Your guitar gear

[w00dsy]

there's quite a few good online learning places. I tend to just learn by ear mostly, have done since i started, or if i am having trouble figuring something out i will use tabs. I use ultimate guitar for tabs. Youtube also has tons of lessons. This is a great site for learning chords. http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/
I found when i play with others i learn at a much greater rate than when i am just home by myself, you watch other people doing things and pick up stuff like crazy.

[Scottie]

that's what I thought

cheers for the links!

[DUcK]

just got back into playing guitar, uploaded a quick youtube jam too...
i own a gibson les paul studio, it's quite a nice little beast. i was thinking about trading it in for an ibanez js model or whatever the satch codes are, but i'm not really sure now after getting back into the gibson; it just sounds so awesome
it's amped thru a 50w tube randall rh50t, head with 4x12" speaker cab (on wheels, so handy!!!).
used to be in a few bands but now i just sorta chill and slut around n stuff, it's good fun.

here's the youtube vid [youtube] [/youtube]

and the ol girl

[El Kabong]

Awesome playing DUcK! I enjoyed that. Very nice Studio too.

I noticed from the picture that your stop bar is raised up from the body of the guitar. If I could make a suggestion that might improve your sustain, tone, and playability --

Les Pauls like it when every part on the guitar that has some contact with the strings is as snug as possible. In this regard the best place for your stop bar is down tight against the body of the guitar BUT, don't do this without doing something called top wrapping the strings or you will put excessive force on the bridge causing it to bend eventually. I think you can see why-- tightening down the stop bar with the strings as they are now causes a very steep string angle with the bridge. That needs to be avoided and top wrapping will do that for you.

To top wrap you insert a string through the stop bar from the side opposite from the "normal" side. In other words you would be threading the string away from the pickups instead of toward them. Then you just wrap the string over the top of the stop bar and continue on as usual. With all strings installed this way you can tighten the stop bar all the way down to the body and still have a nice gentle string angle that won't ruin your bridge. Another plus with this type of string installation is that you'll notice your strings are easier to bend.

Note a few caveats though:

Down at the end of a string where the little stop ferrule is located all strings are back-wrapped on themselves for a bit. Some are back-wrapped more than others. When you top wrap a string, the string becomes kinked at the stop bar. People that top wrap (and there are many who do this) have reported that if the kink happens where the string is back-wrapped, there is a tendency for that string to break easier. I haven't had this happen to me but there is an easy way to get around this and over the years I've just started doing it anyway. What you do is remove those little stop ferrules from your old set of strings and slide them down on the new strings so that they act as spacers. This will pull the back-wrap into the stop bar. You may find that some strings do not need any spacers and some might need two or even more, it all depends on the string.

Eventually the strings will create a groove in the stop bar where the string kinks. This is especially true on light weight aluminum stop bars (like mine) but it will happen to all of them eventually. This is an aesthetics issue only but it could be important to you. I just took a small file and smoothed out the burrs at the edge of the grooves.

Some people have stopped top wrapping because they couldn't get used to the feel of strings on top of the stop bar. Again this is personal preference. I don't much notice any difference, but then I've been doing it so long this way that going back to unwrapped would probably feel weird.

If you look at the pic of my LP Custom earlier in this thread you'll see what top wrapping looks like. And If you look closely you can also see the spacers.

Regardless of whether you top wrap or not make sure your tuners are tight as that can have an effect as well. If your bridge posts have excessive play (not typically a problem with Gibsons) there are third party posts that are very snug. Tone Pros are the current choice of the masses.

Sorry for the long winded post but I thought it worthwhile if it could be helpful. Once I tightened down my stop bar I noticed a definite improvement in sustain, and the hollow type tone that LP's are famous for (when switched to the neck pick-up) became noticeably more punchy. If you try it i hope it works out as well for you as it did for me.

[DUcK]

hey dude thanks the reply! i'm glad you enjoyed it.

thanks so much for all your tips & hints, i'm gonna write it all down and when i get a minute i'll ask the guitar tech i see. because the stuff your saying is way over my head... playing guitar is like driving for me, unfortunately i can only do as much maintenance as necessary, but i can hold my own on the practical part

once i do it i'll get back to you and tell you how it goes, cheers



oh and i'll just add, these strings are like 2 years old, i haven't touched the guitar for so long! not even cleaned the poor thing. now that i'm playing again, i'll start taking care of her... she needs a new set and a good clean

[El Kabong]

Unfortunately, all those words I used just made it seem a lot more difficult than it really is. I'll post pictures.

[DUcK]

i'm back again!

el, i checked out what you were saying and the guitar tech said that if you want more bite and a bigger sound then i should leave it where it is. so i guess i did
having said that i put slightly heavier gauge strings on it, and it does sound a lot better!

anyway, i had a play around on some sweet child o' mine backing track, bit of fun. it's not great, but it's alright. few mistakes but oh well. i actually don't really know the song, except for the intro, so i suppose i was still learning

have a ganda if you want

[youtube] [/youtube]

[w00dsy]

how weird, i've been playing this song quite a bit lately too after reading Slash's book. Well not just this song but most of Appetite. Good playing there Duckster

[DexterPunk]

i always found that intro a bit fiddly! but then, i cant play lead to save myself. Being a punk rock fan, i pretty much just mastered playing power chords and palm muting ultra fast.

good stuff Duck.

[DUcK]

cheers boys. yeah the intro is a tad weird to time properly. since i'm just getting back into it, there's a few odd notes in there, i'm still trying to remember what fret i can press to sound good in that key. sometimes i hit one and im like, ugh, yuck. i did that a couple times in this song

[Montey]

So.... I'm thinking of teaching myself a bit of guitar (to add to the other instruments I dick around with), but I can't be bothered getting too nuts too early on. I was initially looking at getting a Yamaha FG700S acoustic, but now I am thinking of just getting a decent quality ukulele instead and mucking around on that.

I am not looking to get very serious about playing the guitar, just want something to stuff around with (play for 15 minutes and put down again). Am I better to be a little more serious and get the FG700S (or another acoustic) or is a ukulele a good enough place to learn the fingering and then transfer to a full guitar a bit later on?

What are your thoughts?

[DexterPunk]

id say just grab any el cheapo thats in reasonably good nick second hand... acoustic that is.. i was young an impatient when i learnt and just jumped straight into electric.. not a great decision. I actually cant play an acoustic to save myself, but i can rip it up when i feel like it on the elec. If you dont know if you will continue with it, and dont want to take it very seriously i wouldnt bother spending much money. Id also suggest learning on nylon strings to start with, your fingers will cop a hiding from a steel string.

[Dr. Pain]

I've always struggled with my finger speed and cant solo but I like grinding out power cords with a lot of distortion but I found this clip and things are changing:



I'm a huge Iron Maiden fan and like Adrian Smith a lot. His advice is great and I'm getting faster and stronger.

I'm also thinking of buying a Fender Stratocaster. I'm finding the neck on my ESP is very narrow. It's great for anything heavy but gets crowded trying to play anything other than power cords. My Washburn is better in that regard but it isn't the best quality.

[El Kabong]

i'm back again!

el, i checked out what you were saying and the guitar tech said that if you want more bite and a bigger sound then i should leave it where it is. so i guess i did
having said that i put slightly heavier gauge strings on it, and it does sound a lot better!

No worries mate, it's your guitar after all. I'm still going to post pictures next time I change strings, it's a lot easier to show than to explain and I still think it's worth trying for anyone who has a Les Paul or Les Paul clone. Happy playing!

[DUcK]

sweet man, that'd be good. cheers

[w00dsy]

picked this up today, it's a Cole Clark Guardian

[AstrO]

Can you play guitar hero on it?

[w00dsy]

i can play the songs from guitar hero on it

[AstrO]

i can play the songs from guitar hero on it

and it will work with my Wii?

[Exar Kun]

Lookin good How does it play/sound?

[w00dsy]

better than any Fender i have played. The pickups are so so nice. The front pickup on a clean is rich and full and the bridge pickup overdriven is the fattest single coil i have heard. The case is awesome, and it also came with a Cole Clark bag for the trem and a Cole Clark cloth to wipe of the paw prints.

[Cutter]

Carl is green with envy. That is beautifull.

[w00dsy]

if your after a Strat style guitar then the Guardian is hard to go past, that was only $1300 and it's every bit as good as a fender for almost double the price. They make a really nice Tele copy too which might be next on the list.

[DUcK]

looks great woodsy. lucky u didnt bring it to the track otherwise it might not have gone home in the right hands :P

[w00dsy]

you might have smashed it after race 1.