# 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:** 269
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5364 "2018-05-27T16:10:16Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Ok, I got caught up in listening to that concert I linked above and forgot all about the reason I actually came into this thread today. > > Behold: [Guitar-Jo](https://www.guitarjo.com)! > > I waited until the actually had the ddamned things before I paid for one, but they say they’re shipping now so I ponied up and hope to receive it soon. Been 48 hours now since I ordered tho and still no shipping notice. I’ll let y’all know when I get it, of course. > > [Here’s a 40 second video of the inventor demonstrating it at NAMM 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a4XHipNFMw). > [@WordMan](#): > > **Bo** - it sure sounds cool and banjo-y. We’ll expect a full report! I fiddled with, fooled around with and tinkered with this thing for a few hours before requesting a refund. I couldn’t get it to stick to any of my guitars well, to start. Most of my guitar bodies are not flat surfaces and the device needs a flat surface to stand on. I also couldn’t get anything approaching a banjo-y effect to the one guitar that it would stick to. I wasn’t real impressed with the cheap plastic construction, not for $50, but if it had worked, I’d have been happy with my purchase. As it was, it seemed like it was made specifically for a Telecaster (one of my least favorite types of guitars) but even then I’d be wary of buying one of these. TL;DR: Sent back after just a few hours because it was fail. ETA: I guess I’ll have to start saving money for a banjo and then drop the tuning on it down a couple of steps so I can have death metal banjo. Of course, that means I’ll have to learn to play the banjo too. \ Oh well; it’s something to do. 🆒 ---
**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:** [May 27, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5365 "2018-05-27T18:17:20Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > ETA: I guess I’ll have to start saving money for a banjo and then drop the tuning on it down a couple of steps so I can have death metal banjo. Of course, that means I’ll have to learn to play the banjo too. \ Oh well; it’s something to do. 🆒 I wondered at the time why you didn’t consider just getting a git-jo :[Here’s a basic one at Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B6--washburn-b6-6-string-open-back-banjo). I own/play a banjo, but a 6-string git-jo would be a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5366 "2018-05-27T18:28:40Z")
Would your band respect you the next morning? 😉 I didn’t know they made such an instrument. It would be fun tinkering with at home. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5367 "2018-05-29T14:29:46Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I wondered at the time why you didn’t consider just getting a git-jo :[Here’s a basic one at Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B6--washburn-b6-6-string-open-back-banjo). I own/play a banjo, but a 6-string git-jo would be a lot easier. I acquired one of those a few years ago. I’ve been meaning to take it to a luthier to see if I can get the action lowered on it as it rides pretty high off of the neck. It’s a bit of a hassle to keep it in tune and intoned. The bridge just “floats” on top of the banjo head so it has to be adjusted every so often, especially after some hard strumming. It does a little better with soft picking. It’s best feature of course is its’s six strings tuned to standard guitar tunings make it very easy to just pick it up and play your favorite licks. As a solo instrument it might be somewhat limited but it can add a nice bluegrass feel when used to support another guitar player. Not bad for a duo arrangement. IT’s just that I usually play alone. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5368 "2018-06-01T08:17:23Z")
My wife and I went to see Joe Satriani play last night. My second time seeing him, her first. I’m sure this is a secret to everyone but he’s pretty good! There are a couple very distinctive sounds he likes to trot out regularly—a pinch harmonic with the whammy bar down to make the thing shriek like a banshee, a rapid-fire hammer-on with the pick, and scratches up and down the strings. I’m still struggling with pinch harmonics (admittedly, I don’t practice it enough) so I can’t reproduce that shriek consistently, whereas he makes it look effortless, and produces incredible sustain. The scratches and hammer-ons I can do when I’m working specifically on them, but not in the middle of a song. I apparently still have some work to do to get to that guy’s level… ---
**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:** [June 1, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5369 "2018-06-01T12:02:15Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > I apparently still have some work to do to get to that guy’s level… Maybe your sights are a little too high. Just shoot for sounding like his student, Steve Vai 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5370 "2018-06-01T12:17:46Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Maybe your sights are a little too high. Just shoot for sounding like his student, Steve Vai 😉 Or his other student Kirk Hammett? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5371 "2018-06-04T16:00:07Z")
Hacks; wouldn’t know a good guitar solo if it smacked them upside the head with a fish… 😃 Now Garth Brooks, there’s a guy who can handle a guitar! I do hope you realize I am totally in jest here… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5372 "2018-06-04T21:47:11Z")
Nobody bid on Elvis’ guitar from Girls! Girls! Girls! I wonder if the Martin is in playing condition? I wouldn’t have much interest in purchasing a prop guitar Elvis held in a movie. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/national/no-bids-for-elvis-presley-guitar-from-girls-girls-girls/2018/06/04/925e55aa-680d-11e8-a335-c4503d041eaf\_story.html](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/national/no-bids-for-elvis-presley-guitar-from-girls-girls-girls/2018/06/04/925e55aa-680d-11e8-a335-c4503d041eaf_story.html) > [@](#): > > Public relations spokesman Sam Heller says the auction company will attempt to sell the 1944 Martin 0-17 guitar through a private sale. > > The description from Nate D. Sanders Auctions says the guitar comes with a notarized letter of authenticity from Richard Davis, Presley’s wardrobe manager who describes the guitar as a prop used by Presley to promote the 1962 movie. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5373 "2018-06-09T20:22:50Z")
I learned Dan Erlewine(stewmac) and his brother played with Iggy Pop. The blues band was called the Prime Movers. They were highly respected and were together for 5 years. Iggy left after a couple years. Never know when a guy has guitar skills. 😉 > **[The Prime Movers (Michigan band)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prime_Movers_(Michigan_band))** > > The Prime Movers were an American blues band based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, which was formed in 1965. The band originally consisted of Michael Erlewine (lead singer, harmonica), Dan Erlewine (lead guitar), Robert Sheff (keyboards), Robert Vinopal (bass), and Michael "Spider" Wynn (drums). Vinopal left soon after the band's formation and was replaced by Jack Dawson. Wynn left a short time later and was replaced by James Osterberg, who would later become famous as Iggy Pop. When he Th... > [@](#): > > The Prime Movers played a significant part in helping to host the first two Ann Arbor Blues Festivals, in 1969 and 1970, which were the first (and largest) blues festivals (in terms of the number of great bluesman who performed) in the U.S. Michael Erlewine interviewed dozens of the performers, and the spirit of these early festivals carried over into the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in 1972, 1973, and 1974. Members of the band were also involved in the 1972 festival. > > As time passed, the Prime Movers became kind of the elder statesmen in the burgeoning Ann Arbor music scene, working with the younger groups, and playing with visiting artists like Jerry Garcia. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5374 "2018-06-11T19:48:44Z")
I’ve recorded a track, [4Runner](https://soundcloud.com/lamoralscience/4runner)…inspired by my Toyota 4Runner. (Not exactly a stretch with the lyrics.) I used both guitar AND bass with heavy distortion. Those distortion settings are presets that I arrived at after meticulously adjusting various emulated analog pedals, compressers, and other sound modifiers. The guitar is called “Sneering Guitar”, the bass is called “Sardinian Bass.” I have two types of bass I use to reflect both parts of my Italian ancestry: “Alpine Bass” and “Sardinian Bass.” [4Runner.](https://soundcloud.com/lamoralscience/4runner) My guitar is a Fender Telecaster, my basses alternate between a Jazz, a Precision, and a Bruce Thomas Profile. (And a West German upright bass.) I frequently use all three of them in the same track. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5375 "2018-06-12T03:43:24Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’ve recorded a track, [4Runner](https://soundcloud.com/lamoralscience/4runner)…inspired by my Toyota 4Runner. Hey, that was fun! Lots of stuff on that page that’s whimsical and funny (“theres a lot that I could share about this subject”), with a nice groove. How did you record it? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5376 "2018-06-12T04:13:58Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’ve recorded a track, [4Runner](https://soundcloud.com/lamoralscience/4runner)…inspired by my Toyota 4Runner. (Not exactly a stretch with the lyrics.) I used both guitar AND bass with heavy distortion. Those distortion settings are presets that I arrived at after meticulously adjusting various emulated analog pedals, compressers, and other sound modifiers. The guitar is called “Sneering Guitar”, the bass is called “Sardinian Bass.” I have two types of bass I use to reflect both parts of my Italian ancestry: “Alpine Bass” and “Sardinian Bass.” > > [4Runner.](https://soundcloud.com/lamoralscience/4runner) > > My guitar is a Fender Telecaster, my basses alternate between a Jazz, a Precision, and a Bruce Thomas Profile. (And a West German upright bass.) I frequently use all three of them in the same track. It’s a good start but it needs a dubstep breakdown and then a furiously weird solo before the bridge brings that intro back in over the dubstep beat to close it out. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5377 "2018-06-12T04:22:08Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I wondered at the time why you didn’t consider just getting a git-jo :[Here’s a basic one at Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B6--washburn-b6-6-string-open-back-banjo). I own/play a banjo, but a 6-string git-jo would be a lot easier. I’m prolly gonna end up with one of these or a banjo, but I like gadgets and $50 is way less than $600, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I mean, I fished an eBow out of the trash at a gig back in like 1990\* and I still have it and use it ya know what I’m sayin’? \*It was hilarious! Meat Loaf’s guitar player on this tour used it for one part of one song. If you’ve never seen one, it’s basically a small electromagnet that vibrates one string while damping the two on either side of it. I love it and use it all the time and have even loaned it out to friends for recording sessions. It has a very unique sound. Anyway, the audio guy hated the thing and after this gig at The Moon he came backstage ranting, grabbed the thing, threw it at the ground as hard as he could, breaking the plastic shell, and then chucked it into the trash, never ceasing his patter for a second as he explained in great detail exactly how much he loathed the eBow. I found it after the loadout, fixed it with some epoxy and have been using it ever since. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2018, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5378 "2018-06-12T06:54:37Z")
I like the bass sound you get in your song Jacquernagy, especially at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5379 "2018-06-12T14:23:55Z")
Thanks **Jacquernagy** , that was fun. Forgive me if you’ve stated this above, but would you share with us your recording setup? ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5380 "2018-06-12T16:53:46Z")
I use a Presonus Audiobox USB interface, the most affordable one they offer, a really basic two-input setup with two inputs for cables or mic cables, output to two large JBL studio monitors. The recording program I use is called Studio One and it came for free with the Audiobox. When my tracks are done, they’re mixed and mastered at an actual studio, using Pro Tools. (Most of what’s on my SoundCloud are NOT done, they’re works in progress that I keep for reference and to share them so I get advice from other people.) I’ve been playing bass since age 13 and I’m now almost 32, so it’s always been my strongest instrument. I have 4 basses - a Fender Precision, a Fender Jazz, and a Bruce Thomas Profile Bass which is a custom-shop variant of the Precision made by the British Bass Centre of London, and a West German upright bass. My guitar is a Telecaster. All my drum tracks are created with an AKAI drum pad, using samples from Drumdrops (packs of WAVs that were recorded by mic-ing individual drums of various real drum kits.) Oh - for vocals, an Audio Technica condenser mic with a pop filter, very modest gear, cost maybe $150. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5381 "2018-06-13T14:59:00Z")
New track - actually a reworking/extension of an earlier one. Thanks for listening people! If you like my stuff, follow me on Soundcloud or FB. [For Honour](https://soundcloud.com/lamoralscience/for-honour) ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5382 "2018-06-23T17:29:57Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > As a guitarist, can I just say that I am smiling with a bit of devilish glee as I think about the marketing for this device: “Want to sound like a banjo? First, take a guitar. Then, put this thingy on it to suck all of the tone right out of it and you’re all set!!” > > **Jack Batty** - I got on my DVR and searched on his name and didn’t get anything. I will check periodically. I saw a git-jo at the music store yesterday. It was with evil glee, that I subjected the poor bastards to a rendition of “Rainbow connection” from the Muppets movie 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/5383 "2018-06-23T17:51:56Z")
I feel like I’ve hit a wall in my playing. As some of you may know, I am slowly dying from liver disease barring a transplant at some point in the future. As such, it’s become more important to me to try to improve my playing as much as possible, but I play alone. Is there a go-to method for any of you where you have something you can play or practice to get you out of a funk? Scales? Anything? Speaking of scales, my mastery of scales is horrid. I can play harmonic minor scales in like three positions and other than blues-type stuff, I know nothing. Should I start there? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=268) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=270)