Guitar players

Discussion in 'Art & Culture' started by Me-Ki-Gal, Aug 19, 2011.

  1. Me-Ki-Gal Banned Banned

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    Guitar Players , How thick is your pick if you use one and why that thickness ?

    I use a fat thick pick cause I like the strong attack and the precise sound that is automatic when you strike the string . It also works great when you pluck the string with a thick pick and your thumb to get that popping sound like a slap bass. The response time pick to string is why my pick is thick
     
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  3. MacGyver1968 Fixin' Shit that Ain't Broke Valued Senior Member

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    I use a thin pick...I seem to get better speed with it....and I don't get a lot of pick noise on an acoustic with it...I really don't like pick noise.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2011
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  5. Me-Ki-Gal Banned Banned

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    That is interesting . On my acoustic I have been trying to get ride of pick noise as of late . Not a prob on the strat as the fat one gives Me the overtones and harmonics like ZZtop. The volume is up enough you don't here no stinking pick noise, but yes with Mary playing quite music I do and have been some what concerned . I will tell you what bugs me is cord sliding noises . I don't use that may bar cords as I prefer chord fragments more than all out heave handed bar chords , but bar chords sliding up and down the neck sounds like finger nails on concrete to me. It is the sliding noise between the chords .
     
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  7. gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    Usually the Tortex Yellow or Green... starting to like the Blue ones too. For me, thicker just seems to give better tone and control. Both acoustic & electric.

    Trying to get used to using the fingers. Seems to work for Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2011
  8. Me-Ki-Gal Banned Banned

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    That Mark Knofler has one great style . Yeah I heard he has a big thumb and utilizes it well . Strong attack . He does some of that plucking the strings with 2 fingers pinching . If I don't roll my pick but keep it flat to the string and use just a bit of the tip I don't get any pick noise , More so on the electric . The acoustic plugged into thew amp is were I been getting pick noise . A P.V. Bandit set on clean . It kind of drowns out the note some times . This has only been recently. It is kind driving Me crazy . I just been using the stat as of late because of it . I think it is Mary's music requirements that is adding to it to some degree . Don't blame Marry . Whats a matter with Me
     
  9. Anti-Flag Pun intended Registered Senior Member

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    I was born that way and it's the motion of the ocean not the thickness of the..... oh you said pick. My bad.



    As far as I know it depends what you play and how thick your strings are, but it's personal preference whatever feels comfortable. Using a Fender with 9s I was advised to use a heavy pick or extra heavy. Currently trying the heavy ones.
     
  10. Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    As a rhythm guitarist, I play the Les Paul with a light gauge pick. Doing folk/blues with my Seagull I also use the light pick, though with some pick effects to broaden my acoustic range, though I often just use my naked fingers.

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  11. Varda The Bug Lady Valued Senior Member

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    My pick is huge. Huge.

    I don't use picks. I play classical.
     
  12. Anti-Flag Pun intended Registered Senior Member

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    The bug ladyboy?
     
  13. MacGyver1968 Fixin' Shit that Ain't Broke Valued Senior Member

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    For the first 5 years I played guitar, I only owned an acoustic, and never even owned a pick, I only played with my fingers. It wasn't until I bought my first electric that I actually started using them.
     
  14. Varda The Bug Lady Valued Senior Member

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    Everybody knows my e-penis is way bigger than yours.

    I actually own an electric. I played it exactly once.
     
  15. MacGyver1968 Fixin' Shit that Ain't Broke Valued Senior Member

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    I didn't know squat about guitars when I bought my first acoustic. A friend had showed me a few major chords, and that was it. I walked into a pawn shop and bought one for $50. I didn't know there were different neck widths, and bought a "classical" width neck. (hard to play with my short fingers). When I bought my strat..it's neck was so much more narrow...it was like running with weights strapped to your legs...then removing them. It was just sooo much easier to play.
     
  16. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Since I've been playing my air guitar I've never used a pick, only my fingers to pretend that I'm playing the strings.

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  17. kx000 Valued Senior Member

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    Any tips on the best way to learn chords? And what are the most important chords?
     
  18. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I've been a bassist for 35 years but back when I was a guitar-pickin' folksinger I played an acoustic 12-string (Martin Dreadnought) so I used the biggest, thickest pick I could find. All of the electric guitarists I've worked with use paper-thin picks. That's why they always break.
    I don't know how to answer that question. Everyone I know just figured them out. It's sort of a minimal level of musical intuition.

    Our fourth-grade music teacher explained the Circle of Fifths and showed us how major and minor chords are formed and why they're the basis of harmony in the modalities commonly used in Euro-American music. I went home and experimented with them on my glockenspiel. (People usually call them "xylophones" but a true xylophone has wooden keys, not metal.)
    The three that you can't do without are the major, minor and seventh chords.
    • A major chord is three notes. The root (first note) is the one after which the chord is named, e.g., in a C major chord (written C or CM) the root is C. The second note is a major third (four half-steps or four frets) up from the root. In a C major chord the second note is, therefore, E. The third note is a minor third (three half-steps or three frets) up from the second note, which is also a fifth (seven half-steps or seven frets) up from the root. In a C major chord the third note is, therefore, G.

      Obviously you can't play all three notes on one string, so you find the equivalent note on the next string. Your root C is three frets up on the A string. Your E would be seven frets up on the A string, but because the A string is already in use, you get it two frets up on the D string. Hopefully you can figure out where the G will be because it's really easy to find.

      Now that you're using three strings to get the mandatory three notes of a C major chord, you just find frets on the other three strings that give you the same notes, an octave above or below. There's a high C on the B string, and you get two free E's on the other two strings. Either one of those strings can also give you a G, so you have two of every note in the chord.

      You won't always find two of every note in every chord, so don't worry about it. Sometimes you'll only have one of one and then three of another.
    • A minor chord is also three notes. It's not very different from a major chord. The only difference is that the second note is only a minor third (three half-steps or three frets) up from the root. The third note is the same as in a major chord, which means it's four half-steps or four frets up from the second note, but the same seven half-steps or seven frets up from the root.

      So to make an E minor (written Em) chord (I'm starting you off with the easiest chords here) you find an E on the D string, which is two frets up. Then you move up three half-steps and find a G on the G string, and by golly that's real easy. Then you move up four half-steps from there and find a B on the B string, which is also easy. You've got two strings named "E" so you can easily figure out what to do with them. That leaves the A string, and two frets up on that you find a second B. Notice that this chord has three E's but only one G. As I said, that's ok.
    • A seventh chord is a major chord with one extra note. It's a minor third (three half-steps or three frets) up from the third note. In a C seventh chord that will be a Bb.

      C seventh is a difficult chord for a beginner. So I'll suggest that you figure out an A seventh (A7). Hint: it only requires two fingers.
    There are a few other chords that can easily be fingered on the open strings: D, Dm, D7, E, D7, G, G7, A, Am. And there are a couple more that can be done with some difficulty, such as F and B7.

    The rest of the chords require the barre fingering. You put your index finger down sideways across the entire neck so that it's fretting all six strings firmly. Then you use your other three fingers to form the shape of a C, E, Em or Am chord. You can make that shape anywhere on the neck, so you can play in any key. Expert players can do more shapes than that.

    On an electric guitar it's reasonable to develop enough strength in your finger to be able to do that. On an acoustic 12-string it takes the strength of a gorilla and I never got there, so I always used a capo.

    Good luck!
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2011
  19. gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    I've read that Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top uses a Mexican Peso for a pick... (Think US Nickel) That might be a little too heavy for my taste.
     
  20. jmpet Valued Senior Member

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    Medium pick. Got off the "thin pick habit" of reaching nearly the right note- go with medium now. Heavy is too heavy. Playing tomorrow for the first time in eight years with medium picks- wish me well-
     
  21. Varda The Bug Lady Valued Senior Member

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    Try checking out some tutorial videos on youtube. I never checked, mysef, but I learned to knit/crochet from youtube. I bet there's some dude showing major chord positions and whatnot over there.
     
  22. Anti-Flag Pun intended Registered Senior Member

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  23. Me-Ki-Gal Banned Banned

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    nylon junkie
     

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