Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
I appreciate someone so occult throwing something my way. I am going to look at that thing until it sinks in. - Original Message - From: Vaj To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 7:36 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar On Mar 2, 2009, at 6:44 AM, Kirk wrote: Right on. I'm gonna go to New Orleans Music Exchange, a really old place here and browse around. Thanks for your inspiration. I'm really gonna do it. Never too early to start practicing to be a Beatle in my next life. Thanks again. Your response was full of info and I will need to study it. Love U - peace. Or as a bridge to the guitar, you could get inspired on a Strumstick: http://www.strumstick.com/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
You know what Vaj, they're not so expensive. I think that's gonna be a present some year soon for the nephew. No lie. Good thunking. Thanks. For me though I think it just has to be a guitar. Anything other would be like rigging a sling to have sex with a parapalegic. (Which can be really fun - don't judge) But I'm sure you get my jist. - Original Message - From: Vaj To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 7:36 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar On Mar 2, 2009, at 6:44 AM, Kirk wrote: Right on. I'm gonna go to New Orleans Music Exchange, a really old place here and browse around. Thanks for your inspiration. I'm really gonna do it. Never too early to start practicing to be a Beatle in my next life. Thanks again. Your response was full of info and I will need to study it. Love U - peace. Or as a bridge to the guitar, you could get inspired on a Strumstick: http://www.strumstick.com/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
good good my future is a guitar or heroin (or Zoloft :)) so thanks all this advice was all news to me But I won't be good enough for heroin until I get fret buzz really down, so that will take awhile. peace and love - Original Message - From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 11:50 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: you may want to post this too. the basic set up i do This is good advise for someone who wants to do their own guitar work. I have done some of this myself. In the end taking your guitar to a guy who does this all day every day is a better choice for beginning players. A new player doesn't understand the variables in fret buzz, to be able to adjust this properly. For example I am a barbarian on guitar playing with heavy finger picks and snapping the strings Delta style. I have to have a higher action to accommodate this style. Most new players are too tentative with their guitar at first and wont discover the fret buzz till they are half way through a bottle of bourbon and have played the chords to Wild Thing for the hundredth time when they finally let loose. But a good set up guy knows where you are going to end up once you start really wailing on the thing! The guy at my guitar center is big on the Breedlove brand. They have a lower end (about $300) guitar with a solid spruce top that sounds great. If you can afford it the solid top makes a big difference because it will sound better over time. The composite layered woods used in cheaper guitars are held together with glue which degrades over time so the guitar sounds deader and deader the more you play it. It doesn't matter as much if the sides and back are a composite which makes the guitar cheaper. But some players do fine starting with a cheaper guitar to test their interest and if they get into it they can graduate into a higher quality. Maybe by then they are ready to jump to a solid wood American made classic like a Taylor or Martin. When you finally do get a quality guitar in your hands there is a magic to it. It takes your performance to a new level. But I am not a guitar fetishist. I have high quality guitars and beat the shit out of them. I don't keep looking for the next guitar for a special new sound. I concentrate on my side of the equation! is to tighten the truss rod fully by turning the screw in the sound hole counter clockwise all the way. don't over tighten or you'll strip the threads. you can then check the arc of the neck by pressing the strings at the first fret and last fret for clearance. then i remove and shave or sand the bottom of the bridge saddle until the strings are low enough for easy play without fret buzz. (a good luthier will measure the string heights during each step of the process, but i never measure. he'll also put a straight edge on the frets and tap the high ones to the right height, but i'm not that picky.) over sand the saddle and you can shim it back up, or buy a new saddle and start again. that's usually all you need to do. i leave the truss rod fully tightened and lower the saddle more to compensate, but that's just my preferrence. i seem to get less fret buzz and lower clearance that way. if you do a search, i'm sure the proper measurements and procedures are available all over the internet. this is a cheap guitar. if i had an expensive guitar, i'd let a pro do the set up for me. To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
I played ukulele when I was a kid, a bit. Okay, I had a dream Saturday morning. Same morning of Snooks Eaglen's wake. I was plunking on a piano singing just making some notes and this old black man was sitting next to me just ginning and saying go ahead go for it, Just smiling away. See even the blues can make a man transcend time, space, and culture. In my dream I was playing piano cause some Bowie and EJ piano riffs still give me shivers but turns out Snooks was a guitarist. A blind guitarist. I never saw him until after he died. Brother gave me advice. I want to thank you all. - Original Message - From: Marek Reavis reavisma...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 1:15 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar I've been guiltily following this thread and now feel the impulse to weigh in with my own meager measure of advice. Responding to some great advice Curtis gave me last year, as well as frustration with my longstanding inability to make music, I went to one of the local music stores and had the 40-something guitar freak working there to take me through the paces of the guitars he had. It was a delightful 40-45 minutes as he took down each guitar that was more-or-less within my price range, explained what he liked about it and how it compared to others in his estimation, and then played the same piece that he'd played on each one earlier so I could judge and evaluate how each one sounded to me. I ended up buying a Seagull solid-cedar top guitar with wild cherry back and sides, handmade in Canada by Godin. http://www.seagullguitars.com/productentouragerusticmj.htm It was reasonablely priced, has great reviews, and sounds fantastic. I loved it but was entirely intimidated by it at and didn't practice very much. My daughter and her boyfriend came to visit one weekend and he picked it up and played something wonderful and well and I gave it to him on the spot because he didn't have a guitar anymore and I wanted the thing to be played. Now I have a Kala spruce-top ukulele, which only intimidates me a little bit and I fool around with it almost every day. My fingers still don't do the impossible things that even the simplest chords require them to do, but if I've learned anything over the years, it's that if you put the time in, then sooner or later things magically sort themselves out. Marek ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: you may want to post this too. the basic set up i do This is good advise for someone who wants to do their own guitar work. I have done some of this myself. In the end taking your guitar to a guy who does this all day every day is a better choice for beginning players. A new player doesn't understand the variables in fret buzz, to be able to adjust this properly. For example I am a barbarian on guitar playing with heavy finger picks and snapping the strings Delta style. I have to have a higher action to accommodate this style. Most new players are too tentative with their guitar at first and wont discover the fret buzz till they are half way through a bottle of bourbon and have played the chords to Wild Thing for the hundredth time when they finally let loose. But a good set up guy knows where you are going to end up once you start really wailing on the thing! The guy at my guitar center is big on the Breedlove brand. They have a lower end (about $300) guitar with a solid spruce top that sounds great. If you can afford it the solid top makes a big difference because it will sound better over time. The composite layered woods used in cheaper guitars are held together with glue which degrades over time so the guitar sounds deader and deader the more you play it. It doesn't matter as much if the sides and back are a composite which makes the guitar cheaper. But some players do fine starting with a cheaper guitar to test their interest and if they get into it they can graduate into a higher quality. Maybe by then they are ready to jump to a solid wood American made classic like a Taylor or Martin. When you finally do get a quality guitar in your hands there is a magic to it. It takes your performance to a new level. But I am not a guitar fetishist. I have high quality guitars and beat the shit out of them. I don't keep looking for the next guitar for a special new sound. I concentrate on my side of the equation! is to tighten the truss rod fully by turning the screw in the sound hole counter clockwise all the way. don't over tighten or you'll strip the threads. you can then check the arc of the neck by pressing the strings at the first fret and last fret for clearance. then i remove and shave or sand the bottom
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
Awesome. - Original Message - From: Larry inmadi...@hotmail.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 1:26 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar A few years ago (age 52) I decided to learn to play guitar and bought a China made Guild which looks like and cost about the same as the Nickle Creek - - I would venture to say that many of these guitars by name brands are made in the same plants with a similar quality as these Nickle Creeks and are simply packaged under different names. However, when I get a chance to play or hear a mighty fine instrument - like a higher end Martin, Collins or Martin, etc. - I can really tell the difference - I don't ever want to put it down. But my main point is that after playing a couple weeks and I then knew about 5 chords, and it was only taking me about 31 seconds to switch between chords - - a friend mentioned the best way to learn an instrument was to play with others, and that I should go to some local bluegrass jams. Now, I didn't know exactly what bluegrass was but I (somewhat timidly) went - and I was tempted to keep my guitar in the car but I walked in tried to keep up the best I could and I learned a whole bunch that first night, and I still go about every week. and at these BG jams lots of different types of music is played including country, blues and light rock - the last one I was at we got into a John Prine 'rant' and of course now that I can finally play guitar well enough to hop in at just about any speed and any tune even if I've never heard it before - - now I decide to learn a second instrument (mandolin) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: Another note from my friend: i just took a look at the discussion. about all i'd have to add is i don't think there's a better bargain going anywhere than the silver creek guitar at musicians friend. it's no substitute for a gibson, but for what it is it's truly the most amazing value i've ever seen in a guitar. it reminds me of the time consumer reports had connoisseurs test a group of cheap and gourmet wines. the pros picked the $30 bottle and $20 bottle over the $100 bottle of dom perignon. i think a blindfold test playing of the silver creek guitars vs martin or taylor would get a similar result. bob To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
Eaglin - Original Message - From: Kirk kirk_bernha...@cox.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 8:48 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar I played ukulele when I was a kid, a bit. Okay, I had a dream Saturday morning. Same morning of Snooks Eaglen's wake. I was plunking on a piano singing just making some notes and this old black man was sitting next to me just ginning and saying go ahead go for it, Just smiling away. See even the blues can make a man transcend time, space, and culture. In my dream I was playing piano cause some Bowie and EJ piano riffs still give me shivers but turns out Snooks was a guitarist. A blind guitarist. I never saw him until after he died. Brother gave me advice. I want to thank you all. - Original Message - From: Marek Reavis reavisma...@sbcglobal.net To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 1:15 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar I've been guiltily following this thread and now feel the impulse to weigh in with my own meager measure of advice. Responding to some great advice Curtis gave me last year, as well as frustration with my longstanding inability to make music, I went to one of the local music stores and had the 40-something guitar freak working there to take me through the paces of the guitars he had. It was a delightful 40-45 minutes as he took down each guitar that was more-or-less within my price range, explained what he liked about it and how it compared to others in his estimation, and then played the same piece that he'd played on each one earlier so I could judge and evaluate how each one sounded to me. I ended up buying a Seagull solid-cedar top guitar with wild cherry back and sides, handmade in Canada by Godin. http://www.seagullguitars.com/productentouragerusticmj.htm It was reasonablely priced, has great reviews, and sounds fantastic. I loved it but was entirely intimidated by it at and didn't practice very much. My daughter and her boyfriend came to visit one weekend and he picked it up and played something wonderful and well and I gave it to him on the spot because he didn't have a guitar anymore and I wanted the thing to be played. Now I have a Kala spruce-top ukulele, which only intimidates me a little bit and I fool around with it almost every day. My fingers still don't do the impossible things that even the simplest chords require them to do, but if I've learned anything over the years, it's that if you put the time in, then sooner or later things magically sort themselves out. Marek ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: you may want to post this too. the basic set up i do This is good advise for someone who wants to do their own guitar work. I have done some of this myself. In the end taking your guitar to a guy who does this all day every day is a better choice for beginning players. A new player doesn't understand the variables in fret buzz, to be able to adjust this properly. For example I am a barbarian on guitar playing with heavy finger picks and snapping the strings Delta style. I have to have a higher action to accommodate this style. Most new players are too tentative with their guitar at first and wont discover the fret buzz till they are half way through a bottle of bourbon and have played the chords to Wild Thing for the hundredth time when they finally let loose. But a good set up guy knows where you are going to end up once you start really wailing on the thing! The guy at my guitar center is big on the Breedlove brand. They have a lower end (about $300) guitar with a solid spruce top that sounds great. If you can afford it the solid top makes a big difference because it will sound better over time. The composite layered woods used in cheaper guitars are held together with glue which degrades over time so the guitar sounds deader and deader the more you play it. It doesn't matter as much if the sides and back are a composite which makes the guitar cheaper. But some players do fine starting with a cheaper guitar to test their interest and if they get into it they can graduate into a higher quality. Maybe by then they are ready to jump to a solid wood American made classic like a Taylor or Martin. When you finally do get a quality guitar in your hands there is a magic to it. It takes your performance to a new level. But I am not a guitar fetishist. I have high quality guitars and beat the shit out of them. I don't keep looking for the next guitar for a special new sound. I concentrate on my side of the equation! is to tighten the truss rod fully by turning the screw in the sound hole counter clockwise all
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
- Original Message - From: Marek Reavis reavisma...@... Now I have a Kala spruce-top ukulele, which only intimidates me a little bit and I fool around with it almost every day. My fingers still don't do the impossible things that even the simplest chords require them to do, but if I've learned anything over the years, it's that if you put the time in, then sooner or later things magically sort themselves out. Marek I can relate, it seems you really have to start out early in order to master some of those chords. It's easy to grab a few however like C, G, Em, and so forth, but try a B7 for example, I'm still struggling with that one! Even some bar chords are easier for me than the B7 and of course, that's just the beginning, though you don't need to grab all of those 'difficult' chords in order to be able to play a few tunes. I play some finger style tunes OK using a finger roll or what's called Travis picking, arpeggios are fairly easy too. Lately, I only use a nylon string Guitar as I have previous tendon injuries to my left hand and have had to cut down on my playing, though like Curtis I only started a few years ago.
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wg...@... wrote: I play some finger style tunes OK using a finger roll or what's called Travis picking, arpeggios are fairly easy too. Lately, I only use a nylon string Guitar as I have previous tendon injuries to my left hand and have had to cut down on my playing, though like Curtis I only started a few years ago. If 1987 was a few years ago for you you might want to lighten up on your meditation time... I'll bet Vaj has more decades of guitar than that when I was just playing blues harp. Lawson to. I'm sure you know that there are plenty of other ways to play a B7 if the one at the top of the neck gives you trouble. Guitar is such a people's instrument. I'll bet a high percentage of the posters here could pick up a guitar and play something that they learned at some point in their lives. - Original Message - From: Marek Reavis reavismarek@ Now I have a Kala spruce-top ukulele, which only intimidates me a little bit and I fool around with it almost every day. My fingers still don't do the impossible things that even the simplest chords require them to do, but if I've learned anything over the years, it's that if you put the time in, then sooner or later things magically sort themselves out. Marek I can relate, it seems you really have to start out early in order to master some of those chords. It's easy to grab a few however like C, G, Em, and so forth, but try a B7 for example, I'm still struggling with that one! Even some bar chords are easier for me than the B7 and of course, that's just the beginning, though you don't need to grab all of those 'difficult' chords in order to be able to play a few tunes. I play some finger style tunes OK using a finger roll or what's called Travis picking, arpeggios are fairly easy too. Lately, I only use a nylon string Guitar as I have previous tendon injuries to my left hand and have had to cut down on my playing, though like Curtis I only started a few years ago.
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Larry inmadi...@... wrote: But my main point is that after playing a couple weeks and I then knew about 5 chords, and it was only taking me about 31 seconds to switch between chords That ain't bad, in a few years I'm sure you'll be able to cut it down to at least, say, 10 seconds..:-) I've progressed to no longer that 5 seconds max!! Unfortunately, usually by that time the train has left the stationha, ha.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
Right on. I'm gonna go to New Orleans Music Exchange, a really old place here and browse around. Thanks for your inspiration. I'm really gonna do it. Never too early to start practicing to be a Beatle in my next life. Thanks again. Your response was full of info and I will need to study it. Love U - peace. - Original Message - From: curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:04 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Kirk kirk_bernha...@... wrote: Kirk, You have asked the right man. First because I am a big fan of yours here, and second because I am the biggest evangelist of late-life instrument learning that I know. I spent the last few years teaching a 70 year old to play blues guitar. He performed for his family many times before his untimely death this year. It is NEVER too late to enjoy guitar. So say you decided to learn guitar at 50. Great you are young like me. You will have NO trouble at all. Do you suppose a good sounding guitar wuld proote practice and how as a non music reader would you go about it. Unless the only music that moves your soul is classical forget about reading music. Guitar tab was created for the rest of us and it is much easier. Plus now you can learn most songs you want with video instructions from youtube. Type in your favorite song's name and guitar lesson to see what I mean. I use it almost every day. consider because as a fan you would just wanto to do it but to do it well. Guitar is the instrument of the people, it always has been. The great thing about guitar is that is delivers such pleasure in a few months that for most instruments take years. But it also is bigger than any of us so you can grow with it for your whole life. There is no end to what you can learn on guitar. Vaj will back me on this. It is a monster instrument which can deliver great pleasure in a few months of practice and keep you challenged for the rest of your life. Or something. Sory if this is too basic. What's a really good lesser expensive guitar, probably acoustic or steel string. I wish you were in DC. I would take you down to the Guitar Center and find the best action solid top they had for around $300. But that's OK cuz your local guitar center has a resident guitar geek who can help you to find the solid top guitar with the best action for a beginner. Use light strings at first and tune down a half step like Jimi and Stevie Ray to help your fingers get strong. If $300 is too much get one for what you can afford with a good feeling to it. Let your guitar store geek help you find one with good action. The key is to get one in your hands. As long as it has good action the quality is secondary. Don't wait till you have the money for a top intrument or you may lose your chance to start. Kirk, you gotta do this! Guitar is one of the greatest pleasures in life and it is never too late to start. In a few years you will be playing amazing stuff if you love it and put your fingers on the strings each day for a few minutes. I would love to come visit you and get you started, but feel free to call me from the number at my Website about your guitar www.curtisblues.com or email me privately. Get the free SKYPE program and a video cam and I'll give you you lessons to get your started. I am always happy to help another person to enter the bliss of a relationship with the guitar. It is one of the biggest secrets of happiness in life that I have discovered. You can do it and you will LOVE it Kirk. You have so much personal joy from playing to look forward to. It takes some dues to cultivate your fingers to be able to comfortably form the few chords you need to play 90% of popular music. Everyone thinks their hands are too small for guitar at first. Most guitarists are self-taught. There are as many ways to approach the instrument as there are people on earth. It is that wide a musical road you are starting on. You will find your own way. Everyone's fingers hurt at first and you think you are the only person who can't learn guitar. But you CAN. And you will LOVE it. I hope that helps you catch a fire brother! Guitar is a universe. It gives me so much every day of my life. To subscribe, send a message to: fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Kirk kirk_bernha...@... wrote: Right on. I'm gonna go to New Orleans Music Exchange, a really old place here and browse around. Thanks for your inspiration. I'm really gonna do it. Never too early to start practicing to be a Beatle in my next life. Thanks again. Your response was full of info and I will need to study it. Love U - peace. A simple exercise I developed years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieTpwz2eXeY Works for any instrumentalist and you don't have to carry around a guitar to do it. L
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
On Mar 2, 2009, at 6:44 AM, Kirk wrote: Right on. I'm gonna go to New Orleans Music Exchange, a really old place here and browse around. Thanks for your inspiration. I'm really gonna do it. Never too early to start practicing to be a Beatle in my next life. Thanks again. Your response was full of info and I will need to study it. Love U - peace. Or as a bridge to the guitar, you could get inspired on a Strumstick: http://www.strumstick.com/
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- On Mon, 3/2/09, Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net wrote: From: Vaj vajradh...@earthlink.net Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, March 2, 2009, 8:36 AM On Mar 2, 2009, at 6:44 AM, Kirk wrote: Right on. I'm gonna go to New Orleans Music Exchange, a really old place here and browse around. Thanks for your inspiration. I'm really gonna do it. Never too early to start practicing to be a Beatle in my next life. Thanks again. Your response was full of info and I will need to study it. Love U - peace. Or as a bridge to the guitar, you could get inspired on a Strumstick: http://www.strumstick.com/ Or as bridge to idiocy, GUITAR HERO! http://hub.guitarhero.com/index_us.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: you may want to post this too. the basic set up i do This is good advise for someone who wants to do their own guitar work. I have done some of this myself. In the end taking your guitar to a guy who does this all day every day is a better choice for beginning players. A new player doesn't understand the variables in fret buzz, to be able to adjust this properly. For example I am a barbarian on guitar playing with heavy finger picks and snapping the strings Delta style. I have to have a higher action to accommodate this style. Most new players are too tentative with their guitar at first and wont discover the fret buzz till they are half way through a bottle of bourbon and have played the chords to Wild Thing for the hundredth time when they finally let loose. But a good set up guy knows where you are going to end up once you start really wailing on the thing! The guy at my guitar center is big on the Breedlove brand. They have a lower end (about $300) guitar with a solid spruce top that sounds great. If you can afford it the solid top makes a big difference because it will sound better over time. The composite layered woods used in cheaper guitars are held together with glue which degrades over time so the guitar sounds deader and deader the more you play it. It doesn't matter as much if the sides and back are a composite which makes the guitar cheaper. But some players do fine starting with a cheaper guitar to test their interest and if they get into it they can graduate into a higher quality. Maybe by then they are ready to jump to a solid wood American made classic like a Taylor or Martin. When you finally do get a quality guitar in your hands there is a magic to it. It takes your performance to a new level. But I am not a guitar fetishist. I have high quality guitars and beat the shit out of them. I don't keep looking for the next guitar for a special new sound. I concentrate on my side of the equation! is to tighten the truss rod fully by turning the screw in the sound hole counter clockwise all the way. don't over tighten or you'll strip the threads. you can then check the arc of the neck by pressing the strings at the first fret and last fret for clearance. then i remove and shave or sand the bottom of the bridge saddle until the strings are low enough for easy play without fret buzz. (a good luthier will measure the string heights during each step of the process, but i never measure. he'll also put a straight edge on the frets and tap the high ones to the right height, but i'm not that picky.) over sand the saddle and you can shim it back up, or buy a new saddle and start again. that's usually all you need to do. i leave the truss rod fully tightened and lower the saddle more to compensate, but that's just my preferrence. i seem to get less fret buzz and lower clearance that way. if you do a search, i'm sure the proper measurements and procedures are available all over the internet. this is a cheap guitar. if i had an expensive guitar, i'd let a pro do the set up for me.
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
Another note from my friend: i just took a look at the discussion. about all i'd have to add is i don't think there's a better bargain going anywhere than the silver creek guitar at musicians friend. it's no substitute for a gibson, but for what it is it's truly the most amazing value i've ever seen in a guitar. it reminds me of the time consumer reports had connoisseurs test a group of cheap and gourmet wines. the pros picked the $30 bottle and $20 bottle over the $100 bottle of dom perignon. i think a blindfold test playing of the silver creek guitars vs martin or taylor would get a similar result. bob
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
On Mar 2, 2009, at 1:59 PM, Rick Archer wrote: Another note from my friend: i just took a look at the discussion. about all i'd have to add is i don't think there's a better bargain going anywhere than the silver creek guitar at musicians friend. it's no substitute for a gibson, but for what it is it's truly the most amazing value i've ever seen in a guitar. it reminds me of the time consumer reports had connoisseurs test a group of cheap and gourmet wines. the pros picked the $30 bottle and $20 bottle over the $100 bottle of dom perignon. i think a blindfold test playing of the silver creek guitars vs martin or taylor would get a similar result. bob The wonders of slave labor.
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
I've been guiltily following this thread and now feel the impulse to weigh in with my own meager measure of advice. Responding to some great advice Curtis gave me last year, as well as frustration with my longstanding inability to make music, I went to one of the local music stores and had the 40-something guitar freak working there to take me through the paces of the guitars he had. It was a delightful 40-45 minutes as he took down each guitar that was more-or-less within my price range, explained what he liked about it and how it compared to others in his estimation, and then played the same piece that he'd played on each one earlier so I could judge and evaluate how each one sounded to me. I ended up buying a Seagull solid-cedar top guitar with wild cherry back and sides, handmade in Canada by Godin. http://www.seagullguitars.com/productentouragerusticmj.htm It was reasonablely priced, has great reviews, and sounds fantastic. I loved it but was entirely intimidated by it at and didn't practice very much. My daughter and her boyfriend came to visit one weekend and he picked it up and played something wonderful and well and I gave it to him on the spot because he didn't have a guitar anymore and I wanted the thing to be played. Now I have a Kala spruce-top ukulele, which only intimidates me a little bit and I fool around with it almost every day. My fingers still don't do the impossible things that even the simplest chords require them to do, but if I've learned anything over the years, it's that if you put the time in, then sooner or later things magically sort themselves out. Marek ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer rick@ wrote: you may want to post this too. the basic set up i do This is good advise for someone who wants to do their own guitar work. I have done some of this myself. In the end taking your guitar to a guy who does this all day every day is a better choice for beginning players. A new player doesn't understand the variables in fret buzz, to be able to adjust this properly. For example I am a barbarian on guitar playing with heavy finger picks and snapping the strings Delta style. I have to have a higher action to accommodate this style. Most new players are too tentative with their guitar at first and wont discover the fret buzz till they are half way through a bottle of bourbon and have played the chords to Wild Thing for the hundredth time when they finally let loose. But a good set up guy knows where you are going to end up once you start really wailing on the thing! The guy at my guitar center is big on the Breedlove brand. They have a lower end (about $300) guitar with a solid spruce top that sounds great. If you can afford it the solid top makes a big difference because it will sound better over time. The composite layered woods used in cheaper guitars are held together with glue which degrades over time so the guitar sounds deader and deader the more you play it. It doesn't matter as much if the sides and back are a composite which makes the guitar cheaper. But some players do fine starting with a cheaper guitar to test their interest and if they get into it they can graduate into a higher quality. Maybe by then they are ready to jump to a solid wood American made classic like a Taylor or Martin. When you finally do get a quality guitar in your hands there is a magic to it. It takes your performance to a new level. But I am not a guitar fetishist. I have high quality guitars and beat the shit out of them. I don't keep looking for the next guitar for a special new sound. I concentrate on my side of the equation! is to tighten the truss rod fully by turning the screw in the sound hole counter clockwise all the way. don't over tighten or you'll strip the threads. you can then check the arc of the neck by pressing the strings at the first fret and last fret for clearance. then i remove and shave or sand the bottom of the bridge saddle until the strings are low enough for easy play without fret buzz. (a good luthier will measure the string heights during each step of the process, but i never measure. he'll also put a straight edge on the frets and tap the high ones to the right height, but i'm not that picky.) over sand the saddle and you can shim it back up, or buy a new saddle and start again. that's usually all you need to do. i leave the truss rod fully tightened and lower the saddle more to compensate, but that's just my preferrence. i seem to get less fret buzz and lower clearance that way. if you do a search, i'm sure the proper measurements and procedures are available all over the internet. this is a cheap guitar. if i had an expensive guitar, i'd let a pro do the set up for me.
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
A few years ago (age 52) I decided to learn to play guitar and bought a China made Guild which looks like and cost about the same as the Nickle Creek - - I would venture to say that many of these guitars by name brands are made in the same plants with a similar quality as these Nickle Creeks and are simply packaged under different names. However, when I get a chance to play or hear a mighty fine instrument - like a higher end Martin, Collins or Martin, etc. - I can really tell the difference - I don't ever want to put it down. But my main point is that after playing a couple weeks and I then knew about 5 chords, and it was only taking me about 31 seconds to switch between chords - - a friend mentioned the best way to learn an instrument was to play with others, and that I should go to some local bluegrass jams. Now, I didn't know exactly what bluegrass was but I (somewhat timidly) went - and I was tempted to keep my guitar in the car but I walked in tried to keep up the best I could and I learned a whole bunch that first night, and I still go about every week. and at these BG jams lots of different types of music is played including country, blues and light rock - the last one I was at we got into a John Prine 'rant' and of course now that I can finally play guitar well enough to hop in at just about any speed and any tune even if I've never heard it before - - now I decide to learn a second instrument (mandolin) --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer r...@... wrote: Another note from my friend: i just took a look at the discussion. about all i'd have to add is i don't think there's a better bargain going anywhere than the silver creek guitar at musicians friend. it's no substitute for a gibson, but for what it is it's truly the most amazing value i've ever seen in a guitar. it reminds me of the time consumer reports had connoisseurs test a group of cheap and gourmet wines. the pros picked the $30 bottle and $20 bottle over the $100 bottle of dom perignon. i think a blindfold test playing of the silver creek guitars vs martin or taylor would get a similar result. bob
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
dude, just tell His Holiness the Dalai Lama about it-- he will fix it-- LOL --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Mar 2, 2009, at 1:59 PM, Rick Archer wrote: Another note from my friend: i just took a look at the discussion. about all i'd have to add is i don't think there's a better bargain going anywhere than the silver creek guitar at musicians friend. it's no substitute for a gibson, but for what it is it's truly the most amazing value i've ever seen in a guitar. it reminds me of the time consumer reports had connoisseurs test a group of cheap and gourmet wines. the pros picked the $30 bottle and $20 bottle over the $100 bottle of dom perignon. i think a blindfold test playing of the silver creek guitars vs martin or taylor would get a similar result. bob The wonders of slave labor.
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Kirk kirk_bernha...@... wrote: Kirk, You have asked the right man. First because I am a big fan of yours here, and second because I am the biggest evangelist of late-life instrument learning that I know. I spent the last few years teaching a 70 year old to play blues guitar. He performed for his family many times before his untimely death this year. It is NEVER too late to enjoy guitar. So say you decided to learn guitar at 50. Great you are young like me. You will have NO trouble at all. Do you suppose a good sounding guitar wuld proote practice and how as a non music reader would you go about it. Unless the only music that moves your soul is classical forget about reading music. Guitar tab was created for the rest of us and it is much easier. Plus now you can learn most songs you want with video instructions from youtube. Type in your favorite song's name and guitar lesson to see what I mean. I use it almost every day. consider because as a fan you would just wanto to do it but to do it well. Guitar is the instrument of the people, it always has been. The great thing about guitar is that is delivers such pleasure in a few months that for most instruments take years. But it also is bigger than any of us so you can grow with it for your whole life. There is no end to what you can learn on guitar. Vaj will back me on this. It is a monster instrument which can deliver great pleasure in a few months of practice and keep you challenged for the rest of your life. Or something. Sory if this is too basic. What's a really good lesser expensive guitar, probably acoustic or steel string. I wish you were in DC. I would take you down to the Guitar Center and find the best action solid top they had for around $300. But that's OK cuz your local guitar center has a resident guitar geek who can help you to find the solid top guitar with the best action for a beginner. Use light strings at first and tune down a half step like Jimi and Stevie Ray to help your fingers get strong. If $300 is too much get one for what you can afford with a good feeling to it. Let your guitar store geek help you find one with good action. The key is to get one in your hands. As long as it has good action the quality is secondary. Don't wait till you have the money for a top intrument or you may lose your chance to start. Kirk, you gotta do this! Guitar is one of the greatest pleasures in life and it is never too late to start. In a few years you will be playing amazing stuff if you love it and put your fingers on the strings each day for a few minutes. I would love to come visit you and get you started, but feel free to call me from the number at my Website about your guitar www.curtisblues.com or email me privately. Get the free SKYPE program and a video cam and I'll give you you lessons to get your started. I am always happy to help another person to enter the bliss of a relationship with the guitar. It is one of the biggest secrets of happiness in life that I have discovered. You can do it and you will LOVE it Kirk. You have so much personal joy from playing to look forward to. It takes some dues to cultivate your fingers to be able to comfortably form the few chords you need to play 90% of popular music. Everyone thinks their hands are too small for guitar at first. Most guitarists are self-taught. There are as many ways to approach the instrument as there are people on earth. It is that wide a musical road you are starting on. You will find your own way. Everyone's fingers hurt at first and you think you are the only person who can't learn guitar. But you CAN. And you will LOVE it. I hope that helps you catch a fire brother! Guitar is a universe. It gives me so much every day of my life.
[FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltabl...@... wrote: Oh yeah, I forgot my favorite quote on learning guitar for blues/rock from Keith Richards. To play this music you need three chords, two fingers and one asshole. So you are overqualified my brother! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Kirk kirk_bernhardt@ wrote: Kirk, You have asked the right man. First because I am a big fan of yours here, and second because I am the biggest evangelist of late-life instrument learning that I know. I spent the last few years teaching a 70 year old to play blues guitar. He performed for his family many times before his untimely death this year. It is NEVER too late to enjoy guitar. So say you decided to learn guitar at 50. Great you are young like me. You will have NO trouble at all. Do you suppose a good sounding guitar wuld proote practice and how as a non music reader would you go about it. Unless the only music that moves your soul is classical forget about reading music. Guitar tab was created for the rest of us and it is much easier. Plus now you can learn most songs you want with video instructions from youtube. Type in your favorite song's name and guitar lesson to see what I mean. I use it almost every day. consider because as a fan you would just wanto to do it but to do it well. Guitar is the instrument of the people, it always has been. The great thing about guitar is that is delivers such pleasure in a few months that for most instruments take years. But it also is bigger than any of us so you can grow with it for your whole life. There is no end to what you can learn on guitar. Vaj will back me on this. It is a monster instrument which can deliver great pleasure in a few months of practice and keep you challenged for the rest of your life. Or something. Sory if this is too basic. What's a really good lesser expensive guitar, probably acoustic or steel string. I wish you were in DC. I would take you down to the Guitar Center and find the best action solid top they had for around $300. But that's OK cuz your local guitar center has a resident guitar geek who can help you to find the solid top guitar with the best action for a beginner. Use light strings at first and tune down a half step like Jimi and Stevie Ray to help your fingers get strong. If $300 is too much get one for what you can afford with a good feeling to it. Let your guitar store geek help you find one with good action. The key is to get one in your hands. As long as it has good action the quality is secondary. Don't wait till you have the money for a top intrument or you may lose your chance to start. Kirk, you gotta do this! Guitar is one of the greatest pleasures in life and it is never too late to start. In a few years you will be playing amazing stuff if you love it and put your fingers on the strings each day for a few minutes. I would love to come visit you and get you started, but feel free to call me from the number at my Website about your guitar www.curtisblues.com or email me privately. Get the free SKYPE program and a video cam and I'll give you you lessons to get your started. I am always happy to help another person to enter the bliss of a relationship with the guitar. It is one of the biggest secrets of happiness in life that I have discovered. You can do it and you will LOVE it Kirk. You have so much personal joy from playing to look forward to. It takes some dues to cultivate your fingers to be able to comfortably form the few chords you need to play 90% of popular music. Everyone thinks their hands are too small for guitar at first. Most guitarists are self-taught. There are as many ways to approach the instrument as there are people on earth. It is that wide a musical road you are starting on. You will find your own way. Everyone's fingers hurt at first and you think you are the only person who can't learn guitar. But you CAN. And you will LOVE it. I hope that helps you catch a fire brother! Guitar is a universe. It gives me so much every day of my life.
