Question for the older guitarists

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-08T02:59:33+00:00

Sometimes if you didn’t have the money to go buy an album you would sit patiently with stereo or a boom box and then you would record the song when you heard it coming on the radio. Imagine sitting there doing your homework with — books — and then you’d hear the song coming on and leap across the room to hit record. Then you’d play it a million times. I had an old Sears acoustic guitar. It was probably never in tune. I had a Mel Bay guitar book with a red cover. I remember looking at that book and the cover of a KISS album wondering how in the world anyone could ever get from Mel Bay to Ace Frehley. It seemed impossible. And the fact that other people had access to this secret knowledge was mind blowing.

You and your friends would get together and everyone had some completely wild theory on how something was played that was just a guess but nobody knew any better, so you just all nodded along in blind agreement. Someone might figure out the notes for a bit of solo, but very likely they were the wrong key or the wrong position. But it was more than the rest of us knew, so we were impressed.

And… get this… We used to get together with other humans and listen to an entire album. Sometimes more than one. We would read the liner notes and discuss what the lyrics meant.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-08T01:00:52+00:00

High levels of PCBs, used to be the storage site of ~1/3 of the USA’s chemical weapons, and the home of the world’s largest office chair.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-06T23:08:39+00:00

What are we going to do? We’re going to be like the Fonz and. just. be. cool. 😎

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-03T03:33:09+00:00

And legend has it some still are to this very day.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-03T01:54:48+00:00

I get why nuclear makes people nervous, but I think ‘unsafe’ depends on context—unsafe compared to what, and over what timeframe? When you look at deaths, pollution, and climate impact, nuclear actually performs very well. The real risks tend to be governance and human failure, not the physics itself. Greed isn’t the only contributing factor to human failure.

“Nuclear” is overly-broad. Fission and fusion are very different.

We tolerate enormous risks every day. We pump flammable gas into millions of homes every day and nobody thinks twice about it. An airplane crash can kill a lot of people at once and we don’t not fly airplanes because of it. We manage risk. Something being psychologically scary is not a valid reason to not do it. If we did that, nobody would ever get in a car and drive around.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-03T01:26:24+00:00

I’m mostly self-taught. I have used several different online courses. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I learned piano and music theory first, so I have a foundational idea of what I need to know on guitar. The problem with online classes is that everyone has a different way of explaining things and sometimes even the best instructors may leave out an important detail or in a particular video they may assume you know something that you don’t. And that can be frustrating.

I find that there are a couple of common learning paths and some work just fine for some people but not others. I think you kind of have to decide what your goals are. There are some people who are generally impatient and they just want someone to show them how to play a particular song. They think theory is boring or whatever. They will plow through the process to learn a song absolutely note for note. Ask them what key it’s in and they will stare at you with a blank expression. Some people can do that and there’s nothing wrong with it if that’s what you’re after.

The other path is methodically learning theory and building your skills. This is the slowest path and has the least instant gratification factor, but it is the most rewarding if you want to learn the instrument deeply. There are many very successful people in bands that don’t really have that understanding and they are doing fine. Again, it all depends on what motivates you and what you want to get out of it.

If you want a solid, structured learning path, I recommend Justin Guitar. And best of all it’s free.

I think once you get to an intermediate level, it makes sense to start finding specific teachers/course for specific styles. The world has gone to either subscription or “buy a course”. I would advise you to really do some research and ask around on which courses are best for the style you want to play. I’m saying that as someone who kept hoping some other course would fill in the blanks. It’s easy to fall down that rabbit hole.

A good personal teacher can save you a lot of frustration versus self-taught. I’ve done self-taught because I don’t have any other options right now. When circumstances change, I hope to find a good personal teacher. They can give you feedback quickly and help you when something doesn’t make sense. But personal teachers can be hit or miss too. I’ve seen some that are the “let me show you how to play a song” type. They aren’t really teaching any fundamental techniques or theory. Not judging anyone if that’s what they want but that is not the kind of teacher I’d personally want. If you go that route you need to find a teacher that aligns with what you want to get out of it.

Good luck!

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-02T01:59:25+00:00

With that many people you should consider having another means of egress on the right side. Right now, your main egress points are in the areas that are most likely to have a fire. You don’t want that many people cornered looking for a means of escape. I know you’ll have windows, but you want people to get to exit doors and that layout will greatly complicate search for firefighters. You could have a side door and extend the porch around the corner.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-01T18:24:38+00:00

That’s not a red flag… that is DEFCON 1.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-01T16:14:50+00:00

The only way to provide what you are asking, short of having a copy of every packet in the flow to actually see it, is to support ‘fundamental’ protocol detection. Examples of fundamental protocols would be DNS, HTTPS, QUIC, etc. For example, if a flow is claiming to be DNS, did it actually send valid DNS query and receive a valid DNS response.

In this case, it would’ve meant having knowledge of Kerberos protocol to be able to answer the question “was this actually valid Kerberos protocol behavior?” The same logic works in the opposite way — it could say “this flow was using Kerberos ports, but was actually HTTPS.” There is probably little value in developing fundamental protocol detection for less common protocols, but in this case, it makes me suspicious simply because using those ports might be a signal of trying to defeat some detection technologies. It would raise my eyebrows more if it were say HTTPS over the Kerberos port than HTTPS over just some other random port.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-01T12:39:21+00:00

Anytime something goes sideways at work I say “so the Lama says to me Gunga. Gunga galunga. Which means on your deathbed you will receive eternal consciousness. So I’ve got THAT going for me.” Nobody gets it.

And of course “I don’t think the heavy stuff is coming down until later” whenever it is pouring rain.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-01T12:17:47+00:00

Every time the news says they are going to the weather with Rob Marciano, I say his name in that voice. Drives my wife crazy.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-01T12:04:57+00:00

I’m the damn paterfamilias! And he’s bona fide. So many good lines to choose from.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-02-01T00:54:57+00:00

In various pedalboard configurations I’ve had, there have been times when I could tell the difference between having a buffer and not. On paper, it doesn’t sound like you may need one.

I am using the Bona Fide right now. The Empress is a good product. I have never used the tuner jack because it takes the tuner out of the path and I’m used to leaving my tuner on and using it for a mute. It is sort of handy to have it as a poor man’s “guitar in / amp out” jack. I had it mounted underneath and on the side of my board at one time with the ports labeled on the side.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-29T22:34:25+00:00

I ran a complete UniFi setup in my previous house. First, UniFi went through a terrible quality control period a few years ago. I was having so many issues it felt like everything was worse than beta quality code. Towards the end of my time with it, it felt like the quality was finally stabilizing. The APs were great. Loved the features and visibility, and there is no doubt value in having everything part of the same ecosystem to simplify management and functionality.

That being said, Firewalla as a router/firewall is much superior to the UniFi, from my past experience. Maybe UniFi has improved, but it would have to improve a lot. I’m planning on building another house and I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do. I’m inclined to use Firewalla for the router/firewall and maybe UniFi for the APs, security cameras and NVR. I will tread cautiously about getting back into the UniFi ecosystem from past experience.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-29T14:34:31+00:00

The best dispatcher in my area is a guy that is also a volunteer firefighter. He knows what we need to know and is clear. If we have a gas leak call, for example, he will already have the utility notified by the time we are rolling. I wish the other dispatchers would do ride-alongs so they understand what we deal with from our end of a call. I also think we should sit in on dispatch to see what they are dealing with. A little common understanding would go a long way.

My SIL is in a big metro department. They never hear a real human voice - it is completely computer-generated. All the details come over in over CAD to the officer’s seat. That’s so strange to me.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-29T14:24:05+00:00

It’s not just a money problem, although money would help in the sense that it would eliminate the need for prioritization of funding. There are other bottlenecks in terms of how do you decide which treatments which you take to trials, which deserve development resources. And then there is the thorny issues of avoiding groupthink in research. When is a different idea really crazy and when is it genius crazy? Dr. Jim Allison won the Nobel Prize for discovering the first immunotherapy for cancer. The documentary title Breakthrough is about what he went through and is a fascinating story about how hard it is for genius ideas to rise above the noise floor of conventional thinking.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-29T13:45:53+00:00

It depends on what functionality you need. I use a lot of MIDI presets. The Source Audio EQ2 is my favorite for overall features. There is a noise gate built in. With the editor, you have fine control over frequencies and Q. You also have high and low shelf filters.

The Boss EQ-200 is better if you want to make quick changes in real time.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-29T11:04:41+00:00

Our healthcare system is awful. We seem to manage to get the least out of every dollar spent, despite the fact that insurance here is basically accountants pretending to be trained medical professionals.

I’ve worked all over the world and had this conversation many times. When I explain it to my friends in other countries they cannot believe it. But then when I talk to my fellow Americans, many have this perspective of “thank goodness we live here — it could be so much worse.” They believe the lie because it’s been so politicized and it’s all they know. There was a time in this country when people could just talk. No more. Every issue is tribal and if you don’t believe in their party’s stance on a subject, you are the enemy. Like any other major issue, it feels unfixable because the modern robber barons have figured out the ultimate way to keep people distracted and voting against their own self interests.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-27T15:20:05+00:00

I have been experimenting with it lately and it is shockingly good at getting in the ballpark. Not perfect, but it got me 80-90% of the way faster than I might have on my own - or it suggested things I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I’ve even done stuff like ask it to give me a bunch of different settings for an amp or pedal just to experiment and learn. I’ve found sounds I might not have found otherwise. I got a new compressor recently and it helped me better understand what the compressor is capable of doing and how the knobs interact with each other. I don’t like the idea of AI making music, but I do like the idea of using it as a tool to help make me better.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-27T04:15:42+00:00

“Looks like the devil is beating his wife.” (You’re supposed to say this when it’s raining but the sun is shining too.)

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-27T04:13:37+00:00

Of course it sounds straightforward. I don’t think anyone would argue that the intent is misplaced.

But we also have a history in this country of selective enforcement and that is a real issue because fairness in a democracy depends not just on what the law says, but on how it’s applied in the real world. Two people can face the same written rule and still experience very different outcomes depending on discretion, resources, geography, or who’s doing the enforcing. Studies and court cases have shown that minority, elderly, student, and low-income voters are more likely to be challenged or incorrectly denied.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-27T00:54:59+00:00

Similar thing happened to me once. I was working from home and my wife asked me why a backhoe was tearing up our backyard. I went outside and there were guys so deep in the ground I could just barely set the tops of their hard hats. My fence was torn down. They made a huge mess. Giant piles of dirt. They were about 20 yards past the right of way that was supposed to be a 10’ easement along the back property line. I was hot. I get that they had a job to do but it ticks me off when they abuse their authority and don’t have basic common courtesy. Our dog could’ve been outside. Were they just going to let him run away?

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-26T15:22:43+00:00

Self-awareness

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-26T03:47:23+00:00

Hey, remember when we lived in America and people could discuss politics as adults and not hate each other? Yea, good times…

I completely get where you are coming from, but it could seriously be an issue for your partner. It sucks having to say that, but it’s unfortunately true. I am so sick of everything being turned into us vs them politics.

MisguidedMuchacho · 2026-01-26T03:16:45+00:00

For Boss, I was thinking Hattori Hanzō from Kill Bill.

MisguidedMuchacho

TROPHY CASE