i bought a guitar

“new. with arch lid hardshell case.

http://johnsongtr.themusiclink.net/Carolina_Series_II.1019.0.html”

“Cool. Looks very nice.”

“Wicked cool!!

Tune up or die!!!”

“now for some finger callus's.........”

“I thought you were a Banjo man? Nice gee-tar though!”

“Someone gave me a geetar about a month ago, but I just bought the book "Guitar Playing for Dummies." It's a little complex for me, maybe there's one somewhere titled "Guitar Playing for Real Dummies". It's all about getting through the winter.”

“(slow shuffle)
They call him Nimblefoot y'all
He got them North Country blues
The winter sho' is tough in Wisconsin
When a po' boy ain't got no shoes
last edited: 3/01/06 1:10:00 PM”

“i already have the callouses from playing the banjo.

i want to learn a guitar too.”

“That's a real chart topper, mARKo. I was reading a business magazine yesterday and came across a company called Optek that manufactures a guitar eiyh lights on the frets that, when coordinated with the accompanying CD, "flash" to teach you how to play the cords. It also allows you to slow the music on the CD up to 1/10th of the beat (?) so you can play along well before you develp any real speed. I guess that's the one for real dummies.”

“Get an electronic tuner, Foot.

They can be had for $20 or less.”

“I'm not going to buy that guitar, just thought it was interesting. I have an electronic tuner, one of my first purchases. Did you know it really is possible to screw up even with one?”

“Yeah, anything can and will happen.”

“bring it this weekend!”

“you carryin' it?”

“not on the trail, just to mather!

:-D”

“nice guitar there Baume!”

“After I pay for my daughters braces,prom dress,car insurance and some new backpacking gear I'm gonna get me a new Guitfiddle... oh still have to pay my taxes!”

“Hey Esteban!”

“da da da da da da da da daaaaa...

I challenge you to a duel!”

“Bought myself this new guitar in January.

http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/guitar.asp?model=GA6CE

Nice wide classical-style neck/fretboard, nylon strings (I like the muted sound of nylon versus the 'twang' of steels), and the internal pick-up allows me to plug in when I need a little more volume to piss off the neighbors.”

“i decided this weekened i'm gonna buy a guitar. i know they have strings, a hole, and lines called frets.

but i live in the country and have horses so really, i figure i'm half way there already.
plus i do know some music theory.

i'm so gonna rock.”

“Nice!

You can play and sing for the horses and doggies.”

“... a great investment sacco.

When I bought mine I said, "I'll buy a nicer guitar now and pay more so I won't be unhappy with it and have to buy another one later."

That made sense at the time.

Turns out that once I had the nice guitar I really loved that I just kept buying guitar after guitar: After the dread 6-string I had to have an electric, then an archtop electric, then a 12-string, then one for use around the campfire (can't take my good guiter there!), then a bass... yada, yada, yada

So in the end I decided it didn't matter. Turns out that for me music wasn't as much what I played as it was how I felt when I played it.

Enjoy!
last edited: 4/17/06 7:17:14 AM”

“I bought me a Washburn last week!”

“got my guitar last night. i can do G, D, and C. well, sort of anyway.
it's tough to only touch the right strings. i wish they made the strings further apart or something.

how come no one told me it burns your fingers so bad!?!”

“Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Get yerself some Dexadrine......accept no substitute!!

got a tuner?”

“yep. what's dexadine?”

“Is Sacco starting a garage band?”

“correction, it's a barn band.”

“I had a few fiends in high school that started one of those. They were so bad that the church next door moved around the corner, literally. A crane came one day and picked the church up and placed it on a truck.”

“Now that is hilarious, lumberzac!!”

“Ha! hope it was a little church”

“Dexadrine, Benzadrine or any kinda amphetamine and you can play that sucker for hours and feel no pain!!!

You'll be lookin' like Keith Richards in no time.”

“ya that's what i want-
to look like keith richards...”

“Hint:

"got my first real six string
at the five and dime
played it till my fingers bled
it was the summer of 69...."

I dont know why they call it being "impaired" I do everything better when I have "freed my mind" a little. LOL! JK ;-)”

“hell, i thought that was hyperbole”

“Hyperbole??

I never tried that #&%!$, maaaaaan!

Is it any good............maaaaaaan?”

“sure is. it's like the absolute best thing in the entire universe. million times better than anything else”

“Can I get some hyperbole on Trail Talk?”

“Sacco:

Go to your local guitar shop and see if they have Fast Fret, which you apply to the strings (I'm assuming they are "steel" strings). It is one of several lubricants that reduce friction for the fretting fingers, and it also helps clean the strings of oxidizing skin oils -- oxidation doesn't help the friction either.

The only full cure for burning fingers is regular playing, which builds up callouses on the finger tips. Don't play until your fingers bleed. Just play a little longer each day and you will soon see the fingertips get tougher.

Another issue is the gauge of the strings and the tension level. String gauges are usually spoken of based on the smallest string in the set, the high E, and range from super light 9's (usually found on electrics) up to 14's and higher, which might be found on a resonator guitar with a high-tension open tuning for bottle neck slide, for example. Lighter gauge strings are easier to fret, but are also somewhat more fragile (especially the higher unwound strings)-- in other words, play light strings hard and they are more likely to break. If your bridge is adjustable, check to see if you can lower the action so fretting doesn't take as much pressure. If you get buzzing on the frets, you've lowered it too far.

My first guitar was a Harmony archtop. The action, even at it's lowest, was pretty high, and the tension made fretting hard. I was so happy when I got my Gibson flattop acoustic several years later. Right now I'm playing my Martin dreadnought acoustic a lot, with a phosphor bronze 12-gauge string set, which is factory standard and pretty good all around. My electric, a Fender Telecaster, is strung with nickle 10s, which are pretty slinky by comparison, especially on the narrower and slicker maple fretboard.

Depending on the size (width and length) of your fingers, you will find different guitars with different fretboard widths and radiuses to more or less troublesome for fingering. When I switch from acoustic to electric and vice versa, I have to retrain my fingers a bit to the different spacing of the strings. Along with finding the sound you want in a guitar, I think that is probably one of the reasons guitarists get attached to a specific model or make of guitar -- how their fingers fit the string/fret combination. Different for each guitarist. Some like a narrow fretboard, some like a wide one. We won't even get into the neck profile in cross-section. But MarkO has made some guitars and probably can tell you even more.
last edited: 4/20/06 2:29:38 PM”

“Sacco, don't be a wuss. Play through the pain. I'm still worthless on my guitar, but my fingers are so calloused that there is no longer any tactile thrill when picking my (nose).”

“your fingers will quit hurting in a few days.”

“Funny posts, but Pekka is correct. Eventually you'll build up calluses on your fingertips and it will help. You still won't be able to play for long extended periods, but it will help.

Enjoy! I have lots of basses and a couple guitars.”

“I read once that Clapton dips the ends of his fingers in alcohol everyday. The alcohol dries out your skin and gives you stronger callouses...plus it will help you get those callouses faster. I also found that when I was first learning guitar that Elixir strings helped the best...they're already coated so no black stains like from fast-fret and you don't have to recoat them after you play...they stay slick and last a long long time. My fingers are pretty fat and my fret thin...so at first I had a lot of trouble with my fingers...they'd mute one string or two, etc. But after some practice you'll learn where to position your finger and no more muting/buzzing. At first most of the emphasis is on the left hand forming chords...but eventually all emphasis will be on the right hand, strumming patterns, keeping rhythm, and picking. If I was learning over again...I'd learn as many songs as I could in G, C, D, and Em since you can keep your ring finger in the same spot if you play Gadd9, Cadd9, Em7, and D (and Dsus)...and instead of trying to learn switching chords, learn strumming as that makes the biggest difference and is hardest to learn. Practice 15-30 mins a day every day and you'll be good in a year and don't give up on barre chords...they took me six months to master, no joke. It was disappointing but now it's awesome. Taylor/Blueridge for life yo!!!”

“i know Emin and Amin now, for a total of 5 chords. i get buzzed/muted strings about 50% of the time (little worse with C, little better with Em)

i figure 5 chords is good for a start, my goal now is to get much faster at switching (takes me a few seconds still) so i can start playing a song or two and then get better at strumming.

that's my plan anyhow. thanks for the tips ev'body.

i'm soooo gonna rock.”

“http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/getsome.org/guitar/olga/chordpro/o/Roy.Orbinson/PrettyWomen.chopro

Here's a bit of homework for ya.”

“i gotta get my action turned down some i think. my strings are pretty far from the board. it's really hard for me to hold down high E with my pinky.

so how much should it cost for a guy in a shop to take care of this?”

“You can sand down the bridge saddle.
The saddle should be a piece of plastic(likely) or bone.
With a peice of sand paper laid out flat carefully level sand the bottom(non-curved) edge until you remove about 1/16 or more.
It can be tedious and slow and bone material is stinky when sanded.

Give the truss rod adjustment a 1/4 turn at a time to a half turn.....righty tighty!!
The results of tightening the truss rod might not be evident until the next day.
That should flatten the fretboard(pull back against the string pull) and lower the string height.

Those are the only options and just what a guitar tech would do.”

“you tellin me i should do it myself?”