upside downer

A pick.

Who, me? Down? Nah, I'm not down. I'm Upsie. I'm going to grab my cigar box guitar and play Wild Horses (Bill played on that one)

Don't know the specifics about this tune, but Bill Wyman did miss out playing bass on quite a few Stones classics. Sympathy for the Devil, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man had Keith on four string duty and Mick Taylor was the low ender on Tumbling Dice. Even Charlie missed out playing the drums on occasion.

Anyone got one? Anyone play one out live? Being both a) a cheapskate and b) willing to have a go at building something, I'm currently in the process of converting a cheap semi-acoustic 6 string that I got from ebay into one. It was going to be a mandocello but the neck can't cope with the extra string tension. I know the scale length is meant to be slightly shorter than a regular guitar but as long as I can set it up to stay in tune it should be playable enough to have a mess around with.

Long shot, but does anyone else here play upside down? No, not by physically being upside down, that would be madness, I mean a right-handed instrument flipped over because you're left-handed? Like most leftys, I first toyed with rightys belonging to friends but, instead of doing the probably sensible thing and getting a left-handed guitar, I just continued playing with the thickest E string nearer my toes and always have done. I have a few left-handed guitars now but I have to restring them which involves a lot of mucking about with the bridge for intonation purposes and changing the nut around, but it does give me ease of access to the highest frets as I don't have cutaway issues that I have with rightys. I don't think playing this way has caused me too many problems; I've mainly been a barre chord/power chord thrasher who has managed to get along with playing quite straightforward minor pentatonic solos and the like, though there are a couple of techniques that I've struggled with. I don't know if that's down to being an upside downer or just my general clumsiness

Love a bit of open G. I've got a 5-string Strat copy set up like this, although I do prefer using my 4-string cigar box guitar (tuned G D G B) to give it some Keef. He says in his book that removing the 6th string 'clears out the clutter' and gives you some wonderful harmonics and drone notes. It's banjo tuning that a fair few of the old bluesmen used on their guitars instead of the standard set-up. Great, ain't it? Simple, but so effective.

Hmmm, curious. I'm trying to respond to a thread in General Discussion but there's no reply to this topic option at the foot of the page. Ok, I thought, I'll just start a new thread. Well, I can everywhere else, just not in General Discussion! Anyone know why? Or, am I just missing something and being a bit thick? My guess is the latter... Weird. I can now after posting this! Panic over, nothing to see here, sorry for bothering you all

Hello, Thought I'd finally join in on here from the other place, seeing as I play more guitar than bass these days. 'Enthusiastic power chord thrasher' probably best describes my approach, but I am trying to add a bit more finesse to my efforts. I love messing about with different tunings and have made my own 4-string cigar box guitar and a baritone guitar. Don't own anything expensive, just a couple of Westfields, a Harley Benton, unbranded Strats, that sort of thing. No band, just happy to muck about making my own songs. And, as my username indicates, I play right-handed guitars flipped over and upside down, like Eric Gales and Albert King. Keeps things interesting!