I need some advice and tips from fellow crap guitar players

[synkrotron]

4 hours ago, Christian Jones said:

Hope you used a stud finder when mounting that wall bracket

It's on a brick wall

 

[synkrotron]

11 hours ago, Gswitz said:

Use one of Craig Anderton's guitar cables with leds.

Thanks, Geoff, I will have a look at that

 

[Wibbles]

7 hours ago, synkrotron said:

This is my little guitar collection:-

 

What about your collection of big guitars?

[synkrotron]

18 minutes ago, Wibbles said:

What about your collection of big guitars?

I had to sell them to fund my Eurocrack addiction.

[Michael Vogel]

I used to spend a lot of time “faffing” around trying to record the guitar, always some issue, Too hot an input, too weak a signal, forgot to set the track up right, not the tone I want ; you name it. Just one wrong thing after another. 

Then, I spent my time on actually getting the part right; the notes, chords, timing and above all the arrangement. Once I had that down, especially the arrangement ie knowing what I wanted to play then and only then did I start getting better results with my recordings. 
Kind of seems logical when you say it. All the best. 
 

Of course you can just record everything in the hope that by some magic the perfect piece of music will pour out of your hands but it’s not likely if you’re a crap guitarist and want to be a better guitarist. I used to end up with lots of recordings of a crap guitarist. Seemed pointless. 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Michael Vogel
Added stuff

[57Gregy]

A bit of advice my brother Mike gave me about 48 years ago which has helped me to not obsess over minor (or major) things:
"Just play the damn thing!".

[Tezza]

I found playing in bands accelerated my guitar ability, my first band when I was about 14, was a punk band. If you turned up to band practice and hadn't learned the songs or couldn't play them properly, you were bashed. Although it was done half in jest, you always came away with some sort of injury.  In the melee someone would give you a nice hard punch in the ribs. The crew would pile on as well.

Then, when you get a residency, the pressure is on to come up with new and more challenging material every week so as to not bore your regulars. Playing in different bands, learning different styles all helps. I was once drafted into a Greek band, playing Greek music for a few gigs to stand in for their regular guitarist. This happened because I had a Greek guitarist mate and we went to the Greek festival and I foolishly chastised Greek music. He turned up to my place after with a bunch of his Greek mates and  bunch of Greek songs and scales and I had to sit there and learn them under pressure. It was my "punishment" for demeaning Greek music. The whole thing was very serious. Then, they later turned up to my place, there were 10 of them and only half of them could speak English. They informed me that I was required to stand in for their guitarist and I didn't feel that refusal was an option. Man, that was hard pressure, I had to unlearn what I knew and learn completely different stuff.

[synkrotron]

what is bugging me now is this,

other open strings ringing when I don't want them to.

sometimes it doesn't sound so bad if the open string that is ringing is at least in key...

 

I try to remember to mute strings adjacent to the one I am playing but that appears to be a skill in itself

 

my calluses are coming along nicely, though.

[craigb]

40 minutes ago, synkrotron said:

I try to remember to mute strings adjacent to the one I am playing but that appears to be a skill in itself

Indeed it is!

[synkrotron]

no tips then, @craigb?

 

[bayoubill]

how can I tell if I have a left handed pick or a right handed pick?

[John Bradley]

2 hours ago, synkrotron said:

what is bugging me now is this,

other open strings ringing when I don't want them to.

sometimes it doesn't sound so bad if the open string that is ringing is at least in key...

The trick to great tone (and out of necessity, great control) is to play with the amp set to the 'sweet spot' (where it stops getting louder, and just gets dirtier and more compressed, and not in a good way). This is almost certainly going to be louder than you'd want to be hearing; play with a very light touch.  Gives you an opportunity to work on dynamics, dig in for more crunch on certain notes, etc. When the beast is constantly on the edge of feeding back or running away from you, you learn quickly to mute everything that you don't want sounding. You don't even need to think about it, as self-preservation is a powerful motivator.

Play at lower (amp) volumes and having the guitar fully under control becomes less of an issue, as it's not going to start feeding back etc.

Also, when playing at quieter (amp) volumes, you're not going to learrn dynamic control nearly as much. The tendancy is to just bash the thing as hard as you want at all times. Can't do that when the amp is threatening to kill you with sound pressure.

[John Bradley]

Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) has awesome tone, and he plays .007 - .038 strings. Obviously, he has a very light touch.

[synkrotron]

thanks for your input, @John Bradley, but I don't play through and amp...

I have an amp, but it is not practical for me to mic it up... I should sell it really........

sorry ?

 

[John Bradley]

Same thing somewhat applies (minus the feedback issues) when playing through headphones.

Put the guitar louder than you'd want in the phones and then play with a lighter touch. You'll get more careful about unwanted strings sounding, as you're more likely to hear them while you're playing, rather than noticing them after the fact when you listen to the most recent take.

Maybe. It's worth a shot, at any rate. 

[synkrotron]

Thanks again, John, I will certainly try that ?

[mettelus]

Where are you playing on the fretboard? If near the nut, touching strings with even the same finger fretting an adjacent string will effectively mute it (you will find harmonics as you go). Higher on the fretboard you can "cheat" by lightly wrapping a sock between the nut and first fret. It can save on distractions, but you want to learn muting techniques as you go too.

I actually dropped a string guage a few years ago because I literally could not mute certain chords without pulling harmonics. The tighter a string is (and pickup sensitivity), the less tolerant it is for unintentional touching.

[craigb]

6 hours ago, synkrotron said:

no tips then, @craigb?

 

Sorry, we're having a coin shortage you know. ?

I didn't realize you were fishing for techniques, I thought you were simply commenting on the difficulties and learning required.  It IS weird to fret the notes on the strings you want correctly while barely touching the other strings to keep them quiet.

[synkrotron]

well it's not coming natural to me @craigb ?

This isn't something new... just something that raises its head when I pay more attention to the recording.

distortion effects make the issue stand out even more

[Øyvind Skald]

Even good guitarists have to mix lots of tracks takes, use tonns of Melodyne and such when writing songs in the studio. And they have to sit down and learn how to play it live later. So don't feel bad about that. Difference of good guitarists and us is that they manage to learn it fast. I might never.... ?

Edited August 12, 2020 by Øyvind Skald