guitar NEWB thread

Dan, didn't they ever need you at least once to sing at the ballet?
http://rainonsunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/bar.jpg

ha nope

Ich spreche Deutsch, Franzoesich ist fuer Maedchen

I don't though. Having a thin neck helps... on the guitar that is, obviously.

― Too Busy Thinking About Mr. Abie (Tom D.), Thursday, July 5, 2012 10:57 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i have pretty small hands and can do this tho it depens on what is demanded of the rest of my fingers, setup of the guitar etc

what i mean to say a lotta times ppl will say things like 'you can't play this unless...' and it's sometimes can be a false zapper of ambition. lots of stuff you think you could never do you probably can, just really takes practice. for ages i thought it was impossible for me to use my thumb that way!

"what i mean to say is that..."

rushing on my way out the door to class here lol...

It's how I learned to play, I don't know what gave me the idea, other than the fact that friggin' barre chords were hurting my hands

i know hendrix did the thumb thing but he was hendrix so you know

Hands like shovels

I'm sitting here listing to old Banshees stuff like "Into the Light" and going "holy fucking shit, how did he even do that" which is semi-disheartening because one of the main reasons I wanted a guitar was so I could learn how to play "Night Shift" (btw, did you know that apparently no one on the entire internet knows how "Night Shift" goes?)

So I've decided to start with acoustic now, mainly because of $$$. What should I be looking for in such a purchase? I want something that looks good so I will want to play it

once again, i recommend the mccabe's rental program. super-low cost of entry, you can buy it if you like it minus the very reasonable rental cost. alongside the crazy high-end stuff they have a really impressive range of low-cost acoustics and set them up in-house so they play and sound their best.

they like beginners and want people to learn to play and enjoy guitar. super nice and not condescending and will get you set up right.

http://www.mccabes.com/rentalpolicy.html

full disclosure i don't work for mccabe's but I did get started on a mccabe's rental.

it's semi pathetic how many takes I'm having to do just to get a simple riff recorded for my AC comp song, I am not used to this

okay lol

I have identified a place where I want to take lessons but I now am not sure I have time in my schedule for them

on the plus side, I can now play the main riff from "Never Let Me Down Again" and can almost reliably play barre chords (well, F and B); I can also play "Mother" really arrhythmically and slowly (G-C-G-C-G-C-D-C-G, F-C-F-C-F-C-G-D-C-D-C-D-C-G)

I am looking forward to the painful unlearning of all of the terrible habits I have created for myself

still no teacher, but I did spend some time over Thanksgiving going over some things with natlawdp that led to:

a) me losing my fear of the fretboard past fret 5
b) me getting better at barres
c) the most important thing at all and the justification of my acquisition of a guitar; I found a sensible tab for the bass line to "Night Shift" by Siouxsie and the Banshees and, from that and combining a) and b), was able to extrapolate a rudimentary rhythm guitar part for the song, when means OMFG I CAN PLAY "NIGHT SHIFT", I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY
d) fuck the mothers, kill the others

welp, I emailed a potential teacher whose name I've had for a year thanks to being super embarrassed about dragging my feet on the root 5 barre chords thread

let's see what happens

Glad we could be of help.

And people say shame isn't a good motivator.

Seriously, this is the most important part about guitar playing

c) the most important thing at all and the justification of my acquisition of a guitar; I found a sensible tab for the bass line to "Night Shift" by Siouxsie and the Banshees and, from that and combining a) and b), was able to extrapolate a rudimentary rhythm guitar part for the song, when means OMFG I CAN PLAY "NIGHT SHIFT", I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY

in the meanwhile, occupy yourself here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoe
http://www.justinguitar.com/

Have any of you played around with Rocksmith? I can kind of play "Boys Don't Cry" now :-D

I haven't, I'm guessing it's kinda lead guitar focused? Would like to try but suspect it'd end up being an expensive underused gimmick.

It covers both guitar and bass; the guitar parts can be lead, chords or a combo depending on the song.

i'm gonna hold out for ROCKSMITH FINGERSTYLE.

speaking of which can i just give a shoutout to trying out different picks in the early stages? its kind of amazing how big a difference they can make once you have at least a basic familiarity with the instrument, and how much the wrong one can hold you back. pro-tip: it is not necessarily easier to hold on to a larger pick, despite that being a little counterintuitive.

wait, there are different picks...?

I mean, I know about the ones that slide over your fingers etc but I guess I never noticed that guitar picks come in different sizes? (and really why would I notice, considering I never actually owned a guitar before last year)

oh yeah, different sizes, different thicknesses, different materials, all of which change the way you hold the pick, the attack it has, etc. I am a big fan of the max-grip dunlop jazz III.

also different shapes to the point of the pick as well.

i should say max grip jazz III nylon. its the red one.

that is a very fancy name for a pick

i am a fancy guy

maybe I will go to Daddy's Junky Music and buy a bunch of random picks, see which ones I like

I'll be sad if I can't find a Pilot Inspektor Jazz Hands Infinity pick tho

different sizes, different shapes, different thicknesses

i usually use these but sometimes go to 1.0 for acoustic and keep a bunch of random ones around to change things up

http://www.jimdunlop.com/images/products/UltexStandard73-5.5.png

I should see what mine are, as far as I can tell they are "generic blue picks"

some day i will find the dude that invented the "hey with this shitty tool you can make a pick out of any old crap lying around your house" thing and kick the shit out of him.

this is the only pick i use

http://www.buriedtreasurefossils.com/images_Chile/images_C_GW_XL/C1206-P.jpg

I only use $60 quartz crystal picks

http://realrock.us/catalog/gpteardropquartzcrystal.html

Dunlop Nylon Standard Pick Packs, .88mm/Gray

idk i've never really tried playing with anything else!

wait, there are different picks...?

Plectrums/Picks - what do you use?

.73 or .88s for me too. I like the red jazz one as well

I like thinner picks for acoustic strumming and thicker ones for lead playing. I don't really have a standard size anymore though, just kind of use whatever I find.

srsly what wormhole have you ppl sucked me into

oh we should definitely talk about strings

and what is the most transparent overdrive

I can't stand jazz picks, but maybe because I'm just butterfingered. They seem to go flying all over the damn place.

When I started playing guitar again a year or so ago, for some reason I initially took Slash's advice and started out with 1.14s. I dunno, maybe I was reading his autobiography or something? iirc he used size 12 strings too, which I didn't do on my electric, but I did restring my acoustic with 12s and I mean, well, it built up a lot of finger-strength but I couldn't imagine playing it regularly in a rock context!

I've worked my way down to .73s, but I'm going to try something other than Dunlop Tortex. The reason I haven't yet is because I always order them in 12-packs and so it's not like I'm wanting for guitar picks around the house. I don't really like the feel of tortex though, so I'm open for suggestions. When I was a teenager, I used Pickboy picks a lot for some reason and hated Fender picks. So brittle and breakable. Anybody ever have to get through a band practice or something playing with shards of Fender picks?

Sorry, I'm using .88s at this point, not .73s.

oh we should definitely talk about strings

http://beta.ilxor.com/sandbox/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=148&threadid=1469

And don't forget about that most essential piece of guitar hardware, the bit that connects it to the strap...

Guitar Strap Buttons/Strap Locks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5QIoKvlgvY

I can't remember what brand of guitar strap I'm using these days, but it doesn't come off unless you pry it off. I don't think it cost me more than $15 or so either. Anyway, no need for strap locks over here.

only strap i use

http://www.deviantart.com/download/129026641/Dragon_Moray_Eel_for_Vulpa_by_Night_eco.jpg