Guitars, .... and related stuff

As a few members seem to play/be interested in guitars ,I thought we should have a thread on all things 6 stringed.





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This post has been edited by Nikki on Oct 20 2009, 06:36 PM

Well, after umming and arring for close to 20 odd years, I have my first lesson tomorrow.

Think that at my age I might've left it late to start now

Never too late cyclone , as long as you accept that you are never going to be the next guitar god .






... ahh, the pain of your first F.

lol

Good idea for a thread!

I started learning the guitar when I was 16, on November the 6th I'll be 50, this is my 31st year of regular paid gigging, and I still can't do a barre F to save my life!
Actually, an attempt at any barre chord from me would probably get me shot - I can get a full six-string chord by grabbing it, i.e. wrapping my thumb round the neck for the bottom E and fretting the rest of the chord with my fingers, but fancy barres, nah...

Here's one of my acoustics, my 'Mum' tricone resonator. It's called my Mum guitar cos I bought it with some of the money she left me when she died. She was a bright, noisy person, and I wanted something bright and noisy that would remind me of her and a guitar made of chromed bell brass seemed ideal!

A resonator guitar works by the strings in effect vibrating an aluminium loudspeaker (the cone) that the bridge sits on - in the case of the tricone it's three small cones, two for the bass strings, one for the treble, and the bridge is set in a T-bar arrangement. The metal T shape over the top is there to protect the cone/cones as they're only the thickness of eggshells.
I took this piccie on the beach at St. Mary's Bay, near the lovely fishing port of Brixham in Devon in September.

JAE

Nice one Knobstick , I always wanted a resonator , but couldn`t justify it .

Then again, I have to stay away from guitar shops, or I`d need a bigger house by now.




Some blatent HQ guitar porn...

Mmmmmm.........flamed maple

Knobstick beat me to it re your F comment, highly amusing - I still get a sadistic pleasure from seeing people struggle with chords for the first time, it's a sort of, "Right, I've been through it, now you can feel my pain!" - I feel bad now and I'm going to hell aren't I?

These things are always tempered though by finding some (at least to yourself) quirky new chord or sound or some lazy arsed way of doing things such as playing the root of E-form barre chords with your thumb as Knobstick said.

If you have the time Cyclone, stick with it. Once you've got the basics you'll find you come on leaps and bounds pretty quick and sourcing music via t'internet means you won't have to struggle learning your tunes by ear like the good old days (although it does give you a good ear albeit wasting half your life). I hardly play these days but sometimes you just have the urge to pick it up and it always puts you in a good mood to just have a quick noodle.

Well, the lesson was good. Learnt the basics - holding the plectrum correctly, sitting right etc and it was good. I liked it.

Im jealous of you lot tho, that can pick up a guitar and play. But in time hopefully ill be doing the same.

Roll on next week

Glad you enjoyed it Cyclone. It's those niggly little things like just making sure you've got a hold of your pick that can seem laborious. Keep it fun for yourself and it sounds like you'll be playing slouching/standing/lying on your back in no time.

Good luck with the pleccy, Cyclone, I never could get the hang of them, I found hanging onto the blighters meant I couldn't concentrate on playing - if I did concentrate on the playing my hand relaxed and I dropped the thing! If you have lots of trouble try a fingerpick;



I use a Dunlop one like the one on the left of the picture. The pick part covers your fingerprint, not your nail, so it's like a plectrum you can let go of.

Incidentally, here's what a tricone sounds like, a guy called James Clem playing one - no pickups, just miked up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDcGBg-qOKs
And here's the wonderfully talented Bob Brozman being a full band on his, including the drums!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2p52JNcbDc
There's also a bit where he swings the guitar up so the mic is pointing at the cones so you can hear the difference between the tones that come from them and the tones that come from the sound hole grilles.

I'll try to take some pics of some of my other guitars soon.

Cyclone.....you can now play the guitar.....from here everything is up and the pleasure just gets better and better. I never thought of practice being a chore or hard work ..... not even at the beginning ..... it was just a thrill to hold the guitar and dream....in my case the blonde one from Abba and later Kate Bush ...... until I got a real girlfriend!

Here's what my old guitar looked like.....



Pretty good condition for a '74 ......now it's gone and a Roland-Ready Strat has replaced it ......

I've got an assortment now......a few acoustics......the Strat.....a Cort....which I quite like and a Bond with a graphite/stepped fretboard.....(on long term loan to a friend) but this is really what I would like....



Now That's What I Call Guitar Porn Vol 1

It don't have to be pretty it just has to sing

Thanks for the input guys, I knew this would turn into a " look at mine " thread..

The PRS pics above have a "quilted maple" face ,beautifully stained.

This is my Tokai Love Rock , and she is curly Or striped maple..


Honey.
Coz she is one ...also the colour.






don`t have any pics of the others ....... yet.

Thanks for the links knobstick ............ esp the awe inspiring Bob Brozman , saw him do a 3min spot on Northwest Tonight ( Lucy Meacock etc) , a few years ago plugging a tour.

He played and used the mic stand as a slide ................................. also the wall at the side of the stage ..


I nearly gave up right there.

What he said :-)

Best advice to beginners ?

If it hurts then it's probably right but there's an easier way of playing it somewhere.
If it feels wrong, then it probably is.
If the Neighbour's cats start to join in, your B is probably flat.
A guitar is for life, not just for Christmas.

Feel free to add your own !

Fruitcake