Skinnyman

Hiya! Welcome to guitarchat! Whereabouts are you and wherever it is, I hope you’re coping in these difficult times? If you don’t mind, maybe you could share a little about yourself? How long have you been playing? Do you gig or just play for your own entertainment? What sort of music do you play? And what sort of gear do you have (and what would be your dream guitar/amp)?

On sheer numbers, I guess I should call my self a guitarist as they outnumber the basses - not by much but there’s definitely more of them. And my go to instrument for noodling on is an acoustic guitar. So although I play bass in a band, I’d probably consider myself a guitarist. Not a very good one, if I’m honest but ability wasn’t mentioned in the question.

This is me thinking with my fingers as I type but perhaps we need to augment and amend the content a bit? We’ve been relying on the content growing organically and, for all the reasons stated, it just isn’t happening. Maybe it’s time to start pushing content onto the site to seed it (and the search engines) with content so that non-BCers start seeing GC in search results? I think that within the overall guitar-playing community, there’s a distinct sub-group of learners. A much bigger group, and on a much longer journey, than those on BC and, if my experience was anything to go by, very intimidated by those who can play. So perhaps the site needs a dedicated (and very visible) learner section where newcomers to guitar can have a “safe space” to ask dumb questions, get novice-specific advice? Reviews of all the tuition sites out there, for example. Sites like Guitarbots. Who’s used them? Are they any good? Within the general site, gear reviews - and, again, reviews of YT review sites. Playing and composition videos (especially while we’re all locked away). I know the site has the potential for all of this but maybe it needs a group of people to submit the posts and, most importantly for the search engines, start discussing them? It will feel artificial at first but that will change as the audience grows..... Sorry, this turned out to be a bit more of a ramble than I anticipated but, hopefully, within all this blather there are one or two valid thoughts. I think I need a lie down now.

I just watched the KDH video and some of the Chapman rebuttal. Then I started to lose the will to live... You're right - this is the internet in the 21st century. What was supposed to be the information superhighway has turned out to be an open sewer where we get to watch all sorts of random 5h1t flow past. I must admit that I didn’t really care for “Chappers” presentation style when he was just doing them for Andertons (I still don’t care for their videos - good informative material rendered unwatchable by schoolboys as far as I’m concerned) but I get that that’s just my opinion and, if I’m honest, I’m really not his target demographic. It seems like a lot of people like his stuff so good luck to him. I hadn’t heard of Chapman guitars and I’m not really that interested in them - but, again, good luck to him. The market will decide if they’re any good or not - personally, I think he’s going to struggle but, hey, at least he’s giving it a go. But whatever the accuracy of his statements, KDH is symptomatic of so many YouTubers these days - cynicism, criticism and sarcasm presented as “investigative journalism”. I’d have more interest if he’d bothered to check the spelling of “challenge” and could think of another way of editing his material without trying (badly) to be a guitar-centric version of Paul Joseph Watson; Shouty, outraged and sensationalist. It’s easy to criticise anyone. It’s easy to take the p155, to lampoon, belittle and sneer - and pretend that you’re a consumer champion or exposing some hideous corporate malfeasance. But if he gets a following and people are happy for him to be outraged on their behalf then, again, good luck to the guy. Welcome to the 21st century

What can I say? I was young and needed the cash.

Count me in!

It could be phasing and worth checking (how would you check this?) I’d certainly make the company aware but there’s a good chance that the speakers need to be broken in. It’s a while since @BasalGangliaposted this - I wonder how he got on?

I checked all of the contacts before I did anything and they were all in place. It’s very much like my Rick basses which also needed shielding.

My Les Paul Trad has always had a low-level electrical hum - the sort that stops when you touch the strings. I’ve had some time on my hands recently and started playing it a lot more and now the hum has started to really wind me up. So I’ve just spent a happy morning shielding the control cavity with copper tape and - like magic - the hum has now gone! Happy day! Im now wondering if this might work on the irritating noise coming from Mrs S*...... *Just kidding, obvs. The next 12 weeks will fly past in the wink of an eye

That is a great idea. Thanks for the notes - I’m off to learn this!

I have no excuses any more so I figure I have to use this enforced leisure time to improve my guitar playing. I’ve always struggled playing with a pick (I have a mild essential tremor) and that has limited my ability to solo (I end up playing finger-style like a bass) so now is the time for me to put in the hours and find a better method that overcomes the tremor but allows me to get some speed and fluidity into my playing. In addition to the usual scales and arpeggios, I’m also learning this; What’s on your “must learn” list to keep you busy through the lockdown?

For online stuff I’m liking the Justin Guitar course which has stuff for all levels and ability. I’m in a similar position to you in that I practise quite a bit, make a step forward and then plateau. My next step will be to go and get lessons again from a real tutor. The online courses are okay but I think I need to be challenged by another person. I’m also toying with the idea of trying to get into a band doing some rhythm guitar stuff. My bass playing moved on dramatically when I joined a band as bassist as I had to learn songs I wouldn’t otherwise have looked at. I figure that if I can get into a band (or even just a jam partner) my guitar playing should improve in the same sort of way. Or maybe not but I won’t find out if I don’t try!

Hi Human Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - thi gs take a while to happen over here at the moment! Have you shared anything as yet?

Hi Joe And welcome. It's still a little quiet here so apologies for the delay in welcoming you! Hopefully things will pick up as more people join

Excellent - and how are the fingers? Still sore or calloused nicely?

I'd try it first and see. I went from 10s to 9s but also changed makes and the tension must have stayed about the same as there was no need to alter the neck relief.

I kind of wanted it to be the Vintage (we do like an "underdog", us Brits) but the Gibbo just edged it for me. Whether the very minor difference is worth the difference in price is another question entirely. If I was looking for a Les Paul (which I'm not because I'm actually trying to sell one - shameless plug alert!) then i would seriously look at the Vintage. Their basses get a lot of love so well worth a look IMHO

Probably but I'd be worried about a) latency and b) getting any sort of reasonable volume. I tried this with a Steinberg bass/Line6 guitar input/iPad/Garage Band and a Sony Bluetooth speaker. It worked but there was a noticeable delay between hitting a string and hearing the sound from the speaker. It also sounded fine at low volume but couldn't handle being turned up. YMMV of course but there are plenty of small, portable guitar amps on the market and I'd be tempted to go try one of those out first....

Try this link https://www.jazzyacousticguitar.com/wide-neck-acoustic-guitars/ I've heard very good things about Seagull but they may not be classed as "cheapish". Washburn do some nice entry level guitars and maybe easier to find and try out.

I'm afraid not - if you'd been close to Peterborough I'd recommend Jon Haire. But you're not, so i won't! If you have a Basschat membership and haven't already done so, it may also be worth posting on there as there's still a lot more traffic and I'm willing to bet that a good bass tech will also be a good guitar tech There's plenty of BC members in the Manchester area (Teebs for one) and I'm sure someone will know of a good guitar tech. Apologies if you've already thought of/done the above - Good luck with the hunt

It's not the hardest song in the world so it definitely doesn't show off your guitar virtuoso skills. And i think the strength of the original is in the whole arrangement - replicating that in a solo performance might be hard. That said, if this is a musical performance course and not specifically a guitar course, you don't need to show that you're a guitar hero, you need to demonstrate that you can, er, perform. So is this song a good vehicle for you to do that? Personally, I'm not sure - there's not much in the way of dynamics going on, the words are sung in a very "stream-of-consciousness" way and I think it would be hard to do a straight copy of the RHCP version as a solo performance but also hard to do your own arrangement in a way that really adds anything. I don't think you need a difficult song (from the guitar perspective) so much as one that showcases your ability to arrange effectively and give a performance. That suggests a song with strong dynamics and with a vocal that you can put some feeling into (without going all over the top Mariah Carey-stylee, that is ). If you're confident you can do Snow in a way that brings something new to it and which shows you off at your best then go for it. That would impress me. But i think it's a big ask and there may be better choices - but you have to give the performance so it has to be your choice. I know that's probably no help at all but good luck whatever you decide to do!

I guess it depends what you're trying to demonstrate at the audition and what the assessors are likely to be looking for. Hopefully, those two things are the same and Snow may be the perfect vehicle for you to demonstrate them.....

I started with a Zoom 16-track recorder and loved it. Built in drum machine, sequencer, effects and the ability to use it as an audio interface to the computer later on when i started to use Sonar (and then Logic Pro). They're not massively expensive and i found it really easy to use. I previously had a Boss BR something (not the latest one) but i didn't like the way you had to work with it and it didn't have the features of the Zoom. Others may have the opposite experience, of course For someone starting out, i wholeheartedly recommend the Zoom (i also sold it on when I'd stopped using it and got a decent price for it)

There's an old thread on the acoustic guitar forum https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179939 You probably found that already - Google may pull up some more results but this thread seems to cover the basic story. Sounds like a bit of a find but not something that enough people know about to command strong resale prices. That said, how much is a Taylor from 1978 worth? If this is only worth a fraction it should still be a few quid....

Gordon Giltrap (pretty much anything of his but Fear of the Dark is a long time favourite) Andy Latimer of Camel (Ice from I Can See Your House From Up Here) Larry Carlton Pat Metheny (especially when trading solos with Lyle Mays on piano, not so much on the Zero Tolerance nonsense.....)