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Big Bad Voodoo Lou
Jan 1, 2006
Hey everyone. I played a little guitar as a kid and young teenager, had a 3/4-size nylon string acoustic, and eventually a Fender (not Squier) Strat that I totally wasn't good enough to deserve. I eventually sold the Strat and switched to playing saxophone, which I loved and got really good at, from middle school through college. Now that I'm an old married dude with a career, I don't play anything anymore, but I occasionally dream of getting a guitar and learning for real this time. Of course I'll probably never play in a band again, but it would be nice to emulate the sounds and styles I've come to love, ideally as cheaply as possible.

Basically, I want to make twangy, reverb-drenched guitar sounds. Surf music, rockabilly, Marc Ribot's work with my favorite artist Tom Waits, Adrian Utley's mysterious "noir" sound in Portishead, Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks, anything reminiscent of the strange, sexy creepiness of David Lynch or Tarantino movies. Examples:

Tom Waits - "Jockey Full of Bourbon"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vEBPYfy1GM

Portishead - "Sour Times"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxOWuKlz_8o

Nancy Sinatra - "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaVNfZWBVhQ

So I'm pretty sure I want a Telecaster for all that, and I've been looking at the entry-level $179 Squier Telecasters. Good move, or not? I think my music theory will start coming back to me, but I'll need to relearn (or just plain learn) all the physicality of actually PLAYING.

Now I already have a little 60-watt Squier practice amp, left over from my teen years. It should still work, but will I be able to get that twangy sound with a Tele and that little amp, or should I be looking at larger amps or pedals (if an amp like that would even take pedals)?

Big Bad Voodoo Lou fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Dec 25, 2011

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muike
Mar 16, 2011

ガチムチ セブン
If your hand isn't uncomfortable like that at all then it's fine. If it feels weird or uncomfortable at all, cut that poo poo out immediately unless you want carpal tunnel.

Groundbase
May 26, 2006

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for getting standard vibrato down well? I've been going through Justin Guitar's Lead blues lessons which have been great, but a lot of the licks he uses involve that extra edge that comes with vibrato. I can bend strings fine but I can't seem to get anywhere near the speed required to make it a smooth vibrato sound.

I've checked out Justin's free lesson on the subject as well and while it's good, there's a certain moment where he moves from "ok bending the string up and down slowly" to a really smooth quick up down bending that seems way too fast for me :(. I'm guessing this is another guitar thing that just involves loads of practice, but does anyone have any tips for getting the speed to do vibrato well?

Spinal Pap
Jun 24, 2007

uh-
I live in an apartment with VERY thin walls and I want to play my guitar way more than what I currently do. Plugging in my headphones into my Microcube sounds awful as soon as I add a bit of distortion. What would be a good option to get decent distorted/clean sounds going? Looked into a Line6 pod, but I'm still a bit unsure about where to start looking here.

crimedog
Apr 1, 2008

Yo, dog.
You dead, dog.

Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:

So I'm pretty sure I want a Telecaster for all that, and I've been looking at the entry-level $179 Squier Telecasters. Good move, or not?

I got a Squier Standard Tele a few months ago and I'm really happy with it. I've been doing music stuff since middle school, but never guitar. I asked the local guitar shop guy what he would get for someone like me that wanted an entry level instrument but that was still good enough to make me want to play it.

muike
Mar 16, 2011

ガチムチ セブン

Groundbase posted:

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for getting standard vibrato down well? I've been going through Justin Guitar's Lead blues lessons which have been great, but a lot of the licks he uses involve that extra edge that comes with vibrato. I can bend strings fine but I can't seem to get anywhere near the speed required to make it a smooth vibrato sound.

I've checked out Justin's free lesson on the subject as well and while it's good, there's a certain moment where he moves from "ok bending the string up and down slowly" to a really smooth quick up down bending that seems way too fast for me :(. I'm guessing this is another guitar thing that just involves loads of practice, but does anyone have any tips for getting the speed to do vibrato well?

Do you mean adding vibrato to bends or just regular vibrato? Regular vibrato comes from the wrist. I don't think I'm really good at explaining it.

Spinal Pap posted:

I live in an apartment with VERY thin walls and I want to play my guitar way more than what I currently do. Plugging in my headphones into my Microcube sounds awful as soon as I add a bit of distortion. What would be a good option to get decent distorted/clean sounds going? Looked into a Line6 pod, but I'm still a bit unsure about where to start looking here.

How much are you willing to spend and what are you looking for beyond just distorted and clean sounds?

The Mystery Date
Aug 2, 2005
STRAGHT FOOL IN A GAY POOL (MUPPETS ROCK)

Groundbase posted:

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for getting standard vibrato down well?

You have to keep your wrist sort of loose, but not too loose. If you are too tense you will never get any speed. I personally plant the first segment of my first finger (the segment closest the the body of the hand) on the neck and use it as a fulcrum for small, rapid bends by rotating my wrist rapidly kind of like I'm trying to flick something off of my finger, but not as exaggerated.. Using this leverage, I'm able to keep things much looser. Remember that you don't need to bend up a full half tone, just a little bit.

If you're obsessed with classical technique and think you have to have your thumb behind the neck and fingers parallel to the fretboard AT ALL TIMES, you are mistaken. However, you can still do a pretty cool vibrato by pressing down on the string a bit, again without too much tension to slow you down, and pushing the string back and fourth in the direction of the neck (not up and down, but side to side). If you loosen your wrist and shake your hand rapidly this way, you get the classical vibrato, which I think sounds really cool on non-classical things and use often.

Another vibrato that's kind of advanced in the classical position (but which is not a classical technique), is where you grab the string and kind of shake the guitar while holding the neck very loosely, allowing the string to bend back and fourth.

If I were you, I would try to master these vibratos in the order I presented them. They will help a lot in making your playing sound emotive and interesting.

Edit: Try not to think of vibrato as a series of bends, even though that's what it is. Think of it as "shaking" or "fluttering" a note and that might get you in the right mindset to do what you need to do.

The Mystery Date fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Dec 25, 2011

meatcookie
Jun 2, 2007

Spinal Pap posted:

I live in an apartment with VERY thin walls and I want to play my guitar way more than what I currently do. Plugging in my headphones into my Microcube sounds awful as soon as I add a bit of distortion. What would be a good option to get decent distorted/clean sounds going? Looked into a Line6 pod, but I'm still a bit unsure about where to start looking here.

I have a Line 6 Toneport, had it for a year now and wouldn't part with it at all, unless it were to be an upgrade. I can't recommend this route enough.

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Another thing you can do is bend back and forth, push up and then release and go through the unbent string position and keep going, pulling the string down to the next extreme, then back again. Think of it like a wave oscillating above and below the central position - this is more for slow vibrato than the rapid stuff.

Also you can squeeze and release the pressure on your fretting finger to get a more subtle vibrato, you can do this pretty fast!


Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:

Now I already have a little 60-watt Squier practice amp, left over from my teen years. It should still work, but will I be able to get that twangy sound with a Tele and that little amp, or should I be looking at larger amps or pedals (if an amp like that would even take pedals)?

Reverb reverb reverb! You want that echoey atmosphere, you want some kind of reverb or slapback delay going on - your amp might have a reverb knob, if so crank it and see how it sounds, if you need more then look into some pedals. They'll work with any amp, some amps will sound better than others, but try it out with the one you have. Basically reverb is spatial atmosphere (room sound, cavernous sounds), delay is echoing repeats, but short delays kinda sound like reverb (reverb is really a pattern of short echoes) so you could get a decent sound with both kinds of pedal, and some even handle both.

The other thing you might want for Morricone stuff is a tremolo pedal, which basically fades the sound in and out rhythmically, and turned up fast it does that signature fluttering dOWowOWowOW dOWowOWowOWowOW noise - again you might get this built into a pedal. Electro Harmonix do some wild pedals with all kinds of features, people love the Line 6 DL4 for all kinds of delay, and Best Buy have all the Danelectro pedals for under $10 right now which is an excellent way to get some decent sounds on a budget (plus they look 50s as hell if you like that aesthetic). Dig around on youtube and see how things sound

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Svrdfsk posted:

I stopped playing a couple of months ago and just recently started playing again. I never really got past the amateur stage where I could play relatively simple songs and scales, mostly because I suck at practicing. Now I want to get good, so i'm wondering what are some key things I should be practicing?

Kekekela posted:

Any advice you guys could provide would be very appreciated.

A teacher would be great but following the series of classes on Justin Guitar will cover a lot of the material in a structured progression, which is about the best thing you could want without someone there to watch you and offer advice live. I love I was doing all right's ear training app, but it helps to know what you're actually trying to learn - if you learn all your keys and some basic theory about intervals and chords then you'll have a place to start from.

Study Bass is for... bass, but I think it does a great job of laying out the basics, and obviously most of the theory applies to guitar too (a 4-string bass is effectively the bottom 4 strings of a 6-string guitar). If you don't want to go through the whole thing at least have a look at the sections on Intervals and Harmony (the Fretboard Notes part has a great exercise for learning the fretboard too). And metronome things forever - it's a skill you really need to work on, because ultimately you want your internal timing to have got so good you don't need to hear a metronome anymore. It also ensures your skillz are held under a harsh spotlight - can you play all your scales and patterns with perfect timing, with each finger jumping into place as readily as the rest? Playing to a metronome makes it clear where your weaknesses are, and encourages you to improve and gives you a reference point to measure your progress. Learning to play fast is one thing, learning to play fast and evenly is a whole other level of skill and control

If you get bored practicing to a metronome sometimes you could use something like this:
http://www.drumbot.com/projects/drumbot/
and play to some drum loops, which will help you develop your songwriting too by giving you another instrument to mesh with. It's not a replacement for a metronome for your hardcore note drilling practice though!

FateFree
Nov 14, 2003

Hey guys, I'm the owner of QuikCallus and thought some of the new musicians here might be interested in it.

QuikCallus is a non-toxic adhesive you brush on your fingertips to prevent pain from pressing the strings down against the fretboard. Its intended to help new guitarists or those with sensitive fingertips get more practice in while their calluses develop naturally. Generally you would start with a few coats, and reduce them over time until you can play without any pain at all.

I'll send out samples to the first two people in this thread who might be interested in giving it a try in exchange for an honest review.

There's more info on the SA Mart thread, and a free shipping discount for goons as well: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3457040

Kekekela
Oct 28, 2004
I was messing around with some of Papa Stache's videos, and while trying the Alice in Chains Man in the Box solo, found an equipment problem at the very beginning. Basically where he starts out on the repeated hammeron on the 2nd fret of the D string, my sound cuts out after the 2nd hammer on every time. It happens with two different cables so I'm guessing there's a problem in the guitar somewhere...any idea how expensive/difficult something like this is going to be to get diagnosed/fixed?

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

It's a physical instrument so all the hardware is doing is transferring the vibration of the strings into electrical signal, it doesn't know what you're actually up to - how does it sound unplugged? does the hammered note ring out, or does it sound choked? If there's no physical problem then make sure your volume control isn't too low (on the guitar), and try various positions on your pickup selector. You could try just picking the note over and over going softer and softer and seeing if it cuts out below a certain amount of energy - if it only happens on one pickup, there's probably a pickup/wiring issue. If it happens with every pickup, it could be a wiring problem in the guitar or possibly in your amp. ALSO your amp might have a noise gate built in, which cuts out when the signal goes below a certain level - if it's too heavy-handed then it'll choke quieter notes. I don't know why an amp would have this, unless it has a lot of built-in effects going on, but it's a possibility (definitely possible if you're using a multi-fx unit here).

If it's not a technique issue (hammer-ons can be hard at first) and it sounds fine unplugged, hopefully that will help you work out whether it's your guitar or not. A guitar tech at a music store will take a look at your electronics, not sure how much it will cost exactly but I'll throw out a ballpark figure of $30

KingColliwog
May 15, 2003

Let's go droogs

KingColliwog posted:

So I got my yamaha fg700 and I'm pretty happy with it. I was wondering what should one do upon buying a new guitar? I'm going to change the strings, but does it need to be setup? I think I have a free setup with the guitar... How does that work? Do I just say : I want my setup! or am I supposed to ask for some specific things?

I think my question might have been lost since it as at the end of a page. It might just be a stupid question though

meatcookie
Jun 2, 2007

KingColliwog posted:

I think my question might have been lost since it as at the end of a page. It might just be a stupid question though

There's not a lot TO do for an acoustic setup beyond checking the frets, nuts and bridge. I'd suggest setting a month aside, experimenting with different strings to see which you like, then taking it in for a setup once you've decided on your strings (in this case it's not the brand so much as the gauge that affects a setup).

Koth
Jul 1, 2005

Rolo posted:

On another note, a dream of mine is to someday build my own strat from parts that I can customize and paint/finish myself. Is this a stupid idea? Anyone recommend any sites for guides, lessons or parts?

I did this for the first time this year, and it was a really fun experience. I spent about $250 in total for all the parts. I went on the cheap side because it was my first build, and I just wanted to have fun with it. I didn't expect to end up with a high quality product.

The body I bought from Guitar Fetish. It's a decent body for the money ($50 or so). I went with eBay for some parts, and Guitar Fetish for others. I also picked up some custom parts from Greasy Groove: http://www.greasygroove.com/

Don't expect everything to fit together perfectly when you're mixing parts. You will need to do some sanding and maybe some Dremeling. I needed to Dremel out the jack hole on the body so the jack I bought would fit. You will probably also need to file down the end of the frets.

By far, the hardest part of the build is getting the guitar set up. If you plan on doing it yourself, I recommend buying a book, because it's not as easy as string it up and playing. You'll need to make a lot of adjustments, and it can get very tedious. But once you're finished, you will love the guitar because you build it yourself and there isn't another one like it.

Here is the guitar I built this year, minus the strings and tuners. I just realized I haven't taken any new photos of it since the initial build:



Epi Lepi
Oct 29, 2009

You can hear the voice
Telling you to Love
It's the voice of MK Ultra
And you're doing what it wants

Koth posted:

I did this for the first time this year, and it was a really fun experience. I spent about $250 in total for all the parts. I went on the cheap side because it was my first build, and I just wanted to have fun with it. I didn't expect to end up with a high quality product.

The body I bought from Guitar Fetish. It's a decent body for the money ($50 or so). I went with eBay for some parts, and Guitar Fetish for others. I also picked up some custom parts from Greasy Groove: http://www.greasygroove.com/

Don't expect everything to fit together perfectly when you're mixing parts. You will need to do some sanding and maybe some Dremeling. I needed to Dremel out the jack hole on the body so the jack I bought would fit. You will probably also need to file down the end of the frets.

By far, the hardest part of the build is getting the guitar set up. If you plan on doing it yourself, I recommend buying a book, because it's not as easy as string it up and playing. You'll need to make a lot of adjustments, and it can get very tedious. But once you're finished, you will love the guitar because you build it yourself and there isn't another one like it.

Here is the guitar I built this year, minus the strings and tuners. I just realized I haven't taken any new photos of it since the initial build:





Oh wow, I remember when you first posted about building that! Love the pickguard!

Rolo
Nov 16, 2005

Hmm, what have we here?
Dang that looks awesome! My Dad must have somehow heard me talking about wanting to build one because for Christmas I got a set of EMG single coil pickups and a pick guard. I don't even have a strat to begin with so I just said thank you and figured I'd use it someday.

I just found out today he's getting me custom parts made from scratch. A friend of his has been making guitar bodies and necks for most of his life and has some serious skill. Some of the local pros apparently sport his guitars.

I'm kind of excited.

Koth
Jul 1, 2005

Rolo posted:

Dang that looks awesome! My Dad must have somehow heard me talking about wanting to build one because for Christmas I got a set of EMG single coil pickups and a pick guard. I don't even have a strat to begin with so I just said thank you and figured I'd use it someday.

I just found out today he's getting me custom parts made from scratch. A friend of his has been making guitar bodies and necks for most of his life and has some serious skill. Some of the local pros apparently sport his guitars.

I'm kind of excited.

That's pretty awesome. A guitar body built by someone with good woodworking skill is serious money.

Thumposaurus
Jul 24, 2007

Rolo posted:

Dang that looks awesome! My Dad must have somehow heard me talking about wanting to build one because for Christmas I got a set of EMG single coil pickups and a pick guard. I don't even have a strat to begin with so I just said thank you and figured I'd use it someday.

I just found out today he's getting me custom parts made from scratch. A friend of his has been making guitar bodies and necks for most of his life and has some serious skill. Some of the local pros apparently sport his guitars.

I'm kind of excited.

Your dad is pretty cool. Is his friend doing the finishing work too?
You should ask if you can check out his shop maybe lend a hand with some stuff it's cool to get a pile of parts and put it together, but it is way cooler to get dirty and have a hand in making the parts yourself.

Rolo
Nov 16, 2005

Hmm, what have we here?
My dad seriously is the man. He's more into music than anyone I'll ever know, so when he heard I was getting back into guitar he became crazy supportive.

I don't think I'm going to help with any of the wood work, which sucks, because as of right now it's a birthday present that a mutual friend spilled the beans about. Though if this all ends up happening I'm going to contact this person and try to tour his place and thank him in person.

Might be a good thing that I'm not part of the process, it would probably end up saying "BOOBS" down the neck or something.



Edit: Yes he does the finish, solid, sunburst, see through quilted, whatever. From what I've heard around he's pretty talented.

Rolo fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Dec 28, 2011

Kekekela
Oct 28, 2004

baka kaba posted:

It's a physical instrument so all the hardware is doing is transferring the vibration of the strings into electrical signal, it doesn't know what you're actually up to
Heh, yeah, I realize that, but regardless, it was happening in a way that was reproducable every time by doing what I described. It wasn't a physical issue, it sounded fine unplugged and wasn't a volume thing, it went from being loud to completely cutting out including all the background humming/distortion just like it had been unplugged. Switching the amp package or w/e in garageband fixed it though, so all good now.

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Kekekela posted:

Heh, yeah, I realize that, but regardless, it was happening in a way that was reproducable every time by doing what I described. It wasn't a physical issue, it sounded fine unplugged and wasn't a volume thing, it went from being loud to completely cutting out including all the background humming/distortion just like it had been unplugged. Switching the amp package or w/e in garageband fixed it though, so all good now.

Oh I know, I was just pointing out my troubleshooting plan :) If it's choking on a particular fret then it might be a physical problem with the string's ability to vibrate cleanly, but if it sounds fine unplugged then it has to be pickup/wiring/cable/etc problem

I didn't realise you were in Garageband, I'd bet you a kabillion dollars there's a noise gate in the amp/fx setup you were using - they cut out the signal when it falls below a certain level, to cut out all the background noise like you said. The sensitivity's too high if it's audibly cutting off notes so you'd just need to tweak that. Practice your hammer-ons too, they shouldn't really be any quieter than your picked notes (unless that's how you want them to sound), but your noise gate has to be set properly as well or it'll be annoying to play
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2930 <-something like that

Kekekela
Oct 28, 2004

baka kaba posted:

Practice your hammer-ons too, they shouldn't really be any quieter than your picked notes
They're not.

Flappy Bert
Dec 11, 2011

I have seen the light, and it is a string


Is Justin Guitar any good?

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Sure is! Awesome in fact

Kaboobi
Jan 5, 2005

SHAKE IT BABY!
SALT THAT LADY!

DerLeo posted:

Is Justin Guitar any good?

Probably the best guitar instructional site I've found on the internet.

Chumpy
Dec 28, 2008

Nap Ghost
I just recently decided to try learning guitar again. I'm still in college, so it's going to be pretty much entirely self practice. I've read quite a bit on starter lessons, resources, etc., but I think my main difficulty is going to be motivation and developing good practicing habits.

So, any tips? Basically, what did you guys do to keep on it when you were first starting out? Obviously some willpower is required, but any particular mental/motivation strategies that stand out?

Cast_No_Shadow
Jun 8, 2010

The Republic of Luna Equestria is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, cynical population of 714m are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich.

Chumpy posted:

I just recently decided to try learning guitar again. I'm still in college, so it's going to be pretty much entirely self practice. I've read quite a bit on starter lessons, resources, etc., but I think my main difficulty is going to be motivation and developing good practicing habits.

So, any tips? Basically, what did you guys do to keep on it when you were first starting out? Obviously some willpower is required, but any particular mental/motivation strategies that stand out?

A little bit every day is better than a chunk every week so force yourself to sit down once a day even for just 15 mins. spend 5mins each on 3 technical exercises then whatever time you have left on learning songs or improv or jamming. Domt try and do too much maybe half hour a day at first you want to force yourself a bit but not so much you get mad and hate it.

CalvinDooglas
Dec 5, 2002

Watch For Fleeing Immigrants

Chumpy posted:

I just recently decided to try learning guitar again. I'm still in college, so it's going to be pretty much entirely self practice. I've read quite a bit on starter lessons, resources, etc., but I think my main difficulty is going to be motivation and developing good practicing habits.

So, any tips? Basically, what did you guys do to keep on it when you were first starting out? Obviously some willpower is required, but any particular mental/motivation strategies that stand out?

Does your college offer guitar lesson electives? Those are usually fun and easy A's.

A good practice routine is just time management. Find a regular time you can sit down without distractions and work on things that you find difficult. My rule is that after a good practice sessions you should be able to do something that you couldn't when you started. Even if it's something small, the best practice habit is to focus on getting a little bit done each day.

Chumpy
Dec 28, 2008

Nap Ghost

CalvinDooglas posted:

Does your college offer guitar lesson electives? Those are usually fun and easy A's.

A good practice routine is just time management. Find a regular time you can sit down without distractions and work on things that you find difficult. My rule is that after a good practice sessions you should be able to do something that you couldn't when you started. Even if it's something small, the best practice habit is to focus on getting a little bit done each day.

Sadly, no; tiny private Science & Engineering college, so nothing available there. There is a nearby state school with music majors that could probably teach me, but I'm poor. Looking into it.

Sound advice though. I guess avoiding burnout will be my main issue, but I probably just shouldn't think about it too much and simply keep practicing.

Cast_No_Shadow
Jun 8, 2010

The Republic of Luna Equestria is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, cynical population of 714m are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich.

Going to get a bit wordy about practice here.

Remember you get most from practice when you internalise what you do and it becomes a part of the relationship between you and your guitar. I know that sound a bit hippy wishy washy, but playing an instrument is a complicated process involving the physical body, the part of the brain that controls movement, the part that thinks about music, the ears, memory and probably more.

To 'get' something, all of that needs to be sorted. Good news is, most of it happens without you actually realising it, when you're asleep and is really easy because its just how the human brain works. The bad news is you can't rush it and you can gently caress it up easy.

This process is how everyone learns to play an instrument, at least in some form or other. Clearly the biggest stumbling block is your brain, very few things on a guitar are physically difficult, I mean, take the hardest technique possible, anyone, even someone who has not touched a guitar before can do that one thing in isolation at a slow speed, it may not be perfect but they can do it physically. Control, speed and combining it with everything else comes from your brain. (Ok I admit finger strength does come into it, as does flexibility, but these things are quick, very quick to develop, especially compared to putting it all together to perform a song).

The best way to trigger this process is through slow, careful and accurate repetition. If you repeat one small, hard part of the song over and over and over, maybe only 5 seconds in length but a part of the song that gives you trouble, you can do it 20 times in a minute, or 200 times in ten minutes. It really gets stuck into your head. If you do this carefully and accurately then you will put it in your head right, and if you do it slowly then you will be able to do it accurately at full speed (very few people can play something new and difficult accurately at full speed without a lot of practice).

Apparently going slow on your last few runs, slower than you're 'max speed' implants it better into your head.

Basically what my rambling is trying to get across is make sure you break down your practice and understand what you are trying to do and its constituent parts, make sure you get it right at slow speeds, make sure you repeat it if its difficult (Someone who has been playing for a while doesn't need to go over swapping a few chords over and over, just a run through to make sure it sounds right, they might need to go over that mental part of the solo in this fashion however), and make sure you work hardest -> Easiest. Spend the most time on the most difficult part of what you are learning, spend the least amount of time on things you can already do during your practice.

Do a really slow and careful run through what you are trying to learn at the end of your session to help ram it into your brain.

Also learn to love the metronome.

FedEx Mercury
Jan 7, 2004

Me bad posting? That's unpossible!
Lipstick Apathy
I need some help identifying this guitar. I went through Epiphone's website, and it seems pretty close to a LP100, except the headstock is different. Any help would be appreciated.

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Any serial number on it?

http://www.guitardaterproject.org/epiphone.aspx

Bazanga
Oct 10, 2006
chinchilla farmer
What do you dudes think about the Yamaha Pacifica? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/yamaha-pac012dlx-pacifica-series-hss-deluxe-electric-guitar

I've been learning the bass for the past year or so but I'd really like to start learning the guitar and this one looks pretty good for the price. I'm not a fan of the tremolo arm, but that can be removed pretty easily, right?

I have an Ibanez bass and I'm in love with the neck, but I haven't heard much love for Ibanez's sub-$250 guitar selection, so I'm not sure what models I should be looking at. The Agiles also look nice but I want to be able to get my hands on one before purchasing and no one around town has Agiles in-store.

Bazanga fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Dec 30, 2011

Cast_No_Shadow
Jun 8, 2010

The Republic of Luna Equestria is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, cynical population of 714m are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich.

Bazanga posted:

What do you dudes think about the Yamaha Pacifica? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/yamaha-pac012dlx-pacifica-series-hss-deluxe-electric-guitar

I've been learning the bass for the past year or so but I'd really like to start learning the guitar and this one looks pretty good for the price. I'm not a fan of the tremolo arm, but that can be removed pretty easily, right?

I have an Ibanez bass and I'm in love with the neck, but I haven't heard much love for Ibanez's sub-$250 guitar selection, so I'm not sure what models I should be looking at. The Agiles also look nice but I want to be able to get my hands on one before purchasing and no one around town has Agiles in-store.

Pacifica's are generally pretty good all-rounders for the price. I used to have one and had no real complaints with it. It'll suit you for quite a while.

Koth
Jul 1, 2005

Cast_No_Shadow posted:

Going to get a bit wordy about practice here.

Yeah, going slow is one of the things Justin stresses on his website. Go slow enough to play it correctly. Then add speed later, and you will be surprised how well you can actually play it and how well you have it memorized.

If you try to play it at normal speed right from the beginning, you're just going to end up playing it sloppy and frustrated with yourself.

seigfox
Dec 2, 2005

Just an average guy who serves as an average hero.

notZaar posted:

I need some help identifying this guitar. I went through Epiphone's website, and it seems pretty close to a LP100, except the headstock is different. Any help would be appreciated.



I own that guitar. It is indeed a LP100, mine has that same headstock.

Spinal Pap
Jun 24, 2007

uh-

Pretentious Turtle posted:

Spinal Pap posted:

I live in an apartment with VERY thin walls and I want to play my guitar way more than what I currently do. Plugging in my headphones into my Microcube sounds awful as soon as I add a bit of distortion. What would be a good option to get decent distorted/clean sounds going? Looked into a Line6 pod, but I'm still a bit unsure about where to start looking here.
How much are you willing to spend and what are you looking for beyond just distorted and clean sounds?

My budget is around 275-300 american dollars (I live in Sweden). And tbh I'm not sure what I'm looking for, since I don't know much about these things. Tried out a Line 6 POD 2.0 at a store today because it was so cheap, like half of my budget for this. Didn't get much time to fiddle with the settings on it though. First impressions were that it sounded a bit too much like what I already have at home (but this might be able to be fixed by playing around with it for a while).

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muike
Mar 16, 2011

ガチムチ セブン
If that's the case you can't really go wrong with a pod. You can probably get a Pod X3 for that price.

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