The Surly Beginner Guitar Thread

[Not that Bob 734]

...unlike most people...like me. Playing guitar is hard. Not so much the actual act of playing, which is difficult enough, but the act of keeping up with it. I used to be okay, then job and marriage and kids and life got in the way. So I put it down. I put it down for years thinking that some day, some day I'd pick it back up. So the kids grew up. The wife didn't want so much of my time. I picked it back up. Dammit!! My fingers won't do what my mind is telling them to do. All that muscle memory, gone. All those song structures, gone. All that hand strength, gone. But I soldiered on. It started coming back. Then my mother got sick and needed lots of care, and my time. Well, she died and I took guitar back up, but damn, no strength. No callouses. Start from the beginning. Then Dad got sick and needed lots of care, and my time, and...

The point of my whining tirade is that guitar must be kept up. You have to play, at least a little, every day. It takes two weeks to get callouses. It takes two days for them to go away. You gotta really want it. Some days I want it. Some days...I'm too busy and lose everything...again. Playing guitar is hard. 

[tbone_ 14016]

It is hard. But, at least for me, it gives me some of the best feelings in the world to play something I really dig.

So, I’d say it’s worth it and good for you.

[G650 13851]

21 minutes ago, Not that Bob said:

 You have to play, at least a little, every day.

I can't remember if it was this thread or the main one, but this is what I tell people. A little every day beats a lot in spurts.

 

It is hard. The best thing I've found is to think of what you get out of it more than what you are putting into it.

[nbmishoid 922]

Lessee, from Townes VZ to J.Taylor to Bach, now it’s White Room, Foxy Lady, How Many More Times.  And Distortion.  It’s like I’ve won a prize, not even my birthday.

My Fender 112 does not deliver much distortion, or I haven’t figured out the contour knob.  Is there a great foot box that delivers mucho distortion?  I want to crank up that opening distorted and vibrating E on FL.  Do it for a minute, like Billy Gibbons did when playing it live. 

[Gourmand 7774]

30 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

Lessee, from Townes VZ to J.Taylor to Bach, now it’s White Room, Foxy Lady, How Many More Times.  And Distortion.  It’s like I’ve won a prize, not even my birthday.

My Fender 112 does not deliver much distortion, or I haven’t figured out the contour knob.  Is there a great foot box that delivers mucho distortion?  I want to crank up that opening distorted and vibrating E on FL.  Do it for a minute, like Billy Gibbons did when playing it live. 

Boss Blues Driver?

https://www.sweetwater.com/c969--Distortion_Overdrive?highlight=BD2&mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gpla&mrkgbflag=1&mrkgcat=drums&percussion&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=92700073384080210&lid=92700073384080210&ds_s_kwgid=58700008063423979&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007215323&dsproductgroupid=1799483625579&product_id=BD2&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=c&network=u&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=1026748&creative=624396267556&targetid=pla-1799483625579&campaignid=18437397786&awsearchcpc=&&&gclid=CjwKCAjw1YCkBhAOEiwA5aN4ASgyjkrDBCitdsI6JIPe5cUE_ToOLYFNfNfoL7IL57ov_g94riZq2xoCaMwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[sidis 9686]

32 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

Lessee, from Townes VZ to J.Taylor to Bach, now it’s White Room, Foxy Lady, How Many More Times.  And Distortion.  It’s like I’ve won a prize, not even my birthday.

My Fender 112 does not deliver much distortion, or I haven’t figured out the contour knob.  Is there a great foot box that delivers mucho distortion?  I want to crank up that opening distorted and vibrating E on FL.  Do it for a minute, like Billy Gibbons did when playing it live. 

jimi used a fuzz face for foxy lady.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FuzzFace--dunlop-jdf2-classic-fuzz-face-pedal

despite a few people around here's disdain for electroharmonix, i am a big fan of the new big muffs. 

[nbmishoid 922]

Thanks, guys, they both look great. 

[G650 13851]

What guitar are you playing? Pretty hard to beat a Tubescreamer into a Fender amp.

[nbmishoid 922]

It’s the 91 LP Std  ‘bacco burst you declined to add to your stash.  I will look up tube screamer, thx. 

[G650 13851]

28 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

It’s the 91 LP Std  ‘bacco burst you declined to add to your stash.  I will look up tube screamer, thx. 

 

 

The other go to is an SD-1. They are both mid humped overdrives, but have slightly different peak frequencies. Both are pretty much the most used overdrives in history. TS leans more Strat and Fender amp, SD-1 a little more LP and Marshall. But you can easily try either one out to see which fits better. Both are cheap as well.

[nbmishoid 922]

Sorry, but a question for those who know.   Bought the SD1 as a first step.  Plugged the guitar into it and plugged the box output to the little Crate 10 W amp.  Worked great. 
But, plugged it into the Fender 112 and there started an enormous hum.   The amp is against a wall and behind a couch from the guitar, about 8 ft, and the guitar has its back to the amp.  Anyway, I turn the amp volume to zero and shut off the power switch and it emits this piercing wail at about 80db, for a half second, before shutting off.  I tried both inputs and got that result. Ain’t trying that again, for now.
 

Does someone see something obvious here?  Many thanks in advance. 

[G650 13851]

Is your SD1 plugged in or on battery

[sidis 9686]

Sd1s are notoriously noisy and have a hum. 

but the piercing noise seems like maybe you are feeding it a 12V power supply instead of 9?

[nbmishoid 922]

The SD1 is on battery.  The one it came with, the specs say this is 9v, but I’ll open it up to ensure.  

[G650 13851]

1 hour ago, nbmishoid said:

The SD1 is on battery.  The one it came with, the specs say this is 9v, but I’ll open it up to ensure.  

Hmm. Well that rules out a ground loop. Which channel on the amp are you running? Footswitch plugged in?

[nbmishoid 922]

The 112 has an input for Foot Switch, plus 2 input channels.  Connecting the SD to the foot switch input produced nothing.  A little reading indicates this is where a Fender switch is installed to worked between the clean and distorted (green and red) modes on the amp. I believe I tried both inputs 1 &2 with the same result, I.e big hum then loud wail when shut down, even with amp volume at zero. 
 

What is a ground loop in this type of situation, generally?  Appreciate all the comments.

[G650 13851]

Yeah the foot switch is just for channel switching and possibly turning reverb on and off, it's not an input. I meant are you running the clean channel or the lead channel? Try switching to the other channel and see what happens.

 

Of you had powered the plug off wall power with an ac adapter, you can get what is known as a ground loop. This is where the wiring in a house or building has two different ground potentials, and in simple terms the power follows the path of least resistance. It causes a hum. If you are on battery this won'tbe the issue.

[sidis 9686]

On 6/11/2023 at 11:51 AM, nbmishoid said:

The SD1 is on battery.  The one it came with, the specs say this is 9v, but I’ll open it up to ensure.  

that rules out my theory.  I suppose the only logical explanation one can reach is that your sd-1 pedal or your fender amp or your cables are possessed by satan.  or perhaps your entire house.

good luck.

[nbmishoid 922]

Well, the 112, though lightly used, is 30 yrs old and is a likely candidate to have a flaw. I’ll consider “replacement”, but I don’t need a stage amp, jus high quality play at home thing.  My instructor has a room full of those orange things, a likely direction.  Meanwhile, the little 10 amp fits my needs. 
I appreciate the advice from all.

Edited June 12, 2023 by nbmishoid

[sidis 9686]

8 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

Well, the 112, though lightly used, is 30 yrs old and is a likely candidate to have a flaw. I’ll consider “replacement”, but I don’t need a stage amp, jus high quality play at home thing.  My instructor has a room full of those orange things, a likely direction.  Meanwhile, the little 10 amp fits my needs. 
I appreciate the advice from all.

erroneous approach.

when your amp becomes possessed by satan and requires replacement, you start with an original deluxe reverb, move into an original vintage 59 bassman, and then you pay your wife's divorce attorney a bunch of money.

this is the way.

or just get a very affordable and very solid boss katana amp and enjoy the hell out of playing the guitar, as well as having a lot more money.

[tigol 2383]

I've started taking lessons.

I need a suggestion for a beginner blues/rockabilly song.  I like the style, but I'm stumped.  My teacher suggested starting with a song I'll remember and want to learn.  I'm completely blocked.  Any ideas?

[G650 13851]

Well, do you want blues or do you want rockabilly?

[tigol 2383]

54 minutes ago, G650 said:

Well, do you want blues or do you want rockabilly?

Blues.  Sorry for the confusion.

[G650 13851]

Ha, all good. Do you have any blues tunes you like? Some old school stuff like Smokestack Lightning by Howlin Wolf I'd good for fundamentals. But there's plenty of modern stuff like SRV too. The main thing with the blues is once you have a feel for the progression, learn different turn around and noodle on the blues scale to hear how different scale degrees resolve over the I IV and V. It's something instill do to this day just because it's super natural and cathartic

[tigol 2383]

This will work.  

 

[nbmishoid 922]

Bridge of Sighs:  what a complete joy it is to play.  Will need to learn some recording to stack the parts at the end.  Down the road.  

[nbmishoid 922]

Hey, what are the best of those tiny practice amps?  I started with a little device that goes straight to head phones.   Works great, and has some tone effects:  Fender Mustang Micro 

But, looking for a non headphone option.

 

[tbone_ 14016]

People seem to dig the spark stuff from Positive Grid

[Celery Man 20832]

yeah i'd say spark, katana, or whatever the yamaha thing is - people like all of those options

[topochico 1048]

All of the above, but also the Blackstar ID:core is a pretty awesome amp that gets overlooked. 

[Deej 76401]

Fender Twin Reverb.