Guitar Discussion V10 - February 2013 edition - General

[QUOTE=Wingz;44862322]i agree with most of that except my first guitar was crap but i still enjoyed playing it, and the one he picked out is moderately better also, i still dont know where all the notes on the guitar are (except the 6th string when tuned to E), but i can play pretty well. all i did was pretty much find tabs online and practice those for years and lastly, you can play without an amp, just make sure you're in a quiet environment. i did that for my first year or so. i'd rather play through an amp with headphones or something if I were you tho.[/QUOTE] Yeah you can totally make due with a crappy guitar. I'm not denying that. But for a beginner, where it is hard to motivate yourself already even with a fantastic guitar (because everyone sucks at first and nobody likes to suck), a crappy guitar just adds to the demotivation there. It's not a deal breaker it's just also not an ideal situation. And yeah you don't need to memorize all the notes either if all you want to do is repeat something that someone else played. You don't need to know a language if all you want to do is memorize how to say a certain phrase. However, the understanding behind either learning the meaning of the language, or in a musical context, learning the notes themselves and how they relate, allows you to expand far beyond that which has already been created for you. Memorizing tabs versus learning a little bit of basic music theory and actually knowing what notes you're playing is like monkey see monkey do versus monkey actually knows what he's doing and is using some original thought, lol. Either way works, they just lead you in different directions. No memorization whatsoever, either of tabs or of theory, just random noodling can also teach you just as much, it will just be a slower process because it requires constantly re-inventing the wheel and there's no real reason to do so.

One big happy family. [img]https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/10303364_10201821678604134_6202553116434160184_n.jpg[/img]

The Affinity basses do look good. I wish there was an option to get maple boards on some Squier models though. The metallic red colour they come in looks really good, but I think it would look better with a maple board on it. If they came with that option I would get one as it'd pretty much be my ideal bass, I'd just need to swap out the bridge for something more substantial. I know the bent plate bridges do the job perfectly fine but they just look so flimsy compared to the Classic Vibe high mass bridges, for example.

[QUOTE=dcalde78;44862866]The Affinity basses do look good. I wish there was an option to get maple boards on some Squier models though. The metallic red colour they come in looks really good, but I think it would look better with a maple board on it. If they came with that option I would get one as it'd pretty much be my ideal bass, I'd just need to swap out the bridge for something more substantial. I know the bent plate bridges do the job perfectly fine but they just look so flimsy compared to the Classic Vibe high mass bridges, for example.[/QUOTE] Yeah I am happy with it for what I paid, it had the typical cheap instrument flaws like sharp fret edges and a bad setup but a few minutes with some sandpaper and some tools and it plays pretty good.

[QUOTE=ImpSnob;44862186]For my B-Day in July I was gonna get a keyboard but decided that I'm gonna get an electric guitar. 1: is this a good one? [URL]http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Accessories-Beginner-Starter-Package/dp/B005JPWNVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400447469&sr=8-1&keywords=electric+guitar[/URL] 2: Is Justinguitar a good place to learn how to play? 3: I can play without an amp right? so I'm not too loud. 4: are some songs only able to be played on acoustic and some only on electric? sorry if these questions are stupid, I'm clueless![/QUOTE] 1. not really. if you're going to start playing guitar, it's probably best if you invest a little more than 100 bucks. you should buy a 250-350 dollar guitar and a cheap little practice amp. as far as beginner amps go, fender has a line of [URL="http://www.fender.com/series/mustang/"]Mustang[/URL] amps that are perfect for beginners. I own a Mustang IV and played both the Mustang II and III and they were all solid amps. If the rest of the series is just as good as the amps I've tried, picking up something like a Mustang I should be a good investment for a beginner amp. For the price, you get tons of versatility with the effects and presets and a lot of power (20 watts is pretty damn good for a practice amp). As far as guitars go, I started off with an Epiphone SG Special and for the price, it's a really solid guitar. It has medium sized comfortable frets and plays pretty nice. The electronics and set up were a little cheap and off for me but for a 250 $ guitar, it's not a bad investment at all. You could probably google something like "good beginner guitars" and get a list of some cheap but decent guitars for 200-400 bucks. 2. I haven't heard of that site but honestly, it's hard to go wrong with beginner guitar information so you can pretty much look anywhere. This guy's videos are pretty good for beginners: [URL]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAA61393A00F101FC[/URL] But like I said, most places have good information. 3. If you're getting an electric, you should probably get an amp. Amps aren't necessarily loud and you can plug headphones into a lot of practice and beginner amps. If you can play video games, watch movies, or listen to music through your computer speakers and whatnot without bothering anyone, you can get an amp quiet enough to play. 4. Some songs use certain techniques that only can get a certain sound on electric that you can't do on acoustic and vice versa. For the most part, however, you can play songs on electric that are normally acoustic and acoustic songs on electric (I play War Pigs and Ace of Spades on my acoustic all the time, don't judge). Obviously an acoustic sounds different from an electric. [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] speaking of beginning guitar, one of my friends is getting into guitar and just bought a Stagg G300+some cheap marshal practice amp for 125 bucks

Let's play a game called "Strat or a Coil Split Ibanez" [media]http://soundcloud.com/nazereth666/fender-strat-or-coil-split-ibanez[/media] Which do you think is which?

i've played neither a strat nor an ibanez so i'll just guess that the first is the ibanez and the second is the strat

I'll let a few more people guess and then i'll answer. The pickup I used for the Ibanez is a Dimarzio Super 2 if that helps anyone.

[QUOTE=Nazereth666;44866004]Let's play a game called "Strat or a Coil Split Ibanez" [media]http://soundcloud.com/nazereth666/fender-strat-or-coil-split-ibanez[/media] Which do you think is which?[/QUOTE] ha, you wont fool me! both sounds are from a les paul! >:) [sp]1) fender 2) ibanez ?[/sp]

I will reveal the answer in the morning, or in about 10 hours and 20 minutes.

Thank you all for the help and info! How about this: [url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stagg-S300-BK-Electric-Guitar/dp/B000NUUCBE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400654067&sr=8-1&keywords=Stagg+300[/url] and [url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vox-amPlug-Headphone-Guitar-Amplifier/dp/B000ZMYRJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400654176&sr=8-1&keywords=Vox[/url] and [url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/SHIPPING-Dunlop-Nylon-Guitar-Plectrums/dp/B000Q84796/ref=pd_bxgy_MI_img_y[/url].

What's your budget? I would recommend something like this as a beginner guitar: [url]http://www.amazon.com/Squier-Fender-Electric-Guitar-Frontman/dp/B008F4UQVQ[/url] [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] (mostly because of the price)

[B][U]shit that gets you mad - musician edition:[/U][/B] When your guitarist/bassist doesn't even know which note your strings are tuned to although you have given information about it When the stuff you play gets ignored while jamming and the wrong notes get played When you are the only one hearing that the instruments aren't tuned in pitch When you are the only one saying that the vocalist is off pitch on the melody hes singing over the chords And if the vocalist takes it personal although you did sing it to him to show how the melody would be on pitch sounding and right When half of your bandmembers owe you money because they couldn't pay their part of the band rooms rent for months and your hands were tied because you needed to pay the money When you tune the drummers drumkit only to have it old and bad sounding after a few weeks because he does not seem to notice the difference When you clean the dusty drumkit and the drummer does not even notice it When your vocalists mic is broken and he uses yours and gives it back with the [B]most ungodly smell you can imagine[/B] (I can pretty much take it home with me and wash it with soap now...) When when when... Welcome to my life, sorry for the /rant

[QUOTE=Darkslicer;44866612] When you are the only one hearing that the instruments aren't tuned in pitch[/QUOTE] Oh, did you just bring back a fun memory. In your 4th year of high school here, you have to do an unpaid internship somewhere. I was placed at a community centre, helping prepare for shows in its theatre and packing everything up afterwards. I was done in like 2 sessions but I stuck around for a while afterwards. This particular story takes place during a multicultural festival we hosted. The theatre itself had various worldly things and the stage was pretty much constantly filled with performers. Everything starts during sound check beforehand. Every scheduled performer had to come in for a general sound check and they all did nicely on time, except for this random local band. They showed up 30 minutes before the festival started (20 minutes after they were supposed to arrive). Things didn't go well getting shit ready for the sound check for a number of reasons. For starters, these guys showed up late so there was some time pressure, this was something like my 4th event so I was nervous and inexperienced and these guys were fucking cunts. Every single one of them except the drummer (I genuinely felt bad for him since he was the nicest guy in the building and was stuck with these grade-a douchebags) seemed to feel the need to belittle or insult me. But that's not the reason I'm mentioning them. The performance was kind of awful anyway because one of their guitarists also doubled as their singer and he'd always, ALWAYS start singing while still moving towards the mic so it sounded like someone was messing with the volume control. To make things worse, he was constantly bobbing his head back and forth. I haven't even mentioned the most hilarious part yet. No, when it came for sound check, they went and tuned their guitars and bass in our full lighting setup, y'know, the usual. But when they finished, the guitarists and bass player put their instruments in the shadows of the back stage. And when they were on, they took those same instruments out of the shadows and started playing. The instruments that been tuned in an area that was fairly warm and then kept in a dark, cool area of the stage. At that point, I figured it was as good a time as any to go to take a break. Just before I left the theatre, I caught my supervisor out of the corner of my eye hunched over the sound mixer doing his best not to laugh.

when only one guy in your band has the keys to the rehearsal place and he's always busy with something from monday to friday, limiting rehearsals to weekends, even if the rest of the band members would easily have time to rehearse pretty much every day of the week

[QUOTE=Nazereth666;44866144]I will reveal the answer in the morning, or in about 10 hours and 20 minutes.[/QUOTE] 1 fender 2 ibanez im a newbie though.

when your band members keep forgetting their parts and you need to remember them of [I]their[/I] parts and how [I]their[/I] parts are played all the time although you never played these parts on their instruments but you remember them and they don't for whatever reason. Fuck you to all musicians in a band who don't do their homework and don't even know how to play their own shit even after months of practise. [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] I even need to fucking nod or give a sign to my vocalist when his vocal part starts because for whatever reason he doesn't know when to start even after 3 months of practicing, what the fuck.

Get a new band. in our first performance our singer got stage fright and forgot all the words to every song. [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] shes not in our band anymore

My friend's style is just so different, he's influenced mostly by Frusciante and uses weird chords that aren't in one key mostly. I love playing odd chords, but jeez I can barely play along to it. It makes me feel like a bad player (which means I'll pratice more, so that's good) Any tips? I'm going to try and find some weirder backing tracks on youtube.

[QUOTE=Nazereth666;44866004]Let's play a game called "Strat or a Coil Split Ibanez" [URL="http://facepunch.com/"]Listen to Soundcloud recording[/URL] [URL]http://soundcloud.com/nazereth666/fender-strat-or-coil-split-ibanez[/URL] Which do you think is which?[/QUOTE] first is ibanez, second is fender. 75% sure

[QUOTE=Just2Rusty;44866339]What's your budget? I would recommend something like this as a beginner guitar: [url]http://www.amazon.com/Squier-Fender-Electric-Guitar-Frontman/dp/B008F4UQVQ[/url] [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] (mostly because of the price)[/QUOTE] about 100 euros all together

[QUOTE=Darkslicer;44867308]when your band members keep forgetting their parts and you need to remember them of [I]their[/I] parts and how [I]their[/I] parts are played all the time although you never played these parts on their instruments but you remember them and they don't for whatever reason. Fuck you to all musicians in a band who don't do their homework and don't even know how to play their own shit even after months of practise. [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] I even need to fucking nod or give a sign to my vocalist when his vocal part starts because for whatever reason he doesn't know when to start even after 3 months of practicing, what the fuck.[/QUOTE] For the sake of your sanity, PLEASE start looking for a new band ASAP.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;44868548]For the sake of your sanity, PLEASE start looking for a new band ASAP.[/QUOTE] I am already losing my sanity, I am bound to this band for now for several reasons... 1 year band room contract aswell. I will see where this goes after we had our first live show, if that one fails then oh im out.

[QUOTE=ImpSnob;44868536]about 100 euros all together[/QUOTE] it's real easy to get discouraged from playing a guitar so making sure you put at least a little bit more money in to make sure that just so you can make sure that you got a guitar that is set up right, has okay woodwork, is comfortable/easy to play, isn't all around so shitty, ect. if you're on a really tight budget, it would probably be a bit cheaper to just get an acoustic instead of an electric+an amp. an acoustic does have bigger string and more tension usually though, so it will be rough on your hands.

[QUOTE=Nazereth666;44866004]Let's play a game called "Strat or a Coil Split Ibanez" [media]http://soundcloud.com/nazereth666/fender-strat-or-coil-split-ibanez[/media] Which do you think is which?[/QUOTE] For all wondering the first is the Ibanez and the second in the strat.

[QUOTE=Darkslicer;44866612][B][U]shit that gets you mad - musician edition:[/U][/B] When when when... Welcome to my life, sorry for the /rant[/QUOTE] When you lose a great bass player, and the drummer says he has players when he really just called around on craigslist, and he provided an address, so your doorbell rings constantly with old men asking to try out for your band when your drummer accidentally ate two pot brownies and can't drum not possible i'm too high agugh and then... when you had a long fucking day at work but you still go to band rehearsal and it's the most fantastic time, and you thank yourself later for going. that's the reason why I try to constantly go to practice.

[QUOTE=DesumThePanda;44869267]it's real easy to get discouraged from playing a guitar so making sure you put at least a little bit more money in to make sure that just so you can make sure that you got a guitar that is set up right, has okay woodwork, is comfortable/easy to play, isn't all around so shitty, ect. if you're on a really tight budget, it would probably be a bit cheaper to just get an acoustic instead of an electric+an amp. an acoustic does have bigger string and more tension usually though, so it will be rough on your hands.[/QUOTE] I don't think I can, and aren't cheap acoustic guitars way worse than cheap electric guitars?

I think the first was the strat, and the second the Ibby. [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] damn it [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] My instincts were right, but I wasn't. Someone shoot me now

Met a composer in class today named Nick Thorpe, such an amazingly humble guy. He currently works for Carnival Cruise line as the lead musical director and has worked for Disney in the past. On top of that he was in the Buddy Guy band for a little while and has worked with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. Jerry Lewis and the list goes on. It's amazing to be able to talk to these kinds of people in the business and get their take on how things should be done if you want the best chance at getting into the biz.

[QUOTE=Nazereth666;44869306]For all wondering the first is the Ibanez and the second in the strat.[/QUOTE] i knew it. i generally associate ibanez with metal guitars so the thicker, deeper tone of the first one kinda hinted towards it. [editline]21st May 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=ImpSnob;44870324]I don't think I can, and aren't cheap acoustic guitars way worse than cheap electric guitars?[/QUOTE] from personal experience they haven't been. of course i've only played four or five acoustic guitars before and they were all cheap so maybe i'm just used to cheap guitars.