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I've used ultimate guitar for tabs for years, but just the tabs. So if you use the app can you listen to the songs, loop specific bits etc?
I usually just use YouTube but may be worth an upgrade if the app works as I think you are saying it does
I use guitarpro for learning songs, I tried ultimate guitar for getting guitarpro files, but most of the conent on UG is user generated and I found that a lot were unusably bad and I am not good enough to realise what is good or bad on there without wasting a lot of time before trying to find a better version. And they won't allow the download of the files for the professionally done stuff, and I find ultimate guitar an awful clunky interface to play along to compared guitar pro.
I don't mind paying for a well transcribed song, but I didn't think UG was worth it to find the good ones in the mountain of junk.
I'm an Ultimate Guitar tabs user (3 years or so) and I've just this week started putting together my "repertoire" for the Tuesday night jam onto my tablet instead of printed sheets. (a highly recommended course of action)
Yes, it's got the clunkiest user interface, yes, it has got a lot of downright wrong tabs on there, but with a bit of getting used to it and intelligent analysis of what you're seeing you can usually find something that lets you play the song you want so it doesn't sound wrong.
And of course, everybody you play with will be looking at the same tabs.
This weekend I found how easy it is to put a couple of self-penned songs up there too. (John Wilson-Fiesta and John Wilson-Midlands Born if you must know) This also showed me how easy it is to make a personal use edit of existing tabs when you realise that a tab you use has got wrong chords or words and you want it right for you.
It's great for learning specific songs but possibly not ideal for a beginner.
yeah thats what im finding now really, i think i was too hasty after my mates recommendation and then seeing the offer.
ive asked for a refund, but online reports show mixed success with that so i may have just lost £30, which admittedly isnt the end of the world.
thanks
i cant see how the chords available on the chords tab match that 'frets 5 and 7' pattern
the tab shows the bar chords for A, D and E, with the higher strings not played.
A is made by moving the E chord shape up five frets and barring with your index finger but basically just holding down the lowest E string as you don't need to play the higher notes in the chord. .
For the D keep the bar on the fifth fret and focus on holding down the A string. Don't worry about the lowest E, just try not to hit it when you strum but it will be muted if you do. At the same time use your third finger to hold down the next two or three strings on the 7th fret.
For the E chord just slide that up two frets.
And you can now pretty much play the Ramones' entire oevre.
I've been trying to play Billy Strings stuff lately. I say trying as he's one of the best guitar pickers out there. Check his recent Tiny Desk. So am well back to three basic chords...
Hello fellow guitarists - think I can include myself in that now as I've been back playing since this time last year having tinkered but never having been even a passable player as a teenager.
I have two guitars, a Norman B20 acoustic and a Westfield Les-Paul copy electric, both of which I think are decent, certainly the Norman. Barely used the Les Paul at all since restarting as the amp I had has awful mains noise hum, however Santa bought me a Spark Mini amp for xmas so I'm now trying to learn some songs that suit electric better.
Couple of Q's
1) When I read any forum posts about this guitar or that, there's endless talk of getting a good setup for the guitar - what exactly does this entail? I know my Les Paul has adjusters at the bridge for each string, but not sure what there is to be done with an acoustic?
2) Without having to go through all 50+ pages of the thread, any recommended resources for learning would be good. So far I have been using Ultimate Guitar (not a subscriber) for simple songs that use standard chords and which I know how they go. More recently I'm more into the YouTube tutorials, been using mostly GuitarZero2Hero and a channel called Marin Music Centre - the latter I use a lot as the guy just has a huge number of song tutorials and so its quite easy to find songs I like. He's a bit annoying and the videos are a bit long but the instructions are generally pretty clear. GuitarZero2Hero is probably better at doing the same thing, and he has Tab on screen, but I don't want to learn Ed Sheeran songs. The Spark amp is pretty good for these as I can get the youtube audio and my guitar coming through the amp or headphones at the same time.
the tab shows the bar chords for A, D and E, with the higher strings not played.
like the 3rd diagram along below but only playing the 1st 3 strings then? (muted.io website)
why does the tab have a '(6)' on the 4th string? just in case you want to add an extra finger?
itd help if that actually matched the chord suggested in the 'chord tab', as that implies the first one of these diagrams to be used, the chords just dont match the tab.
looking at whats available to me anyway on the UG site now, i cant see what extra id get for the subbed version anyway, as ive seen that information before on the songs i looked up before subbing.
1) When I read any forum posts about this guitar or that, there's endless talk of getting a good setup for the guitar - what exactly does this entail? I know my Les Paul has adjusters at the bridge for each string, but not sure what there is to be done with an acoustic?
A good setup involves removing the strings, checking the neck straightness and the frets (they get dents from regular playing, and a good luthier will check that they're all level and nicely shaped and smooth), they will oil the fingerboard on rosewood fingerboards, check the nut doesn't bind on the strings, even lube the tuning machines. They'll re-string with new strings (of your choice) and check the intonation (how in tune the frets are as you go up the neck) and the neck relief (small amount of bow under string tension) and finally tune it up and make sure all the strings ring clear and play well up the neck. With an electric, it'll be all that, plus checking the wiring, the pickup heights and function, the switches and pots, and making sure everything is working well - even making sure the strap buttons are tight...
A couple of guitars that I've improved with setting up have had the biggest change by filing down the nut slots correctly. When the nut is too high it takes a lot of pressure to make open chords ring properly and to stop the G on the E string going horribly sharp.
A 12 string I was asked to look at went from unplayable to great just by doing that. What the owner didn't know was I had to use the super glue and baking powder trick when I filed one slot too deep by accident.
why does the tab have a '(6)' on the 4th string? just in case you want to add an extra finger?
because you hold that string down on the sixth fret.
Your first tab diagram doesn't tell you what fingers to use, just which strings to hold down on which frets. For the first A chord your index finger bars across all six strings but only has to hold down the low E string on the fifth fret, second finger holds down the fourth string (G string with std tuning) on the sixth fret. Ring finger holds down the third (,D) string on the 7th , little finger holds down the A string on the 7th. And that makes the E chord shape slid up to the fifth fret.
And sorry SeP , this is very obviously my fault not yours but I'm badly losing the will to live having typed all that. This isn't really how to get it. Ask a friend to show you or look for really basic stuff on YouTube.
I guess it did take me a few months when learning in the 70s to realise that E slid up one fret becomes F...
(Not that I've learnt much theory since.)
Without having to go through all 50+ pages of the thread, any recommended resources for learning would be good.
Have you heard of Justin guitar?
Basically is better then the paid courses, but free, he does have stuff on YouTube but his course on his website are organised well. I think it is worth paying for his app as well for more guided practice, but it isn't required (shame his app isn't available on PC as I find a phone too small so it really needs a tablet which I no longer have, but that's because I am getting old and my eyes are getting dodgy).
This isn't really how to get it. Ask a friend to show you or look for really basic stuff on YouTube.
yep, im doing the lot, asking mates, watching justinguitar and youtube vids, reading up on chord shapes..... my question really was more on why the (6) was in brackets but i appreciate your time in explaining the comprehensive finger placements.
just had half an hour practising barre chords but i just dont think my fingers are flexible enough which is a shame so i may have to learn the alternative myriad of chord shapes if i want to progress.
thanks
my question really was more on why the (6) was in brackets
The brackets indicate that playing that note is optional
Barre chords are difficult and unnecessary. There's always an easy alternative even if you only play 2 or 3 strings. It still sounds ok and in tune.
If you want to practice them, and don't mind hand cramps then Blur's Coffee and TV is a fun one to practice.
If there's a song that goes G Bm, I'll probably do a barre G then slide down with a drift across. But a lot of people find Bm a pest even if they've been playing for years. When I see one on Ultimate Guitar I used to transpose until it turned into Am or Em as long as the other chords were friendly shapes. Although you look daft with a capo on the 10th fret.
This whole guitar set up thing..
I'm kind of of the belief that 'when you know, you know'. Ie I've had cheap guitars that play great, and expensive guitars that play great. But I've also had the opposite. Ie if you've ever played a guitar that feels so much better than the one you have, then the one you have could probably do with a set up, regardless of how much it cost
What I can't do is distinguish between the sound of a 500 quid guitar and a 2500 quid guitar. And folks bang on about the feel of the neck but that's subjective, and again I'm not really good enough to distinguish between them anyway. But I can tell if one is far harder to play than the other, goes out of tune quicker etc. And ime, that's usually the set up
Ironically my new les paul was virtually unplayable from the factory, yet it cost the same as all my other 6 guitars combined!
What I can't do is distinguish between the sound of a 500 quid guitar and a 2500 quid guitar. And folks bang on about the feel of the neck but that's subjective,
It's very subjective, and very much more apparent with acoustic guitars, specificaly real wood Vs laminated wood makes a huge difference to the sound, also the type of wood.
It doesn't really matter much with electric guitars these days, as if your running through a magical effects processor you can make it sound pretty much however you want, really.
So with electric guitars its all about the set up to make it more ergonomic/easy to play, the sound is much more to do with the digital effects and the amp, but an acoustic guiter, it sounds like it sounds and thats yer lot. IMO.
but an acoustic guiter, it sounds like it sounds and thats yer lot. IMO.
Barre chords are difficult and unnecessary. There's always an easy alternative even if you only play 2 or 3 strings. It still sounds ok and in tune.
that sounds promising then, i think i need to try the easy alternatives first then to get myself going.
is there a resource/website that shows these options? most of the websites i look at seem to have numerous options, and i remember when i asked about the finger placements id seen on justinguitar, some of you said that youd never play that chord that way.
yes i can wait til i see the odd mate or two, but im just keen to practice, so wondered if theres something i can be trying in the meantime. i guess im just asking what the easy versions of each major and minor key are please and if there are any easy ways of remembering them. (just a link to something will do, no need to type them out 🙂 )
thanks
https://nationalguitaracademy.com/chords/guitar-chords-for-beginners/
Don't worry about barre chords at this stage. It takes a while to get the grip right and will put you off if you are just beginning. Don't stress to much about using the exact same chord shapes at this stage.
if you're learning on electric and want to play punk (just guessing) then learning the E and A bar chord shapes is something you can do in your first few weeks/months, and means you can then play a hell of a lot of tunes same way the band did.
Anyway, can we agree on one thing.
Bar chords https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_chord
😁
with electric guitars these days, as if your running through a magical effects processor you can make it sound pretty much however you want, really
Speaking of which..
My new marshall arrives today, full of tube loveliness. Currently have a katana artist, which is great, but just so overly complicated. To get the most out of it you need to link it up to a PC ffs.
Back in the day I had a peavey bandit..2 channels, made about 2 different sounds, but it was awesome. I miss those days!
That barre chord photo above - it looks like the player's last two fingers are on the same string... Not the best example 🤣
Tube loveliness is great, if a little loud. James Vincent, of this parish, who designs the mag, is a guitarist and he just snapped up a Marshall 20W head with the vertical 2x12 cab. I'm very jealous. I'd love the opportunity to dig out one of my valve amps, but I'm either only playing for 20 minutes, or going somewhere to play two tunes, so it's not worth getting the heavy stuff out. It's (unfortunately) easier to just plug a modeller or preamp into a PA at the moment...
looks like the player's last two fingers are on the same string...
Yeah well, that's a wiki piece illustrating a bar with a classical player prob about to do a mordent of one of those fiddly things they do. I don't think it's Johnny Ramone playing an F
Tube loveliness is great, if a little loud
Oh it'll be far far too loud! My katana is 100watt solid state and I have it set on the 0.5 watt setting and it's loud!
The marshall is 40 tube watts, which apparently can go down to 20 at the flick of a switch. I've never had a tube amp before, but I'm lead to belive tube watts and solid state watts don't equate...and even 20 watts will shake the windows
Hope it has a master volume control!!
Maybe it'll motivate me to start a band again. But realistically, I bought it as I'm an idiot.
Enjoy the roar! 🙂 I have an old Epiphone Valve Junior, which was a one (volume) knob 5W combo, and that can fill a room. My EVH lunchbox head is 15W and that more than kept up with a LOUD drummer through a Barefaced 1x10...
My guitar teacher plays his Fender tube amp at home as well as at gigs. For domestic use he uses an attenuator. Meaning he can crank it up till he gets the tube distortion, sends that signal out into the attenuator via the effects loop and feeds the resulting signal (reduced to near nothing but still with all the character) back so it comes through the speaker sounding sweet
For domestic use he uses an attenuator.
Do you know which one he uses? I looked into these. You get 2 types. The ones for about 100 odd quid get terrible reviews, basically they don't work like the ones that cost significantly more (>400 quid). Basically the expensive ones work because of the way they are designed, the cheap ones don't make you amp sound anything like when it's cranked.
That said, I've called out over the past page I'm tone deaf anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter.
No idea and I won't be speaking to him for a few weeks. Maybe look at the Anderson's website or YouTube channel for other opinions
Even 20 watts of tube is loud. I regularly gig with a ( admittedly not loud ) drummer using an orange tube amp on 7w setting or a vox ac10 that’s never on more than 1/3 volume. We aren’t a quiet band and I’ve never struggled to be heard.
attenuators are a rabbit hole. The cheap ones are basically like adding a master volume pot between pre and power amp stages so you will get pre amp distortion but you don’t get that extra level of tube loveliness from cranked power tubes. How much of the “real” tone you get varies from amp to amp depending on how much the power tubes are part of their “ character “
the proper attenuators mimic a speaker load and let you crank both sets of tubes. You get what you pay for here apparently. That said there is some info about building your own here….
https://marshallforum.com/threads/simple-attenuators-design-and-testing.98285/
That said there is some info about building your own here….
' I've broken my amp and burnt down my house'...a thread you can look forward to, coming to this forum soon...
Maybe it'll motivate me to start a band again. But realistically, I bought it as I'm an idiot.
There's a c. 30 year old Marshall VS100R in my parents' attic that was the result of a similarly well informed/overly enthusiastic decision in my late teens.
Also a 40W solid state bass amp of similar vintage. Must try them and find them a new home really but first need to work out the logistics. Of course I sold the chuffing 10W bass practice amp that actually would have been useful to get back into playing that 🙄
Just picked up an absolutely beautiful daphne blue road worn strat with 59 pickups for what i considered a bit of a bargain. Nicest strat I've ever played or seen.
I don't like the heavy relic look, but this one is tasteful and looks mint. I'm operating on a 1 in 1 out policy at the moment so my current strat is now looking for a new home.
Decided to dig out my old vox amp to play it on. I forgot how loud 4 watts of tube ampage can sound..
Photos needed!
Photos needed!
After 12 years on here I still haven't worked out how to post pics
It's basically like this one..looks lovely in the flesh, just enough relicing to be reasonably tasteful, nitro finish cracking nicely etc.
Pretty close to a non-Fender that I had. Lovely guitar! 
Almost identical!
I prefer the color of your fingerboard mind you
I do question the premium the big companies charge to 'relic' your guitar when folks on Ebay are selling entire reliced guitars that don't look dissimilar for 300 quid
I think that there's relicing and there's relicing... The good ones look like genuinely old, worn and loved guitars. The bad ones just look like someone's taken a sander to the corners... For instance, you can't relic polyurethane like you can nitrocellulose, so a good relic requires that the initial paint job be nitro (and more expensive) before it's distressed. I think that, even though the Road Worn ones are reliced to a pattern, they're done with some care - and the resulting paint job will continue to wear with time, whereas a cheaper poly paint job won't.
Hi! (Waves!!!!)
Not been biking much lately other than the commute however playing more guitars than ever.
literally more guitars. The latest was my first non PRS Se for ages.
Meet my Pinky Dinky, a Charvel Rick Graham DK24 ProMod.
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Although the one before that was almost a cliche for me:
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Lots of minor gear changes and even a couple of small gigs as 2nd guitarist with a group of mates.
Life is good but busy as I’m preparing for about 7000 pond fish to arrive in about three weeks.
i just dont get 'relicing'. You buy a new guitar, that that has a paintjob that looks like an old guitar??
Why dont you buy a new guitar with a new paintjob, so it looks nice and new, then play it over a period of time and you get the 'relicing' for free......
I'm 73. I don't have enough time to relic a guitar the old way. It does have a nitro finish so the next owner will havea head start.
I have a (poly-finished) Aria Pro II from 1981 that I've had since 1986 and it still looks as new and shiny as the day I got it (bar one tiny nick in the finish from 1987...) - so it's never going to wear in.
I've got a nitro-finished Fender Eric Johnson that I've had for around five years and it's sloooowly starting to show some wear. Personally, I like worn-in guitars as I don't need to be as delicate in handling/playing them. (I had a PRS US Hollowbody that I never played as it was just too beautiful... whereas I have a PRS Vela with some dings in it now that I play all the time...)
The 'relic'ed' neck on my strat is by far the nicest I've ever played. Most of my guitars are poly finish, they will never feel like a reliced nitro neck even if i played them for hours a day for 20 years
And the nitro guitars I have just don't get played enough that they'll ever relic to any degree. It takes years of hard usage. As a bedroom guitarist with multiple guitars it isn't going to happen.
The only guitar I have that looks remotely beat up 'naturally' is a diy tele I made back in the day..I did such a half assessed job finishing it that it actually now reflects its age.
Anyone knowledgeable on older Ibanez stuff?
I have an Ibanez EX370-FMTR (1992). I bought it second hand in around 1993 to 1994 I think. It's a sort of greeny blue finish with gold hardware and Floyd Rose style trem if anyone is googling.
Having just picked up a guitar again it's obvious even to me that the setup isn't quite right. A situation not helped by an emergency bridge saddle replacement that is not a perfect match when a seized bolt snapped off in the original for the G. This is already annoying me!
The electrics are crackly/temperamental if you move anything but are fine if you leave it on bridge and full tone and volume.
Unlike my Aria Les Paul copy it sounds decent at high gain.
I'll probably just run it into our nearby LGS for a look but I'm just wondering for a metal head what the modern equivalent might be in terms of sound quality / price. I'd be happier fixed bridge for my standard of playing.
There must be a point at which this becomes good money after bad and I'm thinking with electrics + bridge issue + setup this might be a spares or repair moment but I'm just not good enough or knowledgeable enough to know what current stuff would put me back to a decent place to learn/enjoy playing.
I'd suggest getting it looked at by the local guitar tech. They should be able to get it playing well. You should be able to get a super slinky low action on one of those. I'd also ask the tech to just block the trem, if you're not needing to do super dive-bombs. (Or even Van Halen-it, so it'll only dive and not pull up - way more stable tuning). A Floyd is a bit fiddly to re-string (no worse than a Bigsby, I'd reckon), but how often will you do that anyway? The crackly pots probably just need some switch cleaner and they can probably fix your bridge bolt issue too. It's a great guitar and for the £100-£200 or so you'll spend getting it set up and set to your liking, you'll get a way better guitar than if you go out and buy one for a couple hundred quid.