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I’ve messaged an ad on gumtree from a guy looking for a jam!
I was wondering about this recently.
At the risk of sounding like some kind of social inadequate 😀 how does one go about finding people to play with in the Modern Era?
Since getting somewhat back into electric guitar I can really see the appeal of having a regular jam with folk local to me, but I've no idea how to track such people down to be honest.
Is an ad in Gumtree worth a shot? Any other ideas?
How about Faith? You can get one of the all solid ‘Naked’ series for £500. My wife has a gloss finished Venus and it’s a brilliant guitar…..they seem to be very consistent too.
I've already tried a Naked Venus and absolutely loved it, but want to check out a few others in the same sort of price range to compare.
how does one go about finding people to play with in the Modern Era?
Back in my day, we told our school friends what instruments were available, when we were playing and in whose bedroom. Presumably things work very much the same in an office? (I've got a guitar for myself, Bob can have the slightly warped mandolin, Rob is bringing a mouth organ, and Bill has a pair of bongos from a trip to Benidorm. We're called Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs. 😀 )
I was wondering about this recently.
At the risk of sounding like some kind of social inadequate 😀 how does one go about finding people to play with in the Modern Era?
Since getting somewhat back into electric guitar I can really see the appeal of having a regular jam with folk local to me, but I’ve no idea how to track such people down to be honest.
Is an ad in Gumtree worth a shot? Any other ideas?
I'm finding it very difficult. It's either well established bands looking for pro-level players, or youngsters starting out.
There's a huge gap in the market for rusty 40 something guys and girls to get together for some informal stuff
Presumably things work very much the same in an office?
That's a good idea. In my office alone we've got a bloke called Tom who plays guitar, another geezer Tom who also plays guitar, and I think there's that fellow Tom who plays something, guitar if I recall correctly.
🙂
I do remember with fondness those good old days of yore where you basically chipped up with your mates to see who was playing what and got on with it!
There’s a huge gap in the market for rusty 40 something guys and girls to get together for some informal stuff
Oh dear, that doesn't sound overwhelmingly positive.
I've a (40-something) mate who has been learning guitar for a few years, and his teacher essentially runs a band for his students as a kind of adjunct to their lessons. Finding that sort of setup probably takes a bit of doing (and luck) though.
There’s a huge gap in the market for rusty 40 something guys and girls to get together for some informal stuff
Tinder?
37 year old bedroom guitarist here. Would love to practice with someone too. If anyone is near to Stoke-on-Trent, let me know.
I couldn't put the guitar down for 18 months, but over the last few, I've thought whats the point. Need some motivation to pick it back up properly.
I’ve no idea how you go about finding people but if you get the chance do it, it’s so fun and playing with other people will improve your skills!
I started a little covers band a couple of years ago after we realised that we had a five piece band between us on a “neighbours in the village” pub night. Although Covid intervened, we’ve got a set of 25 songs to choose from now and have played a few gigs.
First time I’ve played along with anything other than a cd since I was 20 but band practice is the highlight of my week and playing out in local pubs has been so fun.
Ask around at work / friends , you might be surprised who “ used to play “ something useful!
I'm in for guitarist Tinder. Anyone in the Edinburgh area up for a jam?
Swipes left...
I'd love to, but I'm a bit south of you in Surrey.
I'm lucky that I live less than mile from here
http://www.lionbrewery.co.uk/music.htm
Swipes left…
Lol
I tried Tinder, but she said something about coming back to mine and messing about with some covers and it wasn't at all what I was expecting.
I’ve no idea how you go about finding people but if you get the chance do it, it’s so fun and playing with other people will improve your skills!
Aye, that's my feeling too. Playing with my mate's cover band was a bit eye-opening in that respect. It wasn't really my cup of tea music wise, but I was loving just sitting there playing D/C/G/G while the lead guitarist did his thing.
Anyway, for the benefit of the burgeoning lonely hearts column, I am North Manchester, GSOH and all my own teeth, WLTM guitar, bass, and drums for rehearsal room fun.
Anyone in the Edinburgh area up for a jam?
I'm Glasgow but more than happy to travel. 40 minutes in the car to Edinburgh
39 and a half year old bass player here. Started playing in the first lockdown and haven't stopped. Was slightly derailed by the birth of our first child but I'm back on it now getting my fingers around some Hendrix and Cream tunes. Have own amp.
Seeks like minded drummers, guitarists etc in the Sheffield area.
But seriously, this is something I've thought about a lot. Some kind of musical social club with a mixture of teachers and students would be amazing.
I’ve no idea how you go about finding people but if you get the chance do it, it’s so fun and playing with other people will improve your skills!
Check out join my band, have joined a few bands advertised on here. Good range of abilities and ages.
https://www.joinmyband.co.uk/
Thanks @mudmuncher, I felt sure this must exist in some form or another 👍
Just been out to blow my lottery winnings on guitar stuff. Sadly only £84 plus a couple of free lucky dips. Got a G7th Performance 3 capo that us excellent plus some picks and strings. Back home soon to continue working on Love Is The Law in the right key...
Some songs are really easy to change key. Things like Paranoid can be moved up and down the neck to suit the singer. It's the songs with open strings that are problematic. Anything with drone strings and open chords can be moved up with a capo, hence your new capo, but moving down requires retuning. And below D strings get very soggy and dull sounding. I Saw Her Standing There and Back on the Chain Gang frustrate me.
Went to a local practice room with a mate this evening and spent a couple of hours belting out some tunes .
Neither of us have practiced much in the last two years since covid and me having a wee one. It was great to lock in two the grove again.
Bass player had covid isolation and a possible drummer has parents evening. So next week is looking good!
I've never played with a drummer, always been on bass in band situations before
Next week looks exciting!
Software capo on my helix/stomp is a revelation
Placing cowboy chords for Dakota in E is hilarious at the other guitarist/bass is trying to figure out what is going on
Note- I wouldn't play Dakota if it wasn't for this reason 🙂
Same with the alt tunings on my Variax and virtual capo on it.
Do we reckon this would be any good for a total beginner? https://richtonemusic.co.uk/epiphone-sg-korean-2010-cherry-red-w-hard-case-2nd-hand/
Or will I break it in half with my meaty bass fingers? Serious question though, Epiphone and Gibson seem to get a bad rap. The newest ones get good reviews but they're more expensive.
Should I stick to the plan and get a newish Squier Tele?
Note- I wouldn’t play Dakota if it wasn’t for this reason
There are plenty of tunes that I wouldn't listen to but are great fun to play. I found myself playing something by The Carpenters the other night - I'm allergic to The Carpenters! How different it sounded when played by someone of my talent. 😀
Epiphone and Gibson seem to get a bad rap
Gibson definitely went through a bad phase a few years ago with QC plus some of the daft things they were doing like robotuners.
Epiphone was always pretty consistent however the newer Epiphone stuff is fantastic quality
I'm a Squier Tele fan so you won't get any sense out of me about those, Sharkattack. 😉
Gibsons and Epiphones apart from the acoustics are less my thing so being objective: I prefer the Epiphone necks. Some of the Gibson SG necks from that period are much wider than the 41-44mm I like whilst the Epis feel fine (later Gibsons are back to 43mm). Keeping a Gibson G string in tune is an art, on an Epi it's no problem. Some people get all excited about Gibson nitro but I find it sticky and prefer the Epi poly. Strange because I find Fender and Warmoth nitro excellent.
As BoardinBob notes the latest Epiphones have impressive build standards and quality control.
As ever, try before you buy.
@sharkattack I really like the used section on Rich Tone - My Tele came from there, and I check it daily for interesting stuff. Don't tell them (or anyone else), but they appear to have Facebook prices with shop levels of service. The descriptions are always rubbish but the pictures are good.
That SG seems very keenly priced considering it comes with a hard case (worth £50 ish I'd guess, although can be a PITA to store depending on your setup). I'd nip down and have a play - if everything works and the pots aren't crackly etc then it's a safe buy.
What sort of guitar do you want though? Arguably an SG is not the most versatile option. But if it's what you want, go for it!
I'm guessing you'll know what neck feel you like - the SG is shorter scale, usually wider and bigger radius (flatter) than E.g. Fender necks. I'd see if you can nip down and compare it to the Player Strat they have (or the Vintera one) and one of the many Ibanezes. It's a bit too Spinal Tap for my tastes and won't be great for clean tones, but if you want to play AC/DC there's no better option in that budget...
Thanks for the tips. I'm never going to be a guitarist I literally just want to learn a few AC/DC and Sabbath tunes! I don't want to steal too much time away from the bass or I'll just be crap at both forever.
I might pop in on Saturday morning and see what it feels like. They bloody close too early for me to get there after work.
Meet Carmen Vandenberg on the Andertons channel. Rather impressive...
Tinder for musicians - https://www.vampr.me/
I'm still awful at guitar but enjoying it all the same. Trying to learn Ten Years Gone from an Angeli Petrilli lesson at the moment 🙂
I just brought this home from Richtone. I didn't want to miss it for £249. It looks like it's never been out of the case. There's not a spec on it.
Probably the last guitar I'll ever buy so at least it looks cool! If I really don't get on with it I'll trade it for a bass.
Now... I literally can't play anything apart from clumsily picking a few bass lines. I'm going to plug it into Yousician later and see how it feels.
Nice! I've got one of those from about 1998 🙂
Very pretty.
Very strange morning today. Laying in bed with a cup of tea I though I could pop over to my local guitar shop (Andersons in Guildford) and buy something. But I couldn’t think of anything I want.
In fact I’m more concerned about getting rid of pedals and a couple of pedalboards.
I think I must be ill.
I think I must be ill.
It definitely looks that way! I'm still playing around with the pedals that Chipps loaned me last year. I think I just need a simple pedalboard - tuner, reverb, delay & fuzz. I love the idea of a looper but I don't appear to have the patience to learn how to use one.
I'm still trying and failing to be Jimmy Page. I wish I didn't live next to a main road, it annoys me having the sound of cars driving past on the recording.
This was/is my simple board.
All going to go as I now have the Kemper. No more effort to carry and everything simply works as you’d expect for a product with so many years development.
Just found this guy. Very expressive like a tapping Jeff Beck.
Nice find there EddieBaby
Let offer some smaller guitarist channels that don't get much exposure - and please no Chris Buck - lovely but I think we know who he is by now
https://www.youtube.com/user/franalonso38/videos
Fun fact he used to be James Last's guitarist.
Ooh, some lovely stuff coming out of Squier for their 40th anniversary. What a time to be a new guitarist. Entry level stuff when I started playing back in 1990 was very ropey but there's so much great stuff at the lower end now.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/squier/squier-40th-anniversary-telecaster-gold-edition-black
That green Tele looks nice, and there are some interesting colourways for the JM. But 1) No Jag which is disappointing (at least on Anderton's) and 2) £450 Squiers? Yes these models are a bit fancier but I think this is preparation for a big price bump across the range.
Very nice guitars I'm sure but Stats and Teles with bound fingerboards always look wrong to me.
There are some more "normal" looking ones, e.g.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-40th-anniversary-telecaster-vintage-edition-satin-mocha
(which would probably be my pick).
I actually have a 20th Anniversary (IIRC) Squier Strat. Maybe it needs a brother/sister 🙂
Almost every guitar manufacturer has raised their prices or are about too
I put orders in for everything I was going to need on the morning of the brexit vote as it was obvious what was going to happen - add to that the covid factor
I'm trying to find the right guitar to 'invest' in before the prices jump. My local shop still has plenty of Player series guitars at the old price.
I've also just seen that Peach Guitars have the new Squiers listed as RRP £499. Blimey. I know people like Classic Vibes, but I'm guessing a lot of people will want a 'real' Fender at that price.
a big price bump across the range
Timber prices have doubled in the past year I believe. As existing stocks are used up then some big prices are inevitable.
My first electric was a Fenix ST20 strat copy. Cost me £300 in 1993. With inflation that would be about £540 nowadays