The Official Guitar Thread

Yeah, I think I'm doing something weird with my pick hand. I need to ask my teacher about it some more.

Still though, for being like 7 months in to playing seriously, I think I'm doing alright.

Are you pre-fretting the next notes and possibly muting the string too early? It's something I notice a lot of newer players do - they seem to jump the gun too much.

I think what it is is that I might be putting the pick back on the string too quickly after I play a note, but I'm not 100% sure.

That could do it

I was at a family get-together the other day (me and fiance's parents finally meeting ~3 weeks before the wedding) and everyone wanted to hear me play the guitar. My dad has old Marshall Plexis, some Les Pauls, strats, etc. He played in the 70-80's gigging every weekend playing covers, so you can imagine his style. I play mostly death metal/shred stuff.. it's just awkward. Like, ok.. do you guys want to hear "Fuck of Death" or perhaps some At the Gates or? Random post, just feels awkward when you don't know anything anyone would recognize.

Guitarists into jazz and metal are odd like that. Many seem to stick to their respective genre and that's it. Broaden your horizons, son! Or just jam around without playing an actual song. It just sounds like noodling at first, but eventually you'll settle into something that jives well and you can expand on that idea. At least that's what I do when I typically play. I don't really learn other peoples' songs these days. I learn maybe 10 songs a year.

Just play Wonderwall!

Heh I don't learn anything new, unless the riff really catches me and I want to see how they did it. Most of what I do is just noodling nowadays (noodleface!)

I'm a noob guitar player, but I thought I would post my generic practice routine.


1. Maker's Mark Whisky, straight and splashed into a small glass of ice.

2. Finger and wrist exercises where I just gently roll and stretch everything while watching youtube. I sometimes wrap a light rubber band loosely around my fingers and then try to open up my hand like flower (extensor workout).

3. Tune guitar with a tc electronic polytune pedal. I have been told it is better to just tune the low e string and then use my ear to tune the other strings.

4. Noob Spider Stretchy drill, first position. Good form, first finger first fret .. second finger second fret .. third finger third fret, etc. Keep fingers curved and perpendicular to neck. No metronome, just try and get a clean loud note. Start at 6th string work down to high e then back up. Two to four laps.

5. Scales. Stand, set metronome to 66bpm, tap left foot. Stare out across room (not at guitar or hands) Practice A minor pentatonic .. if I make it down and back four times with absolutely no errors ... I bump metronome up to next setting. (Currently 66, next step is 69bpm)

6. Noodle some open chord progressions GCD, AED, A7E7D7, etc.

7. Either practice hellish chord transitions from F to ... anything or try to crawl through the Counting Crows "Mr. Jones" metronome 60bpm

8. "House of Rising Sun" picking exercise, metronome 60bpm

9. "Manic Depression" - Jimi Hendrix, I use Justin Sandercoe's lesson.

10. Finish with a 12 bar blues riff, no metronome.

11. Might noodle, depends on how sore fingers are.

That doesn't sound bad. I need to do a bit more structured practicing.

What's your gear like?

I've found good deals on Craigslist for things like that.

I think I need to get another amp. God, GAS sucks.

I went to a jam session the other night that didn't have amps on hand, so I had to plug into the house PA. It was awful.

What do you guys think of a Bugera V22 as a cheap early small room amp? My Vibro Champ can't compete with drummers, and I want something that will be inexpensive enough that if it gets fucked up I won't be too sad about it. They have pretty good reviews online aside from slightly cheap build quality.

Duppin_sl said:

I think I need to get another amp. God, GAS sucks.

I went to a jam session the other night that didn't have amps on hand, so I had to plug into the house PA. It was awful.

What do you guys think of a Bugera V22 as a cheap early small room amp? My Vibro Champ can't compete with drummers, and I want something that will be inexpensive enough that if it gets fucked up I won't be too sad about it. They have pretty good reviews online aside from slightly cheap build quality.

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There is no such thing as an amp so inexpensive that you don't give a shit about it that also sounds good and can keep up with drummers. If there was, we would all own one.

Bugeras are shitty. They're knockoffs of big name amps, built with cheap components. They're Behringer's attempt to tap into the boutique market, and I'm yet to hear anything good about them. If you buy one, don't expect to gig with it reliably. If you want a decent inexpensive amp that sounds good, check out the Tech21 Trademark 30 or Trademark 60. You'll need to spend more if you want to keep up with a live drummer, but otherwise the TM30 is a great sounding little amp for not much scratch.

Or for about $500, get yourself a used Peavey 6505+ combo and lay waste to everyone around you. Viking helmet optional.

Alright, I had a feeling I was missing something with the Bugera. So hard to figure this shit out from online reviews.

I don't think a 6505+ would work for me. I'm not a metal guy, you keep forgetting! I need something with nice cleans and a bit of crunch for blues (although my Jekyll & Hide is fine for adding the crunch, so the cleans are more important).

Preferably a combo, for ease of carrying. I could go up to like $800 but I wouldn't want to go much past that.

Ah dude, at $800 the world is your oyster. Go to a local shop and just play a bunch of shit and see what you like. You can nab a used Mesa Rectoverb or Nomad for under $800 easy, and they're awesome blues amps with asskicking clean tones.

I'm still going to recommend metal stuff to you though. It's part of my one man mission to turn everyone into an obnoxious shredder!

Goddamn metalhead!

I'll play some shit at my regular shop tomorrow, and see what they think. I'm sure they'll try to sell me a $2k vintage Princeton or something, but I can poke around.

My usual tip is play amps at guitar center and then buy them online somewhere else cheaper.

Can't give many suggestions as I am a metal guy as well though. I did LOL at Seventh's suggestion of a 6505+ haha. I had a 5150 and it was one of my favorite amps, but i could not picture Duppin using one. It would be akin to recommending an ENGL Fireball

Duppin_sl said:

Goddamn metalhead!

I'll play some shit at my regular shop tomorrow, and see what they think. I'm sure they'll try to sell me a $2k vintage Princeton or something, but I can poke around.

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Crazy boutique tube amps are (in my experience) 99% hype. A buddy of mine has a Dumble super overdrive (~$50k ultra rare amp) and honestly, it sounds like a generic Fender twin.