Dad3353

I've just watched this clip (I must have missed it when originally posted...), and would agree with the comments that follow. I would like to add a detail; I see that you're not using the guitar strap. Practicing this way may be OK, but it will all fall apart when you try to play standing up. It's important, whether sitting or standing, to have the guitar maintained by something other than your arms (ie : the strap...), which should be adjusted so as to have the guitar at the right height and balance, with no 'neck dive'. Try it and see the difference between sitting and standing..? Hope this helps...

Changing from one chord to another comes with practise, the slower the better to get there faster. Take some regular exercise time (5-10 minutes every day without fail...) to finger the chord, then change to the next one, looking only for accuracy, not speed. Slow but sure is the way forward. This applies, whatever chords you're going from/to. Intervals..? Easiest to imagine from a piano keyboard point of view, but it's exactly the same principle for all instruments. Take as a starting point the note 'C' on the piano. An interval describes the distance to the nexrt note played. From 'C', for example, playing the next 'C' on the keyboard gives an interval of an octave (there are eight notes in Western music, so 'octa' for eight...). From the first 'C', if we play the 'B' below the octave 'C', that an interval of seven (written in Romain as 'VII'...). Next interval from the 'C' to the next one down ('A'...), we have an interval of 'VI' (Yes, six...). Keep coming down from our first 'C', we play 'G' (interval 'V', of five...), then 'F' ('IV'...), 'E' ('III', or three...), 'D' ('II'...) and back to 'C'. Any note from 'C' can therefore be designated an interval ('VII' gives us 'B', for example...). This is easy enough to visualise on a keyboard, as it's only the white notes, and from 'C'. The same 'logic', can be applied, however, if we had chosen to start with 'D', except, in order to play the same intervals as with 'C', we have to use some black keys. 'D' octave is easy enough, but a semitone down from 'D' (the same interval is 'B' starting from 'C'...) will be 'Db'. I'll leave you to work out what the other interval are, starting from 'D'; it's a good exercise to hammer home the understanding. Do it again for other starting notes, too, for fun. It works in the same way for guitar, of course; on the open low 'E' string, the 'VII' is the Eb at the eleventh fret. Play an 'E Major' scale on that string and you'll see how it works. Does this help..?

Incomprehensible.

Maybe it's me that has been doing it wrong all these decades, I find all of this far more simple, by never using a capo. (Yes, I know that they have their uses, but, to me, this isn't one of them...). To me, when I'm fingering a 'D' shape at the nut, I'm playing a 'D Major'. I move up two frets (a whole tone...) and I'm playing an 'E Major'. Please note that I'll only be playing the top three strings, and will 'mute' the others. I go up another half-tone and it's an 'F' Major'. If I want a 'C Major', I'll play the same chord shape at the tenth fret. This seems so simple to me. I can play an open 'E', barre it at the fifth fret and it becomes an 'A'. Barre again at the seventh and we have a 'B'. If it's just for playing chords with a different 'colour', or register, by going up the neck, I don't see what the capo adds to it. When you say 'learn the notes, but there's a lot of them', how are you ever going to play any instrument if you don't want to do the simple stuff first..? There are twelve notes, twelve frets and six strings. Every string can play any of the twelve notes somewhere, and every string is the same as its neighbour, but a little higher (or lower...) that's all. Work out, laboriously, once and for all, where every 'E' can be found on the fingerboard. Is that too much to ask..? Do all the other notes; each one will be quicker than the previous one. It takes no time at all to do this, and saves soooooo much messing about for years to come. It's up to you, naturally, and I realise that we're all different, with different ways of approaching the guitar, but it seems to me that you're wanting to go faster than your knowledge permits. Get a few (just a few...) of these basics down pat and it'll enable soooooo much faster progress for what's to come. Or have I been wrong all these decades..?

To me, this is ambiguous. If you play a 'C Major' at the nut, playing that same 'C Major' shape with the capo at the third fret will sound as a 'D# Major'. Is that what you meant..? The real remedy is to do a few practise sessions, of about ten minutes each, at some time or other every day. Play each note on the guitar (I suggest starting with the open low 'E' string...) and name the note out loud as you play it. Move up one fret, play the note, naming it out loud. Up another fret, name it out loud... Do this up to the octave (12th fret, or higher if you wish...), then move over to the next string (open 'A' string..?) and do it all again, playing the note and naming it out loud. Once you're at ease doing this, for all six strings, it can be varied, by going up the neck, fret by fret, naming each 'sharp' note as a 'sharp'. Instead of moving to the next string, go back down, fret by fret, playing the note and naming it out loud, but as a 'flat' for each of the 'flattened' notes (so 'G#' going up, but 'Ab' going down...). Yes, they are the same sound, but have a different name in context. Once you're happy with having done that for a few days (or a couple of weeks..?) vary it again, by playing any note, on any string, anywhere on th neck, and naming it as you play. 'Sharp' or 'Flat' is up to you (give both names, maybe, as you play it..?). This simple, idiotic exercise will very quickly get you used to knowing where any and every note is on the neck, at any time. It doesn't take long, but will serve you well throughout your playing career, at home, on stage or in concert. There are other building blocks; they will all benefit from the knowledge found here, and it will be you, able to answer queries of the sort on forums like this one. Hope this helps.

It's a daft enough way of looking at it, but it does work, after a fashion. Let's take an example : the chord of 'C Major', played normally at the nut. Now put a capo on the guitar at the fifth fret, and finger the same 'C Major' chord. Using this piano keyboard picture, count every key (white and black...) from 'C' (our original chord), up five keys (five semi-tones, really...). This takes us from 'C', through 'C#', 'D', 'Eb', 'E' to 'F'. The chord now being played at this 'capo fifth fret' will be 'F Major'. Let's do another. Finger the 'E Major' chord at the nut. Now capo the fifth fret. On the piano picture, count up five semi-tones from 'E'. We go from 'E' through 'F', 'Gb', 'G', 'Ab' to 'A'. The chord is therefore 'A Major'. Do you see how it works, now..? There are far better ways to learn about the guitar fingerboard, the note positions and chord construction; we can maybe advise some routes to that if you're interested. Does any of this help at all..?

This is why it's a Good Idea to know where the notes are on the fingerboard, and not simply rely on 'shapes' to get by. How to construct chords, with their inversions, anywhere on the fingerboard, and how/why to name them is also one of the many aids to becoming a proficient guitarist. It's not Rocket Surgery; anyone can learn this stuff, and it makes understanding, and music creation, so much more interesting and fulfilling.

Good evening, @Ruby2, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. Not sure about the harmonica, but I believe that there is now a reliable treatment for jazz banjo issues. Expensive, though; are you worth it..? ...

I can't see what it brings to the party. There's scores of guitars out there; if there's no innovation, what makes it worth considering over known models (from Gibson or elsewhere...). Personally, I'm not 'into' 'pointy' guitars anyway, so I'm not drawn to it at all. Why would anyone choose it over other offerings..?

Brian... Guitar plugs into 'Input', 'Output' plugs into amplifier. Tips..? The answer's a lemon : suck it and see. I always start, with anything unknown like this, with all the settings at '12 o'clock', turn the amp up with caution, then try each knob and listen (yes, whilst playing the guitar of course, you fool..! ). You won't break anything doing that.

Done.

Good evening, @enzothebaker, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

... which come at a higher cost (around £600...) than others mentioned here.

There are many Frh models; here's the Thomann selection... Thomann : Ibanez Frh ...

What's wrong with the traditional classical guitar shape..? Of those mentioned, the better, by far, will be the Ibanez. I've no idea what is meant by the 'tattoo' reference.

Whatever; still no Instawotsit or the like here, anyway. Never mind; if others like it, why not..? My loss.

I shall never understand these notions.

Good morning, @madaxeamps, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Good morning, @David Bostina, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Fixed. ...

I would question the mentality driving reflections of the sort. Maybe my latent puritanism; I truly believe that a lot of Bad Things in the World come down to materialistic desires, fulfilled or not. That's just me, of course; carry on, folk, as you were.

Short answer : No, it wouldn't. Slightly longer answer : The only really important criteria in buying a guitar (or, indeed, most purchases, of any item...) is 'Does it make you happier..?'. If the answer is 'Yes', and it can be afforded, then that's it; end of story. Will it make you play better..? No, unless it inspires you to practice and play more, or take some lessons and profit from them, but these ideas apply whatever the price or provenance of the instrument. Add to that the falsity that 'name' instruments are inherently 'better' than others (from China, Japan, Germany, UK or Brazil ...), a 'fact' perpetuated by those in the Music 'Business', aiming to coax all and sundry to spend, spend and spend again. For a touring, professional player, having a reliable 'tool for his/her trade' has much to recommend it. For an amateur, gifted or not, these factors are of lesser importance, and the notion of Diminishing Returns comes very quickly to the fore. If, then, happiness is the goal, decide for yourself what it's worth, but in the sure knowledge that the difference between what you buy and what you already have is relatively little, as far as Music goes. It's all in the fingers anyway, isn't it..? Hope this helps.

Any cycle shops (Halfords or the like..?) near you..? They usually throw out/give away suitable packaging for instruments. Or buy a hard case for the guitar, and use the box that that's delivered in..?

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've posted the question on the PRS Forum... Updated List of PRS Pickup Specs ... ... We'll see what, if any, reply we get.