Starting Electric Guitair

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

quite useful that made me have to remember which fret is which 'note' lol, anyway, reading it reminded me.

Anyone able to tell me how to 'harm' a note? i know its to do with pressure on the frett and finding the sweet spot but ive only ever done it a couple of times by accident and it bugs me lol. so any one got a fairly simple way of doing it?

Cheers

go to the 12'th or the 8'th (latter is harder) fret. Play that note like you normally would, but edging your finger over the fret itself.
You'll notice that you can keep it ringing much longer with your finger on the fret than you can with another note like the 10'th fret.
Find the point where for your feeling, it should actually dampen the string, but where it doesn't, then at that point, try playing that same note with your left finger still touching the string but not pressing it to the fretboard. You'll be able to find that spot where the string doesn't really get dampened by your finger, but still makes thesame note. Play the string with your right hand while having your left hand finger on that spot. Quickly after playing remove your left finger from the string. Only that note of the 12'th string should still be audible.

This dude does it pretty decently (understatement)..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FePoIvotdYQ

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

erm, mt, that 8 up there should've been a 7

 

[Mojo]

went into the local music shop today. i asked the guy for a beginners acoustic guitar in the 60-80 range with steel strings. he produced a blue guitar of some sort for 89, and the manufacturer escapes me. according to him its the best they have for beginners but im wondering, is there a particular manufacturer i should be aware of?

Not a particular one no there are quite a few good makes about. Not very acurate but if the company that made the £89 guitar has other guitars in that shop in a mid to high price range it's probably a well known manufacturer.

If the company is represented in that store by just that 1 guitar then maybe not so well known.

 

[Mojo]

if they were fenders they would be called fenders they are not made in the same factories, of different quality materials. lamborghinis arent audis, even though audi owns lambo.

In all fairness Squires are branded as "Squire By Fender"

Maybe the squire brand needed the boost?

 

[Killswitch]

I used to have a sunburst Mexican Fender "Fat Strat" which was pretty nice. Just trying to think, I've played;

Fender Strat
Jackson Randy Rhodes V
PRS CE24
Yamaha Pacifica 112

Currently I've got a custom Schecter Avenger with PRS Dragon 'buckers and a S&P Cedar 6 Acoustic...and no amp

Not played seriously for a long time so I've sold most of my kit. Used to love the sound of the PRS through my Marshall 30th Anniversary stack

Back on topic, there's nothing wrong with Squire guitars, in the same way there's nothing wrong with Kia or Daewoo cars. They're not going to have the same quality of materials and the same build quality as the best guitars. They tend to be made in the Far East to lower labour costs and the choice of woods tends towards the cheap end. The main difference you'll notice as a beginner is likely to be the frets. They're likely to be quite high and not very well finished, which makes it harder to accurately sound and sustain a note (you need more pressure on the strings). This is one reason beginners find Barre chords (where you press all 6 strings at a given fret with your index finger to move a standard chord shape around the fretboard) very difficult.

If you buy from a decent guitar shop, ask them if they'll restring and setup the guitar for you when you buy it...having someone check the intonation and string height will make a big difference to the feel of the guitar.

Another thing you can do is experiment with different types of strings. If you want to play heavy stuff and detune (lower) the sound of your guitar then you want to use heavier strings. Again, talk this over with the guy at the shop as it will affect how he sets the guitar up. I tend to use Ernie Balls, but I change the string weights pretty much every time I restring it, depending on what kind of stuff I'm playing at the time!!

Tab is a really good way to get started, but what you should try when you're a little more proficient is actually listening to songs and trying to work out how they go yourself. If you learn this way, it will really help your creativity, improvisation and writing. Start with really simple solos like Nothing Else Matters or Knocking on Heavens Door. Also, try to vary the type of stuff you play so you get exposure to different rythms and chord changes and suchlike.

Finally, if you just want to jam with friends, howl along to songs or learn to play rythm stuff first and generally have a laugh, can I recommend this site;

http://www.iol.ie/~murphypj/

There are about 1500 songs on there (just the chords and lyrics) with new ones added regularly. He also links to several good online tutorials and other interesting guitar info.

 

[tris-]

just a question - whats the difference between a chord and a tab?

i was looking at tabs last night to make sure i could actually understand them before buying a guitar, and they seem simple enough to read. but i noticed chord cropped up and seemed to be different to a tab?

i dont know

 

[Killswitch]

<Damn Edit Timer>

Forgot Dave's #1 Guitar Tip

DON'T waste money on expensive StrapLock things. Just buy 2 bottles of Grolsch (the big ones with the ceramic flip cap) and drink the contents. Then take the red rubber seal from the neck, clean it and fit it over your strap peg so it holds your strap firmly in place.

Been using the same rubber rings and strap on my Schecter since 1999 and so far the guitar has made ZERO stagedives!!! You might want to drink more lager though, to make sure you find the perfect one!!

 

[Killswitch]

just a question - whats the difference between a chord and a tab?

i was looking at tabs last night to make sure i could actually understand them before buying a guitar, and they seem simple enough to read. but i noticed chord cropped up and seemed to be different to a tab?

i dont know

Right...a tab is simply a map of where to put your fingers on the fretboard. It shows 6 bars which correspond to the 6 strings on the guitar. Chord is a musical term which means a group of musical notes which when played together, make a pleasant sound

Don't want to get too technical here, but chords are based on scales, which you might have come across. For example a Major chord is the first note (or root) of the major scale, the third and the fifth. So when you play an A chord, the actual notes you are playing are (umm..err..) A E and D (I think!). Then a Minor chord is the 1st, flattened 3rd and fifth so B Minor would be B, D and F#. You don't need to know all this by the way!

For some music, people just post the chords you need to play (for example, for About a Girl by Nirvana they'd post something like Em G Em G Em G) and it's up for you to find out how to play the chords. The tab would show the finger placement for each chord.

Does that help at all? More info can be found here

 

[Mojo]

just a question - whats the difference between a chord and a tab?

i was looking at tabs last night to make sure i could actually understand them before buying a guitar, and they seem simple enough to read. but i noticed chord cropped up and seemed to be different to a tab?

i dont know

Simply put

Tab is basically "written music" but for guitars and lacks info that "real written music" contains.

So when u look at tab you will most likely see single notes and some chords. (a chord being a collection of notes)

Send a link, the context which u saw this would be helpfull..

 

[tris-]

actually i think you both explained it perfectly well there, i understand now

tab = 'instructions' to play the song
chord = group of notes played together

 

[Killswitch]

actually i think you both explained it perfectly well there, i understand now

tab = 'instructions' to play the song
chord = group of notes played together

Yup..got it in one, my young Padawan!

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

I used to have a sunburst Mexican Fender "Fat Strat" which was pretty nice. Just trying to think, I've played;

Fender Strat
Jackson Randy Rhodes V
PRS CE24
Yamaha Pacifica 112

Currently I've got a custom Schecter Avenger with PRS Dragon 'buckers and a S&P Cedar 6 Acoustic...and no amp

lol, sounds decent

All I've got is a 60 euro nameless spanish acoustic guitar:

The only thing that might be able to identify it, is the sticker inside, saying
Model Nr: F500090552
Serial Nr: 0611

haven't been able to find a brand/producer/whatever
It detunes pretty fast, but bought it to twiddle abit to see if I got a feeling for guitar, and the sound is decent enough for that purpose. Wasn't bought with the intention to last longer than a year orso

 

[fl3a]

im not saying theres anything wrong with squiers in general, having them or playing them, or the way they are branded. i just dont like the way people say 'yeah i have this kickass fender strat' and then it turns out to be a squier

 

[Killswitch]

lol, sounds decent

All I've got is a 60 euro nameless spanish acoustic guitar:

The only thing that might be able to identify it, is the sticker inside, saying
Model Nr: F500090552
Serial Nr: 0611

haven't been able to find a brand/producer/whatever
It detunes pretty fast, but bought it to twiddle abit to see if I got a feeling for guitar, and the sound is decent enough for that purpose. Wasn't bought with the intention to last longer than a year orso

I'd recommend the Yamaha Pacifica guitars to anyone who's starting out. My 112 played better than my Fender Strat, they're a similar body shape and come with good pickups. They are definitely a level above the Squier and other no-brand Strat knockoffs!!

The Randy Rhodes was a pile of crap, I didn't get on with the wierd-ass shape at all. The PRS was an awesome guitar, and should have been for the £1900 I paid for it (including getting EMG active 'buckers fitted). The Schecter was my 21st birthday present and it's ace, but it weighs a ton!

EDIT - Yamaha Pacifica 112 with a practice amp for £130!

 

[Mojo]

@fl3a, I am inclined to agree but I think people do it cos the way they have been branded, you don't get people calling their epiphones Gibsons. (even though some have gibson written on the truss rod cover)

 

[Mojo]

Give Guitar and Rig Pics!

 

[tris-]

well i just phoned the shop to check manufacturer/model, apparently its this one -

http://www.djmmusic.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=V400BL&eq=&Tp=

from my understanding of looking at guitars it seems good to me, specifically that it has a solid top. price was 89 yesterday but i phoned and it was 99 today, may of just been an offer to get my buying it there and then though.

what do you experts think?

 

[Jarakin]

well i just phoned the shop to check manufacturer/model, apparently its this one -

http://www.djmmusic.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=V400BL&eq=&Tp=

from my understanding of looking at guitars it seems good to me, specifically that it has a solid top. price was 89 yesterday but i phoned and it was 99 today, may of just been an offer to get my buying it there and then though.

what do you experts think?

Ah, its a vintage, don't know if they make good acoustics, but my electric is a vintage, its a decent beginner's guitar, posted a link of it a few pages ago. Anyway, I think the company is fairly new (last few years) and at least in the electric side, are known for taking popular guitar models and making budget beginner-level guitars out of them, with some decent hardware made by Trevor Wilkinson. In the last year or so they've started making guitars in the £400-500 range too. Up and coming i'd describe them as.

Looks like £89 is a good price too: http://www.guitars.co.uk/acatalog/Vintage_V400.html

I'd imagine getting an acoustic set up properly is also as important as the set up on an electric, so i'd recommend looking into this too!!

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

I'd recommend the Yamaha Pacifica guitars to anyone who's starting out. My 112 played better than my Fender Strat, they're a similar body shape and come with good pickups. They are definitely a level above the Squier and other no-brand Strat knockoffs!!

The Randy Rhodes was a pile of crap, I didn't get on with the wierd-ass shape at all. The PRS was an awesome guitar, and should have been for the £1900 I paid for it (including getting EMG active 'buckers fitted). The Schecter was my 21st birthday present and it's ace, but it weighs a ton!

EDIT - Yamaha Pacifica 112 with a practice amp for £130!

I kinda got turned off by Yamaha instruments after playing their saxophones. Can't bring any feeling into a piece of music if you'd like with those things.
Got a 30-35 year old Buesscher Aristocrat Tenor Sax now, and sounds quite nice.

Also, I'm not planning to buy a new guitar yet. First I wanna improve my playing, which is still very basic. Can't even play a song properly yet
Also, I prefer the sound of hollow body electric guitars, so when I'll get something new, I'll probably go for that type

 

[tris-]

I'd imagine getting an acoustic set up properly is also as important as the set up on an electric, so i'd recommend looking into this too!!

the shop said they setup and tune it and make sure it was working perfectly

 

[Jarakin]

the shop said they setup and tune it and make sure it was working perfectly

Sounds like a really good deal then, if you're happy with it and happy with the way the guitar looks and more importantly feels while holding it, then go for it!

 

[Jarakin]

Give Guitar and Rig Pics!

I'll oblige tonight - watch this space!

 

[Healer McHeal]

if i can remember my ftp etc password and so on ill put a pic up of my guitar+amp, tho will only be a pic of 1 of my guitars, the rest dont even come close enough to it to be featured

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

if i can remember my ftp etc password and so on ill put a pic up of my guitar+amp, tho will only be a pic of 1 of my guitars, the rest dont even come close enough to it to be featured

Hey, if I can show that piece of firewood byproduct of mine, you can show yours

 

[Mojo]

if i can remember my ftp etc password and so on ill put a pic up of my guitar+amp, tho will only be a pic of 1 of my guitars, the rest dont even come close enough to it to be featured

C'mon, post ur skanky guitars too

 

[Healer McHeal]

http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=guitarvr5.jpg

yea i know, imageshack... but meh i cant remember ftp details .

heres the other one i have a pic of

http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spa0152gd2.jpg

 

[Marc]

My epiphone. Only been playing 2 months. Currently saving for a gibson les paul

 

[Succi]

point for guessing the guitars/amps

newest (hardest to guess imo) :

 

[fl3a]

i would say the newest is a jackson sl2h soloist? i have no idea what the electric on the right (between accoustic and sg) is on the first pic tho. looks sort of like an ibanez sa body but it doesnt have an ibanez headstock

 

[Succi]

close, keep tryin