matonanjin

"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!

And @DianeB and @Eracer_Team-DougH, it, the jam along pdf, now opens fine for me.

@DianeB, your link for the pdf, about the Jam Along Tempos, is broken. I will look and see if I have that rattling around somewhere on my hard drive. I know at one point I had it but do I yet?

@Steve KrenzI'm surprised with Neil although a little different direction. I thought your pick might be the Brent Mason Tele. Yeah, there is the lack of power issue. But I know you love that guitar. (And, admittedly, I was drooling at our lesson in Nashville!😉)

Wow!, @DianeB. What a great review. Being the Santana fan that I am, I, of course, wanted to see the movie. So much so, I considered talking to my wife about driving the over 2 hours to Des Moines, IA, (the closest place showing it) to see it. But I know the response that would have received. But now after reading, and digesting, your review I am mustering the resolve again to approach her. I don't know what else to say about your assessment of "Carlos" other than "brilliantly written". Thank you for sharing this with us.

Diane, is this a review you are quoting? Or is this your review?

Crazy talk, Doug? Or do we call this out for what it is? Blasphemy! 😆🤣😮

@camper star, welcome to you and good luck to you in your guitar learning journey. You have access here to the best guitar teacher on the planet in Steve Krenz and he is always willing to answer any question you may have. You also have a very friendly, knowledgeable group of forum members always willing to help. Don't hesitate to exploit both these resources. I have been to Quad Cities many time in my professional career. What has always been interesting to me is it seems no one in the Quad Cities can explain why it is called that when there are actually more than four cities!😏😉. Shouldn't it be septi Cities if one includes Bettendorf, Silvis and Hampton? And @camper star all future responses will be from members far more helpful and informative than me and silliness like this😆

Steve, I just got a electro-harmonix Holy Grail reverb pedal and I'm liking it a lot. Just? It's probably been months, maybe approaching a year now. I'm looking forward to your report.

Thanks for adding to the thread, Steve. Santana does have his sound. I don't know of anyone whose sound is more recognizable than Santana. Years ago, decades ago, a local rock radio station here used to have a two hour jazz show on Sunday mornings called "Jazz Brunch". It got to be a tradition of my wife and I to sit and have coffee and listen to it. A song came on and we were listening to it and I said to my wife, "That is Carlos Santana on guitar. It doesn't make sense, I know. Carlos on a jazz song but that is him on guitar". The song finished and the DJ came on to name the songs and sure enough! He said it was Alice Coltrane with Carlos Santana on guitar! I don't remember now what song it was but it was from their album "Illuminations". It was when Carlos started doing his solo stuff when the band started having some personality clashes.

Thanks, @DianeB!!! Here is the full trailer:

You do realize my post was from three years ago?, right?

Yep! The movie about my Guitar God - Carlos Santana! Tickets on sale in a few days (Aug 24). In selct theatres September 23 and all theatres September 29. https://www.carlosfilm.com

Every year I come back from the Bonamassa Blues Cruise (aka Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea) raving about what a great time it was. Because it was!!! 😉 It is consistently one of my wife and my greatest musical event of the year. Just such a great time. If you are ever considering it, don't hesitate. Just do it. But one of the additional benefits is that so many years we have met up with fellow members of Guitar Gathering, or as @Steve Krenz likes to call them, us, our "Guitar Family". And that is exactly what happened again this year. My wife and I had so much fun going to concerts with, having breakfast with, chatting with (about guitars of course) and just hanging out with @Tom M and his lovely wife, Sheila. The cruise is, as I have said so many times, one of our favorite times ever. Tom and Sheila just made it even better. From L-R: Tom M, Yours truly, Mrs. matonanjin, Mrs. Tom M

I just got notice this morning of the next Crossroad Guitar Festival. I really thought that the last one would be just that, the last one. But here we are. And we just, as in within the last couple weeks, got our tickets to Clapton's concert in Denver in September, just before the Crossroads Festival. Look at this Lineup!!! Is there anything that I wouldn't give to go to what probably really will be, this time, the last one? I don't know what that would be! Heavy Sigh.

Gary, congratulations on the NGD. I have heard nothing but rave reviews on the McCarty’s. It seems like even some of the normal naysayers have positive reports. I hope we see/hear some of your playing it here and your report

Finally!! I got my slat boards up and the hangers attached. This is going to be so nice!!!! If anyone is interested here they are, left to right: 1) Martin M-36 2) Gibson 325 3) PRS Santana 4) Fender Stratocaster 5) PRS Paul's (My favorite!!!) 6) Martin 000-15M 7) Seagull S6 Classic 8. PRS HB1 9) Yamaha Pacifica 10) PRS SE Santana (I posted this photo in the members gallery but thought I would post a thread😎)