Winter Things

It was in his "Rear View Mirror" (sometimes I think these clues are too easy...)

Last week’s Bonus Round: “"Stop and Stare" is the second single by American band OneRepublic from their debut studio album, Dreaming Out Loud (2007). "Stop and Stare" was released to American radio on November 27, 2007, and British radio on December 16, 2007, reaching number-one and to Australian radio on December 17, 2007, reaching number one as well following up on the global success of the previous top ten single "Apologize". The single was released on March 3, 2008, in the United Kingdom. "Stop and Stare" has sold over two million digital downloads worldwide.

The song starts off with an acoustic guitar riff accompanied by a ringing electric guitar background fill. Both continue throughout the entire song. The song gradually builds up, with bass and drums coming in, as the song approaches the prechorus, before erupting into an emotional chorus led by Ryan Tedder's vocals and carried along by the full band. The song climaxes at the bridge, with Tedder's falsetto and an electric guitar tremolo background. In live versions, guitarist Drew Brown plays a tremolo guitar solo during the bridge portion instead of the original recording.” Credit: Wikipedia (See a live acoustic version here: Stop And Stare Live Acoustic)

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Another arctic blast this week and I am truly tired of winter and cold! As importantly, cold weather while keeping your guitars happy with the heat going can be a challenge. Heating your home can suck the humidity right out of rooms, and consequently, your guitars. Keeping them at 40% humidity or better can be a real challenge during cold weather, but if you don’t you can risk cracking the wooden body and warping the neck. There are homemade solutions (part of a slightly damp sponge inside a ziplock sandwich size bag, with a couple of small holes poked in it, inside the soundhole) but my guitars sometimes smell slightly moldy if they’re in their cases for awhile and I don’t air them out regularly. Also I worry a bit about the electronics, but when I used to use this method, they always seem to be fine. I decided to spend some “bux deluxe” this year and bought some of the “2 way” humidifier packs that last 2 or 3 months (should get me through the worst of the winter weather) that go inside the case. One reason for this change is the water in my area is “hard” - lots of minerals - tasty, but I have to use distilled water in my humidifiers or I get “white dust” all over the place. I was a bit worried the minerals or mold might cause some damage to the internal electronics, so I spent the $$. Read more in this article from Acoustic Guitar magazine (but your electric guitars need love too!) Humidity and guitars I would have included this in the Thursday “Links” post yesterday, but the cold this week came on pretty suddenly after a couple weeks of relatively warmer, wetter weather and reminded me of it.

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Speaking of Thursday posts, yesterday I started a “new thing” - if you missed it, (here’s the link: Something New and...) it’s a section that will discuss an “out of the mainstream” band, artist, performer, songwriter or related subjects that should provide some interesting insights and discussion. Yesterday’s focus was on the band XTC and featured a recently available documentary video about the band’s history and music and members. Look for another somewhat overlooked British punk pop band (courtesy of fellow SubStack writer Brad Kyle) in next week’s Thursday post. I was struggling with what to call the new section, but I’ve resolved that with some lyrics from one of my favorite songs from the 80s/90s “MTV era”, back when MTV was still interesting to me. Maybe it still is interesting, dunno, but they lost me a long time ago - your mileage may vary. I’ll reveal the new section name and the story behind it next Thursday!

Anyway, if you have a favored but perhaps underappreciated artist or band, please send me the name of the artist/band and a favorite song or performance in the comments and I’ll put you on the list. I already have the next 3 weeks filled, and they’re all bands that are mostly electric guitar heavy, so an acoustic performer or two would be nice, just sayin’….

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A few weeks ago I promised more pics of my cat when the subscriber count rose, and the last week or so have been a mixed bag, lost some, but also gained some, so here’s a pic of my cat all happy (as I am - thanks new subscribers!!) to have new subscribers on board:

Or she’s just happy to have her chin scratched, she’s sorta inscrutable that way…

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Also yesterday I posted an excerpt from an email by a fellow I have a lot of respect for, Mr. Griff Hamlin from Blues Guitar Unleashed (it’s in the post that’s linked above). The subject is one I think is important: getting even just a few minutes in on your guitar(s) every day! In the background of my cat pic above, you’ll see a couple of guitars I keep handy - a Yamaha acoustic-electric I picked up for just slightly more than a song on Reverb after a price drop, and my old Strat, another bargain and a reliable performer when I feel the need to do something amped and distorted! Playing every day, even if you can’t get a full practice or rehearsal or recording session in is pretty important, IMHO. It makes the winter blues recede a little and gives the opportunity to get a little closer to mastering the technique or chord progression or whatever you’re working on, or just have a little fun with a favorite song or two. I know life and work and the news and the world gets in the way more frequently than we want it to, but even just a few minutes or a half hour on the guitar (or whatever instrument you’re playing today!) has benefits that reach beyond technique.

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Enough to think about for today, I suppose, and below is the promised "‘00s” playlist (that I didn’t choose the songs for, but I like them almost all of the and they take me back to a time in my memories - LOL: “Wonderwall” perhaps not as much as others….).

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Bonus Round: A place to fall, after all…

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Cheers and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic