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Joni
Mitchell Music
Q I loved
your transcription of Joni Mitchell’s "This Flight Tonight" in the
May issue, and I’m now trying to learn "California." Can you suggest
some resources for music and tab?
Bruce Thomas
Callahan, Florida
A Glad to hear
you enjoyed the transcription. Mitchell played "California" on a
dulcimer, but there is a guitar adaptation as well as a wealth of
information and tablature at the Joni Mitchell Discussion List,
www.jmdl.com. "California" is
also included in Warner Brothers Publications’ book of transcriptions
from Mitchell’s compilation CD Hits. Check out our free online
feature
story about Joni Mitchell, too.
—Andrew DuBrock
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Getting
a Grip
Q I play
guitar while sitting, and I live in the Northeast where long sleeves
are a must. I’m having trouble holding on to my guitar while I play.
How can I keep it anchored?
Mickey Purcell
Montpelier, Vermont
A A guitar
can be hard to hold because of the clothing you’re wearing, the
kind of chair or stool you’re sitting on, or even the shape of the
guitar itself. Guitars with rounded plastic backs, such as Ovations,
are hard for many players to hold in a sitting position. If your
guitar is too big for your body or if it has a deep waist or radically
shaped bouts, it might also be more difficult to hold. Before trading
in your guitar, however, try some simple solutions like rolling
up your right sleeve (if you’re a righty) so that your skin contacts
the top of the guitar. You might also try using a strap while sitting
to hold your guitar in place. Another option is to explore the classical
position, where your left leg is elevated with a footstool. This
position allows you to firmly support the guitar with both of your
legs and your body. Finally, if nothing else works, you might have
to get creative with Velcro or double-sided tape.
—Gary Joyner
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Nonwood
Guitars
Q
Are there any materials aside from wood that would make
a good guitar body?
Ryne Dionisio
Bartlett, Illinois
A
The question is not so much what other materials could be
used to make the body of a guitar, but what the resulting instrument
would sound like and how it would sell. Injection-molded plastic
guitars were successfully marketed almost 50 years ago by such innovators
as Mario Maccaferri. Ovation and RainSong have had considerable
success with fiberglass and carbon fiber. Martin is currently using
high-pressure wood composites similar to Formica for a few low-cost
models and recently introduced a guitar with an aluminum top. The
biggest challenge isn’t finding an alternative to wood but getting
the guitar-buying public to accept how it sounds.
—Richard Johnston
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Beginners'
Tip: Repeat if Necessary
If there is one thing that guitar teachers agree on, it is that
we learn most effectively by isolating a small problem, creating
a simple exercise, and repeating and repeating and repeating it,
as slowly as we need to, until we get it right. This is a truth
known instinctively by my toddler son, I noticed recently; when
he is trying to memorize the name of something, he points to one
thing and then the other, one thing and then the other, asking me
to repeat the two words sometimes ten or 15 times until he’s got
it—then he won’t ask again. The guitar equivalent of this is, if
you are having trouble going from a G chord to a C, slow it down
and do that single change over and over until you think you are
going to go out of your tree. At that point, you will have it.
—Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
Send Questions, tips, or observations to Acoustic Guitar’s
online discussion forums at www.acousticguitar.com
or write to Dear A.G., Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767, San Anselmo,
CA 94979-0767.
Excerpted
from
Acoustic
Guitar magazine, September 2001, No.
106.
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