OP
OP
Yeah, I have a few friends who are die hards and they all said the same thing. I took it in to a pro the first week I had it to have it set up properly.
Tips for an old guy trying to learn guitar
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Yeah, I have a few friends who are die hards and they all said the same thing. I took it in to a pro the first week I had it to have it set up properly.
OP
OP
For now, I play the first 3 chords of House of the Rising Sun and then say, "OK, enough of that...". Guess it's about time I spend some time with the F chord.
If you want to hear something really funny, I will find the song that I listened to Justin Sandercoe (JustinGuitar) play that featured the F Chord and had me laughing my ass off. If you have ever watched one of Justin's lessons on a specific song, you know that he sings along but inserts the name of the chord he's shifting to into the lyrics. I was watching one of his videos and he kept interrupting the real lyrics to announce he was changing to the F. It involved lyrics that come off with phrases like "F her" and "F you".
I'm so immature.
If you want to hear something really funny, I will find the song that I listened to Justin Sandercoe (JustinGuitar) play that featured the F Chord and had me laughing my ass off. If you have ever watched one of Justin's lessons on a specific song, you know that he sings along but inserts the name of the chord he's shifting to into the lyrics. I was watching one of his videos and he kept interrupting the real lyrics to announce he was changing to the F. It involved lyrics that come off with phrases like "F her" and "F you".
I'm so immature.
Yeah, if you scroll back, you will see me bitching about 2 months ago about playing the open D chord. That sounds hilarious to me right now. But what does not sound hilarious to me now (but I hope will in a few weeks) is this:
Wait, THIS chord is giving you troubles?
Have no fear, you will soon have this one mastered. AND you'll be sliding that sucker all up and down the neck!
If you really want to get depressed, watch a classical or Jazz guitarist play. THOSE guys are doing the impossible!
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My neighbor is classically trained. He does some crazy crap with those nylon strings, for sure.
I keep wanting to practice more, but 2 days ago my finger calluses were coming off.
Sigh.
Kind of back to square one.
I got a neat little pocket amp device that I can clip to my belt and plug my guitar into. It's got a few effects and you can plug it into the computer to tweak settings if you want. you can plug headphones into it and walk around playing guitar everywhere. The distorted sound isn't the best, but it's definitely useable. Some neat sounds for the clean channel too.
I think it was a Line6 Pocket something or other.
EDIT: here it is:
http://line6.com/pocketpod/
I've got a portable amplifier too that I like. Not nearly as nice as your Line 6 though. I do have a 75 watt Line 6 Spider Jam though! Those portable amps are great for camping or playing the electric on the front porch........but again I don't have a front porch.
The version of F Major your trying to play isn't the traditional bar chord version, it's the open version. This is the bar chord version in the first position. It's certainly going to be more difficult than the open one for most beginners. Open F Major really is a tough chord, I actually mastered bar chords BEFORE I could play that chord with any kind of proficiency. It's probably going to take a few months for you to get the hang of that one so be patient.
GrogNerd
mean old man
hey! mine's portable. it's on wheels and everything
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
A friend brought it back ti Michigan and gave it to me right before the Weird Al concert.
I only played with it once, but I did download the manual and some software to play with the settings. I guess there is a ton you can tweak with your computer.
From what I've experienced, this is nowhere near as nice-sounding as my Peavey Vyper modding amp. I got a 30-watt with a single 12" speaker and it sounds really nice, even on headphones. But it's not NEARLY as portable, LOL!
What amazes me is that they have a 15W version with fewer effects for only about $130 brand new. And it still sounds awesome!
If I could get my kid to start practicing her guitar I'd think about buying her one.
OP
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This hobby has potential to be worse than brewing for my wallet. I can't even play a song yet, but I find myself looking online at stuff like this and thinking it would be neat to have one.
http://wallacedetroitguitars.com/the-guitars/purchase/
Those are cool as hell.
GrogNerd
mean old man
not a big fan of the telecaster, which these look and sound like.
checking out the videos, want to hear what a humbucker sounds like in one, or the P90!
checking out the videos, want to hear what a humbucker sounds like in one, or the P90!
I'm not a fan of the LOOK of the tele, but after playing a couple I AM a fan of how they finger and sound!
I've been thinking about making my own body, just having trouble figuring out how to make it unique.
If they Dyed that wood before gluing it up, it could be even cooler. Tie Dye maybe...
nutty_gnome
Well-Known Member
We have a Bandit 65 at home which is great for blowing out eardrums and waking up the neighbors. Does anyone recommend a small, portable amp that is worth the cash? We really don't need 2 amps in the house but it would be nice to be able to take along in one hand a small but useful amp when visiting with local family.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
Hey, I got that $130 Peavy Vypr! It's amazing. My dad has a Line 6 Sypder, but it doesn't even compare to the Vypr. It's got all these pre-loaded amp types in it, so you can plug in, turn a dial 3 notches, and you sound JUST like Van Halen. I really enjoy it. It has great acoustic modes as well.
The Peavy Vypr! haha what great timing. I got the VIP1 which is a 20 watt amp. It was $130 at Guitar Center, and you can usually find a 15% off coupon from there pretty easy to get the price down a tad. It's incredibly versatile, and very light. In comparison to two amps my dad has (25 watt, 30 watt) the Peavy Vypr VIP1 is much lighter and a little smaller. I'd HIGHLY recommend it, especially for the money. The great thing is, it's got the fancy effects and different amp models built in, but if you just want to play clean music, you can turn it over to the Tube Amp setting and it's clear as a bell and ready for whatever reverb/gain you wish to add.
So that is why guitar people spend so much on amps. I didnt know they could compensate for my complete lack of musical talent.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
I have found that a little bit of gain can go a looooooong way in making a newb sound good
I used to have a Bandit 112 when I was young. Nice amp, in it's day. Transtube technology!
Uh, I really HAVE to recommend the little Vyper. For it's price it's really an amazing sounding amp. I always play one when I go to the music shop. I keep ALMOST buying one.
And it's quite loud for it's size. My 30W amp I usually practice just off 0 and it's nice. Much more than that and it's almost painful in my small room. That little 15W amp would be more than enough for family type stuff.
Now I wouldn't recommend it for playing over a whole band in a bar, but it's maybe the best practice amp currently being made.
I also tried the Line6 modelling amp because my friend had one and liked it, but it's not even close to sounding as nice as the Peavey.
I actually traded a Peavey 5150 2x12 amp for a Fender tube amp, and finally dumped that for the Vyper. The 5150 had problems and was WAYYY too big for my room. The Fender was "nice", but still too big and not nearly as versatile.
I also like that the Vyper had built-in tuner, headphone jack, and line out to a computer. And will also accept a Pantera Pedal for controlling it and doing "wah" type effects. I should get one one of these days.
nutty_gnome
Well-Known Member
Anyone got an opinion on the Roland Micro Cube? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MicroCubeGX
I must be abnormal (SWMBO certainly thinks so) I didn't have any trouble learning the F (open or barre) but have trouble with the D.
Play on
Anything with Line 6's name on it the instructions are a MUST! My Spider Jam is awesome; 1600 pre-programmed artist sounds and effects, 30 minutes of infinite dub over/loop recording time, microphone jack, SD Card slot, MP3 input, jam tracks, and can be connected to a computer as well to output sound files and to change or add effects. I also have the optional pedal board. Problem is I get a headache trying to use all that crap! I much prefer my Marshall half stack, simple and sounds awesome. Problem there is the half stack doesn't sound so good with the volume down, and although I don't mind being in a small room with the volume on it cranked, it means I can't practice with it when the wife is home.
Vox makes some really awesome smaller amps. My grandpa has a 30 watt tube model that I play through a lot and I love it, also has some effects built in. Very reasonably priced too. I've had a couple other smaller amps before but I won't speak for them as they didn't sound too good, nor were they able to withstand my abusive nature.
You'll have that with this hobby. While I do have an acoustic that was fairly expensive, (3,500 new) I think a person can spend as much or as little money as they want. Nothing in the world wrong with buying a quality guitar though. They last many years, assuming you don't do stupid crap like taking it out of the case for the first time and holding it up to the light with admiration, then hearing a loud bang as the ceiling fan whops the hell out of it, or reaching in the back seat of your truck to sling the case over your shoulder, then hearing a "wood on concrete" harmonic thud as you realize your case wasn't closed, and you just boomeranged your guitar across the parking lot, or leaving it in the rain on a tailgate, or leaning it against a wall and having it fall over about 100 times in the first year, yes, I think if you avoid THOSE things it should last many years.
Those guitars in that link really are beautiful too. I only have a cheap Fender electric that belonged to my brother, we played together before he died of cancer at age 18. Buying an electric though, is like opening Pandora's box, next thing you know it's amps, pedals, signal processors, pick ups and cables.
I haven't seen on in person that I recall, but the videos make me want to try one out!
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
Keeping the hobby...affordable...yes. It's fun like that. I've had some expensive hobbies over recent years: Sporting Clays (talk about $$$) and golf have been the bigger ones. The thing I love about a guitar is, you can get away with only paying for strings for it.
My wife and I will go out to dinner with friends every once in a while, and it's very easy to drop $100 a night for stuff that gets digested 8 hours later. Meanwhile, if I instead spent that money on a guitar, I'd have something I'd be able to hold and play with...without gagging.
None of that sounded okay.
Anyways, I love how it can be cheap.
My wife and I will go out to dinner with friends every once in a while, and it's very easy to drop $100 a night for stuff that gets digested 8 hours later. Meanwhile, if I instead spent that money on a guitar, I'd have something I'd be able to hold and play with...without gagging.
None of that sounded okay.
Anyways, I love how it can be cheap.
That is one reason I got rid of my GNX3 Guitar Workstation board. Just too complicated to use for me. I almost never used it, even though it had some nice (for it's day) features.
My Vyper has much of that stuff and is almost dead simple to use. There were a couple of things I did sometimes use on the GNX3, but not often enough to really miss them.
I ripped the guts out of a broken First Act kids guitar and planned to put the speaker and tiny amp in a small cigar box. I think that thing ran on a 9V battery, so it would be small enough to clip onto a belt, like the old Pignose amps.
My brother in law has a PHD in electrical engineering, although he specializes in photonics, he made me a guitar amplifier, custom circuit board and an old computer speaker, it runs on a 9v. Also have a a cardboard amp as well.
If you pay attention when your out, you'll notice only a hand full of weekend warriors using digital processors on their electric guitar setup. I think electric guitarist gravitate toward just buying a flight case, and stuffing it with the particular pedals that are important to them. I personally really only need a chorus, distortion, octave, looper, wah wah and OD and MAYBE an acoustic pedal. Others will have a tuner and an EQ, but I don't need those. Pedals are easy to find at pawn shops, dead simple to use and set up. Easy to change in the middle of a song too.
Back to guitar tips! I think its important to learn to play some stupid crap too. Happy Birthday, some rap songs, TV show themes, surfing music and (although not stupid) the Star Spangled Banner. You'd be surprised how many people you can get to sing along with the Cheers theme song or the number of "Book e'm Dano" I hear when I do Hawaii Five-0. Also love to try and play the guitar like a violin or pluck the strings as if it's a wash tub bass. Laying it across my lap and tuning it to open E, grabbing a beer bottle and doing some Kurtis Lowe is fun too! It's good to just screw around with it sometimes and NOT take it too seriously.
GrogNerd
mean old man
I used to have some rack-mount, multi-effects box, but I ended up playing around with it more than actually using it, so now it's gathering dust
I've simplified things considerably and just have a basic setup: compressor into overdrive into chorus.
compressor and overdrive lets me maintain volume and still play soft/loud/clean/crunchy just by using the volume knob on the guitar and adjusting my pick attack, while the chorus makes for a fuller sound to make up for the lack of another guitar in the mix
and while the digital amp modelling has gotten better in the last 10 years, the simulated tube amp still sounds harsh to me. nothing beats a thermionic emission of electrons from a cathode heated by a filament
IOW: I can't stand Bud, but A/B sure is CONSISTENT brewing it!
Hi all. I've been lurking (a lot). My son is learning to play guitar. He practices all the time, learning chords, etc. So I'm watching you all talk about it. Thanks for all the ideas, I turned him on to justinguitar after learning on this thread and he's all over that site - it's always on his laptop while he is learning.
normonster
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How old is he? My boy says he wants to continue, but damn is it hard to get him to try anything new or to practice outside of his lessons. I just learned that his instructor has been introducing chords to him...I sat him down and tried to do some work with him on the chords I knew he had learned. He seemed to have no interest in it and wanted to practice the riffs he had learned weeks earlier.
Riffs are fun. Did the same thing when I was learning. My teacher tried showing me all the scales, modes, etc. I REALLY wish I'd studied what he was teaching. I really just practiced Van Halen stuff.
Now I'm too old to learn I think.
He's 17. I don't tell him anything, he's always practicing his chords. He's a bit of an overachiever though (he's a Junior at University of Florida!). Ask me in a year if he's still playing though.
My 2¢ on kids and stuff like this: Don't let him quit, but let him do the parts he likes. If you push too hard, he might ditch the whole thing. I have two older kids that I forced through piano lessons for several years, but later allowed them to choose, and they quit. Now all of us regret that - they wish they had continued, and I do too.
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My boy is only 9. I keep telling him that he will regret it if he quits. He seems to understand what I'm saying...but doesn't seem to be willing to much effort in, just the same. I'll keep him plugging along and hope that one day the switch turns on.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
Funny you mention this; about a month ago I had posted something similar on this thread about finding a balance between encouragement and overbearing.
For some reason I just discovered The Civil Wars about 2 weeks ago, and I love it. I've been working on learning some of their songs on the acoustic, which has been a nice challenge as he plays different than anything I had learned so far.
I was watching this last night. After being astonished that this was not originally by Roberta Flack, I couldn't help trying to figure out the chords she was playing. I'm not a player, but since I'm sort of learning along with my son, I pay a lot more attention to what guitar player's hands are doing. I imagine that's true for all of you.
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normonster
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This hobby is a fickle mistress. I've really taken a step forward in my ability to play a few strumming patterns and keep the rhythm (assuming it only involves specific chords). Last night, I was killing it. I played a couple of songs from beginning to end and was really in a groove. Working from home today, and I was all geeked up about grabbing the guitar at lunch time. I couldn't do a damn thing this afternoon ...sounded like a seal getting raped when I tried those same songs. I now see this is going to be a 3 steps forward, one step back, kind of process. I'm chalking this one up to finger fatigue from playing so much yesterday.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
My dad and I talk about this a lot. Some days I feel like I can do anything. I'm a white Jimmy Hendrix.
Other days...not so much. If I'm not feeling it after about 10 mins, I usually just run through a couple easier songs I enjoy playing every once in a while, then put it away for the day. No use getting frustrated if it's not all coming togeter.
HarborTownBrewing
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Well, I may have gotten my first gig. Maybe. It's for an office (not mine) summer party, and they were looking for music, but everyone was too expensive. Me, well I'm cheap. We'll see what happens...if I don't get it I will not be upset by any means, but it made me start thinking about it as a possibility on the side.
They asked for some demo music and I'm like, "uhhh" yeah I'm not really there yet, aside from a couple cell phone quality recordings I made a month ago. So, next step is to record a few songs in case stuff like this comes up in the future.
It's a fun hobby, and I want to keep it that way; if I can make a couple bucks playing a few times a year I'd be happy.
They asked for some demo music and I'm like, "uhhh" yeah I'm not really there yet, aside from a couple cell phone quality recordings I made a month ago. So, next step is to record a few songs in case stuff like this comes up in the future.
It's a fun hobby, and I want to keep it that way; if I can make a couple bucks playing a few times a year I'd be happy.
Nice!
I've been playing with some youtube backing tracks. Just type in a key and guitar backing track and take your pick! (Pun not intended.)
Mostly blues and rock so far. There are some very interesting songs to play over top of.
And Jos Satriani is releasing another album in about a month. Just in case you were a Satch fan. It's called Shockwave Supernova. Pretty much the same Joe sound, some sounding more recent, some sounding more classic Joe.
HarborTownBrewing
Well-Known Member
I really enjoy playing along with backing tracks. One of the things I'm working on is controlling my tempo; sometimes I just play too darn fast no matter the song, and it can be really inappropriate. And not even like a dirty joke-type inappropriate. More like, playing David Crosby guitar songs at the speed of Foo Fighters songs.
