***The Official Guitar Thread***

[beachBOYken]

Wow! Did it make much difference? I always use something like this to clean my fretboard. It has a little brush thing on the top that rubs on the fretboard. Having said that, I've never let my gear get that dirty as I have to make up for my lack of skill by knowing about gear hah!


Back into the bass world, I'm buying a Spectracomp compressor pedal this weekend. They seem to be pretty good from the reviews and videos I've watch. Hopefully I'll be able to have a play with one in Andertons on Saturday to make sure I like it.

You can basically program the pedal with a huge range of settings, and they're multiband so you're not applying the compression to the entire sound, which I think is appealing. This is my first compressor so I'm not 100% sure though. Definitely worth checking out the video below anyway. Note the tone knob is apparently a little useless, but once you're dialed in then you shouldn't really be changing knobs on your pedalboard whilst on stage anyway.

I also found a Badass II bridge on the Talkbass forums, which hopefully the guy will ship to the UK, so we'll see! I've been looking for a decently priced one for years.

Yeah come up really nice, my acoustic needed a good clean and a new set of strings as I had not used it for a long while, so it was a lot dirtier than it normally would be.

Really pleased with the outcome the lemon oil makes, got the lemon oil from Holland and Barrett

 

[nutbutter]

Thanks gents......OTher than "beginners books" - any recommended or decent online/app stuff?

https://www.justinguitar.com/ is a great site with a load of stuff to get you off to a good start.

 

[Rocker]

Having an odd preference for vintage kit, especially annologue effects, I got myself another Roland GP-8 and a Lexicon reverb unit

https://www.amazon.co.uk/clouddrive/share/tsK74gZClcwlLpF1XO7kCjcDFp1xRANDdYpZoIV7E0n

(Haven't quite worked out how to share a picture via Amazon drive...sorry!)

 

[Spuddy]

Hey guys so Im looking to pickup my first guitar and learn to play, probably going to be self taught.

Anyways, I've been looking around for a nice starter guitar etc, just tonight thought I'd check my local listings on Facebook and found this:

Its listed purely as a 'Martin Smith' guitar, although doesn't give me a model number or anything as I was wanting to google it for reviews etc. Can anybody identify it for me?

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Bought this mandolin this morning.

 

[Dup]

Hey guys so Im looking to pickup my first guitar and learn to play, probably going to be self taught.

Anyways, I've been looking around for a nice starter guitar etc, just tonight thought I'd check my local listings on Facebook and found this:

Its listed purely as a 'Martin Smith' guitar, although doesn't give me a model number or anything as I was wanting to google it for reviews etc. Can anybody identify it for me?

http://i67.tinypic.com/3038sia.jpg

Looks like this one.

It will probably do for learning the very basics however it won't sound amazing or be easy to play and if you get into it, you'll quickly outgrow it. Or it may make the experience frustrating and put you off. I wouldn't spend a lot on that particular guitar.

Entry level (~£100 ) Yamaha guitars are well regarded to start out with if you can stretch that far. You basically want something that's set up well (low action, good intonation, neck shape) with decent strings. The upward cost of guitars is mainly the material it's made from and the construction which dictates the tone, but the important part is playability especially as a beginner which a lot of cheap entry level guitars do not have and may not be amendable by a professional set up.

 

[Spuddy]

Looks like this one.

It will probably do for learning the very basics however it won't sound amazing or be easy to play and if you get into it, you'll quickly outgrow it. Or it may make the experience frustrating and put you off. I wouldn't spend a lot on that particular guitar.

Entry level (~£100 ) Yamaha guitars are well regarded to start out with if you can stretch that far. You basically want something that's set up well (low action, good intonation, neck shape) with decent strings. The upward cost of guitars is mainly the material it's made from and the construction which dictates the tone, but the important part is playability especially as a beginner which a lot of cheap entry level guitars do not have and may not be amendable by a professional set up.

Hi thanks for the reply, it is indeed that one. The seller finally got back to me this morning.

Doesn't seem to have the best reviews either. I'll take a look at the Yamaha ones though thanks, Im particularly fond of the cutaway style.

 

[Cyanide2600]

Has any one here used Yousician and if so is it any good? I signed up for the free trial yesterday and it seems ok so far(seems slightly out when playing Em chords but that could be me haha) but wondering if anyone has used it in anger before I commit £100 for the year.

I picked up a guitar yesterday and trying to get back in to learning after 15+ years out so trying to get a decent resource.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Nice mandolin!

Hey guys so Im looking to pickup my first guitar and learn to play, probably going to be self taught.

Anyways, I've been looking around for a nice starter guitar etc, just tonight thought I'd check my local listings on Facebook and found this:

Its listed purely as a 'Martin Smith' guitar, although doesn't give me a model number or anything as I was wanting to google it for reviews etc. Can anybody identify it for me?

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4256063

It looks to me like it's very similar to the link above, which is not inherently bad for a first time guitar, but what's the price tag on it?

 

[doodah]

BTW, I bought RockSmith too but its on Xbox 360 for the same reason you did, I need to rebuy it again on my current gen I think, not cheap ! The best thing about this is the exercises they have, basically the game makes the practice like a game, which are in effect real guitar scales, repeat again and again to memories it and it does it in like a high score game.

Got my eyes on the Epiphone LP-100 Les Paul; not too expensive and gets good ratings for learning with the game (I think it's bundled with the game in some regions).

 

[Spuddy]

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4256063

It looks to me like it's very similar to the link above, which is not inherently bad for a first time guitar, but what's the price tag on it?

Its not that guitar but very similar, its the one posted just above you by Dup.

Which is only around £85 brand new.

Yet the seller is asking for £100 second hand. It doesn't seem to have the best reviews either so Im gonna pass on it.

 

[darkgen]

I own a Fender CD-60, which I managed to pick up new for 115 quid last year. Really enjoy it and it gets hammered daily as it is my primary learning/practice guitar.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Got my eyes on the Epiphone LP-100 Les Paul; not too expensive and gets good ratings for learning with the game (I think it's bundled with the game in some regions).

Tbh, i’d would go for a guitar bought separately, I know all guitars at this price is built to a price point but if you go second hand, you can get some decent bargains.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Its not that guitar but very similar, its the one posted just above you by Dup.

Which is only around £85 brand new.

Yet the seller is asking for £100 second hand. It doesn't seem to have the best reviews either so Im gonna pass on it.

They're hoping you're gullible!

Tbh, i’d would go for a guitar bought separately, I know all guitars at this price is built to a price point but if you go second hand, you can get some decent bargains.

There are advantages to buying a package. You do get a good deal for what's actually in the package. Amps are never cheap.

 

[doodah]

I would be buying it separately, it just so happens some game bundles include that guitar. Will look at some second hands as well

Edit - that's strange. The same guitar costs considerably more on eBay

 

[Raymond Lin]

There are advantages to buying a package. You do get a good deal for what's actually in the package. Amps are never cheap.

They are not, they can be easily much more than guitars but also I find some of them can go out of flavour quite easily, some brand just fall out of flavour of the month or a new model out the previous one plummet in resale value so there can be lots of bargain.

I did buy a custom made Fender Champ clone off a builder for less than £200, the same kind of amp from Fender is like 4 figures as it is hand wired.

 

[Nitefly]

As far as beginner amps go - Roland Cube ftw.

 

[doodah]

Next noob question. Is there any other equipment I need to get/consider with RockSmith? Like a tuner?

As for sound, I was thinking of just listening through my yet to be purchased wireless Sennheiser HD 4.50 BTNC on the PC.

 

[Nitefly]

I’m just cottoning on to the idea of rock smith. It does sound fun but perhaps more of a learning tool than anything else. I’m also incredibly sceptical of it detecting subtle nuances that make songs sound correct.

Any good for someone beyond a beginner? I.E. me

The list of songs is quite impressive.

As a side point, I’ve finally learned that compression and noise gates make a huge difference to ‘metal’ tonez.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Next noob question. Is there any other equipment I need to get/consider with RockSmith? Like a tuner?

As for sound, I was thinking of just listening through my yet to be purchased wireless Sennheiser HD 4.50 BTNC on the PC.

The game has an built in tuner, every time you start it pretty much go through the screen where you can tune the guitar.

I’m just cottoning on to the idea of rock smith. It does sound fun but perhaps more of a learning tool than anything else. I’m also incredibly sceptical of it detecting subtle nuances that make songs sound correct.

Any good for someone beyond a beginner? I.E. me

The list of songs is quite impressive.

As a side point, I’ve finally learned that compression and noise gates make a huge difference to ‘metal’ tonez.

Great learner tool, the game is pretty much tab reading and all the bits and pieces are there from hammer to bends and palm mute. How it sounds however could be a little artificial since it is going through the processor of the game engine and out the TV, as opposed to a real amp.