To Rock Or Not To Rock
I had a great music session this past Saturday with my buddy, Brian. It inspired me to give the guitar a(nother) solid go.
He taught me the C-scale and barre chords such as major, minor and even a few ninths. He’s musically talented and has recently picked up the drums, so he was looking for someone to jam with him. What I learned was enough for me to make something up and not sound terrible.
But then!…
…we decided to learn The Beach Boys’ “California Girls”. Wow was that fun. It took me a too get it down. But once I did, we were able to sing, harmonize and perform the backing vocals.
So back to the guitar: what are you opinions on the epic Acoustic Vs. Electric battle?
Comments
Back when I was in high school and things like this mattered, I was all about the acoustic guitar. In hindsight, this was because my folks didn’t want me making a ton of noise and bought me an acoustic guitar so that’s what I had an I rallied behind it. Also, Nirvana Unplugged.
But, really, they’re just tools. It depends on what sort of music you want to play. Some days I want to rock out an acoustic, some days I want to make all kinds of feedbacky noise. I’m generally a better acoustic guitarist than I am an electric guitarist because I tend to feel out of control of the noise coming out of the guitar, but I have my own tricks and tendencies for making friends with it (namely, a delay pedal).
Cool. I look forward to “fun with pedals”.
I was contemplating get an acoustic with pick-ups, one of those hybrids. Is that a bad idea? I was wondering if it’s both types but at the same time, neither, in a bad way.
Generally acoustic guitars with pickups, internal or insertable, are just for amplification/direct recording and nothing more. But in either instance, a good mic will always sound better. They really don’t respond all that well to pedals (unless noise is what you’re looking for), so I think it’s more a convenience than anything else.
Though I’m no expert so maybe someone else here could correct me.
i am still jonesin’ to play my drums again with other people. any takers? JOHN?? hell, even if we have to rent a space for a few hours…
also, voicebox effects on guitars are fucking cool and fun to watch being done.
i’m still workin’ on getting that band together
school has just been getting in the way
i don’t get out before 10pm
damn your tasty education.
hey hutch and luke, remember when we were in a band together?
ha!
with mike britt and Jimmy F.
I say learn to play bass. There are already too many guitarists and bassists are the hardest slot to fill in a band. One of my few regrets is that I didn’t take up bass instead of guitar as a teenager. I’m a fair, competent guitar player, but if I had focused all that time I spent on guitar on bass I’d be a phenomenal player because it’s easier to be better at than guitar. And then maybe every time I went to start a band or placed ads for other players which stated explicitly that I was a guitar player looking for a bassist and drummer would not have resulted in 400 responses from people saying "I play guitar too…would you be interested in a second guitarist?!?!
Ryan said:hey hutch and luke, remember when we were in a band together?
ha!
with mike britt and Jimmy F.
Yeah, that was kind of fun. Except on those days when we were a 6-person band. Then it was just weird. And then it was always weird.
No one has joined my band for 2 years now. We’re potentially huge in Belgium.
Hey J-man, not sure if you are still looking for feedback on this, but here’s my 2 cents.
I feel like most people, when looking to get into playing the guitar, think that it is best to start off with an acoustic. I’ve grown to think that this is a mistake, and here’s why. Most entry level acoustic guitars are incredibly difficult to play (high action, poorly built necks, etc.), and often times actually HURT to play, and people looking for instant gratification lose interest very quickly.
I played bass growing up, but it got boring after awhile so I eventually went out and picked up a $400 Ibanez acoustic/electric. The guitar sucked, and while I was able to play some cool stuff on it after awhile, it was hard to make any progress because it was so hard to use advanced techniques on it (you just learned barre chords, try doing those on a guitar whose strings sit 1" above the fretboard). A couple of months ago I finally took the plunge and bought a Taylor acoustic guitar, and my playing has progressed significantly since. It is easier to play and of course sounds so amazing that I never want to put it down.
Bottom line is, if you are serious about playing, I would either buy a very good acoustic (skip the entry level shit because you’re going to want a nice guitar eventually anyway), or a mid-range electric guitar. You can have fun with an electric no matter what because in the end you can just get a bunch of pedals and make crazy noise.
I couldn’t agree more, if only because an acoustic will build up your wrist strength.
So does masturbation.
This is also true. Somewhat off topic, but true.
Jay said:Hey J-man, not sure if you are still looking for feedback on this, but here’s my 2 cents.
Yes. Yes I am.
Looks like I’ll be going after a solid acoustic guitar
Question though, will blues and jazz scales still sound good?
Of course! Especially blues scales. Hop on my computer and dig up some Skip James or Charlie/Charley Patton
Isn’t it true that the new Mac has a tuner?
Currently looking to fill the position of “Guy People Take Seriously”.
Girl, whatever.
Dude, just do a search for Andy Mckee’s “Drifting” and you’ll never want to hear an electric guitar again.
John said:Ryan said:hey hutch and luke, remember when we were in a band together?
ha!
with mike britt and Jimmy F.Yeah, that was kind of fun. Except on those days when we were a 6-person band. Then it was just weird. And then it was always weird.
BIPOLAR REUNION
What are the chances of it not being weird?
zero. especially if we played in mike’s bedroom again