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Every guitarist path is different but a universal truth must be to actually have a guitar in your house and then to have it in your hands every time you sit on the sofa.
Have fun .... it can be as frustrating as hell, but stick at it, you'll see improvement, and it beats watching rubbish on TV.
When learning, after your first purchase, stay away from GEAR ... it can be a massive distraction.
So don't read the below 🙂
How good are wireless/Bluetooth transmitters !!!
I picked up that Spark deal last week and the chap threw in a couple of seeming cheapo (about £30 on amazon) transmitters..... Love not having a lead, just seems less faff.
Not really had a chance to use the rest much, quick go on the 40 and a few attempts with the ulooper.
Looping is a skill, aye? Have got better each time, so looking forward to trying it some more and in conjunction with the airstep. Hoping to be able to put down a dirty rhythm hit the Airstep and put something clean over the top or vice verse... any tips?
If you are buying cheap it is also worth taking a friend along who knows how to play, especially if it's an acoustic. The action doesn't even need to be close to perfect but if it is bad you will be put right off. It's all a lot more fun if the action is good and even someone who has only played a little will spot it quickly. If you are buying from a shop don't be afraid to get them to play it for you so you can hear it. They don't mind. Guitars are ace
As others have said,go to your local guitar shop, with a mate and see what's on offer.
Personally I'd avoid electric, even when I was fairly accomplished at playing I would baulk playing through a dirty amplifier, the guitar would sound wrong with a humbucker.
Basically you just want to enjoy yourself.
Personally I’d avoid electric, even when I was fairly accomplished at playing I would baulk playing through a dirty amplifier, the guitar would sound wrong with a humbucker.
What?
Personally I’d avoid electric, even when I was fairly accomplished at playing I would baulk playing through a dirty amplifier, the guitar would sound wrong with a humbucker.
What
Sorry, came out wrong, what I meant to say was, I'd spend more time worrying about tone than playing.
I’d say it 100% depends on what music you’re into. Pop/folk/singer-songwriter stuff - sure, get an acoustic. It’s pretty hard to replicate rock/metal/indie sounds with an acoustic.
Gotta play what inspires you!
The beauty of an acoustic is that it’s self contained and you don’t need to plug it into anything so no pfaff, just pick it up and strum. One less impediment to just Picking it up…
It also has, as others Point out, less distraction as the sound that comes out of it is just (and always) that. Not time distracting/draining of playing about with settings, selectors, etc. (if you are trying to get that sound from a song that inspires you… good luck (which Pedals do you get and what Pickup/combination/guitar type do you need to replicate it?)).
Acoustics also need better finger technique, so will help instigate good/better habits from the get go.
What ever you get, make sure you get a (half decent) tuner. £15 that will save hours of pain and frustration from trying to tune your guitar (esP. As a beginner).
Yamaha is a decent brand that should give a decent acoustic intro for a beginner at whatever price point is desired (my advice would be start a ‘modest’ sub £350-400 as hell you might just not go the distance/hate it/nnot have the talent (not that that has stopped me mind!)
Electric guitars tend to be more fun and are easier to play, especially fast. I also use a headphone amp so nobody has to hear me practising which is not possible on an acoustic.
I also use a headphone amp so nobody has to hear me practising which is not possible on an acoustic.
Yeah, these get mentioned regularly, and I've posted a few times about the one I use. (Still haven't got around to buying the Mustang Micro...) but it's more faff than just grabbing an acoustic. I can pick up my Faith and be strumming immediately, so will do that when my kids are getting their shoes on for school or whatever, whereas I'd need to plug in my headphones, plug in the amp, turn everything on, get the settings right, strum...and we're out of the house. 😀
Also, acoustic can be rather more relaxing. As an example, I spent about 90 minutes playing Misirlou on the electric late one night, a few weeks ago, getting it to sound right, getting ME to sound right, and then adding embellishments and generally playing loud and quickly. I went to bed completely hyped, and needing to calm down. 😀
New band time 🙂
Having just joined a heavy rock/metal band I'm having a blast playing heavier stuff then I normally do - pulled out my Rat Turbo clone and Russian Big Muff for some chunky sounds.
We're working on a bunch of covers at the mo to lock in our sound and then will have a go at writing some original stuff.
So far we've had a go at Audioslave - Cochise, PotUSA - Lump, Velvet Revolver - Illegal I song, Skunk Anansie - Twisted, SoaD - Toxicity, Probot - Shake your Blood, Wolf Mother - The joker and the Thief, and Bad Religion - 21st century digital boy.
Might do some Rage next, or I fancy some Machinehead
Fun times ?
Anyone get any good christmas guitar related presents ??? I got a guitar slide - either I'm doing something wrong (probable) or it's harder than it looks
However I got a HX stomp (thanks Chipps ! ) and it's impressive, it's got all the sounds you'd ever need and a slightly bewildering range of functionality to set up presets, snapshots etc - sounds great just through headphones and will get it hooked into the amp at some point.
Anyone in north manchester need a bassist or guitarist ?
Ooh, what's the amp, @boardinbob ?
I've got picks in a tin, but all the ones I actually use are spread among the coin pockets of several pairs of jeans... and the floor. Bring back Van Halen-style double sided sticky tape on your guitar, I say!
Didn't get (or buy myself) any guitar-related pressies, apart from some cheap replacement tuners for my old Aria Pro II.
By contrast, I've actually been doing a reckoning of all of my guitars and pedals ahead of trying to sell many of them. I've got to 50 pedals(!) so far, plus a dozen guitars and a few amps... Anyone interested in the list? 🙂
LOLs at @eddiebaby 🙂 I managed the same once - just a The Dude drive, a cheap tape delay pedal and a Strymon Flint. But then I made a new, monster pedalboard with all of the leftovers... Currently flitting between four different boards.
@simondbarnes - I'll send it over. Only issue now is that they're all in France and I'm not planning on heading back until September. Someone like Daz is bound to be driving over this spring though.
Anyone else had a play with one of these badboys?
Made them for my nephews and now i am building byself one.
I got a guitar slide – either I’m doing something wrong (probable) or it’s harder than it looks
Try it with an open tuning like double drop D: 'DADGBD'
Quite a few tunes on Neil Youngs harvest moon album that are super easy to play like that, if you are into that sort of tning.
I bought a telecaster neck off of eBay and finally got a partscaster put together from various bits and bobs that have been gathering dust for a while. It’s actually turned out really well. Surf green nitro finished ash tele body, dark roasted maple neck with rosewood board. 3 saddle Fender ash tray bridge, some Squier Mustang tuners with white buttons. Cream Esquire pickguard. I did also buy a wiring kit from eBay comprising of quality pots, switch, cloth wire etc. Really enjoyed the soldering process. YouTube sorted me right out with soldering tutorials. The surf green nitro finish body had nicely checked as it was stored in our unheated outhouse for a year through heat and cold. I’ll get some pictures of it at some point. I think I enjoy fettling guitars as much if not more than playing them.
@joshvegas I made a CBG in 2023, it was a fun project and amusing to mess around with. I used a Chickenbone John kit so I could get all the materials and a pre-slotted fretboard but still had to carve neck, cut frets and so forth.
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I just last weekend finished my 2024 project actually! I cheated a little bit on this with a second-hand neck but joke's on me as I'll probably have to do a refret sooner than later. Carved with hand tools (inc belly cut and whatnot) but borrowed a palm router for the cavities. No kit this time so I'm quite pleased I managed to turn two planks of wood into this thing.
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My plan for 2025 is to learn to play the damn things as I really don't know how at all. But also I might build a through-neck Firebirdesque one, we shall see.
I’ve decided to pick this up again after selling my last guitar 10y ago to add more funds to the house deposit.
Just bought a cheap second hand PRS Hollowbody II SE and a little Fender Mini Twin amp. I’ll be headphones playing via the amp so as not to piss anyone off.
Can anyone recommend some YouTube tutorials for beginners?
If you are only playing through headphones it would be easier to just use something like a Mustang Micro as just the one cable for headphones and then bluetooth for any backing tracks.
@Daffy , YouTube is a blessing and curse for beginners. Loads of information out there, lots of it conflicting. Also very easy to get lost in stuff you are not ready for. There are also a lot of subscription sites with structured beginner courses. When I started bass, I signed up for one 14 day free trial after another, trying 3-4 and picked the one I liked best. Had a break in between to practice what I had covered. For me, a years subscription was well worth it. A proper structure really helped me. Also try to set aside regular time each week to play. My wife runs a guide pack and I used that night each week to get an uninterrupted hour each week, as well as squeezing in other practice when I could.
@daffy - nice guitar! Really light and resonant (I have one, too). To be honest, as they're fully hollow, they're loud enough without an amp if you're just practising.
Nice @milko9000 i made everything oit of scrap wood. I thought the fretting would be a nightmare but actually it was quite faff free.
Playing those was a welcome break from bashing out the same stuff on the guitar.
Might have to restart the 23 yearold electric project after i repair an acoustic headstock that had an run in with a hoover.
I've got a question that maybe the tinkerers/fettlers could help me with.
I'm getting quite a loud buzz when I select either the neck or bridge pickup on my PRS, and it doesn't reduce much when I'm touching the strings. Selector in the middle is almost silent, and the buzz reduces significantly if i pull the tone pot out to single coil mode.
I know almost nothing about electronics, but does this sound like a total amateur could fix or am I better just handing it over to a guitar shop?
Any pedals between the guitar and amp? My cheap Donner tuner causes a hell of a lot of buzz on my Les Paul. Doesn't buzz on my single coil guitars.
Nope, just a Fender Mustang Micro and some wired headphones
I guess the pickups are single coil so when you select the two together you're making a humbucker. You'll be picking up some 50hz interference from somewhere.
But thinking about it, it's worth seeing if you can take a look at the wiring and there might be an earthing wire that's come unsoldered.
With my P90 guitar sometimes if I just turned 90 degrees it stopped.
But in the end I went for replacement noiseless pickups which cost nearly as much as the Harley Benton.
And then I added locking tuners, graphite nut and had the trem properly balanced and it's now beautiful to play, sounding fantastic and worth about 20% of what I paid for it.
There's nothing wrong with cheap guitars that sound and play great. I often get asked about my Norman acoustic at jam nights. Best £200 I ever spent!
They're both humbucker pickups, which I thought were supposed to stop the interference noise
Check the earth wire on the guitar
Cheers, I'll give that a shot
Cab advice needed...
I've got a very nice late 70s/early 80s vintage 2x12 cab with celestions in. Very solid, sounds great (especially at louder volumes), but my god it's heavy!
I'm getting a bad back lugging it to practice every week or so. I did try taking along a 1x12 but it just doesn't have the oomph needed in a heavyish band.
So....suggestions for lighter 2x12 cabinets please 🙂
@ajantom - I can highly recommend Barefaced cabs. Super, super light cabs that are massively loud for the weight. As represented by Alex of this very parish...
https://barefacedaudio.com/collections/avd-guitar-cabs - I've used their 1x10 cab with an EVH lunchbox amp and it's more than kept up with a heavy drummer. I'm trying to justify a 2x10 vertical, just so I don't have to bend down as much to tweak the amp 🙂
Another question for the fettlers:
I work away a lot, to the point that I'm out of the UK more than I'm in the UK, and that's not conducive to building up good practice habits. There are guitar players and guitars here at work but none of them are left-handed. I'm not keen on travelling with my actiual guitar so I'm thinking about something inexpensive to take with me and leave at work. Wondering if I'm better off with a £60 B-stock Harley Benton Tele copy or a £75 build-it-yourself Harley Benton strat copy or something else. It'll be purely for keeping up my practice, don't need it to be anything outstanding. Electric preferred cos I can be quiet if I want but there's a little mini-amp available as well if needed.
Interested in the DIY one as a fan of tinkering, but if they're too much messing about to be usable I'll dismiss that thought.
+1 on the Fender Mustang Micro for practice / headphone playing. I picked one up 2md hand on Fleabay, along with some nice Yamaha headphones.
Whilst the tone isn't nuanced or infinitely adjustable, it's plenty good enough for what I'm doing, getting back onto playing after a 20-30 year gap.
Check local Facebook marketplace, I got a squier strat for £30 since flipped to upgrade but if your quick there are some great bargains.
The whole Blackstar St James range is supposed to be based around making everything lighter. They do a vertical 2x12 that's 13.5kg and you can get them S/H for £300...
And happy 100 pages to this thread! Nice work @eddiebaby !
The St James cabs look good, though I also remembered that DV Mark (guitar arm of Mark Bass) do really light neodymium speakered cabs - under 12kg for a 2x12 apparently!
I really like DV Mark stuff, I've got a Micro 50 amp/head which is excellent, especially for use with pedals.
Will keep an eye on second hand stuff - main issue is that 2nd hand guitar cabs seem to be almost always collection only.
...well I lucked out on eBay, and got a mint condition 2 x 12 DV Mark cab (with Neodymium magnet drivers, so nice and light at 11.5kg) for £200.
Pairs really well with my DV Mark Micro 50 head, and sounds bloody marvelous 🙂
just been watching the latest NAAM vids from Andertons, he was on the Strandberg stand and this cropped up:
Passed me by in 2023 as I'd never picked up a guitar then but hello this must be the most thing I ever wanted!!!! I was fancying a Strandberg anyway but this.....titanium....thru axles......travel.....Mason....I mean its got to be the most Singletrackworld guitar ever...why do I not know about this?
I’m not sure I’d trust the views of anyone who thinks Strandberg were the first headless guitars…
- Maybe he typed Steinberger into google by mistake. Even then there were earlier guitars…
" Mason….I mean its got to be the most Singletrackworld guitar ever…why do I not know about this?"
I did half-write a story about this after last year's NAMM show, including a chat with Dom and Ola, but never found the time to finish it... sorry!
I did a thing……….
before……
after….
Managed to all the soldering well enough to avoid any weird buzzing so I’m stoked
that looks a really good job, did you spray over the sunburst or did you lift it all off back to the wood ?
just sanded the poly with a rough grade then put primer over it. Internet research suggested this approach was ok!
The metallic green was an acrylic with a nitro gloss coat so should be a little more durable than a regular nitro colour
Not sure if they've been mentioned on here yet but I used a few Christmas vouchers to put towards a Positive Grid Spark 2 amp/speaker/thing and I'm really impressed. Sounds a bit bass-y if it's not pointing at you but other than that it is quite literally every single effects pedal you could wish for combined into a loud-ish portable amp. Me n the kids are loving it so far, Mrs FlyingOx not so much.
Also lots of love for the Harley Benton DIY Strat kit. Talked work into buying one for the left handed amongst us and I've just finished applying a tobacco-burst effect to the main body. Very therapeutic. No idea what it sounds like yet, that'll become apparent next month.
I like the look of it. But there is zero chance I'm going to buy one.
How to make a heavy guitar even heavier... 😉
I can thoroughly recommend 'Marr's Guitars' - coffee table book. Loads of great guitar pics, but some really good stories in there too - he seemed to have singlehandedly helped Britpop with their classic guitar needs. 'Oh this one? Yeah, I sent it down to Oasis to borrow for their first album'... I'm not even a huge fan, but found it super interesting.
Well, my acoustic guitar search grew arms and legs somewhat and after trying out a fair few different ones I ended up with this which I absolutely love.
Furch Blue Deluxe Gc CM (cedar top, mahogany back and sides). Really comfortable with a double cutaway, and sounds absolutely tremendous. 
What a lovely guitar. I watched a review recently of one of their guitars with the contoured top section and immediately thought what a brilliant idea! Why aren’t all larger bodied guitars made like that…my Faith Neptune could really do with being a bit less pointy, especially when playing in a t shirt
I am planning getting a Furth when my playing improves and I can justify it, you can get some options I want from them, OMc body (slightly smaller body with cutout) and a 48mm nut. There is a dealer quite close to me (within walking distance) so I keep meaning to have a walk and chat about how much it would cost, I get the feeling that their dealers can just order the guitar with the options without any extra cost, but it isn't clear.
https://furchguitars.com/en/instruments/blue-series/blue-plus-sw/?v=OMc
I just sold my martin X-Series GPC-X2E as I couldn't deal with the small (standard) neck size with my xxl hands and am playing a ibanez aw417ce-ops which has a 48mm nut, but the body is larger and even as a beginner I can tell it just doesn't sound as nice as the martin, and isn't as comfortable, so every time I play it there is just that little disappointing feeling nagging away at the back of my mind. I probably wouldn't even think about it if I had bought the ibanez first.
Yeah it makes for a nice comfortable guitar. Some of the Taylors have a bevel too. The photo makes the top look like it has a lighter coloured patch but that's a reflection of the light behind me. Tried the Sitka walnut version too but preferred the sound of this one.
I can thoroughly recommend 'Marr's Guitars' - coffee table book. Loads of great guitar pics, but some really good stories in there too
Mini 10 got me Marr's Guitars for Christmas. It's a beautiful book. Unfortunately, Mini 10 decided he wanted a green burst guitar like JM's green burst tele after we looked through the book.
Not sure if quoting is working correctly...
Well I treated myself to a new 5M guitar lead today. Got it from designacable and as I no longer have a Strat I had a Neutric Silent 90° to straight using Mogami Gold cable.
I cannot believe how different the guitar sounds. It is like I've gone HiFi all of a sudden. Well worth the extra pennies.
On the subject of "what a difference that made!" I've recently rewired my Epi Les Paul.
I replaced the naff wiring and Epi branded switch and jack socket with braided wire and Switchcraft parts, and got it some fancy looking capacitors.
I also got lucky and got a couple of new pickups quite cheap. "Only" Irongear ones but they're more suited to the guitar's use case than the stock ones were I think.
Looking moar metal with black knobs and poker chip 😊
My, albeit limited, experience with Epiphone electronics was the p up selector switch was a massive bag of shite.
In fairness mine worked OK but was a bit clacky and naff-feeling and didn't really inspire confidence in its long term longevity.
Fitting the Switchcraft in was a bit tricky because the switch body is a lot deeper, but it feels a lot nicer in use and should last.
I'm mostly amazed at how much the noise floor has dropped with the shielded wiring throughout.
testing
So my middle child has just started playing guitar! He wanted to do electric but they didn't have a teacher for that coming into school so he's started on a classical (I found a cheap NOS Spanish 1/2 size in town). Lesson 3 today and before school he was keenly showing his little sister (age 5) all the "songs" he's learnt and then the one he's written (all open strings, he's not learnt about fretting notes yet). Curious to see where this goes, he's quite unique!
I've currently got a saved basket at Thomann.de (the easiest place for me to buy stuff, as I don't have a local shop), which is just new guitar strings and some cables and jacks to make my own patch cables, and I find I keep adding and removing bits and pieces, depending on how distracted I get (or how much work I'm supposed to be doing...)
Anyone else do virtual shopping like this? In the last fortnight, my basket has gained (and then lost when I've changed my Mr Toad fickleness...) the following:
- BOSS SDE-3000 dual delay,
- Blackstar Amped 3 er, amp,
- Valve amp attenuator
- Several tuner pedals
- PRS Swamp Ash SE
- Epiphone Explorer
- Several Les Paul Junior guitars
- Several semi-hollow guitars
- Active FRFR cabs and/or column PA speakers
- BOSS SDE-3 dual delay, hey, it's different to the one above
- Pedalboards, several...
- UA Enigmatic overdrive (Dumble pedal)
- Several other overdrives
- Several chorus pedals
And now I'm back to just having the strings that I actually need, except I won't allow myself to hit 'buy' as that would just be boring... 🙂
I should point out that I can't actually afford or justify any of this stuff, as I'm not gigging, don't have any cash, so it'd go on a credit card, plus I probably have several worthy alternatives to just about everything I want to buy...
There's no hope! 🙂
Does anyone else go pretend shopping online when very busy/very bored?
You probably don’t want to hear that Peach are doing the PRS SE swamp ash in charcoal for £499 since shipping to you would cost a bit more….
I could always get it shipped to my mum's (or a forum member...) until I'm over next 😉
Chipps, I’m so bad at spending money that when I needed new bass cabs rather than buying some I decided to design some - and look where that led me!
I do have a bit of a pedal problem but having finally built a new board for them all and got everything neatly connected I’ll be damned if I’m changing that lot again…
I’ll share it here as you guitarists seem to appreciate pedals more than many bassists!
And that's your bass pedalboard? Nice! 🙂
And lovely lead dressing, too...
That is a mighty pedal board for bass!
What do they all do?
If I was in the audience ( I was a bassist long before becoming a guitarist) would I notice?
ive recently started learning bass (and contributing on the bassists thread). talking about it with my daughter and she says shes always wanted to learn electric guitar. i never knew! 😀
whats her best 'in'? she knows nothing about reading music either so she'd be starting from absolute zero. should she look for a cheap second hand acoustic to get used to chords etc? or straight in at the deep end with a guitar and small amp?
and im really impressed with my Bassbuzz course. is there anything similar for guitar?
thanks
How old is she?
Tyred jr the younger (17) picked up my acoustic last summer, started investigating (picked up chords off YouTube then guitar pro and guitar tuna) and had the sort of maddeningly natural progress young people with time to spare can make. Plays really well now, way better than me. He’s the kind of kid who quietly goes off and finds stuff out, didn’t want lessons or anything.
Bought him a cheap strat copy and practice amp for Christmas, he loves it.
He took my acoustic into town in a soft case the other week and did a couple hours’ busking, made 45 quid! Didn’t tell us until he came home - he seeks forgiveness, not permission.
@sadexpunk, I started learning bass and guitar at the same time, I am one of the people who recommended you bassbuzz on the bass thread. With guitar, I tried a few online guitar resources as well, and I can honestly say that justin guitar is far the best for beginners and its free, IMO it blows the online pay courses that I tried away. He isn't just someone who knows how to play guitar, he knows how to teach, including how to structure the lessons advise on what and how to structure practice, in the bass thread I even might have advised you to look at some of his early guitar lessons to just help with structuring and learning bass
How old is she?
shes 40
and I can honestly say that justin guitar is far the best for beginners and its free, IMO it blows the online pay courses that I tried away.
lovely, ill recommend that then once we've sourced a guitar for her.
any acoustic/'starter electric guitars' to either recommend or avoid?
cheers
If going acoustic I would perhaps look at something with a slightly smaller body size, even as a big guy I find a slightly smaller body acoustic so much easier to handle and more comfortable. Go to a store if possible to try some different body sizes to see how comfortable they are, especially when learning that comfort factor can make a big difference.
An acoustic is easy to start and needs little extra equipment, but if she wants to play electric really maybe won't be as inspiring to pick up and practice.
That is a mighty pedal board for bass!
What do they all do?
If I was in the audience ( I was a bassist long before becoming a guitarist) would I notice?
Ok, so this might be a bit of an essay! This pedalboard grew out of me writing a load of songs on bass, recording some bits with a singer I’d recruited, and then Tim from RATM (excuse the name-drop!) saying I didn’t need to add a guitarist, that the bass was enough. So wanting to add texture and colour and dynamics I added a “few” more pedals to my previous board. I’ll share the studio recordings once they’re done - life has been getting rather in the way for the three of us (there’s a drummer as well).
There’s three FX loops, controlled by the triple stomp red/blue/green switcher. That allows me to turn multiple pedals on and off in one stomp, with the switches in a triangle so I can hit any 1, 2 or 3 at once. The pedals in corresponding loops have matching stomp toppers (I took this photo before I’d got some more blue ones) to make it easier to understand.
Loop 1:
Foxrox Octron 3
(octavier + sub-octave)
Barefaced Machinist
(parallel drive + fuzz + clean)
MXR Bass Envelope Filter
Loop 2:
Fulltone Bassdrive
(overdrive - it’s not a Fulldrive, it’s a Mk1 Bassdrive)
Barefaced Machinist
Loop 3:
Hamstead Subspace
(drive)
MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe
(also does flange)
EQD Grand Orbiter
(phase)
EQD Hummingbird
(tremolo)
Boss DD3 Delay
MXR Reverb
There’s also Cali76 Bass compressor which I got for my future funk project for dialling in slap sounds and also to possibly compress the dry signal when recording DI with wet and dry channels for this rig. So that’s in front but not active for this project for now.
And a Peterson Strobostomp tuner.
How am I using this stuff? Well, one song the first half is clean, the second half is just the drive on the second Machinist. Another song starts with envelope, then has slight bright lean overdrive from the Subspace into tremolo in the verses, then the thin buzzy fuzz with big clean parallel sound on the second Machinist on the choruses, then the verse and chorus FX together on the bridge.
Another song starts the verse with phase, then dark drive from the first Machinist in the chorus, then bright drive from the second Machinist in the bridge, then octavier (fuzz octave) and sub-octave from the Octron in the interlude, then phase and reverb in an instrumental verse, then the Octron again in the final chorus.
I’ve actually written everything for this project on an acoustic bass guitar, and I think that brought out a lot of guitarry bass playing - loads of chords, sometimes just power chords but also more complex stuff, parts where I play a simple guitar line over a simple bass line at one, sometimes just heavy riffing and allowing dirt to fill up the midrange and treble space. Fingers not pick, but also strumming using nails and thumb-plucking too. Whatever makes the right sound!
One song uses parallel fuzz, drive and clean from the second Machinist on the intro, then fuzz and clean in the pre-verse, clean in the verse, all three in the chorus, clean in the verse, overdrive (from the Bassdrive) in the pre-chorus, into fuzz and parallel “clean” (now the Bassdrive’s overdrive) for the final chorus and then adds the Machinist’s drive too for the second half of the final chorus. So on that one song we’ve got a clean sound plus five different dirty sounds to give the range of textures that one or two guitars would normally add.
So you’d definitely notice - the effects aren’t subtle and are there to make the bass sound like a whole band (within the limitations of four strings and no phrase looping etc)
The two most important things with a first guitar are the neck (how easy is it to form the common chord shapes and get them to ring out pleasingly) and its looks (how hard it is to walk past it without wanting to pick it up).
any advice on a first proper acoustic guitar for my soon to be 19yo lad.
He's had a little (3/4 size) cheap acoustic that he can play reasonably well still, but he's not a little chap and can easily play a big one. We're going to the LGS later for a look and play, so following that as advice already and it might be very well 'yep, this one'
But among all the options - classical vs folk? Parlours, dreadnoughts, mid-sized 00 or 000....at the price point (say £300, maybe a bit more - wife's school gets all their instruments here and so she's sweet-talked them into a possible deal) is having an electro-acoustic worth it or compromise?
Only real steer so far is he doesn't like the look of the classic pale wood, prefers darker. And coming from a small guitar, felt a dreadnought was massive.
Last time he looked was with my daughter on a London trip and they were in Denmark St. I think the first number of stuff the guy there let him have a play on was quite a bit bigger, maybe even back to a 1.
I have a dreadnought, it's what I take to Jam nights down the pub. Id like something a bit smaller (as well) like the Ed Sheeran style Lowdens. I also have a Yamaha nylon hybrid which is great but not suitable as a one and only guitar. 2 electrics which I mostly play without an amp. But even though I would love an epiphone casino it wouldn't work as my only guitar, whereas a solid telecaster just might.