March 2026 Challenge Response

[Laurel C]

Hi Fellow Amers,
Mixing a Rhythm and Lead takes a lot of thinking, especially when you are not used to a second voice and you have to come up with that voice. I took Ep596 for inspiration, a Duane Eddy, Ventures twangy sounding lesson and used part of the lead and the rhythm track from it to come up with a ‘Surf’s Up’ arrangement. Big Idea, to make it work but I am so glad to pull it all together in time .. I pushed it … that’s for sure. So count me in for this month.

[wannaplayblues]

Very nice – great sounding surf guitar!

"I hear you talkin' son, but you 'aint sayin' nothin'" - Will McFarlane quoting Muddy Waters hearing a really fast guitar player

[Alan L]

Ah yes I remember 596. Sounds great in this style. You nailed the twangy surf vibe! 🏄 😎

[James B]

Nice work on this one, Laurel. You captured that surf rock tone and mixed the two guitars together perfectly.

James

[JoeD1]

Surf’s up! Great submission Laurel. Really rockin’ the surf vibe for sure.

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[John H]

Well done Laurel
You have spectacular taste if you enjoy surf music. You cover this well. Nicely played. You are playing rhythm and lead with more confidence. Nice Tele too!! If I could make one suggestion ( try turning the recording volume up a bit, we wanna here you!). 😎🎸👍

John

[Michael L]

Hi Laurel, great you made the challenge this month! We’re happy to see you.
Sounding pretty good. You’re right, getting the coordination of rhythm and lead together is tricky… especially when you have to record them separately and stich together the mix. You created a great vibe though… I live in a beach town, so the music was right on for me.

[Michael Krailo]

Nice surfer vibe. No one else even attempted this style of music.

Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.

[sunjamr]

Excellent idea! You really got the sound of classic surf guitars from the 60s. As already mentioned, at first I couldn’t hear any audio, so I cranked my speakers up all the way and there it was! Well played!

Sunjamr Steve

[Pap]

Hey Laurel, nice submission. I agree with John….you are playing with much more confidence and sounding really great. Keep up the great work! Cheers. Pap

[AndréM]

Very nice surfing vibe.
Excellent tone.

AndréM

AndréM

[Werner]

I can only agree with the previous posters . Great surf sound, twangy. Thank you

Werner

[Guido]

Very nice rendition, Laurel! Loved the twangy tremolo sound you pulled out of your Tele and your combination of rhythm and lead guitar is excellent and very enjoyable to listen to! Glad you made it for this monthly challenge, your commitment paid off!

Guido

[Mark T]

You definitely had that Duane Eddy sound well dialed in there, Laurel – nicely done. – Mark 👍🎶😎

[Wayne Nunez]

Love this Laurel it has such a surfey, rockabilly type feel which is a style I’ve been getting a lot into lately,well played, awesome 👍

[Manfred M]

That was pure fun, Laurel. Great tone from both your guitars and a totally authentic surf sound. And with the waves in the background, it makes for a perfectly harmonious surf music experience.

Take the chance to meet your AM friends on Zoom
The next Meetup will be May/June
There will be a detailed announcement here in the forum
I look forward to meet you.
Manfred

[Denise]

Sounding very unique! Love the twangy surf vibe.
I like these short rhythm strums and the way you played the lead lines.
You dialed in the right tone. And the waves in the background make me want to dive in.
Well done, Laurel.

More Blues!

[JoLa]

Oh yeah! Love the twangy surf sound! Very nicely presented down to the background imagery and even the background color, I imagined being on a beach watching the surfers fight the waves! Very cool – very well done, Laurel!

🎸JoLa

[Paul S.]

budadabudadabudadabudadabudadabudada… wipe out!

You captured the surfs up vibe beautifully! Both in melody and rhythm choices and in the tone of your guitars.
It made me want to break out my old SG Standard axe and play Wipe Out and Telstar.

[Dieter]

Very nice.

Dieter

[Martin W]

I think I’ve complimented you on that fine telecaster before , it sure is a looker and sounds so good especially for this twangy surf sound .
Cool that you took inspiration from the lesson and made it your own , loving that slide down with clever use of the camera angle , good mix of rhythm and lead ,
Not easy syncing it all together, but you pulled it off .
Well played and glad you made it .

Martin

[charjo]

Love the mood and tone you set for this one and how you made your own version, Laurel.
Your tele looks a lot like mine except you’ve got the barrel bridge pieces. I’ve often wondered how those affect tone.
John

[Raffaele S]

Very good Laurel…..no one has proposed this style yet….your contribution has filled the variety of this month

[snakechisler]

loved the reverb surf sound, your playing meshes well together

A really good submission
Well done, that choppy chord just rings

[Author]

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