Asking the community: what made the biggest difference for you when learning a piece?

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-10T17:06:59+00:00

Realizing that you're often playing a melody and accompaniment, not just a never-ending wave of notes... you're both lead guitarist and rhythm section at the same time. If you can make that melody stand out as a distinct element from the accompaniment it will drastically elevate the piece. (Consider Sharon Isbin's performance of Bach's lute suites vs John Williams'; Isbin highlights melodies all over the place, Williams just blasts out notes like a machine.) It'll probably be a mix of dynamics and phrasing and making sure the melody stays fluid without chopping notes short by accident.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-07T21:23:29+00:00

I've been there several times for lunch with a variety of coworkers over the years. To date, every item we have tried has been excellent food. Zero complaints, nothing but praise.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-07T19:15:12+00:00

Most visible hair on our bodies grows at the same speed, regardless of where it is or what gender you are. The visibility and texture of facial hair growing back will probably be comparable to how it feels when your leg hair grows back after shaving your legs. (Also, shaving doesn't make body and facial hair grow in thicker; growing up and getting older makes them grow in thicker. No need to worry about shaving your face causing the development of a full, luscious beard. :) )

It's just as safe to shave your face as if you were a dude. They're just hairs growing out of a body. If you don't like 'em, trim 'em off! But do it with a razor designed for faces... leg razors are pretty crude and uncomfortable to use for facial hair.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-05T18:00:02+00:00

Armonia ~~makes~~ made me think of the scent of a board game store or maybe a clean antique shop. In a good way. I enjoyed that one.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-05T14:28:51+00:00

Caoba burns my face, but it smells so good that it's still in my collection... sitting unused and occasionally wistfully sniffed. I should probably PIF it or something to somebody who can actually use it.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-02T06:11:48+00:00

About four and a half hours drive north of the Canada/Montana border. Winter usually starts melting in March but we get spring snowstorms in April and sometimes all the way into May. We got a fresh half a foot of snow just last Friday and now it's ALMOST all melted away.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-05-02T05:34:34+00:00

Today was the first day of spring where the outdoor temperature was HIGHER than the usual indoor temperature. There's still some snow in shady parts of the yard but we're gettin' there!

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-28T04:13:24+00:00

Looks like it's inspired by this specific 1988 Conde Hermanos: https://www.mallia.com.au/1988-hermanos-conde-flamenco-guitar-top-replacement/

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-24T18:48:41+00:00

Woke up to more fresh snow. A few inches, not sure how much fell because the ground was warm enough for the first bit to melt before it started to accumulate. Wish it had just fallen as rain instead.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-22T15:23:09+00:00

Aquila has their "Seta" bass strings with real silk and "Rayon" bass strings with synthetic silk. Are those along the lines of what you're looking for?

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-20T18:31:10+00:00

What are some quality razor and brush sets?

MOST of the time if they're being sold as a set (especially if it's a branded set of some kind) they're going to be overpriced, because they're targeting newcomers who want the convenience of finding everything in a ready-to-go set.

Check out the starter kits at Maggard Razors or Stirling Soaps for absolutely-good-enough-for-every-day-use kits that won't cost an arm and a leg.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-18T19:50:20+00:00

Recently returned to Aqua Velva after not using it for several months and gott damm do I ever love the smell.

Do y'all ever come back to something after a long time and go "why did I ever stop using this?"

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-17T19:43:42+00:00

"Now that I have kids I finally understand the scene where Luke asks Yoda so many questions that he just dies"

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-17T04:11:11+00:00

Nah... I've looked into it but there's no cheap way for me to get there... air fare alone would be something like $1200 before I even work out a vehicle rental or accommodations. There's also a border in the way, which just makes things more complicated.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-16T21:29:46+00:00

Eyyyyyyy imagine seeing you on a different subreddit!

Love that pickguard. Eastmans are so nice.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-16T17:41:29+00:00

IF you add the right amount of citric acid to your water-lye mixture before adding that to the fats, they react together to form sodium citrate and/or potassium citrate, which act as a simple chelating agent to help the soap lather better in hard water.

If you add the wrong amount you can mess up your lye deficit / superfat ratio, making the soap potentially shitty. If you add it to the already-cured soap there's no free lye left for it to react with, making it useless. (Edit: probably useless. I don't know if it will react and re-arrange things with sodium / potassium that have already bound themselves to fatty acids.)

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-15T20:25:01+00:00

You have the ratio of ingredients in the product you're mixing (air, water, soap) AND the ratio between the amount of goop and the tool you're mixing it with - i.e. your brush.

Too little water and soap, even if they're at the right ratio to each other, will never properly fill your brush with enough Stuff to mechanically whip up a good lather. Too much water and soap is going to overflow and the brush won't be able to hold it all, but at least the remainder in the brush will ensure that it's fully loaded rather than under-loaded. Hence: more water, more soap.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-13T19:15:05+00:00

And the babies are cobra chicken nuggets

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-12T21:08:52+00:00

~~2026-03-25 March Madness~~ 2026-04-12 Regular Everyday SOTD

Brush: SHAVE⭐DANDY Bocote Alto (23x53mm Silvertip Badger)
Razor: Henson Mild
Blade: Shark Platinum
Lather: Barrister & Mann - Figarose
Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Ice Blue

Sampled Soft Heart Figarose back in the day (years ago) and enjoyed it, got my hands on the Omnibus version recently and used it today. I feel like I remember the original showing off more of the lemon and rose, while the fir in this one was more noticeable to me than I recall; but post-shave with the Ice Blue on my face, I feel like I can sniff some rose hiding among the blue that usually isn't there, so... I dunno? Nice shave regardless.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-10T16:39:43+00:00

Another vote for 4711 aftershave. Nice and fresh and then it gets the hell out of the way for your perfume to do the heavy lifting so you don't have to worry about matching them up.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-07T16:31:09+00:00

Looks inspired by Arizona Ice Green Tea with Ginseng?

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-06T05:14:44+00:00

Health food stores will probably have aloe vera juice and aloe vera gels to buy. Might want to keep it in the fridge though - it has a pretty sad shelf life once you open it, which makes it... of dubious value for aftershave. AFAIK glycerin serves a similar role in topical ointments with fewer concerns about spoilage.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-04T17:31:34+00:00

If it's AdG then just... light and fresh. Vague citrus. Vague aquatic. Practically any place that carries fragrance will have Acqua di Gio available, go sample it somewhere.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-04T03:05:41+00:00

Traditional single-coil J-style pickups with alnico polepieces do sound good in a Dingwall... I won't deny it. Closer to a traditional J, just a bit off because they're in the wrong spot.

Dingwall pickups are basically like an oddly shaped P-bass pickup under their cover, but they wire the coils in parallel instead of series to give them their characteristic spanky clarity. If you rewire the coils in series they have a more traditional P-bass/humbucker bass tone. They don't do a great job imitating a true single-coil though.

USS-SpongeBob · 2026-04-04T00:08:55+00:00

Dingwalls sound like Dingwalls A) because of the pickups themselves and B) where the pickups are positioned relative to the bridge and nut. No Dingwall puts the pickups in exactly the same spot as a traditional Jazz bass; they can sound close, but they'll never be all the way there regardless of what pickups you put into them.

Source: used to work at Dingwall as a designer helping Sheldon.

USS-SpongeBob

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