John Wells

This is the greatest song ever played on a uke. I always cry a little when I hear the late great Iz play it. Enjoy. Lotsa luck'

Great review, especially your thoughts. Surprised to hear you speak of the flaws (fit and finish) on expensive Telecasters, but you didn't say whether they were Fenders. Like you, I changed out the bridge on my Tele in order to get the better saddles and to get better intonation. Thanks for posting. Lotsa luck.

I've been a member there since October of 2013, and I can understand why someone would want to revisit the old L&MG Forum. There were many threads of discussions in which I and many others learned a lot about music theory, and Steve joined in with our early music majors in sharing their expertise. Also there are some other threads that had many wonderful inputs from fellow students we used to communicate with. Like our past, it's a good place to visit. Fortunately, I remain logged in on a permanent basis, but no longer contribute there after this new forum came on line. Lotsa luck.

I have four items I’ve considered essential in my learning experience, and three of them are fairly expensive. The first is Hal leonard’s Your First Fake Book, over 100 songs in the key of C. It’s $20, and here’s why I think it’s necessary. Steve’s L&MG Course is legally prohibited from including modern songs, so we’re limited by his selection from what’s in the public domain. This fake book widens our scope and lets us have more fun than if we stick to Steve’s songs. They’re simple and worthwhile, and I think are inline with what Steve would include if he could. The other three items are essential to me, maybe not to others, but recall that on January 10, I’ll be 87 and not as agile as I once was. I have a Manhasset Symphony music stand - $50 with clip-on Manhasset light - $25. The other is my Soundseat with foot ring. They’re currently $350. I’ve had mine since the founder started making them, and he’s passed for several years now. If my mini-brain’s math is correct, that’s $445 plus s/h. That’s lotsa coin, but to me they’re essential. Lotsa luck.

This is the Steve Krenz School of Music, not John Wells’s, but to answer your question, it comes in time. We really don’t sit down and memorize them. If it were so, Steve would have us do it. Trust him. He's taught thousands of our fellow students to play the guitar. In the early lessons we’re dealing with the Key of C and the Chromatic Scale. Later we learn the other keys and their scales, and as we practice, our mini-brains absorb the knowledge our fingers and ears are teaching them. However, there’s a drill you can do if you want to speed the process. Memorize the frets on the fingerboard. Play them back and forth from the Low E string to the high E and back again, LISTENING to the tones as you pluck them and saying them out loud. It goes like this for Position One (first five frets): Open: E – A – D – G – B – E F 1: F – A# - D# - G# - C – F F 2: F# - B – E – A – C# - F# F 3: G – C – F – A# - D – G F 4: G# - C# - F# - B - D# - G# F 5: A - D – G – C - E - A Play them backwards and forward. Several things you’ll find later are that Frets are usually numbered in Roman numerals, and that the sharps (#) and flats (b) for adjacent notes sound the same and occupy the same fret, but don’t worry now. One thing more: The three P’s are Practice, Patience, and Perseverance! If your fingertips get sore, wipe them with rubbing alcohol, which will ease the soreness and hasten the development of calluses. In time the calluses will fall away and your fingertips will become inured. Lotsa luck.

They're both modeling amps, which seems to be what you want. The VOX at $180 vs the Mustang at $250 seems the most economical if coin is a concern. They both have great reviews. Lotsa luck.

I've had my Taylor 712-CE--ebony fingerboard--for over twelve years and have never used oil or conditioner on it. Looks good and plays good. I do dust it once a year. Lotsa luck.

I cannot imagine Taylor Customer Service making such a rash statement. I have a 712-CE that's at least twelve years old and I've never had to have any work done on it, and I change my own strings. The intonation was perfect when I bought it and remains so to this day. It's opened up nicely through the years. The only setup that might be needed would be to change string gauges, and I don't anticipate that. If ever I think it needs work, I'll ship it back to Taylor and have them do it at the factory. And I have a 700 series. If I had an 800 series, I'd certainly send it back for luthier work. Being a Taylor distributor doesn't say beans about their luthier. Just had one thought, if I lived close to Nashville, I might take it to Gruhn Guitars. But I don't. Lotsa luck.

Glad you like your Fender Princeton. Great amp. I have a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia tube amp head--18 watts--and use an 8" Weber speaker. Never turn the volume up beyond halfway. Small wattage tube amps are plenty loud for small venues, like coffee houses.

We have youngsters online and have to set good examples in both language and content. Steve is being overly generous in explaining why foul language is forbidden, and I've seen enough postings to know we're all ladies and gentlemen. I am a sailor and there are times to talk like one and times not to. This venue is one of the not-tos. Lotsa luck.

You'll grow to love the Tele twang. I love mine, which I play through a Dr. Z Carman Ghia head and an 8 inch Weber (made by the old man, not the son). Lotsa luck.

Actuallly it began as five strings tuned ADGBE. Here's Fender's article on how it came to be. Lotsa luck. https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-talk/standard-tuning-how-eadgbe-came-to-be

The latest issue of Wood and Steel, Taylor Guitar's quarterly magazine just came out, and there are three great articles in it. The first is "Fake Your Way Through Slide Guitar," which gives the basics for playing with a slide (Taylor is now selling one made of ebony scraps), the next article is "Anatomy of a Song," which is the first of a three part series in songwriting, and the third is "Teaching the World to Play," by Marty Schwartz an instructor who makes YouTube videos supplementing what we learn from Steve. (No, it's not the same thing). If you have a Taylor and registered it, you get the mag, but if you don't then I haven't the slightest idea. But you might Google the subjects. Lotsa luck.

Hi Karl, I have absolutely no idea. I changed the bridge on my telecaster, and to set the saddle height, I took it to a luthier for intonation. Lotsa luck.

Hi, Karl. What you're asking is whether you want high action or low action. Here's the explanation as I understand it--but I'm not a luthier. Anyhow, here goes: For a true flat-top guitar, the height of the bridge and saddle is the thickness of the fretboard plus the height of the frets plus the additional height of the desired action--either high or low. Because I'm a beginner, I want my action as low as possible, without hearing any fret-buzz. There are advantages to both high and low action—but it’s possible to have an action too high or too low. Too high, it’s difficult to press the strings hard enough to fret them properly. Too low, I would get "buzz" and the guitar wouldn't sound the intended note.My Taylor 712-ce came from the factory with the action set at 1/8" inch (distance between bottom of the strings above the top of the fret--measured at the twelfth fret, which is where I measure the action instead of the saddle.) Hope this helps. If you want to change the action, the usual way is to adjust the neck truss rod--tighten to lower the action, loosen to raise it. I haven't done it, but if I wanted to, I'd take it to a luthier. Lotsa luck.

I suppose it’s a good plan. Trying to look back—I’m 86—there were only three things I concentrated on: One was learning to play the notes so my eyes (vision), ears (hearing) and fingers (fretting and picking or strumming) were all co-ordinating with my mini-brain. The second was paying rapt attention to my fretting mechanics—wrist straight, elbow close to my side, my thumb on the crown of the neck opposite my second knuckle, my forefingers approaching the fret board at precisely the perpendicular, and fretting just behind the fret wire. The final thing was that damned metronome, which is a monster that plagues me in my sleep to this day. Keep playing. Lotsa luck.

I can give you an explanation from which you gain understanding, but neither I—nor anyone else—can give you motive, dedication, drive, action! The explanation is—assuming you are practicing—that you are learning. It may not be at the pace you want, and there’s a false belief that the more you practice, the faster you learn. Oh, were life like that! Learning is not linear activity. Stop and think about what you’re REALLY trying to accomplish. You’re training your ears, your hands, your eyes, and your mind to work together as a single synergistic (Look it up if you don’t know what it means) ability. This doesn’t happen overnight. Example: One of the greatest Hollywood dancers was Eleanor Powell. She began ballet as a child, didn’t start tap dancing until she was twenty, worked out daily for years, and became during her lifetime the most marvelous talent in the nation. Look up on Youtube her dance scene with the drummer Buddy Rich. So stop and think about what you’re doing. Progress comes in dribs and drabs—but it comes. It may be painfully slow to your ego, but don’t give up. Keep keeping on! We’ll admire you for it. Lotsa luck.

Love the "wood fiber sound chamber for deep tone" description, and all six strings seem to be either .010 or .014 inch inch steel strings "for longer-lasting dependability." Don't recognize the chord the kid's fretting, but maybe the included instructions will explain. Lotsa luck.

Good post, Six String. Lotsa luck.

It’s not unusual to develop “guitar fatigue.” The first rush of excitement wears off and we lose our initial enthusiasm. We’ve learned the basics, can read music, and play songs well enough for them to be recognizable. It’s not that learning is complete, it’s just that we’ve begun learning in smaller amounts. In other words, we’ve scaled the first several plateaus and seem at a standstill. It’s decision time for us. Shall we continue on and become experts or just grab our box now and again and play for fun? Each of us must decide for ourselves. That’s the way it is. Lotsa luck.

Just checking, but if you have a hi-fi receiver, you can take the output from your POD6 and route it through the auxiliary input of your receiver. I have a PreSonus AudioBox for my computer sound card and connect it to my Pioneer stereo receiver, which has a pair of Bose bookshelf speakers, and it works nicely. I play my tele through the AudioBox when I feel like I don't want to light off the amp. Just a thought. Lotsa luck.

Wonderful. You're doing fine. But the red shoes have to go. Lotsa luck.

Mike, I have a Taylor 712-ce, the next size down. It must be ten years now. They open up very nicely. In the next few years you'll hear the difference. That's Rosewood, you know. Enjoy. Lotsa luck.

Danny, if you're the sound engineer for your group, use a compressor in the sound system and turn the level up to clip the overly loud volume. A compressor will also facilitate the singer and let her voice be heard along with the guitarists. If you're not familiar with compressors or don't have one, there's a good youtube video called compressors 101. The amp battlers must be immature jackals. Lotsa luck.

As you suggested, it's experience. Suggest that you try listening rather than counting the rhythm. Even with a trio of jammers, somebody sets the beat. The beat's the thing. "It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing". Lotsa luck.