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Joni Mitchell uses a lot of different open tunings, so you play a chord without even using your fingers. Plonk one finger down, you get a different chord. Yes it means you have to stick to songs that are ok with the chords you can play but it didn’t hurt her career.
I always think that the magic happens when you actually play a recognisable song, or can play along to one*. As you suggest, it doesn't make the slightest difference how you achieve it, and open tunings are great for this approach. With very little work you can play something that sounds good and can then build on it. The problem is that most beginner tutorials start with standard tuning though, so diving into open tunings as a beginner may be a little intimidating?
[quote I am revising my expectation of playing, Wish You Were Here and Stairway to Heaven to, She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain.
Keep attempting Wish You Were Here. It's not too difficult and will give you a benchmark to how you're progressing.
* The TV was on in background the other night, with a Bruce Springsteen gig on Sky Arts. I heard him play an unfamiliar song with a really nice chord progression, so looked it up and started playing along. It was just a simple D-A-G, but it sounded glorious playing along with Bruce!
Thanks everyone, my son was heavily into Oasis also and I tried Don’t Look back in anger but was struggling, so had a look at Live Forever which I’m finding a bit more doable I suppose practice and practice, but realise I’ll need help along the way.
Open tuning use doesn't seem to have held Keith Richards back !
If you fancy a real challenge, try playing along to Soundgarden's "Superunknown" album. Tunings used:
Drop D
C-G-D-G-B-E
E-E-B-B-B-B
C-G-C-G-G-C
C-B-G-D-G-D
Pedals: get a TC electronic Flashback Delay - this has a looper in it as well as lots of good delays, get a good overdrive like a Boss BluesDriver or a NobelsODR and a pedal tuner is handy, these will be permanent on a pedal board as others come and go
@brennak get this https://www.musicroom.com/complete-chord-songbook-vocal-guitar-musam997733?glid=gb&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=18700177633&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwd2G6-D4ggMVhfntCh2tZQSFEAQYAiABEgLrV_D_BwE
It shows the chord fingering for each chord in each song. No need to read music. Oh and search YouTube for "song name" + guitar lesson
A good teacher would help you get going and could help with alternative chord shapes for your hands
@brennak - you can give Brian Acton a shout. He's based in Tod and is a great teacher (and rides bikes). He likes a challenge, too... 🙂 I have his number if needed.
I'm just starting out and what has helped me the most so far is using Justin guitar's strumming course. I learned a bunch of chords and couldn't work out why my playing sounded SO bad. Then I realised my rhythm was just all over the place and did the online strumming course. It is really really boring but is also really really helping. You just have to set aside 20 mins or so every day for a month or 2 and practice strumming. Did I say it was boring? yes it is. But it really helped me to understand 'how' to play rhythm guitar.
Yeah, learning to strum properly is dead boring but really rather important. I should spend more time on it.
I've been ill this week, still trying to learn to play Fire and Rain in between coughing fits though 😅
Think it'll be rather a long time until I can play it well enough for me to think it sounds okay!
https://youtube.com/shorts/PZbMBUVmYTM?si=L1uzwK4BF0pjsmWj
Sounds pretty good to me!!!!
Saturday’s gig was just a compere in a wheelchair away from the full phoenix nights experience. Super fun though & they asked us back 😄
spent this afternoon assembling a mini pedal board with left over bits from my main rig. Perfect for the punk band I haven’t formed yet! 😂
Epi Jr was 75 quid but sounds great
Can’t beat the simplicity and value of an epi jr. mine is 26 yrs old, though I only bought it a few months ago to learn with.
I was browsing black Friday sales, and it seems my finger slipped and this arrived...
PRS SE Hollowbody II...I was so close to buying one last year when they were being punted at ~£600 (originally >£1k) but the price came down even more and I couldn't resist....
Plays really well out of the box - I'm not even inclined to tinker with the setup. Tis awesome!
Help, I've got an irrational want to buy one of the Squire Single humbucker sonic guitars, only the dilemma of choosing the Strat or Tele version is holding me back!
Oh, and anyone fancy buying my excellent condition blonde tokai breezy sound Tele? It's a coincidence but selling for the exact same price as the sonic costs ⬆️ 🤔
Help, I’ve got an irrational want to buy one of the Squire Single humbucker sonic guitars, only the dilemma of choosing the Strat or Tele version is holding me back!
Tele!
In the latest instalment of me trying to learn songs that are way beyond my skill level...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Vn1_coEXveY
The USB-C port on my phone is still playing silly buggers so I can't use my external mic. I might try and dig out an old phone and see if I can use that for recording instead.
A bit of progress since yesterday? Acoustic guitar hurts my fingertips (not helped by not actually picking up a guitar over the summer) so practice is currently limited by pain!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z-a8JWhqytY
Picked up a few new pedals since selling the Helix.
2 from Sonicake: the Levitate which is a dual reverb and delay pedal and Warped Dimension which has Chorus, Flanger, Phaser and Tremelo. Both absolute bargains and sound fantastic.
The real standout though is the Joyo King of Kings which is a clone of the Analogman King Of Tone, except it costs £50 instead of £800 second hand thanks to the 5 year wait list for a new one!!! It's an absolutely stunning pedal. After half an hour of playing around with it I had the realisation it actually made me play better. It gives so much confidence in my sound that I attack more and play with more commitment.
Nice side by side demo with the King of Tone to show how close it is
https://youtu.be/WM-OoppbR2I?si=0EmSGak8o1yH2t_a
I dont need a review to know the king of tine is pretty crap (for me)
Glad to sell if for twice what I paid (waiting list for mine was circa 2 year)
I just got the King of Kings. Works better for me than my Halcyon Gold.
Other new pedals"
Chase Bliss Tonal Recall
Chase Bliss Dark World
@jca Nice PRS. Welcome to the SE Hollowbody fan club... 🙂 Mine has been awesome. Love it straight into an amp for hours of noodling.
Talking of amps... Deluxe Reverb Tone Master. Tried one when I bought my Blackstar Amped 1 and kept thinking about how great an open E sounds on one with the volume on about 6. A B-stock opportunity at Thomann then had to make it this way. It's fab!
I've just added another one to the fleet
It's a "fusion" or "crossover" nylon string Yamaha. Basically a classical guitar but with a narrower and radiused neck compared to the wide flat ones of a conventional Spanish guitar. Joined at 14th fret instead of 12th.
I'm mighty impressed and can't stop playing it. There's a very familiar feel to my steel acoustic - and you can get your thumb over to the bottom E string. I just need to get the solo from Make me Smile sorted before taking it down to the acoustic night at my local next Tuesday.
That's not a PRS behind it, that's a £200 Harley Benton with a bunch of upgrades. And the Tele is one I made from scratch, with the (considerable) mentoring by Martin Dixon, now of East Durham Guitars.
I've been looking at one of those PRS amps? How does it work out for use at home?
What are you running it into?
Love the deluxe reverb Chipps, thankfully I haven't got the space for something like that!
2023 was a year of trying not to buy anything new and practising more. Other than some strings and a 3ish month break when life got in the way I've succeeded. I think I'll try something similar again in 2024 although I would like an electro acoustic (I need to get a job first though!)
I gave Babe I'm Gonna Leave You a go on my Strat this morning to give my fingers a break from the acoustic I've been mainly playing recently. It's definitely easier on the fingers although could do with a string change.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p2YcumTX928
@ali69er I run it in full power mode, half power mode changes the tone quite a bit, into a Two Notes Captor either as an attenuator for my 2x12 or a load box into my interface. Even at low volumes it sounds excellent. Buy one 😁
I didn't really gel with the MT15 but I really liked the PRS HDRX 20 I tried. Sadly at £799 for the head I don't play live enough to justify it.
I'll be sticking with my Tonex or Origin amp in a box pedals through an Ox Stomp into my FRFR.
Speaking which it's time for another pedal cull. I realised I have the Revival Drive (full fat) plus the Compact and Compact Hotrod plus the Magma57 and Deluxe61 plus Cali76 Compressors and the Halcyon Gold and Green. 5 of them are going at least...
Got my daughter a squier telecaster for Xmas, recommendations for using headphones? 3.5m jack from amp to headphones or something Bluetooth etc? She's driving her sister mad.
If the amp has a headphone out, then yes wired headphones will work. Forget bluetooth, too much lag so there's a noticeable delay between hearing what you're playing.
A Vox Amplug with 3.5 jack to headphones for walking around playing.
Great thanks will try the cable from amp 1st then maybe invest in the Vox if she's still keen. She's just picked up the guitar now as her sister has gone out.
vox amplug or blackstar version are really good for this & only £40ish. use the aux cable in to play along to stuff
positive spark go is really awesome but spendier (£120) - tiny bluetooth speaker with headphone jack, app modeling of everything you want. Allows you to play to anything on your phone / youtube too
Here's the Amplug with a cheap JBL bluetooth speaker plugged in:
For comparison, everything including the music through the spark go.
Both of them sound a bit tinny cos both the speakers in my vid and educators are the size of a phone! There’s a much richer sound through decent headphones!
vox amplug or blackstar version are really good for this & only £40ish. use the aux cable in to play along to stuff
Harley Benton Rockplug version < £15, but then postage on top will make it < £25. But if buying some other stuff too.
Just got my new PRS DGT SE and the fret board is a bit wonky would you be sending this back? I have emailed the shop asking for a swap.. not sure how to post a photo so link to the picture on Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/PRSGuitars/s/SkBM4ofjUa
Yeah, I'd talk to the shop about that. Doesn't look right to me
There are plenty around, send it back if you are not happy
Thanks yeah it looks like some of the frets were too short so they sanded down the fretboard weird. Emailed peach guitars hoping it won’t be an issue they had about 10 in stock when I ordered.
Other than that it’s a lovely guitar
I am debating getting an HX stomp, is there a safe method of running it from a normal pedalboard power supply? The manual would have you believe they only work on their separate PSU but lots of them are board mounted. Also if anyone has any tips on how to use or feel free to tell me they are overrated
Also is anyone selling one 🙂?
I've had no problem running my stomp and stomp xl from a strymon zuma and ola
I can run from one 12v outlet with the necessary cabling
Stomps are super useful and though I have a full helix I have 2 stomp XLs as they are so useful for different parts of my setups, often 1 for synths and one for guitars
I would defiantly go for the XL over a standard stomp
Feel free to ask any questions
Cheers plumber, time for some internet rabbit holing 🙂
NGD! Nothing fancy, but a few firsts for me:
- Never had single coils
- Never had an offset
- Never had a wiggle stick
As such, I have questions. Typically, how hummy/buzzy are Jag/SC pickups? These seem quite buzzy, although it could just be that I'm used to (active) humbuckers.
Nice!
Singlecoils are quite buzzy & jag pickups can be quite microphonic so it’s probably “normal”
those CV jag pickups are pretty good though. Not quite as bright as the fender reissue jag pups but not quite as noisy IME.
nice guitars, I play mine lots!
Ps, this is the fount of all knowledge for offsets.....
https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/
Super helpful friendly forum
nice guitars, I play mine lots
It's seems pretty nice. Second hand, and badly set up, so spent some time faffing with the neck/bridge and put some fatter strings on. There's a couple of sharp frets, and the nut wasn't glued in, but nothing significant. Pretty pleased for a couple of hundred quid.
I suspect the buzzing is normal, it subsides when I touch the strings or hardware, so the shielding is probably ok. I'm just used to sitting in silence when not actively playing 🙄
That sounds pretty normal tbh. Offsets generally like at least 11s string wise although the CV has a better bridge and a pre installed neck shim that helps with some of the common jag problems.
The one thing I’ve found gigging with mine is that the bridge shifts around and messes with the intonation/ tuning if I get too excited & unleash my inner Pete Townsend 😂. So I’ve put some plastic inserts in the bridge thimbles to limit the movement. Not quite proper “jag” spec but easier for gigs. I have another Squier jag (vintage modified one) that I’ve refinished ( from whit to CAR) and put Fender RI pups in. That one also has a mustang style bridge but still floats properly.
R
“ kinman “ make really good noiseless jag pickups if you need quiet!
https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=118272
Good point about the intonation. I pushed the bridge all the way back for set up, so I'd at least have zero point that's easy to quickly reset to if needed....not that I've gigged since we moved 🙄
Need to find a new low commitment, low ego ensemble to fool about with.
Something I never thought I'd say
I played 2 lefty vintage strats yesterday, irrespective of cost I'd take my current customs shop strats
In the past few weeks I've picked up the guitar again in the hope that it's going to be more than a nice ornament in the living room. It's an electric and I tend to have to practice unplugged due to noise. I noticed that there are options for headphone amps which plug direct into the guitar which enable both phone input and headphone output. I've seen Fender Micro and Vox Amplug are options, the Fender being quite a bit more expensive, but more feature laden. Any advice or recommendations?
For the money the Vox is all you need as a starter. I have the bass version and it does all I need to do when out of the house. The aux in means you can plug it into a phone or tablet for backing tracks etc, and while it doesn't have much by way of tonal variety you can dial in a bit of dirt if you need it.
It's flimsy though, as you'd kind of expect for the money but for thirty odd quid .......
Yeah, same here, I've used a Vox Amplug a few times since I got it in August. It does the job - my wife can't complain when I turn the volume up to 11 when she's gone to bed! 😀
The bloke in PMT laughed at me on the weekend when I asked if anyone did anything similar with a looper incorporated. 'That's a lot to ask for something so little', he said. Well, I know that, but cleverer people than me put these things together, so I thought it was worth asking. 😀
@idlejon just buy a regular looper pedal and plug the amplug into the “out” jack and your guitar into the “in” of the pedal. Probably obvious but I do this all the time if I want to experiment with my pedal board but use headphones to keep the noise down/my wife happy!
@idlejon just buy a regular looper pedal and plug the amplug into the “out” jack and your guitar into the “in” of the pedal. Probably obvious but I do this all the time if I want to experiment with my pedal board but use headphones to keep the noise down/my wife happy!
Thanks, that's what I assumed. I already have a looper pedal but I haven't set up the electric guitar since I started thinking about it. I hate cables and plugging this bit into that, and rearranging myself close enough to a power socket to plug in my looper and with headphone leads long enough to reach... much easier just to pick up the acoustic and lie on the sofa! Where guitars are concerned, I'm the laziest person in the world. 😀
"Where guitars are concerned, I’m the laziest person in the world."
At home I play either an acoustic bass guitar, or a big body hollowbody guitar, unplugged. I write literally everything unplugged and then use the electric bass and huge pedalboard and amp rig once I'm with the band!
If you really want to play around after everyone has gone to bed then a Positive Grid Riff into a laptop with Bias FX 2 installed and some wired headphones gives you a huge range of tones, loopers and in fact pretty much every pedal ever made. It also works into an ipad or iphone if you have the right cable. I did put up a PSA a couple of months ago when they did a flash sale and gave away Bias FX2 for free for 48hrs - not sure anyone noticed though! Its an amazing bit of software and can mimic any guitar so you can even change your strat to a Les Paul or whatever.
I used to have a vox plug but found it a bit fragile and buzzy - obviously it was only 30 quid so build quality wasn't the best!
Don't NUX make a nice little headphone amp thing, with all the bells and whistles? Might have a loop feature.
I have a Line6 Pocket POD, which is alright, but ultimately quite clunky to use.
I have the NUX mighty plug pro which goes for <£100 and is awesome for what it is, but it doesn't have a looper
I have a zoom b3 pedal on my pedal board wired up to my laptop for silent practice.
If I/ when I join another band it will come off.
Don’t NUX make a nice little headphone amp thing, with all the bells and whistles?
Word of warning. I bought one last week and returned it after 3 days. It emitted a constant high pitched whine. It's what I imagine tinnitus is like. After a bit of digging online it appears this is a common known problem. Some times a firmware update sorts it, but it didn't sort mine. Other suggested turning the internal mic off, but that didn't solve mine. i tried it with multiple headphones and a set of monitor speakers and it was the same with all of them. The only thing that solved it was engaging the EQ effects block and cutting the 6k frequency completely which removed the whine but also muddied the sound.
@eddiebaby did you ever get that cigar box guitar? I finally finished building mine over xmas, just the ten months of on/off mostly-off labouring 🙂
I was surprised how much I enjoyed some of the woodworking; spent some time regretting going for f-holes but got them done eventually; managed to get the soldering working first go albeit not pretty if you could see it, and it sounds ...good! Or it would, if someone good played it. There's loads of volume and sustain even unplugged, the humbucker and tone pot are fun, but it turns out that it isn't a miracle solution to being a novice guitarist and I'll have to do things like practice. Tsk.
With my Amplug I have a jack to jack connector so I can have the Amplug next to me at the end of a guitar lead which makes it easier to deal with the fiddly controls. So it would be easy to add a looper in that chain.
I've also plugged the guitar straight into my Minirig speaker using a 6mm to 3.5mm converter and it worked to an extent.
Something different today...
I have an audition (of sorts...) for a localish band at the end of the month. I'm on a Bandmix/Joinmyband kind of website here in France and someone got in touch, looking for a guitarist. They play mostly French language, rock-y stuff (none of which I've ever heard before - even the covers) but I was able to work out a couple of tunes by ear, which is a good sign. Singer, keyboards, bass, drummer - and looking for a guitarist... Sounds like it might be fun and I'm keen just to play with other folk again, having had a couple of years of office noodling...
The biggest question is, obviously, going to be... what guitar and amp do I take along? It's a casual 'Hey, we're rehearsing on this date, come along! And if you'd like to bring a guitar, that'd be great' - no pressure. Right.
I'd like to make a competent impression, but I'm thinking nothing too flash, as I'm not as good a player as my nicest guitar gear suggests, but obviously something I like to play, that sounds good (and doesn't take an hour to set up. ('I'll need the wifi code to download my Quad Cortex presets' etc...). I reckon I'll only need a clean and crunch tone, so I'll leave my four pedalboards behind... And yes, I'll take a tuner. 🙂
My current fave options are:
Guitars: Tobacco sunburst PRS Vela - nice in that it doesn't say rock, metal or country.
Fender Strat - black, white pickups, very Gilmour. Might struggle on getting bigger rock tones. Might take the Custom Shop strap off though...
Strandberg - A little out there, but great to play. Might be a little visually divisive.
'Floyd' - my home made, hand painted super Strat H/H/S with Floyd Rose. Again, a little visually challenging 🙂
I'll be leaving behind the semi hollow, the purple sparkle Tele, the homemade Cabronita, Kramer Nightswan and the PRS McCarty - far too statement-y...
Amps:
Tonemaster Deluxe - probably loud enough. Might need a pedal to be truly crunchy.
Blackstar Amped 1 into Barefaced 1x10 - loud and simple. Two tones (preset and WYSIWYG) - probably enough. By contrast, a little visually underwhelming, but massively loud and sounds great.
EVH Lunchbox head into my Barefaced 1x10 - definitely loud enough. Too 'I'm fully Spandex rock, me!'?
Epiphone Valve Jr in a Fender 1x12 cab. 'Only' 5W, but probably loud enough, still might struggle.
I'd ask how they rehearse. I go and see cover bands at my local pub regularly and it's rare to see an actual amp nowadays. 90% are straight into the PA from a modeller etc and are using in ears. I'm assuming they rehearse the same way
From a couple of pics I've seen of the band, the previous guitarist had a Marshall head and 4x12... so I don't reckon I could over-amp. 🙂
I'm not sure I could ever look that French... 🙂
4x12, bass stack, wedges over in-ears. I reckon it's a loud band. I'll be taking earplugs...
I dunno, stripey top, a beret, arrive on a bike and maybe an optional string of onions? You’ll be fine!!!🤣🤣🤣
maybe the black star then? Will probably get close to the Marshall sound they had
as pointed out above, they might well practice with smaller combos
Let's hope it's not full bass stacks and massive volume. I had to wear earplugs all the time with my last band, which makes trying to work out your own relative volume really hard. And I previously tried out for another band, but had to leave after two rehearsals as they were soooooo loud. If the other guitarist didn't turn off all his pedals right after a song ended, there'd be massive, instant feedback.
And the band before that, once we'd persuaded our drummer to use those chopstick drumsticks (just for rehearsals) was a pleasant volume all evening.
All you need is here! 😀 ( Flight of the Conchords 'Foux Da Fa Fa')
Strat and Tone master I think on this one Chipps
Its weird that I only over think on guitar and amps to bring to an audition, nothing else concerns me
Just ordered my next Ivison Guitar
Dakota One
I'll expect it in 2027 given how popular they have become
That's a pretty stunning guitar, @plumber. Spendy though! But I guess anything handmade it, these days...
I still want a Gordon Smith No Cut, single pickup job before people realise they shouldn't be that money...
@chipps - bear in mind that the French sometimes use do ray mi instead of A B C. This lead to much hilarity when I played in a half French, half English blues band in Tarascon several years back…
“This one’s in B”
”ah oui, Si” 🤦🏻♂️
So I’ve discovered. I reckon I’ll just have to stare at the bass player a lot 😊
@chipps: personally I'd probably go for the PRS Vela plus EVH lunchbox head / barefaced cab.
The latter as it's probably going to be loud enough, the former because it's something a bit different. And I reckon as an overall setup it says something like "I'm quite versatile". Hopefully.
Then ofc a modest pedalboard of some kind. Tuner, drive/boost, delay or reverb. Something along those lines.
If you want to be accepted into the band don't worry too much about which guitar you take just turn up with a pack of beer et un bédo dans ta poche. I don't drink, smoke or do any kind of drugs and have accepted that I will never feel at home in a rock band in these parts. 😉 Then consider the type of public you'll be playing to and where, I'm too old for all that shit, I'll stick with the MTB and horsey clubs. 🙂
Out of idle interest what are the French covers on the set list, it'll give me an idea of what they're about?