Rules!😉 "Rules Of The Blues" 1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..." 2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town." 3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes... sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound." 4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch--ain't no way out. 5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and company motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die. 6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis. 7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain. 8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin' on it is. 9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster. 10. Good places for the Blues: a. Highway b. Jailhouse c. An empty bed d. Bottom of a whiskey glass 11. Bad places for the Blues: a. Nordstrom's b. Gallery openings c. Ivy league institutions d. Golf courses 12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you slept in it. 13. You have the right to sing the Blues if: a. You older than dirt b. You blind c. You shot a man in Memphis d. You can't be satisfied 14. You don't have the right to sing the Blues if: a. You have all your teeth b. You were once blind but now can see c. The man in Memphis lived d. You have a pension fund 15. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues. 16. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues 17. Other acceptable Blues beverages are: a. Cheap wine b. Whiskey or bourbon c. Muddy water d. Nasty black coffee 18. The following are NOT Blues beverages: a. Perrier b. Chardonnay c. Snapple d. Slim Fast 19. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broke-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction. 20. Some Blues names for women: a. Sadie b. Big Mama c. Bessie d. Fat River Dumpling 21. Some Blues names for men: a. Joe b. Willie c. Little Willie d. Big Willie 22. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis. 23. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Melon, Kiwi, etc.) c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jackleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.") 24. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues.

Child pays for parent's lessons!!!!??? Did I read that accurately? What a concept!! Doug, have a great time and learn a lot. I'm sure you will. And we will be expecting live reports, daily, from the Retreat of @DianeB quality reports! (Again, no pressure 😉 )

@Cuong Dang, you are correct! "It's truly a wonderful course"! Let me do a little searching also and see if I can a place that might have it in stock. I'll check with Steve. One thing to be sure and verify, if you find a place offering it for sale, is if what is being offered is the version with bonus DVD's. There are two versions of L&M Guitar. One version just has the 20 sessions. The alternative has 20 sessions but for each of these 20 there is also a "bonus" session. I don't know if the Udemy L&M Guitar course is teaching the basic one or the one with the bonus sessions. The way the course is named, the extra sessions called "bonus", might lead one to think those additional sessions have just a little bit of bonus material. This is unfortunate because those "bonus" sessions have a lot of information. A lot! This is not just my impression. A lot of members, over the years, have echoed that opinion here. I would go so far to say there are sessions that the bonus materials provide more info than the "regular". Please be sure and let us know here how you are progressing!