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I already have a Dakota from when the prices were significantly cheap so I know what I'm going to get plus/minus the vagaries of wood
The first one massively exceeded my expectations
Female singer, so that probably influences the covers. They do do 'Back to Black' by Amy Winehouse. The rest, I haven't a clue.
This one will be a workout - luckily there are some tabs online 😮
Then there's:
You will never know - Imany
Ces moments là - V. Sanson
surely any band with a french girl singer has to do this? There must be some sort of law (which being French will be roundly ignored unless it suits you)
Ok Guitarista.. i am going to build a 1 x 10 cab and will be using a celestion of some description. Open back to keep it simple.
Any thoughts on dimensions? Material, baffle thickness (contentious ) etc
Really fancied a smaller bodied acoustic so went to try a few:
As expected, the Faith options were just lovely - tried the Mercury parlour and a couple of the travel guitars and they didn't disappoint. Pricey though.
Spotted a couple of reviews for the Fender Paramount series but didn't take them too seriously. I've played a few Fender acoustics at friend's houses and they've always felt dissappointing, no voice, no drive, just a pale imitation of a decent guitar. Then a mate in work bought one of the Paramount dreads. He brought it into work and I was really surprised by the quality and sound. Resonated like a champ. Nice thin finish, proper drive from the bridge.
Soooo, the parlour version arrived a couple of days ago - £339. Impressed. It sounds great, went for the spruce top and it has a clear, sparkly voice with nice mids.
The build quality is fine, but it's no Martin. Some of the binding is sloppy and a couple of the machine heads are slightly on the piss. However, it plays like a champ.
@oldmanmtb2 - join thefretboard.co.uk forum and head to the 'making and modding' or 'amps' sections for advice. There are a number of amp/cab builders on there (including barefaced, who are also here!) who can provide recommendations
RustySpanner, I know it’s water under the bridge now, but if you can cope with the name on the headstock, the Sh**r*n range of Lowden guitars are really nice. Made in N.I. from some lovely bits of wood they’re a bargain.
@chipps - That Niagara riff has got some serious groove to it! Just had to down tools and figure it out. Great fun to play
I shall wander off to barefaced ...
@justinbieber Such a catchy riff. I keep waking up humming it. Great fun to play, too!
Oh, and very happy Barefaced 1x10 owner here. Considering the vertical 2x10 too!
As we’re getting mentioned, I thought some of you might like to see our new thing!
It’s one of a family of powered amp modules which fit into any of our guitar cabs turning them active. Ideal for anyone embracing pedals and/or amp modelling (with or without speaker/cab modelling) with what feels like a million ways to configure the amp and cab combination.
Audition update... After much dithering, I took along the following micro-pedalboard and Barefaced 1x10. Not bad to have a 100W amp that fits on a Pedaltrain Nano... And a Fredric Effects Zombie Klone for dirt. Oh, and a tuner. (and my purple sparkle Fender Cabronita and an orange Strandberg...)
The evening went well - they rehearse in a big house on top of a hill about 45 minutes from me. It's a good 20 minutes of singletrack, switchbacked road to get to. But no neighbours, so they can rehearse in the living room with the windows open - and often play live on the balcony. I managed to play a couple of their original tunes OK and did reasonable justice to the covers they play - although I only knew one before a couple of weeks ago.
They have another couple of guitarists to see, so we'll see how I got on. Although I did get invited to stay for dinner and a glass of wine, I suspect that my lack of French fluency might count against me. Oh, and I was the only one of the five of us who didn't smoke. It was like being in an eighties pub again - very bizarre! Either way, it was a fun experience and I'm keen/inspired to do it again, with them or another band.
Er, not sure how to put this, buuuuut........
............I've bought a PRS.
Popped down to Back Alley Music in Mold to try a very nicely priced Yam Revstar; Gorgeous but the neck was too fat. Shame, lovely otherwise.
Tried a few others but was then introduced to the PRS Vela.
My word - angels singing, heavenly chorus, drag it out of my cold dead hands etc. Not felt this way about a guitar since I tried an Ibanez RG550 (my favourite guitar). Sooo, I traded in a Cort CR300 and it's mine.......
My word. All mahogany. Satin. Dots. Cherry. Neck single coil and bridge humbucker. It feels like an SG but sounds like a Tele crossed with a Gretsch.
Never, ever thought I would own a PRS - they're too polite, too posh and waaay too bland. It's delightful, sounds fantastic, weighs nothing and feels like it deserves a damn good thrashing. Most SG's feel like they were built by Helen Keller, this feels perfect.
Great aren’t they? I have a satin tobacco one.
This popped up on my YouTube feed recently. Two entertaining guitarists just riffing and dicking about..
Theres more musical knowledge, literacy and mutual understanding going on in the above video than we will ever know
I still dont want to listen to guitar centric music though
Paul Gilbert seems a fantastic guy. He's got a recent interview with Rick Beato too - well worth a watch. I've seen him live once and can't say I was a fan of his actual music 🙂 but his in-person guitar clinics look to be fantastic.
I do like a lot of guitar-centric music - older stuff now, I guess, like Jeff Beck, Satriani, Eric Johnson, though some of the new stuff is pretty good too. Plini, Polyphia etc...
I sat next to Paul in the green room of Nottingham Rock city on the first Mr Big tour. A truely humbling experience
Why is fingerpicking so bloody difficult? This one is driving me to drink!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YhswQm10g0s
well i sold all my guitars last thursday (all 2 of them).
i go through phases of liking the guitar then getting despondent and selling everything.
no doubt i will get another guitar though (i am very tempted on the cort g300 raw guitar but all out of stock atm when i was checking).
So @chipps-did you get the gig?
@plumber- what put you in rock city's green room?
52. Just started learning properly last month.
One question - when does the pain in your fretting fingers ease off?
Really enjoying the slow and mediocre process I’m making.
I've been playing maybe 28 years, and it's not bothered me recently I'm sure.
So something in the region of "less than 28 years" 🤣
Silliness aside, depending on how much you play your fingers soon toughen up. Stick with it and you'll be 'reet!
Your fingers will get stronger before you know it, but getting into the habit of using as little pressure as you can get away with, is a good thing because your tone and tuning improves and your fingers recover easier
Why is fingerpicking so bloody difficult? This one is driving me to drink!
What tab/music are you using for that, Simon? I think I tried to find an accurate version a while ago but failed.
How is you guitar set up, igm? If the nut is cut too high you have to press too hard even if the action measures OK. As a rough guide if you can slip a 0.6mm pick under the strings on the first fret and it doesn't fall out the nut is cut low enough. Action adjusted to Fender (electric) and Gibson (acoustic) specs first.
What tab/music are you using for that, Simon?
I think it was this lesson (which is slightly different from the UG official TAB)
@Edukator - You may well have a point.
I’m learning on a 22 year old Yamaha acoustic which my wife bought me new for my 30th - and yes I’ve been a bit slow finding a guitar teacher. Getting my eldest a Gretsch for Christmas finally kicked me into doing something about it.
The action is on the high side on the Yamaha and it’s booked in with a local guitar repairs and mods place to get it lowered - it does sound lovely though.
The Gretsch (electric, Les Paul-esque) is a lot lower and easier on the fingers.
I’m presently practicing on the acoustic until my fingers (finger tip bruising, not finger strength) can’t take it, then swapping to the electric (sans amp).
I will get there. I’m known for being stubborn (if not exactly talented)
What tab/music are you using for that, Simon?
I think it was this lesson (which is slightly different from the UG official TAB)
Ta! I'll have a look later when I'm home.
@tall Martin
I'd already been an Eric Martin fan for years by the time he joined Mr Big. The first gig we attended we got talking to Eric and invited to Manchester Apollo green Room and were on the guest list of all subsequent dates on that tour and the next, we went to Bradford the next night and talked to Billy and Pat for a while, then Nottingham were we talked to Paul and Erics wife at the time. All lovely people
Ok tried what @Edukator suggested. Didn’t have a 0.6, but a 0.71 gripped and a 0.46 slipped so there or there abouts at the nut.
Checked the truss rod / neck line by eye (straight)
But then - measured the action and it’s a good bit more than that suggested but Gibson for an acoustic (ok it’s not a Gibson, but…).
I’m not redoing the bridge on an acoustic myself - we’ll see what the guitar tech place says.
I've got Yamaha, Epiphone and Sigma Martin acoustics. I've found the Gibson recommended height is the lowest I can go and still play hard without rattles or buzzes.
If you are patient and not worried about failing a couple of times you can make or correct a bridge yourself. You need a vernier caliper, flat surface (piece of glass) and fairly fine sand paper.
Measure the action at the 12th for each string and work out how much lower each string needs to be. Double that value to get how much you need to remove from the saddle. Take the lowest value and remove that from the bottom of the saddle all the way along. For the other strings you'll need to take a bit off the top. If you have intonation problems on some strings you can sometimes displace the crown a bit at this point to correct. Bits of bone cost peanuts so measure the length and thickness and buy a couple of blanks before you start in case you get it wrong or the guitare won't tolerate a Gibson standard action.
I like an unwound g-string because they're brighter and easier to bend so I always have to make my own saddle if I want good intonation.
Thats a cool way to meet interesting folk 🙂
What tab/music are you using for that, Simon?
I think it was this lesson (which is slightly different from the UG official TAB)
Ok, I’ve had a look at the first part of that lesson and it’s pretty straightforward. I’d amend the Bm chord - don’t play a barre, try just fretting the A, G and B strings and don’t play either of the E strings. Quite hard to explain, but you only fret those three strings. It’s a nice Bm shortcut and sounds like it belongs in that tune.
It's only pretty starightforward if you have half a clue how to play guitar. It's quite tricky for me 🙂
It’s only pretty starightforward if you have half a clue how to play guitar. It’s quite tricky for me 🙂
I think it's one of those tunes that sounds more complicated than it really is, not that it's easy to play it well. The dropped D was the bit that I couldn't pick out, and that makes a difference. I wasn't making a veiled reference to the standard of your playing or how I'm fantastic - I'm definitely not, and I'm certainly not brave enough to film myself playing! 😀 But do try the Bm trick, it makes the transition from A much easier and sounds more like the original.
well i have ordered this guitar so won't be without one for long now lol https://www.peachguitars.com/cort-electrics-g-series-g300-glam-polar-ice-metallic-burst.htm
i was going to go for the raw version but absolutely nowhere has one in stock here in the uk.
it was on sale so i had to get it (i can live with the glam finish).
am very much looking forward to getting it as they are meant to be fantastic guitars for the money.
@tall_martin I've not heard a saucisson, so I assume that I didn't get the gig. I'll drop them a reminder though.
I'm kind of relieved, though, given that I didn't know any but one of their tunes before, and the enormous amount of smoking in the rehearsal would have got to me in the end. I did enjoy the process though, so I'm going to get out and find some more folks to play with - and hopefully I can find someone vaguely local who likes a bit of blues to jam with...
@racefaceec90 - that's a nice guitar. They've had some great reviews...
Why is fingerpicking so bloody difficult? This one is driving me to drink!
don't try fleetwood macs never going back again! 🙂 It's a complete bloody mind ****!
But do try the Bm trick, it makes the transition from A much easier and sounds more like the original.
I actually find it harder doing that so am sticking with the Bm shape for now.
https://youtube.com/shorts/iZ3GgNi16eo?si=-_6WMgZGHvvNbxFi
don’t try fleetwood macs never going back again! 🙂 It’s a complete bloody mind ****!
Don't give me ideas 🤣
Now then guitarists, any thoughts on flatwound strings for downtuned stuff?
I've had some on a 355-shaped guitar before, but for various reasons only ever ended up playing it unplugged. I liked them unplugged, they had a nice mellow/jazzy sound and the lack of string noise was nice. I'm thinking it could translate well to a kind of "wall of sound" doom setting 🤔
Does anyone have any experience of them through an amp? Preferably in fairly high-gain settings?
I should just try it I suppose but maybe some else already has and can give me a steer!
Had a wander down to the newly opened Gibson Garage in that london
Nice enough but as you would expect from a lifestyle brand pretty expensive
Worth a trip if you are already in the area but otherwise not really
I spend most of my time playing at whatever speed / timing my fingers happen to come up with. This morning I thought I'd try actually playing along with a whole song. It's really difficult to do, massive respect to all of the proper musicians that play perfectly in time with the other instruments & vocals!
https://www.tiktok.com/@simondbarnes/video/7341726952652295456
Edit : tiktok links are a bit rubbish, sorry!
I'm terrible for just learning the intro to a song then getting distracted and moving onto something else. I did this with Landslide, however I've spent the morning trying to learn to play the end of the verse / pre-chorus / chorus. I have sore fingers now but I think I've made some progress. Going to put the guitar down now and go out and drink beer for the afternoon (and watch a bit of live music)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pTOHajihdR8
New guitar (and new guitar strap) week! Second things first, the strap was a birthday present from my wife, a 'made in France from old-school fabric' kind of vibe, so it's gone on the Strat.
And now the Tele Thinline - I'd taken my Les Paul LPJ to Sound Affects to commission sale back in September. As of the end of Feb, they'd not sold it, so I asked if I could trade it against a guitar in stock, which they were fine with. This shell pink '70s style Tele Thinline had been taunting me for a while, so my LPJ (which I think I got for £500) plus £350 and it was mine. The Tele was sold as secondhand, but it still had all the original plastic on it and strings that needed stretching still. Could only have been played for five minutes before being chopped in. I reckon it was a bargain.
And as to where I got my recent obsession with '70s Tele Thinlines from, I give you Tab Benoit...
And now the Tele Thinline
I love the look of that! not sure I could live with a pink guitar, but I like it!
I love the look of that! not sure I could live with a pink guitar, but I like it!
Think of it more as a faded red, or very lively grey and you'll be fine 🙂
apologies if this is a thread hijack but since we’re talking teles…
recently picked this one up in a trade, expecting to have to change the pickups or spend an age getting it right for playing but, for what it is, as it is, it plays soooo nicely and the sound it makes…I think it’s fast becoming my favourite in the stable
I took ages before I even played a Tele but the one I bought nearly 3 years ago is the guitar I couldn't sell ever.
I also have a Baritone and PRS SE DGT and those three cover all the bases I ever intend to visit.
Selling a load of gear I don't use on Reverb now and doing a lot more playing than tweaking pedalboards.
I'm just John Stanley on Reverb. I sold my last item this morning on there so this evening a bunch of Origin Effects stuff will be going up.
Revival Drive Custom and footswitch
Revival Drive Compact
Revival Drive Compact Hot Rod
Halcyon Gold
I'm keeping the Deluxe61 and the Magma57 and Cali76 Stacked.
Over the next few days a couple of loopers and maybe some Chase Bliss will be added.
I'll post a link when the Reverb stuff goes live. Obviously I'll discount to STW members.
Right, will look out for CBA and loopers!
@donslow - Lovely Squier Tele! There was a time when I wasn't sure about the fat humbucker Teles, but I've warmed to them. (Was it Snow Patrol's influence? Surely not... I'm sticking with Tab Benoit.)
@eddiebaby I'm going to be trying to have a gear clear-out next month. I've gone a bit too big recently (and I've not 'fessed half of it on here yet...) and probably need to get shot of a dozen or more pedals that aren't being used. Reckon I'll do my regular trick of 99p start, three day auctions on ebay and see where we end up... 🙂
I want a thinline tele now. I should really learn to play the ones I've already got though 😅
Today I've been trying to make my fingers play some SRV on @chipps 's old Jap Strat. Bit (a lot) too difficult for me but will stick at it!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YpQYZSG5Fu8
Sounding good, Simon - both the tone and the playing. Now you just need to play that ten times every time you pick up a guitar before you're allowed any noodling time - until you're sick and tired of it. And then, suddenly, you'll find it's under your fingers...
Origin gear on my Reverb page now. 20-30 quids off for STW folk.
Looks like it's all gone @eddiebaby ! Nicely done... I need to do a similar purge soon, I reckon.
In other news, I appear to have passed my French band audition (or they couldn't find anyone else...) but it's come with promises of a gig at the end of June, plus another one in August that looks like a festival gig or something. Fun times! Mustn't use it as a justification to go buying more gear though... 🙂
Woohoo!
@chipps sadly the only one that has gone is the big Revival Drive, the rest are all hit by bloody spammers wanting me to email them directly.
Hey ho, if they don't shift at these prices then I start slowly dropping them. Unless I decide to keep them.
I was thinking the other day that I wished I could play the guitar and thought I had left it to late (nearly 50).
That awful thought triggered me into booking a lesson and loaning a guitar! Had it last night. I can do Em and G, hoping to play Nirvana - Where did you sleep last night asap!
Any tips. resources?
Mick
It's never too late to learn!
There is loads of great stuff on YouTube. I like these...
https://www.youtube.com/@MartyMusic
https://www.youtube.com/@justinguitar
https://www.youtube.com/@AngelaPetrilliMusic
https://www.youtube.com/@andycrowley
https://www.youtube.com/@RyanLendt
Best of luck 🙂
"That awful thought triggered me into booking a lesson and loaning a guitar! Had it last night. I can do Em and G, hoping to play Nirvana – Where did you sleep last night asap!"
With Em and G you've got the intro and verse of About A Girl sorted 🙂
Where Did You Sleep Last Night is Emaj, I think, and you'll also need A and B to round out the roster.
I agree with Simon that there's loads of great stuff on YT these days. I imagine one thing to watch out for though is "fake learning", which is something I'm doing quite a lot with chess at the moment, whereby you watch a bunch of YT videos on the subject and feel like you're making progress whereas in fact you're just watching videos.
Good luck though, and I agree it's never too late to learn. As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is right now.
I started properly trying at the end of last year and I'm 50+
Literally never picked up an instrument since those awful compulsory piano lessons when I was 10!
I did buy a guitar a bit earlier but soon realised you have to fully commit or its just a waste of time, so now I'm trying to do at least 30mins to an hour each day. You Tube can be your friend but its also a bit of a minefield and easy to get distracted or go down rabbit holes which don't actually help you learn. I found learning the chords pretty easy and thinking I was getting somewhere but then trying to change them quick enough was a nightmare and still is. I was trying Bad Moon Rising last night at 179bpm and though its only got 4 chords its hard to get them right! Its also very easy when starting, especially if you are older to get a bit caught up in the theory and forget the musicality if that makes sense - you end up chugging out chords and progressions but it just sounds dead. Playing along to songs, even if you are ropey and miss out the odd chord or change a couple to easier ones is much more fun and although Justin Guitar says 'practice makes permanent so practice perfectly' I still reckon the musicality you learn is worth the duff chord playing, especially if you record yourself so you can spot mistakes afterwards.
Its basically incredibly hard, especially from a standing start. I think setting goals works or at least knowing why you want to learn. For me, I've got a 'bucket' list of things I want to do and one of them is performing something in front of strangers as I've never done that - so the goal is an open mike night. I don't care if its 2 old guys and a dog, its the getting up there that counts.
EDIT and if you like going to see live music, especially in smaller venues (like I do) it gives you a massive new found respect for the bands! Try singing and playing in time even a simple song - its a LOT harder than it looks
although Justin Guitar says ‘practice makes permanent so practice perfectly’ I still reckon the musicality you learn is worth the duff chord playing, especially if you record yourself so you can spot mistakes afterwards.
I think he means that continually practicing the same mistake will make that mistake stick, but if, for instance, you are lying flat on your back on the sofa and can't quite reach the correct fretting but are happy in the knowledge that it sounds crap on this occasion then crack on. Otherwise we'd all practice in a perfect environment, with correct posture, metronome and video playback review. 😀
Started bass guitar back in November aged 49, despite never having even picked up any guitar before. Loving it. Using Fender Play and Yousician for learning. Fender can be a bit dry theory wise, where Yousician doesn’t go deep enough. Both together is a great balance. Some things I’d like in person lessons for but can’t find anyone local that does bass.
After owning guitars for 25+ years and starting to practice more seriously 4 years ago after not really touching them for 10+ years I had my first ever lesson last Saturday - a free 30 minute "taster" that actually went on for over an hour.
We spent some time talking about what I wanted to learn, why I wanted lessons, favourite guitarists etc, and also with him showing me how he taught, playing himself to demonstrate ideas.
Two things I was struggling with he helped with immediately, just a couple of simple pointers and tips.
One example - this time last week I was struggling with speeding up alternate picking, I'm now 25% faster. And he gave me a magic training pick too.
I'm another Youtube fan, it's great being able to see how the original artists play things. Some tutorials are good, some not so good. Some covers are very good, some not so good. Some people do covers so good I prefer them to the originals. I usually start by listening to and if possible watching the original and seeing how far I can get before tabs and tutorials. I made the mistake of watching tutorials and looking at tabs to Echo Beach before watching the vid of the band playing it - back to square one but at least the proper way is a lot easier than any of the tabs or tutorials. Same with ZZ top stuff, people tie their hands in knots and Billy does it the easy way live.
"I can do Em and G, hoping to play Nirvana –"
With G you can play '10 in the bed'. Em7 (a one finger chord) and Am7 and you've got Horse With No Name... When I started aged 15 if someone had just told me that F was just E moved up a fret it would have saved me months.
I have played in front of people, mainly in student shows at the Edin fringe in neolithic times. I know but it was a hell of a laugh playing backing and interval songs at the end of night review and then down to the Fringe club.
Anyway, you just had to work things out in those days, so deciphering sheet music for Summertime or Ain't Misbehaving I got from a Louis Armstrong LP, working out the chords till they fit. Which gives you some warped sense of theory. It's now just all there on YouTube. Kids these days...
I've started trying to play again, past few months after years of not. Bought an old Gretsch acoustic on impulse because I liked the look (hard to play, narrow fretboard, tuning isn't perfect up the neck, idiosyncratic tone. Did I say it looks great?).
Seem to be on a bit of a country blues thing for some reason, not a genre I know out about. And can now do a mogadon as opposed to crystal meth speed version of solo version of Dust in a Baggie, rough round the edges go at a boom chuck Mr Sandman type thing. Feels a bit like cheating
Anyway, just remembered why I posted. I'm thinking of buying an okay acoustic to bash this stuff out on (my er "style"). But know zilch about them if anyone has tips on what might be good (and yeah I know, play all the guitars in the shop. Any links to a jazz take on smoke on the water?)
In other news, I appear to have passed my French band audition
Congratulations 😃 they sound a super fun band. Hows your French music chat? I'd be bricking joining a band in another language 😧
(The internet seems to have eaten my previous answer, so here goes again...) 🙂
Thanks @tall_martin - yeah, they seem pretty keen and are all experienced musos. They rehearse at the singer's house, which is a massive place in the middle of nowhere up a mountain road - so full volume with the windows open isn't an issue... Luckily the keyboard player speaks English, so we're not completely on sign language, but all of the band banter is in French. It'll probably be better for my French than my guitar playing I reckon!
We have an all-afternoon rehearsal next week, so I have until Wednesday to master five original songs by ear, plus four covers (only one of which I'd heard before meeting this lot. Should be fun. And then to decide what guitars and amps to play/take along and what my Spinal Tap stage outfit will be... All good fun. Terrifying, but fun 🙂
Does anyone know some kind of guitar superstore in Manchester/ Cheshire? I'd love to go in one and try a load before I buy.
I know a few of us on here have PRS SE guitars. Amazon have the SE locking tuners at £81 currently, £18 cheaper than Andertons.
It appears that I got very drunk yesterday and played Hey Joe on stage to a room full of people 😮
Any sound engineers or reasonably knowledgeable people who can explain how to DI an electric guitar into a house PA system please?
I play bass in a church band. We've recently started looking beyond "Shine Jesus Shine" at the occasional service and we need to tighten up on various bits and pieces.
I've done away with my combo amp and use my Aguilar Tone Hammer Preamp pedal DI'd to the mixer (a Behringer XAir 18) and use wireless IEM . FOH is a main amp into passive PAs.
The guitarist swaps between Acoustic and electric guitars, and at the moment is playing into a combo amp which is also DI'd into the mixer.
We'd like to get rid of his combo amp and DI him to the mixer from a pedalboard but I'm struggling to work out what we need. As I understand it his guitar signal needs some form of preamp, which can be achieved via a drive pedal as a minimum, but then I'm lost as to whether he needs a further poweramp if he's just going into the mixer, or whether an active DI box would work.