MissouriPicker

Tom, of these 3 keys, I’d say the first one was the most natural for you. That said, it sounds like your voice is straining a bit on all of them. Maybe give it a try in a lower key?........Just my opinion. Doesn’t make me right and someone else wrong........Whatever you decide, I appreciate you putting it on here. Ain’t Hummingbirds cool?

I think my Dove is something like a 2010 or so. I forget and haven’t looked at the sticker for a while. I bought it “used” through Guitar Center. It came from a GC in Atlanta. It’s likely the loudest guitar I’ve ever owned, if big volume is important. Projects very well. I plug-in for all my gigs, but with the Dove I could almost play unplugged. I’m purely a finger picker (pretty gentle stuff) ,but if I played with a pick I could probably play unplugged at some gigs and I’d be fine. This guitar is also very articulate. Each note is really clear and rings-on and on. Whoever had it before me must have been a finger picker also, because it’s almost like fretting an electric guitar. Ideal for what I play. Very comfortable to play. Very similar to my hog Hummingbird, but resonates more (I assume because of the maple). Anyway, I’ve thought about a Doves in Flight(also maple). Was tempted around Thanksgiving, but didn’t know if I’d be gaining anything beyond the “doves in flight” inlays. Sweet guitar, but I decided to keep the beast I have......Whatever Dove you decide on, I don’t think you can go wrong.

Never heard this before, but it certainly goes along with Dylan being a prodigious writer. When I saw the length of the lyrics I figured I'll listen to a bit of it, then just read them. But, the dark atmosphere of the recording really pulled me in. Sounds like a melodeon creating that somber and meloncholy sound. To me, Dylan really nails the historical event and what went on around it. So many of the songs that followed this event were cultural offsprings of it. I'm glad I listened to it all instead of just reading the lyrics. You won't dance to this song and you almost have to have been there or at least seriously read the history of this era to really pick-up on what Dylan is singing about. He paints one-hell-of-a picture with all the metaphors and similes. .....The music of the 60s was so much more than "music," It was part of all that was happening in societies throughout the world and it spoke of what was happening....... I was a freshman in high school when Kennedy was killed. I still remember coming down the steps from the 3rd floor and someone yelled that the president's been shot. By the time I got out to my ride, the radio was reporting he had died. And revolving around all of this was the ever-growing turbulence of the 60s. His Bobness is one of a very rare breed. He just might be the proverbial "one of a kind." I can see this being like Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy. At first glance I hesitated because of the length , but then I saw it was a true historical journey. Anyway, Dylan is Dylan. No matter what The Beatles, The Stones, etc. were doing, people like Dylan, Lightfoot, Cash, Prine, and a few others were doing their own thing. I definitely see myself listening to this song many times. Dylan is truly Dylan. Thank God!

Real nice BT! I suspect that lots of pickers who grew-up in the 50’s and 60’s can identify with much of your story. My first concert wasn’t a big event, ,but it made a big impression on me. I was 8-9 years old and my dad took me to a Johnny Cash show at a bar named The Chesnut Inn. My dad was good friends with the guy who owned it. This was 1956-57. It was still JOhnny Cash & The Tennessee Two. What got to me the most was all the women screaming for Cash. By junior high I was understanding the link between guitar pickers and girls. In high school I’d sit on the school steps after school let out and play PP&M songs. Girls that wouldn’t give me a second look or I was too shy to talk to would stop and talk with me. I got a lot of confidence from playing on the school steps. . I was mainly into folk music, so lots of Cash’s stuff, along with Donovan, Ian Tyson, the folksy stuff from The Beatles, Kingston Trio, and most anything folksy. Played in a couple folk trios in college. We made a few bucks at times,but we were in it for the ladies......Started writing short stories and poems. Eventually started adding some chords to the poems, played my songs at open mics, then started playing libraries. My songs are simple and each one is pretty much a story about some aspect of my life. I write about dogs, parents, grand parents, cousins, and anything to do with my old neighborhood. Everything I write revolves around that theme. Been in this rut for decades. ...... I’ve played in a couple church bands. Good experiences to have, but I’m primarily a solo artist. Never had a problem getting-up in front of people and making an *** out of my self. Lots more to tell, but it’s real late here and at 72, chronological order and accuracy start to roam.....lol RCT mentioned something that’s very real for all of us. Two months ago, I had a longtime friend from our songwriting group die after a short battle with cancer. Yesterday, another old friend informed us he had 4-6 weeks to live........Life sucks, then you die....The passing of years and friends weighs on one’s mind. Seems we reach a point where there are more funerals to attend than weddings and birthdays... I guess there’s a song somewhere in this.......Anyway, I’m rambling.

I've got a standard "bird." If I've got a proverbial "go to" guitar, the Hummingbird is probably it. I don't know if it sounds better than my other Gibsons (they're all pretty cool too), but "the bird" has always represented what the ideal acoustic is to me. Like all my Gibsons, "the bird" is an extension of who I am......and, it just happens to also be a Hummingbird........Buy what you want and can afford. Definitely look-around at different guitars and get the one that calls your name. The Dove? It's a different beast. Both guitars can be gentle or loud, but a Dove can roar like Bart the bear. All boils-down to what fits you.

There's some truth to that.

I didn't care much for this song when I first heard it. Cash wrote it and it was just a song to fill-out an album. But, as the years have passed I've found myself identifying with it easily. For me, it's real and poignant. Kind of like Tom Waits and his song "Martha"----feelings written 30-40 years before the writer is old enough to actually experience them. Yet he/she understands them and can express them....................

It wasn't me. I just got some dirty looks and a whuppin'.

Excellent, David! Great video, BUT, that song is GREAT all by itself. I really enjoyed that.

My J45 TV has an LR Baggs M1 Active. To me it has a real warm sound and that's kind of what prefer. In my J100, I've got a K&K pure mini. I think it's excellent. It's passive (no battery), but has a really strong signal. Works very well with my Roland EX. Ideal for gigs in a noisy coffeehouse. An easy install, even for me.

My wife's birthday was a couple weeks ago and she told me she wanted to go some place that was expensive, so I took to her look at some new Gibsons.

Impressive, Sal! AND, it takes guts to do this song after Rondstadt's version. Very good, my friend. Don't hesitate to do it at your gigs. Easy-on-the-ears.

Never had an issue with the flubberguard on my Hummingbird. It’s about 16 years old. I’m not a hard strummer and the guard likely doesn’t get a lot of “wear & tear.” I’m almost 100% fingerpicking. My pick guard on my 2015-16 Southern Jumbo was a little raised at one corner when I got it. It’s just the typical plastic you see on guitar pick guards. I put a smear of Gorilla Glue on a razor blade and gently slid it under the edge. Seems fine since then. Personally, I like the flubberguard. It holds the design and lasts a long time. Just my view.

Yep, get a setup for "you." Even brand new guitars need them. Then keep your guitar in a good humidity setting when not in use and in all probability it will be years, perhaps many years before you need another setup.

I think that over the decades I have developed my own style of finger-picking, I suspect a lot of us have done the same thing. No formal lessons, only books and watching, getting advice from others are what we've learned from. For me, it seems like everytime i've found something I really wanted to play, there happened to be some pain-in-the-butt picking cycle or timing pattern that got in my way, so I'd persist and end-up doing it my own way. Not the way the book shows, but in a way that works for me. Nothing I do would make Chet Atkins and Roy Clark look down in amazement, but it works for me. I couldn't begin to write it down in tabulature, because there's not set way that I play it. There are different pick-up notes, hammer-ons and other nuances each time. I know the melody I'm after and I know where a lot of slides can be used. I just do what I'm feeling at the time. I've finally gotten pretty good at keeping a steady bass going with my thumb and I usually add that to whatever else I'm doing. I don't know what it's called. It just comes natural to me. I use a thumbpick and usually two fingers. Sometimes I pick a bass run with my thumb and othertimes I use my fingers. Kind of all depends on where my fingers are placed on the strings at the time. Don't know what it's all called. Just know that it works for me and if I don't feel like singing to the chords, I can play an instrumental version of the song..........It's kind of like John Prine said when asked about his guitar playing (and I paraphrase)---he said his mistakes and faults became his technique. '

Blaze Foley's story is an interesting one. Haven't seen the movie, but I've read quite-a-bit about him. He really was kind of a gentle giant, a big guy. Very talented writer, especially when writing about everyday circumstances that we all find ourselves facing. He was known and respected by several of the best songwriters around. He didn't do any big tours, etc.. It was more like the stuff Townes, Guy Clark, and Jerry Jeff Walker did before they became well-known. He was more of a guy who played in bars, pool halls, at birthday parties. He was homeless at times and slept in the bars he'd help sweep-out or he'd sleep on a pool table. Some so-called legends haven't had a fraction of his hard times,. yet they're revered as people who had it tough. His life seems to have been a pretty sad journey. My favorite song of his is Clay Pigeons. Over the years I've often thought that he was the guy in the song: someone trying to start over.....Heard about this movie several months ago, but then it kind of dropped-off my radar. I definitely want to see it. Thanks for bringing it up.......There not a great deal on YouTube about him, but there are a handful of his performances at smaller venues.

I really, really like that, Sal. The guitar has a strong folksy tone to it and you sound good. Guitars all sound different and this one definitely strong in the meds to my ears. I like it a lot.

Lots of sweet Gibson models, but I’d suggest one of the J45s or a Hummingbird. Get a good setup on the guitar and have a blast. Lots of folks don’t want to spend the money on a setup after spending so much on a guitar, but the setup is damn important. Just because a guitar cost a lot of money doesn’t mean it’s easy and comfortable for everyone to play. A Gibson acoustic with a setup that “you” like is a butt-kicker of a guitar.....Just my view. doesn’t make me right and someone else wrong.

I've got this pickup in my J100. For a passive pickup it has a very strong signal. If you need to do some EQing you'll need a DI box/etc. I really like this pickup.

Yeah, I think "Mystic" sounds good to the advertising department....lol.....Seriously though, the name did catch my attention, so the catch phrase worked....lol..... and the design and figuring of the wood is really pretty cool. Of course, unless I turn the guitar around and play it backwards, no one can see it. Like lots of folks I've often sold/traded guitars that at one time were "keepers," but I suspect this Southern Jumbo truly is a "keeper." I'm kind of at a point where I don't have to sell a good guitar to get another guitar. A J200 is likely at the top of my hit list, but we'll see.

I've got a "mystic" rosewood Southern Jumbo. I think it's a 2016 (I think). Really a sweet instrument. As easy-on-the-fingers as an electric. Don't know that the word "mystic" has anything to do with anything, but I love the sound and feel of the guitar. Always wanted an SJ and literally all the SJs I read about were hogs and often said to be basically a J45 with bling. Then, along comes this SJ that is made of rosewood....Hell, I don't know. All I know is that's it's one-hell-of-a guitar...........Also got a short scale, koa AJ....lol....go figure.

The little Jewish kid with a guitar and harmonica right in the midst of The British Invasion, The Beach Boys, psycodelic music, and a gigantic cultural movement----he found his niche and the rest is history. Love him and his music or hate them, Dylan stays "true" to who he is.

I've got a J100 that is walnut. Real killer of a guitar. As stated above, walnut is different. My J100 has good volume, but I don't know that I'd call it a "loud" guitar----although I'm sure someone who is great at playing with a pick could get a lot of sound from it. I think the bass has a great thump to it and I think the meds and highs are strong, but the sustain is not a great as maple, rosewood, and koa. I like the guitar a lot and I play it a lot. It truly has it's own sound and it sounds as good as it looks.

I've always been drawn to Gibsons and Martins. Mainly Gibsons, but I see a lot of the same qualities in both---tradition, history, quality, the legends that play them, and simply the attribute of them being what a guitar is expected to be. I've owned other brands. Had a Taylor (although I didn't wear a toga when I played it....lol) and a couple of Breedloves. Nice guitars, but not me. Just don't think they fit me and the songs I like to play and write (and my songs are part of who I am and what I want to project). Had a few Epiphones and some cheaper guitars that are/were okay, but I just jack-around at home with them. I just always come back to my Gibsons. To me, Taylors are the girl you meet in church. She's pretty as hell, polite, pristine, and your mom and dad will love her. You take her to the best places......Gibsons and Martins are the girl you meet in a bar. She plays pool with the bikers. She can cuss like a truck driver. She's pretty, but in a "been there, done that" kind of way. She's a fan of Janis, Cash, and Dylan. She speaks her mind and if you can't handle that, it's your problem. She is who she is and she makes no apoligies for it. And if you want to date her, she's happy with some Jim Beam and a sofa.

Never been a big fan of her "bubblegum" music. No doubt, a lot of that's a generational thing. There's a video of her singing "As Tears Go By" with The Stones and to my ears she is horrible. However, I've also heard her on a couple of actual folk-style songs and without a rock band behind her and I really enjoyed hearing her. This NPR performance is also good. I like the personable and songwriter type venue. In this video, she's very easy to relate-to. I liked it. Kind of gets you away from all the bull and hype and you get to see/hear the person.