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  #46  
Old 06-13-2019, 07:29 AM
beninma beninma is offline
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Rudy4 has a nice picture there, I have my practice area setup in a similar way.

I actually have one of those same amps too, Roland Street Cube. I would prefer to use the Cube of my 2 amps if I'm plugging my acoustic in.

I spend a lot of money on weekly lessons so I'm not talking about using gear as a crutch in lieu of lessons. But it's not 1960 anymore, there's no reason not to take advantage of modern tools that can move you along faster. My teacher is 100% behind using the looper & drum tracks and such. The environment of this forum is mostly people advocating spending $10,000+ on collections of acoustic guitars, spending $500-1000 for a really nice amp and a few pedals as a tool should be no big deal if you've already bought in that you need 5-10 super nice acoustic guitars to practice at home with.

Sure you can do all this with an iPhone, but unless you go track down a blue tooth footswitch (probably $$$ if it exists) and apps that work with it it's way simpler & more effective to just have an amp and use stuff like the Ditto as you can keep playing your guitar right through operating this stuff.

The thing is almost all of us have an iPhone or Android already and if you end up with an amp and some guitar specific tools you're going to have an easy mechanism to A:B compare the two approaches. When I practice somewhere other than my house I am typically playing my acoustic guitar and using the iPhone apps as my tools. They flat out suck in comparison. Lots of the apps have trouble with shutting off when the phone goes into power saving mode, so you end up having to configure the phone to not go into power saving mode. Then it drains batteries like a madman so you better have the plug. In terms of a metronome my favorite is the Steinbrenner app, it is available for iPhone & Android and it doesn't have issues with stopping the metronome when the phone shuts it's screen off. But I've yet to find a satisfying drum loop app. Fender Tune is pretty good but it has issues with the iPhone power management. And 99% of of phone apps that do drum beats and such are way too EDM influenced. EDM influence = No time signatures other than 4/4. Really annoying.

I feel like playing with drum sounds sometimes instead of just metronome is really important too... you can play with a metronome and get used to it then you play with a real drummer and they go and play a fill and throw you off.
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  #47  
Old 06-13-2019, 09:41 AM
Arthur Slowhand Arthur Slowhand is offline
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Originally Posted by ChrisE View Post
I didn't intend for my comment to sound rude, so sorry if it did. But I'd like to add to it by saying instead of buying more gear, take some of that money and take lessons from a good instructor.
That's sound advice Chris, thanks.

No offence taken, by the way - yours was certainly not one of those fatuous replies that just make the 'contributor' look silly.
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  #48  
Old 06-13-2019, 01:11 PM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
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Originally Posted by Ceabeceabe View Post
You can also record strumming on the phone using a metronome, and play that recording while playing along live if you are looking to practice solos, syncopation, etc.
While you certainly can go that route, I found anything but a proper looping pedal to be impractical. The ability to start and stop a recorded track very precisely is crucial to my practice, as is the capability of looping a track over and over again.

I play exclusively acoustic, also, but my practice corner includes an amp, a JamMan looper pedal and a dynamic microphone (to record guitars without pickups). I don't do any recording for the purpose of recording, but to record backing tracks that I use to then practice melodies or improvisations over. I also use an iPad to watch Bryan Sutton's video lessons and record my own video recordings to send to him for evaluation.

Other than that, I have a chair, a music stand, metronome(s), my most-needed reference materials and binders with sheet music and a small chest containing accessories like picks, capos and tuners.
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  #49  
Old 06-13-2019, 02:14 PM
MChild62 MChild62 is offline
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Originally Posted by DesertTwang View Post
While you certainly can go that route, I found anything but a proper looping pedal to be impractical. The ability to start and stop a recorded track very precisely is crucial to my practice, as is the capability of looping a track over and over again.

I play exclusively acoustic, also, but my practice corner includes an amp, a JamMan looper pedal and a dynamic microphone (to record guitars without pickups). I don't do any recording for the purpose of recording, but to record backing tracks that I use to then practice melodies or improvisations over. I also use an iPad to watch Bryan Sutton's video lessons and record my own video recordings to send to him for evaluation.

Other than that, I have a chair, a music stand, metronome(s), my most-needed reference materials and binders with sheet music and a small chest containing accessories like picks, capos and tuners.


I don’t think the different approaches are mutually exclusive. I have a jamman looper pedal and an amp, and it works great, but I use the phone more often because of the convenience and portability. With a good app, you can cut loops anywhere you want (and adjust playback speed and key), and there’s no plugging in, turning things on, adjusting levels, etc., and I’m also not confined inside on a nice sunny day.
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  #50  
Old 06-13-2019, 03:37 PM
cu4life7 cu4life7 is offline
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Like some others have said, for me the whole point when I decided to get rid of my electric guitar gear was to pair down and simplify. So for guitar practice, I personally don't use anything besides my guitar and an iPad. Sometimes I ditch the iPad and just go by memory in the backyard with a citrus-y IPA. There certainly isn't anything wrong with any of the stuff you mentioned, just don't feel like you need any of it.
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  #51  
Old 06-13-2019, 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand View Post
Your ears, maybe, but I disagree - and that's the whole point of the thread.

I don't know if, when you were young, you heard your recorded voice for the first time? I know when I did, it didn't sound quite how it sounded in my head. I suspect that most people who have played for a long time, have done so with other people, or they are more talented (or delusional ) than I am - because for me, I can tell you, my ears lie... which is why I said earlier, that I sound just like James Taylor when I sing to myself (yup, delusional ). Same with the guitar - I have little concept of how good or bad I am unless I hear it played back.
I'll record myself with a Zoom H5, my phone or my Focusrite usb recording (computer) often for a reality check. What throws a tune off is that slight hesitation you'll get when you don't really know the piece and you're trying to "get it right." When you own it, it'll sound right.
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  #52  
Old 06-14-2019, 11:13 AM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
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Originally Posted by MChild62 View Post
I don’t think the different approaches are mutually exclusive. I have a jamman looper pedal and an amp, and it works great, but I use the phone more often because of the convenience and portability. With a good app, you can cut loops anywhere you want (and adjust playback speed and key), and there’s no plugging in, turning things on, adjusting levels, etc., and I’m also not confined inside on a nice sunny day.
Hey MChild, You bring up a great point about the portability aspect and less hassle than plugging in and all that jazz. What apps do you recommend?
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  #53  
Old 06-14-2019, 01:11 PM
MChild62 MChild62 is offline
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Originally Posted by DesertTwang View Post
Hey MChild, You bring up a great point about the portability aspect and less hassle than plugging in and all that jazz. What apps do you recommend?
Desert,
Anytune+ is an app that I discovered here on AGF, and I can't say enough about it. Does almost everything I need: records from the iPhone mic, let's me loop sections of my own recording or parts or all of songs on my phone, slows them down or speeds them up, changes keys, and all real intuitive and easy.
Below is hopefully a screen shot.
IMG_2180.jpg

In the pic above, you can see that I'm looping a section of the song, and all I need to do is place the A and B markers and hit the "loop" button, and off it goes. And then I can set the speed (which in this example is at a very slow 35%).

The only other app I use often for practicing is Soundbrenner, a free metronome that I like and which will continue playing if I open Anytune+, although I usually don't use them together. Also, because I occasionally get calls on my portable looper/metronome device (which conveniently doubles as a telephone), I usually have a cheap plastic metronome and use that instead of the metronome. It's one less thing to mess with when you have to take a call.

On my portable computer (a Mac) I also have Amazing Slow Downer, which is great for looping and changing speeds and keys, but doesn't let you record like Anytune+.

Last edited by MChild62; 06-14-2019 at 01:23 PM.
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  #54  
Old 06-14-2019, 01:56 PM
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keith.rogers keith.rogers is offline
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Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand View Post
That's sound advice Chris, thanks.

No offence taken, by the way - yours was certainly not one of those fatuous replies that just make the 'contributor' look silly.
You made me go back and look at the initial posts, and with all due respect, I didn't see anything "fatuous" about the replies.

The problems you described are basic problems with musicality, and, as some suggested, buying extra gear is not the most direct route, though a popular course, and perhaps it will work fine, at the expense of a little initial distraction. (Especially given your description of yourself as an "analog" type.)

I learned to keep time by having my trumpet teacher hit me over the head with a stack of music books - literally, about 50 years ago. I attribute this to our not having the money to buy a metronome, so that tends to be one of the things I still use when learning new material .

You might consider toughening up your hide a bit, and understand that not everyone is going to be sweet and nice, though I think generally (and in what I read), they're trying to help. Best of luck.
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  #55  
Old 06-15-2019, 04:43 AM
Arthur Slowhand Arthur Slowhand is offline
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Originally Posted by keith.rogers View Post
You made me go back and look at the initial posts, and with all due respect, I didn't see anything "fatuous" about the replies.

You might consider toughening up your hide a bit...
Hmmm... 'with all due respect', I didn't make you do anything Bud... it was your choice if you felt I was singling you out for criticism, which I wasn't (in any case, I like to think I have the courtesy not to name names on these forums). But I have to say, taking the trouble to check back through the thread and then come back to take issue with me, suggests it's not me with the thin skin.

The fact that I joked about feeling like a naughty schoolboy and referred to one or two fatuous posts, didn't mean I was offended by them, just that they were fatuous.

And finally, you obviously missed the post where I thanked everyone for their posts.... ie. that I wasn't angered or offended by any of them.
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Last edited by Arthur Slowhand; 06-15-2019 at 04:50 AM.
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