***The Official Guitar Thread***

dirtychinchilla said:
That's a beauty.

Question about wall-mounting a guitar. I have a Hercules hanger, which is good. But I think I mentioned here that the hanger pulled out of my plasterboard. So, I bought some concrete screws to attach it through the plasterboard to the external wall. Does it make sense to put a small piece of wood in-between to spread the pressure over the plasterboard a bit? I'm just worried the hanger might move a bit and I'm wondering if the wood could limit that.

Edit: actually I could attach the wood to the wall, then attach the hanger to the wood. That'll prevent any movement in the wall.
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I used Grip-its on mine, still hanging strong
 
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Finally got the bass super-secured to the wall. I used the concrete screws as recommended. Thus far, no issues. I put a piece of wood in-between to firstly cover up the mess the plugs had left, and secondly to hopefully spread the load of the bass across the wall a little bit further. Fingers crossed it stays this way.
 
Got to admit the the ps5 launch has peaked my interest. I started guitar in May and practice between 1.5 - 2 hrs a night and im making good progress now, learning my first solo , dont look back in anger which is coming along nicely.

i have been tempted to buy the new ps5 at times but then i think of the time it willnear into my guitar practice and its just not worth it in the long term. Guitar is far more rewarding and has real life benefits like playing to family/friends / propper gigging ect. Bit of a selfish post but feel i needed to say it.
 
Not selfish at all, I feel the same way sometimes...

In my case all of my hobbies effectively took a pause after having our first baby in August, and I've noticed that since I have such limited free time I have been more selective about which of them I get started with again since... I started to workout again as soon as I could as health is important, and after that the choice was really between trying to fit in some guitar playing again or trying to fit in some PC gaming again and so far I'm struggling to justify the latter really. As you say, Guitar is more rewarding, and although some games can be great it has made me realised I was just grinding away on some games out of habit which isn't a good use of time
 
Bassmansam said:
i have been tempted to buy the new ps5 at times but then i think of the time it willnear into my guitar practice
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When I look back on my life, my biggest regret is probably enjoying computer games way too much for way too long, way too often. On one level, that's daft... we're here for a short time then off to oblivion again for the rest of eternity, so enjoy what you enjoy. But there is no doubt whatsoever that real physical stuff -- the kind of things humanity's been doing for countless millennia and our brains respond better to -- is way more satisfying than any gaming experience can be. Unless maybe you're a professional Fortnite streamer earning bazillions. Pesky kids and their made-up non-jobs! ;-)

Now I'm a carer and not working for a few years I have the time, in between looking after Mum and her dog, to indulge both music and gaming hobbies. And gaming can be useful as a total escape... a kind of hyperactive mindfulness, if that makes sense. That helps me now, because dealing with dementia is bloody depressing, and it helped me 'escape' from an unsatisfying job in my previous (and probably next) phase of life. And it's better than turning to drink or drugs or crafting. But even before I became a carer I'd bought a camera and was routinely forcing myself to get out of the front door on long walks instead of slobbing into the comfort of my computing chair; that was much better for my mental and physical health. I did look forward to lousy weather though, when I didn't feel guilty about hiding in 2D world rather than a mud-D one.

The only good thing to come out of Mum's dementia is I am now a way, way, way better guitarist than I was for the rest of my life, and it's changed me. I've performed in a small way and enjoyed that sharing... I've become someone who can pick up a guitar without people rolling their eyes (not to my face anyway). So when I eventually go back to working life I hope I'll be able dump the gaming and keep the guitar. A lot will depend upon where I'm living though. Part of the reason I was a lousy guitarist was living in a flat and not wanting to be the noisy neighbour winding folk up. That's why I bought an electric, but I really don't enjoy playing electrics and do, it turns out, enjoy singing.

Anyway, we're all spoiled rotten for hobbies these days, and often it's only the real grown-up stuff like babies which knock them on the head... and give us an excuse to buy power tools instead. :) However I'm happy for folk to buy PS5s instead and depress the price of PS4s as quickly as possible. Mine died three years ago (or was it 4?) when I was halfway through Uncharted 4. I intend to finish it one day. And play The Last of Us 2. And... and there's a reason I came to this thread. This wasn't it. :-)
 
Andrew_McP said:
If anyone can just take a look at this and tell me why it doesn't work, I'll be very grateful. I'd like the lottery numbers while you're at it.

hytNK8n.jpg
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Well, after several months of not wanting to throw good money after bad I took a £50 Christmas self-present gamble on this and it paid off...
poJGSGo.jpg
It fits the Paremetric Equaliser hole perfectly <phew!> and functions well. Also weighs considerably less than the chunk of early 90s, non-functional electronics it replaces. The only problem is a bit of mains hum which stops when I touch the metal part of the guitar lead when I'm playing. My Faith electroacoustic doesn't have the same hum, so I know it's the Takamine's earthing that's the problem. Might even be the reason why the TP-4T was on Ebay, but... But it's not a bad hum and I can now ruin my playing with a bit of reverb when I'm so inclined.

I always think reverb is to music what typing is to writing... everything looks a lot more professional when typed out rather than scrawled in handwriting, and reverb makes you feel a bit more professional even if you're only making a louder and more echoey unprofessional sound. :)
 
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Andrew_McP said:
When I look back on my life, my biggest regret is probably enjoying computer games way too much for way too long, way too often. On one level, that's daft... we're here for a short time then off to oblivion again for the rest of eternity, so enjoy what you enjoy. But there is no doubt whatsoever that real physical stuff -- the kind of things humanity's been doing for countless millennia and our brains respond better to -- is way more satisfying than any gaming experience can be. Unless maybe you're a professional Fortnite streamer earning bazillions. Pesky kids and their made-up non-jobs! ;-)

Now I'm a carer and not working for a few years I have the time, in between looking after Mum and her dog, to indulge both music and gaming hobbies. And gaming can be useful as a total escape... a kind of hyperactive mindfulness, if that makes sense. That helps me now, because dealing with dementia is bloody depressing, and it helped me 'escape' from an unsatisfying job in my previous (and probably next) phase of life. And it's better than turning to drink or drugs or crafting. But even before I became a carer I'd bought a camera and was routinely forcing myself to get out of the front door on long walks instead of slobbing into the comfort of my computing chair; that was much better for my mental and physical health. I did look forward to lousy weather though, when I didn't feel guilty about hiding in 2D world rather than a mud-D one.

The only good thing to come out of Mum's dementia is I am now a way, way, way better guitarist than I was for the rest of my life, and it's changed me. I've performed in a small way and enjoyed that sharing... I've become someone who can pick up a guitar without people rolling their eyes (not to my face anyway). So when I eventually go back to working life I hope I'll be able dump the gaming and keep the guitar. A lot will depend upon where I'm living though. Part of the reason I was a lousy guitarist was living in a flat and not wanting to be the noisy neighbour winding folk up. That's why I bought an electric, but I really don't enjoy playing electrics and do, it turns out, enjoy singing.

Anyway, we're all spoiled rotten for hobbies these days, and often it's only the real grown-up stuff like babies which knock them on the head... and give us an excuse to buy power tools instead. :) However I'm happy for folk to buy PS5s instead and depress the price of PS4s as quickly as possible. Mine died three years ago (or was it 4?) when I was halfway through Uncharted 4. I intend to finish it one day. And play The Last of Us 2. And... and there's a reason I came to this thread. This wasn't it. :)
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Interesting post abeit a bit depressing but its true i suppose. We are indeed only here for a relatively short time.

I live in a flat and play electric, I don't turn it up too loud ,id say its a moderate level - around 70ish db. Never had any complaints
 
Bassmansam said:
but its true i suppose.
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In my oldish age I increasingly see things as 'closed' or 'open'. Learning an instrument or going or a walk is a open activity... it leads to accidental discoveries and encounters. I know multiplayer gaming is a big deal these days, which muddies things a little, but on the whole gaming is a closed activity. I can play Borderlands 1 until I'm a hundred years old (and according to Steam, it looks like I might) but I'll never encounter something the designers didn't put in and all I'll ever get from it is an endless succession of dopamine hits from getting A Weapon With A Bigger Number... the kind of hits which we're supposed to get from laughing with friends, or downing a gazelle for dinner, or getting a smile from a girl (boy/person/non-specific gendered individual) we're interested in, or managing to play a bar chord without buzzing or crying.

It all probably boils down to personality types. I was a introverted kid and found introverted hobbies which did nothing to change that. If I'd concentrated upon the guitar I bought when I was 18 instead of the Space Invaders machine at the Uni facilities, life might have diverged down many more 'open' paths. But my excuse is it's been a fascinating period, watching electronic entertainment grow from Pong through to today's amazing experiences. But if I'd had children I think I'd have tried as hard as I possibly could to steer them towards 'real' rather than screen based entertainments. But that's a tough challenge now and so much effort now goes into making games enjoyably addictive. It's probably the same as with biscuits though... the best number of biscuits to eat is none at all, because once the packet's open...

Umm... someone post a guitar picture quick. This thread's gone a bit thoughtful. We need more shiny, shiny and less whiny, whiny. Bottom line, buy your kids guitars, not Playstations. Or drum kits. Playstations are definitely better than drumkits. ;-)
 
Interesting topic.

3 years ago I picked up Guitar Hero on the PS4. I was having fun, but after a few hours, I realised that all of this effort to learn songs on what is a joypad in the shape of a guitar was ultimately, a waste of time. To what end is this going to get me? I'll get some high score perhaps. I have a passion about music. Why not learn the real thing?!

In general, I don't think gaming is a waste of my time. I still find it enjoyable. But, as I've gotten older, I am a lot more conscious of how much time I am spending gaming. Sometimes though gaming it is a better way for me to unwind from the crap of the day. I find I do need to be in the right frame of mind to pick up the guitar lately. As lately, I am coming home from work, feeling stressed and tired and not feeling like I'm in the right frame of mind to learn.
 
Currently trying to learn the solo of Carpenters - Goodbye to love.

Finding the last couple of bars of it to be very hard, not sure if the tabs I am looking at are accurate.. or if they are and I'm just not playing it fast enough for it to sound right...
 
it's kind of correct but it's also bad tab at the same time. The actual song plays it further down the fretboard so you're bending on the G string not the heavier D string before that part. Try moving that 888-10 on the A string to 333-5 on the D string and similar the big 8-10-b-12 on the D string to 3-5-b-7 on the G string. You should have an easier time of it.

When you move up to the higher part you've highlighted it should slide into it more easily. See this video here for some better references and note where the original guy is playing on the fret board (and the kid is playing it at the same place too).

the highlighted note sounds odd if too slow but is approx correct though I'd find a better tab for this one tbh and it is likely to help clarify what you're looking for better than the free online ones. Always use them as a first point of reference but nothing more. I've seen some shocking verisons of stuff online which makes it almost unplayable whereas with a bit of relocation to the correct frets and strings suddenly it's achievable.
 
ik9000 said:
it's kind of correct but it's also bad tab at the same time. The actual song plays it further down the fretboard so you're bending on the G string not the heavier D string before that part. Try moving that 888-10 on the A string to 333-5 on the D string and similar the big 8-10-b-12 on the D string to 3-5-b-7 on the G string. You should have an easier time of it.

When you move up to the higher part you've highlighted it should slide into it more easily. See this video here for some better references and note where the original guy is playing on the fret board (and the kid is playing it at the same place too).

the highlighted note sounds odd if too slow but is approx correct though I'd find a better tab for this one tbh and it is likely to help clarify what you're looking for better than the free online ones. Always use them as a first point of reference but nothing more. I've seen some shocking verisons of stuff online which makes it almost unplayable whereas with a bit of relocation to the correct frets and strings suddenly it's achievable.
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Thanks, that was really helpful. It's difficult to get feedback like this when you're self learning. I got the tab from Ultimate Guitar tabs, but it's been transcribed by a randomer.

I haven't seen that video either, definitely useful and I think I can see what you mean about the changes. I'll sit down with it and slowly go through it. Thanks!
 
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