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 So you wanna play the GUITAR eh? I'm so happy for you. The guitar is a wonderfully versatile instrument, and is great at attracting chicks (or dicks, depending on your gender and persuasion). It's a fairly accessible instrument to learn but will takes years to master. If you're just starting, or have been playing for up to 2 years or so, READ EVERYTHING HERE FIRST MAGGOT AND DON'T poo poo UP THE THREAD WITH STUPID QUESTIONS THAT ARE ANSWERED IN THE OP.  You'll need a guitar. The first question you should ask yourself when looking for a guitar is "what kind of music do I want to play?" If you have even a rough idea of how you want to sound, it'll help your hunt for that first guitar. If you're planning on playing classical guitar, you'll start looking at classical acoustics; if you want to be the happy hippy in your dorm playing John Denver and James Taylor, you'll want to look at steel string acoustics; if you want to melt off hundreds of incoherently screaming faces like in Raiders of the Lost Ark, well then you're gonna want an electric guitar. Some things to think about : Budget. Needless to say, your wallet is going to determine the quality of the guitar you can get your hands on. Many people recommend buying a cheap and lovely first guitar in case you end up not liking the instrument--this is bad advice told by people that don't play any instruments. A lovely guitar is going to sound like poo poo and you're going to get frustrated and have no fun playing it, then when you try to sell it no one's going to want it (because it's a piece of poo poo) and it'll spend 15 years in a basement waiting for your stupid prick of a kid to pick it up, get frustrated and subsequently pawn it for 10 bucks. It'll happen. You're better off investing the bucks (saving if you need to) into a low-mid to mid-end guitar. Several companies make wonderful beginner instruments that will hold a tune and sound good. Steel-String Acoustic Guitars Acoustic guitars come in form factors ranging from tiny backpacker guitars to super jumbos. If you're not looking for a backpacker guitar, you're going to have a choice between a Grand concert (or 00), Grand Auditorium (000), Dreadnought, Jumbo, or Super Jumbo type guitar. That listing is in order of smallest to largest. Smaller guitars will have a brighter tone with shallower low end response and will not be as loud as larger guitars. Larger guitars will have a lot more low end, and will have a fuller sound than smaller guitars, but can be more difficult to handle and play because they are bulkier. Bigger does not mean better, bigger means different sound. Choosing an acoustic guitar is a matter of picking one that is well made, and has a tone that is pleasing to you. Some things to watch out for: cheaper guitars have laminated rather than solid wood tops (the side with the sound hole) and will have a deader response than the solid wood types. Solid wood takes some time to open up, so while a laminated guitar will generally sound the same ten years from now, a solid wood guitar (if you treat it nicely) will sound better and better as time goes on. Solid wood sides and back are less important but also add to the tone, but come at a price premium. Different tone woods will color the sound of the guitar in different ways. Most quality guitars these days come with a Sitka, Alpine, or Adirondack spruce top, but other woods are also used. Low-mid quality all wood steel-string acoustics start at around $200-$250. A high-end all solid wood steel string acoustic guitar is going to start at around $1000 (US) or so. As the price increases generally (but with exceptions) the quality of craftsmanship is going to get better. However, keep in mind that acoustic guitars are somewhat like bicycles, up to a certain price you're getting the same frame but with additional bells and whistles in the form of mother of pearl inlays, bone nuts and bridges and wood rosettes. Also keep in mind that if you buy a new acoustic guitar, it's a good idea to get it set up by a qualified luthier in your area. A basic set up will include a restring, fret polishing, fretboard oiling, and neck and saddle adjustment. A more complete setup might include fret redressing and saddle and nut replacement. A basic setup shouldn't run you much more than $35. With an acoustic guitar it's a good idea to have a setup performed from time to time to keep it in good shape. Budget Acoustic guitars: Fender Ibanez Seagull (Godin budget brand, supposed to be good) Washburn (Good low to high end guitars) Yamaha Electric Guitars Budget Electric guitars: Dean Epiphone (Gibson's budget brand) Jackson Ibanez (Low-mid to high end guitars) Rondo (Cheaper guitars that many goons recommend) Squier (Fender's budget brand) And there's many others. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to not buy your guitar online. Go to a guitar shop and grab some guitars off the wall and play around with them. Grab every guitar in your budget. Plug into an amplifier and mess around, the guys at the store are used to it and will probably be helpful (if it isn't Guitar Center). Plug into another amplifier. Mess with the knobs. Don't try to play Stairway. Then if you're getting an electric… You'll need an amp (amplifier). Grab a rubber band, got it? Now stretch it between your thumb and your first finger until it's taut. Good so far? Pluck it and listen to that beautiful tone. Without an amplifier your electric guitar is gonna sound just like that. Just like with your guitar, you're going to want to consider multiple factors when choosing your amp. Where are you going to be playing? How do you want to sound (again), how much money do you have? With an acoustic guitar, the guitar is the whole instrument. With an electric however, the guitar is just half the instrument. The other half is the amp--without the amp your guitar is nothing, and without your guitar your amp is nothing. In terms of budget, a good ballpark for your amp should be 75% of the price of your guitar. Most likely, you're going to want to look at practice amps, which are small and affordable amps that combine the amp head and speaker into one unit, and won't get the police called on you. And since you're just starting, you probably want to purchase an amp modeler to experiment with different effects. Just like with your guitar, I recommend testing out amplifiers in the store, find which one you like best. Take YOUR guitar into the store and start plugging into amplifiers that you can actually afford. Sure it's fun to walk into a guitar shop, grab the ostentatious $5000 Les Paul, plug into the giant Marshall stack and start wailing, but it's useless for the purpose of finding a guitar and amp, and you're just going to annoy the employees. Actually, do do that. But find what you want to buy first. Amplifier types Amps come in a couple different flavors. There are tubed amps that rely on vacuum tubes for signal amplification, and there are solid state amps that rely on op-amps and transistors for signal amplification. Guitar amplifiers use two separate stages to push the signal through the loudspeaker. The first stage is called a "preamp" stage that takes the minute electrical signal from your guitar's pickups and amplifies it to line level. The power stage then takes the stronger signal from the preamp and amplifies it to a strong enough level to power the amplifier's loudspeaker. There's a third type of amp that falls roughly between tube amps and solid state amps called "hybrid amps." Hybrid amps use vacuum tubes in their preamps and solid state hardware in their power amps. Which kind of amplifier should you buy? Many guitar players consider tube amplifiers to be superior to solid state amplifiers because of the type of distortion that tubed amplifiers produce when overdriven, and because of the warmth (tone coloration) that tubes give to the sound. It comes down to personal preference. I recommend trying both and judging the difference for yourself. Most of the difference can be heard in the distortion, so if you're looking to play mostly clean sounds, you may notice little difference between a solid state and a tubed amplifier. Why pick solid state? Because tubed amplifiers in general cost more, weigh more, require more maintenance (tube replacement, biasing) and are more fragile than solid state amps. Hybrid amps marry the best of both worlds as you get the tube distortion (only in the preamp), with a lighter form factor and cheaper maintenance. You might not even be able to tell the difference in sound between a hybrid amp and an all tube amp. You won't be as real with one though, poser. Form factors There are three different amp form factors. Some amps (combo amps) come with the head unit (preamp and amplifier) attached to the speaker cabinet. Other amps (amp head and cabinet) come as a separate head unit that needs to be plugged into a speaker cabinet. There are virtues and limitations to both. Combo amps: generally lighter, less bulky, and less time consuming to set up on stage. You plug your power in, plug in your patch cable and you're ready to go. With a combo amp you aren't going to have as much flexibility when it comes to placement, because the speaker cabinet doesn't separate from the amp. Also, because of their construction, combo amps can be prone to shake themselves to pieces resulting in loose hardware buzzing and rattling. Some combo amps come with a cabinet extension output for more flexibility. Amp heads: heavier, bulkier, more time consuming to set up on stage. However, with a separate amp head you have the option of positioning the amp head closer to yourself, and you can place the cabinet wherever you like. The amp is also separate from the speaker cabinet, so it's not as liable to rattle or buzz. You can plug the amp head into just about anything, but usually they come paired with a specific speaker cabinet designed for the amp head. There's a third form factor called rack mount, where the amplifier (which is usually split up into preamp and power amp stages) is meant to be attached to a rack unit. If you're just starting don't worry about this form factor. Wattage: ANOTHER variable? Yup. And this one is widely misunderstood, so pay attention. Amps vary in wattage (unit of power) from tiny 1 watt amps to 300 watt monstrosities that cost way too much. So if you have a 50 watt amp and I have a 100 watt amp, mine is twice as loud as yours right? Wrong. Wattage and perceived volume don't function as a linear relationship. In fact, you might not hear much of a difference in volume between a 50 watt amp and a 100 watt amp, this is because volume doubles every factor of ten watts. So a 300 watt amp is twice as loud as a 30 watt amp, a 100 watt amp is twice as loud as a 10 watt amp, a 10 watt amp is twice as loud as a 1 watt amp, etc. Other variables like amp design and efficiency contribute more to its perceived loudness than an amp's wattage. Furthermore, extremely powerful amps can just be a damned nuisance because they weigh too much, cost more to maintain, and are more difficult to mic properly. Which brings me to my next point. If your amp isn't loud enough to reach the back of a large venue, it can be mic'd to run through the house PA system. Monstrous amps may be loud enough to reach the back of a venue, but the sound pressure levels closer to the stage might be dangerous. Most professional musicians don't rely on gigantic guitar amplifiers to project their sound, they rely on intelligent micing strategies instead. Those stages you've seen with 20 foot amplifier arrays? Fake, one of them is real and the rest are facades. Don't go around thinking that you need an amp upgrade before you can start gigging, because with some exceptions (i.e. your sound sucks), you probably don't. The other side of this coin is that a lower wattage tube amp still won't be quiet enough to achieve tube saturation in your apartment, so forget about getting real overdriven tube sound at home unless you live in a field, or you're willing to patch in an attenuator to bring down your volume. There are other options like amp isolation boxes and such, but unless you're doing professional recording you aren't going to need to mess with that. You could just lower your master volume control to bring down the sound between your preamp and power amp stage, but then you're not going to get power amp tube saturation. Boo hoo. Don't take this to mean that you can't practice in your apartment with your all-tube amp, you can control the volume with the volume controls on your amp or your gain control on your guitar, the sound will just differ from full tube saturation sound. The bottom line is that you should make purchasing decisions based on an amp's sound and features more than its specifications. In general, a higher wattage amp all other variables equal will cost more, and you probably don't need it. Unless you do. Don't hurt me. Amp brands: Crate Egnater Fender Hughs and Kettner Line 6 Kustom Marshall Mesa Orange Peavey Roland (many goons like the Micro Cube) Vox So you've got a guitar and an amp, what now?  Get an instructor If you have the money and time, an instructor will be useful and expedite the learning process substantially. There are many places to find a good instructor, guitar shops will often have postings (just don't let the guy there tell you that he can teach you, get some names). University professors often teach instruments on the side as well, or if you're in college you can usually weasel your way into a class (probably classical or Jazz guitar.) Take a sample lesson first, then go from there. A good instructor will cater to your needs and goals specifically, so if your instructor has a lesson plan ready the first day when you walk in, run like hell. Find someone that wants to help you be what you want to be. Learn up on some basic music theory Read this. There's a lot of good stuff in there, read it before posting theory questions that you can easily find there. Otherwise everyone will deride and make fun of you for sucking at guitar and music and for being a terrible human being. Many goons have also found Justin Guitar helpful. There's all kinds of in depth explanations in a step-by-step format and instructional videos there, so if you don't have an instructor (or even if you do) that site will be quite useful. When you're done with those pedestrian links, go ahead and go here. And if you've got all that worked out then you can go here. Your brain will chew its way through your parietals though. I warned you. Purchase a metronome Do you own a metronome? Do you own a guitar? That's the correct order to ask those questions. If you don't own a metronome then you should go buy one right now, they're very cheap and you desperately need one. I'm assuming it's music that you want to learn to play, and beat is an essential element to music that humans enjoy listening to. If you can't play in time, no one will want to play with you, and more importantly, no one will want to listen to you. You might think that you have a good sense of rhythm, but trust me, you can improve, probably significantly. Practice with a metronome every day. Practice you dick. Practice every day. It's a cliche, but if you don't practice, you're gonna suck. If you stop practicing, you're gonna forget how to play, and if you forget how to play, your new girlfriend will probably dump you and you'll end up hanging yourself in your closet. A big part of practicing is ear training. It will be tempting to play from tabs, but I strongly recommend you resist relying exclusively on tabs. Listen to songs you like, and try to play them from ear, it will help your guitar playing substantially, especially your improvisation (which in my opinion is what really makes a guitarist.) You don't have to be afraid of looking at a tab from time to time if you just wanna learn a song quick, but I recommend for the most part you work songs out for yourself. With that said, some good tab sites are: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ http://www.911tabs.com/ Don't know what to practice? Need help working out a good practice routine? Go to Music Discipline (Programmed by SA Goon, Bonus) Justin Guitar also has a lot of good instructions for practice routines. Get your chords here: http://gosk.com/chords/ http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php Then when you're a big boy, make them yourself. Longer list of tabs and chords here. Practice songs (Courtesy of various posters) Notes: * = Sounds tricky, but is actually pretty easy. Impress your friends! ^ = Actually Tricky, but there's only a few parts, get them down and you have the song. ~ = This indicates a really fast song. Punk songs The Misfits - Last Caress The Misfits - BULLET~ Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop Ramones - California Sun Blink 182 - Dammit Operation Ivy - Bombshell~ Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself Alternative Rock Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit The Darkness - I Believe in a thing called love^ Classic Rock Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown~ Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love AC/DC - Let Me Put my loving to you AC/DC - Back in Black Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Warning! Has barre chords) METAL (Play the rhythm part, skip the solos for now) Metallica - Enter Sandman^ Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country*~ Danzig - Mother^ Spinal Tap - Tonight I'm gonna rock you (Tonight)^ Megadeath - Symphony of Destruction* Poison - Talk Dirty to Me Pantera - Walk* Poppy Stuff The Beatles - All Together Now The Beatles - Norwegian Wood Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You Black Kids - Listen to Your Body Tonight Hikaru Utada - Simple and Clean Lady Gaga - Alejandro Lady Gaga - Dirty Ice Cream Lady Gaga - Monster Lady Gaga - Telephone Stars - One More Night Taylor Swift - Love Story Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me PRACTICE EXERCISES http://guitarcardio.com/ http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post326164309 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post326165245 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post326167460 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post326202940 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post327797670 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=6#post328929237 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=7#post329043087 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=13#post332240649 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=15#post333006046 http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2430948&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=15#post333171588 ON BLUES Not Memorable posted:I'm sure there are better lessons out there but I'll see if I can explain it just to help myself learn as well... magnificent7 posted:To get started in the blues, try this cheap-shot approach. Follow what previous poster said, but instead of 7th chords, do power chords for A, D and E, focusing only on three strings for each chord (except D, where you'll use just TWO):  Guitar Tuning You're going to need a tuner. Korg makes cheap but good chromatic tuners for as low as 12 bucks or so. From top to bottom (thickest to thinnest) guitars are tuned: E A D G B E There's actually more than one way to tune your guitar. They are: Tuning with a tuner The quickest and easiest (not the best though!) way is to tune each string with a tuner. It's pretty straight forward, you pluck the string with a pick, and adjust the tuning knob accordingly. Always tighten your strings into tune, do not loosen them into tune; if a string is sharp, loosen it until it's flat and tighten it to tune--your strings will stay in tune longer this way. Tuning by ear Another way to tune your guitar is by ear. I start with the A string as a matter of habit (and because 440 hz is A, but any string will work. So you would start by tuning your A string, then fret the fifth fret of E (A) and pluck it and the A string at the same time. Then listen. Dissonant strings will make a "wawawawawa" sound due to the way the sound frequencies interact with each other. As you bring the E string into tune, the "wawawawa" sound should slow down until it stops entirely, at which point your string is in tune. Repeat for the other strings, fifth fret on A (D) for the D string, 5th fret on D (G) for the G string, fourth fret on G (B) for the B string, and fifth fret on B (E) for the high E. Tuning by ear will help your perception of relative pitch significantly, so especially for beginning guitarists I strongly recommend you always tune by ear, and recheck with a tuner. Some interesting tuning information from cpach: cpach posted:The ideal (aside from tuning each string to its own reference) is to tune all the strings to one string, preferably on fretted notes and octaves, as these should theoretically be accurately tempered. Thus, one could: DIAGNOSING GUITAR PROBLEMS Written by Arhez Common Problems Fret buzz: This is caused by a string when plucked to vibrate off a fret, creating a buzz sound. Solutions are to raise the height of the saddles on your bridge ( raising the action ), by using an allen key (for most non locking tremolos (usually found on guitars like the Strat)), or the spindles for Tune-O-Matics (usually found on guitars like the Les Paul) (some bridges cannot be adjusted using either of these methods). In some cases, ( depending on the age of the guitar ) frets may need filed down ( dressed ), or a nut may need replaced. In either case, its best to take it to a luthier, or guitar shop. Neck adjustment: This is another solution to fret buzz (but don't be so quick to blame the truss rod), but isnt very common. Take off the cover ( if any ) on your headstock just above the nut. This will reveal a groove inside your neck, with a truss rod inside. In some cases, some truss rods need the neck to be removed to be adjusted if the groove is at the butt of the neck instead of the headstock This truss rod keeps your neck the right shape under the tension of the strings. To check it press the thick E down at the 12th and 1st fret at the same time and check the gap between the string and the frets around the 7-9th fret area. If there's no gap (take note the gap will be very small), turn the truss rod counter clockwise about 1/4 of a turn (large adjustments may permanently damage your guitar). If the gap is too large then turn the truss rod clockwise about 1/4 of a turn. If you aren't extremely gentle with this adjustment you will snap your truss rod and your guitar could be irreparably destroyed. Changing pickups: To change a set of pickups, the most effective way is to unsolder the wire from the pots and switch, and just slip the pickups out. This saves the wire in case you would want to sell them, or reinstall them. Intonation: If you feel that when you move chords up the neck, some notes become sharp, your intonation may be incorrect. To check your intonation, use a tuner to tune up, then play the 12th fret harmonic of any string. If its nearly/the same note, your intonation is fine. To change it, you need to adjust the saddles at the bridge. Lengthening the string flattens the fretted note (lengthen it if it's sharper than the harmonic), shortening the string sharpens the fretted note (shorten it if it's flatter than the harmonic). Depending on your bridge type and the string gauge you might have to loosen your strings quite a bit to adjust the bridge. There's a howto on setting your guitar's intonation here but I don't recommend doing it yourself unless you've got some experience and/or a strobe tuner. Glossary: Action: This is the distance between the fretboard and string. Fret buzz: This is caused by the action being too low, and the string vibrates off the fret, creating a buzzing sound. Single coil: The plastic covered things in front of your bridge, that pickup the vibrations from your strings and send it to your amp as a signal, which your amp processes and sends out as a sound. Single coils are prone to hum, but some pickup manufacturers like Seymour Duncan produce 'stacked' single coils, which prevent the hum, but you can still get the single coil sound. Humbucker: Two single coils wired toghther to stop hum that occurs in single coils. This also gives a fat, meaty tone, that is great for rhythm, but also for lead. Single coils give a more jangly sound, which is why they have not faded away. Active and passive pickups: Active pickups are pickups that require a battery, and passive that do not. Active often are higher output pickups, and are used by artists like Zakk Wylde and Metallica. EMG are a popular make. Also, most acoustic/electric guitars use active pickups. Pots: Pots, or potentiometers, are really just variable resistors. They are your volume control, and tone control. They adjust the volume by restricting the flow of current/electricity, making it quieter and vice versa. Tone pots have a capacitator which, depending on their rating, will affect the frequency. ------------------------------------ The old thread is here. If you feel that something should be added, changed or deleted, please PM me. You can post in the thread but I'm less likely to see it. haha i just edited the post. covid 19 mothafuckas!! edit: i am still worse at guitar than every one of you Dolphin fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Aug 8, 2020 |
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Aug 23, 2010 05:23
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Deadpan Science posted:My fingertips hurt
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Sep 1, 2010 09:23
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the posted:I want to learn flamenco/spanish guitar. I have the proper equipment. The problem is that I have no instructor.
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Sep 11, 2010 15:38
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cpach posted:I have an anal-retentive correction to make to the otherwise good OP. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Oct 11, 2010 |
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Oct 11, 2010 04:45
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Suspicious Lump posted:Yeah that's what I always thought I just wanted anonymous confirmation. Practice fatigue blah blah, whatever. You're never too old to learn an instrument. I started learning violin at 7 and there was an 80 year old woman in my instructor's slot before me. She had been playing for 2 years and was really damned good because all she did was practice. This was violin, arguably a much less friendly instrument to get into. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Oct 15, 2010 |
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Oct 15, 2010 19:05
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surrender posted:Can y'all recommend a guitar-focused music theory book? I've read the first theory link in the OP and finally get the gist of it, but I'd like a hard copy of something as well. I've heard good things about Fretboard Logic - is it worth it? The Advancing Guitarist is also really great, but is mainly for guitarists who have a firm grasp on theory and want to know what to do next. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Jan 12, 2011 |
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Jan 12, 2011 21:49
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Lackadaisical posted:
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Jun 7, 2011 02:22
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I just got my first guitar!
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Lackadaisical, if you rub some hand lotion onto your fingertips before and after playing it can help with some of the abrasion that you get from playing guitar for the first time. After only a few days of playing you can expect to have callouses thick enough that you won't even think about your fingers hurting anymore. Also, what kind of guitar are you working with? Is it something at least mildly decent?
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Jun 7, 2011 13:59
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Lackadaisical posted:I'm trying to find Katie Sawicki tabs. Especially Tuesday. Any idea where I can find them because all the websites I know don't have anything for her?
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Jun 9, 2011 00:08
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Harold Ramis Drugs posted:I'm picking up the guitar again after a 2 year hiatus, and I was curious about the open tuning configurations? My music is heavily reliant on alternating major/minor/aug/7th/diminished/etc on the same note. Are there any open tuning configurations that make this easier than just the standard tuning? You can experiment with different tunings if you feel that you really just can't do barre chords, but if you're playing more than just major and minor chords you're just going to run into the same problems. Also changing around your tuning will require a set up if you want your guitar to retain decent intonation. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 06:32
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Harold Ramis Drugs posted:What side of the index finger? The thumb-side or middle-finger-side? Also, are there any guides to playing barre chords with the side of the index finger anywhere? Every guide/diagram I've seen shows the player pressing on the fret with the middle padded part of their finger. Also, depending on how your neck is set up, certain chords might be much more difficult to play.
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Oct 5, 2011 22:07
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I'm going to go ahead and recommend the Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster to everyone looking for a cheap Tele, for the price it's an absolutely fantastic guitar.
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Oct 10, 2011 09:38
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I.G. posted:I've been playing guitar for a long time, so maybe this is the wrong thread, but one thing I've never been able to develop is the ability to just be able play a melody I hear in my head. Like, if I'm listening to a song, I can improvise a solo in my head, and can effortlessly hum or whistle that solo, but can't effortlessly play those same notes on the guitar. If you give me a minute I can figure out how to play it, but it isn't spontaneous. This usually means that when I try to improvise, I just get locked into one of the scales that I know. I'd like to be able to improvise on the guitar the same way I can improvise humming or whistling. Is there some exercise or series of exercises that would help develop that ability? I understand it might take a lot of practice, but I'm not even sure what to practice. http://www.teoria.com/exercises/ie.php I suppose you could try to listen to the notes played and replicate them as quickly as you can on your guitar. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 07:53
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Pretentious Turtle posted:http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval
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Dec 4, 2011 08:01
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crm posted:Another question - I've got an Ibanez Artcore AS73 and I'd like to make it sound better.
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Jan 17, 2012 22:50
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Humidity (low humidity) cracks are bad news. While the tone might not be affected too much, other symptoms of abuse might exist that wouldn't be apparent from the picture like neck warpage, fret protrusion, soundboard problems and other issues that may require expensive repair and refurbishment. If a guitar has cracks it's because someone has not been storing it correctly and/or treating it like poo poo. You could examine the extent of the damage yourself if you had access to the guitar (with a straightedge and some feeler gauges) but I would never buy a cracked used acoustic guitar through ebay unless you're planning on using it around a campfire.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:11
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keyframe posted:Get a electro acoustic even if you never plan on plugging it in an amp. I can't live without the integrated tuner. 
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Mar 30, 2012 10:42
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DeNofa posted:So I just bought a new (used) guitar and amp but ran into an issue. When I'm not touching any metal on the guitar I get some humming through the amp. However, when I touch the bridge/strings/pickup/cable it goes away. I'm assuming this is a grounding issue, but how can I figure out if it's with the amp or guitar?
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Jun 27, 2012 09:09
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bomblol posted:Yeah, essentially. Barre chords seem to nearly impossible even among my friends who know what they're doing. If you have some gauges you can check the action yourself, follow these instructions: http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/action.pdf That pdf also tells you how to adjust your saddle if you need to. I wouldn't mess around with your truss rod, but if you're curious take a straightedge and set it down lengthwise on the guitar's neck and check to make sure that the frets are relatively in line, with just a slight convex bow (the middle frets should be ever so slightly higher than the bottom and top frets). Here's Taylor's truss rod adjustment PDF: http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/truss_rod_adjustment.pdf If your action and neck check out it's your frets, and you can't do them yourself so take it to a luthier. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Sep 21, 2012 |
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Sep 21, 2012 16:18
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Destro85 posted:So here's a question. Also, you're massacring those strings. Pluck softer.
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Apr 8, 2013 07:39
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coolbian57 posted:You're right, it's vibrating on a fret. You don't need to get a new nut (that is a solution, but not the only one nor necessarily the best one), you can put a shim of index card paper underneath the string to fix it temporarily (or permanently if that's your deal, I did that for one guitar and it worked just fine). http://www.ibanez.co.jp/world/manual/guitars/Ibanez_EG_EB_2000.pdf
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Oct 16, 2013 14:19
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Gilgameshback posted:Has anyone bought an acoustic guitar from Rondo? I'm kind of eyeing their $50 3/4 sized classical guitar for travel. I don't need a concert-quality instrument here, but I'd rather not waste $50 on something unplayable.
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Mar 30, 2014 06:40
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...and the pitch! posted:Let's say I got my neck and my bridge pickups mixed up. I don't think I did, but what would the symptom be if I did? Nevermind, you meant bridge vs neck pickups Dolphin fucked around with this message at 11:26 on Feb 10, 2017 |
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Feb 10, 2017 11:24
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Anyone know a good acoustic guitar for an 8 year old girl ~$200? My niece has been playing with my guitars and I think I need to buy her one I can't really go and check out guitars in person because of the pandemic so I want to order something online that I can be reasonably sure is a decent build. I know nothing about youth guitars at all and I don't want to go buying a useless piece of poo poo to get her frustrated with Like are Yamaha JR1's a decent bet? She is amazing and I want to get her something that will encourage her to play. Dolphin fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Aug 8, 2020 |
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Aug 8, 2020 05:17
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