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I reckon most people who visit this site play guitar and I thought it would be cool to start this thread so people can come and talk guitar, discuss problems, share tips and advice etc. Basically ANYTHING about guitars. Let's face it, what guitar player DOESN'T love to talk guitar?

Ok.

My main guitar is a Fender Strat Plus Deluxe, USA model.

Gold, silver and blue lace sensors; locking machines.

Nice. I had a strat (squire) but now have an Epiphone Les Paul and a really cool Simon & Partick acoustic. I'm also a leftie.

I play an Ibanez G10. Ive only been playing about a year so Im kind of a low-intermediate player. Still, Im getting better and enjoying myself along the way.

I have a quick question- can anyone explain what a pinched harmonic is, and how to play one?

Originally posted by RedAlertv2


I have a quick question- can anyone explain what a pinched harmonic is, and how to play one?

It's a squealing effect that a lot of metal guitarists use. Zakk Wylde is the master of it.

You have to pick the string, then let your thumb brush the string straight after. It's quite tricky. You usually find sweet spots in terms of frets, strings, and actual string position.

It's usually best done on a humbucker too.

I play a tele

My dad has a pretty awesome steel National that he rarely plays.

i've got a cheapy washburn d10s acoustic and a fender strat...i'm also a lefty...getting something new and expensive in the new year but haven't decided what

I preferred my strat to my Les Paul, I find the Les Paul heavy, clunky and difficult to play due to the thicker neck. Strats are fantastic.

yeah but whereas a fender strat is clapton rock n roll...a les paul is slash rock n roll...

Originally posted by jaden101
yeah but whereas a fender strat is clapton rock n roll...a les paul is slash rock n roll... That's exactly what my Gibson loving friends point out to me. Though I just say one word to them - Hendrix.

Originally posted by amity75
That's exactly what my Gibson loving friends point out to me. Though I just say one word to them - Hendrix.

hahaha...true indeed...but only lefties like us get away with that trick...

lefties rock...except for bob geldof...and paul mcartney...

still...we've got hendrix, cobain, womack, lommi

Originally posted by jaden101
lefties rock...except for bob geldof...and paul mcartney... That is so true.

I have slowly but surely moved towards jazz-guitar playing. Nowadays I listen much to Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, John McLaughlin and others, and fiddle around and improvise a lot while listening to their songs. I can recommend to check out their music, if word "jazz" doesn't cause pimples or anger.

here's a pic of my cheapy washburn acoustic...i'd post my strat but its been knackered for years and is currently in the attic

How would you all rate yourselves as guitarists? How long have you been playing for? How often do you practice?

I haven't been able to play guitar because last week at work I sliced the tip of my left index finger chopping lettuce

It still hasn't healed and it hurts way too much to play cry

Originally posted by amity75
How would you all rate yourselves as guitarists? How long have you been playing for? How often do you practice?

i would rate myself as completely crap at playing the guitar

my first guitar was the strat i mentioned which broke years ago and never got fixed hence i never played

my acoustic i bought just a couple of months ago...i'm probably better now than i ever was before though

i dont know alot of techniques although am getting more fluent with finger picking

my biggest problems being that i know to few chords and cant change fast enough between some of them...

i'll keep practicing though

Meh Im pretty mediocre, but Ive only been playing about a year. Im gettin way better though, starting to master more techniques. I pretty much practice every day, usually for at least 10-15 minutes.

10-15 minutes isn't very much It's good you're practicing every day, but my teachers (for different instruments) have always told me to do at least 30 minutes... Though like I said, better 15 minutes every day than an hour once a week or something...

Thats a minimum. I usually play that much a couple times a day, and sometimes Ill play for an hour or so.

Which Pedal do you all use the most?
My favorite is the wah pedal

I've got a zoom3000 effects board, it's a lot of fun. My first proper pedal was an Ibanez Tubescreamer. After I bought it I came home and checked a review of it on the web and it said "Not only does it sound nasty, it also looks nasty". I was gutted. Though I've since read that Billy Corgan is a fan of them.

i have a lefty fender telecaster and also a lefty epiphone les paul

Originally posted by sk8stuff09
and also a lefty epiphone les paul Snap!

Originally posted by sk8stuff09
i have a lefty fender telecaster and also a lefty epiphone les paul

another lefty...cool...more than expected...even though that brings the grand total to 3 of us

yeah, lefties are extremely rare, especialy where i live...i have to like special order my guitars from far distances

Theres a lefty at my college, he had to order his guitar

Im not a guitarist, im a bassist, still a guitar though! Got a bass collection SB-321, nice looking one, plays and sounds nice too.

When I went to get my first electric I could only find 6 lefthanders in the whole of Glasgow. Though nowadays Sound Control claim to stock left handed versions of every guitar they have in the shop. Debatable though.

Originally posted by amity75
When I went to get my first electric I could only find 6 lefthanders in the whole of Glasgow. Though nowadays Sound Control claim to stock left handed versions of every guitar they have in the shop. Debatable though.

Forgive me if this is a "noob" question, but couldn't you just take a right-handed guitar and put the strings on backwards?

i should have posted my tone question of here...
anyway
I've got a Squire Standard left-handed strat run through a Boss DS-1 Distortion, a Danelectro PB & J Delay, and a Digitech X-Series Digital Mutlivoice Chorus, played through a 15-watt Crate GFX-15 amp.

What i would like tho is a Fender Tube amp, preferabelly a bassman or a twin reverb and a Japanese Reissue of a left-handed '69 Fender Mustang routed with two SG-style humbuckers and a Jaguar style dual-circuit for lots of switching options.
oh, and a ring modulator pedal would be damn sweet too.

guitars i love-Fender Mustang, Fender Cyclone, Fender Duosonic, Gibson SG/Epiphone G, Fender VI, Danelectro DC-12, Fender Jazzmaster

guitars i hate with a passion-Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster, Fender Jagstang, Squire Venus, anything with a floyd rose bridge, anything made by ibanez.

I'm a spoiled rich kid so I have a 70's Reissue Fender Strat, a 2004 Gibson SG Standard in Heritage Cherry and a Schecter C-1 with a Floyd Rose Tremolo... and I JUST bought two new guitars.. the first; a Gibson Les Paul Custom in Alpine White... and the second; a Gibson Jimmy Page Custom Authentic Les Paul (which I don't plan on playing)... I have a Krank Krankenstein half-stack (EFFIN' AMAZING! - R.I.P. Dimebag) and a Marshall JCM800 head with a simple Mesa Boogie 4x12 Cab... as of effects... I have a Zakk Wylde Crybaby Wah, an EVH Phase 90... Digitech Jimi Hendrix Experience Pedal, a Dunlop Rotovibe, an MXR Stereo Chorus and an MXR Dimebag Distortion Pedal. GHS Zakk Wylde boomers are killer strings... but don't put them on a Floyd Rose Tremolo!

Darth Jello - why do you hate Gibson Les Pauls?

cause they're uncomfortable and i only like the rythem pickup. Basically i like small left-handed guitars that are specifically built with small hands in mind, have a good surf sound, and have lots of switching options.
My question is why anyone would use a floyd rose bridge? Who wants to spend an average of 45 minutes changing a string and using like, 2 different allan keys to do it?

Originally posted by Darth Revan
Forgive me if this is a "noob" question, but couldn't you just take a right-handed guitar and put the strings on backwards? Aha! Good question! It's to do with the "cutaways". Al strat is OK to turn upside down but you couldn't do it with a tele or a les paul because you couldn't reach the high frets. And lefties shouldn't be restricted in their choice of guitars.

I've got an Ibanez Iceman and I use a Dp4 Line 6 pedal.

I play, I have a Tele, hoping to get a Gibson Les Paul.

i play on a Peavey electric guitar (name-peavey rocker) but i have been playing guitar total for about 4 years and i nowm, theres still things that i would like to learn. sometimes i go through spurts when i dont really want to play and other times i want to play like no other. and right now i have been playing my freinds electric J.Reynolds. he left it at my house lol.

Originally posted by amity75
Aha! Good question! It's to do with the "cutaways". Al strat is OK to turn upside down but you couldn't do it with a tele or a les paul because you couldn't reach the high frets. And lefties shouldn't be restricted in their choice of guitars.

plus you have to reverse the bridge to get the correct intonation out of strings.

probably the two easiest guitars to flip and play perfectly are the Gibson SG and the Danelectro DC-12

Originally posted by amity75
Aha! Good question! It's to do with the "cutaways". Al strat is OK to turn upside down but you couldn't do it with a tele or a les paul because you couldn't reach the high frets. And lefties shouldn't be restricted in their choice of guitars.

turning over a right handed guitar also presents another problem

the bridge on most guitars has an angled bar that maintains string tension for correct tuning

by turning over a right hander in essentially flips the bar so that its angled the other way and thus the guitar goes out of tune more easily

you can get adaptors for some guitars to change it though

you can see what i mean on this pic

Originally posted by alic88
Which Pedal do you all use the most?
My favorite is the wah pedal

despite it's awful reputation, I think the Danelectro PB & J delay is the best delay pedal i've ever used. i love my chorus too and the ds-1 is just THE classic distortion pedal.

i believe its just easier to buy a left handed guitar...ive tried restringing right handed guitars...just doesnt sound as good for some reason

i agree, but if you are gonna restring i and fix the bridge, the SG/G probably has the most semetrical and comfortable body to do it.

A flying V would be OK but you can't sit with one of those things on your knee.

I thought Id bring this thread back in order to see if anyone could help me out. Basically, when I restrung all 6 strings, I was completely finished, only to notice that the bridge was being tugged towards the neck by the strings, and was actually slanted. Obviously the strings were too tight, so when I loosened them they went horribly out of tune. Now I cant tune it any higher than a step down without the bridge slanting forward.

What the hell did I do wrong?
(Im playing an Ibanez gsa 60, so it restrings the same as a Strat.)

try adjusting each saddle backward...it changes the intonation but might help with the angle

remember that the bridge is supposed to angle slightly so you can use your tremelo bar anyway

I just started learning Guitar. I rushed in and brought a Electric Guitar. I am currently learning by the book, and should be getting lessons soon.

I've been playing for 12 years and yet this week I'm starting beginners guitar lessons at my local library purely to learn music theory.

does anyone play with strings upside down like dick dale?

I know one leftie who does that but it's only coz he got his 1st (right handed) guitar when he was 8 and didn't know how to restring it. For a leftie it's maybe the best way to be. At least you're not limited in your choice of guitar.

my new hand built esteve custom cutaway classical electro acoustic

a rather fine piece of kit if i do say so myself

woohoo my new set up

although a fender strat japanese import may be added to it soon

Just a reminder people, for those that care. If your in a metal band, or any band for that matter who likes to detune, please make it a standard to play your guitars fixed with a baritone neck. Guitars weren't made to be dropped that low, and for those with a good ear, you will start to sound out of tune past the seventh, or twelve fret, trust me.

Originally posted by jaden101
woohoo my new set up

although a fender strat japanese import may be added to it soon

Very nice. What type of wallhangers are you using? Although it doesn't seem like it would matter, I still would recommend using metal wall hanger, just in case you get a bad case of termites. A friend of mine told me that would never occur, and three months later, the little buggers ate through the wood, and his les paul was heard slamming on the ground when the hanger gave out.

Originally posted by Scythe
Very nice. What type of wallhangers are you using? Although it doesn't seem like it would matter, I still would recommend using metal wall hanger, just in case you get a bad case of termites. A friend of mine told me that would never occur, and three months later, the little buggers ate through the wood, and his les paul was heard slamming on the ground when the hanger gave out.

well i use wooden ones...and we really dont get any termites or woodlouse problems around here

they are hercules autograb hangers

Nice, have you considered framing any of your guitars?

cant say i have...as it is they get used on a very regular basis...the strat is really only for show as it was my first guitar and has among other defects

a broken bridge...a missing selector switch...missing strap hooks...no screws holding the scratch plate on/...rusty pickups of which the bottom E barely works

i play an esp m1000- i dont know a better guitar to play very fast soli
(with such an uncomromising sound)

Originally posted by jkl8
i play an esp m1000- i dont know a better guitar to play very fast soli
(with such an uncomromising sound)

Most Jackson Soloists do a good job of that too. Also a handful of custom SG customs can have a pretty good attack.

I was wondering if anyone here can help with a problem

On my guitar (Ibanez GSA60) whenever I play the G string, it makes a buzzing sound, particularly at higher frets. Does anyone know what I need to do to fix this?

its your intonation thats wrong

when you tune your guitar by ear using the 5th fret...blah blah method once its tuned you should play each string on the 12th and if it buzzes then micro tune it until it stops

if that doesn't sort it then you might need to get a new neck as it could be slightly warped or get new frets...

I've been in pretty close proximity to sonic youth twice this year and got a look at some of their guitars...
crazy.

Thurston Moore plays this jaguar with three pickups D strings on his high e and B and D strings on the first three. I'm guessing that it's one of the ones he tunes to either F#F#F#GAA or ACCGG#C. I remember at one point he had a 22.5" scale Duosonic with three single coils, a 5-way switch, and a Jaguar floating bridge/trem which sounded and looked awesome.
I think the weirdest guitar they had was one Lee Ranaldo played in either GGDDEbEb or AAEEAA (I forget which). It was a les paul with a jazzmaster singlecoil in the lead and a Fender XII neck and bridge.

Dear satan yes! Sonic Youth will go down in history as one of the many bands who's guitar tech prowess will go unnoticed.

a lot of times when they get new guitars, they'll disconnect all the switches except volume and the selector to keep the tone unique

I have a lefty Ibanez. I've been playing for a year now, and I suck.

Montgomery Ward Airline guitar! Jack White has one, those are great. I've been looking for one for quite awhile.