Guitar Learnin...

[TexasComputerDude]

Hey yall,

I have been learning my guitar for about 4 months now. I'm "ok" lol but I am now looking for cool easy to intermediate folkish songs to play on the guitar. I've already learned a few tiny songs like Tennessee flat top box and la bamba.

right now, I'm fairly good at playing tabs and am TRYING to learn the notes, but its slow going.

Any recommendations? websites I should visit?

I guess you could say I am doing it to impress the chicks and need songs that impress chicks.

[KaiserB]

Try David Taub and NextLevelGuitar.com

It is worth $30 for a month or so of learning the basics and chord combos...

[TexasComputerDude]

checking it out.. nice looking site

[KaiserB]

What kind of Guitar do you have?

Also I noticed in Hillsboro this year they had a combined "Gun and Guitar" show. I was busy that weekend but it was probably pretty cool to go to a show where you could purchase a gun and/or a guitar.

[TexasComputerDude]

its a big piece of plastic with an ibanez sticker stuck to it haha.

no its a cheap starter electric guitar I bought from a music shop in nacogdoches.

It sounds pretty decent. I'm looking to buy a good new electric or acoustic, I'm not really sure yet but I have to get an AR-15 first. lol.


I bought a cheapo guitar because If it turned out I couldn't play I didn't want to spend much. I think I paid a grand total of 150$ for an amp, guitar, book, headphones and some other stuff. I have pretty fat fingers.

[fenster]

sweet! I'm a guitar newb as well. I was fortunate enough to have a co-worker willing to long-term lend me his old guitar. it's a Kramer electric.

I've gotten alot of help from these two sites:
http://justinguitar.com/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and
http://threechordguitar.com/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was just taking a little break from the guitar when I saw this thread. ...man.. that F-chord is giving me fits.

[TexasComputerDude]

lol I'm ok with the F, the C gives me hell. my fingers are fat and short. barely long enough to properly grip a glock 30.

I need to work on my speed.

[mr.72]

If you guys want serious guitar instruction advice, PM me.

[KD5NRH]

I have been learning my guitar for about 4 months now. I'm "ok" lol but I am now looking for cool easy to intermediate folkish songs to play on the guitar. I've already learned a few tiny songs like Tennessee flat top box and la bamba.

Search youtube for "Andy McKee" and/or "Rhett Butler" for inspiration.

In the meantime, see if you can find any of Cayouche's CDs for more appropriately intermediate stuff if you're learning by ear. His versions of a couple of folk songs are on my list of songs to work out if I ever get good enough to play by ear.

Also, Mike Herberts at http://www.6-string-videos.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; sometimes gives out freebie videos via email, and also sells single-song instructional videos of various skill levels for pretty reasonable prices. Browse the site for a while and you'll get a good idea of his teaching style.

[KD5NRH]

I bought a cheapo guitar because If it turned out I couldn't play I didn't want to spend much. I think I paid a grand total of 150$ for an amp, guitar, book, headphones and some other stuff. I have pretty fat fingers.

The electric might be a disadvantage for you then; the fretboard is narrower than most acoustics, and it's easier to accidentally damp the strings you're not trying to hit. Some of the acoustic/electrics like the Ovations are in between a typical strat-size and the wider board of, say, an Alvarez acoustic. Classical acoustics tend to be even wider, and can be a bit too much of a stretch for some people.

Of course, there is the issue of not being able to turn an acoustic down if you have to practice late at night or in an apartment with thin walls, but some of the acoustic/electrics with domed or fairly thin bodies have a lot less volume than the full size acoustics. The Martin Backpacker takes the small-bodied acoustic concept to extremes, but still sounds good, and it's a pretty good way for us poor folks to be able to afford something with the Martin name on it, besides being a lot less bulky than a full-size dreadnought body. (looks like most of the under $200 places are out of stock, but even with the $300 MSRP, you can usually get this guitar for $150-175 with a little shopping around.)

[jimlongley]

You could try here: http://www.singout.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But be 'ware of leftist leanings.

[The Annoyed Man]

its a big piece of plastic with an ibanez sticker stuck to it haha.

no its a cheap starter electric guitar I bought from a music shop in nacogdoches.

It sounds pretty decent. I'm looking to buy a good new electric or acoustic, I'm not really sure yet but I have to get an AR-15 first. lol.

I bought a cheapo guitar because If it turned out I couldn't play I didn't want to spend much. I think I paid a grand total of 150$ for an amp, guitar, book, headphones and some other stuff. I have pretty fat fingers.

Don't get me wrong... I really enjoy guns... but if faced with having to choose between a gun and a guitar, the guitar wins. I'm left handed. You don't see very many left handed guitars (at least good left handed guitars) just hanging on the racks. I've already got way more guns than I have guitars (including ARs).

On October 5th, I celebrated being a guitar player for 45 years now. For me, a gun is a tool, and like any tool, you really want the best tool for its particular application. But a guitar is an affair of the heart. It's a friend. You can go to the range and vent your frustrations, but a gun will never ease the blues, celebrate joy, or tell a woman you love her the way a guitar can.

TCD, I have fat fingers too. It's not really a problem if you work at it.

[mr.72]

I bought a cheapo guitar because If it turned out I couldn't play I didn't want to spend much. I think I paid a grand total of 150$ for an amp, guitar, book, headphones and some other stuff. I have pretty fat fingers.

The electric might be a disadvantage for you then; the fretboard is narrower than most acoustics, and it's easier to accidentally damp the strings you're not trying to hit.

The "standard" nut width for most electric and steel-string acoustic guitars is 1-11/16". This is true for most Dreadnaught acoustics like Martin style guitars and also for the Ibanez electric in question.

Some steel-string acoustics that are tailored more for fingerstyle tend to have 1-3/4" nut width, note this is just 1/16" inch wider than normal. This includes Seagull, many Taylors (maybe all of them? I don't know), and my Breedlove. Occasionally you can find a 1-7/8" wide nut available as a custom order on a steel string (like, on a Breedlove, you can order it this way).

Most NYLON string acoustics have 1-7/8" or wider nut width, many are 2".

There are very few electrics with a nut narrower than 1-11/16". Vintage-style strats and Teles may have 1-5/8" nut and most SGs are going to have 1-5/8" nut. Some SGs of a certain era have 1-1/2" nut (very narrow) and Daisy Rock guitars have narrower than 1-5/8" nut standard.

So, it is not true that acoustics have a wider neck. As a rule, most are the same as your Ibanez.

As a guitar teacher, I almost always unequivocally recommend an electric for a starter guitar because they are far more easy to play than acoustics in the same price category. A $150 Ibanez electric plays pretty well, but a $150 steel string acoustic is going to be a bear to play. You have to spend 10x that amount to get an acoustic that will play as well.

[The Annoyed Man]

What he said.

BTW, the nut on my Larrivée D-03 is 1-11/16", and it's a dreadnought body too.

[mr.72]

Yes and a L-body Larrivee would probably have a 1-3/4" nut, although I don't know if a L-03 or L-01 would have the wide nut. A L-09 would.

Some OM or 000 Martin-style guitars would probably also have a 1-3/4" nut.

But still, the difference between 1-11/16" and 1-3/4" is so small that it would take a guitarist very sensitive to neck geometry to really notice. Going from 1-5/8" to 1-3/4" is noticeable by most players. String spacing at the nut plays a big part. Some nuts have asymmetric spacing at the nut, such that the low strings are further apart than the higher strings. You can get a nut that is spaced like a typical 1-3/4" nut and put it on a 1-11/16" nut guitar and depending on how the ends of the frets are dressed, the difference in feel may be imperceptible. My Esprit has a 1-11/16" nut with wider string spacing, and square-ish shoulders on the frets (not a lot of bevel). My Breedlove has a 1-3/4" nut with more bevel on the frets and almost identical string spacing as the Esprit. The rest of the neck geometry is nearly identical on these two guitars (depth, shape of the back). You can switch between them and the feel is nearly identical even to the most sensitive players. That's just to say that neck width, nut width, is not all it's cracked up to be. There are a great number of geometry differences you can apply to a guitar that affect playability including string spacing, action height, neck relief, scale, fret shape, fret height, fret end finish, nut height, nut width, nut string spacing, neck set angle, back of the neck shape, the list goes on and on. Heck I can tell the difference between a mahogany neck and a maple neck even on a guitar with an opaque finish just because of the feel of the vibrations in the back of the neck.