the guitar players megathread

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 8, 2001
Messages
4,749
Location
Crack Factory
Just wondering how many Bluelighters play guitar. I suppose this could be a haven to gloat about your instrument, get tips, advice, practice methods, knowledge and information about all things guitars. I know there are few things in life, for me, that compare to learning the intro and bridge "Harvester of Sorrow" by Metallica or "Sludge Factory" by Alice in Chains, etc., etc., and you're all druggies so you must be able to shred some.




I've played electric for quite some time until my epiphone broke two years ago. I recently started to get back into playing guitar by purchasing an Washburn Lyon for $79.99 which came with a gig bag, electronic tuner, extra strings, etc.

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This guitar is okay but the 6th and 5th strings tend to rattle, so naturally I thought I was tuning the instrument to low but it still occurs, albeit slightly, but still annoying and the copper coating on the strings are tearing up my finger tips.


I'm looking to buy an acoustic-electric, probably an Ibanez, preferably with nickle strings for under $199. If any one knows any good deals on acoustic-electrics from retailers, let me in on it.


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Not sure where this goes or if it's been made already, so mod's please move as wish.
 
Edvard Munch said:
This guitar is okay but the 6th and 5th strings tend to rattle, so naturally I thought I was tuning the instrument to low but it still occurs, albeit slightly, but still annoying and the copper coating on the strings are tearing up my finger tips.
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I own an acoustic guitar, which remains in my cupboard, for the most part. I periodically remove it from its bag to play the intro of Come As You Are, but as you mentioned, the metal strings really really hurt. I generally can't bear it for more than 5 minutes.

Since I have been paying Piano for 15 years, I find it extremely confusing going from sheet music to tabs. So I stay away, but theres still a lot of music I want to learn how to play on guitar. Maybe one day at the right time with the right strings. But I've come to terms with the fact that I'll probably never be as good as Johnny Greenwood.
 
iwish said:
I own an acoustic guitar, which remains in my cupboard, for the most part. I periodically remove it from its bag to play the intro of Come As You Are, but as you mentioned, the metal strings really really hurt. I generally can't bear it for more than 5 minutes.
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same here, which is why i've never been able to stick with learning the guitar. i know you should stick at it and build up the calluses, but i just can't do it. :(

hopefully ninjadan (and others, of course) will have a lot to add to this thread. :)
 
I am a very serious guitar player. Music has run in my father's side of the family for hundreds of years (according to him). I learned how to play on an old acoustic from the 1930s that my grandma used to play and she gave to me. The strings come up about an inch above the neck, it's ridiculous. Even with my dad being pretty good at guitar, he didn't teach me one damned thing and I'm very proud of this fact.

I taught myself by getting tabs for Blink 182 (my favorite band at the time). I think I was like 13 when I started. I learned all my favorite songs by them and got really bored. From that point on, I began to write my own material. I hardly know any songs by anyone else, but I can play my own stuff for hours.

Once my dad saw that this wasn't some teenage phase, he ended up giving me his 1970's Guild S300-D. My parents have always supported me, but wish I had never ever began playing now. I have become utterly obsessed with guitar and songwriting. To the extent where I neglected to take care of myself. (eat, sleep, clean, etc, etc).

I began abusing methylphenidate when I was 15 solely for the purpose of playing music better and started a little thing that I named 11:57, a song that I really liked by a local band named Short of 1st. Within days, lots of people in my high school were coming up to me and saying how good I was at music. This shocked me, as I was sort of an outcast and quiet little depressed kid.

Since then I have dedicated my life to this shit. It is a gift and a curse. It plagues me every single day of my life. I can basically pick up any instrument and get the feel of it very quickly. It is one of the only things I enjoy any more in life. I don't care about relationships, having a family, making money, being famous, or anything people usually live for. I just want to be completely true to myself and my beliefs and write songs that people can relate to.

I had a myspace but deleted it and posted most of the stuff I recorded over the last year on Imeem. It's hard to describe but if I had to I would say lo-fi alternative dark folk-rock There is a link to my page on my profile. I would post it here but...according to rule 3 of the NEMD guidelines, this is not allowed.

I'm waiting on my Taylor 12-string acoustic electric which is in layaway right now. CAN'T FUCKING WAIT!!!!
 
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Edvard Munch said:
This guitar is okay but the 6th and 5th strings tend to rattle, so naturally I thought I was tuning the instrument to low but it still occurs, albeit slightly, but still annoying and the copper coating on the strings are tearing up my finger tips.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I dunno too much about acoustic guitars as I've never really enjoyed playing them too much. I prefer playing electric guitars, preferably with smaller necks. But anyway, you might have a problem with your bridge saddle. I think they can still be lowered/raised on acoustics just the same as electrics, but can be a pain in the butt once you start fiddling with it. So, it might be best to get a professional to look at it if it bothers you that much. I think it's a relatively inexpensive procedure.

I first picked up a guitar when I was about ten years old. I taught myself how to play the intro to 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' and learned around 3 chords from my primary school teacher. Beyond that point, I never really did much more than that until I had an urge to learn how to play bass 4 years later. Soon after, I started taking lessons in school. But once I discovered I could play by ear I started getting bored with my teacher showing me things I could figure out for myself. So I picked up the guitar again, but this time I really applied myself. I got books, watched people on TV, listened to my favourite bands, and started picking up things here and there. Before I knew it, I was playing the entire 'Nevermind' album from start to finish with my neighbour banging on the ceiling in protest. =D

I wouldn't say I'm a great player in terms of skill. But I guess being able to play by ear is a pretty good gift to have. And I think it's something you can train yourself to do as well. All you need to do is listen. Once you get used to the sound of a chord, or a note, it's not too difficult to pick things up.

I remember one time my dad said to me, "if you can learn how to play Free Bird by the time I come back from the shop, I'll get you a pack of cigarettes". And sure enough, he had to go back and get me the cigarettes.

My two favourite guitars are my candy apple red Fender Jaguar:

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Ever since I saw Kurt Cobain playing one of these I pretty much fell in love with the look and sound of it.

...and my cream and powder blue Danelectro U2:



I'd never seen one of these until seeing Corin Tucker from Sleater-Kinney playing her Danelectro DC-3. It's just such a girls guitar. Lightweight, pastel colours, and even the pick-ups are made out of old lipstick covers. :)

I don't really have any desire to buy any more guitars, although there's always that thought in the back of my mind, "just a white Mustang and that's it".

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...hmmm.
 
I've been playing for 7 years now and for the amount of time I've been playing, I'm nowhere near as good as I should be. It's just that when I started playing I was only 11 and was listening to music that was no real challenge to play ie. Nirvana and such.

I love playing guitar, started with a strat copy, then got an SG copy which was really shite. For about 4 or 5 years now I've been playing with a standard Fender Strat with rosewood neck because I like them and they're not as forgiving as something like a Les Paul (I hate Les Pauls!). I had planned to get a Mustang but ended up getting a strat. I spose I only really wanted the Mustang because I was into grunge at the time. Wouldn't mind a fat strat though.

I play to satisfy myself!


PS. Those are two very beautiful guitars, EA. How do the three humbuckers sound on that?
 
Don Luigi said:
PS. Those are two very beautiful guitars, EA. How do the three humbuckers sound on that?
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They sound great. I only ever use the neck humbucker. It died and I replaced it with a dimarzio but the original sounded better IMO. Like butter.
The guitar is called a Univox Ripper. The Ripper also came in a wood finish. Univox was a short-lived Japanese company in the 1970's. Apparently Kurt Cobain owned a different model Univox which is now highly sought after.

BTW, I did not take that picture I posted. I just searched the internet for a picture of the same guitar I have. I don't own two of them (though I wouldn't mind having a second).
 
EA-1475 said:
Apparently Kurt Cobain owned a different model Univox which is now highly sought after.
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Yep. Univox Hi-flyer. But I think he mainly used a Univox copy called Mosrite.

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kurtcobin.jpg
 
Don Luigi said:
I've been playing for 7 years now and for the amount of time I've been playing, I'm nowhere near as good as I should be.
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Same here, I've been playing for about 8 years and I feel I'm just a mediocre player. I used to have way more ambition too, learning new stuff everyday. Now I barely find the time to play for more than an hour a day.
 
Been playing since i was 15 ( 5 years )...Own a ESP MV200 with EMG81 and duncan hotrails,Crate half stack, Digitech whammy pedal, and the rest of my equipment was sold bc of a nasty drug habit, which is now gone...I also have a drum set and bass guitar downstairs that are owned by my brothers ( or shall I say neglected by my brothers )...They don't have the music gene..
 
I still own every guitar I've ever had ( minus the neck and hardware on my first guitar :p )

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Volume
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I think I'm going to sell my line6 and buy something a little more analog
 
I've been playing for a little under 2 years now. I love it. I fiend for it when I haven't played in a while. I'm better with the electric, but I play both. I play some classical on my steel string acoustic as well, I don't really like nylon stringed guitars.
Playing guitar is one of those few things in life I can do and just forget about everything else. I get completely submerged in doing just that, and I think that is one of the things I like most about it.

I need to start writing down some of the stuff i make up more often...

damn i wanna play now.
 
jam uh weezy said:
I need to start writing down some of the stuff i make up more often...
Click to expand...

I used to use a little tape recorder. Then I got a 4-track and starting layering things. I'd do four layers, put it on to a master tape, then add four more layers to that using bass guitar, voice, and usually banging on the nearest thing that sounded drum-like. It was fun, but the final result was pretty terrible.

These days I seem to have lost my sense of creativity. I think I need to find it again.
 
jam uh weezy said:
I need to start writing down some of the stuff i make up more often...
Click to expand...

Same here, it's the bane of my life! I'll sit there playing away and I'll come up with a few riffs that I really like or even whole songs. Next I'll play them repeatedly to drill them into my skull and when I'm confident they've stuck I stop playing. Never works.
 
I've only been playing for about 6 months on my crappy "Starcaster" strat clone,
but I've restrung it with .11 to 48 guage strings and It's hooked to a kustom 25 watt tube which I swapped out the preamp tube for a tung-sol, and an Ibanez SM-9 distortion pedal. It sounds really 80's metalish. think of the song crazy train with more bass and that's about what my setup sounds like.

I practice pretty much every day and I love it though. And I think it sounds great =D
 
iwish said:
I own an acoustic guitar, which remains in my cupboard, for the most part. I periodically remove it from its bag to play the intro of Come As You Are, but as you mentioned, the metal strings really really hurt. I generally can't bear it for more than 5 minutes.
Click to expand...


If you bear it, eventually your finger tips will callous appropriately but it still hurts to get to that point.


A good option for you, if you're interested, is using nylon strings. Nylon strings are used for classical guitars and do not hurt the finger tips at all, which is great. Another option is to merely go electric as you don't have to push down the string nearly hard enough than that of an electric. If you still prefer the acoustic sound, however, you can get an acoustic-electric guitar which can pick up on the acoustics.
 
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