guitar NEWB thread

it is, however, driven by incredibly terrible music like this:

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

as tacky as modern gospel can get, at least most times the music rules; this shit is basically " let me fart in your ears with my piety"

modern christian is the pernicousest of pernicious U2 influences

Haven't yet found a teacher. Have been playing a LOT of Rocksmith, which means I can now halfway fake through:

Islands by the xx
Boys Don't Cry by The Cure
Angela by Jarvis Cocker
Go With The Flow by QOTSA
Black by Pearl Jam

I also figured out the opening riff to "Crystalised" by the xx and have been practicing that along with the riffs in "Never Let Me Down Again"

I can also kind of fake "Classic Girl" by Jane's Addiction although I find it easier to play in E than A

things I have learned from Rocksmith:

- Muse writes terrible songs that are super fun to play
- changing chords in time is hard
- Boys Don't Cry is built off of butt easy barre chords
- I find single-note lead lines to be much easier to wrap my head around than chords due to the whole "changing chords in time is hard" thing
- I don't know who Jenny O. is but I hate her, I hate her and her dumb-ass hammer offs so fucking much

i tried to restring my lap steel after not touching it for actual years and broke all the strings because i've never done it before

jjj: are ppl that bring their guitars into music shops to have them restrung/tuned equivalent to newbs that bring their bikes into have flat tires changed, or are they WORSE

broke ALL the strings?? sounds like something wrong with it, idk

yeah that's strange. You could have been WAY overstretching the strings I guess but that seems unlikely. Sometimes there's a "burr" somewhere that can accidentally cut a string, but unlikely on all of them. Maybe faulty strings?

maybe but bear in mind i had no idea what i was doing, even tho i watched a youtube and everything

Do not be offended but you were using lap steel strings right? And a set for the tuning you were shooting for?

not at all

i was using the strings that a friend nicely bought me after he broke one. he at some point in his youth played guitar, but i wouldn't be surprised if he had no clue that lap strings are different. i sure didn't until you just told me

ooooooh yeah that could be it

Spent the past three days figuring out and then playing the main guitar riff from "To Bring You My Love" over and over and over again

Also started playing around with some chords and trying to write a song, but everything I do sounds suspiciously like something else

For example, I feel like there are a ton of songs that go E-D-B-C, right (all barre 5 chords)

Also, is there a Coldplay song that uses A-e-G-D on either the bridge or the chorus? Or maybe some grunge song?

Also started playing around with some chords and trying to write a song, but everything I do sounds suspiciously like something else

Unless you're Derek Bailey this goes for pretty much every guitar player in the world

OTM

There are only 12 notes. Start by just writing something that sounds suspiciously like something else -- that's how everyone starts.

There are only 12 notes

don't tell tony conrad that

writing microtonal songs as a guitar newb would certainly be a strategy for avoiding cliches

i'm working through this book with my teacher:

http://www.amazon.com/Chord-Melody-Guitar-Combining-Arrangements-Musicians/dp/0634032119/

it's great! it's jazz-ish but not really. it bridges the gap between chords and melody playing; lots of exercises that connect scale shapes to chord shapes.

I had a post for this thread but somehow it ended up over here: will tim tebow have a good nfl career?

hahaha

Diddley Tebow

Have you tried playing a pedal point yet?

can't spell Tebow without an EBow

http://rwtc.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/blog_ebow2.jpg

have you ruined your technique through mad doctor stutter tremolo abuse yet

that + microtonal should be enough to make your wife and any neighboring cats hate you

oh I had a glorious Saturday fucking around with the Mad Doctor a few weeks ago, it was magical

I had to disconnect from it because I am afraid that if I continue to play through it I will never actually learn how to play in fast rhythm

re: pedal points: I started doing the thing of moving the E and A chord shape up and down the neck of the guitar without the barre to make cool chords with an E or A pedal in them, which was mostly how I stumbled upon how to play a good chunk of the chords to "Classic Girl"

I... think I wrote a song? :-D

For everyone?

well I have to record it and write lyrics

it's very "dude who can't really play the guitar writes a guitar song" and features an A octave played across three strings

kind of want to start a thread called I Love Power Chords

Eb = Hendrix tuning. Eddie Van Halen too. Stevie Ray too, I think...

― natlawdp, Friday, January 6, 2012 3:23 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Slash

― beachville, Friday, January 6, 2012 3:24 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This fucking tuning.

It's not a city in China.

haha what about that tuning??

i have an irrational dislike of it myself tbh

I kind of love it but that is partially because I'm a baritone and all my good singing keys are flat (particularly Eb and Ab)

That people record songs in it! Wanted to figure something out last night and I was like, "OK, thing that's an open E strong there...." Nope! Open Eb. transposed everything into E, but then playing along with the recording is out. And it comes up rarely enough for me at least that it's not worth detuning another guitar for.

String, not strong

so many '90s alternative bands recorded in Eb

the old trick used to be rehearse in E, record in Eb - it's a way to keep singers in their comfort zone.

My work band recorded/performed everything in Eb tuning (guitarist was a Van Halenite), which was great for me because that meant I could actually sing some of the covers we were doing

it's more common than you think, historically. i learned of it as a 'grunge' thing to do -- it certainly was seen as such in the guitar mag universe when metallica did it on load. but long before that i think r&b players would tune down to Eb (or up to F!) to be able to fit in better in horn-driven arrangements

also dreaded stevie ray vaughan

i don't know if DJP specifically would like this, but i'm enjoying this web series on vice's music page called "guitar moves" that has matt sweeney (of chavez and other bands, one of my personal musical heroes) interviewing guitarists from various bands (so far including josh homme from queens of the stone age and james williamson from the stooges) about their guitar playing. it's not tech-y, it's more just cool dudes sitting around bullshitting about playing guitar, but if you're into these kinds of bands, it could be useful/inspirational in learning guitar i think

http://noisey.vice.com/guitar-moves

Some Neil Young songs are in Eb tuning and only sound right to me in that tuning

Jimi often tuned Eb

that looks super interesting and is really conflicting with my "avoid Vice at all costs" personal stance

holy shit that blake mills kid

i like Eb tuning. you can play along with a keyboard easily by mucking around with the black keys, don't have to worry about all those white keys

those vids are fun. the josh homme one is cool, i realise i've never heard him speak before and his voice is not what i was expecting.

just FYI, I am putting guitar on my contribution the NIN pre-cover comp

I am still horrible at playing chords in time but, with some drilling, I can do simple lead melodies, which is exciting to me.