Leaderboard

Thanks, @matonanjin, @Dave White, @Simira, @K9kaos, @NeilES335 and @Eracer_Team-DougH! @K9kaos, I did not really master Canon in D after finishing Session 10 of the main course and realized that Session 10 was just a first introduction to fingerstyle. I decided to "drop the pick" in December last year and have played only fingerstyle in the past 6 months. Steve's fingerstyle course is great and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn this style. @NeilES335, I agree on the string noise. I borrowed a not-so-good nylon string for this Session on classical guitar and recorded Canon in D with it. So the string noise is coming from the 3 wound strings. It's due to my very dry hands and calluses, playing technique, and the clip on microphone. Avoiding string noise remains a real challenge to me. The tempo should be fine. I played it at the suggested 105 bpm. @Eracer_Team-DougH, I appreciate your comments, there is no reason to doubt that. You are the one playing guitar for a big audience in church and I have nothing but respect for that 👍. Wim.

And conversely, Billy Gibbons and Tony Iommi are known for very light gauge strings and no one says they have thin tone which is why I feel its a good experiment for players to explore for themselves. They may find the prefer the SRV heavy is better path but they may find enlightenment on the Billy Gibbons path On set ups, the changes to mine have been relatively minor (surprising even to me). As you note, you most likely will need to adjust for some string buzz with a touch higher bridge, but you will also learn to attack the strings lighter and you're muting will improve. I also needed to adjust the neck relief on one guitar, but not the other (at least not yet). I continue to tweak on the set up as I adjust to the new feel and the guitars settle in to the new tensions. The ability to experiment like this is another reason I've always advocated people need to learn to do their own basic set ups. You don't have to go pay a good luthier for a set up and you rarely find a good luthier (or even guitar tech) at your local Guitar Center. IMHO, the biggest change going to a much lighter gauge string will be to how you approach the guitar Both right and left had technique will have to be adjusted. I'm still getting used to it but feel its forcing me to develop much more finesse and my bends and vibrato are improved greatly over my playing with 10's. That said, I'm mainly a rhythm player though and even there those all barre chord songs are way less fatiguing. You do have to learn to lighten your touch though or you pull everything sharp. For me, this change has been the most inspirational change I've made since going to a digital modeling rig.

@pkotof Be aware that very light strings may require a neck or bridge adjustment. Light strings vibrate more and could could cause a fret buzz if the string height (action) is already low. The debate rages on on string gauge... players like Stevie Ray Vaughan who were renown for huge string bends, played very heavy guage strings (13-52 i believe) on his strat because he claimed the tone was so much better. Like a lot of things... just a matter of preferrence, really.

Hello All, I hope you are keeping as well as you can, if you are on lockdown at home or have any free time please join in with our May Recording Challenge. 🤩🙃😲Emotions😭😎🤣 This Months Recording Challenge was chosen by gotto he said "I think “Emotions “ is a pretty broad theme for musical play. Love, sadness, hope, happiness, loneliness, passion, fears,stress, joy. " Or any others Participants and other listeners are invited to give some supportive and constructive feedback on the submissions because that is how we learn and grow. 🎸Here is how the Challenge works. The challenge is to record a song which fits the subject (although you are free to post any song even if it does not fit the subject). The names of people who post a song that fits the Challenge subject are put into "Random Picker" and the person which the picker chooses will be contacted by me and asked if they would like to pick the topic for the next Challenge. It is not about being the best it is about joining in and getting your playing heard. Entries 1, Wim VD1 playing "Malagueña" 2. Skip Russel playing "Ashokan Farewell) 3. Ron Service playing "Have I Told You Lately" 4. Nutty1 playing "Out of Reach" 5. ak0693 playing "Autumn Rain" Please see ak0693 post on page 2 as it is a link to download the track. 6. NeilES335 playing "Black Orpheus" 7. gotto playing "If it Makes You Happy" 8. rockinrickard playing his own original song https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wAgdKldoZoXoEIXuigymdfd-OTRTubwy/view

Skip, are we talking acoustic or electric? Recording acoustic guitars some form of microphone and recorder is required, whether a smartphone, handheld (portable) recorder or a microphone, digital audio interface and a computer. The quality of the sound will depend on the sound of the guitar, the room, the quality of the mic and the recording process. Electro-acoustic guitars give the possibility of capturing the acoustic sound, the electric sound or a blend of the two. Recprding electric guitars can be done either by putting a mic in front of the speaker or by plgging in direct, bypassing amp and speaker. The photo above shows me 8 years ago. Spot the acoustic traps to dampen the unwanted reverb in the room that gives recordings a boxy sound. I use two mics, one to capture the crisper sound from the neck and the other the warmer sound emanating from the body. We are blessed with quite a few on the forum with plenty of experience of recording so you should be able to gauge what might be the right path for you to follow from the many different experiences and suggestions. In the meantime, perhaps you could tell us a bit more about your current guitar, room, how you record and describe what it is that you feel you are struggling with.

That's good to know, Six String. I bought a set of eights after watching Rick Beato's string diameter comparison. I plan to string them onto my Squire Mod '59. Lots of work and being too tired to even practice many days has delayed the string experiment here. I'll report back on the results. Rock On!

Haven't tried on an electric yet but I went from 10's to 8's on my Les Pauls. I tried 9's and 8's and after some initial adjustments decided I liked the 8's better. I first tried Earnie Ball Extra Slinky's then got a few sets of Billy Gibbons Mexican Lottery brand from Dunlop and think they are my new strings. I do figure the lighter strings may need more frequent changes but as you said I don't think you give up tone.

My submission is "Out of Reach" from the movie "Bridget Jones's Diary" by Gabrielle and Peter Shorten