Guitar players

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You planning to build/wind an actual pickup? I've built a handful of electric guitars from scratch, but I have yet to wind my own pickups. Sounds like a pain.
 
From what I've been reading, the easiest way to wind a pickup is to use a sewing machine...The wire is 42 or 43 guage so it would probably wind just like thread.
 
Ooooh, I guess that would work. Always wanted to try, but Stewmac's winding machine is four bills. That's a lot of money to fok around and possibly produce a bunch of sub-par pickups.
 
It has become quite a love affair, me and this guitar. I see her there and my heart goes pitter pat. I think about her all day at work then go home and she spends the evenings in my arms.

Our weekends are like heaven.

A love for the ages.
 
Muddy, I feel the same way about this Mini Martin Guitar i bought. It is amazing for sitting around on the couch practicing or noodling.. I was lucky because after I purchased it, I looked around online and there is not another one to be found in the GTA (or anywhere else that i saw)

I have finally figured out how to get the delta/north mississippi blues sound I've been looking for on the acoustic.... Turns out these old blues guys were either pretty crafty or they just didnt know what A 440 was.

Try to De-tune your guitar to just below A 440 but keep all the strings in tune together. If you start playing some Straight 12 bar blues in E you will notice that there is a subtle difference now in how it all sounds. It may not work for you if you don't play this type of music at all. It always sounded a little too nice before when I tried to play this stuff in E or E flat....

I had never really noticed this until I tried to play along with some old acoustic blues....


Someday I hope i can rock out like RL; sounds easy to play until you try to actually copy it.

 
I am finding extreme frustration in my electric guitar playing. Freaking painful to finalize any kind of lead. It can take me like 3 hours toil with a couple hundred takes just to get 4 bars - and I think I'm done and it's how I want it - but then I listen the next morning and no, still not right.

Timing is one thing - I have a MASSIVE tendency to come in early - and I think I must bend the strings slightly when I don't want to because I constantly get just a slight offness in tone.

Could just be in my head too. It is all making me slightly mad.

I am happy with some of the stuff I have fought through and finalized but the process is NO FUN!





okay end of rant
 
Mudcat
I am finding extreme frustration in my electric guitar playing. Freaking painful to finalize any kind of lead. It can take me like 3 hours toil with a couple hundred takes just to get 4 bars - and I think I'm done and it's how I want it - but then I listen the next morning and no, still not right.

Timing is one thing - I have a MASSIVE tendency to come in early - and I think I must bend the strings slightly when I don't want to because I constantly get just a slight offness in tone.

Could just be in my head too. It is all making me slightly mad.

I am happy with some of the stuff I have fought through and finalized but the process is NO FUN!





okay end of rant
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I'll probably say this wrong so I am explaining early that it's not meant as an insult or critical, just curious.

I've noticed that when it comes to music, movies, celebrities, food, coffee, ok basically everything that you tend to have incredibly lofty expectations. You tend to be a perfectionist in a world of mediocrity Muddy. Maybe you are indeed just being too hard on yourself. I mean so far everything you've done and posted is loved by most everyone here and not just because you are our friend(?) but because the stuff is actually good.

I have a running joke about FLOW. The truth though is there is flow in practically everything in life if we allow it. Maybe you should chill and just let "it" flow naturally and stop trying to control it to the nth degree.
 
Apart from the unnecessary quote, I am seeing a bunch of apples and oranges and watermelons being treated like they are the same thing. And misinterpreted to varying degrees - if one can be said to interpret fruit.

I will definitely not be relaxing my standards for my music project, I can tell you that.
 
Sometimes just doing something different for awhile will trigger advances when you come back to your project. I'd say take some time to learn something new on the guitar and it'll help re-invigorate you the next time you sit down to work on your music.
 
Mudcat
I think I must bend the strings slightly when I don't want to because I constantly get just a slight offness in tone.

Could just be in my head too.
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It's probably not in your head. You need to use a really light touch on an electric.

I have the opposite problem - I can't play the acoustic properly cause I don't have the vice-grip strength you need to quickly fret barre chords on it.

My dad is an acoustic player and he can't play an electric in tune to save his life. One solution is to buy the biggest electric strings you can find, usually 12-56 or 13-56 depending on the brand. (Beware that some companies use a wound 3rd string which is really bad for blues playing. Thing can't be bent more than a quarter-tone or so.)

See below - the Ernie Ball pack is what you want (plain 3rd string), while the D'Addario is to avoid (wound 3rd string).

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You may also want to the check the intonation on the guitar, if you haven't done so already..If it was set up properly you probably won't have to do much. If you are changing string guage (as per Matty's post) it may not hurt you to check the intonation again after you change them...
 
The intonation will also need resetting if you upgrade to bigger strings.

(If all this is making your head spin, it's best to just try and use a lighter touch. :grin:)
 
It's weird though. I expected to have more natural ability to play electric guitar leads. The timing issue really surprises me and how often I come in early.

Like with singing, I would never come in early. It's not something I have to think about. I couldn't come in early if I tried. You come in when you come in.

I have occasional issues with piano due to basic lack of skill - but it's almost never a matter of coming in early.

But the notes in my electric leads? So often early.

And then there's the tuning question.

Really though I have only been playing it for about a month. I have had it longer than that but in terms of focusing on it, a month or so. I'm getting better (I think).
 
You're probably being anal about timing. Listen to famous albums with lead guitar on 'em and you'll notice lots of flubs and guys playing ahead and behind the beat, sometimes on purpose.
 
Maybe. Bottom line is, if I hear it and it grates on me, I have to deal with it. Depends on the song too. Some are wilder than others.

Not to say that my finished product is flawless. If only that were the case. I have such limited abilities all around.

But the stuff I got good and anal about and just pounded away at with brute force until it is the best shape I can make something - and I listen to those "finished" songs now - it makes me so happy.




Much like I used to say about novel writing: I don't enjoy writing - but I enjoy having written.
 
man Muddy, you're really building this thing up, we're gonna be expecting a technical masterpiece. :cheers:
 
Yeah I guess I go on some. I do it - and then I tell myself I won't do it any more - but then I do.

MrQ actually had something interesting to say back when he bumped this thread and I totally hijacked it.
 
Sure feels weird to pick up the 12-string after fighting with the electric for a few days straight though.

It is deceptively light and omygawd there are so many strings spread over such a vast expanse.
 
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