I always sing along to that lyric as ...he asked 'The mouse, that gonna leave?' even though I know that is not what is being sung. Hearing this song live, acoustic, a couple of times recently has been super awesome but has not changed my version at all. Andrew B Cohen, I really like singing along to your songs and am glad that you have no problems with my obviously incorrect versions of your lyrics!Pretty glad to hear that there are some songs in the can and more recordings on the way.I have no questions but the title of this thread is Hey, Andrew B. Cohen and not Ask Andrew B. Cohen so I think I'm good.

eliya wrote:Andrew B. Cohen wrote:Who is this Secona Lee?!?We all would like to know!While we're discussing SKWM songs - Tim has a thread going on Facebook where everyone's talking about The Ram from Italian Platinum. What is this song about? When I first heard it I thought it was inspired by battering rams, particularly ones the Romans used to break down the walls to Jerusalem. I'm not sure that makes any sense anymore, especially after I read the lyrics.Hey Eliya! I'll have to listen to the song again before I answer, it's been a long time . . . I'm back.Man, after listening again, I think I'll take a pass on any specific thoughts because this one is whatever you want it to be. For me, I'll point toward concepts like: mystery, fun, out of control.Maybe I'll try to work this one up acoustic for my next solo appearance.

tbone wrote:I always sing along to that lyric as "...he asked 'The mouse, that gonna leave?'" even though I know that is not what is being sung. Hearing this song live, acoustic, a couple of times recently has been super awesome but has not changed my version at all. Andrew B Cohen, I really like singing along to your songs and am glad that you have no problems with my obviously incorrect versions of your lyrics!Not incorrect, your versions are great!Pretty glad to hear that there are some songs in the can and more recordings on the way.Thanks, I'll try to get this process moving along, for my own sake at least.I have no questions but the title of this thread is "Hey, Andrew B. Cohen" and not "Ask Andrew B. Cohen" so I think I'm good.You are good, I agree!

llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:Andrew B. Cohen,I play guitar at least a couple hours a day, just writing riffs and chord progressions and soloing to an imaginary band. Regular band practice is two-three hours a week. Am I shooting myself in the foot by not being more technical about it, like by learning songs and scales and stuff? I only switched to guitar about 5 years ago, but I was playing bass about 10 years before that. I really just want to kick ass and play interesting sounding things. Do you have any sort of practice regimen that you follow?A couple hours a day is a lot of guitar playing for almost anyone, so I think you are already "practicing" quite a bit.I do think there is a place for some book learnin' about this stuff. It can really save you a lot of time (i.e., someone else has already thought of and written down most basic musical concepts). If you practice scales/chords/lesson-ey type stuff with discipline you will eventually get to the point where the muscle memory or whatever is advanced enough that you will have a lot of options open to you in your playing. A lot of people associated this kind of playing with the worst mechanical crap out there, from whatever jazz person is hot at the moment or, on the other end of the spectrum, the million-miles-an-hour metal shredders. It doesn't have to be like that. Richard Lloyd seems to be pretty up on basic music theory and conventional guitar playing technique and he is great in the right setting (e.g., Television, Rocket From the Tombs). Same goes for Richard Thompson, Sonny Sharrock and lots of other great guitarists.You're already playing a couple hours a day, so I think that if you were to take lessons from a decent teacher and devote 1 hour a day to really practicing you would see big gains quickly. An hour of focused practice is really a lot if done daily. Then you got your other hour to write songs and goof around.Or, just keep doing what you are doing and find your own way.I took sort of a hybrid approach, doing a lot of practice on the conventional stuff early (like in my teens) and got really proficient in a "can move fingers quickly" sense, but it took me several years of the other way (less scales, more goofing around, finding my own thing) to really get to a place I liked.

Andrew B. Cohen,I play guitar at least a couple hours a day, just writing riffs and chord progressions and soloing to an imaginary band. Regular band practice is two-three hours a week. Am I shooting myself in the foot by not being more technical about it, like by learning songs and scales and stuff? I only switched to guitar about 5 years ago, but I was playing bass about 10 years before that. I really just want to kick ass and play interesting sounding things. Do you have any sort of practice regimen that you follow?

Thank you, Andy! I've signed up for lessons for an hour a week. The main reason I asked was because the time I spend playing guitar I could be hanging out with my friends or my very understanding girl friend, so the thought that I could be wasting time sort of horrifies me. thanks for taking the time to answer!

llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:Thank you, Andy! I've signed up for lessons for an hour a week. The main reason I asked was because the time I spend playing guitar I could be hanging out with my friends or my very understanding girl friend, so the thought that I could be wasting time sort of horrifies me. thanks for taking the time to answer! No problem, thanks for asking. Get some of your friends to play with you then you get a 2-fer of playing the guitar AND hanging out with your friends!

Hi tallchris,I don't remember if I ran the 2-amp setup on everything on Shade Perennial, but it is certainly there on several tracks. I used it on Italian Platinum for LR72 as well (100-watt Marshall + '59 Deluxe). Also used it for a few songs on the First Pit rec (Hammer of the Godz), but can't remember which ones.For me, the bi-amp setup in the studio has always gone according to a script like this:Me: Hmm, this amp is awesome, but it just isn't sounding all that impressive on the recording.Steve Albini/Tim Midyett: Why not try the Deluxe (tweed deluxe), it always sounds great.Me: OK.(we try it, it sounds cool, but too ratty or something by itself)Steve Albini: Hey, I'll just rig up a biamp thingy and you can run the Matchless/Marshall/whatever along with the Deluxe.Me: OK. (Internal hate for the idea as I hate tone-sucking splitter boxes and stomp boxes and shit)(I play it and it sounds like the big amp to me because I can't hear the Deluxe over the screaming big amp in the room)Steve: Sounds good in here.Me: OK(We record and mix record and it sounds good.)As I recall, the little amp is usually mixed in to a small degree, i.e., we have a dominant sound (usually the big amp) that is flavored to a small degree by the Deluxe.You will be trying a clean amp with a dirty amp, which is cool. Tim Midyett ran a setup like this (that selfsame Deluxe and some sort of clean amp) on a song called "Lure of Beauty" on Firewater, lo those many years ago. It sounds cool! I think that Brian Orchard may have done this on some .22 and/or Light Coma stuff too, but not positive on that one.

Andrew B. Cohen wrote:That whiny little voice is heard in KrasnowSuch a whiny little voice is heard in LvovIt's a beautiful dream for 1940Let's call Jodl and have a party in WarsawPerhaps this belongs in the "Lyrics You Sing Wrong Because They Make You Laugh" but I sing the last line asLet's call Jodi/and have a party in WoodsideI know, I know. Conflicting feelings.

Hey ABC! Got a question for ya...So in another thread, TM mentioned that you and him both used dual amp setups for the last Pit record:tmidgett wrote:Used two amps for both the baritone and the guitar on our last record. Not normal operating procedure. Really liked it.I believe TM used the Electric Amp/tube-pre amp thing. Do you remember what you used? Was it one amp kind of clean/one amp cranked, or change depending on the song?We're getting ready to record in a couple months, and I was thinking of doing something like this (Bassman run clean & Marshall run full on at the same time) but wasn't sure if this would just be overkill.Thanks ABC!