my ukulele progress

[ripock]

I saw a thread about how to use the high G, which isn't that hard. It is very inefficient but you can play scales going from C string to E string to G string. Someone posted a video of Jake with an ironic statement about the inefficiency. It is an easy two-step process to incorporate the G string. Step one: be born a prodigy. Step two: have the good fortune to be born into a family that nurtures that ability from the age of 5.

Since both steps are not practical for me, I'm still bumbling with my awkward m9. I'm still at the stage where if you give me a sec, I can remember where the root is and layer my fingers down to form the chord, but I cannot do it quickly enough for music.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

I saw a thread about how to use the high G, which isn't that hard. It is very inefficient but you can play scales going from C string to E string to G string. Someone posted a video of Jake with an ironic statement about the inefficiency. It is an easy two-step process to incorporate the G string. Step one: be born a prodigy. Step two: have the good fortune to be born into a family that nurtures that ability from the age of 5.

Since both steps are not practical for me, I'm still bumbling with my awkward m9. I'm still at the stage where if you give me a sec, I can remember where the root is and layer my fingers down to form the chord, but I cannot do it quickly enough for music.

Well said, as always.
Back to the chili (beans), we also avoid canned goods due to excessive sodium content but local grocers now stock at least 3 different brands of DARK red kidney beans labeled with greatly-reduced salt content. Black beans with zero salt content are starting to be available as well. It makes no sense that the same isn't true of the light red variety.

 

[Blank Williams]

I saw a thread about how to use the high G, which isn't that hard. It is very inefficient but you can play scales going from C string to E string to G string. Someone posted a video of Jake with an ironic statement about the inefficiency. It is an easy two-step process to incorporate the G string. Step one: be born a prodigy. Step two: have the good fortune to be born into a family that nurtures that ability from the age of 5.

Since both steps are not practical for me, I'm still bumbling with my awkward m9. I'm still at the stage where if you give me a sec, I can remember where the root is and layer my fingers down to form the chord, but I cannot do it quickly enough for music.

To the point about the prodigy thing, I completely agree. I know it may seem petty but I’m slightly less impressed when I find out that someone has been playing since infancy, of course they’re good by the time they’re an adult. That Feng kid I see come up a lot is another example. Apparently his father made him start playing when he was four and was pretty strict about it. That almost seems like a manufactured prodigy to me. Maybe that’s a hot take, but that’s just how I see it.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

To the point about the prodigy thing, I completely agree. I know it may seem petty but I’m slightly less impressed when I find out that someone has been playing since infancy, of course they’re good by the time they’re an adult. That Feng kid I see come up a lot is another example. Apparently his father made him start playing when he was four and was pretty strict about it. That almost seems like a manufactured prodigy to me. Maybe that’s a hot take, but that’s just how I see it.

A large percentage of pro athletes get manufactured that way. Though I personally have far more respect for those who were working their way through college / serving a military hitch and were sophomore-year walk-ons for their respective sports, becoming even the 'manufactured' variety requires a huge reserve of self-discipline, self-directed practice and gazelle-like focus.

 

[Blank Williams]

A large percentage of pro athletes get manufactured that way. Though I personally have far more respect for those who were working their way through college / serving a military hitch and were sophomore-year walk-ons for their respective sports, becoming even the 'manufactured' variety requires a huge reserve of self-discipline, self-directed practice and gazelle-like focus.

Very true. I don’t want to take anything away from those people. They have the talent.

 

[ripock]

we're all excellent at what we were taught from a young age. That's why I'm such a good cynic. I learned that early on and practiced it a lot.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

we're all excellent at what we were taught from a young age. That's why I'm such a good cynic. I learned that early on and practiced it a lot.

For me it was cussing. . . Sailors pale in comparison to me. Only in my middle age did I perceive how foolish and unnecessary profanity is, and how ignorant and crass it makes one appear. In rare cases, I still resort to it, always to my own detriment.

 

[ripock]

seriously though my compliant about the video posted is that it lacks a methodology for us to employ. The result of the post was to be excellent and you can do excellent things. That isn't too helpful. That's like being a coach and telling the team: okay team. The game plan is simple. Just score more points than the opponent. That's true but without an explanation of how to do that, it is rather pointless. However, the video was posted somewhat humorously and it doesn't impact me or my ukulele life at all, so I'll shut up about it. I was just grousing.

 

[ploverwing]

seriously though my compliant about the video posted is that it lacks a methodology for us to employ. The result of the post was to be excellent and you can do excellent things. That isn't too helpful. That's like being a coach and telling the team: okay team. The game plan is simple. Just score more points than the opponent. That's true but without an explanation of how to do that, it is rather pointless. However, the video was posted somewhat humorously and it doesn't impact me or my ukulele life at all, so I'll shut up about it. I was just grousing.

Well... This is your thread. I think you should be allowed to grouse.

 

[Patty]

For me it was cussing. . . Sailors pale in comparison to me. Only in my middle age did I perceive how foolish and unnecessary profanity is, and how ignorant and crass it makes one appear. In rare cases, I still resort to it, always to my own detriment.

I always swear while driving by myself in the car (other drivers being fiends in human form). Can’t do it when my husband is in the car—he thinks the ***holes can read lips. And this being FL, they’re probably armed.

 

[ripock]

Well said, as always.
Back to the chili (beans), we also avoid canned goods due to excessive sodium content but local grocers now stock at least 3 different brands of DARK red kidney beans labeled with greatly-reduced salt content. Black beans with zero salt content are starting to be available as well. It makes no sense that the same isn't true of the light red variety.

I am a frequent pressure cooker, so I just pressure cook my beans from scratch. I am not a fan of kidney beans. I think it is their texture. Their skins seemed a little tough but it has been so long since I had some maybe I should try them again. Perhaps I undercooked them and that's the experience I remember.

I made it a goal of mine to make some tomato-less chili. I am going to use ground lamb and I'll get some kidneys. Of course, I'll need onion. I was thinking of some other thickeners such as celery, corn, carrots, etc. Then I have brown stock. I really think if I get the consistency right, one would never miss the tomatoes. It is mostly the spice profile anyway. And I'll make some corn bread but not from scratch. I am being adventurous enough with uncharted chili. I'll just buy those little boxes of corn bread mix they sell in the baking aisle of the store.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

It’s impossible to improve upon the boxed cornbread muffin kit. This is admittedly a tangent and will sound as if it should have been a Leslie Nielsen line from “Airplane”, but-
Have you ever tasted a ripe persimmon? A 20+ foot mature native persimmon tree stands near the walking path at our local park & I’m eager to hear someone’s direct experience. All my life I’ve ever heard how spectacularly sour the fruit is before it ripens in late autumn.

 

[ripock]

I have only had them less than ripe and cooked them. I was making some Persian food with crunchy rice and persimmons. After cooking them they were sweet like apples. By the way you know the story of why we have seasons because Persephone ate a few pomegranate seeds? There is some evidence that the fruit was actually a persimmon. There's some near eastern fruit mythology for you. I can't remember where I was, but I was at a place where the big thing was persimmon pie.

 

[ploverwing]

Have you ever tasted a ripe persimmon? A 20+ foot mature native persimmon tree stands near the walking path at our local park & I’m eager to hear someone’s direct experience. All my life I’ve ever heard how spectacularly sour the fruit is before it ripens in late autumn.

There are two main types here in stores: Fuyu and Hachiya. Fuyu are round and sweet when ripe. Hachiya are astringent as heck until they are very ripe, then they're sweet, but I still find they leave a bit of a "film" as an aftertaste. Fuyu are easiest to try because even when they're not quite ripe they're still ok; Hachiya are horrible until they're ripe. I LOVE persimmon season. They're delicious fresh IMO. I also look forward to pomegranate season. But I've only had either of these fresh off the tree when I was in Australia, no such luck here (although I pig out on peas and blueberries and black raspberries and Asian pears right off the plant).

I can't eat tomatoes in cooking, so I never use them in chili. I think it's all about the beans and spicing, I don't personally consider tomatoes a key ingredient. But I'm Canadian, so I'm probably disqualified from chili opinions.

 

[Tin Ear]

But I'm Canadian, so I'm probably disqualified from chili opinions.

Being a Canadian -Do your curl or watch Hockey ?

I Curl in the oldest curling club in continual existence in the U.S. ( I'm not Canadian - but I Curl )

The origins of curling date back to the 16th century in Scotland, where the game was played on frozen lochs and ponds. Scottish immigrants brought the game with them to North America, where it quickly spread across the northern United States and Canada. Settlers began curling on the frozen Milwaukee River in the early 1840’s and officially formed the Milwaukee Curling Club (MCC) in 1845.

The modern game of curling evolved rapidly during the 1900’s, aided in large part by the move indoors through the use of refrigerated ice. MCC relocated to Riverside Park in 1915, where two covered sheets of ice provided a fixed home for the next 55 years. In 1970, the club built a four sheet curling shed and clubhouse located at Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon, Wisconsin. Begining with the 2012 season, the club moved into a state-of-the-art 5-sheet facility located at the Ozaukee County fairgrounds in Cedarburg.

Today, Milwaukee Curling Club is the oldest curling club in continual existence in the United States.

 

[Down Up Dick]

My wife and I love to watch curling during the Winter Olympics when ever it’s on.

 

[ploverwing]

Being a Canadian -Do your curl or watch Hockey ?

My mom curls and I watch curling, but not hockey, and I don't know how to skate (I'm in a very temperate part of Canada, so I didn't grow up with frozen ponds and homemade ice rinks). We do tap our maple trees though for our own maple syrup.

 

[ploverwing]

What funky chords and progressions are you working on today, riprock?

 

[bbkobabe]

A large percentage of pro athletes get manufactured that way

IE: Tiger Woods? And maybe his son as well?

Still takes special talent to perform at that level... I once read an article that suggested that the best way to become a Pro level or Olympic level athlete is to be the child of a couple of them...

I'm not sure this translates to musicians quite a readily... Wolfgang Van Halen seems to have got it... But I've heard many children of famous musicians who seemed pretty much just OK, coasting on a famous name. Their parents give them a gig in their band, but... the talent level doesn't seem to get passed on as readily as it does with the children of professional level athletes.

My $0.02 worth...

 

[bbkobabe]

In rare cases, I still resort to it, always to my own detriment.

I used to work in a prison when I was pretty young... 19 and 20 YO. I heard the F word used daily as every possible part of speech... noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun and interjection.

I totally quit swearing after that and rarely do so today... even if I hit my finger with a hammer!

This is turning out to be very helpful now that I'm a school teacher... and I tell my students not to get into the habit because habits are so hard to break.

How hard? I used to say "all's" all the time: Example- "All's you need to do is do your work and you will get a good grade in this class". My students called me out on it, and I vowed to quit saying that...

Took me 18 months to cure myself of saying that...