# The Great Ongoing Guitar Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 31, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172 "2010-01-31T23:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 194
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3864 "2014-12-29T12:04:07Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > That was most excellent. Must agree! That is really great - great chords, great single-note transition fills, and most importantly, great groove tying it all together. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3865 "2014-12-29T12:08:07Z")
The Jim Dunlop picks I’m familiar with are supposed to be nylon, not the good old plastic Fenders are made from. Last time I bought picks, as a change from the tortoise Fender mediums, I found you can also get pearl Fender mediums. I like those better. They go with the pearl dot markers and bridge pins on my guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3866 "2014-12-29T13:49:04Z")
Would anyone be against posting on other stringed instruments here? Say, a ukulele? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3867 "2014-12-29T13:55:11Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > Would anyone be against posting on other stringed instruments here? Say, a ukulele? I can’t speak for others, but I sure don’t mind. Don’t know that I can answer questions, but I bet other folks could… ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3868 "2014-12-29T15:01:31Z")
Ok, I’ll shoot then. I just got myself a tenor Uke for christmas (one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001731R6A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)) and I’d like to learn some more about them! I got a uke for dummies book, but I’m really looking for some popular songs redone on a ukulele. I tried to find a Beatles collection, but the reviews were worse than mixed on the ones I found. Or heck, if anyone has experience on how to convert to uke, that would be great as well! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3869 "2014-12-29T16:59:27Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > Ok, I’ll shoot then. > > I just got myself a tenor Uke for christmas (one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001731R6A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)) and I’d like to learn some more about them! I got a uke for dummies book, but I’m really looking for some popular songs redone on a ukulele. I tried to find a Beatles collection, but the reviews were worse than mixed on the ones I found. > > Or heck, if anyone has experience on how to convert to uke, that would be great as well! Congrats!! Have you checked YouTube? It is my first source for How To videos - especially for stuff like learning songs on different instruments… I Googled YouTube ukulele Beatles and got a ton of hits - here’s one: [https://m.youtube.com/user/BeatlesUkuleleMike](https://m.youtube.com/user/BeatlesUkuleleMike) ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3870 "2014-12-29T19:41:36Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Blonde. I am really impressed with the workmanship at this price point ($2839). \*Much \*better build than the Hofner New President I bought about 10 years ago for $2K. > > Here is a video I did on Christmas day: [http://youtu.be/2PLkoZkcO2c](http://youtu.be/2PLkoZkcO2c) BTW I don’t have a rig set up for high quality sound recording, just the built-in mic on my camera, but you may get some idea. That’s great. I echo **WordMan** ’s comments about the feel and rhythm, and would add that, even through the camera mic, your tone is beautiful. Nice and warm, but not as dark or muffled as the tone a lot of jazz guys seem to like. I dug it. ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3871 "2014-12-29T20:28:05Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Congrats!! Have you checked YouTube? It is my first source for How To videos - especially for stuff like learning songs on different instruments… > > I Googled YouTube ukulele Beatles and got a ton of hits - here’s one: [https://m.youtube.com/user/BeatlesUkuleleMike](https://m.youtube.com/user/BeatlesUkuleleMike) You know, for the longest time YouTube was blocked at work. It never occurred to me to check there, as at work I can’t, and at home, my son would be trying to get to my tablet to see what the heck daddy is so interested in. For the heck of it, I clicked your link, and lo and behold, it’s available again! So thank you for both the link, and helping me to find out that it’s unblocked! Now, to get my hands on that uke and try this stuff out… ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3872 "2014-12-29T22:23:03Z")
\*\*WordMan \*\*and **squeegee** , thanks for the kind words. I don’t really do solo arrangements so it was a tedious process for me to arrange that. It doesn’t emerge out of my head all at once, I labor over it again and again. I learned a lot about voice leading putting that together, as well as a touch of reharmonization in the last A section. I am in the process of writing out the score, although my music software doesn’t have tab, just standard notation. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3873 "2014-12-29T23:11:03Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > Ok, I’ll shoot then. > > I just got myself a tenor Uke for christmas (one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001731R6A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)) and I’d like to learn some more about them! I got a uke for dummies book, but I’m really looking for some popular songs redone on a ukulele. I tried to find a Beatles collection, but the reviews were worse than mixed on the ones I found. > > Or heck, if anyone has experience on how to convert to uke, that would be great as well! Ukuleles are awesome! I’ve got a soprano uke, and there are some really gorgeous arrangements of “Something” out there - [if you want, you could try this one](http://ukulelehunt.com/ukertabs/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Beatles-Something-ukulele-tab.pdf). Of course, any song can be “fit” to the ukulele, but some work better than others. For inspiration, have you ever heard of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole? He’s one of the most well-known ukulele players, and his arrangement of [“Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z26BvHOD_sg) is really great to play. Mostly, though, I agree with posters above - the internet is a great source for ukulele tabs/videos, as the instrument has received a spike in popularity lately. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3874 "2014-12-29T23:40:16Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > Or heck, if anyone has experience on how to convert to uke, that would be great as well! According to [this](http://www.ukuleles.com/SetupnCare/TenorTune.html), a “C” tuned Tenor Uke (GCEA) is tuned like a standard guitar with a capo on the fifth fret across the top 4 strings. That is, a C chord (032010) played on a guitar with a capoed 5th fret will sound like an F, so that fingering on an uncapoed Tenor uke (2010) making adjustments for the missing strings) ) will be an F on a tenor uke. So, I guess you just learn that the guitar chord positions will sound a 4th higher. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3875 "2014-12-30T02:51:30Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > \*\*WordMan \*\*and **squeegee** , thanks for the kind words. I don’t really do solo arrangements so it was a tedious process for me to arrange that. It doesn’t emerge out of my head all at once, I labor over it again and again. I learned a lot about voice leading putting that together, as well as a touch of reharmonization in the last A section. I am in the process of writing out the score, although my music software doesn’t have tab, just standard notation. And that’s while I will never be fully conversant in jazz! 😉 I watched someone do the riff to Miles Davis’ song So What, figured it out, and haven’t moved off of it since - I just get that riff going and practice melodic lead fills. Watching you play that - and seeing all of that thought come out in your playing - was cool. I have to tell you: I got to play Nat King Cole’s guitarist’s D’Angelico once - it was for sale at a high-end dealer in Carmel, CA for a pretty penny. Fun to play, but I obviously did it no justice! ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3876 "2014-12-30T03:10:31Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > I got a uke for dummies book, but I’m really looking for some popular songs redone on a ukulele. There’s a [huge list of songs here](http://www.doctoruke.com/songs.html) with ukulele chord charts. Some Beatles in there. Ukulele Hunt has [tabs and chords](http://ukulelehunt.com/tab-chords/) sorted by difficulty. Many have videos too. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3877 "2014-12-30T03:23:29Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > Ok, I’ll shoot then. > > I just got myself a tenor Uke for christmas (one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001731R6A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)) and I’d like to learn some more about them! I got a uke for dummies book, but I’m really looking for some popular songs redone on a ukulele. I tried to find a Beatles collection, but the reviews were worse than mixed on the ones I found. > > Or heck, if anyone has experience on how to convert to uke, that would be great as well! I just got a Ukulele for Christmas as well. Mine is a Fender ‘Pa’Ina’ tenor. Cool ukulele - solid mahogany, and with a telecaster headstock. A really good site for ukuleles. Is [Ukulele Underground](http://ukuleleunderground.com). Lots of song lessons a busy forum area, song play-alongs, you name it. The best ukulele site I have found so far. If you want to see an awesome performance on the Ukulele, check out Jake Shimabakuru - he is absolutely phenomenal. Here are a couple of his performances: [While My Guitar Gently Weeps](https://youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k) [Bohemian Rhapsody](https://youtube.com/watch?v=PB3RbO7updc) i think the guitar players here might appreciate those as well. Those two videos have almost 20 million hits between them! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3878 "2014-12-30T03:26:35Z")
Yeah, hard to miss Jake S - the While My Guitar vid blew up and went viral and made his career. Deservedly so - that guy is a monster player… ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3879 "2014-12-30T08:01:36Z")
CookingWithGas that was really lovely and that guitar sounded wonderful. I hope you share more of your songs on your YouTube channel! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3880 "2014-12-30T09:40:51Z")
**CookingWithGas** , that’s the nicest version of “The Christmas Song” I’ve heard this season. Thankya. ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3881 "2014-12-30T15:36:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I just got a Ukulele for Christmas as well. Mine is a Fender ‘Pa’Ina’ tenor. Cool ukulele - solid mahogany, and with a telecaster headstock. > > A really good site for ukuleles. Is [Ukulele Underground](http://ukuleleunderground.com). Lots of song lessons a busy forum area, song play-alongs, you name it. The best ukulele site I have found so far. > > If you want to see an awesome performance on the Ukulele, check out Jake Shimabakuru - he is absolutely phenomenal. > > Here are a couple of his performances: > > [While My Guitar Gently Weeps](https://youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k) > > [Bohemian Rhapsody](https://youtube.com/watch?v=PB3RbO7updc) > > i think the guitar players here might appreciate those as well. Those two videos have almost 20 million hits between them! I found him just the other day! That’s what made me want to find out what I could about covers on this instrument; his While My guitar fascinated me. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3882 "2015-01-03T17:02:57Z")
I’ve just finished watching the HBO series _Sonic Highways,_ which I found very interesting. Dave Grohl took on a tough topic and it was a valiant attempt. At the end of each ep, the band plays one of the songs from the resulting album. On a couple of the numbers, I’m seeing an unidentifiable object being used by one of the guitarists. I can’t tell who it is, as the editing makes that difficult, but the object in question is being held in the right hand and looks like a metallic cube. The player seems to be holding it over the strings where you would normally be strumming or picking. I’m sure one of you will instantly know what this thing is, but my knowledge of guitar toys is very limited at this point. Oh, and it’s not through the entire song, just at the beginning, where the group typically is doing some intro work before getting into the meat of the song. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/3883 "2015-01-03T17:30:26Z")
What - an eBow? > **[Amazon.com: Heet Sound PLUSEBOW Plus EBow for Guitar : Musical Instruments](https://www.amazon.com/Heet-Sound-PLUSEBOW-Plus-Guitar/dp/B000N5MK8M)** > > Buy Heet Sound PLUSEBOW Plus EBow for Guitar: Pitch & Octave - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases Battery-operated. Sets up some sort of field interaction to excite the string with infinite sustain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=193) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=195)