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Learning Guitar (disc)

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Post by Dannyboy Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:29 pm

Well, there actually seem to be a lot people on here with awesome musical tastes, so I figure that there must be some guitarists and/or aspiring guitarist among us!

I was thinking that we could share tips and tricks, talk about preferred gear and such, and maybe even whine about some of the frustrations of learning the craft, lol. I, myself have only learned a bunch of chords and riffs, never any actual chords. Everytime I try I get stuck on that damn F Chord (those of you who play guitar will know exactly what I'm talking about. Still, I've decided to give it a try again, doing some free lessons that I found online.

So, yeah, this is a place to discuss guitar stuff, yay!

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Post by Guest Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:26 am

Dannyboy wrote:Well, there actually seem to be a lot people on here with awesome musical tastes, so I figure that there must be some guitarists and/or aspiring guitarist among us!

I was thinking that we could share tips and tricks, talk about preferred gear and such, and maybe even whine about some of the frustrations of learning the craft, lol. I, myself have only learned a bunch of chords and riffs, never any actual chords. Everytime I try I get stuck on that damn F Chord (those of you who play guitar will know exactly what I'm talking about. Still, I've decided to give it a try again, doing some free lessons that I found online.

So, yeah, this is a place to discuss guitar stuff, yay!

The F barre Chord? Best advice I could give you is keep the neck tilted up and with your hand make it like you're tryna touch your wrist with your index finger.

Right now, I'm playing a crappy Washburn guitar I got back when I was 14, that was almost 10 years ago (holy shit, I've been playing guitar for 10 years and I haven't gotten any better? D:). I like playing on an old Marshall MG10CD practice amp, a step up from the practice amp I had that came with my electric lol. But I've played with different guitars and amps at Guitar Center. My absolute favorites would be Gibson Guitars, the only problem with those is they're expensive as fuck. You can go for an Epiphone Les Paul, but that'll still run at least a cool $1000 as opposed to an actual Gibson Les Paul which is anywhere between $10k+ to $5k. Plus, LPs are heavy, I'd recommend the Les Paul Studio over the regular old Les Paul on the basis that the Studio is much lighter.

My absolute favorite guitar though, is the Gibson Flying V. Which is... simply so fucking cool to look at with some pretty sweet stock pick-ups. Though I think it would benefit better from EMGs. A Floyd Rose tremolo would be nice too, but they'd be a pain in the ass to maintain. >:I

I got more stuff, but it's late and I was gonna play vidya, but now I'm falling asleep lol.

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Post by Nerdator Sat Aug 15, 2015 6:48 pm

Dannyboy wrote:Well, there actually seem to be a lot people on here with awesome musical tastes, so I figure that there must be some guitarists and/or aspiring guitarist among us!

I was thinking that we could share tips and tricks, talk about preferred gear and such, and maybe even whine about some of the frustrations of learning the craft, lol. I, myself have only learned a bunch of chords and riffs, never any actual chords. Everytime I try I get stuck on that damn F Chord (those of you who play guitar will know exactly what I'm talking about. Still, I've decided to give it a try again, doing some free lessons that I found online.

So, yeah, this is a place to discuss guitar stuff, yay!

If you have trouble with 6-string barres, try alternative fingerings for the chord you have trouble with (this really is a matter of muscle strength and practice, and torturing yourself is a good way to stop playing. Also, you might try thinner strings). For F, just use 3 on the 4th string as your base note for xx3211 or xx3565 – and you can transpose these fingerings to wherever you like, too. Don't forget not to touch or at least mute the last two strings. You may leave the fifth string open  –i.e. x03211– for F/A though.

Also, I wonder what the difference between 'chords' and 'actual chords' is in 'I, myself have only learned a bunch of chords and riffs, never any actual chords.'
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Post by Nerdator Sat Aug 15, 2015 7:00 pm

The Mikey wrote:The F barre Chord? Best advice I could give you is keep the neck tilted up and with your hand make it like you're tryna touch your wrist with your index finger.

If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting, this is not good advice. The pressure between the thumb and the index finger (provided they do press against each other (with the neck in between) when you make a barre) is more than enough. Trying these sorts of acrobatics because it's hard dealing with the basics is impractical and will lead you nowhere. It's also inconvenient and painful (and I tried this as I read your comment – my wrist is still aching).
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Post by Guest Sun Aug 16, 2015 2:37 am

Nerdator wrote:
The Mikey wrote:The F barre Chord? Best advice I could give you is keep the neck tilted up and with your hand make it like you're tryna touch your wrist with your index finger.

If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting, this is not good advice. The pressure between the thumb and the index finger (provided they do press against each other (with the neck in between) when you make a barre) is more than enough. Trying these sorts of acrobatics because it's hard dealing with the basics is impractical and will lead you nowhere. It's also inconvenient and painful (and I tried this as I read your comment – my wrist is still aching).

I dunno, that's how I initially learned. I got better at but that's because every time I tried playing the chord I wasn't applying enough pressure and every time I played a barre chord it sounded like shit. So I'd squeeze the neck like crazy. So I dunno, I've played barre chords enough that it doesn't hurt anymore lol

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Post by litterature Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:55 am

I'm more of a synth guy myself, but I've been following Justinguitar's lessons for a while. That guy really knows how to teach doesn't he! I basically play punk songs so I don't really need to know how to play guitar (and in a pinch if a song is all barre chords I can just use a capo or just power chord my way through it) but hopefully I'll be able to play Johnny Marr-style jangly riffs someday...

I have an Epi SG from when I was 15 (actually it's the Emily the Strange one... lol, I know it's embarrassing but I do like it still!) and it's pretty knackered, in fact one of the pickups doesn't work and the pots are a bit loose, but I don't know the first thing about guitars so I don't really have any complaints.
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Post by jcorozza Thu Aug 20, 2015 8:53 am

My teacher called it "the dreaded F". I find that when I'm actually playing/practicing regularly, my hand/fingers get used to it after awhile. When I'm not, and try it again...nope nope nope.
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Post by FormerlyShyGuy Sat Aug 22, 2015 6:06 am

I am not a guitarist but I heard this podcast the other day that did pique the interest of my former musician self.
http://chrislaxamana.com/010/

Episode description:
Kelley James | Musician
Singer-Songwriter Kelley James discusses life as a musician, recalling terrible gigs and finding the will to constantly improve. He also talks about the creative process of songwriting and how he handles the business aspect of his career.

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Post by Guest Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:44 pm

Nerdator wrote:
If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting, this is not good advice. The pressure between the thumb and the index finger (provided they do press against each other (with the neck in between) when you make a barre) is more than enough. Trying these sorts of acrobatics because it's hard dealing with the basics is impractical and will lead you nowhere. It's also inconvenient and painful (and I tried this as I read your comment – my wrist is still aching).

What, tilting the neck up and reaching for your wrist? Really? You don't have to put a lot of tension in your wrist doing that...



This is more or less what I'm talking about. Like just tilt the neck up and it'll solve most aches and pains when playing guitar.

Or use a step-stool...


EDIT: wtf happened to the BBCode?

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Post by Nerdator Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:52 am

Oh, so you meant the classical guitar position? Well, this might be sensible (though not always feasible – this position sucks with Western guitars, even smaller ones) – definitely in terms of learning proper posture and hand positioning. I'm not sure if this is helpful for those who have barre problems (I don't remember how I dealt with this, and now it doesn't matter – I can put the guitar behind my head and still have no difficulty doing full barres. So, ultimately, this is a matter of hand strength, not position – and alternative fingerings are indeed your friend.)
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Post by Guest Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:21 am

I dunno, it only really sucks if you don't have a step stool. And even then there are clever work arounds, but it still helpful to keep a leg up for your guitar. I play mostly electric and it works great.

And yeah, when you tilt the neck up, it helps a lot and you don't need to apply much pressure to the strings and it keeps your hand from aching after awhile.

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Post by Nerdator Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:36 am

I've never owned one (never playing classical guitar and rarely using this position contributed to this), but a cushion or (if I'm at my desk) half-opened bottom drawer are good substitutes. Smile
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Post by Guest Sat Aug 29, 2015 4:27 pm

Nerdator wrote:I've never owned one (never playing classical guitar and rarely using this position contributed to this), but a cushion or (if I'm at my desk) half-opened bottom drawer are good substitutes. Smile

Old phone books might help too. Otherwise, hold the guitar between your legs and tilting the neck up. It helps. ;D

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Post by Dannyboy Fri Nov 06, 2015 4:39 am

Welp, I've finally played a full barre on the first fret a few times, so that's progress.

Still need to make the rest of the chord sound out though, that'll probably take another couple months.

Anyone here got guitar problems they want to share? Anyone want to talk about gear?

My current guitar is a Danelectro '67. Its a cheap guitar but a really like it, it has this very rough, jangly sound that I really love. I also bought a new amp: a Fender Champion 600. Its a small, thinngs but it makes a far better sound than any of my student amps did.

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Post by Guest Fri Nov 06, 2015 5:10 pm

Dannyboy wrote:Welp, I've finally played a full barre on the first fret a few times, so that's progress.

Still need to make the rest of the chord sound out though, that'll probably take another couple months.

Anyone here got guitar problems they want to share? Anyone want to talk about gear?

My current guitar is a Danelectro '67. Its a cheap guitar but a really like it, it has this very rough, jangly sound that I really love. I also bought a new amp: a Fender Champion 600. Its a small, thinngs but it makes a far better sound than any of my student amps did.

Yay. Keep practicing those barre chords and eventually you'll be playing all the basic major and minor bar chords. It's not that hard actually, but a lot of fun to play a tune with simplified chords only in different positions. Like an A Major chord can be an F barre chord at the 5th fret, G major at the 3rd fret and so on.

My current problem is... I can't sweep pick for crap. ;-; I have a very hard time with the rolling finger thing. :/

As for my gear, I haven't bought a new guitar in almost 10 years, so I'm still using my old crappy Washburn that I've been playing on for nearly 10 years and a small okayish Marshall practice amp. Nothing terribly special, but I would like a nice Fender or Marshall.

My dream amp is a Fender Twin Reverb amp for that classic surf rock sound and nice distortion or fuzz pedal. Or maybe a Fender Champion 100.

EDIT: I looked at your Fender Champion 600, it's a 5W amp AND a tube amp! :DD That's a sweet little amp complete with built-in preamp.

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