Guitarists of Singletrack...

Thanks again guys, great advice.

On the trying to play like Marr thang, it's more of someone I recognise as being a fantastic player playing the sort of stiff I enjoy listening too. If I could get somewhere remotly close too something resembling his playing, that'd be the pinnacle, not that I'm expecting to!

I'd be more than happy to be able to do a recognisable Dylan, Beatles or Oasis number a few months down the road!

The most important thing I've learned over the past few years is that your hands don't lie.

Guitars are like walking boots. The wrong ones might be fine for a few miles, but find the ones that fit you and you can forget about price, brand, country of origin etc and just get on with getting on.

And there might not be any fixed logic to it - my two favourites are a 7.25 radius, skinny fretted Tele and a flat as a pankake Ibanez RG550.
Similarly, I love fat necked Faith and Kate Moss thin necked LAG acoustics.

Tried loads of Strats and still find them hard to play, but purely because of the sound and feel I'm learning to love a modern C 9.5 radius.

'Gibsons' don't suit me but the best seem to be made by Gordon Smith, Vintage or Ibanez.
My favourite so far was a £90 secondhand Vintage and I wouldn't swap it for any of the real Gibsons I've played.
Every single one out of the 50 or so I've played has had issues with neck allignment or pathetic fretboard finishing.

I think with the learning thing people expect to be able to play a passable version of whatever in a few months where they don't realize that the people they are attempting to cover are exceptional talents in the main who have been playing for a long long time.

I have been playing guitar for 36 years, I can in the main pick up a new song and play it convincingly in a week or less - often in an hour, but I have put in the time to get there, I never practise songs I practice general techniques and they are normally the route to picking up songs quickly, also an understanding of theory is crucially in knowing what is likely to come next

There are few people that I cant do and at the top of that tree is Johnny Marr. He is very none traditional and super driven to be different when he was young

Good luck

I never practise songs I practice general techniques

I do the opposite. Rarely work on technique and usually practice songs. Mainly because it takes me ages to learn the lyrics and then sing them while doing sometimes complex strumming patterns. I learned the guitar part to play along with "Qué demonios hago yo aqui" by los Zigarros in a few hours, fills, solo, the lot. The chorus is easy enough to sing but the verses in time to the strumming pattern are taking a long time. It's going to take months at the current rate of a few words memorised a day... .

I’d be more than happy to be able to do a recognisable Dylan, Beatles or Oasis number a few months down the road!

This is how I practice most, Tele, Mustang modelling amp, the original to play over then a backing track if there's one on Youtube. I start with just strumming along and when I'm comfortable with that start learning the fills and solos.

If you do want to learn Don't Look Back in Anger you'll have to tune your guitar about 40 cents up to play with the original because it's speeded up. The backing track is normal tuning.

A man in his happy place! Win 👍🏼

If I didn’t already have a purple sparkle Fender Tele-shaped guitar...

https://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/product/squier-fsr-classic-vibe-70s-telecaster-deluxe-mn-purple-sparkle/#

That is lovely!

Set the intonation on your new to you guitar, Simon. It’s visibly a country mile out.

It will be off to my lovely local guitar shop chap (Rick @ Marvel Guitars) for strings and a setup when I get a chance. Yes, I could do it myself but I like to support lovely people in nice little shops 🙂

@Edukator that’s great. You maybe need some instruction from @Binners to get the accent right though 😉

@simondbarnes I usually do most of my strings and tweaks myself, but I must admit that Matt, my local guy does it sooo much better than I do. He’s even fixed a couple of my bodges that didn’t go well. Worth paying a pro 😊

Oooh! Amazon Basics guitar pedals...

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Overdrive-Guitar-Effect-Pedal/dp/B07ZVZFLZ1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Overdrive%2BPedal%2Bamazon%2Bbasics&qid=1603314303&sr=8-1&th=1&fbclid=IwAR1O9lYoKGt7prSbdSjx5hg2KTxWxj4QPXR4d21IJzAccOwY0v05ORQQNHc

Whilst I may be joking about the above! I bought one of these wireless guitar systems and it has been pretty darn good. My mate gigs with one on her electric violin.

https://www.amazon.com/ammoon-Wireless-Rechargeable-Channels-Transmitter/dp/B07L2RXYZL/ref=sr_1_38?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&dchild=1&keywords=Guitar+%26+Bass+Accessories&qid=1603526649&sr=8-38&ts_id=11967641

Thanks for the encouragement, Simon. Posting vids here is a bit like busking, most people just walk past but now and then one or two pause and take an interest.

Your post has big holes in Eddie, I assume something should be there but isn't.

Golly, I could see them earlier...
The first was a link to Amazon Basics now doing effects pedals, the second was to the £30 Amnoon 2.4GHz wireless system.

Want!

Feelgood guitars?

nice bit of sparkle. And I’m a sucker for a matching headstock (I really should have bought a Surf Green matchy match Strat (and/or Tele) when they did them a few years ago.

i could see that Amazon link BTW, just took a while to materialise

I have the £30 amoon wireless guitar gizmo. Works pretty well over a few metres, batteries last a couple of hours of playing. Cant complain at that price. Also bought their basic looper pedal for something like £25 - pretty decent as well

Decided to learn a few songs by other folk (never normally do that, prefer to play my own music)

Learned Twos Up by ACDC, kickstart my heart by the Crue, Last Days of May by BOC and Dead Alone by In Flames

Quite enjoyable to see how other folk play/write

Decided to learn a few songs by other folk

That's pretty much all I do. However, I usually end up kind of learning how to play the intro, get frustrated by it not sounding amazing and then move onto another song and repeat forever 🙂

That’s pretty much all I do. However, I usually end up kind of learning how to play the intro, get frustrated by it not sounding amazing and then move onto another song and repeat forever

+1 😪

I seem to have an attention span of about 15 minutes for learning a song. I really need to sort that out otherwise I'm always going to be shit! I tried to be Mike McCready in Mad Season this morning but sound nothing like him 🙂

I seem to have an attention span of about 15 minutes for learning a song.

I was told to break a song into its various sections and learn from the back first so you are always working towards bits you know.
Worked for a while then I just got over it and a switch clicked in my mind..
I follow Sophie Lloyd on YouTube (who wouldn't?) and I got a lot of motivation and theory tips from her videos and theory is the bit my mind glazes over... Her "3 notes per string" video made me think a bit more before just rattling away.
Mary Spender also seems a very competent teacher.
And I'm enjoying the 'instructional' stuff from Larkin Poe of late.

I was told to break a song into its various sections and learn from the back first so you are always working towards bits you know.

Not tried that, got to be worth a go!

This year was to be the year I finally got some lessons. Covid has put paid to that (I don't want to do video lessons)

I tried to be Mike McCready in Mad Season this morning but sound nothing like him

You do, I listened to the live version because it's the first time I'd heard that song, and it's definitely the same intro. Not easy to reproduce the studio version as the man proves himself live.

That's a great thing about live music, people aren't looking for perfection, they're looking for an atmosphere, passion, life, entertainment. Some bands are very good at simplifying songs to the point they can play them faultlessly every time yet all the feel of the orignal is in there. Watch Billy Gibbons playing Sharp Dressed Man in a recent live vid, much simplified yet you still hear what you're expecting.

You do, I listened to the live version because it’s the first time I’d heard that song, and it’s definitely the same intro.

Blimey, thanks 🙂
I'm going to attempt to smash my 15 minute attention span and learn some more of the song.

Blue

Or

Red?

Decisions decisions 🤷‍♂️

Edit: links fixed

yeah a tough one page not found vs page not found 🙂

What colour is your on-stage sparkly outfit? 😊

failing that, match your shoes...

Anyone looking for a nice Tele? Better sell the house:
https://www.award-session.com/fender_broadcaster.html

If you want one without worn frets, an odd nut, screws sticking way out of the saddles, an odd deck height... you could just sell a bike:

Custom shop Broadcaster

Collect the set! They're (mostly) all in here... blackguardlogs.com

However, missing from that list is the 1952 Tele owned by Ross Shafer, ex-owner of Salsa - number 1155... Which I've been lucky enough to play. OMG! What a guitar! Stock apart from a brass nut (hey, blame the 70s...) - I've got some nice pics of it somewhere, I'll dig them out...

I'm not keen on relics and that guitar is an example of why; it looks right where the Custom Shop relics look a mess.

I'd want to disinfect it before playing though. 😉

I do like blackguard blondes.

Maybe mine might look a bit aged in 40 years time...

https://flic.kr/p/6X4WJo

Mind you that was taken 12 years ago...

Can I be controversial and say I really don’t like Teles and can’t understand why anyone would want one when the Strat is a better and more versatile guitar? I am saying this as a keen singlespeed rider so I can see the irony but I really can’t see what a Tele offers and over 50 odd years never have.

Oh, and the headstock is ugly too. Not fat Strat headstock ugly but bad across the range since forever.

I've got the blackguard on the previous page and junior has a couple. Mine is a con in that it's thoroughly modern. A 10"-12" compound radius neck with a sort of flattened C shape, double expanding trussrod, N3 noiseless pickups. One of junior's has a Little Thunder in the neck.

The broadcaster type pickups (overwound with thin wire and big magnets) sound great with a clean tube amp but have their issues. I've got some Crel 666 which are ace till I click a pedal at high gain or use a modeling amp on high gain settings. They squeal even when taken out of the guitar (so it's not acoustic feedback it's something electronic), same with De Marzio Twang King.

So you need two blackguards, one with original type pickups and one with lower output single coils or N3/N4/Duncan noiseless. This one sounds lovely, it's junior's 2012 Clasic Vibe through a Mustang 2. Subsequent year models don't sound the same and the latest ones have very different pickups.

Who needs a strat?
https://flic.kr/p/aXoERT

🤪

Can I be controversial and say I really don’t like Teles and can’t understand why anyone would want one when the Strat is a better and more versatile guitar?

A tele through a Princeton is one of the classic guitar sounds.

I don’t like the stuff you like, it leaves me cold tbh (personal taste, we’re all different). A tele is a striped down, bare, honest guitar.

It’s also (imho) a thing of joy and beauty.

I’ve a strat, but can’t feel the same about it as the blonde...

That Broadcaster in the YT link above sounds incredible...

I hear you on the 'Why do people like Teles?' comment, though I think I'm warming to them. Actually no... I've got a couple of Cabronitas - so Filtertron pickups and not at all Tele-like... I've been through a few previously - I did think I wanted a double-bound custom, but realised that they're actually really sharp-edged! And I had a Quarter Pounder pickuped bits and pieces Tele too... I do prefer Strats, though Ross's '52 does have a huge amount of magic to it. (I know what you mean about disinfecting it - I played it in a jam on a warm night and you could feel the grunge rubbing off the back of the neck... seemed appropriate at the time though :-))

Anyone got any idea what this might be?
https://flic.kr/p/2jZJWPT

German? Hoya did some teardrop soundhole jazzers with those ugly block fretboard markers, but I've never seen them at just 5/7/12 before.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/440860251018335779/?nic_v2=1a3xvyqR1

Thanks for the detective assignment - I'm reckoning a Goldklang... Or maybe a Voss. German, 1960s... or so.

This neck looks familiar:  https://reverb.com/uk/item/2292495-rare-vintage-voss-archtop-jazz-f-hole-guitar-gima-gitarre-germany-1960

Nice work chipps

And I like those fretboard markings, like d day stripes for guitars 🙂

Hoyer and Voss have that cutout shape but can't find any pictures with same body shape.

Dropped my new Jag off with Rick @ Marvel Guitars this morning for fettle. Have just picked it up again so I can't blame the guitar for my shit playing now 🤣

My new (old) Squier tele arrived earlier. Its not in bad nick for a 30 year old guitar...

Like it 🙂

Blimey, pretty darn spotless. You must be happy with that to say the least.

Yup. Very very happy indeed. Just need to learn to play it now!

Can I be controversial and say I really don’t like Teles and can’t understand why anyone would want one when the Strat is a better and more versatile guitar? I am saying this as a keen singlespeed rider so I can see the irony but I really can’t see what a Tele offers and over 50 odd years never have.

Fiiiiiiight!

1. Strats resonate, it's the trem. They add that glassy sheen which comes from all those symathetic resonances of the trem and springs.
A Jag or Jazzmaster even more so.
It's not wrong or right, it's just different.

2. The control layout.
The Tele controls are pretty much perfectly placed. Strat knobs get in the way, depending how you play.
And no tone control on the bridge? Please.....

Which leads me to....

3 The pickups.
Strat bridge pickups are usually bloody awful. An annoying, high pitched itch in the middle of your head.
Tele bridge pickups are the voice of a sane god.
Yes, Strat neck pickups are heavenly. So put one in a Tele and have the best of both worlds.
In between positions? Fine, stick a Strat middle pickup in there too, if you must.

4. Body shape.
Cats and dogs.
Strats are trying too hard to please. Slippery horrible things - fall off your knee.
Teles are honest. You know where you are with a Tele.
Be honest - if you were fighting off zombies, a Tele would be so much better.

5. Versatility.
Teles have a mellower neck pick up and a more comple and a simply classier bridge pick up.
No contest.

For me, a Tele with a Strat neck pickup, or a Strat with a Tele bridge pickup would be just peachy.
Lowell George had it right.......

Off tomorrow, so me and Mrs S are just about to go and murder some easy Stones and Chuck Berry.
I'll use the Ibanez RG.
It's so much better than either. 😃

OOOOH!.
1. Strats resonate, it’s the trem.
And damn fine it is to. You can always tighten the springs so the bridge is flush to the body. Helps if you break a string as well.

2. The control layout.
The Tele controls are pretty much perfectly placed. Strat knobs get in the way, depending how you play. And no tone control on the bridge? Please…..
Blend in the middle pick up if needed, pick further towards the neck use the volme for tone if playing at higher gain..

3 The pickups.
Strat bridge pickups are usually bloody awful. An annoying, high pitched itch in the middle of your head.
Tele bridge pickups are the voice of a sane god.
Yes, Strat neck pickups are heavenly. So put one in a Tele and have the best of both worlds.
In between positions? Fine, stick a Strat middle pickup in there too, if you must.
Choose your Strat carefully. Mine have been great with the Custom Shop 60s wind and a Seymour JB jnr works well, especially with a Schaller selector switch to auto split it on pos 2.

4. Body shape.
Cats and dogs.
Strats are trying too hard to please. Slippery horrible things – fall off your knee.
Teles are honest. You know where you are with a Tele.
Be honest – if you were fighting off zombies, a Tele would be so much better.
Zombies like my music. I never have to fight them. The body shape is stunning you are wrongetty wrong wrong.

5. Versatility.
Teles have a mellower neck pick up and a more complex and a simply classier bridge pick up. No contest.
Pick ups are easily changed, the out of phase sounds of a good Strat are stunning.

I’ll use the Ibanez RG. It’s so much better differenter than either.

I'll not argue too much with that. Played a Jem once and have had my eye out for one for a while.

🙂