The Guitar Pron Thread

[tbone_ 14,020]

My current girlfriend of a few years now is super supportive.

Fantastic. Mine is the best singer I’ve ever heard. Wasn’t the plan but that’s how it worked out.

Someone asked us the other night if we had any intentions of slowing down or had lost an zeal after 3 years. We both said independently with no hesitation - nope, not at all.

If that changes I’ll certainly have to adjust. But for now so far so good.

[nbmishoid 930]

Well, after learning a few chords post college and playing at drunken parties with friends, I met my wife and the guitar went in the case.  I sang a lot at this time, and got good feedback.  Well, 40 plus years later I’m recommitting.  Guitar will come with 3 hours a day practice.   But the singing is just awful.  
 

I will look for a voice coach, t-bone, thanks.  Glad to see that is a real option.  You guys sounded good.  
 

And Bogey - how do you ever put that thing down?

Edited March 6, 2023 by nbmishoid

[Handcruser 2,805]

Thank you. And as usual, mr fuck has good insight. And they definitely don’t care if you miss things here and there. What they do care about though imo is are you delivering the song with confidence. If you are fumbling around and letting the song sing you instead of you singing the song they will pick up on it. And it will not be good for the vibe.

I was in exactly your same boat. For decades. Always played. Always wanted to play live. Never had the confidence. Never had the right situation blah blah blah whatever. And it always bugged me. Gnawed at me. Never really went away. I would see people playing all the time, some who were very good and would blow me away. But many who honestly were just meh, but getting paid and playing, and I’d think man I think I could at least be that good.

So about 5-6 years ago I set a goal to try to get paid to make music. Long tall mountain to climb. But who gives a fuck. The climb is fun. If I make it I make it. If not, we’ll at least I tried. But every day I tried to take a few steps up the hill. My rationale with trying to get paid is that no one will tell you the truth if you suck. But if they pay you, and even better invite you back, well then there’s your answer.

It was a commitment. And has taken a ton of work. And priorities. It was a catalyst in my divorce. (Not to digress, but not saying it was the cause, but just shed light on an already problematic situation. What good is a supposed life partner who can’t support someone chasing a lifelong dream? Happy to have this longer discussion elsewhere if anyone is interested).

I couldn’t sing for shit. Found a really good and cool voice coach. Spent a bunch of time with her. She was as much of a performance coach as just a voice coach. But she was amazing at both. Berklee degree, legit bonafides. She’s the one that really helped me understand the confidence concept. Her line was, if you haven’t practiced a song so much you are completely sick of it, you aren’t ready to perform it. It will sing you and people will pick up on it. So practice. A lot.

The first day I went in for a lesson, I had stalled all I could stall and finally had to sing. She stopped me about half way through and said yea, no, that really just isn’t working at all. Holy fuck that was horrifying. But she was great about it and we kept going. She was like my goal is to get you playing out if that what you want to do. I said fine but you have to tell me the truth, because no one else will. If you won’t tell me it sucks if it sucks, then I can never believe you when you say it’s good and I’m ready. That was our deal. I still wasn’t sure I believed her.

I did this for about six months. Then ventured to some open mics. Didn’t tell anyone where or when. Also holy fucking shit. That’s eye opening. But I did it. And the dudes there were great. Totally welcoming and understanding. Did a dozen or so of those but they get old pretty quick. Lots of waiting around for 2/3/4 tunes. No warm up, no time to get into a groove, pa always sucks etc etc. But they serve their purpose - they will get you over your stage fright. If you bust through that wall just once, when you are done it will feel pretty damn cool after.

The lady singer was part of our larger band. After an offhand comment one time we ended up doing so couple tunes at a couple open mics. After trying for a year to get the other guitarist to do it with me. (He’s really really good, but acoustic shit is for fags, Def Leppard man!). Anyway, we just sort of liked doing it and it grew from there. It definitely helps to play with someone who can sing like that. May will be our 3 year anniversary of getting paid to make music. We’ve probably done 200 paid gigs. Have about 250 songs we can do. We’ve done clubs, bars, private parties, corporate gigs, charity events, etc etc. We get invited back all the time from places we play. We’re booked as much as we want to play. Probably made close to $50k so far. But beyond the money it’s far and away the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Probably ever.

The point of this long story is that I am nothing special. I’m a hack guitar player and an even worse hack singer. But I found someone to help me, and just worked at it. I firmly believe that anyone who can play even a little can do at least what I’ve done if they want to. And probably be much better.

The mountain is climbable for anyone who wants to get up there.

/end of sermon

Yeah - thanks for posting this.

I e always wanted to pick the drums back up but never have had the right situation to do it.

I played when I was in high school, but I wasn’t very good. Much of that was due to lack of talent but also ignorance. I just didn’t understand shit that I understand now. It also didn’t help that I lived with a world class drummer who could have played with anybody if it wasn’t for my mom.

Kids and a family or touring the world? Your call.

He was a great dad. Good call pops.

[Buzzrock 14,867]

I do get told to turn it down a lot.  

[Napoleon 8,596]

I’m out in the Pasadena/LA area and went to a guitar shop on a ritzy little shopping street in a town called “Montrose” on the back (north face) of the little mountain that has Burbank on the west of it and Glendale on the south of it.

Anyway, I saw a guitar that I would have loved to have bought right then and there. 

The Rickenbacker.

[noharleyyet 2,835]

Power me up & case candy picks . . . to do list

 

[Deej 76,510]

Wheelhouse. 

 

[tbone_ 14,020]

In honor of the Tommy Emmanuel and Billy Strings tickets I bought tonight… also from the shit you can’t play file

[Buzzrock 14,867]

A gang of us are going to see Billy on Friday. He played 32 songs in his set last night in Athens. Can’t wait.

[AnotherUTFan 9,659]

I had great tickets to see him at the Greek just before he blew up a couple years ago that I gave to a friend when I had to postpone a vacation and be in Croatia on the date. Still haven't managed to catch his show. Enjoy. Incredible talent.

[dcbc 14,388]

1 hour ago, AnotherUTFan said:

I had great tickets to see him at the Greek just before he blew up a couple years ago that I gave to a friend when I had to postpone a vacation and be in Croatia on the date. Still haven't managed to catch his show. Enjoy. Incredible talent.

I'm waiting for him to hit Dallas.  Seems like it's always Austin -> Tulsa.

[noharleyyet 2,835]

18 hours ago, Deej said:

Wheelhouse. 

 

...story on this Deej?

[Deej 76,510]

No clue. Just saw the pic and started drooling.

[Buzzrock 14,867]

I had great tickets to see him at the Greek just before he blew up a couple years ago that I gave to a friend when I had to postpone a vacation and be in Croatia on the date. Still haven't managed to catch his show. Enjoy. Incredible talent.

The venue he played last night in Athens GA is a 1,000 seat theater. That would have been epic.

[Buzzrock 14,867]

[AnotherUTFan 9,659]

The venue he played last night in Athens GA is a 1,000 seat theater. That would have been epic.

I was in a record store in North Carolina this past Friday that was closing early because the entire staff had tickets to see him that night. If only I had known sooner.

[Chad Fuck 17,503]

I was in a record store in North Carolina this past Friday that was closing early because the entire staff had tickets to see him that night. If only I had known sooner.

Which store?

[AnotherUTFan 9,659]

A cool ass one in Durham called Hunky Dory. It's a record store with a small beer bar inside and super cool folks. Turns out the beer / record store combo has turned into a thing out there. Friends (actually, the Vary Mary drummer and his partner) ended up taking me to a similar place called Volume in Hillsborough the following day.

We have nothing like that in SF and my new dream that I'll never make happen is to bring it here. I was talking to the owner at Volume about it. You sell & listen records all day while running a bar with record store hours and without the hassle of dealing with liquor and drunks. Sounds a hell of a lot less stressful than what I do now.

[Chad Fuck 17,503]

A cool ass one in Durham called Hunky Dory. It's a record store with a small beer bar inside and super cool folks. Turns out the beer / record store combo has turned into a thing out there. Friends (actually, the Vary Mary drummer and his partner) ended up taking me to a similar place called Volume in Hillsborough the following day.

We have nothing like that in SF and my new dream that I'll never make happen is to bring it here. I was talking to the owner at Volume about it. You sell & listen records all day while running a bar with record store hours and without the hassle of dealing with liquor and drunks. Sounds a hell of a lot less stressful than what I do now.

Goddamn that sounds awesome. Add a stage to play/sell guitars and you have the trifecta.

[Buzzrock 14,867]

A cool ass one in Durham called Hunky Dory. It's a record store with a small beer bar inside and super cool folks. Turns out the beer / record store combo has turned into a thing out there. Friends (actually, the Vary Mary drummer and his partner) ended up taking me to a similar place called Volume in Hillsborough the following day.

We have nothing like that in SF and my new dream that I'll never make happen is to bring it here. I was talking to the owner at Volume about it. You sell & listen records all day while running a bar with record store hours and without the hassle of dealing with liquor and drunks. Sounds a hell of a lot less stressful than what I do now.

Man I almost forgot that the first place we met was a funky little San Francisco beer bar. What was the name of that place? Matador?

[AnotherUTFan 9,659]

Goddamn that sounds awesome. Add a stage to play/sell guitars and you have the trifecta.

I kind of imagine maybe small acoustic sets. No selling instruments or anything pricey, but accessories like strings and whatnot.

I will add that probably the coolest punk rock record store in the world is right down the road from me. It's a non-profit coop and they do free shows all the time in their basement that are BYOB. It's everything Punk should be and inwould wanna be not in competition with them.

Man I almost forgot that the first place we met was a funky little San Francisco beer bar. What was the name of that place? Matador?

Can't remember if it was Bender's or Toronado? I do remember we saw Rev Horton Heat at Slim's, which is now gone.

[Buzzrock 14,867]

Toronado, that was it. And yeah man, that was a great show. Sucks that the venue is gone.

[dcbc 14,388]

10 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Toronado, that was it. And yeah man, that was a great show. Sucks that the venue is gone.

We talking the Toronado pub in SF?  It closed?

 

Also, should we merge this thread with the Bay Area thread, the guitar pedalphile thread, and the chicken fried steak thread, while we're at it?

Edited March 9, 2023 by dcbc

[AnotherUTFan 9,659]

We talking the Toronado pub in SF?  It closed?
 
Also, should we merge this thread with the Bay Area thread, the guitar pedalphile thread, and the chicken fried steak thread, while we're at it?

It's still there.

We.should just merge all the threads.

[AnotherUTFan 9,659]

Just met a guy playing a 1970 D-45. Fuck. Sounds worth whatever he paid for it.

[Horn Draoi 254]

NGD here!  We recently bought a second home, and I convinced myself it was a better idea to buy a practice guitar so I could just pack headphones, headphone amp, and tuner back and forth instead of a bulky case.  I went for a Harley Benton TE-52, being cheap and all.

Sat the HB next to my 2004 Fender AVRI 52; the HB is a wee bit darker in both neck and body.  The HB is, as far as I can tell, only a 2-piece body, and not well matched.  The finish is deep polyester, probably wouldn’t chip off a bowling ball.  Heavy beast, over 10 pounds, but it’s ash and maple and I’m a couch player anyway.  Neck is satin finished and fat.  Neck edges are slightly rolled and some sharp (a little) fret ends-I’ll take care of that when I restring.  I’m not impressed with the tuners.

The electronics are smoother than I anticipated, and everything works.  Pickups sound really good: the neck has plenty of that woody Tele jazz sound I wanted and the bridge has all the spank and sparkle I could ever want.  Action is set nice and low, intonation is as perfect as I can determine with 3 tuners on 4 of the strings, I’ll tweak the other 2.

Only flaws I can find are a couple of tiny pickguard scratches next to 2 of the 10 (!) pickguard screws.

$229 plus tax delivered.  Not bad for a very playable Indonesian or possibly Chinese knockoff of a classic guitar.  Now where are my Ted Greene books…………

[Napoleon 8,596]

18 minutes ago, Horn Draoi said:

NGD here!  We recently bought a second home, and I convinced myself it was a better idea to buy a practice guitar so I could just pack headphones, headphone amp, and tuner back and forth instead of a bulky case.  I went for a Harley Benton TE-52, being cheap and all.

Sat the HB next to my 2004 Fender AVRI 52; the HB is a wee bit darker in both neck and body.  The HB is, as far as I can tell, only a 2-piece body, and not well matched.  The finish is deep polyester, probably wouldn’t chip off a bowling ball.  Heavy beast, over 10 pounds, but it’s ash and maple and I’m a couch player anyway.  Neck is satin finished and fat.  Neck edges are slightly rolled and some sharp (a little) fret ends-I’ll take care of that when I restring.  I’m not impressed with the tuners.

The electronics are smoother than I anticipated, and everything works.  Pickups sound really good: the neck has plenty of that woody Tele jazz sound I wanted and the bridge has all the spank and sparkle I could ever want.  Action is set nice and low, intonation is as perfect as I can determine with 3 tuners on 4 of the strings, I’ll tweak the other 2.

Only flaws I can find are a couple of tiny pickguard scratches next to 2 of the 10 (!) pickguard screws.

$229 plus tax delivered.  Not bad for a very playable Indonesian or possibly Chinese knockoff of a classic guitar.  Now where are my Ted Greene books…………

The photos don’t appear to be showing up. 
 

Try posting them again. 

[Horn Draoi 254]

Hah! I can barely pick the guitar; it looks like every other ‘52 Tele, natural finish and maple neck.  I may try when I get some grubby neck wear and perhaps a Keef cigarette burn on the headstock………………..

[G650 13,990]

Wait, you bought another guitar? I thought you were selling guitars.

[Celery Man 20,874]

Writing some material for the debut album

this Loog guitar is kinda fun actually. Basically just a three string uke, I have it in DAD because that felt right. She beats the shit out of it and it hasn’t fallen apart yet.

 

Bonus time, talking myself into an LP jr but I’ve been talking about getting one of those forever. Wife is getting a peloton so I feel like I have the cover for it, we’ll see.

[DougO 5,239]

41 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Writing some material for the debut album

this Loog guitar is kinda fun actually. Basically just a three string uke, I have it in DAD because that felt right. She beats the shit out of it and it hasn’t fallen apart yet.

 

Bonus time, talking myself into an LP jr but I’ve been talking about getting one of those forever. Wife is getting a peloton so I feel like I have the cover for it, we’ll see.

 

 

You need to enter the law enforcement field. You pluck on that guitar thang and people willfully and peacefully step into cages without violence.

[Deej 76,510]

I couldn't resist.

 

[Horn Draoi 254]

4 hours ago, G650 said:

Wait, you bought another guitar? I thought you were selling guitars.

You talkin’ to me?  I don’t sell guns, guitars, or fly rods.  My kids can sort all that out………………

[G650 13,990]

7 hours ago, Horn Draoi said:

You talkin’ to me?  I don’t sell guns, guitars, or fly rods.  My kids can sort all that out………………

Shit, must have got confused.

 

[G650 13,990]

 

 

So I hadn't done shit with the JCM900 I drunkenly bought a couple months ago, but the other night I pulled it out to fuck with on an old song I have been using as a reference for getting some sounds dialed in. This thing is a perfect 90s pop punk machine.

[dcbc 14,388]

22 hours ago, Deej said:

I couldn't resist.

 

How do they sound?

[Celery Man 20,874]

8 minutes ago, dcbc said:

How do they sound?

[Deej 76,510]

2 hours ago, dcbc said:

How do they sound?

I'm having second thoughts. 13 pickguard screws holes on each side.

[Deej 76,510]

[jimmyjazz 45,513]

Cool pickguard.  No comment on the # of screws.

[G650 13,990]

That is pretty damn cool

[dcbc 14,388]

3 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Cool pickguard.  No comment on the # of screws.

Missed the opportunity for a big, shiny, pan-head screw through the spindle hole.

[DougO 5,239]

I've seen the record pickguard thing done before, Jaren Johnson of The Cadillac Three. He also had a Joe Strummer tele.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by DougO

[G650 13,990]

12 minutes ago, DougO said:

I've seen the record pickguard thing done before, Jaren Johnson of The Cadillac Three. He also had a Joe Strummer tele.

 

 

Silver Jubilee ftw.

[Buzzrock 14,867]

Cadillac Three is terrible. They were better when they were American Bang but even then they were trying way too hard.

[Mileslong 4,710]

[Napoleon 8,596]

7 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Cadillac Three is terrible. They were better when they were American Bang but even then they were trying way too hard.

When I looked at that guy, I got a feeling that his music would probably suck. 
 

9 hours ago, DougO said:

I think that I can smell this photograph and it makes me want to spray the room. 

[dcbc 14,388]

26 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

I think that I can smell this photograph and it makes me want to spray the room. 

[Goredho 17,302]

Larkin Poe playing a harmonized version of Duane Allman’s “Little Martha” is my jam.

 

[Buzzrock 14,867]

Love them. Never could get comfortable with fingerpicks.