BarbaraM
Forum Replies Created
-
I don’t know anything about string gauges. The guitar shop put bronze
Martin Lights (12-54) on my Baby Taylor last October. I play it very
little, so it doesn’t necessarily need changing now, but it doesn’t
sound all that good and I cannot do a hammer on with any sound to save
my life. Plus there is what feels like roughness on the high e. Should I
change the strings and with what? My Zager Parlor has Zager E-Z Play
Pillow Touch Light Gauge and it plays well. I don’t see any numbers on
the package. I have extra Zager strings that came with my Parlor so I
will probably use them on the Baby.What do the numbers refer to, what is coated vs uncoated, and what does the metal (bronze or other) do, good or bad?
-
I have small hands and when I started out I bought a full size dreadnought, not realizing there are other sizes! After a couple more downsizes, I settled on a parlor size with a 23.5″ scale length. The only problem with a parlor is it only has 12 frets to the body. There are 14 fret guitars with similar scale length, but I ran out of money for more guitars. I believe most 3/4 guitars are scaled down everywhere, so the neck can be too narrow for some. It is for me, I have one. If yours works for you, great!
As for following the videos with hearing issues–I can hear fine, but my brain delays or misses some things that may be spoken too quickly. I might stop and back up the video to that point to replay that section, but I don’t usually. Often someone will mention something Tony says in the comments, that I don’t recall hearing, so I usually read all the comments first, then I’m more likely to pick it up when I watch the video. Plus someone may mention a way they found to get around a difficult stretch, or whatever.
I’ve been tempted to give up more than once, but I do find I am improving. Especially since we get more than one shot at a particular challenge as most come around every year and the Benchmark challenges 4X a year.
-
Wow, according to the comments I should have changed my strings months ago! My Zager Parlor still has the strings that came on it over a year ago. My Baby Taylor has Martin Lights that were put on about a year ago, but I don’t use that one as much. They feel a little gritty, is that rust?? It gets pretty humid here in the summer. What do you wipe them down with? What kind of strings are best for a casual player? Coated or not, and what does the coating do?
I’m a little nervous about changing strings, though I’ve seen a couple of videos on doing it, and I’ll check out the ones you posted, MattTX24. My main anxieties are losing the little pegs from the bridge, and not wrapping the machine post correctly so the string slips off or something equally disastrous.
-
That was beautiful! That song always makes me cry.
-
Sending healing energy! May you heal quick. I also like what the others have said about harmonica, keyboard, song writing etc. Good Luck!
-
Wow, so many have gotten encouragement from my little post. I wasn’t sure it would be so effective! And thanks, @Loraine, for your back-atcha encouragement; you’ve heard me whine about various challenges enough times! And thanks, @jumpinjeff for your calling me a can-do player. I’m still a work in progress as far as my own advice; my post was as much for myself as for anyone else.
And it’s nice to meet some new names! Where are you from @BarbDP?
-
It’s in the Skill Courses > Learn the Fretboard > Foundations of Fretboard Navigation. When you get there, FW is to the right of FFN.
-
No worries, Pete!
-
I think only you can answer that question. How far do you feel you have progressed with the regular challenges? What are your goals in learning guitar? FW is a great foundation for further study of theory if you want to go there. And it teaches the CAGED system. And if you’ve had no theory at all, there are musical basics every player should know. I didn’t sign up for it until about 5 or 6 months into TAC, and I had done the Fretboard Fundamentals introductory free course, which is *very* basic; FW goes into much more.
-
Pete, I wasn’t totally dissing FW at all; it’s a valuable tool for those of us who never had *any* theory training. It’s just that the songs Tony used for the “key by ear” exercises are of a type I’m not used to hearing so it’s difficult for me to pick up on. (I have nothing against those songs as a genre!) Some of the other songs we have for challenges are more familiar to me (except when they’re not ;-), Wagon Wheel and some of the older rock songs come to mind–but I do understand the need to use material that is in the public domain) that I would have little difficulty determining the key. In fact I can usually pick up a tune on my recorder that I’ve heard only a few times.
Some of my other concerns are some of the lessons/exercises in FW don’t seem to have much practical application, at least for me, as I don’t have others to jam with. If a song I want to learn has chords I find difficult, I either don’t play that song, or use my triad workarounds for them.
Perhaps I’m wrong or being too limiting. I’d love to hear how FW has helped you and others in specific ways that enhance your goals as a guitar player. Me, I’m more focused on getting my 74 year old fingers to behave!
-
Thanks for your reply, Jeff. I too wish we lived closer, would love to have some one on one with another guitar player; I seem to live in the musical boonies!
I think I am also an ear player; when I play my recorder or tin whistle I can pick out a tune on either as long as I know what it sounds like. I can even change keys to accommodate the range limitation. I can pick out a tune on the guitar too, but there are more strings so more complexity. I can hear the root note of a song, as long as I have some other notes for context, but knowing “what” note it is by matching it to a note on the low E string is almost beyond me. Especially as the songs Tony picked are old folk songs with twangy voices and fast picking banjos…but I get it, they are probably all in the public domain.
If I look at the tab of a song, I can generally know what the key is by what notes are being played, but it involves counting up from the nut on whatever string, I don’t just know what the note is aside from a few we encounter all the time. And the chord charts we made; are 1, 3, and 5 the basic notes of any chord based on the root being 1? This is not made clear, to me. I don’t know what notes make up a C chord, for example.
I will continue to review FW as long as I am a member. Perhaps one day it will “click”.
-
That has the potential to be very helpful, Pete, but my fingers are shaped like this: (( )), so when I curl them to fret vertically, they don’t reach 4 frets wide. So I tried it at the 7th fret which was better, but wow, separating those fingers in my brain is a challenge!
Something to definitely practice every day!
Barbara M
-
I have only recorded a couple of things that I like to play, not recently. I DO remember when I couldn’t play at all–thought I could never get it, then realized I just needed a smaller guitar. Now, reaching things is less of an issue, but I can’t seem to get over the string issue. It’s like I need a magnet on my finger(s) that will draw them to the correct strings at the right time. Or two sets of eyes!
Not sure if I could play while watching TV; my attention would likely be divided, but I’ve never tried it. But I will. I AM going to try getting more aggressive with my arthritis, and maybe more finger exercises; that might help with better agility.
-
Oh, I know, but if I keep hitting the wrong strings how will the correct moves get into muscle memory? And it’s not fun when I keep flubbing up. So I play easy stuff (strumming mostly). Even then, if I don’t look at me fretting hand at least every couple of measures I get shifted off course. If I could practice for longer times without getting tired I could probably achieve it quicker.
-
I’m in rainy northwest RI, Foster, to be exact.