senile1

I've avoided stating a strong opinion on musical subjects for awhile now. Since I've played guitar for a number of years, I find that my view of a musician's talents is often different from the average listener's viewpoint. I think it is this way for most musicians. I've read some strong opinions here, so I am presenting mine. As a guitarist, classical guitar pieces are the most difficult for me to learn. I've played covers of Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads, Ted Nugent, Inqwie Malmsteen, Al Di Meola and a host of other guitarists. I've also played a ton of blues covers including SRV. (When I say I played their music, believe me, I'm not saying I played it as good as they did.) The blues was always the easiest for me to play and learn. It is so much easier to design and lay out a solo over the top of a blues progression. Many Rock 'n' roll songs are based on blues progressions as well. The reason why many jam sessions are performed over blues progressions is because it is easier for everybody to play together. No offense meant to you, Muddy, but as a guitar player I can tell you that songs by Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, and some other guitarists in that genre were more difficult for me to learn than blues songs, especially the blues guitarists from way back. Few people know that Randy Rhodes was considering playing classical music full-time. Not only could he play pure classical music, but his guitar parts incorporated classical progressions and lines. He and, especially, Ingwie Malmsteen were pioneers in the neo-classical style of heavy metal guitar playing. Ingwie is an expert at sweep picking a number of sweeps in succession which is extremely difficult. I have full respect for the greats from the past because they were pioneers and they were doing something new. But like any field of endeavor, what these guys started has been taken to new levels of performance. Now some will say that these guys had heart in their playing. Well, there are guitarists in every decade who have played with heart. I agree with you that I wouldn't place Slash and Nugent in my top guitarists, but they are good guitarists. Nugent plays most of his songs in the key of A. Many rock guitarists always play in the keys of A or E and in their relative minor keys. Why? Because the top two strings on a standard tuned guitar are E and A, respectively, which allows you to play more notes on open, unfretted strings. Many rock guitarists learn to play in these keys first and they never move on from there. They may be fast and vicious in those keys, but when you ask them to play in a different key they are lost on the fretboard. My opinion . . . . my .02.

The Cardinals appear to be also-rans this year. They've lost third-baseman Scott Rolen, shortstop David Eckstein, and center fielder Dave Edmonds. Their starting pitching is in ruins. Carpenter isn't supposed to be back from Tommy John surgery until summer. Mulder, who wasn't much help anyway, isn't going to be back until May. I'm still hoping that Wainwright, who was a great, young reliever, will turn into a decent starting pitcher. As bad as it looks, I'm still excited about the season getting started . . . . once a Cardinal's fan, always a Cardinals fan.

Geez, there are so many and it is difficult to compare between styles. I agree with many mentioned so far. Here's some repeats and some that haven't been mentioned. Andres Segovia - One of the great classical guitarists. Christopher Parkening - Another great classical guitarist. Paco De Lucia - Flamenco, extraordinary Wes Montgomery - Jazz Pioneer Steve Vai - Hired to play impossible guitar parts by Frank Zappa John Petrucci - Dream Theater wizard Jimi Hendrix - a pioneer Eddie Van Halen - Another pioneer. Randy Rhodes Al Di Meola - fusion Stevie Ray Vaughn Paul Gilbert There are so many more but these lists can go on and on.

I call a short bass PB.

Daniel, I have to hand it to you. You know how to eliminate the chaff from the wheat to get down to what is really important. I agree with all of your points. As a part of number 3, I plan to upgrade my electronics and learn to use them as effectively as I can.

;D Hey Catt, I was wondering how Microsoft Word handles the phrase, "How y"all are?"

Catt, Microsoft's spelling and grammar check program makes errors too, but at least you know your posts are readable after you use it.

Muddy, I have to edit myself a great deal, also. In fact, after I made the post above I had to make three edits. Perfection does not exist in this world. Long Mike, I apologize if the post above was offensive. I can see that it could be. I make errors too. I just wanted to make the point that we can carry the grammar and spelling thing a little too far.

Long Mike, I agree with you up to a point. Some posts do butcher the language. However, we have to realize that sometimes people type these things in a hurry and they don't check their grammar and spelling. I can ignore a few errors. A good example is your post. It is very readable but it contains errors. Your spelling of fourth grade is incorrect. You used the word, forth, as in "Go forth." One of your sentences states "To the great good fortune of my two brothers and I, our parents were almost obsessive about we boys getting a good education." You have three errors in that sentence. The words, great and good, are adjectives. When using two adjectives in succession, they should be separated with a comma. The phrase, "my two brothers and I," should be "my two brothers and me" since this phrase is the object of the preposition, of, and it should be in the objective case. "We boys" is the object of the preposition, about, and should be "us boys." Like you, my parents weren't highly educated and they were adamant about the importance of a good education. No matter how educated we are, we all make mistakes in grammar at times. There may be errors in my post as well. It's a matter of not paying attention to what we are typing.

That's a good idea.

Last week on "The Bass Pros" KVD was going over how to fish a new lake one has never fished. He said the two most important things you need, and should not skimp on, are your electronics and your sunglasses. These are the tools you use to find fish. If you don't find the fish, it doesn't matter how well you work the lure. I purchased a pair of prescription Maui Jim's last fall and, while they were very expensive, the view into the water is fantastic.

Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch . . . . again . . . . . both are competitors and agressive drivers as stated by others in this thread. IMO, I would add one more characteristic . . . . . . unsportsmanlike. They have to act like children and throw their helmets and physically attack someone a few times each season.

Good point, Raul. I sometimes read a post so quickly that I skim through some of it and don't catch important details. On thick shorelines I would agree with 6 - 12 inches shorter on the length.

If I had a warm place to store my boat I would use it all winter long. As it is, I store it outside so I don't want to have to winterize it every time I take it out to keep water from freezing up in the motor. The activity level of the bass is not the deciding factor for me.

The palomar is obviously the quickest knot to tie and is very strong for some applications. I have had the best success using the uni knot with braid. There was another thread about knot strength that was started by Roadwarrior a few days ago. There was some surpising info on some of the links. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1201877669 I think sometimes much of the difference in knot strength relates to individual idiosynchracies in tying the same knot. Also, according to some tests the brand of line made a significant difference. In a link I posted on the thread above the testing for the palomar ranged from 43% breaking strength to over 100% depending on the brand of mono line used. For braids, the breaking strength for the palomar was only 43% to around 72%. It didn't even approach 100 % with any of the lines tested.

I agree with the 7 foot Avid suggestion. If you wanted to save some money, put a Shimano Symetre 2500FI on it instead of a Stradic. I would also suggest a Powell 703 MEF with a Stradic or a Symetre. The Powell lists for $169 so with the Symetre reel you're looking at around $250 - 260.

I use Super Flukes. I consider the Original Rapala Floater a minnow bait too and I love it for shallow bass.

My condolences, Olebiker. BTW, I own a TC-Helicon vocal harmonizer and reverb. You can create 4 harmony voices to go with your own. It also has timing and pitch correction so that when I sing a note sharp or flat it alters it to the correct pitch. These devices are why some people sound great in the studio and then when you hear them live they sound like garbage.

I'm with you on the amber/brown color. It works great on the lakes I fish.

I'm reading that there are 48 dead so far in the mid-south. It sounds like there was some wicked weather down your way, RW. I'm glad you and your family are safe.

Thanks for the info, guys.

Classic That was classic, indeed. Thanks for the reminder, RW. Repetition is a great learning tool.

That was an interesting post, Roger. I still fish the Johnson Silver Minnow and the Heddon Moss Boss but, being a child of the 60s (born in 1960), I am not familiar with all the spoons you mention. I had forgotten about the Little Cleo and the Timber Doodle. Like Roadwarrior I want to become more adept at using spoons other than these two. I saw a great episode of The Bass Pros a couple of weeks ago where Jason Quinn had the main segment and was showing his techniques for fishing some spoons. I believe he was using 1" and 1.5" Hopkins spoons. I really want to give these techniques a try.

...that would be "opinion" or "first hand experience" ??? ;D ;D ;D I'll never tell. It would ruin my reputation as an elephant expert. Isn't that what the web is for . . . . . to portray yourself as an expert when you aren't? BTW, Pencil Pusher, that was a good post.

Good thread, flechero. And some good points by Alpster, Zel, and sal669. When you get over 12,000 members you have a small city with all of the personalities that entails. In a city of 12,000 you usually have all kinds from felons to executives, sinners to saints. As membership increases the number of good advice and bad advice will increase. We all will have to sift through more bad advice to get to the good. It just goes with the territory. Alpster, PM me if you need some assistance with your elephants.