I want a new guitar.
- Thread starter rideit
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What is that thing? Do you play it like a slide guitar or something?
18” scale bass. Various tuning options. I’m going 5 string E-C (1 oct above standard, like the 12th fret of a 34” scale). Pricing isn’t bad for a custom build. The builder has been great to work with despite being in Malaysia.
Some sound samples.
I got a free acoustic guitar from fb marketplace. Time to see if I can teach myself to play.
Any plan on how to go about that?
Guitar playing for dummies?
I haven’t looked through it, but I’d imagine it’s a decent resource. There’s tons of online options, but you can get lost searching for good ones that build on what you have previously learned. A good course can be helpful for keeping you progressing toward a goal. But, if you want to noodle away and have a decent ear, songs generally are a handful of chords with a verse/chorus/bridge structure.
Learning relative names for chords is helpful for dissecting patterns and structure. Like a “1-4-5 in E” is easier than thinking of “E-A-B” and you can transpose the same fingering pattern up a few frets and play a “1-4-5 in G” without thinking about what the 4 and 5 are (C & D). The Nashville Number System is based on this idea and lots of pros use it to chart songs, so they know the overall structure.
Yea, I used to play piano and woodwinds and some brass, so I can read sheet music (albeit I'm a bit rusty), I've been poking around the internet for stuff on how to read tabs. I ordered some pics and a tuner just to get started.
should be easy for you to adapt. just remember for the low strings going two strings higher and two frets up is where you find the octave and that down one stringiest and up 5 frets is the unison.
tab is a blessing and a curse.
Oh, that pesky g-string, always getting in the way.
My wife bought a Yamaha F210 some 20+ years ago on her semester abroad in college and only played in maybe 6 months. We've been packing it around ever since. I finally broke it out of the closet 2-3 months ago and have been plucking away on it every day since. @mandown is correct about all of the resources online. It's more of a question of finding one that "clicks" for you. I happen to like this guys online stuff.
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YMMV of course.
Let's start a band
And if anyone has suggestions about how I can get the C chord down, I'm open to suggestions. So far I've got A, D, E, and G down pretty good, but I just can't seem to "get" C. Like the whole operation just stops, and I have to look, and place all 3 fingers, one at a time, like a moron. I just have a real stumbling block on it for some reason.
It is muscle memory so repetition. I assume you mean an open C voicing. You can always try alternate voices and chord “fragments” where you only play certain notes and mute the other strings. See if you can substitute an alternative voicing from the charts.
if you’ve got G you’re essentially doing a C. It’s the same basic shape one string over.
Okay. So, in this instance, I am attempting to use the C pattern that's the very first one, in your second picture. The dude who I referenced to @jonKranked has a couple exercises for learning new chord shapes that I've used for the other chords that worked fine, but I've been doing a *lot* of repetition on C and my dumb brain just isn't seeming to get it. I'll have to try some others and see if I can get them to stick. I've been trying to play "Up on the Roof" for a month now, and the C just derails the whole train.
I tried to learn a while back but 4 different broken bones in my left hand that didn't heal straight made it pretty much impossible to get the fingers to fing properly.
I don’t know that song. You could try a 7 or 9 chord voicing. It’ll have a slightly different flavor but you might find it fits.
I don't. I'm not well rounded.
That ain't folk music. You don't need a full open chord voicing with each string ringing. I'd focus on leveraging the G chord you know and playing the 3rd fret on the A string (C) and the 2nd fret on the D string (E) and the open G. Everything else is gravy.
I'll give it a try. But you might be getting ahead of me.
So there's the G E C section in the verse with an Am D tag to get back to the G. So is getting to the C from the E the issue?
From the verse to the chorus you exit the G into the C. Is that a sticking point? Then you jump C to G. Is that an issue? The chorus is a lot of C and you need to jump back to it after the Em
Take a look at where you're coming from and where you want to go. Playing a C might be harder/easier depending on where you are starting.
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@Pesqueeb
At 2:30 there's a voicing that might help. It's essentially a F chord shape shifted over one string. It might be an easier way to "bounce" between the E and C shapes.
Notice how this shape in the red looks a lot like an E shape shifted over and up? If you lift the 2 with the red dot, it will look like an E minor which is in your song. Just another way to think of getting from chord to chord.
At 2:30 there's a voicing that might help. It's essentially a F chord shape shifted over one string. It might be an easier way to "bounce" between the E and C shapes.
Notice how this shape in the red looks a lot like an E shape shifted over and up? If you lift the 2 with the red dot, it will look like an E minor which is in your song. Just another way to think of getting from chord to chord.
@Pesqueeb as @mandown said, repetition and muscle memory are key. For chord transitions you just can't seem to get right away, just sit there and go back and forth repeatedly for as long as you can tolerate it. Even if I'm watching TV or something else, just sit and strum the progression over and over. You'll get it.
One chord I always struggled with when learning was E7#9 from the verse in Purple Haze. Always felt so unnatural and awkward fretting it right. I'd just practice getting into that chord from a few others, going back and forth repeatedly. After awhile, it becomes natural.
One chord I always struggled with when learning was E7#9 from the verse in Purple Haze. Always felt so unnatural and awkward fretting it right. I'd just practice getting into that chord from a few others, going back and forth repeatedly. After awhile, it becomes natural.
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The only thing I’d add to this is that sometimes you need to try another song for a while and then come back. It’s like cross-training or rehab; sometimes training the muscles and mind to do “other” things has a ripple effect and and generates results not just in the specific thing being practiced but in other areas you might not think are related. Sometimes you just have to get out of your own head to make room.
you should probably just practice with some slapshot classics
Want a new guitar? Build one!
This is the Contessa - solid body neck-through build with incredible sustain. Paduak top, mahogany back, and birds-eye maple neck. Humbucker PUs.
This is the Contessa - solid body neck-through build with incredible sustain. Paduak top, mahogany back, and birds-eye maple neck. Humbucker PUs.
Wild. Mine (being built) is padauk body and it is very red compared to your padauk top.
Mine was red also back when I built it. Padauk loses that red color over time. I prefer the brown anyway.
Ah. I’ve heard it fades a bit. Glad I’m also matching it with walnut. The combo should still work.
How long did the fading/transition take?
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So the acoustic I got is right handed but strung left handed. Any reason I can't just restring it with the existing strings?
Yea, I did some googling on it last night and it sounded like I might need to. I'll get some pics of them once I get around to it.
I did get a digital tuner and some pics, already sounds better.
Maybe Hendrix owned it