leftybassman392

Indeed so... Good to see you again by the way. You've been missed in, er, certain places.

Looks nice.

Thinking about this a bit more, for a lighter sound you could actually lose the low C (especially if you have a bass player to play it for you, and most especially if you're playing Jazz).

Hi buddy and welcome. There's a good theory and technique section hereabouts. It can be a bit intimidating though so if you have any questions that need a proper human being on the other end, there's plenty of us here willing and able to help you out. Feel free to ask.

Hi mate. Good to see you over here too.

Hi mate, and welcome to the forum. Plenty to enjoy here depending what you want to do.

As Douglas has said, a good tutor will be able to analyse your situation and offer advice and guidance. I suppose I would say this as an ex-tutor myself, but one of the problems with most online resources is that they take no account of your personal situation. Different people have different ways of learning and absorbing this stuff; if it so happens that the methodology offered by the website you're consulting doesn't chime with your preferred approach to learning, it will always be an uphill battle (with the complication that if you're struggling with it, the temptation is to think that it must be your fault).

^^^I'll third it. If the high G is important to the voicing of the chord (if you're not sure what that means, don't worry about it ), you can try flattening your pinky onto the first string. Longer term, it is worth persevering with the fingering as shown. It might take a while to get it, but your technique will be the better for it. This chord shape (in either version) is the basis for numerous variations with subtly different sounds, and you can slide it up & down the fretboard to get the same variations on other chords (e.g. if you slide the whole shape up two frets you get D9 and its variations). 9ths and their variations are very popular with jazzers (amongst others of course ).

I used to have one of these. It's an excellent little instrument that punches well above its weight. At the asking price it's a bit of a steal (especially with the Hiscox case), and if I was in the market for a lefty classical I'd have it without hesitation. Good luck with the sale.

If you're getting (more or less) normal volume but a very dull sound, it's possible that the tone pot has been accidentally shorted out so that the signal is being routed through the tone pot capacitor. No idea how this might have happened but it sounds like you've been tinkering with the electrics. Check the wiring (in particular I would look at the connection to the jack - at both ends). If you're getting a severe drop in volume as well then it's most likely a dry joint, and you still need to look at the connections (and redo them if necessary). TBH I can't think of anything else that would explain it. Unless you've managed to mess up the restring (very hard to do on a Strat), the electrics is the only possible source of the problem.

Looks nice, but no lefties sadly. Ho hum...

Not a fan of powersoaks personally: I haven't yet found one that preserves the original sound intact (even on some very pricey kit from the likes of Cornell). That's just me being geeky though: whether it'll make any diff to the OP is an entirely different question. I'd still go for one of the modelling amps... While I'm here, my Blues Junior IV is a fantastic little amp: 15 watts of valve loveliness. Not a heavy metal amp though - not without a bunch of pedals anyway!

Duly noted with thanks. Unfortunately I have no specific experience with that model, but if it can do what the Line6 can do then the same basic considerations apply. The OP is making a choice between a name on the one hand, and greatly enhanced functionality sufficient to cover any needs he might have now or in the future on the other. In the interest of having the OP fully informed, Line6 has been in the amp modelling business from day one. Not a reason not to buy the Peavey of course, but all the same... Power considerations apply as before. My advice is still not to buy based on power rating as a major consideration. If your chosen amp happens to have 100w output then fine; just don't expect to be able to use much of it in a domestic environment is all.

A further point that might be worth making: don’t be seduced by power ratings. Metal is all about big power, but in a domestic environment 100 watts is way, way, way over the top whatever your playing style. Solid state amps don’t give you as much watt for watt as a good valve amp, but if you try to run a 100 watt amp anywhere remotely close to its rated power, you will give yourself and anyone else in the house permanent hearing damage, and stand a good chance of shattering ornaments and windows, not to mention incurring the wrath of your neighbours. No, really. Even if you plan to go gigging at some point in the future, you won’t need anywhere near that sort of power. If you buy a Marshall, you will get a Marshall sound; if you buy a Fender (my current amp of choice as it happens), you will get a Fender sound; if you buy a Peavey, you will get a Peavey sound; if you buy the Line6, you can have all of them plus quite a few others (including a pretty good selection of dedicated metal amps). On the downside, the Line6 is a modelling amp, so the sounds are simulations of the named amps rather than authentic sounds. That said, modern modelling amps are very good at what they do, and most people won’t know the difference in a blind listening test. just a thought...

If you're as new to this as you seem to be (no offence intended of course), spending this sort of money on an amp sight unseen can be a bit risky. That said, of the ones you've chosen the Line6 probably has the best chance of giving the sort of sound you seem to be after IMHO. It is a modelling amp so it has a whole bunch of other stuff in the box as well if you ever decide to play in a different style. As @ezbass said though, try before you buy if at all possible.

I wouldn't recommend one as a first guitar for the reasons Douglas has given. In short, it's very specific sound that won't work well for most of the music you'll likely want to play. Also they're physically hard to play for a variety of reasons. Definitely not recommended as a first instrument, but again as Douglas say, try one out in a shop if you really must. One final point; transitioning from a 12 to a 6 is likely to be a lot harder than doing it the other way round. I don't know for sure though as I've never heard of anyone being daft enough to try it.

For added information, I'd endorse @Skinnyman's thoughts about Faith guitars. They're not religious zealots as far as I know, but they do make exceedingly good guitars that punch well above their weight. Made by a family company in Indonesia IIRC, but under the watchful eye of Patrick Eggle, who IMHO is one of the finest luthiers currently working in the UK. His own guitars sell for £3k and up. He personally inspects each batch that comes into the UK. I had the good fortune to meet up and chat with him at an event in Birmingham last year while taking delivery of my Mercury parlour guitar. He talked me through the production process, and how he personally inspects them to ensure quality control. Very nice man to boot. While I'm here, I notice nobody seems to have picked up on the Taylor link (apologies if I've missed it). These are prestige instruments, used by many of the world's top pros. They are beautifully made guitars that will repay your investment. I had the good fortune to own an 800 series 12-stringer a few years ago. Quite possibly the best-made acoustic guitar I've ever owned. As always, just my personal opinion, gleaned from 50+ years of playing things with strings.

Hi mate. Good to see you've joined up here too. Haven't been back down to Deal this year for obvious reasons. How's the pace coping with Covid?

I'd have been 14 or 15, when I first heard this being played on the crappy old Dansette at school. It was 1968:

Squeaking does kind of come with the territory on a guitar, especially if you play in a style that requires high gain settings (remember that an amplifier amplifies every noise you make on the guitar, even the ones you don't want it to), and most especially if you play a lot of barre chords That said, there are a few things you can do to control it (not eliminate it; that requires more drastic intervention - see below): 1. Yes, keeping your strings clean is a big deal. You should rub down the entire fretboard with a soft absorbent cloth before and after every session. Don't be afraid to go right up to the bridge. 2. There are a number of companies that sell you products to rub onto your strings that lubricate them and help your fingers to run smoothly. The one I'm familiar with is 'FastFret' but there wil be others. 3. Try doing everything with a slightly lighter touch. Takes time and practice to develop, but if can manage it, it will certainly help. Other thoughts: As I said, string squeak is an issue for all guitarists. Two other approaches might be worth thinking about: Embrace it - many guitarists learn to ignore it, some even use it actively as part of their playing style. May not be for you but just so you know... Kill it. If it worries you that much it is possible to buy a bit of kit called a noise gate that will (mostly) eliminate it. That's money though, plus time spent setting it up so it works the way you want it to; also, despite the name, noise gates make their presence known, and experienced players can usually hear one being used a mile off. I'm not a metal player myself, but I believe it's required kit for that style of playing. Hope this helps.

I don't normally do this kind of thread, but feel I ought to mark the passing of arguably the greatest of the '60s generation of white Blues guitarists. Time catches up with us all I guess, but a sad day for both guitarists and Blues lovers nevertheless.

Like the OP, 9s on a Strat/Tele scale length, 10s on a Gibson.

Tough call @Skinnyman. My favourite players list changes depending on so many different things that I could easily give a different set every day for a month or more. However, since you're being such a git meanie tightwad hard taskmaster about it, I'll go with the three who most heavily influenced my early playing style, who would be... pause for effect... Ahem: Him: Him: and Him: (Plus honourable 'if only I could play as well as them' mentions for Guthrie Govan, Joe Pass and Adrian Legg. Tomorrow these three would be replaced by a different three, but the main three won't change.)

Coming back to this, it occurs to me that I haven't spoken about my guitars. The current collection comprises (all lefties of course, and more or less in order of vintage): Gibson ES335 dot '84 in cherry red. All original. Fender U.S. Standard '90 in black. Much modified over the years, and currently sporting a set of David White old glories and refretted with jumbos. Patrick Eggle Berlin Plus '93 in gold. Minor touches to my personal spec at time of manufacture, but otherwise original. Takamine EN10L mid/late '90s. All original. Ibanez RG470L mid/late '90s in black. All original. For sale if anybody's interested... Epiphone Les Paul, circa 2000 in cherry s/b. Original HBs recently replaced with Phat Cat P90s. Rob Williams custom Tele, built to my personal spec by Rob in 2013. All original. Faith Mercury semi-cutaway parlour guitar 2018. Without doubt the best acoustic guitar I've ever owned and up there with the best I've ever played. So then, pretty clear where my priorities lie. Also worth saying that with the exception of the last 3, all have had to earn their keep, having been extensively gigged and/or used for teaching.

Just a bit of technical background: overdrive covers a huge range of sounds. Fuzz is a particular type of overdrive, characterised by a very fizzy distortion ( @EdwardMarlowe, the unit you're thinking of is called the Fuzz Face more here, a '60s throwback probably best known for being used by Jimi Hendrix but in truth most rock/blues guitarists had one in their rack at around that time: they're still popular today, and despite being a very simple circuit wrapped up in a funky container, '60s originals in good nick go for silly money). Overdrive/distortion/fuzz/high-gain are all terms associated with this type of pedal, and there are almost as many variations on the basic idea as there are guitarists using them. My suggestion would normally be to visit your nearest guitar shop and try a few out in the price range you're looking at. However since that is likely to prove difficult (not to mention risky IMHO) right now, you could do worse than check out some YouTube reviews. They won't really tell you how it will sound with your gear, but they will at least show you some of the common variations, and give a bit of insight into how they work. While I'm here, many guitarists feel that a good valve amp is as far as you need to go with overdrive, but since they're mostly expensive and mostly heavy there's quite a lively market in amp modelling pedals, so you might want to have a look at some of those as well. Here's something to get you started: