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MockingQuantum posted:Just the E minor or variations thereof. It's a problem with my index not being positioned right/not being strong enough, I'm just not sure which. I doubt it's strength - like you said the string falls under one of your knuckles, so there's a natural indent in the flat of your finger. No matter how much force you use, you're still going to have that physical gap the string will nestle into. That video explains it better than I do (and the 'sideways pressure' thing is a good trick!) but if you adjust the roll of your barring finger slightly you'll get a much more consistent, flat edge across all the strings. Barres are hard work anyway, so you want to make sure you're making your life as easy as possible
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Mar 24, 2012 16:21
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Anyone have any tips for working on Holdsworth style legato? I'm working on finger strength and getting each note to sound even, but any advice would be appreciated.
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Mar 24, 2012 18:59
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coolbian57 posted:Anyone have any tips on playing fast solos like the one from Master of Puppets? I can't play the fast alternate picking parts no matter how hard I try. I've had about 6 long sessions with the metronome gradually speeding up, but I'm nowhere near the full tempo. I've been playing for about 5 years, so it's frustrating that I still haven't developed the speed to do this yet. I also have similar trouble with the first guitar solo in La Grande, by ZZ Top. Even if I try to sweep pick and use legato I can't seem to get it (and then I don't get the right tone either). There is no trick, you just have to keep chipping away at the metronome. I have also been playing for 5 years and just recently pushed myself from 16th notes at 120bpm to 16th notes at 170bpm. It took me about 3 months with daily metronome exercises. The best advice I can give after this is that the slower you practice the faster you'll get. Try this: play a major scale using just 1 note per beat at 40bpm. Focus on making the absolute smallest movements possible. Use the smallest amount of force for fretting possible. Get as close to the frets as possible. Check your picking and make sure its the exact right force; not too weak, not too strong. Check your thumb out and make sure you're not pushing on the neck. This exercise will teach you how relaxed you need to feel while playing, and eliminate unnecessary movements that slow you down. Once you get a feel for just how far you can push this exercise start applying it to the licks you're trying to learn. Also, if you don't already, write down your metronome times when you start speeding things up. Seeing the progress is how I stay motivated to listen to my metronome. Salt Fish fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Mar 25, 2012 |
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Mar 25, 2012 03:59
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Salt Fish posted:The best advice I can give after this is that the slower you practice the faster you'll get. This is really the best advice.
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Mar 25, 2012 08:03
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well, you have to hit fast rhythms in practice to play them well, but they should only be part of practice. Do rhythm ladders starting slowly - quarters at 60bpm if you haven't done much picking work before. quarters, 8ths, triplets, 16ths, sextuplets with various scale and arpeggio patterns. Slow down the metronome for 16ths and sextuplets if you need to. Also so half tempo/full speed workouts: play a pattern in 8ths, then 16ths, then 8ths, 16ths, etc; as well as triplets/sextuplets. And accent the downbeats! This may be tough with triplets, since every other downbeat falls on an upstroke.
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Mar 25, 2012 13:59
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Salt Fish posted:There is no trick, you just have to keep chipping away at the metronome. I have also been playing for 5 years and just recently pushed myself from 16th notes at 120bpm to 16th notes at 170bpm. It took me about 3 months with daily metronome exercises. The best advice I can give after this is that the slower you practice the faster you'll get. I will definitely try this, I've tried this in the past and it has worked. I play the 1 2 3 4 warm up this way, slow so it's played perfect and with minimal movement used. I can play right hand sixteenths at around 170, but not combining with the left hand (so I clearly need to do synchronization exercises). That's amazing that you went from 120 to 170 in a 3 months. I too have been writing down the metronome speeds for the past 3-4 months but have only increased from 80BPM Sixteenth notes to 93BPM. One last thing that I have tried (and has helped) has been a speed trainer I found on Google. You can start it off slow and it will automatically gradually increase the speed by an amount of your choosing every minute. It's called bestdrumtrainer. coolbian57 fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Mar 26, 2012 |
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Mar 26, 2012 05:59
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C tuning a semi hollow that has a Bigsby. Not worth the effort?
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Mar 26, 2012 19:02
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don't think the bigsby will make a difference, but I don't know that a hollow body will be too friendly to loose tunings.
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Mar 26, 2012 20:29
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As long as you use proper gauges and bend your ball-ends it'll be fine.
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Mar 26, 2012 20:32
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Quick question Gentlemen~! I have never set the intonation for my lovely rear end guitar I have had since I was like 12, and lately I have noticed that it is garbage. what is the easiest way to set my intonation? I was thinking using a tuner and tuning at the 12th fret (with a capo?) But I wanted to ask here because I have never done it before?
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Mar 27, 2012 04:52
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The best way to do it is (make sure you have an accurate tuner) is compare the 12th fret harmonic with the 12 fret when fretted. If the 12th fret is sharp compared to the 12th fret harmonic, it means your string's length is too short and you must move the saddle back. If the 12th fret is flat compared to the harmonic, move your saddle forward. And keep the guitar in playing position while doing this.
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Mar 27, 2012 04:59
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Pretentious Turtle posted:The best way to do it is (make sure you have an accurate tuner) is compare the 12th fret harmonic with the 12 fret when fretted. yeah I read the OP guide for intonation and it made me a scared little child so thanks for retard-simplifying it for me  I think I will wait until tomorrow to attempt this. I have a decent tuner, but it will have to be good enough because I am not about to get a new one. I also realized that a friend of mines guitar sounds really lovely in his band, and I am pretty sure that its because he redoes his intonation like weekly. Slayer1597 fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Mar 27, 2012 |
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Mar 27, 2012 05:05
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Acoustic recommendations? Probably would buy used just to save a penny, looking to spend about 800 dollars. I think I am leaning towards a Taylor? I've been putting up with a kinda clunky Sigma for a number of years and just want to go the next step up in terms of quality. I played a few new $800-900 range guitars at the store but actually wasn't measurably impressed with their difference in sound or playability compared to my Sigma. Unfortunately 800 dollars is about where I will cap out, I can't spare any more. I have seen a few used Taylor 214CEs on Craigslist in the area, would that be a good avenue to explore? Any other recommendations about other avenues to approach would be appreciated. I play fingerpicking, Fahey/American Primitive/drone kinda stuff. Lots of alternate and open tunings, and I'd love a 'deep' sound.
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Mar 28, 2012 15:59
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global tetrahedron posted:Acoustic recommendations? Probably would buy used just to save a penny, looking to spend about 800 dollars. I think I am leaning towards a Taylor? I've been putting up with a kinda clunky Sigma for a number of years and just want to go the next step up in terms of quality. My advice is to grab an Acoustic-Electric. Even if you don't plan to plug in, the built in tuners on those things make life a million times easier. I would have thrown my 12 string into a river if it wasn't for the built in tuner. Brand-wise, I have a Takamine that I love dearly, but that might be too bright for you. I wouldn't bother looking at guitars that are over your price bracket. I've never really heard much of a difference in guitars over like 600 bucks, though sometimes I could feel a difference in playability.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:17
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I just picked up a Fender Squier. Learned how to tune it and started picking up on the first few chords (G/C/D) and I guess my biggest thing now is getting comfortable switching between chords. Any advice on that?
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Mar 28, 2012 16:24
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Practice everyday! It probably seems impossible now, but you'll be amazed at where you are only one month from now. Also, get a metronome. Always practice with a metronome.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:25
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rt4 posted:Practice everyday! It probably seems impossible now, but you'll be amazed at where you are only one month from now. Also, get a metronome. Always practice with a metronome. Is it okay to use a metronome app or whatever on my ipad?
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Mar 28, 2012 16:32
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LLJKSiLk posted:I just picked up a Fender Squier. Learned how to tune it and started picking up on the first few chords (G/C/D) and I guess my biggest thing now is getting comfortable switching between chords. Any advice on that?
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Mar 28, 2012 16:35
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Epi Lepi posted:I wouldn't bother looking at guitars that are over your price bracket. I've never really heard much of a difference in guitars over like 600 bucks, though sometimes I could feel a difference in playability. So it's all in the 'feel' and playability after a certain point in your mind? And you think the cutoff for sound is around my price point? Do you think the electronics could dampen or affect the sound in any way? I'm not really interested in acoustic/electric necessarily and I am pretty good at tuning by ear and rarely play with others so I dunno.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:11
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Beyond $500 or so it's mostly personal preference. You might find some quality differences, but the difference in quality between a $250 instrument and a $600 one is much greater than the difference between $600 and $1000. What priority is impeccable sound quality? if you plan on playing just in your bedroom without recording, don't bother getting electronics, as they'll just bump up the price. If you intend to play in front of people or recording non-professionally, you'll probably want electric hookups. With a plain acoustic-only you'd have to mic it or use a soundhole pickup for performance, and both sound far worse than a decent internal pickup. Internal electronics in the acoustic/electric shouldn't make much of a difference in the sound, certainly not something you'd notice and say "Sounds like an acoustic electric!". You'd have to be a hardcore classical guitarist to justify that level of physical "integrity" in a guitar.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:39
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global tetrahedron posted:So it's all in the 'feel' and playability after a certain point in your mind? And you think the cutoff for sound is around my price point? Do you think the electronics could dampen or affect the sound in any way? I'm not really interested in acoustic/electric necessarily and I am pretty good at tuning by ear and rarely play with others so I dunno. There are gonna be people who will tell you that they can hear the difference between a 2000 dollar Gibson and a 600 dollar Taylor or whatever. I personally can't, but I will admit, though, that I don't have as discerning an ear as other people. I do believe that there's no need to go up from your price bracket, there are plenty of really really good acoustics in the 500 to 900 range. The electronics of an Electric/acoustic won't affect the natural sound in anyway. I just expected that even if you're good at tuning by ear, since you said you use a lot of alternate tunings that an electric tuner would make your life easier. The best suggestion is to just go to a store and try as many as you can. I'm just advising you that there will almost definitely be a guitar you will fall in love with, just don't discount acoustic/electrics or sub 800 dollar guitars.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:46
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Get a electro acoustic even if you never plan on plugging it in an amp. I can't live without the integrated tuner.
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Mar 28, 2012 18:22
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LLJKSiLk posted:Is it okay to use a metronome app or whatever on my ipad? I use a metronome app on my iPhone and I've always been really happy with it. There are a few different features that different metronomes will offer (time signature, subdivision, etc.) but honestly for practicing scales and whatnot I think the app option is fine. If you can hear it and it has the features you need, it will work.
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Mar 28, 2012 19:56
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Seaniqua posted:I use a metronome app on my iPhone and I've always been really happy with it. There are a few different features that different metronomes will offer (time signature, subdivision, etc.) but honestly for practicing scales and whatnot I think the app option is fine. If you can hear it and it has the features you need, it will work. The only downside of a metronome app is that there tends to be a bit of fluctuation between each beat due to the fact that it's digitally recreated and not physically precise. It's a small downside though, and the fact that it's free is a boon.
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Mar 28, 2012 21:14
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I haven't had any real trouble with iPhone metronomes, but if you're running anything older than the regular iPhone 4 your iOS is probably bogged down as it is. I used to use one called Tempi, but I haven't been able to find it lately. That said, iPhone app metronomes are crap. Not because of the very, very occasional hiccup, but because of the interface. For some reason, they all want to "look like" a real metronome with the slider on the stick. Nifty use of a touchscreen, but every iPhone user knows precision fingerpoking is difficult, and it's frustrating to slide the thing out to 84bpm only to see it jump to 87 when you remove your finger or slide the digital pendulum. If you can spare a few bucks you can get a tuner/metronome that is much easier to use than an app.
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Mar 28, 2012 22:14
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I want the metronome Morgan Freeman had in Seven. 
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Mar 28, 2012 22:34
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Hey guys. I've been thinking of getting an electric guitar now. Been playing acoustically for about 1.5 years. Anyways, what do you guys think about these deals? Anyone from BC feel free to snipe the deals if they want. http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/msg/2905871647.html A Jackson soloist for only 225 bucks? That seems like a great deal. http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/msg/2913995935.html Gibson epiphone les paul for $460 bucks. http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rch/msg/2925879161.html http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/msg/2924478056.html Comes with an amp and case as well. http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/msg/2925970531.html Epiphone SG-400. I love my epiphone dove acoustic guitar (got it for 180$) off craigslist. What do you guys think of these deals?
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Mar 29, 2012 04:33
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Since I've moved I've been without an instructor for a while and i don't really have someone to bounce these ideas off of so I'm going to try here. Hopefully I can make enough sense that yall will be able to help me out. I've been playing a lot more acoustic and cleaner electric, but I can feel myself getting stuck in a pattern here. I've answered a few of my own questions already just by typing them out here and seeing how obvious the solution is, so I'll just ask this: When playing in a certain key, say G major, how should I construct chord progressions and the licks to transition between chords? I've been going about it simply by building chords note by note from the scale as I move down the neck. This leads to some really nice sounding (embellished?)chords that aren't actually in the G major progression. They were also pretty awkward at first, but I'm more used to them now. Even though they blend together really well I can't seem to find a smooth way to transition between them unless I'm just strumming them out which is what is making me feel stuck. Hell I don't even really understand what makes a progression work and I get the feeling that would probably help here... I'm only playing notes in the scale and haven't come across any 'avoid' notes but I also have no idea wth I'm doing so I'm not able to come up with much of anything to play between the chords.
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Mar 29, 2012 14:03
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keyframe posted:Get a electro acoustic even if you never plan on plugging it in an amp. I can't live without the integrated tuner. 
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Mar 30, 2012 10:42
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Xlyfindel posted:Since I've moved I've been without an instructor for a while and i don't really have someone to bounce these ideas off of so I'm going to try here. Hopefully I can make enough sense that yall will be able to help me out. I did pretty much the same thing you're doing when I was starting out, learned a few scales and then stopped going to classes. I learned after that by playing along with songs--if you want to figure out how to smoothly transition between chord inversions (which is essentially what you're talking about) do what you're doing, along with a song that follows a progression you're interested in. Play along until you get a feel for the chord shapes and locations with your fingers. You will become consistently faster and smoother. This is a great way to work out your options while playing in favorite chord progressions, but it's also useful to play along that way with things that make it difficult (i.e. unfamiliar progressions, atonal stuff, or playing harmony chords). Another good trick is to find a song you like to play and are familiar with, and then try to figure it out elsewhere on the neck--for best results, don't even try to figure it out based on the notes, just run your hand up the neck, pick a note, and build your chord and ensuing progression from there, making sure to play only inversions. THEN you can look at what you've done from the viewpoint of theory. The important thing, though, is to get that knowledge in your fingers.
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Mar 30, 2012 10:47
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For anyone who wants to improve their fretting hand technique when it comes to things like scales, I'd recommend Pebber Brown on youtube. He's a bit blunt at times but unlike most people who will just show you where a scale is, Pebber goes further and shows how to really practice them. Plus, he gave a lot of lessons to buckethead!  On scale fretting technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsjPobnXe3s The proper way to play/practice chromatic scales: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUPNR1COlhY After about a year of practicing this stuff my left hand became a lot more fluid in every possible way.
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Mar 30, 2012 16:08
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I took my guitar to a local shop today to see how much it would cost to get set up. His response was "Sell it on Craigslist and buy a better guitar." This poo poo guitar I bought has 4 tuning pegs on the bottom side of the neck, so the whole neck is twisted slightly in the wrong direction because of the tension of the strings. He said changing the action would make it buzz worse on other parts of the neck because of the warped neck. This guy told me to try and sell it on CL for $100, but I'm pretty skeptical about getting that much for it.
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Mar 30, 2012 17:53
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buy a hotdog! posted:For anyone who wants to improve their fretting hand technique when it comes to things like scales, I'd recommend Pebber Brown on youtube. He's a bit blunt at times but unlike most people who will just show you where a scale is, Pebber goes further and shows how to really practice them. Plus, he gave a lot of lessons to buckethead! This guy is awesome. Thank you!
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Mar 30, 2012 18:20
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Wow, yeah he is pretty great. I'll definitely be using his videos. Thanks buy a hotdog!
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Mar 30, 2012 19:01
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Dolphin posted:I can't live with the inferior tone, and you should be tuning with your ear anyway. I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not but I find the tone of a plugged in electric acoustic to be bracing and thin sounding, and not worth doing... also I ended up getting a Taylor 214ce. It's a beaut and just what I wanted.
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Mar 31, 2012 01:07
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Just got myself a new (well, lightly used) Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas  Haven't had a new guitar since I started law school, so I'm really excited, particularly since I really missed the old Wolfgang I sold a few years back and this is basically the same thing sans the Eddie Van Halen worship involved.
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Mar 31, 2012 09:50
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http://www.avianguitars.com/portfolio.htm Anyone ever hear anything about this company? I like the look.
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Mar 31, 2012 16:43
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Anyone here a guru on Fender Stratocasters? I played a few at Guitar Center last night and fell in love with the 2012 American Standard Strat. I have found a nice looking used 1991 American Standard strat on local craigslist. Provided that the used is in great shape, would you buy it over the new? Price difference is $300. Were they just built better "back then"?
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Mar 31, 2012 19:33
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I think you have to go back to the 70s to find the "vintage" Fenders.
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Mar 31, 2012 20:21
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Angry Grimace posted:Just got myself a new (well, lightly used) Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas The new Charvels are such great guitars. I've had mine for a year or so now, and it's all I want to play. The neck is the best I've ever played. I modded mine a bit. Dodgy picture, but you get the idea: Lovechop fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Mar 31, 2012 |
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Mar 31, 2012 20:40
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