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About LinkBacksI can play fruityloops with style.
Otherwise I'm alright with a guitar and piano.
I can play fruityloops with style
Otherwise I'm alright with a guitar and piano.
Pain? Sounds like something wasn't quite right there! You weren't trying to emulate Hendrix using his teeth were you?Originally Posted by Galant
I did start to learn the guitar but quit when I decided that pain:gain ratio was too high.
Bass - blues & jazz
Contorting my hand into all sorts of bizarre positions while attempting to get short and fat fingers to press down hard on cheese wire and then repeating over and over again until I'd 'trained' them to do it wasn't, as it turned out, a ton of fun.
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Shot in the dark - Were you learning on an acoustic? Most people that complain about pain when they're starting out are playing fairly low budget acoustic guitars in my experience. Commonly anything but a nylon strung classical acoustic instrument will come buttoned up with some pretty hefty strings, mostly a set of 11 or 12 gauge strings with a wound G, both of which can take a toll on your hands even if you play quite a lot like I do.Contorting my hand into all sorts of bizarre positions while attempting to get short and fat fingers to press down hard on cheese wire and then repeating over and over again until I'd 'trained' them to do it wasn't, as it turned out, a ton of fun.
A cheap electric guitar on the other hand usually comes with a set of 9 gauge strings, much lighter to the touch, easier on the finger tips and a lot more compliant if you try to bend them. You can go lighter still if they still hurt too with a 7 or 8 gauge set.
Put simply, going straight onto an acoustic even with medium gauge strings is like learning to tie your shoes for the first time with suspension bridge cables instead of laces. Much better musicians may well disagree with me on this but beginners are much better off starting out electric then switching to acoustic once they've built up a little finger strength and some calluses otherwise unless you're very comitted it can just become off putting
for technique though it is far better to learn on acoustic then move to electric. The two are completely different beasts, but electric covers too many sins for beginners. Best thing to do is start with a nylon guitar, and move to steel strings in time. It's less about the gauge of string than it is about the action of the guitar (how far the strings need to be pressed/travel to the fretboard). Cheap guitars invariably have rubbish action and need setting up properly to reduce it to something sensible (while still avoiding fret buzz).
The other variable is string tension. I've never quite got my head round this, as for a given weight of string the tension required should (according to my basic understanding of the science) be constant to give the same note/pitch. However I swear that a string with more turns round the tuning head ends up being harder to bend than one with only a couple of turns. Could just be (mis)perception, but it's something I've noticed a few times now.
That is very true to be fair, electric guitars, especially when you're playing with high gain will cover up a multitude of sins that you do have to make an effort to rid yourself of later on. In an ideal world I think my playing probably would have benefitted from learning the basics on an acoustic then moving to electric later on rather than the other way around. A good set up will compensate for a lot too, but at the same time there's only so much varnish you can apply to a turd and if you can't do it yourself the cost of a good set up plus possibly a new nut etc may have been money better spent if you applied it to the next model up in the range or something like that. Horses for courses I suppose and the world of cheap guitars has changed a lot since I started out. The key I think, regardless of the instrument is that you're comfortable with your hands around it, if you're not then you're never going to stick at it.
I don't know about the number of windings around the tuning peg making a difference in tension, as you say common sense and science say that it should be constant and just thinking about it you generally wind the low E string fewer times around the peg than the high E on the same guitar and I wouldn't say the low E is any easier to bend than it's little brother. Most of the tuning pegs on my guitars are Grovers or knock-off's of a similar design though so there might be more difference on vintage Fender style tuning pegs where you insert the string, bend it off and then tune up, I honestly couldn't say with any certainty. Much like the old trick of threading strings down through the stop bar and over the top on a Gibson style bridge I don't have enough experience experimenting between the two to say if it makes a tangible difference or not.
and the other variables are the three neck variables:
gauge/scale length (how far apart the frets are)
Neck width (how far apart the strings are)
neck radius (the profile of the neck).
I struggle to play L'arrive guitars. They often go for a C or D profile with quite a deep radius, and it hurts my hands. I much prefer the gentler curves used by Yamaha, Taylor et al. I also find a slightly shorter gauge/scale length benefits me, and helps me reach some of the more interesting chord shapes. Someone with bigger hands might find the opposite to be true, as physically trying to squish ones fingers together isn't the most fun thing if you've got big podger stumps rather than waifey digits.
As you say, horses for courses!
I'm trying my hand at learning at least the basic fingerings for the bagpipes, sadly, it sounds an awful lot like a bad indian snake charmer at present.
I've played the guitar casually for a few years, just strumming and a handful or two of chords. I've started learning some fingering in the last couple months, big fan of Bob Dylan and Don McLean, Ralph Mctell and John Denver... Was very happy to learn a (fairly simple) pattern for Sunshine on my Shoulders.
I learned the Cornet when I was younger and was playing Solo Cornet in a brass band.... although that was a few years ago, I don't think I've forgotten how to play. Will need to pick one up again.
I self taught guitar and can play chords, and strum along to some songs. I've wanted to learn tab, but never got round to it (the only tab I can play is GnR's Sweet Child o' Mine, which I memorised).
After dabbling with drums in Secondary and watching Whiplash recently. I really wish I stuck in to it and got myself a set of drums.
Maybe down the line.
But I can tap my fingers off surfaces pretty well? lol
Well, I used to play quite a bit more when I was a student then I get the time for now, but I play the following (in order of proficiency) -
Piano, Guitar, Bass and a bit of drums..! Still hoping to get a real piano at some point as makes such a difference and then a Grand but that really pushes up cost.. so maybe one day..
I could play the piano, but let's just say I haven't touched one in quite some time.
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