Other than playing slide, why would you want your strings flat? I've never really paid any attention to this. I've always known that my strat and tele have an individual adjustment for each string but have never changed the factory set up. I guess that curvature on the Fenders and the flatness of the Epi is why I'm missing that string. I guess it could be my lack of skill though. Do Les Paul guys notice the oppisite when they pick up a Fender after years of playing a LP?
102 2009-11-18 06:06:12
Topic: general set-up questions (4 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
Generally speaking, how should a guitar be set up for a hard strummer to a light strummer to a stricty lead player to a fingerstyle player? String heights and fretboard radiuses and all that other stuff? The reason I ask is I've had this guitar now for about 2 months. An epiphones ES-295. Gold with the F-holes, Bigsby, split parallelagram inlays. It's beautiful. Sound great too. But... there are riffs that I play on my other guitars that come off with no problem. This guitar I always seem to miss the G string. Like that string is sitting too low. I know that I choke up way too much on my pick. That comes from years of playing a strat and loving those inadvertant pinch harmonics. I'd just hang the pick out a little more but it always end up back in the same spot. It seems to me, compared to my other guitars that the strings are really flat. Like no radius to them. Supposedly this guitar came from a Jazz guy. I'm more of a blues strumming picker. It has the floating bridge with the tuneomatic on it. Should I change this? How?
103 2009-11-17 03:04:10
Re: ideal band (15 replies, posted in Bands and artists)
I'd go see that band.
104 2009-11-12 03:14:35
Topic: Pandora's box (4 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I have heard lots of people raving about thier korg pandoras. My guitar instructor has one and its obvious he likes it. He's very quick at changing effects and laying down simple jam tracks. I've been thinking about getting one but would like to know what other manufacturers have that are similar. I have seen the boss micro br. I know Tascam has a Mp-Gt-1. Anybody know any others. I think I want drum patterns, effects, a phrase trainer and it would be nice to be able to record everything while keeping it all portable.
105 2009-11-10 03:16:40
Topic: Them Crooked Vultures (0 replies, posted in Bands and artists)
New album comes out Nov 17th. Josh Homme from Kyuss, and Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Probot, and Tenacious D. Last but not least JOHN PAUL JONES from Led Zepplin. Itunes has a FREE pre release download available and it sounds KABOOM.
106 2009-11-10 03:04:28
Re: In need of an electric guitar. (9 replies, posted in Electric)
I think your avatar is from My Chemical Romance. So I think its safe to assume thats the style you like to play. The Ibanez RGs are pretty affordable. You might look for one with a humbucker for crunch.Everyone I know loves a Strat. If you do a Squire Bullet can be had new for about $120. Pay the extra $ to have it set up because they don't set them up in the factory. They just simply assemble them. I just did a set-up for a young girl just starting and was impressed with the sound, only after the set-up.
107 2009-11-04 01:13:49
Topic: EAD songs. (4 replies, posted in Song requests)
Putting together a list of songs that are E A and D chords. popular songs by popular artist. nothing too obscure. maybe with one other chord in the bridge or something but not in the main rythem. In the same key as the recording so that you can play along with the recording. Have Gloria, louie louie, and about five from Buddy Holly. Would like to see some more modern songs though. Its for a nine year old little girl so no sex and drugs. Gloria is about as far as I want to go there.
108 2009-11-04 01:04:24
Re: For the Kids (5 replies, posted in Song requests)
check out dan zanes. he used to be with del fuegos, but now does music for children. He has the exact same sentiment about playing kids songs. Smile smile smile is one that our family really likes.
109 2009-10-30 06:58:00
Re: Guitars opening up?? (5 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I've always heard the same. I can't tell for sure if any of mine sound any better than the day I bought them. I do however, find myself falling more in love with my strat every session. I think it would be easy to confuse your own improving ability with the guitars improving tone. I do think that I can pull more of that classic strat tone out of it today than back in 95 when I bought it. So its 14 years old already. Is that too soon to open up? I know the strats now have a polyurathane finish and used to have a nitrocellulose finish. The nitro finish would crackel like tubatooter's 330, but I don't think the poly does that.
110 2009-10-24 03:45:19
Re: friday's blues fix (1,560 replies, posted in Bands and artists)
111 2009-10-16 03:54:43
Re: Fat Fingers (14 replies, posted in Acoustic)
SRV's fingers look like bratwurst. I think with a little pratice you'll be fine. Good luck.
112 2009-10-15 03:05:28
Re: sore fingers (6 replies, posted in Electric)
For years I've kept my nails trimmed as short as possible. Lately I've realised that if they are about 1/16 of an inch they actually add support to the fleshy tip of the finger. Where do you find surgical spirits?
113 2009-10-14 03:17:09
Re: Sex Pistols (7 replies, posted in Bands and artists)
Love em! Theres a lot of stories surrounding them. Lots of books. Steve Jones says he didn't play guitar on the album. Says he doesn't even know where the studio is which makes you wonder who did. The guitar seems like simple power chords in most of thier songs but there are subtle fills all over the place. Check out Steve Tones on you tube.
114 2009-10-06 02:41:43
Re: Jaguar or Strat? (11 replies, posted in Electric)
If you are going for that classic surf sound, you're gonna need an amp with "true" spring reverb. So you can kick the side of the amp to get that crazy cracking sound at the beginning of wipeout by the surfaris. I know, you're saying "kick the side of the amp!?", but thats how they did it. I saw a home made effect "pedal" on a DIY web site. Unfortunately I don't remember where. It was made out of a wooden box that a telescope came in and a slinky. I think the guy sound proofed the box. There was a speaker without a cone that had the end of the slinky welded or glued to it and maybe a microphone at the other end. It had some way to adjust the length of the slinky. I know that is really vague, but so is my memory. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, he built it just for that purpose kicking it around to get that cracking sound. You can also hear it in the soundtrack to that Clint Eastwood movie "The good, the bad, and the ugly". My favorite! I'd go with the Jag, just to be different. Even though I think of a strat whenever I hear that surf sound.
115 2009-10-03 04:30:10
Re: friday's blues fix (1,560 replies, posted in Bands and artists)
Man, I wish I would have thought of this thread!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYrVwGxlcFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgLnEk7Zxx4
116 2009-10-03 03:57:57
Re: cruel to be kind (1 replies, posted in Acoustic)
I had this song on one of those KTEL records "back in the day". You know the ones they used to sell on TV infomercials. I always loved that song, learned how to play it soon after I found Chordie. Still in my small set list.
117 2009-10-02 04:06:50
Topic: Nut (2 replies, posted in Electric)
What does changing the stock plastic nut to something like bone or graphite do to the sound of your guitar? Playability? Sustain? Anything else?
118 2009-09-22 02:24:30
Re: Polished frets? (12 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
Linus just gave me a great idea! As soon as he mentioned "beater". Maybe we all have a "beater" lying around. Mess up the intonation a bit and give it to our prospective set-up guy and give him a real test.
119 2009-09-16 02:38:24
Re: In need of an electric guitar. (9 replies, posted in Electric)
Check craigslist.org theres alot of good values there. You won't have to pay the shipping like on Ebay.
120 2009-09-03 03:35:13
Re: Polished frets? (12 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
Right after I read your first post Doug, I checked a few videos on youtube. You know, nobody knows everything so I just wonder who has the right technique, who's advice you can really use. In my field of work I've come to learn even if ten people tell you the same thing it doesn't mean it exactly true. I've had my dearly beloved Strat "professionally" set-up and hated the results. First off, after having to leave "Blondie" for a WEEK, I don't think the guy did anything. He said the nut was loose and glued it down. Yeah, and smeared super glue all over the back of the neck. He recommended I change the brand of strings that I have used (for years because they are good strings) to some brand that I had never heard of. They had uneven windings and were rusty. I don't know what else he did but it has never seemed the same. Like a girlfriend that has cheated on you. Only thing is I'm the one who sent her out. Checked out stewmac.com too. WOW, I love tools. Stewmac got tools. I'm overwhelmed by the variety though. I think I'll polish them up, but other than that I'll need a lot more research. I definitely will not be sending my guitars out for maintainance anymore though.
121 2009-08-27 02:19:39
Re: Polished frets? (12 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
Thanks Doug! It always scares me to work on my guitars. I've been playing for 28 years and don't know how to do anything but change strings. But tomorrow I'll go to work and make very fine precise adjustments to someones half a million dollar piece of machinery and won't even give it a second thought.
122 2009-08-26 02:55:43
Topic: Polished frets? (12 replies, posted in Guitars and accessories)
I have an Epiphone Dot, which I love, but the frets feel rough. Not like they stick over the edge of the fretboard. Its when you bend a note. It feels as if someone has taken rough sand paper and sanded the frets in the direction of the bridge to nut. I've heard of people polishing the frets before. I'm a toolmaker and polishing to me may mean something different than polishing means to you. When people say they "polish the frets" does that mean they took a rag and rubbed on the frets or does it mean what polishing means to a toolmaker. Start with a coarse grit sandpaper and then a little finer and then a little finer and then use a felt bob in a rotary tool like a dremel with some polishing compound or diamond compound and polish to a mirror finish? If that is what needs to be done, what precautions do I need to take not to damage the wood on the fretboard? Should I mask off the wood with some masking tape? What should I use to remove the goo that the tape would leave behind? Do you use sandpaper, a stone or steel wool? What grit or grades?
123 2009-08-24 03:47:52
Re: Can you name that song in ONE NOTE. (3 replies, posted in Bands and artists)
I raced motocross "back in the day" and we would always have these long road trips. We would play name that tune by just channel surfing the radio. One time I got "Bennie and the Jets" before it even started. By the crowd noise in the beginning. When I was a kid and got my first record player, that was the only 45 I had. I still love that song.
124 2009-08-05 02:46:11
Re: what am i missing???? (13 replies, posted in Electric)
A good thing to do is record yourself playing the normal chord progression. Then go back and "play" around with the scale while your recording is playing. Just like the pros do in the studio. They call it overdubbing. You can go all out and buy all kinds of studio gear or a stand alone recorder, but you can just use the recorder on your computer to keep it on the cheap. I started with a simple blues progression E A B and just went up and down the blues scale till it just clicked.
125 2009-08-05 02:22:11
Re: effects (4 replies, posted in Electric)
http://valleywebs.com/van-halen/Effects.html check out this web page.