guitar NEWB thread

i'm gonna hold out for ROCKSMITH FINGERSTYLE.

speaking of which can i just give a shoutout to trying out different picks in the early stages? its kind of amazing how big a difference they can make once you have at least a basic familiarity with the instrument, and how much the wrong one can hold you back. pro-tip: it is not necessarily easier to hold on to a larger pick, despite that being a little counterintuitive.

wait, there are different picks...?

I mean, I know about the ones that slide over your fingers etc but I guess I never noticed that guitar picks come in different sizes? (and really why would I notice, considering I never actually owned a guitar before last year)

oh yeah, different sizes, different thicknesses, different materials, all of which change the way you hold the pick, the attack it has, etc. I am a big fan of the max-grip dunlop jazz III.

also different shapes to the point of the pick as well.

i should say max grip jazz III nylon. its the red one.

that is a very fancy name for a pick

i am a fancy guy

maybe I will go to Daddy's Junky Music and buy a bunch of random picks, see which ones I like

I'll be sad if I can't find a Pilot Inspektor Jazz Hands Infinity pick tho

different sizes, different shapes, different thicknesses

i usually use these but sometimes go to 1.0 for acoustic and keep a bunch of random ones around to change things up

http://www.jimdunlop.com/images/products/UltexStandard73-5.5.png

I should see what mine are, as far as I can tell they are "generic blue picks"

some day i will find the dude that invented the "hey with this shitty tool you can make a pick out of any old crap lying around your house" thing and kick the shit out of him.

this is the only pick i use

http://www.buriedtreasurefossils.com/images_Chile/images_C_GW_XL/C1206-P.jpg

I only use $60 quartz crystal picks

http://realrock.us/catalog/gpteardropquartzcrystal.html

Dunlop Nylon Standard Pick Packs, .88mm/Gray

idk i've never really tried playing with anything else!

wait, there are different picks...?

Plectrums/Picks - what do you use?

.73 or .88s for me too. I like the red jazz one as well

I like thinner picks for acoustic strumming and thicker ones for lead playing. I don't really have a standard size anymore though, just kind of use whatever I find.

srsly what wormhole have you ppl sucked me into

oh we should definitely talk about strings

and what is the most transparent overdrive

I can't stand jazz picks, but maybe because I'm just butterfingered. They seem to go flying all over the damn place.

When I started playing guitar again a year or so ago, for some reason I initially took Slash's advice and started out with 1.14s. I dunno, maybe I was reading his autobiography or something? iirc he used size 12 strings too, which I didn't do on my electric, but I did restring my acoustic with 12s and I mean, well, it built up a lot of finger-strength but I couldn't imagine playing it regularly in a rock context!

I've worked my way down to .73s, but I'm going to try something other than Dunlop Tortex. The reason I haven't yet is because I always order them in 12-packs and so it's not like I'm wanting for guitar picks around the house. I don't really like the feel of tortex though, so I'm open for suggestions. When I was a teenager, I used Pickboy picks a lot for some reason and hated Fender picks. So brittle and breakable. Anybody ever have to get through a band practice or something playing with shards of Fender picks?

Sorry, I'm using .88s at this point, not .73s.

oh we should definitely talk about strings

http://beta.ilxor.com/sandbox/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=148&threadid=1469

And don't forget about that most essential piece of guitar hardware, the bit that connects it to the strap...

Guitar Strap Buttons/Strap Locks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5QIoKvlgvY

I can't remember what brand of guitar strap I'm using these days, but it doesn't come off unless you pry it off. I don't think it cost me more than $15 or so either. Anyway, no need for strap locks over here.

only strap i use

http://www.deviantart.com/download/129026641/Dragon_Moray_Eel_for_Vulpa_by_Night_eco.jpg

I have a couple of cool Couch straps but I don't like their complete lack of give. After an hour they always start zapping the Spock nerve. Happiest with the el cheapo black woven Levy's.

ha as a dude who owns a store, i am still such a dirtbag wrt accessories, basically my strap of choice is "whatever knifelike nylon piece of shit came free with an order" pretty much all the time

I thought I'd put a picture of the awesome strap I bought in Tokyo up on Facebook but apparently not; it matches my guitar beautifully and has sumo wrestlers on it

you know what's been sorta crazy to me since starting playing again? going onto all these guitar internet forums like tdpri or harmony central or whatever, and how many of these dudes are playing their guitars in church. and not like classical guitar either. dudes saying shit like, "oh yeah, I prefer a tube screamer to an ocd, but I use a joyo ultimate drive on my church pedalboard."

We're you not aware of the gross modernization of church music, aka the rise of the "praise team"?

It's the worst. I am super happy I never have to deal with that again.

Also FYI lots of those dudes are getting paid pretty well for those church gigs, so it is often not driven by a spiritual awakening exactly

it is, however, driven by incredibly terrible music like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wutmEjdbedE

as tacky as modern gospel can get, at least most times the music rules; this shit is basically " let me fart in your ears with my piety"

modern christian is the pernicousest of pernicious U2 influences

Haven't yet found a teacher. Have been playing a LOT of Rocksmith, which means I can now halfway fake through:

Islands by the xx
Boys Don't Cry by The Cure
Angela by Jarvis Cocker
Go With The Flow by QOTSA
Black by Pearl Jam

I also figured out the opening riff to "Crystalised" by the xx and have been practicing that along with the riffs in "Never Let Me Down Again"

I can also kind of fake "Classic Girl" by Jane's Addiction although I find it easier to play in E than A

things I have learned from Rocksmith:

- Muse writes terrible songs that are super fun to play
- changing chords in time is hard
- Boys Don't Cry is built off of butt easy barre chords
- I find single-note lead lines to be much easier to wrap my head around than chords due to the whole "changing chords in time is hard" thing
- I don't know who Jenny O. is but I hate her, I hate her and her dumb-ass hammer offs so fucking much

i tried to restring my lap steel after not touching it for actual years and broke all the strings because i've never done it before

jjj: are ppl that bring their guitars into music shops to have them restrung/tuned equivalent to newbs that bring their bikes into have flat tires changed, or are they WORSE

broke ALL the strings?? sounds like something wrong with it, idk

yeah that's strange. You could have been WAY overstretching the strings I guess but that seems unlikely. Sometimes there's a "burr" somewhere that can accidentally cut a string, but unlikely on all of them. Maybe faulty strings?

maybe but bear in mind i had no idea what i was doing, even tho i watched a youtube and everything

Do not be offended but you were using lap steel strings right? And a set for the tuning you were shooting for?

not at all

i was using the strings that a friend nicely bought me after he broke one. he at some point in his youth played guitar, but i wouldn't be surprised if he had no clue that lap strings are different. i sure didn't until you just told me

ooooooh yeah that could be it

Spent the past three days figuring out and then playing the main guitar riff from "To Bring You My Love" over and over and over again

Also started playing around with some chords and trying to write a song, but everything I do sounds suspiciously like something else

For example, I feel like there are a ton of songs that go E-D-B-C, right (all barre 5 chords)

Also, is there a Coldplay song that uses A-e-G-D on either the bridge or the chorus? Or maybe some grunge song?

Also started playing around with some chords and trying to write a song, but everything I do sounds suspiciously like something else

Unless you're Derek Bailey this goes for pretty much every guitar player in the world

OTM

There are only 12 notes. Start by just writing something that sounds suspiciously like something else -- that's how everyone starts.

There are only 12 notes

don't tell tony conrad that

writing microtonal songs as a guitar newb would certainly be a strategy for avoiding cliches