[Sleep Walk]

I was 1 year old, so I was probably laying around the house.

[How to plug in]

7 hours ago, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

Why would you turn up your guitar volume all the way up and then adjust your amp volume and tone.

You have no where to go on the guitar except down

Turn your guitar volume and tone to 5.

Then adjust the amp volume and tone. 

Now you have somewhere to go with the guitar controls 

I use this same argument with my guitar instructor.  She insists the volume should be all the way up on the guitar. I personally am with you on this issue.

[I'm Torn ...]

I have a Mesa Engineering Express+ 5:25 amp. Currently the clean channel is not working. I am waiting to order a pair of EL84 power tubes to see if that fixes the problem. There in lies the problem. "Waiting" to order tubes. If the tubes don't fix the problem it will have to go into the shop for repairs. I will be without an amp until it comes back. I am currently looking to purchase a backup amp so this doesn't happen again. I have narrowed down my choices to two amps, a Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury Edition or a Marshall Origin 20W.

Any thoughts, comments, preferences ...

[Em and A shape barre chords.]

I have also found that if I pull my elbow in toward my body, I have more leverage and don't have to press as hard with my thumb.

[Session 7 - Barre Chords on the 6th String]

19 hours ago, Randy Breeding said:

I’m just wondering if anyone else has had the same frustration I have with session 7 so far. I just cannot consistently get the barre chords to ring clearly. I’ve just been trying to get my index finger down let alone adding in the other fingers. I’ve been at it for 2-3 weeks and I know it takes time, but this is by far the most frustrating thing I’ve dealt with in learning guitar. I only want to play for my own enjoyment not for performance or anything close. At this point I’m considering three options, quitting altogether, moving on without mastering barre chords or dumping all my guitars in the lake! 😡

 

I would also suggest learning the notes of the barre chord. In a lot of cases you can get away with just playing 3 or 4 strings (root-3-5-7) of the barre chord and still get the voicing that you want.

[How Many Guitars Do You "Need" ?]

I was always taught the rule of thumb is ... just one more.

[Theory Trivia]

The Dominant Key is the fifth of the parent key, for C it would be G.

[Determing a key from key signature]

Flats are applied in a certain order, BEADGCF. If you look at it the same as the note names, they're circular and keep repeating (BEADGCFBEA...). Therefore in the key of F, the next to last flat is B.

[Over the hills .....]

Had to Cry Today by Blind Faith is a good one too

[Choke Bend]

I always thought that a straight vertical line above a note indicated a pre-bend. It could be a pre-bend to the grace note, then bent further to the held note. Kind of like what David Gilmour frequently does.

[I need to learn the technique of tuning by ear.]

Now days I use a Polytune tuner.

I'll tune the open string and the harmonic at the 12th fret. The harmonic seems to be a bit more accurate. Plus if the open string and the 12th fret harmonic are both in tune, the intonation is set properly.

[I need to learn the technique of tuning by ear.]

I have a tuning fork, tuned to A 440, that I bought in the 1970s . 

From there I can tune all the other strings.

I'm an old fart, I know.

[Guitar Right hand technique help.]

Try extending your pinky and ring finger to rest on the body rather than the knuckles of your right hand. That should help to flatten out your wrist.

[Newly Discovered Guitar Music to Share]

16 hours ago, joelhunnicutt said:

I see to listen to a Robert Cray back in the 80s. Since I started the blues course, I’ve rediscovered him and can get enough.  “Strong Persuader” is a really special album

There is an awesome cd of Johnny Copeland, Robert Cray, and Albert Collins together called Showdown.

[Are you getting a lot of playing in while socially distanced?]

Back in late October I had a flare that my doctor diagnosed as Ankylosing Spondylitis, a type of rheumatoid arthritis that attacks the spine and peripheral joints. I could not get out of bed for a month. My left wrist was so swollen and painful I was unable to play at all. Slowly, with medication, the swelling is coming down and there is less pain. I am finally able to play my guitars again. I need to rebuild my fingers from the ground up. They are uncooperative and they hurt, but I'm starting to retrain them. I am only able to play for a short while before the pain makes me stop for the day. With time and perseverance I will beat this and be able to play again. It will just take time. Baby steps.

[GUITAR CHORD & FINGER PRESSURE]

When we all start, I think we hold the neck of the guitar in a death grip. With time and practice we develop the muscle memory for our fingers to go where we want them to and learn that the amount of pressure needed to get good tone is far less than that.

[Locking Tuners Question]

My Line 6 is HSS, so I can get  those profiles from that guitar. I also have a PRS CE-24 so I can get the humbucker sounds, plus I can split the coils.

It is so easy to dial in Carlos Santana with the CE-24 and the Mesa Express amp.

[Locking Tuners Question]

40 minutes ago, dan0725 said:

Nice looking guitar. Mine has the HSS Texas pickups. I swapped out the black pick guard for a white one. 

Nice axe, Dan.

[Locking Tuners Question]

3 hours ago, dan0725 said:

Is your Strat Special the one that has the HSS configuration? If it is, that's the one I have. 

Mine has Texas Special single coil pickups, Greasebucket tone circuit.

In Ice Blue, it also has the extra large Strat headstock.

[Locking Tuners Question]

I purchased my Fender Strat American Special without locking tuners. My first step was to replace them with locking tuners. All of my electric guitars have locking tuners. 

Pros: Locking tuners make it easier/faster to change strings.
           Tuning stability is great. (the Strat had problems holding tune on a couple strings)

Cons: To this point I haven't found any.

[Slash marks on note stem]

5 hours ago, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

Would have never thought that, usually see a wavey line indicating that. 

Then again that's probably a guitar thing , "classical " types notate everything 

What Diane is talking about is Tremolo Picking, where you strike the string quickly with the pick. Instead of Tremolo where you strike the string once and then bend it. 

[Session 5 - Basic Open Chords]

My guitar instructor says "This is Rock 'n Roll, if you get all the strings to ring clear ... that's a bonus."

[Play Guitar Podcast]

I've been listening to this podcast since the beginning. It's a great podcast.

Another on that I listen to is not a guitar podcast, but it does give a lot of great information on improv, practice, theory, ideas, motivation. It's very short twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. It's called The 10 Minute Jazz Lesson.

[The Odds of Missing a Note]

The number is inversely proportional to the number of listeners.

[Newly Discovered Guitar Music to Share]

I've been listening to Eric McFadden lately.