Guitar Thread - Page 40

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Ursad0n

United States523 Posts

January 10 2014 21:42 GMT

#781

Why is the poll on the OP missing so many of the really solid companies?

Gingerninja

United Kingdom1339 Posts

January 10 2014 23:50 GMT

#782

I just got a PRS SE for Christmas. One of the older model ones though, only 22 frets and doesn't have the patterned inlays. Still, I love playing it. I figure I'll never really have the spare change lying around to pick up a proper PRS Studio Custom that I want, so this isn't a bad sub. I don't have anywhere to store it though really, I now have 3 guitars in my living room lol.

Jockmcplop

United Kingdom9793 Posts

January 12 2014 14:19 GMT

#783

My Dad just bought me a Trace Elliot commando 15 150w bass combo for my birthday and holy crap this thing is awesome. Just about loud enough for a gig, but small enough to be a practice amp too.
Thanks dad

Ben...

Canada3485 Posts

January 13 2014 04:43 GMT

#784

On January 12 2014 23:19 Jockmcplop wrote:
My Dad just bought me a Trace Elliot commando 15 150w bass combo for my birthday and holy crap this thing is awesome. Just about loud enough for a gig, but small enough to be a practice amp too.
Thanks dad

150W really does seem to be the sweet spot for bass amps. My ol' Peavey head is 150W too and it can both rattle the windows and be quiet enough that people upstairs can't hear it.

Also, grounding issue should be fixed on said Peavey amp head. Now I just need to find a cabinet to to test it with. If the head is still broken I'll just buy a new head and use that with the cabinet I buy. I really do hope the Peavey head is fixed though. It is quite a flexible piece of equipment sound-wise. No gimmicky crap like lots of new amps have, just a proper gain setup and a full EQ. I could get a huge range of sounds out of it. Well, I could when it wasn't shocking me. It will now properly ground to the outlet it is plugged into so I should be good to go.

I'm just going to go with a 1x15, 1x12 or 2x10 cabinet. No 4x10 nonsense like I used to have. I don't have space for that.

ohsea.toc

Australia344 Posts

January 13 2014 14:09 GMT

#785

Does anyone own an LSL or TMG brand guitar? Both are smallish Californian custom shops. I'm in the market for a tele, trying to gather some intel....

pebble444

Italy2503 Posts

January 13 2014 21:59 GMT

#786

Been playing for a year and a half now on my my Ibanez performance. acoustic

Man i' d love to be able to afford a nice good classical guitar. I love to arp. I' m laying off of buying a cheapo one cause i tried a good one once and it just sounds so more nice
Edit
Here are pictures of my other instruments i own

+ Show Spoiler +

Shaker comes from Germany the Harmonica i bought here

Trumpet needs fixup its a old from 1970s or something like that,

The melodica is of a friend, he never picked it up yet

Drum is chestnut got it in new york

Tactical

United States77 Posts

January 14 2014 03:32 GMT

#787

Posted last month about picking up a Taylor 110, figured I'd add a picture.

And, I was in guitar center the other day picking up some strings, and found this Ibanez Artcore AF85 hollowbody. I impulse bought it because it was so gorgeous, with the alebony frets, and the color, I hadn't seen anything like it and for only $299 thought it was too good to pass up.

Taylor 110
[image loading]

Ibanez AF85
[image loading]

And here's two video clips of me playing around on the taylor, I don't know the full songs yet, and they're not perfect, but I'm getting better.

Andy Mckee's "Drifting"

Andy Mckee's "For my Father"

SixStrings

Germany2046 Posts

January 16 2014 12:02 GMT

#788

I'm looking to pick up a cheap bass and amp as a third instrument after guitar and piano.

What do you guys think about this:
http://www.thomann.de/de/harley_benton_hbz2004.htm
http://www.thomann.de/de/orange_crush_pix_25bx.htm

The amp should be able to sound great in small wattages, because I have to be able to practice without annoying my roommates too much.

Also looking to get a second electric guitar to play harder stuff with, while not breaking the bank.
Which of these would you prefer?

http://www.thomann.de/de/espltd_f50bk.htm
http://www.thomann.de/de/epiphone_gothic_lespaul_studio.htm

Mikau

Netherlands1446 Posts

January 16 2014 12:35 GMT

#789

Just started playing (had my first lesson 2 days ago). Homework is playing the intro to Smoke on the Water on 1 string (at first, once I get that down I'm supposed to play it on D and G). Getting the hang of it if I only use my index or middle finger, but when I try to use different fingers for different frets my fingers seem to be unable to get that far apart. I'm assuming finger dexterity and flexibility will get better with practice and there's no such thing as 'unable to reach fret 6 with your pinky when index finger is on 3'? Are there any specific finger exercises I can do or do I just sort of practice through it?

My fingers aren't liking their new job very much and I have a habit of getting wrong/mute notes when I don't press down on the string correctly but overall I'm really liking practicing so far. I have to make sure I don't get too far ahead of myself though and stay with what's good to learn now rather than looking up videos for songs I ideally want to play but are far too hard right now.

Ben...

Canada3485 Posts

January 17 2014 06:25 GMT

#790

On January 16 2014 21:35 Mikau wrote:
Just started playing (had my first lesson 2 days ago). Homework is playing the intro to Smoke on the Water on 1 string (at first, once I get that down I'm supposed to play it on D and G). Getting the hang of it if I only use my index or middle finger, but when I try to use different fingers for different frets my fingers seem to be unable to get that far apart. I'm assuming finger dexterity and flexibility will get better with practice and there's no such thing as 'unable to reach fret 6 with your pinky when index finger is on 3'? Are there any specific finger exercises I can do or do I just sort of practice through it?

My fingers aren't liking their new job very much and I have a habit of getting wrong/mute notes when I don't press down on the string correctly but overall I'm really liking practicing so far. I have to make sure I don't get too far ahead of myself though and stay with what's good to learn now rather than looking up videos for songs I ideally want to play but are far too hard right now.

Scales. Tons of scales. A major scale pattern like the following will help stretch your hand out. It's just a simple one octave C scale with each note being of equal length (IE all quarter notes). You can move the pattern around anywhere on the E or A string and it will work. For the D string or higher some modification is needed since the B is only a 4th apart from the D, which messes the pattern up a bit. Most people will give you a different pattern for major scales but I have always preferred this one because it is more logical and symmetric.

Use your index finger for each "8" (the C and the F) and the "9" (The B notes), your middle finger for each "10" (D, G, and the 8th or octave C), and your pinky (not your ring finger!) for the "12" (E and A). It will be a bit of a stretch at first so don't overdo it.:


E|--------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------------------|
D|------------------------9--10--9------------------------------|
A|-------------8--10--12------------12--10--8-------------------|
E|--8--10--12----------------------------------12--10--8--------|

And yes, you will gain flexibility with your hands in time. I chose a C scale (or starting on the 8th fret) because it isn't too much of a stretch compared to starting on the lower fret. The goal of having it on a closer together set of frets is so that you can simply get used to using your pinky.

And no, don't try and push yourself too far or you will actually slow your development or you will hurt your hands.

rezoacken

Canada2719 Posts

January 17 2014 07:14 GMT

#791

Hello I've also begun practicing guitar lately (3months ago) and don't worry things will slowly get there as you keep trying. Do a minimum of work every day or every other day and even if you fail horribly the whole session don't worry.
Don't try to go too fast, practice accuracy before speed, once you can do a riff or a scale perfectly at low speed just go a little faster.

As someone mentioned, do scales a lot. In one order, in reverse, improvising, etc.
Time will improve a lot of the rest: finger pain (make sure your hands, back and arms are correctly positioned though), being able to use the pinky etc.

I'm also quite fond of my purchase of Rocksmith to practice here and there. You can do brute practice with small arcade games on it to help you learn strings skipping and fret placement as well as playing scales (there are other games for chords, bending, tremolo picking and harmonics). You can also pick one or two easy to learn song like Next Girl or Blitzkrieg Bop and try to slowly raise your score. Like I said earlier in that thread, the game isn't enough by itself though, it's just a fun way to practice in between. It isn't a necessity obviously and if cash is an issue (since you need to buy both the game and the cable) you'd have to think twice about it.

Mikau

Netherlands1446 Posts

January 17 2014 12:37 GMT

#792

Thanks for the responses. Seeing as the concept of scales is new to me (I pretty much don't know any musical theory apart from a bit of pure physics) I'll just play the one you linked and look up some more online.

As I understand it Rocksmith is basically Guitar Hero with a real guitar? It seems fun, but I'm kinda scared of using it only to pick up wrong habits. It does seem like a good and fun way to break up any potential repetitiveness in practice, and keep me motivated to practice more and/or longer. Practicing every day doesn't seem like much of a problem, but I'm getting bored of playing 0 3 5| 0 3 65| 0 3 5| 3 0 over and over and over again

rezoacken

Canada2719 Posts

January 17 2014 21:09 GMT

#793

If you have good habits by yourself and a teacher to correct some of your mistakes there is no reason to think the game would create wrong habits. I can see how it's a concern for someone completely relying on the game but like I said it would be a mistake to begin with.
The problem with the game is that it cannot teach you to correct your posture, hand technique etc. And it's also quiet lenient when it comes to notes and especially chords. For example the game doesn't really make a difference between a botched note that sounds terrible and a well played note. Well, you will hear the difference (since you hear your own play on top of the music) but the game will give you the points. So it relies on you to then make the necessary hours of practice to make your accuracy better. Chords are the same.
But on the other hands, there is a lot of songs for which you can practice at the speed you want the section you want (RS2014), good arcade games to teach your left hand to switch between frets or to switch between chords. At this stage I would never regret the purchase but like I said, self practicing is still mandatory.

For scales, a beginner imo can also try the scale A pentatonic minor (fret 5) which is what I started with and still practice (among others):
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php?qqq=5&scch=A&scchnam=Pentatonic Minor&get2=Get&t=0&choice=1

It forces you to use your pinky and ring finger. No need to really know what a scale is, just remember where are those 12 notes and go from the lowest to the highest and then highest to lowest. So start on the low E string (the fat one) fret 5, then fret 8 with your pinky. Then go to to the A string (second fat one) fret 5 and then 7 with your ring finger, etc according to the link I gave you. Remember, accuracy before speed.
Then just improvise using these notes.

Also, for easy songs, after the riff of Smoke on the Water you can try also Seven nation army. A string 7 7 10 7 5 3 2. The chorus is also a good introduction to power chords for later.

renoB

United States170 Posts

January 17 2014 23:56 GMT

#794

How does playing a song on rocksmith work? Are you supposed to learn it on your own first, or does it have a way to slow down a specific part to learn? I like the idea of having games to learn scales, though. So I think I may pick it up just to spice up memorizing scales.

rezoacken

Canada2719 Posts

January 18 2014 01:51 GMT

#795

Each song is divided by the game into segments (chorus, intro, solo etc...). And each segment is independently divided into different difficulty level.
When you begin a song it starts on easy just asking you to pick like 20% of the notes and you have single notes instead of chords. If you pass a segment near perfeclty its difficulty automatically increases. So you'll have more notes when that segment come again in the song (chorus for example) or when you replay the song. The game will put more notes, give you chords instead of notes, add bends etc. However, that automatic difficulty adjustment is sometimes destabilizing so I spend most of time in the riff repeater instead.

Then there is the riff repeater which is imo the most important part for multiple reasons:
-Once you're in a song you can go to the riff repeater and manually select which part of the song you want to practice.
-You can set the speed and difficulty of the part to your will. Then there are options to make it go faster each time you do it perfectly or to level up each time you do it perfectly at full speed.
-As the name suggests, the repeater will just loop that same part over and over again.
-You can put multiple parts at the same time to work on transitions
-For very good players it's also useful to note that since the level you set in the repeater will be saved for when you really play the song, they can just go in set everything to 100% and play the song at maximum difficulty without having to play it multiple times. However if they suck the game will lower the difficulty.
I personally disable automatic upgrades and just manually increase speed and difficulty once I'm confident. It also allow me to just slowly increase speed (3 or 5% at a time) rather than the game 10% default increase to make the transition from one speed to the next almost seamless.

And finally there is score attack which you do once you're comfortable playing a song at a specific level of difficulty. The game won't raise or lower the difficulty in it, just pick easy(50%) medium(75%) or hard(100%) and play the song and get a score depending on how good you are (and get ranked). There is also a fourth mode, master where the song is at 100% and you have no visuals to help you.

I also should point that by default the game uses an inverted tab, where the low E string is at the top. There is an option somewhere to invert it and make it look more like a traditional tab if you prefer.

SixStrings

Germany2046 Posts

January 20 2014 20:51 GMT

#796

On January 16 2014 21:02 SixStrings wrote:
I'm looking to pick up a cheap bass and amp as a third instrument after guitar and piano.

What do you guys think about this:
http://www.thomann.de/de/harley_benton_hbz2004.htm
http://www.thomann.de/de/orange_crush_pix_25bx.htm

The amp should be able to sound great in small wattages, because I have to be able to practice without annoying my roommates too much.

Also looking to get a second electric guitar to play harder stuff with, while not breaking the bank.
Which of these would you prefer?

http://www.thomann.de/de/espltd_f50bk.htm
http://www.thomann.de/de/epiphone_gothic_lespaul_studio.htm

Guuuuys?

ptmc

Finland306 Posts

January 21 2014 12:12 GMT

#797

What kind of electric do you have now that you don't think it will cope with heavier stuff?
And what kind of heavier stuff would you want to play?

SixStrings

Germany2046 Posts

January 21 2014 16:43 GMT

#798

Fender Mexican SSS Strat.

I'd like to play the guitar parts of Tool, in Flames, Metallica etc. and I prefer crisp, percussive sounds.

ptmc

Finland306 Posts

January 21 2014 17:35 GMT

#799

If you don't mind losing one of your singles it would most probably be cheaper to change one (specifically the one closest to the bridge) for a humbucker (even active if you want to go really heavy).
For the guitars you mentioned: I dislike epiphones, so out of those two i would go for the esp, however, the sound you get there would be very similar to your strat with the humbucker. Having the variety of tone from a two-humbucker les paul (derivative) and a sss strat could in itself be worth it, but the lp sound is not usually described as crisp.

Have you tried your Strat with a decent gain? Singlecoils don't sound terrible distorted, just different. Maybe you already like what you have?

Teoita

Italy12246 Posts

January 21 2014 17:44 GMT

#800

Eh you can't really get a proper metal sound with single coils (maaaaaaaaybe with Malmsteen's fury set, maybe, but i'm not sure tbh). My recomendation would be to change your bridge pickup to something like a Dimarzio Super Distortion...it's exactly what Adrian Smith did to his strats so it works out for sure

You can't put an active pickup along with passives because they require completely different electronics (different value pots, caps, their preamp etc etc), so don't try that.

If you have enough money (and dont want to play in e flat/drop c/drop d) you could even add a locking trem to your strat. The result of all the mods would be that you have a kickass guitar for both metal and classic rock (hss strats are awesome for basically anything ever), and that stays perfectly in tune. Probably beats having a great strat (like most mexican fenders are) and a really low end metal guitar like those you listed.

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