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Guitar Gaf |OT| Fingerpickin’ good

49 days in and now I can play 60% of Back in Black by AC/DC.

Playing guitar is the best hobby ever.

That is pretty fucking awesome. Congrats on sticking with it. That's really all it takes.

I was talking to my brother the other day about how the hardest part about practicing is just picking up the guitar. I'll procrastinate and let everything and anything distract me. But, if I just put the thing in my hands, I'll practice for three or four times longer than I intend to 'cause I don't want to put it down.
 

Revoh

Member
That is pretty fucking awesome. Congrats on sticking with it. That's really all it takes.

I was talking to my brother the other day about how the hardest part about practicing is just picking up the guitar. I'll procrastinate and let everything and anything distract me. But, if I just put the thing in my hands, I'll practice for three or four times longer than I intend to 'cause I don't want to put it down.

Thank you, I love that I have barely scratched the surface.
I've been playing every day since I bought my Strat. As a motivation tool I wanted to try Jerry Seinfeld's method "Don't break the chain" and that stuff really works, try it! Once you start seeing how the chain gets bigger you will not want to break it.

http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret
 
Thank you, I love that I have barely scratched the surface.
I've been playing every day since I bought my Strat. As a motivation tool I wanted to try Jerry Seinfeld's method "Don't break the chain" and that stuff really works, try it! Once you start seeing how the chain gets bigger you will not want to break it.

http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret

This is a crazy coincidence. Never seen this, but I started doing this last week. Not with a giant calendar, but I got a day planner/calendar thing and have been marking off the days that I've practiced on the calendar part and then there is room for notes and stuff so I've actually been putting what I'm working on whether it's exercises or songs.
 
Thank you, I love that I have barely scratched the surface.
I've been playing every day since I bought my Strat. As a motivation tool I wanted to try Jerry Seinfeld's method "Don't break the chain" and that stuff really works, try it! Once you start seeing how the chain gets bigger you will not want to break it.

http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret

Excellent motivation! I try to play at least 20 minutes a day. I've kept the streak going for 8 months now.
I also heed the words of the Master:

E0c0254.jpg
 

ExMachina

Unconfirmed Member
New pedal get!


I've had my eye out on the Walrus Audio Descent for a while and finally saw a good deal pop up so I grabbed it. Having a ton of fun messing around with all the controls and getting some crazy spacey walls o' sound from it... I guess I'll leave one preset as a reasonable, normal reverb though. :p
 
I know I shouldn't, but I'm extremely tempted to buy this and set myself a little project:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_eguitar_kit_tstyle.htm

Stop me guys.

Stop me.

I encourage you. It's a lot of fun and you learn A LOT about guitars. I'm working on a Flying V DIY kit. Hoping to finish paint and clear coat this weekend.
Only thing is the hardware and pickups are garbage in these kits, so you'll need to invest in more than just the kit.
 

Xun

Member
I encourage you. It's a lot of fun and you learn A LOT about guitars. I'm working on a Flying V DIY kit. Hoping to finish paint and clear coat this weekend.
Only thing is the hardware and pickups are garbage in these kits, so you'll need to invest in more than just the kit.
I would've replaced the hardware/pickups, most definitely.

I've been investigating some unique Telecaster designs for inspiration, although I wouldn't do anything too outlandish.

This would be my 3rd Tele if I were to get it and build it...
 

zbarron

Member
I got my amp today.

The Orange Crush 12

I brought my guitar into the store and tried it out on this, the Fender Mustang, and the Blackstar Core ID 10W. This confirmed my fears that the Blackstar's 2x 3" speakers would sound small. They got loud but they weren't fooling me into thinking they larger than they are. I loved all the sounds I could get on the Mustang especially the green F setting which was a '65 Twin Reverb. Problem with that one was it didn't have a pure clean channel and all of them sounded somehow artificial. Beautiful but artificial. The Orange just sounded more real or natural. Also it looks funky as hell. I went with it figuring I could always pick up a multi effect pedal like the Zoom G1Xon mentioned earlier in this thread to get more sounds, but with the Mustang I could never get this good of a natural sound. 

I mic'd it and recorded a little bit on each of the 5 pickups. I had recorded something earlier with each of the 5 pickups through the Rocksmith Cable directly into my PC with Audacity. I was trying to hear the difference.

EDIT:Not apples to apples. I had the barre on the wrong fret. I'll redo this later.
Rocksmith Cable

Mic'd Orange

20 minute impressions: This sound so good. I'm able to hear much more of a differnce using different pickups and adjusting the tone dials. Setting 1, 3, and 5 sure are noisy though. I know they are single coils, but is this a normal level of noise or should I get some foil/copper tape? I still don't really know what I'm doing with the volume and gain knobs. You need both to be at least a little on to get sound but I don't know what the difference between volume on 1 and gain on 10, and volume on 10 and gain on 1.
 

WoolyNinja

Member
Ugh, the guitar stores near me have very low stock of guitars so I've been trying some guitars by ordering them from Guitar Center. Unfortunately every new guitar I've gotten has had pretty bad issues right out of the box, so I end up returning them to my local Guitar Center. I guess they just don't care about making sure the instruments are ok before shipping them out.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with Sweetwater for buying guitars? Any idea how much returning a guitar would cost me if it turns out I don't love it, etc?
 
Ugh, the guitar stores near me have very low stock of guitars so I've been trying some guitars by ordering them from Guitar Center. Unfortunately every new guitar I've gotten has had pretty bad issues right out of the box, so I end up returning them to my local Guitar Center. I guess they just don't care about making sure the instruments are ok before shipping them out.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with Sweetwater for buying guitars? Any idea how much returning a guitar would cost me if it turns out I don't love it, etc?

Have you tried SamAsh.com or Music123.com?
 

WoolyNinja

Member
Have you tried SamAsh.com or Music123.com?

I have not - I was leaning towards trying Sweetwater only due to great reviews and because they check every guitar before they ship it out which in theory would mean I shouldn't get a new guitar with fret issues, etc which sounds nice.
 
Ugh, the guitar stores near me have very low stock of guitars so I've been trying some guitars by ordering them from Guitar Center. Unfortunately every new guitar I've gotten has had pretty bad issues right out of the box, so I end up returning them to my local Guitar Center. I guess they just don't care about making sure the instruments are ok before shipping them out.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with Sweetwater for buying guitars? Any idea how much returning a guitar would cost me if it turns out I don't love it, etc?

Sweetwater has a what they call a 55-point inspection before sending them out. I'm not sure if it's an actual setup but more of a quality inspection. I've never liked any out-of-store setup anyway and do it myself so it's not much of an issue for me.

Sweetwater's return policy is fine - no-hassle policy. But they do charge you for shipping it back - they take that amount out of your refund.

www.zzounds.com is another big online retailer, never ordered from there though. But people like them cuz you can buy guitars on "pay-later" credit. Whatever you do don't buy from Musician's Friend - they're the worst.
 
I have not - I was leaning towards trying Sweetwater only due to great reviews and because they check every guitar before they ship it out which in theory would mean I shouldn't get a new guitar with fret issues, etc which sounds nice.

Thats fine. The one thing to remember that even though guitars are usually packed in a double box with foam and padding, they dont always come perfect out of the box. I've bought maybe 4 guitars online over the years(from different places) and 3 of them had something wrong with it, though, nothing permanent. 2 of them had broken strings, one had a hairline scratch. Anything can happen during shipping :p If you had any serious issues like loose frets or actual broken stuff like bridges/nuts/posts/pickups, then yeah thats definitely on the company you're buying from.

^^^zzsounds is also good
 

WoolyNinja

Member
Sweetwater has a what they call a 55-point inspection before sending them out. I'm not sure if it's an actual setup but more of a quality inspection. I've never liked any out-of-store setup anyway and do it myself so it's not much of an issue for me.

Yeah, the two guitars I got from guitar center had fret issues (frets actually sticking out significantly from the side of the neck) which I don't want to deal with on a new guitar.

Whatever you do don't buy from Musician's Friend - they're the worst.

Good to know thanks!
 
Yeah, the two guitars I got from guitar center had fret issues (frets actually sticking out significantly from the side of the neck) which I don't want to deal with on a new guitar.

Not sure how much the fret was sticking out, but this is a common thing with guitars during the dry winter months (especially if it was on a delivery truck/airplane/etc.). The wood slightly shrinks on the fretboard and some frets may feel like they're sticking out. A humidifier usually fixes the problem, or a little fretboard oil to moisten.
 
Not sure how much the fret was sticking out, but this is a common thing with guitars during the dry winter months (especially if it was on a delivery truck/airplane/etc.). The wood slightly shrinks on the fretboard and some frets may feel like they're sticking out. A humidifier usually fixes the problem, or a little fretboard oil to moisten.
Also depends on the quality of the guitar. Rolled edges on frets are always nice but many cheaper guitars won't have them. It's one of the things that a good quality guitar will have. That said fret edges rarely bother me as the way I hold my hand on the neck means I rarely feel the edges of the frets.
Most of my collection of guitars of around £600 or less have reasonable fret edges, maybe one or two a little rough. But nearly all of my guitars of £600 - £1000+ have either nicely filed fret edges or rolled edges.
As for visibly sticking out, temp and humidity can effect the frets but it could just be poorly done fret work. It does happen.
 
Also depends on the quality of the guitar. Rolled edges on frets are always nice but many cheaper guitars won't have them. It's one of the things that a good quality guitar will have. That said fret edges rarely bother me as the way I hold my hand on the neck means I rarely feel the edges of the frets.
Most of my collection of guitars of around £600 or less have reasonable fret edges, maybe one or two a little rough. But nearly all of my guitars of £600 - £1000+ have either nicely filed fret edges or rolled edges.
As for visibly sticking out, temp and humidity can effect the frets but it could just be poorly done fret work. It does happen.

I just file them myself. I've also clear-coated the sides of fretboard before to smooth out the roughness.
But yeah, if it's just a cheap guitar and it came from the factory that way, then no 55 point inspection is going to fix that.
 

Surfinn

Member
You guys are making me a little nervous about dropping $1k on a Sweetwater guitar. I looked and they don't have a playable version of the one I want within 60 or 70 miles.
 
You guys are making me a little nervous about dropping $1k on a Sweetwater guitar. I looked and they don't have a playable version of the one I want within 60 or 70 miles.

I wouldn't worry about Sweetwater, they're very reputable. In fact, Sweetwater is the only online guitar outlet where you have the option of getting a "personal sales associate" to walk you through the purchase, delivery and so forth. They update you with tracking, delivery date and everything. Only annoying thing is the sales associate will later e-mail you with Sweewater updates and make suggestions on what you should buy. But it is the only online retailer that gives you that personal touch.
 

Surfinn

Member
I wouldn't worry about Sweetwater, they're very reputable. In fact, Sweetwater is the only online guitar outlet where you have the option of getting a "personal sales associate" to walk you through the purchase, delivery and so forth. They update you with tracking, delivery date and everything. Only annoying thing is the sales associate will later e-mail you with Sweewater updates and make suggestions on what you should buy. But it is the only online retailer that gives you that personal touch.

Thanks. I really want this guitar.
 

zbarron

Member
I've seen some bad reviews online for Musicians Friend but that's where I got my acoustic and everything went smooth. 45 Days later I got my points which i used on a two pack of strings which also went smooth. I've only had 2 transactions with them but I have 0 complaints.
 
I've seen some bad reviews online for Musicians Friend but that's where I got my acoustic and everything went smooth. 45 Days later I got my points which i used on a two pack of strings which also went smooth. I've only had 2 transactions with them but I have 0 complaints.

The #1 problem with Musician's Friend is that they list stuff that they don't have in stock. So people order then later find out they need to wait a month for the next shipment.
 
Why do I suck at pull-offs? I can do hammer-ons like at least twice as fast, but I go to practice pull-offs and my timing gets fucking sloppy as shit.
 

blinkz

Member
Nice collection! Love the SG! And I see Ernie Ball Super Slinkys! Good man!

Thanks I'm a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan (90's pumpkins) I really want to build a replica of Billy Corgans strat. I know they have a signature model from a few years ago but I want it to be the blue strat he used during the MCIS tour.
 
Alright blinks you got me inspired to do a "couch shot" plus I haven't done a gear shot for this thread yet, not since the old guitar thread.
My current (electric) collection:

mgHFTdl.jpg


Yes, I have a major GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) problem...
 

blinkz

Member
Alright blinks you got me inspired to do a "couch shot" plus I haven't done a gear shot for this thread yet, not since the old guitar thread.
My current (electric) collection:

mgHFTdl.jpg


Yes, I have a major GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) problem...

Damn you even have the PRS color I want.
 

TheVBkid

Banned
Why do I suck at pull-offs? I can do hammer-ons like at least twice as fast, but I go to practice pull-offs and my timing gets fucking sloppy as shit.

Try doing hammer on and pull offs in one motion eg 5h7p5 moving up and down the fret board, across strings and different finger combinations. This will get your fingers lossened up, it will come with time.

Its cliche but practice makes perfect
 

blinkz

Member
I used the site American Musical for some Mexican Strats granted its been over a decade and the brands they carry have changed a lot but they had great service.
 
Try doing hammer on and pull offs in one motion eg 5h7p5 moving up and down the fret board, across strings and different finger combinations. This will get your fingers lossened up, it will come with time.

Its cliche but practice makes perfect

Good idea. I've been working on it for the last week to a a metronome, but I haven't been combining them. I do one run of hammer ons, then reverse it and do pull offs. I will start throwing some combos in there, too.
 

ExMachina

Unconfirmed Member
I just picked up an Orange PPC212C with the black tolex this week. Such an awesome cab! Got it used and it is in perfect condition.

I keep trying to post the picture but it is too large, how can I shrink it?
Put it in some quote tags and it'll automatically get resized down.

I wanna see it, Orange cabs are dope. :)
 
I just picked up an Orange PPC212C with the black tolex this week. Such an awesome cab! Got it used and it is in perfect condition.
That Bugera head looks nice. I have a combo (V22) and it chucks out a nice warm, classic 70's tone. Thinking of getting a head and 4 speaker stack but can't really justify it as I don't play in a band or on stage and I don't need that kind of power. But damn, it'll look good!.

Alright blinks you got me inspired to do a "couch shot" plus I haven't done a gear shot for this thread yet, not since the old guitar thread.
My current (electric) collection:

mgHFTdl.jpg


Yes, I have a major GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) problem...
But I can't think about that right now. Maybe in 6 months time....
Not as bad as I have. I have so many my couch isn't big enough to display them all on! Some real nice ones there. That PRS is sure pretty though I'd have a red or blue as green isn't my colour.

Basically the body shape. The RG is more angular and is modeled after the traditional Super Strat. It's Ibanez's most popular line. Usually in humbucker-humbucker configuration or Humbucker-Single-Humbucker. They also come with or without a pick guard.

The S model is lighter smoother, rounder, thinner and sleeker overall. It's basically a Joe Satriani model that became its own line. They usually come in Humbucker-Single-Single config or HSH. The output jack is in the front. No pick guard option. It's a little less heavy metal than the RG.
I quite like the S series of Ibanez but I do wish they'd remove the pick up selector housing. That black plastic look detracts from the overall aesthetic. Lovely colour.
If I did get another Ibanez i think I might go for an SA960 with quilted maple top -
or S970 Natural Wood -
 
Not as bad as I have. I have so many my couch isn't big enough to display them all on! Some real nice ones there. That PRS is sure pretty though I'd have a red or blue as green isn't my colour.

I quite like the S series of Ibanez but I do wish they'd remove the pick up selector housing. That black plastic look detracts from the overall aesthetic. Lovely colour.

Oh there's more! I'm building a Flying V right now. Plus I have a handful of acoustics.

Yeah I agree about the cheap looking selector housing. I'm more into the RG. Way more color and style choices and wider price range.
 
I'm playing my acoustic right now. I still suck but I'm enjoying myself. 😀

Man, today was one of those days I felt like I had never held a guitar before. I have been working on all the solos to All Along the Watchtower. I'm a good ways into the third solo, but today even the first (easiest) wasn't coming out. I did 30 minutes of running exercises, told the guitar to go fuck itself and put it back into its case for the day.

It's weird how guitar is like that sometimes. Somedays I pick it up and everything just flows, then I have a random day like today where my fingers act like they don't give a fuck what my brain is telling them to do. It feels good to get that practice in still, though. Like, I'm not going to let the inanimate object beat me today.
 
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