The Playing The Guitar Thread

[The Hero of the Day]

There she is....

Discovered how to play Whiskey In The Jar....just not to full speed yet.

[Denji]

Anyone got or played an Epiphone Dot before? I'm thinking about getting one.

[el Gringo]

Anyone got or played an Epiphone Dot before? I'm thinking about getting one.

The guitarist in my band plays one, it's a lovely guitar. The action's amazing on it, and it sounds great. Being a hollow-body it's prone to feedback a bit, but if you're anything like me, you'll think that's a good thing.

[Karpaty]

Learning the rift of 'We'll live and Die in These Towns', having never played anything before, should be a good challenge.

[dubs]

What is it with all these folk learning 'a few songs' - I made sure I had mastered the basics and that first before trying my hand at tracks. It was all about practice for me though, just sitting with an old acoustic going through chord switches and that with a book my old man gave me. That's your best bet if you want to kick on.

[chris123]

What is it with all these folk learning 'a few songs' - I made sure I had mastered the basics and that first before trying my hand at tracks. It was all about practice for me though, just sitting with an old acoustic going through chord switches and that with a book my old man gave me. That's your best bet if you want to kick on.

I think to be honest for a lot of folks, its not something there going to have the time to seriously commit to, so pissing about with some of their favourite tunes is what they feel is the best option. However as you say, if you really want to kick on, then completely mastering the basics is the way to go. I have an acoustic guitar, which I've been desperate to play for months, however if I'm being totally honest I struggle to look past the stage of sitting repeatedly going over strings and cords

[Andy_K_97]

Anyone got or played an Epiphone Dot before? I'm thinking about getting one.

I've got one, it looks gorgeous and plays really well too. If you're thinking about getting one, I definitely would. I'm currently looking at an Epiphone Riviera Custom P93, I think it's one of the best looking guitars available for such a price. I've also got a Fender Mexican Strat and a Fender acoustic that I learned on, I love all my guitars. Been playing for about 5-6 years now, I don't know what I'd be doing with my life now if I couldn't play.

[Derek Patterson]

Anyone got or played an Epiphone Dot before? I'm thinking about getting one.

I've got ane. Cracking tone from it & I've still got the stock pickups in it. It plays very similair to an SG. If you get any real bother with feedback (I tend to use it to my advantage & get loads of cool harmonics from it) then you can pad out the inside with a couple of old t-shirts. They sound pretty meaty but still have a slightly chimey quality due to the hollow cavities.

[Shy Tot]

Hi folks,I have just discovered this forum. I have been learning to play the guitar for two years, on and off. It's great for relieving stress and pissing the wife off (try learning a new song when Coronation Streets on). I have got an old Westfield accoustic and a Yamaha Pacifica electric. I am a master at learning the intro's but never fully learning the whole song. My New Year resolution is to remedy this and peresvere to learn a song right through.

[Proud To Be A Diamond]

I've just started to learn how to play. The hardest bit is tuning it.

[well fan for life]

I'm due to pick up the bass to start a new band tomorrow. I've always dabbled with playing it but never really commited to it.

So here goes nothing.

[p&b is a disgrace]

Electrics

!979 washburn Falcon ( my baby )

2008 USA Standard Sunburst Tele - which I reliced. Looks 50 years old now.

Surf Green Fender Partscaster Strat

1959 RI Gibson Les Paul Standard Washed Cherry

Gibson Gary Moore BFG LP

Vintage Peter Green lemondrop LP

Self built Telecaster HSS with Tyler single coils and a Duncan JB4 Humbucker in the bridge

Butterscotch Blonde Squier Telecaster with Tonerider pick ups

Self built Arctic white Telecaster with Kent Armstrong in the bridge and Duncan mini humbucker in the neck

Acoustic

Taylor GS5

Simon and Patrick SP6 electro

Kay 1973 Japanese acoustic ( my first guitar )

Amps

Hughes and Ketner 30w combo

Line 6 Spider 3 30w

Peavey Nanovalve

Marshall AS50R acoustic

[Derek Patterson]

I actually don't know mate to be honest! Been thinking about fitting my Ibanez with EMG's though, but its a pain in the tits as because they are active pickups rather than passive and the guitar isn't set up for that, i'd have to get a lot of routing done to the body for them to fit.

I'd advise trying out the same (or similair) guitar with active pickups first before you get anything fitted. Yes they're much more powerful than passive pickups but they can sometimes mask the natural tone of the guitar.

[Rugster]

Been playing a year now, still loving it.

Cort Earth 70 Acoustic

Ovation Celebrity CC245HB 12 string Acoustic

Ibanez AEL10EBK Acoustic

Yamaha Pacifica Electric

Marshall MG20 Amp

Zoom effects pedal.

[mungo]

Ive had a guitar for a few years but never really taken it seriously. Pick it up now and then when I hear a song I like- I can play a handful of songs - Bell and Seb. Dylan , Cohen . Roy Orbison , Cash , The Band...etc

My singing voice is like Jocky Scott and Leonard Cohens love child so I try to avoid that part of it.

I got a Banjo recently ,which im starting to think is a superior instrument, although Im struggling to find good music to play on it. So far I can play a couple of Pogue songs and some Irish rebel songs .

Anyone here play the Banjo - good websites etc? Classi songs to learn etc..

[Denji]

Anyone got tabs for this?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=NWZ0gJ0HAyA

[palmy_cammy]

I played regular-ish from about the ages of 10 to 16, meaning that I have barely touched it for about 7 years now. I was never any more than a bedroom guitarist and I think that was part of the problem. Another problem was that although I was advancing the difficulty of songs I was playing I never advanced beyond printing off a tab, and then learning the song by heart. I think I lacked the knowledge of "the basics" as stated in Dubs post. I am also not a very creative person so the idea of playing my own songs, or even improvising to an existing one I could play was impossible to me. I'd describe it as a bit like an artist who only ever traced other pictures and coloured them in!

I always keep saying to myself that I'll get back into it but as I don't know any other approach other than my previously unsuccessful way, I reckon the outcome would be exactly the same. Having done a bit of reading I thought recently that my next step should be to learn some scales which will get me used to playing again, and once I have a few of those perfected I could attempt a bit of improvisation based on the scale. TBH at this stage I'd be delighted if I can fire out a few bluesy style riffs with some basics chords thrown in, I've had my fill of playing Don't Look Back In Anger, and Blink 182-style power chords.

There seems to be a few experienced guitarists on here so hopefully someone can answer a few questions. Is my suggestion in the last paragraph a good one? If so where should I look to go about this, and if not any tips to get me hooked on my guitar again, but also to make me a guitarist rather than a guitar user.

[Al B]

Any kind of theory, and particularly scales, can get really boring and repetitive really quickly...mainly because the way to learn them is to keep repeating them until it sticks. The reason this is so boring is because theres no tune really! So therefore you're not getting any real reward thats instantly enjoyable.

In saying that though, it certainly does no harm to be able to know where you are on the fretboard without having to think about it, and also to have the knowledge of where you can go next. Let's face it....even some of the best, most enjoyable music isn't all that revolutionary, and most music tends to follow patterns that once you know what you're doing, are actually fairly predictable. You can often listen to a guitar player improvising or playing along with a song they have never heard before and think - "how on earth do they do that", but it's actually not all that difficult.

Knowing your most common scales and most common chord progressions means that not only will you know what you're doing, but when you listen to other artists, you know where they are more than likely going as well, and thats how good guitar players seem to just "know". Basic music has rules and set progressions...if you know them, then you know the same progressions that 90% of guitar players both bedroom and professional, also use.

In saying that I dont know any of them at all...but i've ended up there just through perseverance and playing a lot. By doing the above, you'll be able to get to that level in say, a year...whereas it maybe took me 2 or 3.

My advice would be to learn the basic scales and most common chord progressions in order to give you an idea of where songs tend to go, but most definately do not neglect learning by listening. DITCH THE TABS unless you're particularly stuck with a certain section...and concentrate on listening to what's being played, then finding it on the neck by yourself. Can be frustrating, and you'll be a mile out at first, but it's the one thing that will make a big difference to the level you can play at.

In closing...you will probably find that after a while, this combination of methods of practice with change the way you look at writing your own stuff. Once you're a few months down the road of knowing how music fits together, you'll start doing your own instinctively.

Again, and I close all "instructional" pieces of advice with this, is HAVE FUN and enjoy what your doing. If you're not having fun, then you won't sound good, and you'll be defeating the point of picking up an instrument in the first place.

[Derek Patterson]

I've got a 1994 Epi Les Paul custom which is great but as the machine heads on it were standard and had been on it 16 years it was beginning to lose it's tune when rehearsing & gigging. Just had a set of Grover tuners put on (which I believe Gibson use as standard now though they brand them as their own) and the difference is obvious straight away. Can play pretty agressively on it but everything stays perfectly in tune. The guitar seems to have a lot more sustain about it now as obviously the strings are sitting better.

The set was priced at £60 but as I'm often in the shop (Bandwagon in Perth) & the folk who work there are sound boys I got the tuners and got them to fit them for £55 all in.

Quality stuff. Would recommend them for anyone who has a non Gibbo Les Paul who plays regularly either live or for recording.

http://www.eaglemusicshop.com/details1.asp?ProductID=4542&name=grover-locking-machine-heads.htm

[centralparker]

Is it possible to become good on the guitar if you learn as an adult? (assuming you have some inherent musical ability)

Most musicians learn to play at a young age but does this have to be the case? Do you genuinely find it easier to learn as a child or is it more to do with the fact that you have large amounts of free time to devote to practising? Also, guitar playing will require dexterity in the fingers, maybe it is advantageous to do all that stretching when your bones are still developing.