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I don't think I've posted here before - I'm a member of basschat.co.uk, but after playing bass for decades, lately I've been singing and playing mandolin and octave mandolin. I don't actually play guitar, though I have a couple of guitar-shaped objects in my collection - an acoustic guitar bodied octave mandolin, and earlier this year a local guitar builder converted a copy of a Gibson SG to mandolin for me. I'm currently working towards a Rock School grade 2 acoustic guitar exam... with a mandolin!

Hi! I was asked to make a version of this nostalgic song "Nuotiotunnelma" (Engl. Campfire atmosphere) from 1977 movie called Jäniksen vuosi. At the end I added some challenging finger picking part there to give different feel and climax. The basic theme is fun to play and works nicely on background music gigs. Video: Tabs: cheers, Mikko

Hi there! I just joined a new band called Sons of steel. This is one of our singles: Let me know your opinion about it. Thanks!!

Son(16) is a fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Cheap Squier Bullet Strat from Cash Converters and a Most-Marvelous Inter-Fret Job by @Andyjr1515 fella who sits (slumps!) at the bar in the BassChat Arms... (Blah! Blah! and Pics in a BassChat Tech&Repair post) https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/496955-microtonal-fretting-microwhat-but-sorry-not-on-a-bass/?do=findComment&comment=5264843 When 12TET and 20 or so frets just arn't enough... go 24TET and over 40 frets to play with!

Thanks everybody for your answers and contributions. Made some interesting reading, and some great model photos. Just before Christmas, I privately bought a Marshall amp. The owner asked if I would also take his old black and white Strat off his hands too for a meagre £30.... It was an exact double of the one in my original post with identical headstock and weight. Well...you can guess the rest! Cheers again for all of your input.

Decided to get the Epi Les Paul 60’s Standard in Bourbon Burst I had looked at PRS but decided this is what I wanted. Out of the box the quality, setup was spot on and amazing for a £500 guitar. Sounds excellent and pickups are very good and sounds great clean and overdriven They have definitely improved since I owned an Epi Les Paul Plus Top Pro about 10 years ago this is as close to Gibson quality you can get without the price tag ! Awesome guitar

Thanks for the advice @randythoades. Just opened a bass chat account and will try there

Me giving it some full on A major stuff many years ago on my much loved and sadly missed Washburn HB35 that I got sent from America. UK only had, if I remember right red, natural , and black available. White wasnt an option here, but that's what I wanted. It got stuck at customs because I didnt know about import tax back then☹

On Saturday we had a work party where we provided the entertainment. About six weeks ago I rounded up a bunch of colleagues and proposed we do a song together. Below is the result: 52fb7b34b4790dbaf517c3d5cce802d3.mp4 It was my first time performing on guitar and I used the instrument mentioned here: All sorts of technical issues that I won't bore everyone with but the band had no right sounding as good as this recording suggests. I originally rehearsed with a 4U rack containing my beloved Triaxis and MPXG2 into a Marshall 20/20. But there were 60Hz hum and phasing issues so I swapped the rack for a Kemper and used a profile of the Triaxis instead with only marginal improvement (no more phasing). The Kemper went into two Hotone Loudster Class D power amps sat on a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. The speakers struggled to disperse, but this shouldn't have been too much of an issue if we had been given PA support. Unfortunately the video stops just before I move up front for the solo guitar breaks. I did the thing though - one foot on the monitor. No hair in the wind unfortunately.

Thinking that I ought to have a hollow bodied guitar for jazz I bought a Streamliner and have indeed given that Bigsby a wobble from time to time despite it being considered inappropriate within the genre.

I picked up a super cheap Ibanez S670 with a fake body for 1500RMB ten days ago and went about upgrading, fixing and customising it with chrome Gotoh hardware and Dimarzio Satriani signature pickups. I wanted to do a Chromeboy painted finish but it's not possible to do it well on wood bodies. The original Chromeboys had finish cracking and bubbling issues do to wood expanding and contracting with seasonal changes, the follow ups had bodies made of lucite not wood. So I did the next best thing - bought a load of mirror vinyl wrap online and found a friendly auto wrapping firm to do it for me after my own attempt failed miserably. The reflection isn't 100% sharp but only really noticable when you are standing closer than 5 meters. I'm planning on using the guitar for a show coming up on Jan 11. The good thing of vinyl over paint is that I can get it re wrapped if it starts to look a little worn.

This year a Joyo "Oxford Sound" pedal. So far I'm very pleased with it - lets me go straight into our PA without lugging an amp around.

To better appreciate this event, I would refer you to a previous post here, where the 'back story' is quite fully related, so doesn't need repeating here. Skip it if you're in a hurry, but you'll be missing out. Soooooo... I've just, in the past few days, taken delivery of a new (to me, but not quite...) guitar that has been on my 'bucket list' for over half a century. A fellow member of our sister site (Basschat...) passed me a link to a site where this quite rare guitar was for sale, in Sweden. After looking up my finances (it was not cheap...), I contacted the Seller I 'bit the bullet', and, after some tractation over acquisition of a hard case for shipping, it finally arrived, safe and sound, snuggling up nicely in a brand new case. 'OK', I hear you ask, 'but what guitar is it..?' You'll have guessed if you'd read the post in the link above; it's a Hofner President Thinline E2 Florentine, from the late '60s, the same model that I foolishly 'let go' in my stoopid youth. Yippee..! Here's the photos I hastily took as it arrived... Pleased..? You betcha; pleased as Punch. I'm now struggling to get back to where I was, all those decades ago, trying to play a chord-melody version of 'Misty'. By a horrible coincidence, I had trimmed my nails, on both hands, and will have to wait a while before playing that way, as I have done since year 'dot', with only fingers, so I'm struggling at the same time with the use of a plectrum. It's all good, though, albeit extremely slow going. I have a Chromebook for displaying a Pdf of the version I'm using (from a Sandy Sherman YouTube video; just about the best and most accessible I've seen...), but as soon as I think I've assimilated a few bars, I turn the page to continue, but have forgotten it when I turn back again. I'm using my usual method of learning the 'outro' first, so that I'll be working into 'known' territory as I move forward, but, for now (it's been only a few days, but...) I'm finding it quite a job remembering only these dozen or so bars. It'll come (it has to..!), and I find the neck of this guitar to be exactly fitted to how I play (perhaps 'muscle memory' from all that time ago, when I learnt on that first President...). Anyway, enough rambling; back to the Chromebook for another session. I'll see about better pictures if/when the weather picks up, for outdoors lighting. Bye for now... Douglas

When singing a melody through, in your head or out loud, try to pick out the highest and lowest notes, when you get to them. That's when to pick up the guitar and find those notes, and only those notes. That'll determine where on the fingerboard the rest of the melody lies, so, having established the extremes, now find the initial, starting note, keeping in mind these extremities. Does this help..?

If, as you say, it's minimal, I wouldn't worry about it at all. There are many guitars (even acoustics...) that are not symmetrically balanced anyway, so even if the wall mount was 'plumb', the weight could well be offset. I've never heard of a guitar neck being affected by being hung this way; they are pretty solidly constructed. If it's only an aesthetic thing, I'd leave it alone. It would be possible to redress things a little, without taking the wall mount down, by winding a piece of cloth onto one side of the mount, as packing, to have the guitar 'plumb'; I'd surely not bother. Hope this helps.

If you can afford it and it will make you happy then do it. I personally am a tight arse and even if I could afford a Gibson (I can't) I'd never buy one because I'm a klutz and it would be an expensive thing for me to damage, same goes for a Ferarri, I'd have door pockets full of crisp packets and I'd no doubt kerb the wheels parking it.

There is a chap on Instagram named Ohms in Hawaii and he posts beautiful guitars on the beach like this photo: There are hundreds of posts just like this one, these photos really warmed my winter mornings.

What about selling it and buying a nice gift for the donor, or explain to him that you aren't getting on with it and ask if he would mind you selling it. You could offer him all or some of the money minus any expenses.

Here it is, about to get treated to a good clean and some new strings. Setup seems spot on but I’ll check it all and set the pick-up heights to suit. The overall finish is superb - not just for the price but for a guitar of any price. The binding is lovely and clean with no gaps or flaws that I can see and the fret ends are super smooth (the frets need a good polish though). It needs a good clean up and some oil on the fretboard and I may swap the volume and tone knobs for black ones at some point but I do think I’ve blagged a real bargain for once

Added this to my collection but then changed the Marshall to the Orange Supercrush 100 combo which is a better amp PRS SE Swamp Ash

Hi guys thanks for all the help. I’m sending the guitar back to Epiphone and they’re going to fix it.

Very impressive amp sitting on the Boss stand

Zombie thread time . The Gretsch GAS welled up again to almost unbearable proportions, but I reined myself in, realising that I’m only playing to please myself at the moment and the Casino Coupé is a more than capable guitar. Since the OP, I have fitted new pickups, changed the knobs and made a couple of other aesthetic changes. However, just like the factory fitted Bigsbys on other guitars, with the same break angle over the bridge, tuning stability is questionable. In order to keep the GAS at bay and address this tuning shortcoming, I bought a drop in replacement, roller bridge. Why, oh why did I not do this at the get go? I can attack the Bigsby without fear of a discordant result on return to the resting position. The cost of this miraculous upgrade, less than £22, including delivery. Happy days!

Hi,everyone, I'm new to the site so thanks for having me,my wife made me join so I bore someone else,Sorry.

Just browsing the web the other night and came across this and on looks alone I knew I had to have it. I watched the youtube reviews which were all really positive but was still cynical as I had fallen for the reviews on the Lava ME guitar which I though was a pile of trash. Anyway I pulled the trigger and bought from Andertons knowing I could send it back if it didn't work out. The guitar arrived the next day. It came in a lovely padded quality gigbag so first impressions were good. I got the guitar out and it was stunning ( I know this bit is subjective !) with the flip paint job and headless roasted neck. I tuned it up and it had been set up perfectly, the action was fantastic and intonation correct. I bumbled through setting up the app which controls it - the manual is very brief and does not give you anywhere near enough info, however from what I'd seen on Youtube I got it working. I played it through a newly revalved and Celestioned up HTR-1 amp using the wireless dongle straight into the amp. The guitar has fanned frets which I'd never played on before, but within minutes I didn't even notice them. So I've put it through its paces over the last couple of nights and it is truly phenomenal. The presets are brilliant and infinitely adjustable - none of the widdly robot sounds that you get on multieffects as filler. The modelling guitar feature definitely changes tone - whether it replicates a '58 LP I'm not sure but just scrolling through the models I could get some lovely tones. Volume and tone knobs are really responsive .The guitar has a built in looper/ drum machine which worked well - I subsequently stumped up for the wireless footswitch to make it work even better and was that impressed with the tones and flexibility even ordered the Prime P2 to use with my other guitars. In summary, this guitar might even be the best one I've ever bought and there have been lots , customs , Fenders, Gibsons, Ricky's - but none of them had ever been set up this well or had the OMG factor this one has Anyways it's nice to report something this good rather tha being underwhelmed.

I have friends that bought some Mosky overdrives and they're good. But I can only attest to owning the Mosky Pure Buffer and it's a good buffer, so good that I moved my two VHT Valvulator 1's to my rack. My friend bought the Golden Horsie and it is just as good.

I had already pre-empted Christmas in offering to myself my bucket-list guitar : a Hofner President E2 thinline, Florentine cut, having foolishly traded away the first one I had, late '60s. Half a century later, I got this one from a Reverb seller in Sweden. The Christmas gift..? Our Daughter, thinking (rightly...) that it would be difficult to find something I'd want/need that I didn't already have, posted a sum of money into my bank which covered the cost of the hard case and shipping of my dream guitar. Much appreciated, and a Very Nice Surprise. Here's a (bad...) photo of the delivery and unpacking of the guitar...

This year: A book on jazz guitar comping concepts.

There are posting settings saying you need 5 posts to be able to post in general. Seems a bit high, but otherwise, you probably have enough post count to now do it!

Ah. For this, I'd refer you to my usual words of encouragement that I often dish out, when subjects such as this arise... 'It's the first forty years that are the worst, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly better.'

dad ive always been a tight git. i just go on ultimate guitar its free. plus ive just started learning to use fl studio which was given to me for nowt so i can make my own drum beats and backing stuff. dunno if you need to have a face book account to wacth this but here is a very short clip of my doing my best Ian mcCulloch impersonation. i was only going to put the chorus bit in and was virtually mouthing the lead up lines but decided to leave them in. ive watched youtube clips of echo and the bunnymen live and i can safely say i "p1ss" all over what he can do nowadays on the high notes. he needs to go on ultimate guitar and transpose it down a bit lol. https://www.facebook.com/alan.jackson.7731/videos/2532299470293234

Hello and welcome. Plenty here to learn from and chuckle at. Frustration and patience are your biggest hurdles by the sound of it. You Tube is great, but no replacement for a proper teacher and I would heartily recommend visiting one, even just for a few months to even out your technique. I would also counsel against changing the songs to make them easier, if you only play the stuff you can already play you never progress. Changing them to fit your voice is one thing, but trying to avoid chords just because isn't doing you any favours long term. But also, don't get too hung up on playing them exactly as the records, most of us here can't play everything and do simplify songs to a degree. At the end of the day... just enjoy the journey!

SRV by Eric Johnson. Took a me ages to get the main parts down and I don’t have the chops to nail the main solo. Still revisit it occasionally, which then becomes also a feat of memory, as alluded to by @Dad3353.

Hi all if I tuned down half step… where would a capo go if I wanted to get back to standard tuning? The first fret?

I'd suggest that any reasonably-popular guitar, made by any reasonably-popular maker, from any reasonably-popular supplier will be fine for any beginner. There can always be a flaw in any manufactured item; guitars are no exception, but they are rare. If any guitar purchased could be vetted (played by...) a decently competent guitar-playing buddy, to check that it's all working (and it will be...), there's little chance of anything seriously wrong happening. What some reviewers might describe as 'absolutely terrible' could be really insignificant details, that don't affect playing, and wouldn't be noticed by most folk. Any described as 'absolutely fantastic' could, by the same token, have been written by someone paid to give a glowing review. Ideally, you should try out any instrument yourself, or with a competent chum, in a reputable store, and decide what's good for you and your budget. If you must order through the web, there is ample protection against bitter disappointment, and, of course, the normal legal guarantees for any faults. In short, trust yourself more, and go for whatever you like the look of, that will inspire you to learn and play, and is in your budget, from any reputable source, the closer to you the better. If we all gave a list of what's 'great' and what's 'rubbish', you'll not be more advanced. It's all good, as long as it inspires you to learn and play it. Hope this helps. Douglas

In all honesty, I haven’t actually played a jaguar before! But I have numerous guitars both electric and acoustic that have similar or even shorter scale length (which all suit me well since I’m not a very tall person) so I’m confident I’ll enjoy the feel of a jag. One of my 2 main guitars on tour is a Mexican tele and it’s brilliant. It’s got bare knuckle pups and electronics as well as better tuners but build quality and woods are just as good as my vintage and custom shop strats. But I do definitely prefer the classic jaguar with lead and rhythm circuits and individual pickup switches as opposed to the new stripped back player series ones. If I found a Mexican one for sale with standard layout I would really consider it

Taking up any musical instrument is a permanent learning journey, there’s always something new to take on board, be it a scale, chord, technique , whatever. However, as Dad says, it should be enjoyable. When I first picked up the guitar as a youngster, I was taught some chords and I had a book or two, but what I did most of all was learn tunes that I liked and wanted to play and I didn’t get too bogged down with scales and theory. This may not have been the wisest course with regard to musical proficiency but, 50 years on, I’m still playing and playing tunes that give me pleasure, not what some book, course or latest internet craze tells me to. What makes you smile, when you’re playing? Do that more and the other things you want to learn, but give you trouble at the moment, will become easier. You may not ever perfect everything to your personal standards (who does?), but you will perfect some things and that’s not bad.

Yep, sounds like a partially pinched harmonic to me. You may find that part of the thumb or finger, holding the pick, are choking off the note and creating a false/pinched harmonic. This can be used to good effect, if you want it and that’s your thing, Billy Gibbons and Zakk Wylde are noted exponents of the technique.

I've just bought a Cordoba Stage and love it - absolutely stunning looking in the edge burst finish. It was this or the Tim Henson but YT reviews suggested the neck was more to my liking on the Cordoba and I couldn't live with the marks on the matt black finish on the Ibanez TH

Well, it didn't take long to get a reply; consensus seems to be 'pickups from a PRS Mira X, with added covers'. Here's a review of the Mira X ... ... and another ... Hope this helps.

I'd have to have friends and the ability to socialise to do that also frustratingly I can't drive which limits my location options a bit. This is something that makes me want to find people I can play with, support, encouragement, and some accountability to keep practising when I want to give up. I think that is something that would really help me. This gives me pause for thought. I do have a few physical restrictions that I've taken into account, but keep thinking I might be able to overcome to a degree. I've never really thought about not trying to play in every style. I kinda felt that in order to be good and happy with what I can do, I'd have to be good at every style and know all techniques, etc and not just a few. @Dad3353 I'm having weekly lessons and he is a good tutor, teaches in schools, which probably helps him deal with me as I have the intelligence of a small child. He has played professionally in the past. The last two lessons I've bought up that I'm getting worse and struggling more and he had noticed so we went through some different bands that I like to find songs that I may enjoy learning and I was given the tab for them to practice. I've also download yousician in the hope it will give me a bit more structure to my practice. Thank you for the help and for taking the time to read through my post. I really do appreciate it.

Everything that @Dad3353 says above. It happens to everyone, whatever their skill level. Sometime, just taking a week off really helps. For some reason the brain digests everything when you aren't even playing and suddenly you make a jump forward without even realising it.

Faceache turned up a G4M 12 for not a lot... cleaned up rather nice

I struggle to tune 6 strings accurately. Don't think I would manage 12...! Looks nice though.

Take a look on Reverb or eBay to see what sort of prices they are going for. Beware that on eBay, the asking price isn't always what they will sell for.

I bought myself a semi acoustic Ibanez Atcore to get the "in between" sound that I like. It also has the vibrato arm if you want a bit of shimmy. I love it but my better half doesn't as she can hear me practise, even when I'm wearing headphones (obvious to guitarists but not to her indoors who thinks that headphones should eliminate all the guitar "noise"!) I also got a Nu-x Mighty Plug headphone amp which can be used with any electric guitar to add effects and power wired headphones, earbuds and a small powered or battery amp/speaker such as the Marshall MS-2C. There is an app called Mightier that upgrades the Nu-x for use with a bluetooth phone for allsorts of tuneable effects.

Some of the Guitars cluttering up the house...

There is precedent for removing the bridge pickup and associated electronics, both Pat Metheny and Tuck Andress did/do this. Try it and, if it's still not right, put it back as was and move it on for something that you get along with.

GAS is a cruel mistress, but she's a lot of fun

Well, that went to plan. Not. I was all set to get me a nice little Revstar when our local guitar shop advertised a new (well, NOS strictly speaking) Cort CR250 for £299. Other than being a bit dusty and needing some new strings (thrown in as part of the deal), it’s immaculate. Nice weight (well under the weight of a Gibson LP), beautifully made and sounds epic. It’s now mine. I still want a Revstar, mind.