What's your latest Epiphany?

RetiredUnit1 said:
Pearl Bailey I met when I was in college, she was retired and taking classes she never had a chance to when she was singing. I told her sometimes I play music I don't really like and I just can't get into it, but I play it because I feel it's popular. She got this look in her eye and said "Allen, I used to feel the same way. I told Louis Armstrong about it and he said "Pearl, you gotta play what you like. You can't please everyone. But if you're pleasin yourself, others that feel the same as you will like it."" So from Louis, to Pearl, to me to you: Exactly!

Music is the language of emotion. Don't get hung up on equations and theory, because there are no equations in emotion. Feel it, be it, like it. You're there.
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You win!
 
I was going to write about the importance of skin moisturizer. (😯, honestly, but I guess that’s for another post).

This weekend we hosted a niece and partner for two nights, while they were moving from Phoenix to Portland, OR. U-Hual box truck, towing their 2005 Chevy behind. They were going to leave at 6am on Sat. morning, but at 5am, they heard it being driven away and ran out to find everything they owned, gone.

Won’t go into details, but by the time they left around 4 in the afternoon, they had their car back, and about half of their belongings. The epiphanies (largely gleaned from spending about an hour with a group of county sheriffs working the case):

1. Don’t leave any paperwork with you name or address in your car. Carry your insurance info and registration with you. It’s very common to have a break in, where “nothing is taken,” only to have photos taken of any info in the car, and then sold to identity thieves.

2. Don’t rent a truck to move anything if you’ll need to park it overnight, unless you have a secure parking space for it. According to the sheriffs, motel and hotel parking lots are useless in this regard. This whole problem is so endemic, that they stop rental trucks that are traveling at odd hours, or the least bit erratically, as SOP, which is how our niece got some of her stuff back. (We found the car, on trailer, ourselves, at about 5:30 that morning. I had figured that the whole rig was too unmannueverable and that they’d probably drop it off fast to be more agile.)
 
Guardians of the analog said:
My latest epiphany is that I only have a handful of builds left in me. I'm giving up for various reasons and the end of an era is here for better or worse 😑
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A world without your build reports would be a poorer place.

I'm a new builder very much in the honeymoon phase, but I've already had the epiphany that this is never going to be a business for me, or a way to "make money". If it was a business, I'd need to focus on how to do things faster and cheaper, and how to deal with more people, and I don't want to do any of that.

If I stay in the mindset that this is a way to spend money and have fun, I can focus on how to do it slower in whatever way I enjoy most, and to deal with only people I like.

I'm sure you have good reasons for wherever you're at with it, but I do hope we still see a post from you once in a while.
 
Alan W said:
I was going to write about the importance of skin moisturizer. (😯, honestly, but I guess that’s for another post).

This weekend we hosted a niece and partner for two nights, while they were moving from Phoenix to Portland, OR. U-Hual box truck, towing their 2005 Chevy behind. They were going to leave at 6am on Sat. morning, but at 5am, they heard it being driven away and ran out to find everything they owned, gone.

Won’t go into details, but by the time they left around 4 in the afternoon, they had their car back, and about half of their belongings. The epiphanies (largely gleaned from spending about an hour with a group of county sheriffs working the case):

1. Don’t leave any paperwork with you name or address in your car. Carry your insurance info and registration with you. It’s very common to have a break in, where “nothing is taken,” only to have photos taken of any info in the car, and then sold to identity thieves.

2. Don’t rent a truck to move anything if you’ll need to park it overnight, unless you have a secure parking space for it. According to the sheriffs, motel and hotel parking lots are useless in this regard. This whole problem is so endemic, that they stop rental trucks that are traveling at odd hours, or the least bit erratically, as SOP, which is how our niece got some of her stuff back. (We found the car, on trailer, ourselves, at about 5:30 that morning. I had figured that the whole rig was too unmannueverable and that they’d probably drop it off fast to be more agile.)
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Tell me more about this skin moisturizer!

Huzzah, that doth truly suckle at the teats of misfortune....
 
RetiredUnit1 said:
Tell me more about this skin moisturizer!

Huzzah, that doth truly suckle at the teats of misfortune....
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Well, since you asked…

I see a dermatologist twice a year, to keep pre-cancerous skin growths (all you young-uns on the forum can just roll your eyes…) under control, and have usually been told my skin is too dry, and I’ve always just ignored them. I had gotten used to how papery, and easily damaged my skin was, figuring it was just part of growing old. A few weeks ago, during my latest check up, she said I really should start using some sort of daily moisturizer, either an oil or a cream. So, for the last two weeks, right after my shower I rub this cream on my arms and legs, it never gets greasy, and absorbs pretty fast. I’ve noticed that I’m using about 1/3 the amount that I was when I started, to get the same sense of “that’s enough.”

My skin no longer seems like an old man’s skin to me—forget soft and supple, it just seems thicker and less fragile. Those of you that are in the process of becoming an old person, you’ll know what I mean, that you can’t reverse most of the falling apart that time does, but this is one that has been east to correct. Not nearly as interesting as figuring out what makes the maj7th, but at least as important.
 
Alan W said:
Well, since you asked…

I see a dermatologist twice a year, to keep pre-cancerous skin growths (all you young-uns on the forum can just roll your eyes…) under control, and have usually been told my skin is too dry, and I’ve always just ignored them. I had gotten used to how papery, and easily damaged my skin was, figuring it was just part of growing old. A few weeks ago, during my latest check up, she said I really should start using some sort of daily moisturizer, either an oil or a cream. So, for the last two weeks, right after my shower I rub this cream on my arms and legs, it never gets greasy, and absorbs pretty fast. I’ve noticed that I’m using about 1/3 the amount that I was when I started, to get the same sense of “that’s enough.”

My skin no longer seems like an old man’s skin to me—forget soft and supple, it just seems thicker and less fragile. Those of you that are in the process of becoming an old person, you’ll know what I mean, that you can’t reverse most of the falling apart that time does, but this is one that has been east to correct. Not nearly as interesting as figuring out what makes the maj7th, but at least as important.
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We have the Santa Anna winds here in SoCal that are so effective at sucking the moisture out of your skin that the backs of your hands will just start bleeding! I've been using Aveeno for decades, but I know what you mean. During the summer months it's not necessary, but then the first north wind starts and your skin gobbles up a ton of moisturizer before stabilizing.

I have this stuff I make out of Shea butter, coco butter, beeswax and cannabis infused olive oil. Not only does it stop pain (insect bites, cuts, bruises, burns, arthritis) but it's a great skin repair liniment. I was making it for a local old folks home that my friends wife worked for, but ended up just giving them the recipe as it was too much demand for it and *I'm retired* I don't want "work".....
 
Erik S said:
A world without your build reports would be a poorer place.

I'm a new builder very much in the honeymoon phase, but I've already had the epiphany that this is never going to be a business for me, or a way to "make money". If it was a business, I'd need to focus on how to do things faster and cheaper, and how to deal with more people, and I don't want to do any of that.

If I stay in the mindset that this is a way to spend money and have fun, I can focus on how to do it slower in whatever way I enjoy most, and to deal with only people I like.

I'm sure you have good reasons for wherever you're at with it, but I do hope we still see a post from you once in a while.
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I've been doing this hobby in one form or another for around a decade. I've built more than I remember and I think that I just don't have much left to build, and that's ok. I have a handful of builds I've finished up and am still playing through to get to know better, and a handful of boards to still build on my bench. After that🤷 I just gotta be selective, I don't wanna just build to build stuff I don't like or won't use. Most pedals are based on a select group of circuits and my journey is all but over, I built all the pedals 😂 that doesn't mean I won't build at all. @Robert has a few things of mine for tracing and the day will come when I get to build those. I just gotta wait for something cool that I wanna play to come out to fire the iron up. That means more time playing and that's looking like way more fun right now.
 
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Guardians of the analog said:
I've been doing this hobby in one form or another for around a decade. I've built more than I remember and I think that I just don't have much left to build, and that's ok. I have a handful of builds I've finished up and am still playing through to get to know better, and a handful of boards to still build on my bench. After that🤷 I just gotta be selective, I don't wanna just build to build stuff I don't like or won't use. Most pedals are based on a select group of circuits and my journey is all but over, I built all the pedals 😂 that doesn't mean I won't build at all. @Robert has a few things of mine for tracing and the day will come when I get to build those. I just gotta wait for something cool that I wanna play to come out to fire the iron up. That means more time playing and that's looking like way more fun right now.
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27cm8x.jpg
 
SillyOctpuss said:
When playing a power chord with the root on the A string you can add the same fret on the low E to beef the chord up a bit. I've been playing for 25 years and this only clicked recently!
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It works on the D and A strings as well. G and D too. You're adding a 5th to the bass, making it a second inversion. It's beefier but it tends to sound less like what it is because the 5th is so powerful. Not an issue if the bass is still playing the root note.
 
I'll say a few things.

Music theory: learn it. I mean basic stuff like which notes are in which chord. You want to be like the session cats in Nashville. Tom Bukovac can hear a chord progression with one listen, like Rick Beato, without a guitar or a piano. That's called having a good ear. The problem is if you get to Jacob Collier levels of theory nerdiness I'm afraid it will impact your songwriting negatively.

Playing bass forced me to map out the fretboard around the root notes. Playing piano taught me all the theory I will ever need and gave me a platform to expand on it whenever I want.

I don't recommend going the harmony textbook route unless you're into classical and jazz music. It gets deep real quick.

So the epiphany here is that music theory can be easy but you need access to the right materials.

---

A friend of mine died when we were in our early 30s from cancer. We weren't really close but it hit me hard when she was gone. I've proceeded to try and not waste my life but some things just don't seem to click for me. Namely relationships and family.
It's not easy being 47 and single when all my friends are settled and consequently don't go out much. To make things worse, Kraków is a city full of teeny boppers and while I've always only been popular among younger ladies, it's weird now. The prevalence of dating apps and people's reluctance to engage in public only make things worse.

So my epiphany is that I'll probably be alone for quite a while. I'm a bit of a weirdo and a foreigner here and frankly I don't have the heart to invest time and energy in another person.

---

On the lighter side, I realized I'll never be good at wiring and dealing with all the fiddly bits of pedal building. Tinning wires, routing them, bending leads, attaching CLRs to LEDs.
These things regularly screw up my builds and there's no sign of improvement.
I blame my tools and materials. I need pre-bonded wire, jacks with large lugs and lots of space in enclosures.

I don't think I'll quit but I can't afford to keep building just for the sake of building. I only build what I think I can use but if a pedal doesn't inspire a riff it's a lost opportunity.
Listen to Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Really original music with lots of effects. That's great use of pedals.

Anyway my Epiphone Coronet with its single P90 has finally made me appreciate tube amp overdrive and all its shades that live inside the volume and tone controls with 50s wiring. I'm reluctant to build overdrive pedals because my amp sounds so good but I'm officially OD curious now.
There's so much to do with a single pickup and a kickass amp.

I really need to start gigging again to get all this funk out of my head.
 
Guardians of the analog said:
My latest epiphany is that I only have a handful of builds left in me. I'm giving up for various reasons and the end of an era is here for better or worse 😑
Click to expand...
It's a journey and it's wisdom which lets us know when it's time to change. If it ain't making happy, it's crappy.
Guardians of the analog said:
That means more time playing and that's looking like way more fun right now.
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Totally feel you, it does start to get tedious after the 50th Timmy derivative with slightly different clipping options which all sound the same after tweaking. (Not to discount the Timmy, it's a great circuit). There are always things to solder, but we're here to make noises and have fun!
 
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