Hi from Eugene

[NWPines]

I've been lurking around here for a couple months and thought I'd finally introduce myself.

First off, I've been totally blown away by the amount of info and knowledge on this board, so wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to all those who share their time and wisdom here. My productivity at work has gone down the drain!!

I didn't get into the Dead until I was in college around '90-'91. Got the bug big time though and manged to catch around 35 Dead/Jerry Band shows from '91-'94, and accumulate several hundred hours of tapes. While there were definitely some incredible moments (especially the Jerry Band shows), I'd trade them all for a hand full of shows in the '70-'77 range.

I started playing acoustic guitar about 10 years ago, but never put in the time to really go beyond being a beginner. I learned some basic major and minor chords in multiple positions and some pentatonic patterns and scratched around for a while, then wouldn't touch the guitar for weeks, sometimes months at a time. Towards the end of last year, something inside of me clicked and I felt ready to take this more seriously and put in the time. It's something I've always wanted to do and finally felt ready to commit to it. I've managed to put in at least 7-8 hours a week, sometimes a lot more, since the beginning of the year. I'd love to play way more than that, but life keeps intruding. I feel like I'm learning a lot though and am definitely improving, which feels awesome.

Right now I'm playing a '97 Strat Plus (Ash body, natural finish) through a Vox VT15. Not the perfect set-up, but it certainly does the trick for now. But with all the info on this board, I'm feeling dangerously close to an outbreak of GAS! My wish list is added motivation to keep playing though. I feel like I need to get a lot better to justify the things I want.

Wow, that was a much longer intro than I'd planned! Anyway, I am SO glad I found this place, it's truly awesome.

[JonnyBoy]

Welcome! This is a fun site. Lots of useful info on building tone monster rigs, plus much much more. It is nice the Dead's community still lives on here!! -JB

[tcsned]

Welcome aboard! There is certainly a lot of great stuff here. We all learn something from each other, I know I've learned a lot. You've got a great guitar and sounds like your putting in the time to start building our chops. Try to get some work done in between reading how to put an OBEL on your Strat and why playing a diminished scale over a dominant chord works (if you start in the 3rd scale degree)

[strumminsix]

Hey, hey, hey!

[vwjodyme]

Welcome! I've been here all of a week and have already learned a great deal!

I love Eugene! Lived out there for about a year back in my traveling days around 13 years ago...great town!

[tigerstrat]

howdy from up the way in beautiful Portland

[gr8fulbluz]

Welcome aboard.

Cheerio

[amyjared]

Hello from a fellow Eugenian! How long you been in town? Do you play music with others or are you looking for folks to play with? My band just played last night at Scobert Park in Whitaker. We had a great gig and lots of folks came out to dance. PM me if you're interested in playing! I've been here only 20 years, so I don't know too much about this town!

[NWPines]

Thanks everyone!

amyjared, I've been in Eugene about 5 years. Love it here! Definitely looking for folks that would be willing to play with a relative newbie. I'll PM you to get your info. Would love to hear your band play too.

[jackr]

Welcome to the forum nwpines!

[tiffcheese]

Welcome fellow newb.

and

do the spammers speak english? It's almost as if there's a robot sending that poo in. eerie and oddly