The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[ColinJ]

A friend is visiting. She noticed that I now have a guitar downstairs near to where she is sitting and picked it up to have a twiddle. She is not currently a player either but she seems to have already picked up a few chords from my little chord chart. No bar(re) chords though!

 

[GM]

504291[/ATTACH]

Colin, you can always do what the Shadows do.......

 

[ColinJ]

Colin, you can always do what the Shadows do.......

I was thinking of them when I said that I didn't fancy standing up and moving around! It would be one thing to perform standing up, but having to move about while trying to work out what to do and practise it would seem odd.

I'm feeling tempted by a clip-on guitar tuner - I could leave the chunky old mic-based tuner up in the attic room with my other guitar.

 

[Asa Post]

I'm feeling tempted by a clip-on guitar tuner - I could leave the chunky old mic-based tuner up in the attic room with my other guitar.

Snark Super-Tight is the one to get. More expensive than most, but more reliable as well.

 

[ColinJ]

Snark Super-Tight is the one to get. More expensive than most, but more reliable as well.

It was on my shortlist. I'm wondering why it costs double what some of the other Snark models do though.

 

[GuyBoden]

I am currently using fifth voicings, technically called Quintal harmony:

Here's the 7 basic fifth chords to keep you amused:
Each colour represents a four note fifth chord, so a bit of a stretch, but worth it.

 

[MontyVeda]

I still have my steel-strung acoustic but find that a bit hard on my fingertips.
...

I put a set of electric strings on mine... it's a lot more friendly

 

[ColinJ]

I put a set of electric strings on mine... it's a lot more friendly

I have found a couple of sets of strings that I had forgotten buying and one of those looks a lighter gauge. I might put those on instead some time. For now I will stick to the classical guitar with its gentler nylon strings.

 

[MontyVeda]

...
Left-handed guitars... what are they all about?

(I am being serious, actually!) Left handed players of most other instruments just learn them as they are. A left-handed friend of mine insisted on turning his first guitar round (and swapping the strings over) even though he had never played one before but that meant he could never get on with my guitars or those of our other friends. I'm sure that I wouldn't have had a problem if guitars had all been 'left-handed' when I got my first one, though obviously it would feel incredibly odd to me now.

I had lessons at school when i was eleven. Instinctively, I hold a guitar left handed but the teacher said that was wrong. I just couldn't get the hang of the basic chord shapes and gave up after a few weeks. Six years later, I strung the 'family' guitar left hand and everything was instantly easier for me. I'm not a good player and never will be, but I can pick up a RH guitar and play most chords upside down (the hard bit is inverting my strumming). I don't buy the quote about LH guitars being a con and learning to play LH is pointless because playing the other way is just as hard to start with... haven't they heard of Hendrix

...

I'm feeling tempted by a clip-on guitar tuner - I could leave the chunky old mic-based tuner up in the attic room with my other guitar.

Get a clip on, even the cheap ones are better than the chunky old mic based tuner you've got. Tuning through vibration rather than a mic just works better

 

[MontyVeda]

Just learn the Pentatonic Minor and you're at the same level as 99% of electric guitar players...

@ColinJ This (rather bloated) video explained it in simple terms for me (hopefully it starts at the G pentatonic minor bit, if not, skip forward to 11:34ish)
What i like is it demonstrates how one simple pattern can be used for playing in any major or minor key.

 

[GuyBoden]

Here's a good video of a player, it's an Allan Holdsworth composition and very difficult to play, even for me........it's the stretches for the chords that are killer....

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7aKJaf9mWc

 

[GuyBoden]

Just learn the Pentatonic Minor and you're at the same level as 99% of electric guitar players...

Don't rush, but play songs, scales and intervals by eye and ear.........

Just learn the notes up to the 3rd fret.

Then much later, learn up to the 5th fret.

Then years after that, learn up to the 7th fret.

Then years and years after that, learn up to the 9th fret.

Then years, years and years after that, learn up to the 12th fret.

Then light years after that, learn from the 12th fret and beyond.

 

[GuyBoden]

Here's a short clip of me playing a Jazzy number about 20 years ago.

https://www.mixposure.com/guy-boden/audio/515/just-is

 

[ColinJ]

I got a bit distracted by videos like this one...

I quite fancy having a go at flamenco. I think I might do some bodge repairs to the cheapo guitar (glue it back together!) and dedicate that for flamenco practice so I don't batter the body of my nice classical guitar doing the percussive bashing with hands and nails!

Don't rush, but play songs, scales and intervals by eye and ear.........

Just learn the notes up to the 3rd fret.

Then much later, learn up to the 5th fret.

Then years after that, learn up to the 7th fret.

Then years and years after that, learn up to the 9th fret.

Then years, years and years after that, learn up to the 12th fret.

Then light years after that, learn from the 12th fret and beyond.

In that case I think I can safely say that any excursions by me beyond the 7th fret will probably involve the use of a capo! Aged 64, I no longer have 20 or 30 years to spare ...

 

[GuyBoden]

It takes time, but it's definitely a journey to enjoy.......