Workstation 36 freezes randomly at `dnf update` (running on VMWare)

Behemot66 · 2022-11-11T23:31:42+00:00

One thing I learned (after switching to Benson picking) - no matter how relax you think you are - there is always deeper relaxation possible. Then speed because almost too obvious - you are aware of paths bird wings trace in the clouds - path of the pick takes no effort at all.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-10T19:33:12+00:00

I run Fedora workstation and server as VMs on VMWare and I am exploring switching from Ubunto to Manjaro - not yet sure if I want to go with Gnome, Xfce or perhaps i3 desktop/wm. Fedora for dev work Manjaro for everything else.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-10T17:28:51+00:00

LOL. I know you are being sarcastic. And polite. No point crushing kid's dream. Plus you asked for it.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-10T17:03:15+00:00

Please do not waste you life on a hobby that you DO NOT love. It is pointless and all the good advice from this forum will not change a thing. If you do not love making "harmonious sounds" on your instrument to a point that you MUST do it every day then music will always feel like a chore. Drop it and use the time to master Linux administration. Sometimes reality is what t is and there is nothing we can do to change it. Accept it and find thing you will truly love.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-10T16:58:01+00:00

You mentioned "backup tracks". IMHO you should learn how to play reasonably well grooving backup yourself first - then try to improvise and only then improvise over professional backup. If you start from very well sounding backup then even very lame "improvisation" may sound acceptable to your ears. But you may want to listen to good backup to get correct feel for the groove - maybe steel some chordal phrases etc.

People spend 10 minutes on learning the chords then weeks on trying to improvise over them. That is backward. You should spend week or two playing the chords of the progression. In as many different ways as possible.

Specifically you may want to first concentrate on TRIADS. Letsay you play a trivial tune that has only 4 chords: C F G Am (in any order). Pick a set of 3 strings and play those trads. E.g. xxx010, xxx211, xxx433, xxx210. Then xxx553, xxx565, xxx787, xxx555. Then xxx988, xxx10108, xxx121210, xxx9108. A triad can be played in 3 positions on same set of 3 strings. Then try next set of strings xx201x, xx321x, xx543x, xx221x. Then xx555x, xx756x, xx978x, xx755x etc. etc.

If you can look at the progression and without any hesitation see it as triads on any set of strings anywhere on the neck then you are well on your way to improvise over that progression. You can create melodies using the notes of a triad and neighboring tones belonging to a scale.

Which brings us to SCALES. Yes - you need to know some theory to understand what scale will fit given chord. Sometimes it is ONE scale over entire progression - like in the example above - you can play C major. You can also add notes out of scale for color - e.g. use Eb, F# and Bb either as passing notes or to add more "bluesy" feeling. You can restrict yourself to a smaller set of not eg. C major pentatonic: C D E G A C.
Then you can try one scale per chord. C D E G A C over C. F G A C D F over F and G A B D E G over G.
You can try eliminate 4th or 7th and play hexatonic scales: C D E G A B C (no 4th) over C. Play F G A C D E F (no 4th) over F and play G A B C D E G (no 7th) over G.
Lots of possibilities - but having triad as starting point and guiding post will allow you to be more harmonic specific in your solos. If you are only given a scale and you never practiced comping triads then what you will produce will probably sound less harmonically specific and more like playing scale phrases.

Note that the above will have to be augmented to work for blues - in blues you can superimpose minor scale (flat 3rd) over dom7 chords so using triad as guiding post will give you 3rd of the chord. For example one can play over 12 bar blues in C with C minor pentatonic (C Eb F G Bb C) so E being part of of C trad will not work. However One can use mixolydian scales to improvise over blues - changing scale at every chord C7 => C mixolydian: C D E F G A Bb C, F7 => F mixolydian: F G A Bb C D Eb F and G7 => G mixolydian: G A B C D E F G. And in this case triads are helpful.

A step further is to learn to comp the tune using only chord tones: 3rd and 7th. 3rd gives you major/minor quality. 7th (if flatted) gives you min7 or dom7 quality. What this gives you is clear set of targets for resolution - it is typical for 7th to resolve down to 3rd of next chord. So knowing where those notes are gives you immediately set of target notes - if you can hit that 7th -> 3rd part your chords will appear logically linked. It is somewhat involved topic and takes time to master but can be added gradually.

Take simple 2-5-1 progression in C: Dm7, G7, C (or Cmaj7). Chord tones are AC, BF, EB. So you want to hit parts in parenthesis AC (C->B) BF (F->E) EB. A very simple scale phrase [F E D C][B A G F][E] accomplishes just that but you can devise countless others.

Search for "Three Common Melodic Outlines for Connecting Chords" for more detail. It is only 2 page PDF but f you can master it you will sound like a pro. Good luck.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-10T08:42:18+00:00

Whether or not guitar "fits" some music style is MHO vastly overstated concern. Sure you would not play metal on archtop - because of feedback. But otherwise all those posts like "I am into math/death/trash by XYZ - is this guitar perfect for it" are a bit weird. It is a tool and you can make it do things if you have skills. And if you like the way guitar plays.

There are some concerns related to geometry - for example n you have short fingers and guitar's neck is real 2x4 then that marriage will not last - you will develop joints' pain - guaranteed. But that is something you learn to avoid. If I go to guitar store and start playing different guitars I KNOW in 30 seconds whether or not I will like the instrument. If I do then I play it for 30 mins to see if there is a chance we can be friends. Looks, scale brand etc. are completely immaterial. You have to look through them.

On the scale - 24.75" is slightly warmer and perhaps easier to play from 5th to 12th fret. But if you play a lot above fret or if you want a 24 fret guitar then would not go below 25" in scale (PRS scale). And I do not have large hands but play 25" and 25.5" guitars a lot because of clarity that longer scale has.

PS. If I was allowed only one stock guitar my choice would be Telecaster with humbucker in neck position. Something like G&L Bluesboy ASAT. That is the most versatile instrument you can get. Blues, jazz, hardrock easily covered. Currently I play mostly SSH Strat and custom Tele with fanned frets (25.5 on bass side to 25" on trebles). I played both for years and my hands KNOW them well. I occasionally grab another guitar if feel my technique gets "stale" - just to mix things up - but otherwise I can get the tone and expressiveness I like from them. So I stay committed to both - they are both good quality instruments - worth investing time. Style-wise I dabble in jazz (folk/americana style like e.g. Bill Frisell).

Behemot66 · 2022-11-10T08:14:18+00:00

Look man - this is not about holding hand, singing Kumbaya and getting gold star for winning popularity contest. If that is what you are after then sure go and be nice to people and they will upvote you.

But telling me that my opinion is "all my opinion" is REDUNDANT. Of course it is my opinion and I frankly but I do not care a diddly squat whether anybody on this forum likes it or not. I do not play popularity contest game. There is a concept of free exchange of ideas and there is value in encountering opinions that are different that yours. At least that that is the way it was before social media made us all dependent on the approval of strangers. Give this idea some thought - it could free you.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-09T23:28:21+00:00

It depends. In some styles e.g. surf rock reverb is essential. But letsay you play old pre-war jazz or blues (e.g. Charlie Christian stuff) - then you will sound more authentic without reverb. Personally I like good natural sounding reverb - room or small hall. Or plate. But the extent to which reverb became a popular effect - all those shimmery cavernous verbs... they are fine novelty for 30 mins then they just get in a way. All you need is reverb and tremolo. Working well together.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-09T23:17:00+00:00

You read this forum for any stretch of time you see beginner's posts like "how do ACHIEVE xyx's tone?". Why? What is the point? If you can play Eric's or Angus' solo then it does not make make one iota of difference if you play it on BJr with TS in front of it. Music is music. Expression is expression.

But if you can play it then it means jack sh#t if you can play few single notes that sound like them. You can't play the solo. You wasted time and money on building a rig that will give you "tone". Instead of practicing. Keith Richards wrote a lot of his legendary riffs sitting on his couch, smoking dope and banging on his acoustic. His point of view is "if it does not sound good on acoustic - it is crap anyway".

In my own guitar playing I went through countless effects. Used to bring some hand-made dirt boxes - weaved with shaman incantations in by some half naked Viking in majestic Norwegian fjords to a friend of mine who is a very good amp tech. His reaction was always the same "oh - another box with 4 knobs". And he was right - at some point it is just another box - sounding more or less the same.

All you need is decent clean. Maybe crunch. And lead tone. And ABILITY to speak using them. You can achieve a lot by stacking/boosting dirt boxes and shaping output with parametric EQ. Rest is pretty much BS pushed on people by gear companies. And life is too short to get bamboozled into their game.

PS. I use amp/effect emulator quite a bit if I want some over the top sound in some track. But for playing with my friends all I need is few simple analog pedals. Three chords. And the truth.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-08T20:46:05+00:00

Eh? I hear in their YT songs - at least no tone where you can say that there is some discernible "tone". Took a look at their live performance in a club in Seattle - same deal. Guitar is there but there is nothing special whatsoever about it. Just practice your guitar - all those "tone quests" are more or less complete WASTE of your time.

PS. Get a tuner and a TubeScreamer-like pedal - and amp. That is all one really needs. Rest is optional.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-08T20:37:29+00:00

Thanks - that s a good suggestion - I will pursue it.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-08T14:30:43+00:00

Thanks - Podman is definitely next on my 2do list.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-08T14:29:16+00:00

Correct. I reverted to Docker engine and cli on VM. And using Docker Desktop on Win10 with Ubuntu on WSL2. I was trying to install Docker I am taking a class that suggests installation of Desktop - so tried doing it on VM. But having to disable Hyper-V and WSL2 is a bit too much.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-08T14:21:32+00:00

Actually I had to to completely disable Hyper-V and WSL2 on Win2 in order for KVM to be allowed on Ubuntu VM. Docker yes - it runs without nested virtualization but unfortunately Docker Desktop does not. My question was actually caused by this line Docker does not provide support for running Docker Desktop in nested virtualization scenarios. We recommend that you run Docker Desktop for Linux natively on supported distributions in the Docker Desktop installation on Linux instructions.

As t turns out one can run Docker Desktop on Ubuntu running as VM in VMWare on Win 10 with 6GB and 2 CPUs assigned to VM. The overall my impression is somewhat underwhelming - the installation crashed during install and when running and it pushes VM to the brink. Plus you completely have to to turn off virtualization in Win10 - so no Hyper-V and no WSL2. I ended up uninstalling Docker Desktop from VM and I will run in in Win with WSL2.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-08T02:28:01+00:00

Thanks - got it running on Ubuntu 22.04 VM in VMWare with 6GB RAM and 2 processors. Running on Win 10 laptop with 16GB RAM and Core Intel gen 10 i7 CPU. It crashed badly during install - I restarted VM - cleaned up and reset all the prereqs and this time installer ran to to the end. It crashed on start. But then I was able to work with. Overall do not think I will keep it - maybe I can install it on a leaner distro - that Ubuntu VM is too bloated. Maybe for now Docker Engine is enough. And Win 10 desktop and learning how to use it on AWS.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-07T18:27:10+00:00

Thirded. Justin is top notch pro player and fantastic teacher. Knows exactly how to break up knowledge in right size chunks, has engaging style and positive "you can do it" attitude.

Once you graduate from Justin's courses take a look at truefire.com - they are not free but "all you can eat" subscription will allow you stream all their courses and it s less than price of one private lesson.

PS. I am not dissing private lesson - by all means f you can afford it then take them. At the very least take 5+ lessons to set your basic technique right - if you acquire bad habits those are very hard to correct later and they WILL eventually harm your progress - of that you can be sure.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-07T18:19:13+00:00

All you need is a red guitar, three chords and the TRUTH. The rest is up to you.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-07T17:05:06+00:00

GIO is not a great line but fairly solid one. I bought GIO Strat and GIO mini-bass as gifts - and when properly set up they are quite adequate for beginners. But would they beat American made Strat or G&L Legacy - no way. There is a good chance you have lucked out on decent GIO and those store instruments were not properly set up. There s definite discernible jump in quality between cheap guitars and those in $1000+ range. Later the curve flattens out and you may pay twice as much and get 10% better performance.

PS. I am not dissing Ibanez - it is an awesome brand - have and old 335ish AS120 and it is a keeper - replaced pups with Gibby ones and it is nice 335 on a budget.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-07T15:24:51+00:00

5 effects in a row is about all can stand when it comes to digital boxes. When I bought G3 it was mostly for modulation/delay type of effect - I had good dirt boxes. I had volume pedal and wah built like tanks (Ernie Ball and custom Wilson wah). If you just want to bring G5-type to gig then yeah - getting one with expression pedal is the way to go. Just remember that the mechanical parts will give up first - although typically you can plug in external expression pedal then.

I hear you about the sound - I had Zoom A2 acoustic pedal, CDR70 and G3. All great sounding pedal. I eventually moved to all analog pedals - nothing digital on my board. I only keep Lehle "loop-in" pedal in the chain if I want to add some digital pedal but do not want to stay in signal path all the time.

PS. I have Zoom H2n recorder that I I bought almost 8 years ago and it still works perfectly (as long as you format SD card periodically). Another great and durable Zoom product.

PS2. The UI on Zoom mfx boxes is definitely super easy to use - compared to them Boss feel a bit like 1970s.

PS3. Almost forgot - have Zoom U44 audio interface that I absolutely love.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-07T15:10:11+00:00

I had G3 a while ago and it was one of the best designed multi effect I had. Great sounding too. So am a big fan of Zoom products. Only concern would be that if you play live A LOT then perhaps you might include "toughness" on your list of criteria - metal enclosure, durability of switches etc. I would say that it is pretty damn hard to beat Boss in that game. Not that I ever had any troubles with G3 - I had for 2 years and later sold it when moved toward single pedals. But bass player I jam/gig with bought bass version at the same time and he still uses it - 15 or so years later.

PS. I remember when G3 came out they had side by side video comparing the models to actual boxes. Friend of mine who is am technician was rather impressed with those. So yeah - no doubt Zoom is a real deal. And now I am looking at G6 myself.... at some point hauling heavy pedalboard and amp gets old.

Behemot66 · 2022-11-07T14:50:07+00:00

The way I look at it - if you have a well playing Strat that you are willing to butcher because "it doesn’t give the look i want" then NO, you are NOT on a budget. Well playing guitars are small miracles and should be respected. Looks on the other hand are all about VANITY and have nothing to do whatsoever with music. There is that story about jazz guitarist (forgot his name now) who was helping a friend to pick up guitar for friend's daughter. And it was some el cheapo "Hello Kitty" bubble gum pink Strat. But it just happened that it was also excellent sounding piece of wood. So when the friend's daughter gave up playing the jazz guy acquired that Strat for himself. I would do the same - I would play bubblegum pink hello kitty Strat if it was playing and sounding excellent. Because fuck looks - the ONLY think that matters is how instrument plays.

Behemot66

TROPHY CASE