A great deal of people don’t view society as theirs. When someone stands outside the system, what is there to lose or care about? Personally, I believe i see your larger point, but many people don’t consider the social and responsibility this way.

When considering the golden rule, it can help to recall many ‘others’ would prefer folks not ‘do unto them’ in the same way… or, frankly, at all.

Villages now available from Amazon, financed through affirm, for low, monthly prices!

So… they sell, lease, etc either your data or some value added bullshit services or products based on your data for a higher price due to monopoly?

Thanks for reminding me to prioritize the capacity for dignified exit from the game.

Trying to define this or answer this question is an exercise in futility.

If you feel comfortable calling yourself a guitarist, poof-- you are one, regardless of what anyone else says. I wish I’d deeply bought into this decades sooner. Comparisons are odious. Rock on.

pm’d you a short clip! :)

Love this one. Reminds me of the quote “never stop looking for what’s not there.”

Sending you a pm w/ a couple of links if you’re still interested!

Exercises, scales, rhythm, timing, practice, et al can definitely be holding you back. It might help to view those “building blocks” as aspects you can work on that limit your playing less. For me, practicing these things allows me to think LESS about scales, timing, etc by increasing my muscle memory and confidence, which allows me to focus on the music itself and get lost therein when I’m playing.

To use some ambiguous terms, you can hit every note “right”, but that’s a very small part of what make music “good”-- that’s more about hips moving and heads bobbing.

So cool and love the color! While I can’t remember the model now, I had a fly back in the early 00’s and frequently miss it sorely. People seemed to view them as “weird”, but the one’s I recall played like butter and were quite versatile. IIRC, the builder has moved on to archtops now that still use the head stock design and have a crazy price tag now.

What kind of music do you make on it?

Awesome! What kind of 8-string do you play? The taylor is definitely easier to pick up and play like a normal guitar. I think a big part of that is the closer spacing of the paired courses. The guild model set them farther apart, which made hitting individual harmonics a lot easier. I’m going to play it a few weeks at this point, but I’m already considering replacing the saddle to have a slightly wider spacing on the paired strings.

Correct and thank you! I’ve been mostly playing A E A D E A (dadgad, but lower). I’ve been toying with minor modifications (a fav so far is the first string down half a step to g#) though.

Thanks! 27in is the scale length according to taylor’s website. It’s definitely easier than the jumbo Guild baritone, which I think was 27"–but yes, both of them are devastating on calluses compared to standard guitar. Actually, I mostly play mandolin these days and still baritone is quite a bit more difficult on my fingers.

The action is slammed down (lowered saddle & truss rod) to the point it buzzes a bit with a pick, but it plays like butter. I might loosen the rod tension a bit once I’m more comfortable with it.

B E A D F# B is “standard”, although I’ve been mostly playing in open A tuning: mainly A E A D E A (dadgad, but lower) and more recently A E A D E G#.

My boomer parents unironically think he’s the best politician since sliced bread for the last few weeks.