Guitar & Bass Players / Any band members?

Geico266

Geico266

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
19,136
Location
Husker Nation, NE
Display Name
Display name:
Geico
I had three years of guitar lessons in the 60's. Learn how to read music and play the 6 or so basic cords, but that is about it. Joined the Navy at 17, 45 years latter I decided to take it up again. :eek:

The internet is AMAZING! Every song you ever wanted to play is on You Tube. My fingers are crazy sore, but getting tougher after a month of 2 hours a day. Rhythm and technique is returning and its fun to play old songs I learned 45 years ago, and new ones. Hotel California, Let it Be, House of the Rising Sun, Horse with no name, Ramblin man.

Currently, my wife picked up a basic Yamaha acoustic and a capo. for $100. Im having a blast, but looking towards the next purchase. Electric hollow or solid? I played solid body a long time ago, love acoustic now.

Brands? A cheap guitar can ruin any "juke box player" so I want to get a GOOD one this time if you catch my drift. ;)

Which portable / small amp for in home practice?

Which web sites do you use?

I appreciate any advice, just want to keep progressing for personal enjoyment and playing for family. Its been a real trip after not playing for 45 years, serious mind trip. Music is VERY powerful to me. Each song takes me back to the time I enjoyed it decades ago.
 
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With guitars, I would absolutely suggest buying your last one first if you intend to keep playing. I bought a Les Paul in 1991 and it is still my primary guitar. I bought a Stratocaster in about 2000 that I play quite a bit now, mainly because it's light....lol, but both are good instruments. Amplifiers are really subjective, hell, so are guitars for that matter. Find a QUALITY instrument that feels good to you and buy it. My personal rig is a Fender performer 100 watt amplifier with a single 12" speaker, an 12" aux cabinet. Either the Strat or Les Paul and I use a chorus pedal to fatten up the bottom sometimes and an eq pedal for when I just need a boost because I can put just a little more midrange in so it will cut. Otherwise mids suck.
 
I was into rock music back in the early 70's.. Had a Fender Bandmaster Guitar and piggyback amp.. The thing was taller then me...

Was in a neighborhood band for a year or so...Played mostly lead and sometimes rythem (sp)....

I still have an acoustic guitar somewhere in this house and it bet it still has the super slinky strings on it......

I bet if I picked it up tonight and started playing... my fingers would be bleeding in less then 60 seconds.....

Wanna bet I got looking for it right now..:rolleyes:
 
I was in a garage band back in the early 80's. Worked as an electronics tech in a music store during college. I have a Kramer Pacer (strat clone) with Floyd Rose and a set of Seymour Duncan SRV pickups, an Acoustic G120 tube amp, numerous effects pedals and an original Roland RE-201 Space Echo. Also have a Japanese Fender JP-90 bass guitar, a Simon & Patrick acoustic guitar and an Ensoniq VFX-SD keyboard synthesizer. Haven't played any of them in a few years though. :(
 
Buy as many as you can up front or one day a female will tell you no more until x, y, or z hobby stops.

These are my babies (well the 3 on the right are) The 2 on the left are just special to me.
10347646_10205303045962592_8013296365020782600_n.jpg


I like Metal and Ibanez can't be beat.
The acoustic guitar in the middle is also Ibanez Talman acoustic / Electric and I freaking love it. They are inexpensive and sound good plugged in or unplugged.

I currently use Line 6 amps because of the modeling capability which is nice for playing but I have moved on to recording and I realize they suck for recording. They are very muddy and there is not a lot you can do post op about the mud on your tracks.

I would say if you are a hobbyist, get a pawn shop fender or Pevey amp
If you are gigging, get the Randall Half stack (might go crate head on that one)

This is a good site for tablature (music for guitarists that cant read music)
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com
 
There are really good deals to be had in pawn shops. My son wanted an inexpensive one for his college appartment, because he didn't trust his $2,500 Taylor in that environment. I picked up a $700 guitar in great shape for about $150. The other thing I've noticed is no one seems to have just one guitar. My son has been playing since he was 5 and is up to about 12 guitars. I built him one once; a Les Paul style. I bought a kit and upgraded all the electronics. That was a fun project. I don't play myself, though. I tried to learn once.
 
One more thing
craigslist....

So many guitar deals there.
 
Geico266 said:
That is where we found the Yamaha.
Click to expand...

It's crazy. There are a lot of them and not just junk.
A lot of high end stuff and cheap.

I have gotten a couple off craigslist.
Handjobs too but mostly guitars.

Craigslist has everything.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
It's crazy. There are a lot of them and not just junk.
A lot of high end stuff and cheap.

I have gotten a couple off craigslist.
Handjobs too but mostly guitars.

Craigslist has everything.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what Mrs 6PC is for ...:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused::confused::dunno:
 
Been playing for 7yrs

Get a nice guitar and have it set up by a shop that knows what they are doing. A good set up job should cost about $100 for a new guitar. This makes a world of difference


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Gonna have to meet you one of these days Geico.

I've got two acoustics, one electric, and two electric bass's. All secondhand fixed up garage sale or pawnshop deals.

You might enjoy the making of the Dark side of the moon on YouTube or history of the Eagles on Netflix.

Music is powerful stuff
 
I played rhythm guitar in the late 60s and early 70s in various garage bands. Started with a Kay archtop with one pickup. Moved on to the Kay Vanguard with double pickup. I had a Fender Mustang for a while, but it had problems with the neck mount. Now I have a Kay Vanguard again and also a decent Epiphone. I would get another Epiphone or a Kay. Should take you quite a way until you need to move up into the costly stuff.

Kay made many guitars under license to Sears and Wards. A lot of the Silvertone guitars were made by them. I also would recommend an early to mid 60s Silvertone tube amp for studio electric.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/silvertone-1484-amp-/111548215349?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19f8cab035

These amps were the bomb back then, and they still sound really sweet with the right tubes. You need to find the 6L6GC tubes or the 5881 or 7027 tubes installed. If you can buy a matched pair of tubes even better. The drivers on these were rated for about 40 watts RMS which is a ton of power for pretty much anything you want to listen to inside a building with four good 8 ohm speakers in series parallel. The later tubes have a suppressor grid, and a channeling grid to keep the electron bounce back minimized. Although people say they like the distortion of the tube amp generation, what they really mean is they like the harmonic of the waveform found in tube push-pull amp design. Some small amount of harmonic is good, but a lot is very bad. The later amps and tubes with the new grids avoided much of the harmonic variance and most of the distortion without sacrificing the warm tube sound of minor harmonic variation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT7bbgsyzKc

Go to about 5:17 and listen to Glimour and again around 7:40, on a Fender Strat through a Silvertone signature tube amp. Later on he switched to a Fender Custom.
 
Just got this a few weeks ago. Never played before but trying to learn. A friend gave it to me and set it up for me. Whatever that means. This has a very nice sound, I love it.
 

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SixPapaCharlie said:
Buy as many as you can up front or one day a female will tell you no more until x, y, or z hobby stops.
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This is some of the best advice I've seen on POA to date!

I was living under a spouse-imposed guitar moratorium for 6 years (she thought I had too many). I had to make some concessions and agree to get rid of one in order to acquire my most recent (a one-off Rickenbacker 650 made from swamp ash).

I have something like 10 guitars, mostly Rickenbacker and Gretsch with a Fender Telecaster and a Jazz Bass. Mine are almost all electric. I think my next guitar will likely be a Martin.

For loud playing, I use a VOX AC30, but with small kids and a wife in the house, I tend to play with a Line 6 POD and headphones for the most part. I also have the iRig iphone adapter which works fine for simple practicing/jamming and it has an app that ties into your itunes library and you can play along with any song you have.

I had some tab books when I first started playing back in college, but nowadays I find that I tend to try to work the songs out myself, maybe consult a chord book if I'm having trouble.

Sounds like you already have this figured out, but the best advice I can offer is - don't go cheap. Cheap guitars will hurt to play, never sound good and drive many people away. Similar to airplanes, it is truly worth it to buy a good one up front.

For acoustics, it is hard to beat a Martin or Taylor for palyability and sound. I personally love the look of Gibson acoustics, but they don't sound nearly as good to me as Martins or Taylors.

For electics, I am a huge fan of Rickenbacker. They are one of the few originals (Rickenbacker made the first ever electric guitar) that haven't been taken over by Fender. Even my second favorite Gretsch is now Fenderized. I have never owned a Gibson, but they are well made and easy to play.

Personally, I would stay away from Epiphones unless you buy a vintage one made before the Gibson merger. Now, Epiphone is just the name that Gibson uses for the cheaper overseas made line.

If you can get to a Guitar Center, I'd recommend trying a few different guitars (acoustic and electric) and see what you like. They usually have a pretty big selection of amps and pedals to try. You don't have to buy your guitar there, but you can figure out which brand/model you are looking for and then buy from someplace less sleazy.
 
Check out The Gear Page Forum http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?
You'll get a lot of good advice and spend a lot of money. I'm an active member on this forum as well.

Here is outdated pic of board that I use for church. Either a Les Paul with mini humbuckers or an ES-339 through a Marshall Class 5 combo. I'll upgrade the amp soon once I have some money. Beware, buying pedals is an addiction!

a18cc1fd-c885-4925-9537-5205ce2862ec_zps8f0c9ab8.jpg
 
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Geico,

My main rule (aside from a few weird purchases) is "Buy nice or buy twice". For playing by yourself a single 12" amp/speaker combo will do just fine. You may want to look into one that has some built in effects as (for me at least) the simple 2 channel amp can get a bit old after a while. Fender has some decent ones, I really like the Line6 Spider series, great little amps, good power for the size and tons of really cool tones inside for modeling your guitar just like how you remember those sounds from back in the day.

Welcome back to the world of playing music! As far as guitars and what to buy, only you will know what feels good. Head to your closest guitar store and play as many types/brands as you can!
 
N801BH said:
Back In Black.......
Click to expand...

I still love listening to TnT:

"..I'm dirty, mean, and mighty unclean..."

"...lock up your daughter, lock up your wife, lock up the back door and run for your life...."

LoL
 
Geico266 said:
Okay, what is a peddle used for? Volume?


:redface: I have led a sheltered life.
Click to expand...

Pedals can be used for all sorts of effects and also volume. My suggestion (because becoming a pedalphile is very expensive), is to buy an amp (like the line6 Spider) with built in effects. Basic, good pedals like the Boss line can go for around 85 bucks each when new and boutique stuff can cost several hundreds. The spider has literally hundreds of different effects and ways to shape your sound just how you like it. Really no need for you to go out and buy a bunch of pedals until you really know what effects you like, even then, I find them mostly useful when playing with a group, live, which doesnt sound like what your doing now.
 
Skyscraper said:
Eman, you get super Skyscraper high five points for that reference right there :yes:
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lol thanks bud. a lot of my references are off the beaten path and not always understood but as long as one person gets it, I'm good with that!

but on topic, any guitar player or aspiring guitar player should definitely be exposed to zappa, the guy was a genius. definitely not mainstream and a lot of people may not like him but he was freakin awesome.
 
Geico266 said:
Okay, what is a peddle used for? Volume?


:redface: I have led a sheltered life.
Click to expand...
Lots of different effects including volume. I'd look into getting a decent amp first focus on playing then throw in some effects pedals
 
About a month ago I bought myself a Les Paul Special II 'lectric guitar to start leaning on. I did not buy an amp but I got a copy of Rocksmith 2014 with cable for the puter and also am amp simulator? that you plug headphones into. It works. Rocksmith is kinda teaching me how to play. Still having fun with it so it is working well enough.

David
 
flhrci said:
About a month ago I bought myself a Les Paul Special II 'lectric guitar to start leaning on. I did not buy an amp but I got a copy of Rocksmith 2014 with cable for the puter and also am amp simulator? that you plug headphones into. It works. Rocksmith is kinda teaching me how to play. Still having fun with it so it is working well enough.

David
Click to expand...

There are a lot of more viable options.
Like maybe just against a wall or something.
You may very well damage the guitar.
 
Here is a nice little portable amp.
 

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Between the time I finished college and got married, I was a working musician traveling all around the southeast. My older brother played bass for Frank Zappa during the mid-70's. Bird is on the Leather, One Size Fits All and Sleep Dirt albums. My brother left Zappa and came back to the Atlanta area about the time I was finishing college. Bird was putting together his own band and asked me to play guitar. His bands were 'Kudzu', 'Flossy May' and 'Fox'. I played and traveled with him for a couple of years until I decided to get married. I knew it would really be tough to be a traveling musician and have a family life too. I loved playing music but was not so crazy about the business. My brother eventually built a recording studio in the Atlanta area and I do guitar tracks for him and some of his customers from time to time. I play guitar, bass, mandolin, violin and flute, but guitar is my first love in music. About 10 years ago I got linked up with Ron Thorn, a custom guitar builder in California. I contracted him to build a guitar for me. Over time Ron learned that I could build websites and he offered to build me another guitar if I would build a website for him. I quickly took him up on the offer. Here is the website:
http://www.thornguitargallery.com/index.htm

Here is the guitar Ron built in exchange for the website:
http://www.thornguitargallery.com/sfc-htm/sfc002.htm

Here is the first guitar Ron built for me:
http://www.thornguitargallery.com/galleryhtm/dc049.htm

I also have a PRS Artist Package Custom 24 with Quilt Maple Top that is pretty awesome.

Here is a YouTube of Frank and my brother Bird doing 'Sleep Dirt'. My brother wrote and is playing the finger picking acoustic guitar and Frank is obviously doing the lead fills.
http://youtu.be/xDKs-SxG7xk
 
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Million Dollar Question...what's your budget? :)

I made a living playing music when I was in college and still play a bit today. I went about 8 years in between when the kids started coming, etc... that I didn't play much and actually sold off a few things I really regret. Now, I have about 18 guitars of various types...acoustics, electrics, bass, baritone, etc...

My hands down favorite acoustic is a Gibson J-45. It's so utilitarian, not flashy...just an incredible sounding guitar that plays great and while not 'cheap', it certainly won't break the bank (just don't pay 'new' prices from the superstores). They aren't cheap and I'd recommend getting as old of one as you can find/afford (mine's a 2001 made in Montana) but you will not regret it. My 2nd favorite acoustic is a Maton. Maton is the "Taylor Guitars" of Australia and made famous by Tommy Emmanuel and Keith Urban. BTW, if you've never heard Tommy - hands down the best acoustic fingerstyle player on the planet. Period. Anyway, the electronics in the Maton are just incredible...best I've ever used. I play a Mini-Maton (Diesel Special) which is a very small guitar - almost the exact same size as a Taylor mini I have...but when you plug that thing in it sounds like a grand piano. Absolutely blows people away when they hear it.

Here's that guitar - not cheap...I think it was in the ~$1400 range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GGy4rW6Tek

Here's Tommy doing his thing...amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cHeNscKZN0

I also have an Eric Clapton signature Martin (ooo-28EC) but it doesn't get played to much these days since I bought the Gibson a few years back. I have a few Taylors, including the very first one I bought brand new in 1993 (a 510 model) that paid my way through college. :) I've somewhat fallen out of favor of the Taylor sound and really don't like the tone of their electronics they use. They have a very distinctive sound - which I used to love - but not so much anymore.

Anyway, PM me if you ever want to talk guitars. I've bought and sold probably 30 of them over the past 20 years and have played all types of music - acoustic and electric.

Good luck!
 
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SixPapaCharlie said:
Buy as many as you can up front or one day a female will tell you no more until x, y, or z hobby stops.

These are my babies (well the 3 on the right are) The 2 on the left are just special to me.
10347646_10205303045962592_8013296365020782600_n.jpg


I like Metal and Ibanez can't be beat.
The acoustic guitar in the middle is also Ibanez Talman acoustic / Electric and I freaking love it. They are inexpensive and sound good plugged in or unplugged.

I currently use Line 6 amps because of the modeling capability which is nice for playing but I have moved on to recording and I realize they suck for recording. They are very muddy and there is not a lot you can do post op about the mud on your tracks.

I would say if you are a hobbyist, get a pawn shop fender or Pevey amp
If you are gigging, get the Randall Half stack (might go crate head on that one)

This is a good site for tablature (music for guitarists that cant read music)
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com
Click to expand...


Big collection!!!
 
I want buy a new guitar and i'm in between Gibson and Fender.
Can you help me. I like to play more blues songs.
 
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