Come fo

taking Dejan's thread a bit further where are you lot from and what's your background. college, work? it's good to get some idea of who we're 'talking' to. im guessing here, but I reckon around 70-80% are from the US.

myself. born in France to German and Italian parents. been living in UK since 3 years old. work in medical research -skin diseases.

I'm 32, born in South Carolina, went to the same high school as the Marshall Tucker Band--twenty years later. That's why I sometimes sing their praises on this site. I now live in central North Carolina and wish I had played music as a kid instead of sports. I've been playing guitar off and on, with an emphasis on "off," for about 8 yrs, mostly learning favorite songs, avoiding theory until last summer (thanks to this site for getting me started!). Now, with the wife and kids and job and all, it's even harder to find the time.

I'm working on a PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric/Composition and American Literature. Notice I tend to use correct punctuation, syntax and all in my posts, and I appreciate those who do the same. Favorite authors: Kerouac and the other Beats, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth. Musical influences: Dead, Dylan, MTB, folk stuff. Last thing I played on my guitar yesterday: Shady Grove.

im a 16 yr old workin at chicfilay, made up of allot of things..parents are american but have so many different different backrounds in them, some people say i resemble matt damon (not spelled right)..nothin bads really happened to me besides have a brother that used to be the worlds dumbest fuk..started guitar 2 and 1/2 years ago when a friend showed me a malmsteen song..i drive a 2000 jetta to but its my parents (better than nothin)

Yeah! VW rocks! I'm just about to hit 200,000 km on my 1998 VW Jetta TDI. Apparently VW is coming out with a new Golf next year which will have 5-8 more inches more interior room, and an improved diesel engine - woohoo!

Hey, David C - shouldn't periods have two spaces after them?


Oh, and I'm Canadian, 23 years old, been playing about 5 years now.

eggman,

Yes, sentence-ending punctuation marks should have two spaces after them. I wonder if this thing automatically edits them out, because I swear I always add two spaces at the end of a sentence. Let's see . . . .

Just as I suspected! The proper two spaces between sentences is automatically cut to just one space. What if you put three spaces there? Let's see.

David

Alright, I'll chalk it up to a mysterious HTML/UBB code error... but, I warn you, I'll be on the lookout for any grammatical errors from now on!!!! ;)

Fair enough. Now if I could only learn to play guitar as well as I can use standard American English!

As a mechanic, VW is ok to operate, until it malfunctions. As with any foreign car, you'll be paying out the wazoo for routine maintenence. (Tune-up, brakes, exhaust, suspension) Due to the fact that it's parts are manufactured overseas and not very many aftermarket companies are able to duplicate them.

Just my two cents.

Anyways, 21 been playing for about 3 years. My brother got me interested in music, he's been playing drums for about 17 years and I was always following him around wanting him to teach me this and that. Got my first guitar at 18 and haven't looked back since.

If any of you would like to hear my brother's band and hear what he can do on the ole kit, let me know, I'll post a link. Their band is good, original, the singer just sucks. :( Just my opinion.

:)

Originally posted by David C
I'm 32, born in South Carolina, went to the same high school as the Marshall Tucker Band--twenty years later. That's why I sometimes sing their praises on this site. I now live in central North Carolina and wish I had played music as a kid instead of sports. I've been playing guitar off and on, with an emphasis on "off," for about 8 yrs, mostly learning favorite songs, avoiding theory until last summer (thanks to this site for getting me started!). Now, with the wife and kids and job and all, it's even harder to find the time.

I'm working on a PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric/Composition and American Literature. Notice I tend to use correct punctuation, syntax and all in my posts, and I appreciate those who do the same. Favorite authors: Kerouac and the other Beats, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth. Musical influences: Dead, Dylan, MTB, folk stuff. Last thing I played on my guitar yesterday: Shady Grove.

First thing mto say is my thread was mistitled. Jeez knows what it ended up as 'come fo' . it shouldve been where do you folks come from or something

second thing. nice to see someone here who also appreciates Kerouac. i read 'On the road'. then took time out after college to go over to the US with just my backpack to travel round the place financing myself ..ahem...through working illegally.

I'm 20, I'm from Brighton in England (one of the few englanders on here last time I checked) and I'm currently working for a degree in Foreign Languages at Sussex University.

Been doing music since I was eight years old, my first instrument being recorders and the piano. I also play cello which I picked up later. You can guess I come from a classical background but at heart I'm a guitarist who plays more contemporary styles. Started with the blues which I still favour when playing, but love listening to prog. rock and metal (both traditional and nu styles.) Guitarists I'm currently most interested in are: Eric Johnson, Robben Ford, Alex Lifeson, Steve Vai and Jimmy Page.

I've played in a couple of bands but nothings really taken off for me so far...I'm still seaking those ideal band-mates but at the moment I'm happy working solo on my material, which is mostly intrumental as I find lyrics really frustrating. My fav guitar is my black mexican Strat - I love its feel and versatile tone. I use a marshall valve amp although I'm starting to find it rather limiting in sound range, but its adequate for now.

This was up to date c.a June last year,but read anyhow.
http://geocities.com/dwanjiru/about_me.htm
Now,I quit college instead of finishing.I had a couple of papers I was supposed to retake,which I didn't,plus I didn't do labs for my final year project,and naturally didn't hand it in or present it.
I could easily have finished and got my pass,but I just didn't care anymore.College has been like a bad marriage for me.You hope it gets better but it doesn't.But just like people cling to bad marriages for the social outlook,I stayed on,coz,well,I'm supposed to go to college.and just as people cling on coz marriages do work,I stayed on coz physics is real.Just poke an electric socket with a wire and switch it on if you don't believe me.:)
I'll give a n analogy;I wen't to college to be taught chinese,but all they taught me was songs and poems written in chinese for me to memorise,without teraching me what those songs and poems mean.I wasn't learning jack.So I finally gave up.And like someone said,if something is not worth doing at all,then it is not worth doing well.
Now I'm rambling,so I'll stop.
I first learnt my first three chords,G C & D when I was about 12 or 13.But I really started to play when I bought my guitar in march of 2000.I'm not much of a guitarist.But I have an idea of where I want to take my playing.Sometimes I choke "improvising" in my head,pressing my fingers to my palm like I was holding a guitar,and not breathing.When I'm able to put these things out for real,it's gonna be a lovely day.
Oh,I'm now living with my cousin in a town called Thika,about 28 km from Nairobi,which for those of you who think Nigeria is a province in Liberia,is teh capital of Kenya,which for those of you who think Colombo is a coastal Italian town,is in East Africa,which for those of you...ok,nevermind.

Originally posted by PonyOne

Autosport.

The main gripe I have with the 2.0's overall design is that to get to the plugs you have to take off the manifold, it's not a big deal to me, since I can just go ahead and pop it off (I know my way around an engine), but to anyone else, it'll cost a few times more than a regular plug change. One of my friends is a master VW mechanic, and I think he put it best when he said that they're great engines, and they'll run excellent if you take proper care of them, which isn't hard... but again look how many Jettas and Beetles end up in the hands of 17 year old girls as their first cars... one time a girl brought back a brand-new, 3-month old Jetta 1.8T, and she couldn't figure out why the thing wouldn't start. When my friend was talking to in the bay, just after they'd towed the car in, he goes, "how many miles does the car have?" "like 10,000." "okay, when was the last time you changed the oil?" "huh? what do you mean?"

That's an extreme example, but he gets this sort of crap daily. Fortunately there are so many of them out there, and much of the engine components nowadays are made in Brazil or Mexico as well as Germany, so you can get em really cheap. There are some places here in LA that actually buy the parts from VW Mexico, and then ship them here, so they cost waaaaaay less than they would otherwise.
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Yeah, that's in CA. I'm from the midwest and Volkswagen parts are sometimes hard to come by, and are just about 2 or 3 times more than regular parts. Guy came into the shop the other day with a 99 Jetta and wanted us to press in his wheel bearing he bought for $90. $90!!! That's outrageous for the bearing itself. You can get a Chevy car wheel bearing AND hub for around $60.

Regarding the oil change thing, Volkswagen actually recommends changing the oil every 7,500 miles. If you read most owner's manuals, they will say change your oil between 3,000 and 7,500 miles. Due to the viscosity of most oils, no matter what brand by the way, they usually begin breaking down around the 7,500 plateau. Going over 3,000 miles is not a worry, it's just a safe guideline. A buddy of mine works in a dealership and a guy brought in a Ford Tempo saying the motor blew after 36,000 miles. Well, he never changed the oil in the car, and after 36,000 it failed. So 10,000 miles and no oil change isn't that bad (it's bad, but not that bad) and I would highly doubt it would cause the car to not run.

Any motor/car will be great if you take care of them. Simple fact. How many people actually do that? Not very many. Most people only think about oil when it comes to changing fluids. Brake fluid is supposed to be changed every year or so due to the fact that it absorbs moisture through the air. A bottle of brake fluid (plastic, tin) will turn into about 40% water after a year. What this does is actually lowers the boiling point of the fluid which will result in failure of the brakes, due to the fluid foaming. Transmissions should be flushed around 36,000 miles or so, along with most radiators. Although GM has switched to the Dexcool antifreeze which doesn't need service for 100,000 miles or 5 years. If you tried to keep up with this maintenence, you would be paying large amounts of money all the time on your car. But it would ensure your motor to run properly and effectively.

Originally posted by Grub
nice to see someone here who also appreciates Kerouac. i read 'On the road'. then took time out after college to go over to the US with just my backpack to travel round the place financing myself ..ahem...through working illegally. [/B]

Kerouac's the greatest. His voice is so jazzy and poetic, and I am grateful that we have it recorded for posterity. Does anybody know of any current musicians using Kerouac's work in their music, such as stealing lines from his prosody or maybe using his book titles for songs? I think of Van Morrison's verse about Kerouac in "Cleaning Windows" and there is a band called the Dharma Bums, from India I think. By the way, check out the novel, The Dharma Bums, if you haven't already. It is often considered his second best work, though nothing really compares to On the Road.

yeah guys vw golfs are bad ass my bass player just bought one for $1,000. its a goos car that you can fit all your gear on when you have a gig or show.