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Guitar talk: acoustic, bass, classical, twelve string? You name it! Pt III

Gervais Cote said:
Awesome ! This looks like a real woodworking masterpiece. If I may ask, do you play mostly jazz music with such instrument ?
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I just rock out with it, although it has a wide range of tones from its Bartolini active pups. MTD's are often referred to as modern sounding, i.e. ideal for slap bass technique, but I can't say I'm into that style of playing. It does though flatter my playing by having a slim neck profile and relatively low and slick action :D.

Tbh, I haven't been playing it much for number of months but, having recently decided the need for more creative distractions from, er, other stuff (politics), now's the time to get practising again and do something rewarding.

John
 
cutting42 said:
Very nice looking Bass. My son has an MTD - one of the mass produced ones but for the £500 or so it cost, I am impressed.
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Yes, even though the Kingston range are made under license in Korea they are still fine instruments, Michael Tobias looking after his reputation. In fact, I was looking at buying one and saving myself a rather large amount of money but, suffering a rather severe case of GAS at the time, and heart ruling my head, I splashed the cash! ;) Don't regret it though; I just need to play it more.

John
 
palindrome said:
@-alan-
I came over all queasy just looking at your pictures. :D You're still a brave man, even if the guitar only cost a tenner.

John
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:) Had to laugh - thanks John.

In truth I figured it was a basket case when I bought it, but didn't mind donating the €10 purchase price to the charity shop for a good cause.
It's actually pretty liberating when you don't have to worry about messing up on a project like that - with nothing to lose!
 
Picked these up when the local library was cleaning house. I've only read the one with Toy Caldwell on the cover so far, but wow. Astonishing how good this magazine was.

HYuFYEQ.md.jpg


List: March, April, May, December of '75; January, February, April, May, August of '76; April of '78; May, September, October, November, December of '83.
 
If you are in Somerset and fancy playing some Clash songs.....

The Clashmob is returning this year playing 6 Clash songs on 4th February around Bridgwater in Somerset to celebrate the life of Joe Strummer. The songs will linked to a location - 'I fought the Law' outside the police station; 'London Calling' outside a mobile phone shop, 'Bank Robber'......
The group experience ranges from 'very good' to 'how do I hold it?' and is just a bit of fun
Guitar and Bass players of any ability are welcome to pitch up and join in
Full details here
Jay
 
Fingernails!?

How do you get your fingernails short enough to fret a note cleanly with finger at 90 degrees to the fretboard without your fingernail hitting the rosewood first? I just cant do it. Biting the fingernail seems to be the most accurate (if unattractive-looking) method of making them as short as possible but it's still not enough. What am I missing?

People who play guitar properly and professionally ( not me) seem to have bulbous ends to their fingers. Is that what is needed? Just keep playing until your fingers go like E.T.'s?
 
wulbert said:
Fingernails!?

How do you get your fingernails short enough to fret a note cleanly with finger at 90 degrees to the fretboard without your fingernail hitting the rosewood first? I just cant do it. Biting the fingernail seems to be the most accurate (if unattractive-looking) method of making them as short as possible but it's still not enough. What am I missing?

People who play guitar properly and professionally ( not me) seem to have bulbous ends to their fingers. Is that what is needed? Just keep playing until your fingers go like E.T.'s?
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Cut your fingernails as short as possible, play 4 string bass, problem solved.

 
wulbert said:
Fingernails!?

How do you get your fingernails short enough to fret a note cleanly with finger at 90 degrees to the fretboard without your fingernail hitting the rosewood first? I just cant do it. Biting the fingernail seems to be the most accurate (if unattractive-looking) method of making them as short as possible but it's still not enough. What am I missing?

People who play guitar properly and professionally ( not me) seem to have bulbous ends to their fingers. Is that what is needed? Just keep playing until your fingers go like E.T.'s?
Click to expand...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/26/peter-green-guitar-pioneer-who-made-the-blues-his-own

This was before his long nails period when he was the "new guitar god". The nails are still long, I'd certainly struggle to mangle my Les Paul with nails that long but I can barely play after almost 60 years trying!
 
wulbert said:
Fingernails!?

How do you get your fingernails short enough to fret a note cleanly with finger at 90 degrees to the fretboard without your fingernail hitting the rosewood first? I just cant do it. Biting the fingernail seems to be the most accurate (if unattractive-looking) method of making them as short as possible but it's still not enough. What am I missing?

People who play guitar properly and professionally ( not me) seem to have bulbous ends to their fingers. Is that what is needed? Just keep playing until your fingers go like E.T.'s?
Click to expand...

Speaking for myself @wulbert, I don't finger the string at 90 degrees with the tip, more like at 45 with the calloused fleshy bit. But this will depend whether you are playing proper-like, as in say classical, flamenco acoustic, or improper-like, as many electric guitar peeps do; just cuz we can get away with it. :D

John
 
wulbert said:
How do you get your fingernails short enough to fret a note cleanly with finger at 90 degrees to the fretboard without your fingernail hitting the rosewood first? I just cant do it.
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I don’t think anyone does that do they? It is a far more shallow angle. You still can’t have long fingernails on the fretboard hand, but what you describe shouldn’t ever be an issue. I’m the wrong person to ask as what little I know is entirely self-taught, but there will be a whole world of YouTube advice etc. If you are very new to it I’d be inclined to pick up a nylon string classical/Spanish guitar. That is where most people seem to start and they are far easier to deal with than a lot of cheap beginner steel strung guitars which are often more suited to egg slicing. Certainly if you are really struggling there is a very good chance you are fighting a badly setup or simply bad instrument.
 
This one has something I've never seen before - George playing!


These guys caught George in a very indulgent mood.
 
wulbert said:
Fingernails!?
How do you get your fingernails short enough to fret a note cleanly with finger at 90 degrees to the fretboard without your fingernail hitting the rosewood first? I just cant do it. Biting the fingernail seems to be the most accurate (if unattractive-looking) method of making them as short as possible but it's still not enough. What am I missing?
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You do need that perpendicular 90 degree finger placement for certain chords to avoid unwanted muting of adjacent strings - but as the guys have said above, there is a wealth of music you can make without being able to do that.

I have a long standing mobility problem with the ring finger on my fretting hand which used to frustrate me immensely with particular chords and phrases I just could not (and still can't) play - until I got to the point of realising I was usually trying to copy the way somebody else had played something (and often at just one particular point in time). The key for me was recognising there's always more than one way to play anything. Kind of liberating and challenging in equal measure - makes you put your own stamp on a piece and develop a little bit of your own style.
 
One of the advantages of having originally learn from an old book back in the 80s is that I forced myself to do it "properly" and my thumb is always in the middle of the neck and fingers (mostly) parallel to the frets. On the downside I cannot play any of the "wrong" chords like the Hendrix wrap your thumb over the top thing.

No chance with those weird Dave Matthews triads though : https://www.all-guitar-chords.com/lessons/29
 
-alan- said:
You do need that perpendicular 90 degree finger placement for certain chords to avoid unwanted muting of adjacent strings - but as the guys have said above, there is a wealth of music you can make without being able to do that.

I have a long standing mobility problem with the ring finger on my fretting hand which used to frustrate me immensely with particular chords and phrases I just could not (and still can't) play - until I got to the point of realising I was usually trying to copy the way somebody else had played something (and often at just one particular point in time). The key for me was recognising there's always more than one way to play anything. Kind of liberating and challenging in equal measure - makes you put your own stamp on a piece and develop a little bit of your own style.
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Maybe I just have pointy fingers. Upon further investigation, It's mainly the right index finger that gives me problems. And only on certain chords (as you said) e.g. C-major in the usual 1st position; hard to avoid the index finger on the C note (1st fret on B-string) from damping the open high E-string.

Your probably right about developing your own style. I jammed with a pro once, watching his right hand for the chord changes, and he foxed me with the way he played A-major (at the second fret) he was placing his index finger behind the other two in order to fit all three fingers at the second fret (kind of like a D-7 shape). Took me a while to work out what he was doing. And the way B-major was shown in all my guitar books was and remains impossible for me. I just power chord it now.
 
Tony L said:
I don’t think anyone does that do they? It is a far more shallow angle. You still can’t have long fingernails on the fretboard hand, but what you describe shouldn’t ever be an issue. I’m the wrong person to ask as what little I know is entirely self-taught, but there will be a whole world of YouTube advice etc. If you are very new to it I’d be inclined to pick up a nylon string classical/Spanish guitar. That is where most people seem to start and they are far easier to deal with than a lot of cheap beginner steel strung guitars which are often more suited to egg slicing. Certainly if you are really struggling there is a very good chance you are fighting a badly setup or simply bad instrument.
Click to expand...

I've been playing (badly) for decades, but its just the same 18months of learning repeated over and over again. I can't blame the guitar. I mainly play my wife's Lowden acoustic and it's a lovely instrument.
 
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