-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Guitar |OT| If you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded
- Thread starter Neo0mj
- Start date
Are you already a guitar player? Do you want an onboard pickup system, or strictly acoustic? I have a Taylor 110 entry-level, around $700 retail for which I traded an electric guitar to a friend, that more than meets my limited acoustic needs. Martin and Taylor make great acoustics (both offer very good "baby" versions which are smaller yet still full-sounding); Takamine is a popular beginner brand; Yamaha and Epiphone offer really nice models; I hear good things about Seagull; don't bother with Fender as they've never made a good acoustic and Gibson doesn't make affordable models. More so than an electric, you really need to try an acoustic in person. Some will have a big boomy sound, others can have a lot more high-end (Martin vs. Taylor). You might like the sound of a big dreadnaught, but hate the size and prefer the shape of a parlor. Action is very idiosyncratic and can make a guitar unplayable for beginners and isn't as easily adjusted as on an electric. I think acoustics are too personal to make a "anyone would like this" recommendation.
This might be heresy, but if you're just looking to start out, a baritone ukulele uses the same chord shapes as guitar and is strung with the same 4 bottom strings (DGBE) and are ~$100. They're very fun to noodle around on and make a nice transition or accompanying instrument to a full-size guitar.
What kind of music do you want to play on it? are you going to use picks or your fingers?
I like Seagull for a good acoustic guitar value. I'm sure they have models in that price range.
I play with a pick 97% of the time, i dont want to buy an expensive guitar, is gonna be on the beach most of the time and the sand and beer are gonna destroy it, so under $500 is a good price range me thinks
So why do you want 'the best' and not 'the cheapest least terrible'? You can get two Godin (Seagull, Art & Luthrie, etc) parlours for that money and they make perfectly fine beaters.
I'm thinking a cheap Yamaha is probably the right way to go here . . . unless their intro level acoustics have plummeted in quality.
I'd not spend $500 on a beach guitar myself. You could get a perfectly good "beater" guitar for half that.
Their FG/FS 800-series are pretty routinely lauded as some of the best value-for-money in the under-$500 bracket.
That's what I have and it's a great acoustic. Especially since it's about $200
I watch tons of guitar videos on YouTube. But don't own anything. I'm fascinated by them. Had one once, did nothing with it.
Good time as any to learn how to solder. Once you get it, you'll be saving a ton of cash on repairs.
I've just blown a bunch of cash on a Strat. Always flirted with the idea of buying a guitar but never gone through with it and now seems the perfect time(i'm sure i'm not the only one). Had some cash sat in a savings account so I spent more than I ever thought about but I thought, fuck it. My current free time only seems to be filled with Animal Crossing and cake, may aswell buy something with a bit more physicality that makes me happy.
Ended up purchasing a Fender Vintera. I've always loved how Strats have sounded(I was looking at a Tele earlier in the week), i've owned Rocksmith for a number of years now but never taken the plunge, and earlier in the week I saw the real tone cable on eBay and decided to pick one up which led me to considering an actual guitar. Can't wait for it to arrive!
Ended up purchasing a Fender Vintera. I've always loved how Strats have sounded(I was looking at a Tele earlier in the week), i've owned Rocksmith for a number of years now but never taken the plunge, and earlier in the week I saw the real tone cable on eBay and decided to pick one up which led me to considering an actual guitar. Can't wait for it to arrive!
A few are made in Mexico, or at least they were a year or two ago. I know the dinky is Mexico, but the randy rhodes v is Indonesia. So it depends.
Must have changed. I know I played one 2 years ago and it said made in Mexico on the back.
Upon looking again, it seems some are made in Korea, which you can see in the sweetwater pictures
Jackson Pro Series Dinky DK Modern Ash HT6 - Baked Red
Solidbody Electric Guitar with Ash Body, Maple/Wenge/Maple Neck, Ebony Fingerboard, and 2 Fishman Fluence Humbucking Pickups - Baked Red
www.sweetwater.com
Also, I think this would be made in mexico since the serial number starts with MX, so its probably made in the Mexican Fender factory.
Jackson Pro Series Dinky DK2 - Okoume
Solidbody Electric Guitar with Okoume Body, Maple Neck, Ebony Fretboard, 2 Humbucking Pickups, and Floyd Rose Tremolo - Natural
www.sweetwater.com
Hi guitar community. I started practicing come chords in February. I was doing really well. But, since Covid19 happened, I ended up working-from-home more hours then what I was doing at work. So, I havent practiced in nearly a month. Tonight, I finally started again. I feel like I am back to the start. This kind of sucks.
You'll get where you were - and beyond - if you stick with it. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint :)
Found an old photo of mine:
I forgot I owned a White Epiphone Elitist Les Paul. That thing was pretty sweet. I wonder what I sold it for.
I forgot I owned a White Epiphone Elitist Les Paul. That thing was pretty sweet. I wonder what I sold it for.
Found an old photo of mine:
I forgot I owned a White Epiphone Elitist Les Paul. That thing was pretty sweet. I wonder what I sold it for.
Nice! I hope you got a decent price for it. You don't see those Made In Japan Elitists too often!
Ha, look at this daft thing. My mother in law got it from a friend of hers, it was in the charity shop pile. It's a Fender Squier Mini, stick a 9v battery in it and it's got a built in amp/speaker. It's silly but great! The intonation is all over the shop and I can't find an off button so I just take the battery out but hey. Bit of fun.
The finish is gloss black, needs a serious clean and some new strings and so on.
The finish is gloss black, needs a serious clean and some new strings and so on.
Finally took the time out to clean and restring three of my guitars
- Yamaha FG700S
- Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro
- Epiphone Tony Iommi Signature SG
It's been years since these have been strung let alone cleaned, so it felt good taking the time to give them a good cleaning. I've been practicing more (probably more than I ever have to be honest) and following along with JustinGuitar. I feel I've made a small breakthrough in just general playing. I can't solo, I'm still learning my first scale, but I do know about 10 chords. And after learning about Chord Progressions, I'm actually sounding like I almost know what I'm doing.
There's 3 chords that are currently giving me some trouble. The B, B Minor, and the damned F chord. I can get my fingers placed on them, strum and have the notes ring out. But transitioning in or out of them, that's really rough at the moment. Having a bit more luck with the B Minor but yeah, that's what I'm currently working on.
Also need to find a song to learn, I'm getting overwhelmed on trying to pick a good beginner song though.
- Yamaha FG700S
- Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro
- Epiphone Tony Iommi Signature SG
It's been years since these have been strung let alone cleaned, so it felt good taking the time to give them a good cleaning. I've been practicing more (probably more than I ever have to be honest) and following along with JustinGuitar. I feel I've made a small breakthrough in just general playing. I can't solo, I'm still learning my first scale, but I do know about 10 chords. And after learning about Chord Progressions, I'm actually sounding like I almost know what I'm doing.
There's 3 chords that are currently giving me some trouble. The B, B Minor, and the damned F chord. I can get my fingers placed on them, strum and have the notes ring out. But transitioning in or out of them, that's really rough at the moment. Having a bit more luck with the B Minor but yeah, that's what I'm currently working on.
Also need to find a song to learn, I'm getting overwhelmed on trying to pick a good beginner song though.
Awesome! I've picked up 3 Squiers during this mess. A CV 60s Strat (Lake Placid Blue), a Bullet Tele (Red Sparkle), and a CV 70s P Bass (Black with a chrome bridge cover and thumb rest). They offer so much guitar for so little $$$.
Hey fellow guitar players. Just ordered myself a Spector Performer 4 bass guitar last night and going to learn how to play the bass from scratch during the quarantine. Any day one tips or tricks I should do?
Anyone have opinions on the squire telecasters? At the moment everything is online ordering but I am curious if its a waste of time or worth the purchase, looking at various youtube videos the squire series seems hit or miss.
For Squier I would go with the Vintage Modified. Avoid the Bullet series, that's pretty much plywood.
This is the frustration I find with trying to figure out the squire line. It really is hit or miss making them not mail order friendly. Thanks for the info.
Ordered 2 Squiers via mail. The P bass needed a setup which took about 20 minutes. The Bullet Tele was set up nicely but the frets were rough. I sanded and polished them with a Dremel and it plays very smoothly.
Random question: signed up for Fender Play's 3-month free trial and they sent me a 10% off coupon for their online store. Since I already have a guitar and amp (Yamaha Pacifica 112J and THR30II), what other items should I pick up as someone just learning guitar?
Are you buying new or used? If used, I would almost say save up for a mexican fender branded telecaster. That way if you don't like it and want to sell it, it will still be worth what you paid for it.
If new, the squire classic vibe guitars are pretty good for the price.
Mobile version of Guitar Pro is free right now, at least on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arobasmusic.guitarpro
Good idea. I swear I used to be able to that one, but can't any more. The reality is I was probably just unaware of how much I DIDN'T have it. Before your post I was actually practicing Run to the Hills main verse riff. Doing about 73% speed. But, yeah, need some variety practicing such a thing.
Few more days and I will be at 8 months of not missing a single a day of practice. Pretty awesome seeing that steady improvement. But, I've gotten good enough to really see my weaknesses also, which can be frustrating.
Hello, I was wondering if there was a guitar thread on Era and sure enough there is one! so I thought I'd post a little message here.
I have picked up guitar a few months ago, last September to be more precise - still very much a beginner but it has been a very enjoyable ride so far.
My little story is probably similar to many others, I have had a guitar laying around for years, which I bought from a friend almost fifteen years ago with the intention of learning alongside him, but I never really cared enough to play it much. My friend sadly passed away back in August, and a few days later, while going through my things, I found his old guitar, decided to pick it up and started strumming a bit, and it just felt good in my hands and I thought why not give learning the instrument a go, both as a fun experiment and as a way of remembering my buddy.
I must say the first few weeks were a pain, apart from being quite a bit into listening music, I had no idea about what went into making it, so it was a whole new & difficult learning experience! The guitar itself was - which I learned a bit later, a bit shoddy: It was probably made for nylon strings but had steel strings on it, the action was extremely high, the neck not as quite straight as it should be, and the bridge was starting to lift off the body. Still, it had six functioning strings and I wasn't sure about how much I actually would like learning the instrument, so I stuck with it and gave myself the objective of getting good enough to learn the very basics and playing/singing a full song without shortcuts, with the reward if I was able to do that being getting a brand new guitar.
After a few months of fingers hurting, struggling to move my fingers around the neck, finding chord shapes impossible to make and chord transitions even more difficult, and then learning about strumming techniques, rhythm and basic singing knowledge, I finally managed to reach my first objective as you probably have guessed from my image. My learning song was "For what it's worth" by Buffalo Springfield, which in restrospect I think was fantastic for a complete beginner. I recorded myself playing it, and even though it's a far cry from being even good, I was really proud of it at the time!
From there, I found that guitar learning was actually extremely fun, and being able to play parts of the song I've grown up listening to was already pretty amazing so I went ahead and ordered my second guitar online. I looked up a few reviews and went for the one that felt like it would suit me, landed on a Gretsch Acoustic Rancher Jr. which I instantly fell in love with. (on the left in the picture). I also got myself a pick - I have been fingerpicking through all my early months of learning so now I'm currently in the process of getting used to playing with a pick, and a capo while I was at it.
I have progressed quite a bit more since, I have been trying to learn new techniques and incrementally increasing the difficulty of what I was going for. I'm still very much a beginner but a very happy one at this stage. You'll hate me for this one, but I'm currently trying to learn wonderwall, which has been quite interesting on a few fronts from a new guitar learner perspective!
I have been recording myself a lot which I think helps a lot in tracking mistakes and progress, I have a couple more songs I wanted to share (and a few others I can play fully as well), nothing fancy obviously:
I like birds - Eels:
Knockin' on Heaven's door - Bob Dylan (obviously):
And this one which is very much a work in progress but which I really like a lot, I already love the song but I like it even more now that I learned it without using a tab, by putting in the effort of watching a couple of guys play it on youtube and trying to replicate my own simple version:
I wanna be your Dog - Uncle Tupelo:
That's it for now, the early guitar learning journey of a 30 year old, still on that road of improving my chord transitions, playing cleaner music, and trying to integrate new chords, new strumming styles, new techniques and play new songs bit by bit every day. It's a very slow process but it's a fun one which is all that matters. I have a huge list of songs I still want to learn :D
For anyone also just starting guitar as an adult, I can also talk about the method I have used: Most important of all is regular sessions, I try to do at least 20 minutes every day, sometimes I go on for much longer when life responsibilities don't get into the way and I am feeling it. The first few weeks are definitely the most difficult, and I think I would not have stuck with it if I did not start trying to play basic songs from the beginning. Fingers hurt a lot early, and it's perfectly normal, it gets better once calluses have formed, no need to force oneself if it hurts too much! I relied mostly on youtube for the early lessons, Andy Guitar's 10 days starter course is what got me through most of the basics (and it took me months to complete!), I thought it was really good and super helpful. I did branch away every time I felt like it though once I thought I had enough knowledge to work on a particular song I really wanted to play - by looking up the appropriate tutorials for the songs on youtube or on the net.
So there it is, the full story until now, short term objective now is playing wonderwall - while working on a lot of aspects of my technique, mid term objective is to get all common open chords, and power chords down, including clean sound and good transition, the long term objective is playing a bunch of songs I have on my list. Eventually, I would also like to fix my old guitar, it'll probably be pricey but it'll be worth it in my mind, at which point I might pass it to some other guitar learner, it will be a good way of keeping my friend's memory alive.
I'll besure to post updates if all goes well!
I have picked up guitar a few months ago, last September to be more precise - still very much a beginner but it has been a very enjoyable ride so far.
My little story is probably similar to many others, I have had a guitar laying around for years, which I bought from a friend almost fifteen years ago with the intention of learning alongside him, but I never really cared enough to play it much. My friend sadly passed away back in August, and a few days later, while going through my things, I found his old guitar, decided to pick it up and started strumming a bit, and it just felt good in my hands and I thought why not give learning the instrument a go, both as a fun experiment and as a way of remembering my buddy.
I must say the first few weeks were a pain, apart from being quite a bit into listening music, I had no idea about what went into making it, so it was a whole new & difficult learning experience! The guitar itself was - which I learned a bit later, a bit shoddy: It was probably made for nylon strings but had steel strings on it, the action was extremely high, the neck not as quite straight as it should be, and the bridge was starting to lift off the body. Still, it had six functioning strings and I wasn't sure about how much I actually would like learning the instrument, so I stuck with it and gave myself the objective of getting good enough to learn the very basics and playing/singing a full song without shortcuts, with the reward if I was able to do that being getting a brand new guitar.
After a few months of fingers hurting, struggling to move my fingers around the neck, finding chord shapes impossible to make and chord transitions even more difficult, and then learning about strumming techniques, rhythm and basic singing knowledge, I finally managed to reach my first objective as you probably have guessed from my image. My learning song was "For what it's worth" by Buffalo Springfield, which in restrospect I think was fantastic for a complete beginner. I recorded myself playing it, and even though it's a far cry from being even good, I was really proud of it at the time!
From there, I found that guitar learning was actually extremely fun, and being able to play parts of the song I've grown up listening to was already pretty amazing so I went ahead and ordered my second guitar online. I looked up a few reviews and went for the one that felt like it would suit me, landed on a Gretsch Acoustic Rancher Jr. which I instantly fell in love with. (on the left in the picture). I also got myself a pick - I have been fingerpicking through all my early months of learning so now I'm currently in the process of getting used to playing with a pick, and a capo while I was at it.
I have progressed quite a bit more since, I have been trying to learn new techniques and incrementally increasing the difficulty of what I was going for. I'm still very much a beginner but a very happy one at this stage. You'll hate me for this one, but I'm currently trying to learn wonderwall, which has been quite interesting on a few fronts from a new guitar learner perspective!
I have been recording myself a lot which I think helps a lot in tracking mistakes and progress, I have a couple more songs I wanted to share (and a few others I can play fully as well), nothing fancy obviously:
I like birds - Eels:
Knockin' on Heaven's door - Bob Dylan (obviously):
And this one which is very much a work in progress but which I really like a lot, I already love the song but I like it even more now that I learned it without using a tab, by putting in the effort of watching a couple of guys play it on youtube and trying to replicate my own simple version:
I wanna be your Dog - Uncle Tupelo:
That's it for now, the early guitar learning journey of a 30 year old, still on that road of improving my chord transitions, playing cleaner music, and trying to integrate new chords, new strumming styles, new techniques and play new songs bit by bit every day. It's a very slow process but it's a fun one which is all that matters. I have a huge list of songs I still want to learn :D
For anyone also just starting guitar as an adult, I can also talk about the method I have used: Most important of all is regular sessions, I try to do at least 20 minutes every day, sometimes I go on for much longer when life responsibilities don't get into the way and I am feeling it. The first few weeks are definitely the most difficult, and I think I would not have stuck with it if I did not start trying to play basic songs from the beginning. Fingers hurt a lot early, and it's perfectly normal, it gets better once calluses have formed, no need to force oneself if it hurts too much! I relied mostly on youtube for the early lessons, Andy Guitar's 10 days starter course is what got me through most of the basics (and it took me months to complete!), I thought it was really good and super helpful. I did branch away every time I felt like it though once I thought I had enough knowledge to work on a particular song I really wanted to play - by looking up the appropriate tutorials for the songs on youtube or on the net.
So there it is, the full story until now, short term objective now is playing wonderwall - while working on a lot of aspects of my technique, mid term objective is to get all common open chords, and power chords down, including clean sound and good transition, the long term objective is playing a bunch of songs I have on my list. Eventually, I would also like to fix my old guitar, it'll probably be pricey but it'll be worth it in my mind, at which point I might pass it to some other guitar learner, it will be a good way of keeping my friend's memory alive.
I'll besure to post updates if all goes well!
90s Zakk Wylde was fucking insane. From Ozzy's last good (and kinda weird) albums, southern fried rock with Pride and Glory, acoustic awesome-ness with Book of Shadows, and early Black Label... just insane.
I'll always love him, but it's pretty disappointing to listen to this stuff and then see how kinda one-note (maybe two since he does have ballad-mode still) he has become with current BLS.
Really too bad he isn't on Ozzy's latest album. Would have been interesting to hear him have to follow a bit of direction from a producer again instead of just being allowed to do everything his way.
Just some random thoughts as I sit here fucking around with the Ozzmosis album.
I'll always love him, but it's pretty disappointing to listen to this stuff and then see how kinda one-note (maybe two since he does have ballad-mode still) he has become with current BLS.
Really too bad he isn't on Ozzy's latest album. Would have been interesting to hear him have to follow a bit of direction from a producer again instead of just being allowed to do everything his way.
Just some random thoughts as I sit here fucking around with the Ozzmosis album.
I just finished my session. We identified a high 20th fret as my issue. Was very easy and cool. Great way to build brand loyalty and customer goodwill.
I've been getting some string rattle from the bridge. Wonder if they could help me figure out what it is.
Ugh. Tried to be extra careful with the file and now fret 20 is too low! Sent a message to a luthier friend that he's got a fret job coming his way.
I really want to try having my frets pleked some time. There is a place in Chicago that does it for like $250 (assuming you don't need any frets replaced which would raise the cost obviously). Hopefully next summer the world will be a safer place 'cause I'd love to go up there and have it done and see how it really goes.
Been selling off gear lately. I realized I had too much crap and I would end up sitting around twisting knobs instead of actually playing. It's been really freeing, actually. Just me, my Tele, my SG when I want to do slide stuff or play metal, my amp, and a small collection of pedals. I also ever realized how much people around here want AC15's until I listed mine on Facebook Marketplace and people were basically beating down my door trying to get it.
Yeah my GAS has subsided considerably in the last year and I'm almost disgusted with all the guitars I have, especially the ones I rarely play. Now that all my gigs have shriveled up and died because of COVID all my "backup" guitars don't have as much appeal anymore. Time for the purge.
I've always been more of a Jake fan than Zakk or Randy, although I love them all of course. I kind of stopped listing to Ozzy after the No More Tears album. I'm kinda out of touch on what he's done lately.
I'm the opposite. I am dying to buy some new guitars. I had intended to get a nice Taylor in March/April. And I really want one of the new Ibanez:
I want a modern metal guitar with a thin ass neck and wammy bar! But, yeah, obviously with everything going, I'm not spending that kind of money.
I was fucking obsessed with Zakk back in highschool. But, all that Black Label stuff just sounds the fucking same to me these days. Even his leads these days just seem to fall into playing as fast as he can without much thought. I learned some Ozzmosis stuff yesterday (Perry Mason and Tomorrow). And was just reminded of how cool his shit use to be. Guess you can't stay in your prime forever.
I want a modern metal guitar with a thin ass neck and wammy bar! But, yeah, obviously with everything going, I'm not spending that kind of money.
I was fucking obsessed with Zakk back in highschool. But, all that Black Label stuff just sounds the fucking same to me these days. Even his leads these days just seem to fall into playing as fast as he can without much thought. I learned some Ozzmosis stuff yesterday (Perry Mason and Tomorrow). And was just reminded of how cool his shit use to be. Guess you can't stay in your prime forever.