Guitar Porn

[TN94z]

 

18 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

It really depends on your objectives.  But playing guitar is ultimate about playing songs so you're going to want to learn songs.

Learn a few chords (specifically G, C, D, Em, Am) and get fluid with changing from one to another while strumming.  Find some songs that use some of those chords, there are tons of them, pick some you like and learn them.  Strum and sing.  This is how many start.

 

7 minutes ago, moparman426 said:

Rocksmith 2014 is pretty fun, especially if you want to learn to play songs as you progress.  Marty Schwartz' youtube lessons/pointers are really easy to understand as well.

 

Yeah, I just want to play songs that I like more than anything. Just something to mess around with. I'm not trying to write songs or anything..haha. I'll start with learning the chords and fluid movement between them and then jump to songs. Is building finger calluses a necessity before the fluid movement becomes easier? It seems like until you reach that point, the strings may be harder to press which would mean the finger placement would be really crucial??

[moparman426]

17 minutes ago, TN94z said:

 

 

Yeah, I just want to play songs that I like more than anything. Just something to mess around with. I'm not trying to write songs or anything..haha. I'll start with learning the chords and fluid movement between them and then jump to songs. Is building finger calluses a necessity before the fluid movement becomes easier? It seems like until you reach that point, the strings may be harder to press which would mean the finger placement would be really crucial??

You can start with a lighter gauge set of strings.  I typically use 10's (light gauge) on my LP, as they're pretty easy on the fingers, especially when you start getting into bends.  9's are way too light for my guitar and introduce a lot of fret buzz.  Strings are cheap, so experiment.  Yes, your fingertips will feel it for a bit, no matter what gauge you start with, but I found 11's to be extra hard on the ole' digits....  (10's refer to the size of the high "e" string, as in 0.010 gauge, 9's would be 0.009, etc...)

 

A good fingering (snort) exercise to help develop your fret hand is to touch your thumb to your index finger, then your ring finger, then your middle finger, and then your pinky.  Repeat this over and over, randomly changing the pattern.  It'll help build up some hand strength and dexterity, so you won't develop a habit of trying to strangle the neck while trying to fret your chords, which will choke up your chord shifts.

Edited April 18, 2017 by moparman426

[Pretzel]

11 hours ago, TN94z said:

Don't have a guitar picture but was curious about the best approach for someone that wants to learn to play. I know nothing about reading music, but have a guitar at home I want to learn to play.

I took some lessons when I first picked it up in middle school, but only 5-6 and that covered the basics of strumming and chord progressions etc. I played for about six months, the saddle and pickup on my Walmart guitar broke, and I didn't touch a guitar again until only recently. I would say that a majority of what I know now has come from watching tutorial videos and playing along. For example, I'm currently working my way though the final solo in Sweet Child O' Mine, and it's nice to have a video and tab to reference instead of playing it all by ear. Just looking at a tab can be hard since you can't hear it, and just looking at a video can be hard if you can't see exactly which fret they're on or they move on too fast. Both together works pretty well, at least for me.

10 hours ago, TN94z said:

Is building finger calluses a necessity before the fluid movement becomes easier? It seems like until you reach that point, the strings may be harder to press which would mean the finger placement would be really crucial??

The primary reason fluid movement is easier with calluses is because you can play for longer (and get more practice in) when it doesn't hurt to play. Picking the guitar back up I had about a week where my fingertips were absolutely destroyed, peeling and cracking, and pretty sore before I noticed it just stopped hurting. Now my fingertips are just fine, even if I go a week or two without touching the guitar due to a busy schedule.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Pretzel

[ZappyAd]

I have a few pictures...

[TN94z]

15 hours ago, moparman426 said:

A good fingering (snort) exercise to help develop your fret hand is to touch your thumb to your index finger, then your ring finger, then your middle finger, and then your pinky.  Repeat this over and over, randomly changing the pattern.  It'll help build up some hand strength and dexterity, so you won't develop a habit of trying to strangle the neck while trying to fret your chords, which will choke up your chord shifts.

Nice. I will start doing that at work when I'm just sitting at my desk.

4 hours ago, Pretzel said:

I took some lessons when I first picked it up in middle school, but only 5-6 and that covered the basics of strumming and chord progressions etc. I played for about six months, the saddle and pickup on my Walmart guitar broke, and I didn't touch a guitar again until only recently. I would say that a majority of what I know now has come from watching tutorial videos and playing along. For example, I'm currently working my way though the final solo in Sweet Child O' Mine, and it's nice to have a video and tab to reference instead of playing it all by ear. Just looking at a tab can be hard since you can't hear it, and just looking at a video can be hard if you can't see exactly which fret they're on or they move on too fast. Both together works pretty well, at least for me.

The primary reason fluid movement is easier with calluses is because you can play for longer (and get more practice in) when it doesn't hurt to play. Picking the guitar back up I had about a week where my fingertips were absolutely destroyed, peeling and cracking, and pretty sore before I noticed it just stopped hurting. Now my fingertips are just fine, even if I go a week or two without touching the guitar due to a busy schedule.

I had a friend tell me about a site he used. I'll have to check it out. Free guitar lessons or something like that. That makes sense. I was thinking more along the lines of soft finger tips would make it a little harder to keep the strings from buzzing...like they were pushed down far enough.

Thanks guys. Sorry for hijacking the thread..

[colin007]

4 hours ago, ZappyAd said:

I have a few pictures...

Effing sexy!! Is that first one a PRS also?

[Moppy]

16 hours ago, TN94z said:

Yeah, I just want to play songs that I like more than anything. Just something to mess around with. 

That's how golf starts too... But it turns out that guitars have levels, like golf, and as you master one level, you begin to understand the next, and want to do that now, and on an on.

[Zeph]

On 2/25/2017 at 0:27 AM, Pretzel said:

*pictures*

That blue is one of the pretties colors on guitars in my opinion. I was really tempted at getting an Ibanez in similar style.

Ibanez JEM7V 2003

[TN94z]

29 minutes ago, Moppy said:

That's how golf starts too... But it turns out that guitars have levels, like golf, and as you master one level, you begin to understand the next, and want to do that now, and on an on.

I figured. Haha...I'm going to "try" and stay simple on this one though...

[Pretzel]

1 hour ago, Zeph said:

That blue is one of the pretties colors on guitars in my opinion. I was really tempted at getting an Ibanez in similar style.

I honestly don't know why blue guitars seem to be only an occasional thing from Gibson and Fender (haven't had one from Gibson since the 2013 Manhattan Midnight). I personally like blue the best for a guitar, and I know I'm not alone since the HP version in Blueberry Burst was backordered until almost May when I bought my guitar in February.

2 hours ago, TN94z said:

I had a friend tell me about a site he used. I'll have to check it out. Free guitar lessons or something like that. That makes sense. I was thinking more along the lines of soft finger tips would make it a little harder to keep the strings from buzzing...like they were pushed down far enough.

Soft finger tips don't make it harder to keep the strings from buzzing, I don't think, since your fingertips will always have some give to them. I think the hard part is just that you don't want to push as hard when they're sore, which then leads to buzzing.

The site you probably heard about is justinguitar.com, which is definitely a solid resource for people looking to start guitar.

[Lihu]

I don't play Guitar nor know any of the brands, but this is our "Guitar area" at my office that the guitar players use. . .

[ZappyAd]

8 hours ago, colin007 said:

Effing sexy!! Is that first one a PRS also?

Yes.  I think that paint job is called red crackle (there is a blue version too).  PRS experimented a bit with paint jobs in the late 80s so there are some unusual ones out there.

[moparman426]

7 hours ago, Zeph said:

That blue is one of the pretties colors on guitars in my opinion. I was really tempted at getting an Ibanez in similar style.

Ibanez JEM7V 2003

** Insert Homer Simpson Drooling Pic Here***

That is a sweet Ibanez Jem Steve Vai signature series......  Damn nice!  Priced out of my reach.... for now, mahauauaua.  Don't tell my wife I said that.

[No Mulligans]

5 hours ago, Lihu said:

I don't play Guitar nor know any of the brands, but this is our "Guitar area" at my office that the guitar players use. . .

I have an acoustic guitar in my office where I can shut the door and take a short break while playing quietly.  Electric guitars, stomp boxes and amplifiers in an open office space... has the world gone completely mad?  

[Lihu]

49 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

I have an acoustic guitar in my office where I can shut the door and take a short break while playing quietly.  Electric guitars, stomp boxes and amplifiers in an open office space... has the world gone completely mad?  

This area is pretty isolated from the working area, unless they turn the amps all the way up you can't really hear anything. The drums they brought in were almost audible. 35 people and a bunch of robots in a 28,000 sq foot space is not too bad, and the robots don't mind the music.

[JetFan1983]

Fun thread. 

Here's my guitar. I'd hardly classify this as "guitar porn" though. More like, "boring ass guitar wife" hehe. I've had this thing since 2005, when I bought it for about $650.

It's a Takamine G-series EG501s. It's pretty beat up at this point but it still works. I was actually in a guitar store the other day playing a $2000 Martin acoustic-electric and I'm probably going to buy it at some point this year. The difference in sound is instantly noticeable. It would be a shame to retire Old Faithful here, but I guess all good things must pass eventually.

All that said, I recorded this cover last night with it, and it still works fairly well. Any Blur fans out there? 

 

[Lihu]

8 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

All that said, I recorded this cover last night with it, and it still works fairly well. Any Blur fans out there? 

 

No, but I'm sure you'll develop a fan base here!

Really nice playing and singing!

@JetFan1983 just listened to a couple more of your tracks.

Out of curiosity, what do you do for a living?

 

 

[JetFan1983]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

No, but I'm sure you'll develop a fan base here!

Really nice playing and singing!

@JetFan1983 just listened to a couple more of your tracks.

Out of curiosity, what do you do for a living?

 

 

Hey, thanks @Lihu, that's super nice of you! Appreciate it! 

I've played poker for a living since I was like 20 years old. I'm not famous though or anything. I purely play cash games. It's a grind, but I still love it after all these years. Fits in well with my odd personality. It's not a cool robotics job, but it pays the bills