[jorgemac]

Personally I avoid Guitar Center. I was looking at some of the Guild all wood series guitars. they look interesting. An entry level all wood Taylor is always a safe bet. What is your budget? Most of the all wood models don’t start until $500.00 or up.

Used guitars are a great buy if… the neck is straight, It has a truss rod so u can adjust the action the frets are not too worn and you don’t need a “perfectly pretty” guitar.

I bought my used Yairi Folk FYM66HD guitar(LOOK IT UP, one of the best all mahogany guitars out there) it had a cracked body due to being dropped, that had been professionally repaired and it is a daily player and one of my go to instruments.

[jorgemac]

Pete which of the apps do yo use the most?

[jorgemac]

If you are hunched forward so you can see the fret board while you play this and the tension of trying to be a “perfect” guitar player always tightens my back up. My best guitar picking is late at night when I am relaxed and just “picking and noodling.

Visit the skills section for the posture exercises and start your guitar practice with these to help you release any anxious tension. Guitar playing is supposed to be fun but most of us want to play “perfectly” so we practice with tension that can be centered between our shoulder blades. A good comfortable chair like Pete mentioned will help you develop good guitar playing posture. I use an office chair also and have removed the arm rests so I can hold my guitar properly to practice. I’m so used to it that i take it with me when I play with friends. Yes they chuckle at me but it is my Lionel comfort blanket, that’s a Charlie Brown reference.

[jorgemac]

First, this has developed into a guitar learning community that does share all of it guitar issues with each other a learn from our fellow TAC members trials and challenges of learning to play guitar.

This method of learning teaches you how to learn to play guitar through slowly learning how to play a bunch of cool songs. Every day of practice will help develop a certain guitar centric skill. Yes, you will learn the basic’s of songs and the style of guitar playing needed to master that song. You are not expected to master that song in a week, but learn some basic guitar skills that will help you develop into a more rounded player. All of us struggle together every week and share our small wins and areas we are having trouble learning. we try to help each other over those humps blocking our guitar learning journey. Then you will revisit that song in a few months and will be surprised how much you have grown as a guitar player.

When I, now, play songs that I tried to learn and play before joining with this community of guitar students all of those songs now flow effortlessly through my fingers with the skills I’ve learned in the short 9 1/2 months I have been a TACer For me this method of learning works.

welcome aboard the TAC guitar train.

[jorgemac]

First a better guitar will not make you a better player if your aren’t going put in an honest effort to improve.

I play D’ardarrio XL string – 12/53 and 13/56 usually tuned down. i can afford them and they fit my needs. Every guitar player develops their own personal string choice. Cheap strings don’t hold their tone very long. If that is all you can afford then expect to change strings quite often to keep a good tone.

When 1st starting out 10’s were fine. As you start to develop your chops you will probably start playing a heaver gauge string as you will learn you can pick with more “character” to your tone with them.

OK Story time. When I bought my 1st grand daughter a guitar, in her junior high school year, I tried out all of the inexpensive guitars in the guitar Store. To my surprise I kept coming back to one of the cheapest guitars offered because it has, to my ears, the best tone for a starter guitar. The action was good and the tone was as good as guitars way more expensive. I finally bought it for her and she loved it for many years.

The point being buying a guitar is it has to fit you. Before you go to a music store to purchase another guitar learn to play one simple 3 chord song. Doesn’t matter what the song is just something you can kind of play for at least 1 verse. then you have something to compare different sounds coming from the instruments you are going to try out. Try to not be embarrassed by your lack of skill as people all around you are blowing your mind with their guitar picking. Just explain you are new to this and trying to find a first guitar that you feel comfortable with. Most real players will offer you all kinds of advise but take it with a grain of salt as you are your own individual and need to pleae you, not anyone else with this guitar choice.

Research online for different “best guitars” in your price range. If you can play 1 verse in a song or a lick such as Tuesday’s “Gone to long” lesson challenge you can repeat that over on all of the guitars you try out and you will find a guitar that grabs your ear and heart. Do not buy on your first day of checking. Salemen might try to pressure you but do not make any commitment until you have thought about it for awhile. This could be a lifetime commitment. It is important to you if you are really going to learn to play guitar.

I have huge expensive dreadnoughts, some simple parlor and medium folk style guitars. They all have a different sound and I will rotate between most of the smaller and folk size guitars on a weekly or sometimes a daily basis. I haven’t touched a large bodies guitar in a long time, except for my Gibson 200 that is just a magical guitar but isn’t as comfortable as the smaller bodies.

All guitar woods sound different also. Guitars made with all solid wood will age and over time and develop there unique sound.

Ply body wood guitars will sound the same 5 years from now as they do today. Ply bodied guitar with a solid top will develop a little bit of character but not like a solid wood body guitar. I have a Taylor mini that is a solid top guitar/ply body guitar and does sound good but the sound has not evolved much from the day I bought it.

Again research online “best acoustic Guitars” online in your price range and see if you can find something that will help you learn to play and is also fun and easy to play.

[jorgemac]

Hey Pete, Lighter gauge strings would probably help. I haven’t looked up that model as far as string size that comes with it, new. But learning how to change strings is very easy to learn how to do. Tony has a video on changing strings on his site.

If the string gaugge is either .012 or .013, even an half step tuned down will decrease the finger pressure needed to hold down a string. The Alvarez RD8 acoustic guitar is a very inexpensive basic entry level guitar and probably did not have any set up completed on it. A good set up from a good guitar tech will help but will cost almost as much as the guitar purchase price. For the same money you can probably purchase the guitar tools needed to make the same adjustments a tech will make.

If you are handy with your hands and a a good learner you can do a simple set up using online videos. Neck and saddle adjustments, new strings at an appropriate gauge could make a big difference in playability.

Other items that would help you achieve a better guitar tone would be to replace the guitar nut and the bridge saddle with bone material, instead of the plastic items that came with the guitar. All of this is an easy way to learn how to make simple guitar adjustments that improve playability and guitar tone.

I am a guitar snob and a tinkerer and am always messing with something on my guitars. I find it enjoyable.

[jorgemac]

There are so many ways to mute

1. palm

2. slight finger lift off string and just muting those strings.

3. fingernail slap and variations.

4. finger across strings and plucking those strings, I’m sure there are a lot more variations.

For this song I do curl the fingers and place the fretting hand pinky across the strings and slap the strings fairly lightly and then slide my muting down in a slight 3 finger strumming stroke. This is one continued motion. I also achieve different tones by where my bent finger nails strike the string, close to the bridge or over the sound hole produce different muted tones.

Another method is the middle finger up stroke instead of the finger nail approach.

Pinky over the strings and use an middle finger brush stroke for a different muted tone and then your fingers are in position to pick the last 2 notes of this mute. For me this is easier and I vary the 2 approach’s for different tones.

Each has different mute tones and also where on the strings you strike them also affects the sound – close to the bridge or closer to the fret board end. To me, all are valid ways to to mute.

[jorgemac]

As a Viet Nam vet and sufferer of PTSD, I appreciate all of the vets who have helped me and still help many other people who gave so much and received so little in return. Thank you.

[jorgemac]

I’m close by in Lompoc. We’ll have to pick together, when you feel more comfortable with your picking.

[jorgemac]

Joe, finger an A chord, strings B, G, D, Fretted on the third fret of your neck. use what I call the triangle finger shape. middle on B/3, index on G/3 and ring finger on D/3 fret.

Strum these 3 strings or use thumb, index and ring finger to pluck the strings. then light lift, less pressure but still in contact with your fretted fingers and strum or finger pick these strings again. you should be getting a muted tone.

Move to the E chord and repeat this and then the B7 chord, another triangle shape

Strings G/2, D/1 and A/2, repeat this. You can mostly use this method of muting when chord strings are adjacent to each other unless you are able to split/move your fingers to cover other chords that aren’t made with strings next to each other.

Palm muting takes much more practice to learn.

Are you located in the 805 area code area? I am located there.

[jorgemac]

Pete, great stuff.

I like the tone of heavier strings but don’t like the fact that the strings take more finger tip pressure to produce that fuller tone of heavier strings.

I started with 10 gauge strings and now usually play .013/56. I found as i increased the string gauge I could put less tension on the strings if I tuned the strings down a half of a note to 1 1/2 notes per string. Much less string tension meant no sore fingers as my tips got used to the heavier gauges.

One of my early rock guitar hero’s was Lonnie Mack, A Memphis picker who was a huge influence on Stevie Ray. i noticed in his song books that he tuned his guitar’s Strings down up to a tone and a half when recording. While trying to learn his songs I began tuning my guitar down to try and emulate his sound. Never did actually copy his tone but i did learn how to tune down my guitar and found I liked the bassier tone this created.

I am currently playing .013 strings and am tuned down 3 half steps, treble to bass C#,G#, E, B, F#, C#. as I like the tone. It is easy to tune your string down if you have a headstock tuner on your guitar. This is an easy way to avoid sore finger tips when to increase the string size on your guitar. Just tune it down for a week as your finger tips will have less tension when holding down the fretted notes. Then you can tune it up a half step a week until you reach normal tuning. I can just capo up if playing with friends and they like the different tone my guitar has to their guitar tone. A nice blend of different guitar sounds.

It is hard to tune lighter strings down more than a half step, as they do not adjust to the less string tension as well as .012’s or .013’s do.

[jorgemac]

JnJ,

I like that, a complicated Zen like simple answer. Much more than just one meaning to your statement.

Just like a good guitar progression. Thanks

[jorgemac]

7th chords are major 7th chords with the 7th note a half step below the root note and the Dominate 7th chord, a whole step below the root note.

Most blues, rock, country, folk songs use the dominant 7th. Some alternate, jazz, classical and americana artist’s use the major 7th chord. I us e both in different contexts of a progression.

The dominate 7th has more of. to my ear, a dissonant tone than the major 7th chords. You definitely want to resolve to another chord to smooth out the progression.

Play a C chord on the B, G and D strings at frets B/5, G/3, D/5. that is a dominate 7th C chord

Now play the major 7th chord on string position B/5, G/4 and D/5. That is a major 7th and sounds almost “sweet’ to me. Both can be used as a transition chord to another chord, usually, for me back to the root chord for the dominate 7th chord and to the minor 6th chord from the major 7th of that key.

[jorgemac]

Feeling overwhelmed, slow down and learn what you can in each lesson, move on as that same lesson will come around again.

For your reading enjoyment. Take it a page or 2 a day and absorb some ot this guitar theory. Again take it slow. If you can’t download, just go to the National Guitar Academy website and tind the theory in the free section.

https://nationalguitaracademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guitar-Theory-The-Ultimate-Guide.pdf

[jorgemac]

Learning guitar is definitely a challenge. I’ve been picking it seems like forever and tried many different methods to improve my technique’s . This one seems to help me improve without tons of frustration.

All of us are trying to learn and be guitar god’s in 30 days. For some reason that hasn’t happened for me. This same lesson you are working on today will come around again in a few months and you will be shocked how much you have improved. Get what you can from today’s lesson and move onto the next challenge having improved just a little from where you were yesterday.

I am definitely hooked on this style of learning as we are not expected to be perfect with each lesson. We are just expected to put in an honest effort and move onto tomorrows challenge with out allowing ourselves to “hate” how useless our fingers were today.

On the week ends I have taken most of the offered skill challenges and know that I improve a little each and every time I pick up a guitar.