Guitar thread

[Nebu]

U87 - Guitar Test Recording

Sounds wonderful!  Nice job on the mic build.  I've made effects and cords, but never attempted a mic.  Well done!

[Miguel]

It's actually a mike kit from Aurycle (only $69!):

Aurycle FET Mike Kits

I just use the brass body and internal frame and pitch the rest.  You can get them direct from China for $35 but you need to buy 100 of them to get that price.    You'll notice identical mikes from Nady, Carvin, MXL, etc, this company OEM's for many mike manufacturers.

I'm building two more:  a U47fet and a KM84.  I'm a total microphone whore.

BTW, I recently switched to Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze strings for acoustic....very nice!

[Sky]

I need to find some good strings. Nylon string packs I've found around here are too thin, especially the high E. And the low strings are way too brassy/shiny/whatever. I like a little bit of sparkle on it, but given the relatively flat tone of the nylon, it's jarring. I've tried every pack I could find in a local store, but the old rock guys around here like to play on the thinnest strings possible, where I prefer a medium-heavy gauge on electric (a custom 11-based set I order online). I'm not a fan of coated strings, either...I tend to like old strings and only change them when they break or corrode.

Also, putting the new guitar through its paces, I think I'm going to have to raise the action on it. I'm getting some weird tone out of a couple of strings when I'm playing hard (thanks, bass guitar), I kind of pull the string a bit and I think it's slapping the low frets a bit too soon or something. I think the lady I bought it from had it lowered, much like thin strings, lower action seems the rule of the day around here whereas I like it at a low-medium even though that makes me struggle with barres. I play too hard to have it very low...it almost gets harpsichordy at times.

Anyone ever change out a nut and saddle? I've never done it or really anything beyond switching out pickups. I'd like to learn but I would hate to screw up my new guitar doing it. Should I use a bone nut for a classical (seems to be the thing)?

[Nebu]

Replacing an acoustic guitar nut.

I've replaced many and it's a pretty easy process and a great way to adjust action.  I've not done much saddle work, so I'm no help there.

[HaemishM]

Posted this on my blog - finally scratched the itch I'd had for a while and bought a guitar. It's been over 15 years since I played a lick and MAN DO I SUCK. It's amazing how much I forgot, but it's coming back quickly. The callouses are forming, I'm starting to learn the rhythm bits to some songs (got most of War Pigs bar the solo) and I'm trying to do it a little bit right this time by learning a bunch of scales and the actual musical notes instead of just fret numbers. I had forgotten how much I really do like playing the guitar.

[Sky]

Here's a link to my stock recommendations.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=4508.msg998065#msg998065

And congrats on getting back into it! Everyone should play something.

[Nebu]

I had forgotten how much I really do like playing the guitar.

Welcome back!  I'm excited that you've picked up a guitar and look forward to your thoughts/updates as the fingerboard starts making sense again.  I'm heading to Minneapolis next week and one of the first things I'm going to do while I'm there is visit a few of the old guitar shops that I used to hang out in while I was a musician there in the 80's.  I'm hoping that it will encourage me to play guitar more and MMO's less.

[Sky]

  I'm hoping that it will encourage me to play guitar more and MMO's less.

In this thread I'll admit that thought crossed my mind in my TOR venting.

That triple wipe I mentioned? Alt-F4, play new guitar for an hour. Happy.

[Salamok]

I'll once again recommend Rocksmith (PC version coming in May!) as a pretty fun guitar game, I still haven't tried out the arcadey style minigames in it but the main game gives me reason enough to play/practice for 7 or 8 hours a week.  It does have me turning on the PS3 more which is also having the side effect of more gaming in general.

[Oz]

I'll second the rocksmith recommendation.  Even at a minimum it will teach you some songs.  I just finished learning eric clapton's Run back to you.  Fun song.

[Nebu]

Need a little advice:  I've been thinking about buying a nylon string classical guitar for my office at work.  Is this worth the investment in terms of increasing my practice time or should I just keep playing one of my two acoustics?  I find the wider neck of a classical easier to play as a bass player, but mainly want to improve my technique and knowledge of a 6-string fingerboard.

Thoughts appreciated.

[Sky]

Not sure what you're asking. Do you think you'll play more with a guitar at work? When I had my old office with the balcony, I'd get in an extra half-hour with the baby taylor (now I just get in that time at home on lunch).

If you think you'll get more mileage out of a classical guitar as a bassist, I agree. Especially if you're going to be doing fingerstyle, it's waaay easier, even if the skills don't completely translate over. I was amazed (and so was the fiancee) when I picked up the bass last week and ripped it up for a while. So some translates back the other way, too.

You'll probably want to look for something with side dots, unless you don't need them. I'm having to learn a new skill set on the new classical because it doesn't have ANY fret markings anywhere.

I love classical guitars, they've always been my favorite going back to high school music class...so I'm a bit biased. But I was also a bassist for long enough that that probably influences the bias, too. I originally got started on the bass because of my early exposure to classical guitar in school.

[Trippy]

R.I.P. Jim Marshall

[Nebu]

Picked up a Takemine classical on Wed for cheap at a local music store. 



It has a bridge pickup that works well, but it needs new strings and I may have to cut a new nut for it.  Can anyone suggest some good nylon classical strings?

[Sky]

I'm using D'Addario Pro Arte. Still trying to dial in which ones I like, the light tension were nice but a bit loosey for me. I'm on normal tension now, the thicker G in particular is nice. Going to work through heavy and extra heavy tension, I have a feeling I might like those as I play pretty heavy strings on the electric. The light tension nylons also have the benefit of being a bit more bendy, though you're still not going to ever get over a step Buddy Guy-style bends out of them. I'm hoping the heavier tensions also resolve the buzz on the open D string...but I think I'll have to swap the nut on it (as I mentioned before, I've never had to do that before). The upside to all this stringing lately is that I can string a damned classical more or less correctly now. I really hated those ball end strings everyone seems to like...I break them easily and they look cheap.

Working at an outreach event for the library I ran into a local weirdo who is married to a cool ex of mine from high school, he's got a ren band with his kid and they have tons of weird instruments. We jammed a bit at his booth, he's going to do a little bit at the local art center and told me to get my shit together. So I'm working on a set list, the absolute ren(ish) stuff is about 15 minutes worth, might be able to milk another 5 with repeats and banter. Most ren acts are pretty loose, so I should get a pretty easy half-hour set by adding on some later pieces (up through romance).

And the chick who runs the art center was saying she wants to learn guitar and also get back into painting. Since I want to learn some painting...have to talk to her about a possible lesson swap.

Really need to sit down and record a few things, but as I've only recently began sharpening my focus it's still about the same level as the last stuff I posted here though my fiancee laughs when she listens, she says she can hear a huge difference. My ear is so critical :) I have been playing quite a bit more, I'm hardly gaming at all the last month or so.

[Sky]

Cross posting from the music thread. Really been digging on David Rawlings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBke402nyIQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcMWE5FTAo

Just so tasty and perfectly matched to Gillian's songs. Highly recommend their new disc (under her name).

Finally got around to putting the Bream disc in the truck, and I'm in the weird spot of being snobby on it. I just don't like a lot of his interpretation and he tends to be almost mechanical at times, or somehow just faking thte emotive passages. Can't put my finger on it, but it makes me feel better about my interpretations of songs I'd never heard, glad I built my own style before hearing how it's 'supposed' to be played by Bream/Parkening/Segovia/de Lucia/etc. I may be sloppy as hell, but it's got some decent emotive force behind it! :)

[Sky]

What is this, my guitar blog? I know you guys are playing, what's up? Nebu, how is the classical treating you? This is the book I play out of for the most part, but I'm a tab reader. The stuff I posted a few pages ago is out of there.

Since we saw Primus Sunday, been playing a bit of bass again. Oddly, it's my left hand that's getting sore from friction (the pinky mostly). All the classical has toughened up my right hand pretty well, though it still does get crampy playing true triplets on the Trooper (my old warm-up tune, I'd play it four or five times straight, once I played it ten times over, heh). Les doesn't really play my style, but I've been trying to incorporate a few things and my bass playing sounds hilarious right now because it's part old metal bass playing (ie, what I did for money); part blues guitar (my period from a few years back) and part classical fingerstyle...and trying to put a bit of funk into it (I'm not really a slap/popper and I don't do rt-hand hammering, which limits the catalog, as does my lack of a six string bass). Turns out I remember how to play Southbound Pachyderm, which I used to jam with some guys in the day.

One awesome thing, my triplets are siiiick from all the control I've added with playing classical. I already had a pretty wicked right hand back in the day, it's so cool to pick up the bass after so much neglect and just rip it up. Yay. Watching Les, I commented to the fiancee about how he plays triplets the same way I do, I learned it from my trippy old singer who'd play guitar upside down and horribly, with his fingers. But he did this strummy thing that went rmi rmi rmi rmi rmi, so when I was starting on bass I remembered that. Les was playing a song that was all triplet in the verse, it was cool seeing "my" style done so perfectly...then I went home and found I could play them just as good. Wild.

[jth]

Since you asked, here's one "what's up" :)

I had an acoustic guitar 20+ years ago, I played it literally to pieces but never had any teaching or knew how to properly learn so I was never any good at it. Also at the time some of my friends had electric guitars and I couldn't afford one, so my "playing" was often trying to emulate electric on acoustic.

Some months ago I finally realised that wtf, I've had the money to buy any type of guitar for several years, so why haven't I done it? So after some consideration of where to begin I bought a Fender "Stop Dreaming, Start Playing" Affinity Strat package. The amp was crap, but living in an apartment with thin walls I was always going to use headphones anyway.

When I got the guitar it was somewhat a shock how I had forgotten absolutely everything, but also surprising how fast I was able to (re-)learn some basic things. After a month or two when I saw I was still serious about learning, I decided to invest some more, so I bought a Zoom G2.1Nu and a slightly more expensive guitar, Schecter Hellraiser Omen Extreme.

Afterwards I found out that for some reason the Schecter wasn't easier to play like I expected, I guess I have too short fingers for it or something so the thinner neck in the Affinity Strat is much easier for me. I still try to use both of them when practising, the problem with the cheap Strat though is that I can only get the neck just about straight, but not curved to get the action as low as I'd like it.

So where I'm now, I still suck at playing but there's been some noticeable progress at least, I've downloaded lots of tabs and been practising parts of songs, also trying to follow "The Rock House Method - Rock Guitar" lessons which I found cheap. I'm also torn between wanting to buy an acoustic and worrying about my thin apartment walls, but if I decide to go for it I've read that a Yamaha C-40 would be a good choice for a first (nylon) acoustic. Also recently I've found myself craving for a bass guitar, I've never even tried one but I might get a cheap one to see what it's about. Only problem is I need to buy some amp or another Zoom for that too.

But all in all, I'm happy that I decided to finally start playing again, and I'm still beating myself for how long I waited to do it.


edit: link corrected

[Sky]

I've also got wicked short fingers, my fiancee sighed in relief after I picked up a $3500 LP Black Beauty and immediately put it down because the neck was a baseball bat. Try out the 61 Gibson SG Reissue, or any of those models with the thin Gibson neck, it's perfect imo. There are so many bum SGs out there, but a good one is the best thing I've played (electric).

You should definitely take the time to hit the music shop to put hands on new guitars, I've never bought anything I haven't played first. There's just so much variation from unit to unit. I'd be wary of moving to a nylon string guitar, the string spacing is wider because it's primarily for fingerstyle (which is why they are great for bassists). Also realize that an electric through a headphone amp is going to be much more neighbor-friendly than an acoustic.

Ditto being cautious about bass, the string scale is much longer than a guitar. My ESP custom is a wicked thin neck as far as string spacing, but the scale is still too long (I'm a decent bass player despite that, but it's a handicap that took years to master). I use my guitar effects when I practice bass (I have an old Boss GT6). Back in the day, I had a few guitar pedals I used on my bass rig when I was starting out, a RAT pedal, flange and wah. Later I just played through the amp direct, though.

As far as learning goes, sounds like you're off to a good start. I just learned by playing, but it was teh long and hard way to do it. I've got a list of my core books a few pages back. Fretboard Logic and the Fretboard Workbook are probably the two most valuable books I own. If you want to learn tunes, online is good but also tends to be sketchy transcription, I like stuff like the Guitar White Pages books to just flip through and learn stuff, a sub to Guitar One might be worth it as well.

Most important thing I can tell you to up your game is learn the CAGED system in Fretboard Logic.  The Fretboard Workbook is a better learning tool, but the explanation in the Logic book worked better for me to unlock the second book's lessons.

[Nebu]

Nebu, how is the classical treating you?

I feel out of my realm with it.  I can play bass with my fingers and flat pick a 6 string, but fingerpicking eludes me.  I'm also not sure that I like the sound of nylon strings.  They sound GREAT through a modded amp, but a bit cheap without it.  I have a couple of books that I'm going to try out and see if I can develop 'chops'.  I mostly bought the thing to dabble with between projects in my office.

On the bright side, struggling with guitar always makes me play bass more!

[Sky]

You should grab that Library of Easy Classical Guitar Solos from the link in my last post. Starts super basic and then goes to Bach.

I'm still struggling to integrate a lot of my bass right hand still, I'd love to fully incorporate the triplets I was talking about, but I pound the shit out of the bass when I play so it doesn't really transfer over yet. I was playing some bass last night and my fiancee commented on how good it was sounding and I agreed, kind of amazed. She then asked me when was the last time I played with a pick...maybe three or four times in the last two years, when I've plugged in the SG and even then I used my fingers half the time. Weird.

As far as the sound of nylon, it's always been my favorite - I grew up on Willie Nelson. But a pickup in a classical...even someone as non-traditional as me finds that heretical.

[Raph]

I was up at Buffalo Brothers dropping off my Melody Maker this weekend. The taper on the volume pots is uneven and tapping on one of them made the pickup crackle in and out. They are also going to do a general setup on it -- probably the first and only one it has had since it was made in 1962. I look forward to playing it when it gets back, since it already plays really well.

While I was there I noodled around with a brand-new Taylor nylon string cutaway acoustic. It played really nicely, had the ES pickup system, and the neck was as narrow as a steel string. You may want to look into it, jth. The website disagrees on the model -- it was either the 214CE-N or the 414CE-N. It was around $800 new.

Have continued to attend the acoustic meetups in the park. Am probably going to miss the festival and open mic this weekend because I am having my wisdom teeth out on Friday, darn it.

[Sky]

If it was the 414, you should go buy it right now, it's the one I've been looking at, it runs a solid $1900. Though honestly, I haven't played it since I've been playing more standard classicals, so I bet the neck would be too thin for me. And pfft electronics 

[Nebu]

Thought this was pretty cool.  Not the riffs I would have chosen, but cool nonetheless.

The brief history of Rock & Roll in 100 riffs... done in a single take.

[Sky]

14. Black Magic Woman - Santana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRu7Pt42x6Y

 

But yeah, more like '100 riffs I know'. Some were pretty iffy, but gotta give the guy credit for stitching them all together in one take.

[Trippy]

I'm more impressed by all the effects programming he had to do than the actual playing

[Sky]

Probably a cover band vet with a pedal full of presets from gigging. Maybe it's '100 riffs I have presets for in my pedal'  

And to add a bit of 'what's up in classical guitarland': another post about my bass triplet technique. I have honed (yet not quite perfected) the Carcassi Etude I linked to before (played poorly here, need to update that with the new guitar). The triplet pedal tone is played with alternating imi.

I tried to play Tarrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra, which features an even more prominent triplet pedal tone, yet it's played insanely fast and I couldn't wrap my head around the technique....and I was looking through an alternate transcription which put it as ami triplets...the very technique I was talking about on the bass! The problem is when I play bass, I play it very aggressively with the right hand, so dialing down to the level of control and horizontal symmetry required by the piece is wicked fucking hard. I wish I could stop chasing some of the toughest pieces to play, heh.

I also tried to import the technique into the Carcassi piece, which used to be speed-limited by the alternate picked triplet. The ami triplet speeds it up so much that in that technique the piece is limited by the arpeggios instead. Crazy. Going to stick with the alternate picked version, since it's the traditional way it's played, but it's a nice platform to work on the ami technique in a piece I can already play front to back (the A section from memory, even!).

[Fraeg]

could also just be a straight line in and all the effects were done after the take using modeling software..... pretty meh overall... but that said, that dude is playing his guitar and I have been a lazy ass... so props to him and his cabbage

[Minvaren]

I'm debating picking up Rocksmith and a REAL GUITAR again in order to learn it for a third time in my life.  To this point, I've been a switched lefty and have learned guitar right-handed previously, but am re-learning everything with my left hand for reasons of my own - and this could be a great aid.  Can someone speak to the difference between learning a native left-handed guitar versus flipping a right-handed guitar?  Face value-wise, there's utility by being able to play most guitars flopped, but I'm curious as to the advantages of the left-handed guitar (minus the whammy bar being in the right place).

[Selby]

I tried flipping the guitar since my natural inclination is for the left, it wasn't that horrible or different other than tone\volume knobs being in an awkward position depending on make and model, same with tuning knobs.  Assuming you re-string it of course...  I eventually switched to standard right hand configuration because my left hand is so much stronger than my right and it made doing impressive fret work much easier (but caused problems with strumming\picking, but nothing that forcing myself to practice hard didn't fix).

[Minvaren]

In my brief forays into LH fake guitar (Rock Band/Guitar Hero), my left is keeping FAR better tempo than my right.  At present, my right is stronger than my left, but less coordinated (surprisingly).  I've read that there's a precision/speed tradeoff for working against natural inclination, any thoughts there?

Re-stringing a RH guitar for LH makes sense, but I've heard it negatively affects acoustics with some guitars - plus it kills the versatility of picking up a a RH guitar and just playing.  Is that right?

[Sky]

Don't really have any advice on this one. I'd say go for whatever feels most natural. Might be best to get a real lefty if you go that way, but hey; not going to argue with Jimi, either.

[Nebu]

I'd say that it's always better to buy lefty. 

1) You can get a used one cheap.
2) Your cutaway will be in the right place for access to the neck.
3) Unless you use a volume pedal, it's nice to be able to get to knobs and pickup switches easily.
4) Strap locks in the right place is nice.

[Ingmar]

If the ability to just pick up someone else's guitar and play it is important to you, then just learn it right handed. Otherwise get a real lefty.

[Ghambit]

So tomorrow I will likely pull the trigger on a nylon classical guitar.  Likely a cedar/rw cutaway with a piezo and USP.  I stumbled on a cedar/dao Crafter being dumped for $350 but I have to hear it played first, otherwise it'll just be a Cordoba.  I fooled with the new hybrid Yamahas that everyone has gone crazy about (since Rodrigo y Gabriela) but they just feel really dull w/o an amp and are pretty heavy.  Definitely designed for the nylon "thrasher."

Man oh man I fooled with a nice full-body standard Rodriguez in GC a few days ago and that thing just sang to me though.  But, I really wanna be able to plug in and mess around when I feel like it... rocksmith, computer, recordning, etc.  Also, I really liked the feel of the hybrid necks (they're skinnier and sometimes rounded) and having the ability to reach the higher frets easily.  Alas, you lose a shitton of expression in a cutaway I'm finding.

Anyways, I figure the cutaway will keep me more interested through my beginning phases since I'll be more versatile.  But eventually I aspire to get a full-body solid classical.  I'll keep the cutaway as close to traditional as I can (only a slightly skinnier neck, 12 fret, flat fingerboard, higher action, etc.)  while learning.

I've been having a lot of fun bein all newbsaucy and shopping so far.      But I refuse to start collecting these things.

Oh, and this guy... holy shit (I'm sure he's been linked here already):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIoCh6V_F-Y