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Travic posted:So it's been about a week and half and I'm just not getting it. I don't know how to tell my teacher. Precisely picking and strumming DUDU is just not how my brain works. You're trying to learn a new skill as an adult. It's going to take time. But nobody is "not meant" to play guitar, I promise you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfV4eKTP56U
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Apr 17, 2021 20:46
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mango sentinel posted:I'm also interested in the Solar guitars for a baritone because I think they look cool, but also don't want to pay $300 markup vs a comparable Ibanez just because it's coming from a youtube guy. Yeah, same. Basically if they are comparable to other guitars in that price range, I would really like one just because they look cool, plus that evertune bridge seems neat.
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Apr 17, 2021 20:58
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I had a Solar single cut (from the b-stock side) and I was very happy with it. The belly cut and carved neck heel made it more comfortable than my LP Studio. It was as weighty and as full of sustain as the LP, the “Duncan Designed” pickups were very good, the neck was thinner than the LP but not quite as thin as a Wizard III. Smooth and fast finish, flat as hell fretboard. Frets felt great. I’d prefer it if I could delete the massive fret inlay, but it was $550 or so (shipped iirc) and it seemed well worth it.
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Apr 17, 2021 21:10
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Travic posted:So it's been about a week and half and I'm just not getting it. I don't know how to tell my teacher. Precisely picking and strumming DUDU is just not how my brain works. Buddy, it's been fifteen years and I'm still not "getting it" some days. You're ahead of the curve!
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Apr 17, 2021 21:12
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Travic posted:So it's been about a week and half and I'm just not getting it. I don't know how to tell my teacher. Precisely picking and strumming DUDU is just not how my brain works. It's ok if it takes you a long time to get better -- it really is -- you don't need to feel ashamed or anything. Do your best, then get plenty of sleep, and repeat as needed! There's a reason why so many beginners give up: they get discouraged once they realize just how much music stuff there is to learn. No matter how early you start, no matter how fast you learn, you'll never get all the way through it. But thats a good thing! It's inexhaustible. If it feels like you're struggling to even scratch the surface of what you have to learn... that's normal. Keep scratching! Travic posted:Maybe I'm not meant to play guitar. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" -Radio Head
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Apr 17, 2021 21:13
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i'd like you to internalize this advice from one of my favorite guitar educators, Tomo Fujita:
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Apr 17, 2021 21:15
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Spanish Manlove posted:Past 600 to 800 there's a lot of diminishing returns. At that point you have good pickups and good components (bridge/tuners/etc) so past 600 you're paying for branding or aesthetics. This post is actually insane. There are huge bumps in quality (especially feel, playability, and finish, but also component quality) well above 600 dollars. On nicer guitars, the pickups alone run around 250 a set. Drunk Driver Dad posted:It's gonna be a while, but like the guy last page, I'm already thinking of what my next guitar is going to be. I would like a really nice one, what guitars would you guys say are the best in the 1000-1200 dollar range for metal, if the main thing I'm looking at is just overall quality/playability? Are Solar guitars overpriced for what they are? Because I really like how some of them look. A lot of people like them, but since a popular youtuber owns them there could be a lot of bias there which makes me a bit cautious. I don't want to pay 1200 bucks for a guitar that's more like a 600 dollar one. At the 1k mark for metal, maybe the Ibanez RGD Axions (the RGD61ALA if you're feeling a traditional 6-string, or there's a 7-string multiscale in the same lineup, both with Fishman Fluence moderns, which are extraordinary pickups and cost on their own half of that 600 dollars that the crazy person mentioned), or throw in a bit more money and see if you can get a factory second Strandberg - sometimes the standard models show up on their specials page for around 1300 dollars (here: https://strandbergguitars.com/product-category/specials/). Also take a look at Schecter (my Avenger has one the nicest fast necks I've ever played) and Ormsby, and maybe also Abasi (but expect those to be more like 2k). Also, right at that price point, you might check out Valravn, a new-ish builder out of Ukraine who's getting really good reviews (I haven't seen one in person, of course - I don't think there are more than a handful in the US right now). I've also seen a couple of used Kiesels in that price range pop up on the modernist guitar buy/sell/trade facebook group (which everyone here should join - some wild stuff shows up from time to time). EDIT: Some of the nuttier stuff that's up for sale on that group right now: A Claas:  A Gary Kramer (29 frets on the top two strings!):  A Dahrendorf (notable for it's hilarious custom 666mm scale length): 
a foolish pianist fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 22:06
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Thanks for the words of encouragement.Pondex posted:What's the problem? Too boring or you can't get your hands to cooperate or what? It's a combination of a few things. My hands don't want to do it. My brain doesn't understand it (My hand is moving up so why is this a down pick?). I really don't have the brain power to play and concentrate on ups and downs. And probably most importantly it's just not fun making sure every note is correctly up or down.  It's much easier and more fun when I just let it happen rather than force it.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:32
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Travic posted:My brain doesn't understand it (My hand is moving up so why is this a down pick?).  A downstroke is when your pick moves down, towards the floor, and an upstroke is when your pick moves up, towards the ceiling.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:37
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Travic posted:Thanks for the words of encouragement. Sounds like you got it the wrong way round thb. I've never heard of a down-pick/-stroke where the hand moves up. And vice versa. There's nothing wrong with just doing 4 downstrokes to a bar to begin with.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:40
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A week and a half of practice is the blink of an eye in the music world. Keep hitting it every day, making sure everything is correct at a slow tempo, and the skill will click eventually. There's just no way to rush it or take shortcuts, you've got to give it time. And keep in mind, you'll still sometimes gently caress up basic things when you run into new material, for many months and years, it will just happen less and less often. You just have to keep grinding and it'll work out with practice. Also, your teacher has been there, and will fully expect you to gently caress up, and has heard countless students gently caress up in similar fashion. That's the point of regular lessons. Don't worry about it, just do your best in the time between lessons and let them correct your course at the next one. Another point - don't underestimate the complexity of "basic" stuff like alternate picking, cowboy chords, scales, etc. The concepts are simple but the skill ceiling for each is effectively infinite. Listen at Al di Meola - that guy ONLY uses alternate picking. How the gently caress does he do it? Thousands of hours or repetition and a billion fixed mistakes. beer gas canister fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 22:41
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I couldn’t play poo poo for like the first three months and then one day something just clicked.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:43
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Ok Comboomer posted:I couldn’t play poo poo for like the first three months and then one day something just clicked. It really is like magic sometimes. That feeling is a big part of what makes me go back to my instruments. Sometimes it's like a lightning bolt, like you woke up a new person that day.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:49
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Pondex posted:Sounds like you got it the wrong way round thb. I've never heard of a down-pick/-stroke where the hand moves up. And vice versa. Lester Shy posted:
Say for instance note 1 is on the B string (up pick) and note 2 is on the A string (down pick). My hand has to move up to pick down. And my brain just shorts out.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:53
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beer gas canister posted:It really is like magic sometimes. That feeling is a big part of what makes me go back to my instruments. Sometimes it's like a lightning bolt, like you woke up a new person that day. I couldn’t do barre chords at all for like months and months and they never worked and then one day I did one, and then did it again...and so on.
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Apr 17, 2021 22:54
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Travic posted:Say for instance note 1 is on the B string (up pick) and note 2 is on the A string (down pick). My hand has to move up to pick down. And my brain just shorts out. Are you defining "up" as "away from your body"? You really shouldn't have much movement at all along that axis. 99% of your picking effort should be towards the ceiling or towards the floor. If you want to follow an upstroke on the B string with a downstroke on the high E, immediately start your pick down towards the floor after you strike the first note. Edit: Oh B and A strings. Yeah I guess your pick needs to travel up to hit the next note. Lester Shy fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 22:59
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The skill gap between sloppy beginner and competent enough player feels like a much smaller gap than between literally can't play notes correctly and sloppy beginner, getting that beginning muscle memory built up is hard and feels super awkward but things go a lot smoother afterwards
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Apr 17, 2021 23:00
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your pick should be at a slight angle and move in an oval
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Apr 17, 2021 23:05
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If you pay $250 for a pickup you're getting took.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:06
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:If you pay $250 for a pickup you're getting took. Fishman moderns run that much, and they’re awesome.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:11
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:If you pay $250 for a pickup you're getting took. well you know what Ben Franklin once said: a foolish pianist and their money are easily parted (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist)
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Apr 17, 2021 23:13
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a foolish pianist posted:Fishman moderns run that much, and they’re awesome. Not really! Edit: I'm being a dick for humor but I did not find their sound justified the expense whatsoever.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:14
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darkwasthenight posted:Buddy, it's been fifteen years and I'm still not "getting it" some days. You're ahead of the curve! Same, coming up on 15 here probably pretty soon with some off and on time and there are plenty of days where I feel like my hands are made of very stupid rocks. I started practicing John Hurt style fingerpicking a few months back and even though I would have thought of myself as a decent folk fingerstyle player the little differences took me months and months to actually get my fingers to work on and it's still a struggle. The difference between that and starting out was that I am much more able of letting myself suck poo poo at things nowadays because I know even with experience, not everything is going to click right away. Every new day will bring new successes and new frustrations but as long as you're doing it for yourself you just need to let yourself learn to love the act of progression without the overwhelming self-criticism of imperfection.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:16
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i agree with bhabhi. just can't see spending more than 800 on a guitar, unless it really, seriously turned me on. and i don't think anything has. i don't like babying guitars either, they live outside my cases and i tote them around and stand them up in odd corners
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Apr 17, 2021 23:17
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a foolish pianist posted:Fishman moderns run that much, and they’re awesome. The ultimate pickup, the bare knuckle nailbomb with choice of ceramic or alnico magnet will destroy them inshallah I do actually think the moderns sound great but I think the HF tilt needs to come on a switch by default. I have the moderns in one 7 string and Carpenter signatures in another one and do think they did a really good job voicing different pickups on the platform. I can say I probably wouldn't ever buy fishmans to install on a guitar after market though. Stock is probably the only way I'll touch them for now. just to get my 2c in: I agree with Franco in general, but think if you buy smart you get what you pay for all the way along the price scale, as long as you care about the differences and a lot of people don't, and Solar guitars seem priced well just for the specs, let alone the branding, and I'm pretty sure they're WMI. If they made a bolt on baritone evertune 7 I probably would've bought one by now. muike fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 23:19
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Seymour Duncan sells those Zephyr pickups because, hey, you gonna leave that boomer money on the table? edit: I'm not ruling out that I'm deaf as poo poo and can only hear 2500Hz and below.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:23
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:Seymour Duncan sells those Zephyr pickups because, hey, you gonna leave that boomer money on the table? I remember when those came out and thinking that I needed to remember anyone who posted about buying them so I could remember who to hit in the purge
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Apr 17, 2021 23:26
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Travic posted:Say for instance note 1 is on the B string (up pick) and note 2 is on the A string (down pick). My hand has to move up to pick down. And my brain just shorts out. ok! thats not so bad, why don't you try a different mental cue? you're thinking "add a strum here", but instead maybe try thinking "remove a strum here"! instead of thinking "down down up up down up", try: 1) Keep your strumming hand moving up and down at a constant rhythm! Maybe start out playing every beat. 2) Miss the strings on beats when you're not supposed to play any notes. Just completely whiff it with the pick, but keep the hand moving up and down.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:35
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I don’t want to have to plug my guitar into the wall like a Samsung galaxy to recharge my pickups ever thanks.
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Apr 17, 2021 23:54
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what even is the point of active pickups (when not playing wirelessly or whatever, I mean)? They seem like a solution in search of a problem
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Apr 18, 2021 00:37
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Ok Comboomer posted:what even is the point of active pickups (when not playing wirelessly or whatever, I mean)? They seem like a solution in search of a problem I assume keeping the 9volt battery market in business
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Apr 18, 2021 00:40
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Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I'll try my best. I'm getting the impression that things will proceed: Me: I'm getting better this is great! Teacher: You're getting better. Have a New Thing. Me: Noooo. Not New Thing!
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Apr 18, 2021 00:41
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Travic posted:Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I'll try my best. That's been my experience. And here's a little inspirational clip from David Bowie about remembering that artists should be in it for themselves and that being uncomfortable is part of the creative process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNbnef_eXBM
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Apr 18, 2021 00:47
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Ok Comboomer posted:what even is the point of active pickups (when not playing wirelessly or whatever, I mean)? They seem like a solution in search of a problem Same reason people keep making different amps after the 5150 or the SLO even
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Apr 18, 2021 01:10
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muike posted:Same reason people keep making different amps after the 5150 or the SLO even the Katana is the platonic ideal of amplifiers, what are you talking about (for real tho, give it two more generations and a few more years of the market shifting and tech becoming ubiquitous and you’ll be getting Kemper-level modeling performance out of a $250 amp and old heads will still find ways to shake their heads at it and say it isn’t good enough)
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Apr 18, 2021 01:21
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Oh I agree with that. I think that's your answer about the active pickups too. People wanna make things and make them better. I think for some people, going from simple magnet and wire was going a totally different route.
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Apr 18, 2021 01:27
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Ok Comboomer posted:what even is the point of active pickups (when not playing wirelessly or whatever, I mean)? They seem like a solution in search of a problem Tons more output with less hum, basically. They’re great for metal and other high-gain stuff.
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Apr 18, 2021 01:30
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Passives may not make sense in a modern context, but they absolutely were designed to deal with specific issues from passive pickups - not surprising for design that's been basically unchanged since the 1930s! The biggest one is treble loss as the signal weakens. You can hear it when you turn down with your guitar's volume knob. The same effect happens with longer cable runs. Again, not much of an issue for us playing at home, never very far from the amp or pedals with some sort of preamp. Even playing out, you're not as far from your amp as people were in the 60s and 70s, where stage volume was all the volume. We rarely need anything longer than ten feet worth of cable. But think about Chuck Berry duckwalking across a stage, how many feet of cabling the tiny output from a PAF had to run through. Or Townshend leaping into the air with a wall of Marshalls off in the distance. Passive pickups, like a lot of guitar-related things, started off as custom jobs for specific musicians, not market products. Aside from the distance issue, some players wanted better EQ controls. Or extra hot signal to overdrive an amp. Or filter out certain frequencies. Or... you get the idea. All things we're used to getting through pedals, but before those were widely available, they had to be built into your guitar. Even after external effects became wildly available, actives still offered higher outputs than the few available aftermarket pickups, so they were good for metal (and jazz, interestingly enough) players who wanted to get all the tone from the amp itself. So no, they don't make a lot of sense for modern guitar players, but they're still drat useful on bass, both as EQs and to help give the lower strings a little more oomph - nearly every five-string bass is an active, for example.
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Apr 18, 2021 01:50
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Ok Comboomer posted:what even is the point of active pickups (when not playing wirelessly or whatever, I mean)? They seem like a solution in search of a problem They weren't really designed as high output pickups, just incredibly quiet ones for studio work or big stages with the old shoddy buzz-central lighting rigs. Les Paul was using passive Low Impedance pickups for long cable runs wayyyyy before EMG started too. The benefit with actives was that you could wind them incredibly low output for clarity and then boost them back to a usable level with the preamp so the metal guys picked up on that.
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Apr 18, 2021 01:59
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a foolish pianist posted:This post is actually insane. There are huge bumps in quality (especially feel, playability, and finish, but also component quality) well above 600 dollars. On nicer guitars, the pickups alone run around 250 a set. No. You're wrong and unnecessarily hostile, so I'm gonna call you a big dumb dummy moron idiot. Have you played the new wave of budget guitars? Have you tried the squier contemporary line or the newer generation of inexpensive stuff from LTD, Jackson, Ibanez, Schecter, etc? Well ok that price I listed factors in getting poo poo used, so that's why I appended it to $800 new. However, the things bolded in here can be solved with a proper setup so long as the guitar isn't totally hosed by problems such as lovely frets or warped necks. Anything more than $300 shouldn't have those problems. A lot of the new stuff already has aftermarket stuff like EMGs/SDs and the new active pickups on the squier line punch way above their weight. Seriously, I highly recommend the squier contemporary active line for metal as they're insanely good for the price. I will constantly say "hey this guitar is better than the $800 LTD EC-401 or EC-1000 guitars" about the squier contemporary active jazzmaster. They apparently raised the price on it as it was $400 so maybe people caught word of how cool and good they are. Don't try to fight me on the "you have to spend over X dollars on guitars" thing because everyone knows that's been wrong for like 15 years. Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Apr 18, 2021 |
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Apr 18, 2021 02:34
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