Guitarded: A thread for Guitar players

**GelfXIII** · 05-07-2010, 04:18 PM

I have 3 guitars:
1981 Fender Stratocaster elite, cream with a white pick guard.

2 words: Bad Ass.

a 1990 Gibson Les Paul Studio Custom, Black with a black pickguard.

1 word: smooooooooth

A Gretsch acoustic dreadnought,

1 word: resonance.

This was a regular pic, but the Strat got all badass and kicked the others clear out of focus.

**Tim Simmons** · 05-07-2010, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by GelfXIII

I have 3 guitars:

This was a regular pic, but the Strat got all badass and kicked the others clear out of focus.

Ha! That's awesome!

I had a dream the other night that I owned a worn-out yellow strat-- not sure what year it would have been, but I'm guessing early 80s. In my dream, it sang like a mo'fo...
So...now I want a worn out 80s, yellow strat. Who'da though?

**SAVETHEB** · 05-08-2010, 12:08 AM

Oh yeah, I'm a left-handed guitar player! I've converted 3 of my guitars. My Ibanez Artist ('81), a crappy acoustic that I can thrash around and draw on, and my other nameless acoustic.

I also have a crappy strat knockoff by a company called Austin that was built for leftys. I actually get a pretty good tone out of it if I turn my amp waaaaaaaaay up. (To 11, if you will.)

I have a Marshall head and a Crate cab. What are you guys playing through?

I reeeeeeaaaaaly want to try out an Orange amp.

**adventure metal** · 05-08-2010, 09:21 AM

been trying to work on my lead skills the past year.. just want to be able to play along to standard priest/maiden/zep stuff. Nothin too crazy yet. Got a bunch of tab books to see how they do it, working on my scales... slow going though... waiting for it to click

**NeverWanderer** · 05-08-2010, 11:51 AM

I came from a primarily musical family, and I'm probably the only one that never learned to play an instrument (I'm also the first to want to work in comics, though, so there's that

). I tried learning guitar in highschool, but I didn't have the patience to stick with it. Recently, I got the bug again and am hoping I'll be able to afford to have my father ship my baby-blue strat out to me soon... probly not until after my move, though.

In the meantime, I watch every guitar tutorial I can find on Youtube, and stare longingly at Mark Knopfler and Tim Reynolds videos for hours on end.

I guess I'm sort of the Young Neil of this thread.

**Tim Simmons** · 05-08-2010, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by adventure metal

been trying to work on my lead skills the past year.. just want to be able to play along to standard priest/maiden/zep stuff. Nothin too crazy yet. Got a bunch of tab books to see how they do it, working on my scales... slow going though... waiting for it to click

Alternate picking, man-- I can't stress that enough. When I first started playing, I was a big Maiden/metal fan (actually, my core skills in harmony secretly come from Maiden)-- so, I was a big downpicker-- It became part of my style-- in fact, even now, while soloing, I do a ton of legato runs...
But, yeah-- It was a bitch when I came back to get my alternate picking skills up.

One silly and mindless lesson: Chromatically go up and down the strings- 1,2,3,4, on the E. 1,2,3,4 on the A, etc-- and back up. Once you finish the set, start over on the 2nd fret: 2,3,4,5, 2,3,4,5, etc---

Once you've got that down, start moving the pattern diagonally: E: 1,2,3,4, A: 2,3,4,5, D: 3,4,5,6-- ect...
It's totally mindless and non-musical-- but that diagonal exercise will really get your fingers used to running up and down the fretboard.

Here's another REALLY simple thing that I overlooked for a lot of year-- It's a Paul Gilbert lesson about how you HOLD YOUR pick...man, if I'd had this lesson in 9th grade, I'd probably be playing in Dragonforce today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khs0Wl7Hvas

(not that I'd want to, mind you)

**Ryan Elliott** · 05-08-2010, 12:26 PM

I want to learn the guitar so I can play the second guitar solo from Comfortably Numb in a graveyard at dawn.

**Christian Beranek** · 05-08-2010, 12:33 PM

Cool thread!

My set up of choice is:

Gretsch Streamliner for rhythm
Fender Jaguar for crunch, leads
Vox AC-30 for the clean jangly sound
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier to get loud

For pedals I keep it really simple. I use BOSS for overdrive and delay. I also experiment with some harmonic generating and looping devices.

I've recorded about 60 songs and plan on going in to record more this year. Will let you know how it goes!

**Fygar** · 05-08-2010, 01:04 PM

My brother gave me an acoustic Alvarez for my 15th birthday, and I still play nearly everyday (27 now). I have had the same set of strings on it, and for some reason they still sound amazing. Everyone who picks up my guitar can't believe they're 12 years old, they think I'm bullshitting them. How a single string hasn't broken yet astounds me. It's going to be a sad day when I finally have to get a new set.

I'm not a very good guitarist at all. I reached a wall pretty quickly, but lately I've been watching Youtube videos and trying to improve. I've honestly been stagnant for a good ten years.

I'm a much better vocalist than I am a guitarist, and I've been trying to learn how to sing and play at the same time. It is so hard for me to grasp, but I'm finally making some progress. It takes a ton of practice, but it's a fun way to spend a few hours.

**Benel Germosen** · 05-08-2010, 02:48 PM

I bought a guitar from that guy.

Actually, my brother did, but he never got around to play it so when he moved he left me it.

It's a over-priced piece of shit. The strings break constantly and it always sounds out of tune, no matter how hard I tune it. It came with an amp which broke out of the box and no refunds allowed. The DVDs that come with the guitar are horrible.

But it's my crappy guitar and I love it.