Jinder Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 I’ve had a long day of picking today, learning a bunch of songs for a wedding gig (I know, but there ain’t nothing going on but the rent...and, er, a wedding!) that’s coming up this weekend, and I’m finding that for some reason it just is NOT happening for my ears and fingers. I’m sitting here with the dehumidifier humming, at a healthy 55% RH, and finding that NONE of my guitars are putting me in the sweet spot. Started with my F25 which for some reason sounds shrill to my ears today, then to my faithful Hummingbird 6, which always sounds good, but no, today it sounds brash. The last hour has been spent with my Maple AJ, which never fails to thrill...apart from today. It sounds kinda lifeless in a loud way. I strongly suspect that I have an ear infection on the way...this kind of thing NEVER happens. None of my guitars sound like themselves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hall Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Jinder, sounds like myself when the tinnitus is about to act up big time, re: low pressure system arrival. I hope not the case with yourself. But, yes, I imagine we all have had one of those days. The Floyd certainly did! Hang in, as you know, it will pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Sorry to hear it sir, hope it turns around for you. For what it's worth, I usually try playing old Beatles's songs when I'm in a funk... something like 'come together'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Makes me feel bad as all that has been tormenting me is a broken nail on my right hand causing me to try and quickly figure out fingerpicks. My advice - shut off your brain. Your fingers know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Sorry to hear that, Jinder. That has happened to me several times, and it usually coincides with having a bad day at work, not sleeping properly, or just being stressed out for one reason or the other. So I figure when it happens, it is not my guitars that are to blame. The problem is funky biology. I bet your worst days are better than most people's best days, though... Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoSoxBiker Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Does your action or play-ability factor seem a bit harder on the fingers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 a shot or two of bourbon can work wonders for me! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Makes me feel bad as all that has been tormenting me is a broken nail on my right hand causing me to try and quickly figure out fingerpicks. Geez, I hate it when I break a nail! I have metal picks that, in a reverse position & with some shaping, do a passable job of standing in for a nail - but it's just not the same. As for nothing sounding good to the ear - Don't touch a guitar for a number of days, and soon your ears will be craving the sounds that feed your brain on a regular basis. It absolutely works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Ah pull your tights up Big jessy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Wilson Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 You may be pushing too hard. Take a break, or just play something fun that you enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 It's probably the whole system which is overheated - the inner tentacles can't be swaying all the time. Then again you say it's new feeling for you. That sign shouldn't be swiped behind the drawer. I've known points where music just didn't seem like music any more - more like structured musical sounds. Not a nice placed to be and one will have to find a highly individual recipe to cure it. Else it's the direct road to untergangggg. If it wasn't that serious, I would say "work harder!". Now I recommend you to calm down and do something else. Seek the opposite corner and get back in time. Fingers crossed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 I’m sitting here with the dehumidifier humming, at a healthy 55% RH, and finding that NONE of my guitars are putting me in the sweet spot. If the humidifier is actually humming, probably turn it off.... (Once I proclaimed angrily at a band I was playing in that I was 'never playing at a wedding again!' And of course, the Guitar Fairies were lying in wait....... BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 Thanks all! It turns out I was coming down with some sort of congestive thing, my ears are now bunged up and throbbing, glands up etc...I’m dosed up and will hopefully be in better shape by the weekend! I thought I was losing the plot for a bit, it was weird to feel so disconnected from the instruments I love. In the end I got my SJ200 out, which is like a big old musical comfort blanket. That was the only one that managed to penetrate my weird ear issues and connect with me. I’m now REALLY looking forward to when business as usual resumes and I can appreciate the wooden members of the family again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Geez, I hate it when I break a nail! I have metal picks that, in a reverse position & with some shaping, do a passable job of standing in for a nail - but it's just not the same. I am lucky in that my nails are normally like iron. Yeah, I have tried wearing the metal ones in reverse. Many years ago when I was trying to get comfortable with metal fingerpicks an old banjo player showed me a trick. You bend the end of the metal pick at a slight angle toward the inside of the finger. It actually does help a bit. But I have tried pretty much every fingerpick out there from Fred Kelly to Butterfly picks to the Alaska picks. Thus far the Alaska have been the easiest for me to use. The only ones I have not tried are the Perfect Touch picks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoSoxBiker Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Does your action or play-ability factor seem a bit harder on the fingers? Thanks all! It turns out I was coming down with some sort of congestive thing, my ears are now bunged up and throbbing, glands up etc...I’m dosed up and will hopefully be in better shape by the weekend! I thought I was losing the plot for a bit, it was weird to feel so disconnected from the instruments I love. In the end I got my SJ200 out, which is like a big old musical comfort blanket. That was the only one that managed to penetrate my weird ear issues and connect with me. I’m now REALLY looking forward to when business as usual resumes and I can appreciate the wooden members of the family again! I feel your pain. 7 Myringotomies (5 before they were common near 1970) and two mastoidectomies 10 years ago. I once made a bit of audio when my left ear was clogged for a while. Simple guitar, IIRC. One bit was unaffected by anything. For the other bit, I played with the EQ using my good ear until it matched what the unaffected audio sounded like in my bad ear. The audio clip I sent to a friend was XX seconds of clear followed by XX seconds of what my bad ear heard. The EQ, fwiw, looked like an EQ that was being used to remove a massive bit of noise from a faulty recording. I'm not sure if I still have that bit around or not. That's mostly better now, but can change a bit day to day. The other thing, and why I asked what I asked, was that weather changes can get me sometimes. My strings my drop down 30 cents overnight with a big cold front and air change. That seems to ruin me for a day. I imagine you're used to it as much as you travel for gigging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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