For those shopping for a guitar

[Dave R]

"Fingerpickers use every finger"

OK, I'm probably getting "picky" here (but that's what we do, right?) but I don't know any fingerpicker who uses the pinky.

Travis picking only uses the thumb, 3rd and 4th finger. Traditional picking adds the 2nd finger. But nobody uses the pinky.

Unless there's some very talented person out there that I don't know about...

 

[BerettaNut92]

Here I am supposed to be working and Im yakkin' about guitars and doin' some pickin' now too. Skunkabilly,,,

I have that way with people....all we need to do is bring Cordura, Velcro, carbon fiber, and Korean female snipers into the fray.

 

[280PLUS]

all we need to do is bring Cordura, Velcro, carbon fiber, and Korean female snipers into the fray.

LMAO...

Well, you know Ovation DOES incorporate carbon fiber...It's a start?

 

[280PLUS]

Then there's my take "Why guns are like guitars."

1. A good guitar player can make a bad guitar sound good while a bad guitar player can make a good guitar sound like crap. Same for guns.

2. Most guitar players have a bazillion guitars but can't play any of them. Same for guns.

There's another one floating around in there somewhere but I can't remember it.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

Dave R states:

But nobody uses the pinky.

Unless there's some very talented person out there that I don't know about...

Not necessarily "very talented", but I have written some stuff that uses all five, right-hand fingers. I typically use all except the pinky, though. As for a good example of someone who uses ALL of his fingers, look at Stanley Jordan ( www.stanleyjordan.com ). He isn't a finger-picker, nor a flat-picker - he's a tapper , but he definitely uses every single finger God gave him.

 

[280PLUS]

He plays his guitar like a piano instead of a guitar, one hand plays bass and the other plays treble. Very interesting style. Who was the kid that played in "Roadhouse"? He plays a similar style I believe. I knew this woman once who had taught herself to play from pictures in a book. The only problem was she copied them exactly by turning her normally stringed guitar over and playing it lefty. So the big strings were on the bottom and the little strings were on the top. She had some really wierd looking chords going on. She was billed as "The Upside Down - Backwards Guitar Player" Very strange

As far as pinkies, hey, if you can get 'em in there somewhere, have a blast!

 

[Strings]

Just occured to me I forgot to mention something in my previous post: a pocket amp. VERY helpful!

I paid like $150 for my current Steinberger, another $100 to upgrade pickups to EMG 89s, and roughly $25 for the pocket amp (the wonders of EvilBay). When it ISN'T on loan, it goes EVERYWHERE with me...

 

[Soap]

Cesiumsponge- You were probably just taught incorrectly since after a year and a half you should be well on your way. Try doing the exercises in the Carcassi Classical Method book.

Dave R- I use all five right hand fingers very frequently. I wasn't formally trained that way but I've found that I can play certain things smoother.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

I've found that I can play certain things smoother.

I use my pinkie, most frequently, when doing an arpeggio by holding a chord and doing something like this on the strings:

6-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-6

or

5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5

Dispite having been taught formally on classical for a year or two, I somehow gravitated to holding my right hand in a "claw" position. I don't like using thumb picks, so I have all my nails on my right hand a little bit longer than my left. To make matters worse when playing bass, I use the same hand positioning/style and get a more trebly sound due to the fingernail attack......which also makes me just about useless on bass when I break a nail. My wife gives me crap, quite often, when I complain about breaking a nail. She says I'm worse than a woman about my nails.

Another reason that I will use my pinkie is when hitting chords with the fingernails, similar to how EVH does in "Summer Nights" off the Van Halen "5150" LP and George Lynch does on "It's Not Love" off the Dokken "Under Lock and Key" LP (I guess I should say "CD", these days).

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Don't fall for the Guitar Center spiel.

Guitar Center

If you're getting a guitar for a first-timer, make sure you get a guitar that is less pricey, but yet playable. You should probably try it yourself to make sure its reasonable. A lot of the bottom-line stuff has strings so high, its going to stress fingers more than normal just to fret them and the kid might get fustrated and give up.

Cesiumsponge- You were probably just taught incorrectly since after a year and a half you should be well on your way. Try doing the exercises in the Carcassi Classical Method book.

I only did half a year

I tried to do classical for about half a year

I didn't have enough time to dedicate to it 100%

A few (non classical) guitarists stick out in my mind. Rusty Cooley, Michael Angelo, and Timo Tolkki...mostly post-Malmsteen technical speed guitarists; I like sweep picking. Michael Angelo is creepy and can tap/hammer on two guitars simultaneously with either hand and harmonize with himself Rusty Cooley plays on a crazy 8 string guitar and has the quickest fretting fingers I've seen. There's also Alan Holdsworth, which does crazy stretched fretting in fusion jazz.

Though, some people will just call it tasteless noise Some of the stuff is boring and unexciting, but heck...I can never play like that. To each their own.

 

[280PLUS]

http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=3189973&from1=QUIA

here's a link for you, scroll down and start with Iraqiroll

Then tell me who his influences are

Get away from the three chord rut...

 

[Dave R]

If you're getting a guitar for a first-timer, make sure you get a guitar that is less pricey, but yet playable. You should probably try it yourself to make sure its reasonable. A lot of the bottom-line stuff has strings so high, its going to stress fingers more than normal just to fret them and the kid might get fustrated and give up.

I totally agree with this advice, if getting a guitar for a kid. I have bought guitars for 3 of my kids, and 2 friends' kids, so far. Buy the action, not the sound, for a first guitar for kids.

In fact, my most recent purchase was a rousing success. I paid $99 for a no-name guitar for my youngest player. Has great action, but a typical wood-sandwiched-in-resin sound. All midrange, little low and not much bright. It improved a little with good strings.

But ya know, everyone in the family plays that guitar, because its always laying around in reach. We take it camping. We throw it in the car. Its like a Makarov or an SKS. A "truck guitar."

Also, a tip for all you "casual players." CHANGE YOUR FRICKIN STRINGS! Fresh strings are nice and flexible. Old, oxidized strings play like a barbed-wire fence, and sound about as good.

True story. When I married my wife, she was bragging on her guitar. A classical. Her dad was on duty in 'Nam and on leave in Japan, he shopped heavily for the best value in a fine guitar. He was referred to a guy who had just left apprenticeship with one of Japan's master guitar builders. So her dad bought home his #6 guitar. I played it and thought it was nothing special. Fast forward 5-7 years. On a lark, I changed the strings. Holy cow! What a sound! I asked the last time she had changed the strings. Not since high school. DOH!

Anyway, her guitar is Sakurai #6. To make the story weirder, the guitar player in the band I play in was bragging on his new guitar score. Turns out he acquired Sakurai #7! Imagine both of them in lil ol' Idaho.

 

[280PLUS]

CHANGE YOUR FRICKIN STRINGS!

I plead the fifth...

 

[toivo]

thicker strings aren't all about volume. small strings can sound stickly and brittle compared to thick ones.

Fair enough--but it's not really noticeable at higher amp volumes and distortion levels. Clean players (amp-wise) and acoustic players will really notice the difference, but crank-and-wail people won't.

Chronic string-benders want a higher action that lets us push the bent string under the neighboring string in order to get that big bend without fighting more than one string. (A step and a half? Two whole steps? Two and a half?) With heavy strings, the extra string tension makes it an exercise for manlier men than me (like Stevie Ray). Tall frets, high action, light strings: that's my flavor.

Q: How many guitar players does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Five: one to do it and four to say "I could do that."

 

[toivo]

Also, a tip for all you "casual players." CHANGE YOUR FRICKIN STRINGS! Fresh strings are nice and flexible. Old, oxidized strings play like a barbed-wire fence, and sound about as good.

True--unless you play that really funky down-and-dirty blues, in which case sounding like a barbed-wire fence is a GOOD thing!

 

[Sir Aardvark]

Hey Skunk,

That picture looks like a heavily modified Steinberger bass.

 

[Tinker]

Skunkabilly,

The idea originated years ago with Ted Nugent.

 

[280PLUS]

two steps...

Yup, thats about where them 9s give up!

For a true Authentic blues sound I think you actually HAVE TO USE BARBED WIRE!

 

[toivo]

For a true Authentic blues sound I think you actually HAVE TO USE BARBED WIRE!

Amen--but it's rough on the fingerboard! Better go with maple...

 

[Gewehr98]

That guy shredding on the 8-string is impressive...

I'm trying to pick a melody out of it, or was it just shredding for the sake of shredding? It's kinda painful to listen to after a bit.

My own personal guitar hero? Has anybody here seen and heard Tommy Emmanuel? He's Australian, so I suppose with such stringent gun laws, he had to focus on something else to demonstrate accuracy and rapid-fire.

See the Woodsongs showlist below, his most recent appearance there is Show #349. (Another band opens for that episode, so you'll have to wade through them to get to Tommy)

http://www.woodsongs.com/showlist.asp

An even more impressive display of Tommy's skills is Show #245, further down the showlist page.

 

[LiquidTension]

John Petrucci made me want to play the guitar. I've long since given up trying to learn (firearms take priority now), but I still love to listen to his stuff. If only Mike Portnoy would learn some new fills, maybe DT's albums would become entertaining again.... Oh, and Chris Cornell needs to replace James LaBrie

 

[280PLUS]

I'm trying to pick a melody out of it, or was it just shredding for the sake of shredding? It's kinda painful to listen to after a bit.

Some call it speed for the sake of speed with no musical value, so you're close! Al Dimeola comes to mind when I think of this.




Listening to #245 right now, Yeaaaa, Chet Atkins style...

 

[Gewehr98]

Believe it or not, Chet stated he was humbled by Tommy's capabilities.

All I know is, each time I try to fret and pick as quickly and smoothly as Tommy, I quit, put my guitars and amps away in the closet, and redirect my focus at handloading or building another rifle.

 

[280PLUS]

Lol

I know the feeling. After one of those concerts I was talking about, most of us are on the way home to either practice more or burn our guitars

I used to have an old drunk roomie who'd teach me a little Chet Atkins for a 1/2 pint of gin. Problem was he'd turn mean and nasty as the gin settled in so it never got too far. HE was good at it, I never really got to be but I understand the style. Do you know if Tommy is using a pick for the bass or his thumb? Chet used a pick. I'm going to mention him to the powers that be. Maybe they'll book him!

FYI Steve Howe of "Yes" fame did a little tune in Chet Atkins style called "The Clap" ever hear of it? He's a Brit and over there "clap" doesn't mean what it means here. He actually means CLAP as in putting your hands together. He was appalled when he found out what it meant here...

 

[Gewehr98]

Watch him play Classical Gas on Show #245.

Right after he gives the impromptu lesson to the resident guitarist. Tommy's wearing a thumb pick. Looking at his guitar, I'll bet he goes through strings like underwear.

That depresses me even more. The hell with it, I'm setting up the Dillon to make a batch of .223 right now.

[may as well] Buy, Sell and Trade: Accessories. Immaculate Mosrite Ventures guitar and Danelectro Nifty Fifty amp, Zoom 505 effects pedal. Owner just plain blown away by self-taught Australian guitar virtuoso. [/just sayin']