Guitar Player's Thread

Realistically, to start improving on guitar, you’re going to need to set aside a bit of time to practice. Developing a daily routine is a good idea… planning to spend at least 15 minutes daily practicing all you’ve learned will really help. At first, your fingers will be sore, but by playing daily, they’ll toughen up, and in a short amount of time, they’ll stop hurting.

The following list should give you an idea of how to spend your practice time:

Get your guitar in tune. Make sure you’re sitting, holding the guitar, and using your pick properly. You’ll have to correct your natural bad habits at first, until it becomes second nature. Play the chromatic scale several times. Try playing it backwards. Play each of the three chords you’ve learned. Check to be sure each note is ringing. If not, find out why, and correct the problem. Try moving from one chord to another. Before switching chords, mentally picture exactly where each finger is going to move in order to play the next chord. Only then should you switch chords.

This is the key to switching chords quickly. If you’re having trouble getting your chords to ring clearly, read this feature on getting your chords to ring clearly. Try playing some, or all of the songs listed above. At first, try only to think of the songs as a way in which to practice playing chords. Don’t get discouraged. This is hard stuff at first, and you’ll probably feel like you can’t do it. You certainly can. Everyone struggles, so just put in your 15 minutes, and then don’t worry about it until the next time you play. This is supposed to be fun! That’s it for now!
 
hey, I recently got a RR shaped guitar but I can't really get used to play it esp sitting down, i feel that the normal shaped guitars are much more comfortable yet I see players with v guitars that make em look easier to play, if u got one, how long did it take to get used to it did ur left thumb hurt like mine?
 
srob7001 said:
Did get rid of it though. Just couldn't get used to 7 strings. Always was throwing me off.
Click to expand...

I s'pose you could always just get a baritone-scale guitar. Although I really like being able to still play the high notes with the use of a 7-string. How long did you give it to get used to it? It's been a few months for me now and it's not like I'm as used to it as I am with my 6-strings yet, but I can play through songs w/ a bit of extra practice. I believe I read some Rusty Cooley interview a long time ago saying it took him a minimum of 6 months before he felt comfortable with a 7-string, and another six months to a year to feel comfortable on an 8-string. I mean, we have our whole lives ahead of us to play these instruments. I just think it's a bit of a shame to dismiss the added possibilities of extended-range guitars due to impatience or frustration with taking the time to get used to it, that's all. During the short time I've had my 7 it's already expanded my musical compositional imagination/abilities, and songs I've written could have never been possible with just a 6. I'll be wanting an 8 at some point! :p

charli said:
hey, I recently got a RR shaped guitar but I can't really get used to play it esp sitting down, i feel that the normal shaped guitars are much more comfortable yet I see players with v guitars that make em look easier to play, if u got one, how long did it take to get used to it did ur left thumb hurt like mine?
Click to expand...

For me it was honestly quite comfortable right from the start. I feel weird playing with non-V's now. It feels very similar to how it would feel when playing standing, you just need to work on how to fit the guitar properly into your lap. Try playing standing with it strapped on, and then just slowly sit down and try keeping the guitar in that same angle/positioning when you sit. Do what you gotta do with your legs/torso/feet/etc. Here are some tips/methods/examples.

1. Sit with your right foot scooted out away from you, so that your right leg is lower than your left, setting up proper positioning for classical position. As seen in the picture below, this really only works when what you're sitting on is low enough.
2. Use a footstool and prop your left foot onto it.
3. Alternate version of #2: your right food turned onto its side can double as a footstool. warning: your right foot/leg can start to hurt and/or lose bloodflow after a while :lol: but you can always just adjust your position, there are so many ways to sit with it comfortably to be honest.
4. Cross your left leg over your right leg as if you were doing a manly leg-cross, but instead you have your guitar secured between your two legs now. Most ideal for situations where you're sitting on a stool or something too high up for any of the other methods to be applicable.
5. Sometimes what I do is sit the bottom wing onto my padded chair and just play without my legs propping the guitar up (only really works with RR models, especially Jackson/Edwards/ESP where the lower wing has the real short length).

Example of #1:
Alexi_Laiho_clinic_by_madoa.jpg


Example of #2: (except your legs won't have to be so spread due to the V shape and there being much less body under the bridge than compared with a classical guitar)
classic_sit.jpg


Example of #3:
27990508137c757de0d11.jpg


Example of #4:
rockhousedvdface2cometo.jpg


Cheers.
 
charli said:
hey, I recently got a RR shaped guitar but I can't really get used to play it esp sitting down, i feel that the normal shaped guitars are much more comfortable yet I see players with v guitars that make em look easier to play, if u got one, how long did it take to get used to it did ur left thumb hurt like mine?
Click to expand...

eveningninja explained it pretty well, and to me it also felt natural and not weird from the word go with my RR.
 
On my quest to make extremely epic orchestral choir film trailer metal... I finally got to try out Symphonic Choirs

But then I decided to add in the Wordbuilder.

Fuck, that shit is wack, yo, tried all night to get it to work but the shit is just...... frustrating as fuck.

I need a MIDI keyboard.
 
eveningninja said:
I s'pose you could always just get a baritone-scale guitar. Although I really like being able to still play the high notes with the use of a 7-string. How long did you give it to get used to it? It's been a few months for me now and it's not like I'm as used to it as I am with my 6-strings yet, but I can play through songs w/ a bit of extra practice. I believe I read some Rusty Cooley interview a long time ago saying it took him a minimum of 6 months before he felt comfortable with a 7-string, and another six months to a year to feel comfortable on an 8-string. I mean, we have our whole lives ahead of us to play these instruments. I just think it's a bit of a shame to dismiss the added possibilities of extended-range guitars due to impatience or frustration with taking the time to get used to it, that's all. During the short time I've had my 7 it's already expanded my musical compositional imagination/abilities, and songs I've written could have never been possible with just a 6. I'll be wanting an 8 at some point! :p



For me it was honestly quite comfortable right from the start. I feel weird playing with non-V's now. It feels very similar to how it would feel when playing standing, you just need to work on how to fit the guitar properly into your lap. Try playing standing with it strapped on, and then just slowly sit down and try keeping the guitar in that same angle/positioning when you sit. Do what you gotta do with your legs/torso/feet/etc. Here are some tips/methods/examples.

1. Sit with your right foot scooted out away from you, so that your right leg is lower than your left, setting up proper positioning for classical position. As seen in the picture below, this really only works when what you're sitting on is low enough.
2. Use a footstool and prop your left foot onto it.
3. Alternate version of #2: your right food turned onto its side can double as a footstool. warning: your right foot/leg can start to hurt and/or lose bloodflow after a while :lol: but you can always just adjust your position, there are so many ways to sit with it comfortably to be honest.
4. Cross your left leg over your right leg as if you were doing a manly leg-cross, but instead you have your guitar secured between your two legs now. Most ideal for situations where you're sitting on a stool or something too high up for any of the other methods to be applicable.
5. Sometimes what I do is sit the bottom wing onto my padded chair and just play without my legs propping the guitar up (only really works with RR models, especially Jackson/Edwards/ESP where the lower wing has the real short length).

Example of #1:
Alexi_Laiho_clinic_by_madoa.jpg


Example of #2: (except your legs won't have to be so spread due to the V shape and there being much less body under the bridge than compared with a classical guitar)
classic_sit.jpg


Example of #3:
27990508137c757de0d11.jpg


Example of #4:
rockhousedvdface2cometo.jpg


Cheers.
Click to expand...

children of COB said:
eveningninja explained it pretty well, and to me it also felt natural and not weird from the word go with my RR.
Click to expand...

thanks guys, its just that my left hand has to angle more and it feels weird, plu my thumb hurts when it's touching the neck instead of the palm, f ex when i play quick power chords..
 
charli said:
thanks guys, its just that my left hand has to angle more and it feels weird, plu my thumb hurts when it's touching the neck instead of the palm, f ex when i play quick power chords..
Click to expand...

Well, think of it this way... when your arm is dropped and relaxed by your side, is your palm facing up or to the side? It's facing to the side, so in reality by playing in classical position your left hand is less angled from its natural state than if you were to play with the traditional electric guitar sitting position.

You're probably pressing with your thumb too much. Your thumb is only there as support to counteract the force of your fingers fretting the fretboard. You only need your thumb to be pressing as hard as your fingers are pressing (not hard), and it's likely you may even be fretting with more force than necessary. Also, it's still acceptable to palm the neck at times, but just try to get used to not always doing that because it won't help you with much more than playing power chords.

And I felt some of these same issues when I first started playing seated like this, you'll get used to it as time goes on. Just relax :cool:
 
Ensi said:
On my quest to make extremely epic orchestral choir film trailer metal... I finally got to try out Symphonic Choirs

But then I decided to add in the Wordbuilder.

Fuck, that shit is wack, yo, tried all night to get it to work but the shit is just...... frustrating as fuck.

I need a MIDI keyboard.
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. I haven't even got it to work with my midi keyboard.
 
eveningninja said:
Well, think of it this way... when your arm is dropped and relaxed by your side, is your palm facing up or to the side? It's facing to the side, so in reality by playing in classical position your left hand is less angled from its natural state than if you were to play with the traditional electric guitar sitting position.

You're probably pressing with your thumb too much. Your thumb is only there as support to counteract the force of your fingers fretting the fretboard. You only need your thumb to be pressing as hard as your fingers are pressing (not hard), and it's likely you may even be fretting with more force than necessary. Also, it's still acceptable to palm the neck at times, but just try to get used to not always doing that because it won't help you with much more than playing power chords.

And I felt some of these same issues when I first started playing seated like this, you'll get used to it as time goes on. Just relax :cool:
Click to expand...

ur right man thankz 4 the answer :kickass:
btw what guitar have u got?
 
Awesome. :) You really need one if you're going to work with sample libraries for a better workflow. I have an m-audio one. I got EWQL's Symphonic Choirs too and it's epic. As for orchestral stuff, I use Symphonic Orchestra Gold Pro XP, and Stormdrums. Listen to Symphony X's "Oculus ex Inferni" for an example of what can be done with these same libraries.

@charli: Don't think too much about it. Just relax and find what's most comfortable to you.
 
^Epic! I want Stormdrum too :(

But I think I am taking in way more than I can handle. I'm gonna try to get semi-good at SO and SC before I move on to Stormdrum :)
 
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