Tuesday 7 August 2007

Lap Style Dobro Guitar!


I have been toying with the idea of learning to play this style of guitar.
The sounds that some of these guys produce are exquisite but much of the music played really rocks out so to speak.

I am thinking about this for a couple of reasons:
  • I have been searching for an instrument that I can play acoustically and still get heard if there are a few other instruments around.
  • I love to play electric blues and I can achieve many of the qualities I love on lap steel.
  • As I am a classical guitarist, and keen to look after my nails, this style of playing is a good option as picks are used providing a good degree of protection.
The video features one of the world's pre-eminent palyers Stacy Phillips playing a jazzy/blues piece.
Enjoy!

Monday 6 August 2007

Back to Windows!!





I am doing databasing at Uni this semester and I have to use Microsoft Access so I have returned to the Windows world for a while.





But! I have installed as much open source software as I can mainly from the Open Source CD.
I am using:
  • Oxygen Open Office Professional which has heaps of extra templates etc.
  • NVU for web development (would prefer Quanta but nada for Windows)
  • Emule for downloads
  • Gimp for image manipulation
  • Audacity for sound recording
  • Azureus for torrents
  • Filezilla for FTP transfers
  • Gaim for messaging
  • Firefox of course for web browsing
  • Inkscape for illustration
  • Scribus for desktop publishing
  • Blender for 3D work
  • 7Z for archiving
I do have a few proprietory programs, apart from those included within Windows OS, as there are no open source options for Windows that I know of at this point and they include:
  • Microsoft Access (but none of the other programs in Microsoft Office)
  • PowerTab because it is the only place I have been able to find the Edgar Cruz Bohemian Rhapsody TAB (See this weeks vids)
  • Adobe Captivate (for authoring as I do a fair bit of training)
  • AVG, Adaware and Spybot for virus protection etc
  • IconPackager and Bootskin (to disguise I am using Windows at least a little bit!)
That is about it.

Wednesday 1 August 2007

The amazing Evelyn Glennie



Hard to believe I know, but yes she is deaf! Amazing musician!