learning to play the guitar...

[thaya]

thanks!

[flyingvee]

Try open G tuning for something different!!

From bottom string up - D G D G B D

Great for experimenting

[isaluteyou]

Try open G tuning for something different!!

From bottom string up - D G D G B D

Great for experimenting

thats the tuning for led zeps going to california i think great song.

IM playing in open Am weird as

[flyingvee]

Try open G tuning for something different!!

From bottom string up - D G D G B D

Great for experimenting

thats the tuning for led zeps going to california i think great song.

IM playing in open Am weird as

Lol yeah, also Keefs' tuning for Brown Sugar, Midnight Rambler, Start Me Up......... the list goes on.....

Hey whats open Am across the strings man??

[isaluteyou]

Try open G tuning for something different!!

From bottom string up - D G D G B D

Great for experimenting

thats the tuning for led zeps going to california i think great song.

IM playing in open Am weird as

Lol yeah, also Keefs' tuning for Brown Sugar, Midnight Rambler, Start Me Up......... the list goes on.....

Hey whats open Am across the strings man??

bass - high - E A E A C E

Its a very moody tuning although im not sure thats the exact Open Am tuning but thats the way i play it. The chording is kinda weird though but if you wack on a load of overdrive and reverb it can be really really haunting

I actually mess around with tuning a lot and my 2 favs are that Am one and open C which i find is great for playing acoustic folk

[thaya]

I had chance to play a friends guitar this morning! I don't know much about guitars (or anything really) but she said it was a good guitar (made by Taylor, if that means anything?) and it sounded sooooooo nice when I played it.

I've discovered that a different guitar can make all the difference... but realised that my playing still needs alot of improvement too! I didn't sound like a complete beginner on her guitar though. I actually sounded ok, if I do say so myself . Still, I'm stuck with this other guitar that's been lent to me, so I'll have to make do until i ever have any money to buy my own (probably years, if ever!).

[isaluteyou]

taylor make beautifull silky sounding guitars specialists in mid range guitars (regarding sound spectrum) unlike martin which is all high and lows

[garbarrage]

just on the tuning side - play a bit of open G but most of what i play is in DADGAD (load of john martyn, black mountain side, few beatles i think), mainly used in irish traditional, but great tuning as you can make a lot of chords with two fingers leaving the other two free to ornament the tune. loadsa fun.

[isaluteyou]

just on the tuning side - play a bit of open G but most of what i play is in DADGAD (load of john martyn, black mountain side, few beatles i think), mainly used in irish traditional, but great tuning as you can make a lot of chords with two fingers leaving the other two free to ornament the tune. loadsa fun.

yep brings the art o fplaying on one string to life particulaly on some tunings can be very interesting

[flyingvee]

Great thread, this - anyone got anymore weird tunings? Sorry to hijack this Thaya, by the way when your fingertips harden you'll find the vibey sensation on your fingertips kinda pleasing after a good workout on the fretboard - well, I do anyway.

[garbarrage]

really weird one for ya - AGAEGC low to high. really low so you'll have to run through the tuning process a few times to get it to stick.
also quite a difficult one to get it to sound right... john martyn was a master of it "you can discover" if you know the tune.

basically its better capoed and played in a percussive "claw-hammer" style where you sort of half strum, half finger pick and use your thumb as percussion. just tap the beat. the looseness of the low A gives a really nice percussive sound.
can't find any in that tuning but here's a link to a tune in drop d that shows the "claw-hammer" quite well -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc

and while i'm at it some paul brady - master of open g (forgive the head on the guy lol- easily done cos he's a special guitar player) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBGkhPx529g

[isaluteyou]

you can also make a lot of weird sounds if you have an octave pedal. Basical try a tuning that would otherwise break the strings so you detune it and then octave it up on the pedal. This is why im so glad my guitar has an onboard tuner maes things sooo much simpler as i can change tuning on the go.

Often what i do is when i found a werid chord that i like the sound of i try tuning it to it or tuning it then adding a capo to get the correct sound if im too afraid ill break a string You can get a mandolinish sound like that even though i have a mandolin its still fun to mess around with

Basically there are limitless things you can do with a guitar ands its a hella lot of fun if you stumble upon a tuning that hardley anyones used

[garbarrage]

anyone ever use a hipshot tuner? i've never seen one but they sound like a good idea in theory.... they replace your pegs but have 2 adjustable settings... basically if you replace the low E peg you can have one setting that's E and at the flick of a springloaded switch it lets pressure off the string and you have a D (or whatever you set it to)
like i said never actually seen one, would love to know if they actually work.... play alternate tunings a lot (DADGAD as standard)... sucks taking time to retune between songs.

[flyingvee]

anyone ever use a hipshot tuner? i've never seen one but they sound like a good idea in theory.... they replace your pegs but have 2 adjustable settings... basically if you replace the low E peg you can have one setting that's E and at the flick of a springloaded switch it lets pressure off the string and you have a D (or whatever you set it to)
like i said never actually seen one, would love to know if they actually work.... play alternate tunings a lot (DADGAD as standard)... sucks taking time to retune between songs.

I think i'd sooner have two guitars.

Three and a half grand buys this baby:

[garbarrage]

little flashy for me.... that your guitar? three and a half grand, have to sound like a dream...
.... reckon i'd probably use it as a down payment on a george lowden though. richest toned guitars i've ever heard. but they charge through the nose for em.

[flyingvee]

little flashy for me.... that your guitar? three and a half grand, have to sound like a dream...
.... reckon i'd probably use it as a down payment on a george lowden though. richest toned guitars i've ever heard. but they charge through the nose for em.

Nah, not mine. Wish list Yeah Lowdens are great, but that Collings just does something for me.

[isaluteyou]

little flashy for me.... that your guitar? three and a half grand, have to sound like a dream...

ya thats about the same price as my dream acoustic excepting i prefer a wood finish rather than a laminate as they tend to dull the sound sometimes

[garbarrage]

with ya there...laminate seems to swallow all the bass tone...
here's a pic of my baby -

hand made czech guitars... cedar quarte-cut solid top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood finger board... just short of a grand... doubt i could have got better for the money. incredible tone from it.. not a flat spot on it anywhere.
it'll be more than enough to keep me going till i can either afford a lowden, or meet the guy (as he's only up the road) and convince him to make me one cheap lol.

[thaya]

lol no i don't mind you hijacking my thread!

i'm stuck!!! tonight, I've been learning snow patrol, chasing cars (it's coming along nicely!) but I'm stuck on a song I really really wanted to play - house of the rising sun. The only problem I have is the F chord. Everything I've played so far hasn't had an F chord in it, apart from one song, but i got round playing it... now i can't avoid it

i don't have enough fingers??? it sounds totally wrong too... i'm not sure i've got it right? how do you play it? i can't draw a diagram but I thought your first finger went over the top string and the bottom two strings and then your second finger goes on the fourth string down, second fret and your third and fourth fingers go on the second and third strings down on the third fret.. is this right because i'm finding it a physical impossibility???

is there an easy way of cheating? pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease help

[flyingvee]

F chord is basically C chord moved up one step. So, barre top two strings at first fret with your 1st finger, 2nd finger on 3rd string 2nd fret, 3rd finger on 4th string 3rd fret. Just play top 4 strings for now and try to deaden bottom 2 by curling your thumb over. hope this helps