The British Steelies Society

For the past couple of years, due to space requirements, my amp has stayed in the closet, only emerging when I do some recording, and then going into hibernation again.

However, I usually play my steel at least once a day (it is always set up in what I consider my music room, but the boss calls it the spare bedroom, hence the lack of space), and I've noticed that, by playing acoustically, my hands/brain automatically strives to get the best tone possible out of the instrument in the unplugged condition.

I'm sure that this enforced acoustic practice is good for me, and hasn't have a detrimental effect on my tone when I get to plug the steel into my amp

Does anyone else practice 'unplugged'?

yep. mainly so i dont piss my neighbours off too much! but i think it's good for the reasons you mention..

Yeah I do this sometimes too. My amp is always set up right next to the steel so I don't have that excuse. I think I like it because I can kid myself I sound better than I really am, with no dodgy volume pedal technique and less noticeable unwanted string noise to worry about.

I think you have a good point about tone. With the lack of volume I do find myself making more of a concious effort to strike the strings as cleanly as I can.

Does anyone else practice 'unplugged'?

All the time, well at least maybe not practise, but play a little to entertain myself, three or four times a week. The problem is I only practise with my amp occasionally, about 3-4 times per year, usually the evening before one of the Aloha Dream related conventions. And then it's just to give pat a "Run-Down" of the chords of something new..

I find that playing Un-Plugged lets you know pretty quickly what strings are acting up and need changing, you know, the "Whine" factor on the plain ones and the amplified elastic band effect on the wound.

BTW I only found out today by being inquisitive (whilst typing this reply) that "Practise" is a verb and "Practice" is the US equivalent, BUT in UK English (is there REALLY any other) "Practice" is a noun..
No reflection on Mr. Springy, I believe that if it wasn't for this post arousing my curiosity I NEVER would have known. And I'm very near three score and ten

BTW WHY Haven't we got a "Zebedee" Icon ?
I also think a spell checker available to the "Post a reply" window would help me immensely and stop me from having two tabs open to on-line dictionaries. Sometimes whilst looking at the screen I resemble a spectator at Wimbledon.

Basil Henriques wrote:BTW WHY Haven't we got a "Zebedee" Icon ?

What do you mean? If you give me an example I'll try to include it.

Basil Henriques wrote:I also think a spell checker available to the "Post a reply" window would help me immensely and stop me from having two tabs open to on-line dictionaries. Sometimes whilst looking at the screen I resemble a spectator at Wimbledon.

Nothing's installed with the forum software, but you can install a spell-checker addon to Internet Explorer (http://www.iespell.com/) or use Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/) which has a built-in spellchecker. Safari (which I think you use, Basil) also has built-in spell checking as you type (see http://www.apple.com/safari/features.html#browsing), which I think you need to activate if you want to use.

Good morning Marc, I jest regarding the Zebedee icon, and the spell checker suggestion was not really for my benefit as I CONSTANTLY feel need to use the inbuilt ones in Safari and Firefox. But there are those amongst us who probably don't have one inbuilt or activated. I say probably in a guarded manner because it's sometimes hard to tell if spelling errors are just a form of internet colloquialisms. It seems inbuilt in certain posters to "Bend" the rules of punctuation and English usage in general, not a bad thing for a light-hearted forum, as long as you know the REAL intent.
As an aside, do you actually read every post here ? I know I do.
Basil
BTW What's the psychology of the use of a lower case "i" in the nominative form of the singular first-person pronoun by some posters here ?

I think a mod to the preferences would be helpful (to me anyway and maybe other who adopt the same modus operandi), if there was some way of limiting ones "SIGNATURE" usage to just once per thread, without having to turn it on and off in the 'Post a reply' options.

I believe the odds of winning it twice are not too good so I've ceased buying the tickets. See :- viewtopic.php?f=2&t=270

Basil Henriques wrote:BTW What's the psychology of the use of a lower case "i" in the nominative form of the singular first-person pronoun ?

Yikes The inescapable scrutiny of Dr Sigmund Henriques has me like a rabbit in headlights.. (must use shift key, must use shift key...)