So who here is a guitar player?

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Been playing for 25 years.

I play Pedal Steel. I've been a player for close to 30+ years now. I just recently bought a Telecaster and am having a time trying to convert the music over from what I already know.

I can figure out scales fairly well but, when it comes to actually reading music, forget it. I play by ear. Does anyone else have problems reading music?

J.C.

I have played since I was 14. I found out I could play almost by accident! I can't read music but I can just about read tab. I have a red electro-acoustic.

I don't so much have problems as I do not bother. My ear at this point is good enough that I'm probably only a few seconds behind the sight readers.

Did u go to UNF??

I'm 24 and i've been playing guitar since i was about 11. I'm good, but not great. I'd love to be able to improvize jazz.

Good jazz improvisation is great (when the musicians listen to each other and interact in a harmonious way, I am not a big fan of extremely experimental stuff), I love hearing a trumpet or a saxophone in improvisation.

Here's my current stable:



Far left is a Cordoba that is kept in alternate tunings, depending on what piece I'm playing. Next to that is my newest member--a renaissance lute. Next is the "Silent Guitar" by Yamaha that I play at night so I don't bother the others in the building. Finally, at right is my #1, built by Jose Ramierez, and is usually in standard tuning. You can see (and hear) that guitar on my youtube channel. (link below or www.youtube.com/kindofbluenote)


edited numerous times in vain attempts to upload the picture...

I have an electric guitar... slowly trying to learn. It hurts my fingers.

I partially agree with this assessment. Older Marshall amps had excellent build quality, especially the ones made from 1974 to roughly early 1984 until advent of the horizontal input JCM 800 series. These amps featured PCB / Flying lead construction which allowed them a bit more tonal consistancy. The advent of the horizontal inputs also was the advent of the inputs and control pots mounted directly on the PCB, which lessens the roadworthyness of the amps design. Their quality continued to decline further in 1986, when they changed the PSU design that they had used essentially since 1967 to a less robust and cheaper design.

Current designs feature flimsy PCB construction with clipping diodes ( IE a built in fuzzbox) to simulate tube driven high gain, and 12AX7's mounted directly to the cheap PCB. The circuit path is also much more cluttered and much more complex, than the 1959/1987 and 2203/2204 model designs. The tonality of the earlier designs was partly due to the simplicity of the circuit they copied from tweed era Fenders as well as the componentry and the way that it was all laid out in the chassis, coupled with the transformers. --The newer ones have more in common with a cheap VCR as far as componentry and circuit layout/ complexity is concerned.

Marshall does make so called reissues of their old designs, but they are not the same as their old amps, unless one has the cash to shell out on their PTP circuit Hand Wired series.

Marshall has also shifted it's focus from quality tube amplification to budget transistorised gear to cash in on their name. --Their 'MG' series is made in various locations in east Asia. I've seen these manufactured in Korea, China, and even Vietnam.

As a person who has owned 2 Marshall amps, I have to admit that the Celestion speaker/ open back Marshall combo is a horribly matched setup, especially the fairly common 50 watt models. The only Marshall combo that I played through that had decent tone was a 100 watt 4140 that was equipped with red basket McKenzie speakers. --Incedentally, this was also the only Marshall that I played through that sounded good at less than ridiculously loud volumes.

The 50 watt JMP equipped with Celestion 12-65's that I had sounded horrible on it's own, but pretty good into a 4x12 sealed back cabinet. Sadly, like all Marshalls with the exception of the 4140, it only sounded good when it was incredibly loud.

That being said, part of the pricing on Marshall amps in North America has to do with the fact that they are imported from the UK, and hence carry shipment and border entry premiums. --Fender, Mesa, and other popular North American amps command similar price premiums in the UK and EU.

Another part has to do with the supply and demand of the Vintage instrument market for the amps made from 1962 to approximately 1987, with the emphasis on 60's models, primarily on the 1962 to 1968 models with the Plexiglas/Perspex control panel, which are arguably the best sounding amps that Marshall made.

However, if you need an old style Marshall amp, you can either buy a preassembled amp or a DIY kit from these guys. --Be forwarned though , if you build the amp yourself, you have to hand tune the circuit yourself, and it may never sound exactly like a Marshall.

I've been wanting to play since fourth grade. I finally got a starcaster Fender for Christmas at age 22. I'm picking up on how to play songs fairly quickly though.

I learned the basics when I was 13... then taught myself to finger pick, play some classical / Spanish guitar songs. My friend had a 12 string and let me play it a few times... what an incredible sound quality it had! I've also played keyboards/piano, harmonica, and (heh heh) the recorder I got in grade school. I learned to play these instruments 'by ear', because I never had the patience to learn to read music! Add a lifelong singer as an alto in several different choirs to that...

Gee-tar player here. I prefer myself as a bassist though. I've got three 4-string basses, a Gibson SG, two acoustics (a 6 string and a 12 string).

I play classical guitar. I have been playing for only a few months and I can now transition into different chords and I can now bar chords. I find it fun to play, but it can be difficult at times.

Yes, though not very well, but it helps me to write songs and some silly web site claimed that one of my songs was one of the best of 2010!

The thread is alive! It's alive!

I started playing guitar when I was 18 years old. A few years later I started playing guitar while riding a bicycle at the same time, and somehow magic happened for me. My body was distracted by keeping me balanced and somehow that diminishes some of my sensory issues, and my mind is on the music so is not as hyperactive racing in all directions at once and overwhelmed by everything. For me it is a meditation in motion. I have done this tens of thousands of miles since then, the past thirty years all on the same bicycle, the past twenty years with the same guitar (I play a 25th Silver Anniversary model Fender Stratocaster named "Annie").

Now thirty years later I am pretty good at guitar playing and getting better at singing too. Since last October I have been playing a two-hour show at a local coffee house. I mix it about two-thirds of my original songs and one third covers of classic rock songs and novelty tunes. Next Wednesday will be the thirty-sixth week in a row for this show. I announce them on my Facebook page (The Bicycling Guitarist) and I really appreciate any likes or shares to help me get "discovered" before I get too much older and my talents start to fade. For now, I am at the top of my form and have never been a better guitar player or singer than I am now.

Here's a video from February 2012 that shows me riding my guitar and playing the bicycle (yes I said that right) INSIDE a middle school gymnasium while playing the Beatles song Help! Note I sing much better now than I did a year ago, especially with all the extra practice of the past eight months of my weekly show. Note I also am singing and playing much better now than anything yet posted on my YouTube channel (I was last filmed past January, and before that at my show last November). Within a few weeks or months there should be more videos online that will be even better!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIrTjcHCNOc[/youtube]