Jump to content

Home

The Newbie Guitarist Thread!


Solbe M'ko

Do you play or want to play the guitar?  

16 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you play or want to play the guitar?

    • Yes, I most certainly do!
      13
    • No! What kind of stupid question is that?
      3


Recommended Posts

I play a big waste of money. :( I bought a Mexican Fat Strat for 600 bucks and I'm really disappointed with it. I have some serious buyers remorse on this one. I keep beating myself up when I look through the classified ads and see some killer git-box for like $250.

 

I started off listening to music when I was about 12. I loathe pop music, so a lot of the newer rock bands I inadvertantly avoided. I started out liking stuff like Zeplin and BTO (:D ) But now I find that my tastes have really changed. I listen to a lot of Claptons older stuff, like the Bluesbreakers and his Yardbirds stuff with Sonny Boy Williamson. I also like SRV and Hendrix. I also got a big intorduction to Funk/R&B from Albert Collins; now I like guys like James Brown and Lowell Fulson. I got hooked on BB King when I heard "Just Like a Woman (Rockin' Twist)" on a compelation CD, but I havn't been able to find much of his stuff that was like that.

 

Anyway, I'll post my personal favorite Tab site, http://www.mikesguitarsite.co.uk

 

-PS- Hey, Obi-wan, Pan Pan is fat!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Mex Fenders aren't all that bad, considering some of the other crap that's out there right now. You could have done a lot worse in that price range, let me tell you.

Take it to a reputable tech nearby and have him dress the frets properly, set up the action, and gut the pickups and electronics and replace them with Seymour Duncans.

Most people I know with Mexican made Fenders like them after they go through these steps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose that would solve my problem, but I really have no idea what a good price for work is, so I'm scared to blow a wad on something I don't need. I spent about a thousand bucks on my guitar/amp, so I'm not really in the mood to go spend too much more until I get a job.

 

I've been interested in learning how to make a guitar myself, though. My dad is a carpenter, so he has the equiptment, but I have not been able to locate any books on the subject so far. Just a pipedream, I guess...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by edlib

Take it to a reputable tech nearby and have him dress the frets properly, set up the action, and gut the pickups and electronics and replace them with Seymour Duncans.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that basically just remaking 3/4 of the guitar?

 

Anyway, I've been playing for a little over two years.. I don't really have much to show for it:( I have two Fender Squires.. one acoustic, one electric. I know most of the major and minor base cords (E, Em, A, G) etc etc.. I only know one scale by nature though. I can play pretty fast too, but eh, you know...

 

At some point I'd like to get better. Maybe take lessons. Who knows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slash- Hes my fav guitar player i wanna play like him when i get older (im only ....nearly 13 and i been playing for jus about 2 years)

 

Good Charlotte - we play most of their songs in our band

 

Thats me

 

Why dont we start posting a few tabs

 

heres one from blink 182 it jus poped to my head

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------- *

-----0-0--3---------0-0--3-----------0-0--3-------------3-3--0 *

3-3-----------------------------0-0--------------------------------

----------------3-3--------------------------------1-1-------------

 

Thats the start if u want more here it is

 

-----xxxxxx-----xxxxxx---------xxxxxx-----------xxxxxx

-----xxxxxx-----xxxxxx---------xxxxxx-----------xxxxxx

-----xxxxxx-----xxxxxx----------xxxxxx----------xxxxxx

- 5-xxxxxx------xxxxxx---------xxxxxx-----------xxxxxx

--3-xxxxxx--5--xxxxxx------7--xxxxxx-------3--xxxxxx

-----xxxxxx--3--xxxxxx------5--xxxxxx-------1--xxxxxx

 

Thats the whole song it repeats itself......really easy (x means put hand oveer the strings and strum...play quite fast)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Datheus

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that basically just remaking 3/4 of the guitar?

The things that seperate a great guitar from a cheap one are the craftmanship on the final setup, and the quality of the electronics. The wood is usually just fine, and since almost every Fender you can buy these days (with the possible exception of certain Custom Shop creations) are designed and built on the same computer-controlled CAD/CAM machines, so there will be little difference in the bodies and the necks.

Replacing the pickups and having a fret job and setup by someone who REALLY knows what they're doing can go a long way towards making a nice guitar out of a dog.

I know a lot of guys who play Mexican made Fenders who like them better than much more expensive models once they have them worked on. And you can usually buy 2 of them and have them worked on for the price of a single top-o'-th'-line model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by edlib

The things that seperate a great guitar from a cheap one are the craftmanship on the final setup, and the quality of the electronics.

 

I know a lot of guys who play Mexican made Fenders who like them better than much more expensive models once they have them worked on. And you can usually buy 2 of them and have them worked on for the price of a single top-o'-th'-line model.

 

 

I agree. Changing the pickups is a good start. I think he feels ripped off for spending a grand and doesn't see any benefit from it.

 

A mexi-strat is a good guitar as far as the body and neck go. I had a red fat strat three years ago that I bought locally for $250. Don't worry, I know the owner and I practically put his kids through college with the dough I've spent on guitars and amps over the years. :) Anyway I hated the sound it produced (sounded really flat and dull). I changed the pickups and electronics myself and I had Dave (the owner) change the action. After that it sounded GREAT! A really nice clean sound!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here you go, Grilled-Sarlacc.

 

First of all, familiarize thineself with the fretboard. As you play along it you will find some relationships between the strings and frets, for example, how the 5th fret of the 6th string sounds the same as the open 5th string.

 

Next, learn some chords. I learned barre chords first, but most people start out with open chords. Learn E and A right away, you'll need those. I have a book called "Play Rock Guitar". It's really thick and has lots of diagrams, but it gets pretty musical early on, so if you just want to play the guitar and not play "music", like me, I don't reccomend it.

 

Learn to read TAB, if you can't read music. TAB is basically just a diagram of where your fingers will be when you play a song.

 

Try out some songs once you can read them. Don't try songs that are too hard, but also don't play songs that you don't like to listen to, or you won't know/ won't care if you make a mistake. I, for one, started out learning Blues Theory because a) It's simple b) It's in just about every rock song you've ever heard c) It helps you learn lead guitar.

 

If you can, look for guitar books in a local library. That's what I do. Songbooks are expensive, and internet TAB is often inacurate, so free songbooks are a good solution.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps...

:guitar2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Get a metronome (or drum machine) and work with it.

The biggest problem I see with beginning guitarists (who have no other real musical training) is with thier time. It's still my biggest problem to this day.

 

Practice EVERYTHING you do with the metronome at first, until you develop an internal sense of time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by edlib

Get a metronome (or drum machine) and work with it.

The biggest problem I see with beginning guitarists (who have no other real musical training) is with thier time. It's still my biggest problem to this day.

 

Practice EVERYTHING you do with the metronome at first, until you develop an internal sense of time.

 

 

Very true. I've been playing music my whole life so it's easy for me to pick up a new instrament or keep a beat because it feels natural. I know a lot of good players that haven't been taught the basics of music and have problem keeping time. I think it makes a huge difference as far as being able to right your own music and parts for other instruments like percussion and woodwinds. :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Grilled-Sarlacc

Yeah, i've taken music most of my life (trumpet), so I know how to count and whatnot, so I just need to figure out the whole guitar thing.:)

That's good. That means you already know scales and theory, and have a sense of time.

First you should develop a couple of purely mechanical exercises to get you fingers and pick hand in some kind of shape. Running scales and arpeggios are the best, but it can be as simple as playing chromatically up and down one string, or across all 6 strings.

Like this: http://www.wholenote.com/default.asp?iTarget=http%3A//www.wholenote.com/cgi-bin/page_view.pl%3Fl%3D5200%26p%3D1%26a%3D0

Spend 5 or 10 minutes doing these type of exercises a day, as a warmup before practice, speeding them up a little more each day to develop muscle memory and to get your hands in sync with each other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...