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Zo posted:I'm using the best part to barre, the bit right under your finger pad that's all boney. I'm well away it's possible to avoid injury but "press lighter" doesn't help me at all since I'm not pressing hard at all. I suppose this is a question for the next time I take a few lessons since the internet has no answers. You'd be surprised how lightly you can touch and still apply a great a amount of force. Unless your arm feels fatigued very quickly, you can only diagnose tension by other symptoms, such as finger injury and the feeling of physical limitation. The best place to barre isn't the underside of your knuckle, and it's probably the worst place for sliding. Roll your index finger slightly to the outside so the strings have some flesh to dig into. You may have to adjust how far much finger extends beyond the fretboard. Fretting on the bony parts of your hand is not only painful, it's inconsistent because the point of contact is smaller. With the fleshy parts, the contact point is larger so it's easier to keep consistent fretting even as the fingers move about. Sliding should be done with the fingertips, where there is lots of padding, but a bone close enough to keep consistent pressure.
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Oct 19, 2010 02:19
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Naw, it's none of that. I barre extremely consistently, and I'm not using the knuckle, but rather the part above it. And of course I fret individual notes with my fingerpad. After some more experiments I think I've nailed it down to my tendency to slide while holding a barre. This is when I'm not even applying any pressure - I'm just moving my finger from one fret to another, and it's a ropeburn-like effect that just digs away at that one spot of my finger while it glides quickly on top of the string. Kind of a dumb reason but there you go. It's just this new song that's doing it to me, which explains why I'd been playing for a year since the last time I got a finger injury (which was due to poor technique).
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Oct 19, 2010 02:32
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seigfox posted:Help! I feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions. Honestly I think you ideally want to play things that sound enjoyable to you, or anything that sounds like it'd help you express yourself musically, so don't worry too much about different styles - go for what you like and as you improve you'll naturally start to branch out. Most people are probably going to recommend finding a good teacher to give you a structured learning experience - there are probably some books in the OP too, I forget. Really music's made up of all the things you mentioned, and being able to approach it from different directions will help you understand the big picture more - like how chords relate to scales and so on. Sites like https://www.musictheory.net and https://www.teoria.com are good places to learn about the theory. Here's some important stuff anyway:
That looks like a lot of posting, and close to the overwhelming amount of stuff you're already doing - I guess the answer is you ideally learn theory, technique and basic knowledge (chords, scale patterns) at the same time, but building each of them up and gradually putting them all together. It's not meandering so much as doing a bunch of stuff instead of one thing in isolation. I think if you learn basic theory and build on that, and have a particular direction you want to go, you'll start to improve a lot more - especially if you create a study plan, keep a record of exercises so on to see how you're progressing. What do you actually want to get out of guitar? Anything in particular you'd like to be able to play or do? Also I have a question (bolding this because people are going to skip all that) - https://www.studybass.com rules hard, it's a great beginner's resource and I think it would help guitarists too, but is there anything similar dedicated to guitar? Very structured with exercises (and MIDI playalongs). baka kaba fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Oct 19, 2010 |
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Oct 19, 2010 02:40
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Zo posted:Naw, it's none of that. I barre extremely consistently, and I'm not using the knuckle, but rather the part above it. And of course I fret individual notes with my fingerpad. it takes considerable pressure to get "burn" from a guitar string, especially if it's not a wound one. It's also got as much to do with your finger running over the frets. I'm trying to emulate the technique you describe it's definitely suboptimal, and borders on painful even for me. Choke down a little and use the fleshy part of your finger, and have a defined "leading edge" slightly to the inside or outside. It is tempting to use the "hard" parts to apply pressure, but the knuckles are not as controllable and don't stand up to the punishment. Barring for a slide is also only appropriate if you're sliding more than one string. If you're sliding up just one string, save yourself the pain and work out the motion with the finger tip. If you play enough to break the skin you won't need more than a couple practice sessions to get it right. Keeping fingers "locked" when they aren't in use is a hallmark symptom of tension. I suggest some finger isolation exercises that force relaxation and independent control. To reiterate, proper technique will not cause injury, so if you've hurt yourself, you're doing something wrong. Slow down, take the time to work out technique that is comfortable. Spend some of that playing time on real practice so the playing has less impact. CalvinDooglas fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Oct 19, 2010 |
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Oct 19, 2010 03:06
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CalvinDooglas posted:it takes considerable pressure to get "burn" from a guitar string, especially if it's not a wound one. It's also got as much to do with your finger running over the frets. quote:I'm trying to emulate the technique you describe it's definitely suboptimal, and borders on painful even for me. Choke down a little and use the fleshy part of your finger, and have a defined "leading edge" slightly to the inside or outside. It is tempting to use the "hard" parts to apply pressure, but the knuckles are not as controllable and don't stand up to the punishment. I'm not getting injured or pain from the actual playing so none of this applies really. edit: sorry if this came off like I'm annoying. I'm really not. You offer good, well intentioned advice but it really doesn't apply for me. For instance I already do use the side of my finger to barre, and have been since I started guitar, since it's a common piece of advice found on the internet. I have no problem barring and try to work barres as much as I can into a new song I learn because it's so easy for me, which is cause of this injury - ropeburn on a wound string when I switch positions really fast. I also take technique criticism seriously; my last instructor explain what was wrong with my picking hand and I spent the next 3 months completely relearning how to fingerpick. It's just that over the internet you don't know my situation and thus can't offer the targeted advice instructors can. Zo fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Oct 19, 2010 |
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Oct 19, 2010 03:11
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seigfox posted:Help! I feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions. I started with simple songs and chords and worked my way up from there. How good are you anyways? I could recommend you a free really really basic beginners book but I don't want to insult you.
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Oct 19, 2010 04:37
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quote:ropeburn on a wound string when I switch positions really fast. CalvinDooglas fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Oct 19, 2010 |
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Oct 19, 2010 05:29
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CalvinDooglas posted:again, this means you're pressing too hard. A minor adjustment would obviate the problem entirely by taking pressure off of the sore spot. This is a matter of good vs bad technique, not simply getting over a hump like sore fingertips or barre fatigue. Just move your finger down a little bit so the barre is covered by the finger pad and not the knuckle. There is no reason to play on your knuckles if you don't have to. Again, this is when I'm not pressing down at all, so you're wrong
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Oct 19, 2010 11:59
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I can practice all day and then play three 45 minute sets at night with pretty much nothing but barre chords sliding about all over the shop and my fingers are perfectly fine. You're doing something wrong, at least. The only way I could imagine something like that happening is if you like, strung your guitar with bass strings, tuned every string to an E and then played Misirlou or something sliding about with one fat barred finger for hours. Or literally played with rope. e: didn't mean to sound like too much of a dick, sorry I: Lovechop fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Oct 19, 2010 |
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Oct 19, 2010 12:42
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Lovechop posted:I can practice all day and then play three 45 minute sets at night with pretty much nothing but barre chords sliding about all over the shop and my fingers are perfectly fine. 
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Oct 19, 2010 12:54
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If anyone was curious about my progress so far, the lessons are really helping a lot. Using the scale exercises my instructor gave me, I've pretty much memorized seven different forms that give me all of the natural notes from the first fret to the fifteenth. Memorizing the actual NOTES I'm playing isn't coming along quite as quickly, but it's coming. Either way I'm already finding it easier to improvise. Now we've started working on basic chord progressions, tonic, sub-dominant and dominant chords, and a few standards to work on while I get used to the shapes of these jazz chords. They're weird and hard, but I'm getting already getting used to the shapes, and they sound great together. It's been a while since I felt that stiff my-fingers-don't-bend-that-way contortion of unfamiliar chord shapes, but I know from experience it goes away, so I'm not getting discouraged. Now I know why everyone I know took jazz throughout high school. It's fun useful and it saved them from spending thousands of dollars on this poo poo 10 years later. 
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Oct 19, 2010 14:37
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Thoren posted:I started with simple songs and chords and worked my way up from there. How good are you anyways? I could recommend you a free really really basic beginners book but I don't want to insult you. I'm not sure how basic you're talking, but I certainly wouldn't be insulted by suggestions. If nothing else I'll get a refresher on stuff I probably didn't learn too well the first time around. For the record I can do basic chords and scales (major, minor, pentatonic) and I know a bit of the theory behind them. I can get through simple songs without loving anything up too badly. I'm horrible at reading music on the fly but I know enough to decipher it slowly. I'm not sure where on the scale of guitar mastery that falls, but it seems pretty beginner-ish.
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Oct 19, 2010 16:27
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After going from D'Addario to Slinky strings on my Ibanez, my Floyd was no longer level. I had to take out a spring - it was still not level. So what I did was the following: I gave the screws that connect the whole spring system to the body a few turns outward, so that the tension on the springs would be lessened from one side. Then I tuned my guitar. My bridge is now perfectly level. Is that the right way to do it? Am I supposed to touch those screws? How far outward do they go?
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Oct 19, 2010 16:35
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Zo posted:Got my index finger split open again via barres. Hurts like a giant papercut, ground away over a period of days. Last time this happened it took like 2 weeks for it to close back up Squier strats are the greatest thing ever invented I'm having a ton of trouble playing an F chord, because for whatever reason I just can't loving barre on the first fret. I can hit every string except the B, and if I managed to hit the B, it means I'm not pushing down on the low E enough. Any tips? I can play five or six "beginner' chords, but that one is just beyond me, despite being able to do it even one fret down.
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Oct 19, 2010 17:11
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baka kaba posted:Also I have a question (bolding this because people are going to skip all that) - https://www.studybass.com rules hard, it's a great beginner's resource and I think it would help guitarists too, but is there anything similar dedicated to guitar? Very structured with exercises (and MIDI playalongs). Someone posted justinguitar.com a couple pages back. It's kinda cool.
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Oct 19, 2010 17:13
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Dickeye posted:I'm having a ton of trouble playing an F chord... I had this same problem. I think its just a matter of finger strength, when I started practicing barres all of them sucked, I was lucky to get 4 strings to ring in any one chord. I don't think there's any particular trick to it. I'm never satisfied with the "just play/practice more" answer but it seems to hold true in most cases.
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Oct 19, 2010 17:19
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seigfox posted:I had this same problem. I think its just a matter of finger strength, when I started practicing barres all of them sucked, I was lucky to get 4 strings to ring in any one chord. I don't think there's any particular trick to it. I'm satisfied with it, I was just hoping maybe there was some trick i was missing. Like I said, I can play an F#, but moving up one fret just fucks me up bad. And this is after getting my neck straightened and my bridge fixed, so the tension on the first fret isn't retarded anymore.
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Oct 19, 2010 17:23
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SSJ2 Goku Wilders posted:After going from D'Addario to Slinky strings on my Ibanez, my Floyd was no longer level. I had to take out a spring - it was still not level. So what I did was the following: I gave the screws that connect the whole spring system to the body a few turns outward, so that the tension on the springs would be lessened from one side. Then I tuned my guitar. My bridge is now perfectly level. Is that the right way to do it? Am I supposed to touch those screws? How far outward do they go? It's totally fine. A lot of pro-guitar players leave the back cover off of the guitar for quick access to the springs and claw screws if they need it. I don't remember how long the screws are, but they are made fairly long to suit nearly any adjustment.
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Oct 19, 2010 21:19
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Dickeye posted:I'm satisfied with it, I was just hoping maybe there was some trick i was missing. Like I said, I can play an F#, but moving up one fret just fucks me up bad. And this is after getting my neck straightened and my bridge fixed, so the tension on the first fret isn't retarded anymore. It's 'down' if you're going from F# to F  lower in pitch and all that.There's still more tension at the first fret just because you're so close to the nut - try fretting as close to it as you can and you'll see what I mean. To make things easier make sure you're barring as close to the fret as you can, and try rolling your barring finger to the side slightly, so you're barring with the edge of your finger and not the bottom (where all the gaps and creases are). You could try pulling back with your arm to add pressure too, like pulling back on the string of a bow
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Oct 19, 2010 22:44
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Side Effects posted:It's totally fine. A lot of pro-guitar players leave the back cover off of the guitar for quick access to the springs and claw screws if they need it. I don't remember how long the screws are, but they are made fairly long to suit nearly any adjustment. Thanks. It withstood the test of time too, so I'm thinking it's fine
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Oct 19, 2010 23:02
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Is it wrong that the only way I can comfortably play an F chord is by sliding my thumb around (so rather than have it resting against the neck, I'm holding it baseball style or whatever it's called)? I get the feeling I shouldn't be doing it. Also, I could really use some help here. I honestly have no idea why, but my up strumming absolutely sucks. I don't know if I am holding the pick wrong or perhaps my body position isn't right but my strumming is total garbage. I've been practising loads but I just don't seem to see any improvement and I'm starting to think I am literally just doing it wrong. If anyone has any guides/videos to basic up strumming / guitar playing posture that would be really appreciated.
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Oct 19, 2010 23:12
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man thats gross posted:If anyone was curious about my progress so far, the lessons are really helping a lot. Using the scale exercises my instructor gave me, I've pretty much memorized seven different forms that give me all of the natural notes from the first fret to the fifteenth. Memorizing the actual NOTES I'm playing isn't coming along quite as quickly, but it's coming. Either way I'm already finding it easier to improvise. In general do not spend too much time thinking about chord and scale shapes, but do make sure you know which note is which in and their relationships to each other. Shapes are helpful for basic memorization, but further down the road you will have to use other information to determine your chord choices (which note is on top/bottom, altered chord tones, etc). A big hurdle for many players, even good ones, is getting outside of the shapes they learned early on. quote:Is it wrong that the only way I can comfortably play an F chord is by sliding my thumb around (so rather than have it resting against the neck, I'm holding it baseball style or whatever it's called)? I get the feeling I shouldn't be doing it.
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Oct 19, 2010 23:44
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Hanpan posted:Is it wrong that the only way I can comfortably play an F chord is by sliding my thumb around (so rather than have it resting against the neck, I'm holding it baseball style or whatever it's called)? I get the feeling I shouldn't be doing it. What the hell, I posted a reply but it didn't show up. Anyways, for the strumming, how are you holding the pick? It should be diagonal to the guitar, pointing towards you, then strumming away from you. Reverse it for strumming upwards. I have no clue how you could hold a guitar like a baseball bat, but you do want to squeeze the neck between your thumb and index finger for a barre. This is how I do it at least.. 
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Oct 20, 2010 05:54
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I am currently shopping around for an electric and I have come across the following two items at guitar center: Fender 72 Telecaster Thinline Electric Guitar - $800 Fender Super Champ XD Guitar Combo Amp - $300 From what I've played in my price range (pretty much $1,100) so far, I like the combo. Apparently the Tele parts are made in the US but assembled in Mexico. Can anyone (without being a dick) recommend anything else I may want to look at in the same price range for either a guitar or amp? If you had to ask what I was looking to eventually play, I'd probably say chicago style 50's blues but I guess you never know. I heard one of the employees complaining about Domino's and I figured I found someone who might help me get a better price. He told me basically that I could use a 10% off coupon with one of the items, but if I purchased both in two weeks at full retail and then came in with them on Black Friday I'd be looking at 20% off on it all in the long run from the 30 day price guarantee. Anyone know if this sounds legit?
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Oct 20, 2010 06:36
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Incredulous Dylan posted:I am currently shopping around for an electric and I have come across the following two items at guitar center: I have no idea about that coupon business, but I really like the 72 Thinlines. I gave serious thought to buying one at one time. It was a tossup for me between that, a Cort M800 (a hollowbody shaped kinda like a PRS), and an Ibanez SZ320. The Ibanez was cheaper and had a more conventional, solidbody tone that I thought would work in a few more situations, although honestly any of them would be fine for what I end up doing. Still, from what I remember the 72 had a really nice bit of hollow body component to its sound, and the pickups are definitely distinct from PAF-alikes in a way I liked. They also look cool as hell. It would probably make a great blues guitar for you. I figure it'll work great if that's what you want, although for $800 there's tons of great guitars, especially if you scour the used market. I have never played through one of those amps. If you think it's great then more power to you. Otherwise, you could afford a more expensive amp if you purchased a used or cheaper guitar. For $200 less you could get an G&L Legacy Asat Special Semi Hollow, which is similar in that it's a semi-hollow Tele, but has wide single coils instead of humbuckers. The pickups probably sound lots different, but maybe you'd like it?
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Oct 20, 2010 08:31
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Thanks for the good advice there. My only hang up with the used market (besides the usuals) is the whole deal with the coupon, as it may allow me to buy a new guitar for what a used might run, so hopefully someone here may know something about it. I am definitely looking for more suggestions, and will be scouring my local Best Buy music store for other used guitars in the interim. Edit: Well, that sealed the deal! I went into Best Buy during lunch just to fool around while I waited and I saw the exact same guitar, on clearance for $650, and had them take an additional 10% off since I was buying an amp. Which amp? http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-Hot-Rod-Series-Blues-Junior-III-15W-1x12-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp-H12886-i1552007.gc That is about as good as an amp I can afford is going to get, I figured. I really loved the tones. Incredulous Dylan fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Oct 20, 2010 |
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Oct 20, 2010 15:52
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You made an excellent choice on both amp and guitar in my opinion. I love my Blues Jr more than almost anything else I own(AVRI Jazzmaster being the only thing that beats it).
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Oct 20, 2010 19:10
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Incredulous Dylan posted:Thanks for the good advice there. My only hang up with the used market (besides the usuals) is the whole deal with the coupon, as it may allow me to buy a new guitar for what a used might run, so hopefully someone here may know something about it. I am definitely looking for more suggestions, and will be scouring my local Best Buy music store for other used guitars in the interim. Sounds awesome. Glad you got stuff you really like. I like both that amp and guitar a lot -- it's a good, practical, reasonably versatile setup.
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Oct 20, 2010 21:06
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Thoren posted:I have no clue how you could hold a guitar like a baseball bat Here is an example of baseball style. I'm playing a C and the neck is resting in my palm so I can wrap my thumb around to mute the low E.
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Oct 20, 2010 21:47
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Can I plug an electric guitar into a DJ mixer (using a 1/4" to RCA adapter orsomething)? Will it sound like complete poo poo? My idea is I want to buy a guitar, run it through a DJ mixer and then use a DJ effects unit to throw delay on the guitar etc. Going to buy a guitar on Friday.
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Oct 21, 2010 04:04
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Nevergirls posted:Can I plug an electric guitar into a DJ mixer (using a 1/4" to RCA adapter orsomething)? Will it sound like complete poo poo? My idea is I want to buy a guitar, run it through a DJ mixer and then use a DJ effects unit to throw delay on the guitar etc. will sound like poo poo
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Oct 21, 2010 04:06
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Thoren posted:If you play like that, you'll find that muscle between your index and thumb gets really strained and while you may be able to sound all the strings you will fatigue very quickly and not be able to play for long. A better way is just to use your forearm strength and the whole weight of your arm which takes very little force to press down hard enough to have the strings ring out, you don't need any pressure from your thumb at all. One more tip is you can 'roll' the pressure in your index or whatever barring finger to the top or bottom strings depending on what needs barring and what the other 3 fingers are taking care of. The E shaped barre chord for example you only need to worry about having you index pressure on the bottom E string and the top two B and E strings. Sometimes you don't even want all of them to ring out so you'll roll your finger off the top two and only let the bottom four ring out. If that makes any sense.
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Oct 21, 2010 05:00
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Nevergirls posted:Can I plug an electric guitar into a DJ mixer (using a 1/4" to RCA adapter orsomething)? Will it sound like complete poo poo? My idea is I want to buy a guitar, run it through a DJ mixer and then use a DJ effects unit to throw delay on the guitar etc. no don't
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Oct 21, 2010 15:14
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CalvinDooglas posted:Sing the note names (on pitch if you can) while you play them. Use a very low tempo so you can get them all right. I think my instructor kind of anticipated what you mention in the latter paragraph though, as he gave me several different shapes for each of the chord types he wanted me to learn. The only thing he didn't write down was what interval in the chord each note is, but I could easily re-write the shapes he gave me with the interval numbers included. I'll keep in mind not to focus too much on the chord shapes, but I honestly am having a bit of a hard time consistently playing some of these chords cleanly, so it is something I have to work on. But I'll make sure to maintain focus on the notes I'm playing and where they fit into the theory. This is really helpful, thanks.
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Oct 21, 2010 16:33
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This is a dumb question, but I've gotten two different answers so what the hell I'll ask When you play a power chord, do you only play those three strings, or do you play all six?
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Oct 21, 2010 16:48
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Kaboobi posted:no don't will it ruin the mixer or just sound bad
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Oct 21, 2010 16:52
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Dickeye posted:This is a dumb question, but I've gotten two different answers so what the hell I'll ask Just the two or three strings that are fretted. All a power chord is is a portion of a barre chord that's comprised of the root note and its fifth.
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Oct 21, 2010 17:57
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I have a Paul Reed Smith guitar and I want to set the intonation properly...chords sound ok near the nut, but start going out of tune further up the neck. With my basses, I just usually adjust the bridge saddles until a fretted note at the 12th fret is the same frequency as a harmonic at the 12th fret. However, this thing doesn't seem to have adjustable bridge saddles...I only seem to be able to move the (entire) bridge higher or lower. Here's some pics, unfortunately they're kind of blurry, but you can also see it at musician's friend:  Any ideas?
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Oct 23, 2010 02:19
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In relation to the post above: is it mandatory to 'unfloat' the bridge on a floyd rose system before I adjust the intonation on it?
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Oct 23, 2010 02:41
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Am I retarded, or is there no way of deleting empty bars in Guitar Pro other than cutting and then not pasting?
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Oct 24, 2010 06:14
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