Guitar players: What kind of guitars do you currently own?

[SkaterMcgee]

Well this is my guitar...

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Archtop/Gibson-Custom/Citation.aspx

Yep...

 

[Redwolf]

Playing more bass now. I have a AVRI Precision bass in Sunburst with rosewood fretboard.

 

[sarfs]

Well this is my guitar...

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Archtop/Gibson-Custom/Citation.aspx

Yep...

That would be a great guitar to do your Pete Townsend impersonation and I'm not talking about his windmill.

 

[SkaterMcgee]

That would be a great guitar to do your Pete Townsend impersonation and I'm not talking about his windmill.

Ha......

 

[Taschenschieber]

I'm playing a Epiphone SG Pro. I'm new to the whole music thingy and learning with Rocksmith, a PC software which also serves as an amplifier replacement, so up to now I have not bought an amplifier, but I'm probably going to buy a Peavey Vypyr VIP sooner or later.

In the bass department, I have a Squier Precision PJ (two pickups, one P-style and one J-style one).

 

[sarfs]

I just got a Boss ME 25 effects pedal. So many buttons, so many dials. I'll be busy for a while.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Playing more bass now. I have a AVRI Precision bass in Sunburst with rosewood fretboard.

How hard was it to learn to play bass?

 

[Blackcloud6]

Bass is not hard. I transitioned real quick to it. It is fun too. But you have to learn some new techniques and really have to know the fret board.

 

[Dr Zaius]

...and really have to know the fret board.

Well, that counts me out. aperbag:

 

[sarfs]

Bass is not hard. I transitioned real quick to it. It is fun too. But you have to learn some new techniques and really have to know the fret board.

Well, that counts me out. aperbag:

It is really not that difficult to learn the fret board. I've only been playing for over a year and I can play the standard C scale in four positions. I've picked up a couple of tricks, on a regular guitar, the same note is two down, two over, except for the G - B strings come into play. The other thing I noticed is that note relationship between string is the same, except for that G-B transition. What this means is for an "A", one string up is an "E", one string down is a "D"

Jim

 

[Dr Zaius]

I need to quit fooling around and learn something because I'm quite literally the laziest guitar player on the planet. My guitar instructor has the unfortunate task of trying to teach me to play, and I do not envy him.

Slowly, I've sort of discovered that if I'm going to learn anything it's really going to be on my own, experimenting and hacking my way through a tutorial, note by note. At first I was really lazy and entirely relying on lessons to do most of my learning, but you can't learn that much in such a short period of time. I now understand those sessions are really only to sort of guide my learning, and I have to put in some serious work on my own. Duh.

I guess I was surprised at how hard guitar is. You see all these idiot kids fooling around with their friends in the local garage band and it doesn't sound all that bad, so naturally you figure it can't be all that hard. Can it? Well, yes, it's actually quite a lot of work.

I also wasted a lot of time buying and trading guitars, thinking if I could just find "the one" it would suddenly make me a better player. Right. I don't entirely regret doing that, though, because it is true that finding a guitar you really like can help inspire you to want to play and practice more. I really disliked the Fender Strat I learned on, but I never quite understood why I disliked it, only that I did. Now I know I feel a lot more comfortable on a Les Paul, and I enjoy practicing a lot more because the tones are much more "me." I do want to get another Strat, though. Only this time I want one with a rosewood fretboard. I've come to understand it was the varnished maple fretboard on my old Strat that I didn't like. Felt like plastic to me.

 

[Blackcloud6]

I need to quit fooling around and learn something because I'm quite literally the laziest guitar player on the planet.

Here is what will make you get good: play for other people. You will suddenly stop being lazy and will focus on learning and playing well. Go play an Open Mic and see how it changes you and your playing. My instructor pushed me hard to play at a party once. I formed a band with my family and went and played on a Sunday afternoon at a car show party. We were the first ones playing and we sort of opened for a professional band. I was scared to death! I lead off with the arpeggio for "Simple Man" and struck the wrong note on the first one and literally started to shake, but I kept going and played the song good enough. But I swear that bad note went as loud as anything all the way down Gratiot Ave. for the whole world to hear. But I recovered and got back into it and had fun. Afterwards the front man from the pro band came over and said “Hey man, I heard that was your first time playing for a crowd. You did good!" Now he may have been just pumping me up but it felt good to get that from a pro. I went on to do monthly OMs for awhile and our band played occasionally. I always did OM with a friend or a reduced version of the band. One night my friend, my wife and I were playing and OM doing Jethro Tull and when my wife started on the piano opening "Locomotive Breath" someone in the crowd yelled "YEEEEEEAH!" And we played like we were down in Cobo Arena. It was awesome. It all started with that push from my instructor.

I kept getting better and better because I had to; you don't want to f^ck up in front of people. I also learned to brush off and recover from mistakes; I came to understand that you will make them. Now I play every other week at Church. i learn three to four new songs a week. I can play guitar or bass if needed. My instructor taught me how to learn songs fast and how to transition instruments. And what is funny, although I still have to practice, I don't have to do as much as I did just a year or two ago.

Share your music. Play Open Mics, get into a Jam group or just invite a friend over to play along with. You'll be amazed at how quickly you get better.

Sadly our little band fell apart and the place I did OMs closed but I am looking to get it started again somehow as it was just plain fun. I also want to play the bass in the band as I am doing guitar at church. I want to keep that skill going.

I have two Strats. They are Mex made and I like them very much. I have a Les Paul body ESP and it is OK but it does have the relief top which make it comfortable whereas a real Les Paul is not releifed and it digs into my 54 year old gut. I also have a Epiphone SG which I like to play but the d@mn upper strap button is on the back of the neck where it joins the body and thus you get neck drop and that drives me nuts.

I have a very expensive Telecaster that I love (I got it used for about 1/3 of the original price). But I find I use the Strats the most. Probably because I learned on a Strat and it is comfortable. I can’t get rid of my guitars. I like them all too much. But whatever you like to play, play it.

My Bass is a Fender PJ Deluxe. It is a Mexican made one with all the high end components. I love it. I got it at Guitar Center for about $750. I played everything they had in the store over a couple a weeks and I kept going back to this one.

 

[sarfs]

I need to quit fooling around and learn something because I'm quite literally the laziest guitar player on the planet. My guitar instructor has the unfortunate task of trying to teach me to play, and I do not envy him.

Slowly, I've sort of discovered that if I'm going to learn anything it's really going to be on my own, experimenting and hacking my way through a tutorial, note by note. At first I was really lazy and entirely relying on lessons to do most of my learning, but you can't learn that much in such a short period of time. I now understand those sessions are really only to sort of guide my learning, and I have to put in some serious work on my own. Duh.

I guess I was surprised at how hard guitar is. You see all these idiot kids fooling around with their friends in the local garage band and it doesn't sound all that bad, so naturally you figure it can't be all that hard. Can it? Well, yes, it's actually quite a lot of work.

I also wasted a lot of time buying and trading guitars, thinking if I could just find "the one" it would suddenly make me a better player. Right. I don't entirely regret doing that, though, because it is true that finding a guitar you really like can help inspire you to want to play and practice more. I really disliked the Fender Strat I learned on, but I never quite understood why I disliked it, only that I did. Now I know I feel a lot more comfortable on a Les Paul, and I enjoy practicing a lot more because the tones are much more "me." I do want to get another Strat, though. Only this time I want one with a rosewood fretboard. I've come to understand it was the varnished maple fretboard on my old Strat that I didn't like. Felt like plastic to me.

Two super easy songs, "Can't Explain" by the Who. All chords, E,D,D A,E,E, repeat.

"Satsifaction" by the Stones, notes B,B B,#C,D D,D,#C, repeat. Distortion helps but is not needed. You can play it all on the A string. Tabs: A2,A2 A2,A4,A5 A5,A5,A4.

I have the National Anthem memorized. It is a little tricky but can be played all in first position. It has some patterns that stand out to me.

 

[aiabx]

The first songs I learned to play were Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones and Clash City Rockers. Tabs are easily findable online, and both are easy and fun to play loud.

 

[rdw5150]

finding someone to jam with is also a huge plus. Once I got the easy open chords down, a buddy and I started playing. We got to the point where we knew about 25 songs, pretty well. Since I did not want to suck during out weekly sessions I practiced, all the time. Some of the best advise I got was to get a stand, keep the guitar out. Its amazing how many times, I would wander by, pick it up and play for 15 minutes.

Alas my buddy ran into some issues and we no longer jam together. My playing has suffered as I just do not have a reason to play. Though I have been practicing lately as I do not want to suck at our ASLOK jam sessions.

Peace

Roger

 

[Blackcloud6]

My playing has suffered as I just do not have a reason to play

That is why I jumped at a chance to play every other week at church. It keeps you playing and interested in practicing. And I just keep getting better.

 

[Dr Zaius]

I've tried out numerous amps in the last two years, and although some of theme were awesome (the Friedman BE100 comes to mind), they just didn't have exactly the right feel, tone, or setup that I want.

But now I've found it! The Germino Lead 55LV with master volume on the back (something Germino said he would never do). This is the amp I've been looking for. It's really grindy and snarls like a lion. I really like it.

http://theamphouse.com/asccustompages/products.asp?productid=348

Here's a clip I found on youtube.

[video=youtube;D0FynArF4_0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0FynArF4_0[/video]

 

[Blackcloud6]

Today, for the first time, I played my Epiphone SG for a performance. I have had this guitar for some years but never played it in performance because SGs are notorious for neck dive. I couldn't come to grips with that so I didn't play it much. Finally I went out a bought a suede backed strap as the roughness will cause friction at the shoulder and stop the diving; it worked.

Now the SG has a a wide variable sound and I was able to get just the right tone out of it today for church music. I received a few compliments afterwards. So it may become my guitar of choice for church.

 

[Blackcloud6]

I've tried out numerous amps in the last two years, and although some of theme were awesome (the Friedman BE100 comes to mind), they just didn't have exactly the right feel, tone, or setup that I want.

But now I've found it! The Germino Lead 55LV with master volume on the back (something Germino said he would never do). This is the amp I've been looking for. It's really grindy and snarls like a lion. I really like it.

http://theamphouse.com/asccustompages/products.asp?productid=348

Here's a clip I found on youtube.

[video=youtube;D0FynArF4_0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0FynArF4_0[/video]

Nice!

I bought a Spyder Line 6 at GC some years back. 150 watt one. I've used it at most of my non-Church gigs as it is quite portable. I like that you can set it to do almost anything and save programmed set-ups.

 

[Dr Zaius]

I had a Spyder as my first amp, which I also got at GC. I couldn't make it do what I wanted, and at the time I didn't understand why. It took me a while to learn the difference between solid state and tube, and then I went through a ton of tube amps trying to find the right amp for me.

That was costly.

I tried all kinds of different stuff. I even had a vintage 1959 Marshall Super Lead, which sounded awesome...as long as you could turn it up loud enough to peel the paint off the walls. I experimented with Orange, Mesa, Bogner, Landry, Fargen, and all kinds of other stuff.

The Germino, I think, is what I was always after. Vintage Marshall tones from an amp that you pretty much just plug in and it sounds good everywhere on the dial. The bottom end is too flubby to make for a great metal amp, however, I've hit it with a Tube Screamer and it will do very convincing Black Label Society tones, or at least close to it. I might eventually get a little Jim Root Terror for heavy stuff. Then again, the new Mesa Mark V 25 looks very interesting...

No, no, no, I'm not buying another amp! I'm really enjoying the Germino and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be keeping this one for a very long time. It really does sound good with a Les Paul with PAFs.