I promised I'd post new youtube videos here. I got a new intrument, a Xaphoon and proceeded to make a duet with my soprano sax.  I'm not very happy with it, so instead I made a "here's my new Xaphoon" video with some noodling.  If I get some time, I'll try the duet over.  Is this against my promise to post things that aren't perfect. I don't know ( Read more... )

I had my very last koto lesson today. My teacher is moving to LA and social pressures are such that I want to put my energies into an instrument that is less controversial for a white person to perform.

My teacher was great, very patient. I got to perform after her rock band, Ten, a few years back, which was amazing getting to see us both ( Read more... )

I just wanted to say how cool Rocksmith 2014 is. This is a game that's like rock band but you use a real guitar. I decided I'm still not that good at making guitar hand prezels, so I'm going to focus on bass guitar instead. It's really good at getting me to practice because it feels like I'm playing real music (even though I'm not as good as it ( Read more... )

I'm very seriously considering putting myself on the wait list for a bali steel hand pan. (I'm still waffling a little bit, of course.) If I did, I would have to choose what scale I'd like to have made. They have a list of all their scales here but I think I've narrowed it down to three ( Read more... )

I won the kokyu auction on ebay! Yay! I found someone to sell me the parts it's missing. I'm still not sure if I should get the correct bow, but I think I should while I can still save on shipping ( Read more... )

Dear guqin, you are super sexy, but you sound kind of like a steel guitar. Could you and the guzheng have a child with your looks and her sound?

Thanks,
Cat

I just found this Chinese instrument, the guqin:


( Read more... )

I'm still hung up on the koto harp. Since koto-man let me down and didn't come back to Boston before he sold it after a month of playing with me, I have to now consider my other options. The chinese version, which is clearly not Japanese and has many more strings, is much cheaper. The authentic Japanese versions are sort of more than I should be ( Read more... )

Dealing with Mr. koto man has driven home the whole commincation mismatch thing. I want information. I want to know when and where he is on the whole koto sale thing. Does he have a date for coming home, did the sale in Montreal go through (he never told me he was in montreal, I got that by searching for other koto sales on the web.) He said last ( Read more... )

I've suddenly decided I want a koto harp. Normally they're ~$1200 which is more than I can afford, but there is someone selling one for $400, which is also more than I should afford, but he said the price is negotiable... we'll see just how negotiable. (Translation, I'm offering way too little. He's likely to refuse, unless really desperate ( Read more... )