| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/8/2006 4:25:04 AM |
When I picked up my first guitar...people kept telling me the action was too high...and I needed to get it adjusted....
what do you mean by action, i've seen this a few times now and i don't understand. | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/8/2006 2:38:53 PM | Action means a few things.
It's a combination of things: bridge height, neck pitch (angle at neck/body joint), fingerboard relief (curve of fingerboard), and string gauge.
Some instruments also have an adjustable "stop-piece", that can vary string tension.
(An instrument's headstock pitch and scale length are contributors too, ...but, inherent to it's design, and not adjustable. The same could be said for some guitar's neck pitch, a set neck is expensive to change, a bolt-on neck can be shimmed though.)
All told, these things are "Action" or playability.
Any changes to these things will also change the string intonation somewhat. Further, changing any one criteria may necessitate adjustment in others, ie: giving the neck more relief will usually mean you have to lower the bridge, and vice versa. | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/8/2006 5:05:29 PM | Basically, you'll have good action when the strings are as close to the frets as they can be without producing any unwanted "noise" or dead spots when you play....
 | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/8/2006 9:20:16 PM | ...Careful how you do it though. Too high/low action is often a symptom of a bowed or warped neck. Lowering the bridge saddle(s) looks like an easy fix, ...but this can mean not fixing the problem that caused the high/low action in the first place.
When a neck is allowed to bow/warp, without properly adjusting it, .... you may have a playable guitar for a while, but the longer the neck is too stressed in either direction, the more likely the bow/warp will be harder to repair, ...and sometimes impossible.
Remember, with the strings pulling over 100lbs linear stress, and the truss rod counteracting this via torsion stress on a 3/8" steel rod....pushing against the neck? Wood tends to go where it's "forced", while the wood itself is flexable, it tends to have "memory".
Guitar necks all develop warps, twists. and bows that require anything from minor truss rod adjustment to major heat and reshaping to reverse.
If you're a beginner and don't know the basics of "set-up", ...take it to a reputable shop if the instrument is worth keeping in good order.
Just changing string gauges means, re-adjusting the truss rod and intonation.
If you want to experiment with a guitar's truss rod, do so in quarter-turn increments, never force it, never strip the nut. Truss rods are often broken by over tightening.
Tightening = straightens the neck (or, can back-bow it)
Loosening = more relief, or; "with the strings", at least a slight amount of relief is needed because of the way the string's vibrating pattern is in the shape of an elipse -- narrow at each end, reaching it's widest pattern at the middle of it's length which corresponds to the area of the 12th fret. | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/9/2006 2:12:58 AM | Always try playing stuff you can't possibly play the whole lot of.
Don't just learn songs and move on. Always have at least a handful of seemingly impossible songs you strive towards. Practicing the "impossible" will make the "possible" seem so much easier and more natural a lot faster, and the "impossible" won't stay that way forever. | |
|
| |
| Help! I need somebody Help! not just anybody......
Posted: 2/15/2006 4:04:46 AM | I think I need Late on this one, but Im willing to listen to anybody that gets what Im talking about...
Is there a "best" way to get to the point where you can flow from lead to chords and back without memorizing by rote all the different scale patterns and their associated root positions on the neck? Memorizing is essential, thats not what Im asking....Im asking if there is a best way to go about it. I can handle pentatonic, and variants of it in alot of blues songs, but I want to learn quickly and properly how to do a Stevie Ray style of flowing in and out of the melody with chords and scales in whatever band I land in, whatever genre they play.... and Im old man.....gimme a break! LOL Alot of people love what I do already, but I dont think its in me yet to stand alone and hold an audience with just my guitar, and I dont sing and play at the same time  
Thanks for the tips (dont be talkin bout my memory neither.....he he he) | |
|
| Bluesman
Posted: 2/15/2006 4:24:47 AM | Paulchino, by the time you move to North Carolina, or I move to manatoba and jam together, I aught to be ready to keep the neighbors up all night.....in delight LOL
Rock on man, we'll find the love somewhere...Im new to the whole concept of finding musicians or a band...did the daddy and hubby thing real well....Im hearing that if you post a note in a guitar shop that your looking you will get found, seems odd cause I never see alot of notes there for people looking...but what da h*ll anything is worth a shot.
Good luck, Good beer, Good blues....makes for a friday night! | |
|
| |
| Bluesman
Posted: 2/15/2006 8:47:20 PM | Good luck, Good beer, Good blues....makes for a friday night!
Up here, instead of beer...I get to drink absinth...goes GREAT with music!
And I've got the workings of a band going...every Friday we get together and throw down some music on the fly...sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't....but it's a good way to practice keeping yourself in the right key, and really listen to what the other people are doing....
I hear ya Separated44, I need to do a good blues jam every now and then...but with the guys I play with, it's just not gonna happen....
....and the only way yer gonna conquer the switch between lead and chords is practice your ass off man....when I first got into it...I got basic chords and pentatonic scales down...then left the books alone....just started to play with that limited knowledge....now I'm at a point where I'm thirsty for knowledge again...my basic chord switching is decent...but when it comes to barred chords...forget it...sometimes I just sit and practice chording for an hour....and the rhythm is coming to me slowly....
Just practice practice practice....and never stop learning or you'll eventually get bored...at least I do.... | |
|
| Bluesman
Posted: 2/16/2006 2:54:58 PM | | I learned by listening to music and grabbing the guitar and keeping up, with the guitar slightly lower than the cd or (gasp) cassette tape (Gawd I said that out loud!!) Anyway, it got to the point that I just turned on the stereo and flipped radio stations between two or three and played all night with the stereo, whoever was on that I felt like playing with...wanna feel totally inadequate? Try SRV for an hour....the man was unreal. Thanks for the tips. | |
|
| Bluesman
Posted: 2/16/2006 8:08:36 PM | I want to learn too , but tabs seems soo stupid to me & nothing like real music. I want to learn music notes but im stuck in this endless rut , I never get started !!! Frustrating to no end !
 | |
|
| Bluesman
Posted: 2/17/2006 5:02:43 AM | Tabs are a good way to start picking out what you are trying to learn, real music is written mostly for instruments that have a lateral layout of notes. The guitar has so many different overlapping notes in the octave that there are literally three or four ways you can play almost anything, with the easiest fingering usually winning out.
there is an excellent website for research and learning at wholenote stick in the rest of the web address and you can find about anything linked to the site. another one is visualguitar, I couldnt live without that nifty little number in trying to piece together theory....goodluck | |
|
| Bluesman
Posted: 2/17/2006 4:00:42 PM | | chordbook.com is a good one too...considering getting a membership to guitarmojo.com...a strictly BLUES site!!!! | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/17/2006 5:05:13 PM | | my best advice is dont just stick to one style. Check out all different types of music. Oh, and practice your ass off. | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/17/2006 11:01:16 PM | dont practice all of your ass off....its a guy thing
no really, there are lots of places online that are free that you can get to, but there is NO substitute for putting your fingers on the strings and making what you hear make you happy you heard it...the best motivator in the world, even for beginners...start slow and easy simple challenges and master what you want to, when you build up confidence (and finger strength) take on more complicated challenges....easier still...pay for lessons
psst....paulchino...yer givin away yer secret stash there dude...im gonna pilage that city LOL
thanks for the tip | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 2/22/2006 6:34:24 AM |
I want to learn too , but tabs seems soo stupid to me & nothing like real music. I want to learn music notes but im stuck in this endless rut , I never get started !!! Frustrating to no end !
what do you know so far? | |
|
| |
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/28/2006 4:28:47 PM | Im self taught, but I know a few things about it...been playing quite a while. What kind of help Chiquie.....and hows the learning curve murphy???
Q: What is the best way to shorten or eliminate those "awkward" moments where creative growth tends to piddle away between inspired or stumbled on learning curves...you know, that moment when it becomes...."oh I have to drill again" instead of "dang that sounded awesome"....then you drill and play and drill and play....and you keep waiting for the return of "dang" but it dont show up for way too long. | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/28/2006 4:35:56 PM |
Q: What is the best way to shorten or eliminate those "awkward" moments where creative growth tends to piddle away between inspired or stumbled on learning curves...you know, that moment when it becomes...."oh I have to drill again" instead of "dang that sounded awesome"....then you drill and play and drill and play....and you keep waiting for the return of "dang" but it dont show up for way too long.
Knowlege leads to discovery
Discovery leads to understanding
Understanding leads to knowing
Music is both an art, ...and a science, ....the science is a body of knowlege (see above), the art is in its expression.
The first page of the site is up, ....just the basics, ....baby steps, ...everybody begins at the beginning,
........ more to come.
http://homepage.mac.com/ewald/Theory/rps1.html | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/28/2006 8:27:55 PM | Very cool....very cool indeed! im off to have a look...
Edit: That looks alot like the missing link I have been stumbling on...which degrees are the notes in the chord...something like that, always disconnected between scale degrees and chord structure relative to them....looks like I need to do the beginner stuff too, say "a"...oh boy. Boxes are good, a good general pattern, but I know for a fact that I stray from the box patterns playing, and sometimes I get lost, and it still sounds sweet...until Im lost.
Looks beefy! | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/29/2006 12:21:36 PM | ....murphy83....decent topic,you already have the 'makings of a musician'.....interest and desire to learn....ask all the questions you can think of....on behalf of my learned colleagues,the first most important thing to do is 'tune your guitar',each day before you start,an electronic tuner is a good investment and don't forget to replace your strings....if you practise 10 hours a week,replace every week. Remember...ear training is vital....TUNE.....Sight reading and theory are a must if you plan to get serious. I would also recommend a decent teacher,I had three you can learn a great deal by teaching someone else as well. You should have 3 guitars,a classical,6/12 string accostic,solid body electric and a tamborine (company)........practise many scales in your style..... good habits and play clean...... cheers | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/29/2006 5:17:08 PM | I dunno about changing strings...tone is critical, but I like trying to milk tone out of them as they die...seems like its easier to get to the goal when I do change them.
One thing I do though, every time I go to reach for the axe, I have already reached for the faucet and hand soap...I get looks, and I dont care, it keeps the guitar clean and playable.
Im self taught, so feel free to ignore me...I do every once in a while  | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/30/2006 4:06:47 AM | | ....bluesmanon45.....you are correct,clean hands first when you touch your woman or your axe,they will both appreciate it....I wipe my strings off after every session.....and if you have filthy scuzzy hands,please don't touch my instruments or my woman,its always a good idea to clean your fingerboard when you re-string....ambition is never ignored.....you can never learn without putting some of yourself into it....are we not all self taught to some degree IMHO +.02 | |
|
| learning to play guitar
Posted: 3/30/2006 5:55:50 AM | Silicone spray is quite helpful too . It reduces string noise, and makes it a little easier on the fingers.
I always go for the highest gauge strings at any music store I go to. It's tough on the hands ( especially at the start) but the tone is just so much better.
The worst thing about my 12 string Taki is having to use light strings on it. | |
|
Home
login 
