# 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:** 37
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/721 "2010-07-27T14:17:45Z")
Will try. Hm. Hey, how many songs can you play on one string? I think Miserlou is playable on one string. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/722 "2010-07-27T14:22:26Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Will try. Hm. Hey, how many songs can you play on one string? I think Miserlou is playable on one string. There was a thread earlier where I was asserting that one-string rock-outs are important because you are practicing _ **groove** _, which is just as important as practicing chord forms or scales. Any cool rock riff can sound good on one string, but obvious ones like the [Peter Gunn](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToFoHHXdBoM&feature=related)theme (youtube example featuring the immortal Roy Buchanan), AC/DC’s TNT or Whole Lotta Rosie, which are the same as Muddy Water’s Mannish Boy; Smoke on the Water - all the major riff groups…😉 ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/723 "2010-07-28T04:15:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > > [A thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=572127) in which we learn, Y Kant Tori Read sheet music. But Sam Stone can and is amazed other people can’t. > > > > Also, the subject of gearhead versus other guitar magazines show up. Which is a good question. What _are_ good guitar magazines these days? What are these magazines Sam lists that are full of musical theory? > > Okay, so I went back into the Sam Stone magazine archives (my wife hates those!), and dug out a few different magazines at random. Bear in mind that most of my guitar mags date back to the 1990’s. But here’s what’s in them: > \*\* > “Guitar World” - Oct 1992.\*\* > > - Sheet music/tab for Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” > - A column by Wolf Marshall on rock theory - “Triads, Part 4”. He talks about harmonic rhythm, chord theory, etc. It’s documented with sheet music, tab, and chord notation. > - A breakdown of Springsteen’s “Born to Run”, notated in sheet music and tab. > > **“Guitar (For the Practicing Musician)” - June 1989** > > - Transcriptions in standard music notation and tab for a bunch of songs. > - An article on two-handed bends, with exercises notated in standard music notation and tab > - An analysis of Peter Buck’s guitar style, in standard notation and tab > - “Bass Secrets” - Pentatonic scales, Pt. 2. A bunch of scale exercises and description of pentatonic scales, with exercises notated in standard notation and tab > - “Guitar Secrets with Joe Satriani” - Harmonized Minor Pentatonic. Joe covers the A minor Pentatonic scale, and provides exercises in standard notation and tab > > **“Total Guitar”, June 1997** > There’s tons of stuff in this one. This magazine is an import, and comes with a CD of backing tracks for the songs and licks in the mag. The magazine has performance notes for each one with sheet music and tab, sometimes accompanied by music theory describing what’s going on in the song. There’s an article on Jazz chord theory for beginners, with sheet music and tab. An article on blues chord progressions, and at the back of the magazine a complete tutorial for reading sheet music and tab, and how they relate to each other. > > **Guitar Player - Sept 1996** > > - An article on fingerstyle walking blues > - Theory on Whole-Half Step scales > - Chromatic fingerstyle turnarounds > - Cycles a l a Mode, a theory article by Alex Skolnick talking about the seven modes of the major scale > > All of those notated with sheet music and tab > \*\* > “Acoustic Guitar” - June 1995\*\* > Not as much music in this one - a couple of song transcriptions, an article on the “Hawaiian Slack-Key Masters” with sheet music/tab illustrating techniques, and a few other technique articles. > > This is a representative sample, and pretty much all my magazines follow this pattern - a few theory articles, a few song transcriptions, an artist profile with some licks or partial song transcriptions, etc. > > I have new guitar mags as well, and I don’t remember them being much different than the older ones. But my guitar mag buying really dropped off as more information became available on the internet. > > Now, almost everything that has standard notation has tab under it, but some of the articles on theory have music snippets are pure standard notation with no tabs. So while a guitarist can certainly pick up these magazines and learn a lot from the tab notation and never learn sheet music, I would think that anyone who reads this stuff seriously would pick up an awful lot. Certainly enough to recognize major and minor scales, to know the names of the notes, to recognize the key signatures, and other stuff like that. But not necessarily be able to sight-read standard notation and play it. I got caught up in replying to **Staver808** ’s post and forgot to reply to this. Considering I was the one who asked you that question about guitar mags in the other thread, I certainly owe you that reply. Thanks for digging all those up from the vast n’ dusty magazine archive! I appreciate it and the commentary you’ve added. So, I still think saying that guitar mags are “filled” with standard notation was clearly an exaggeration, but having said that you’ve made your point pretty well, and I withdraw the snarkier portions of what I’d said in that thread. I agree, there certainly seems to be plenty to eat in the notation kitchen of some mags, depending on which issue you’re looking at, and you can consider my ignorance fought. I don’t think you’d disagree, though, that quite a lot of the music press is problematic in some ways, most of them being related to chasing and keeping advertisers, but that’s only tangential to the topic. Thanks again for responding (and civilly! 🙂 ) to my question/snarkfest from that notation thread. Point made, Sam Stone+1 and I tip my hat in your direction. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/724 "2010-07-28T05:04:43Z")
Aw, that’s not necessary. I didn’t get that much snark in your first message anyway. I guess our definitions of ‘filled’ might be a little different. I just generally meant that there is quite a lot of it. In some of these mags, I’d say that between the song transcriptions and theory articles, there’s standard music notation on perhaps half of the pages in the magazine. And if you buy the ‘special edition’ issues that are devoted to theory or song transcriptions, the whole mag is pretty much music notation, although it’s duplicated in tab, so if you don’t want to read sheet music you don’t have to. I’m not sure which magazine it was, but I remember one that had very in-depth theory articles by Wolf Marshall, and then every year they’d compile his articles into a special edition like “Learn to play the Blues”. The whole issue would be nothing but theory and song transcriptions. I do also know that there are lots of guitar magazines that have virtually no music in them, and all they are is vapid gear reviews that are little more than thinly disguised ads for advertisers and a few ‘human interest’ stories like, “Eddie Van Halen shares his choice in stomp boxes!” - which was probably also a thinly veiled ad for the stomp box manufacturer. Whenever I’d impulse buy a guitar mag and find out it was one of those, I’d be really annoyed. **Wordman** : I watched that ‘tutorial’ on Sunshine of your Love. Thanks - my ears are still bleeding. (-: That guy needs to learn how to stay in tune when bending notes. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/725 "2010-07-28T05:16:43Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > EADGBE (Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie) Heh…I’ve never heard that mnemonic before. OTOH, that’s the low-to-high reading; I learned it high-to-low, as EBGDAE (Elvis Buys Guitars Down At Ed’s). ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/726 "2010-07-28T10:14:07Z")
Well, the new pickguard showed, but I was in too much pain to start soldering. Don’t ask. Long day, persistent back injury. Too much pain to dig out the Xaviere, too. On the other hand, [www.woot.com](http://www.woot.com) has some stuff for sale. ``` 1 M-Audio Recording Studio Equipment M-Audio Protools Recording Studio, M-Audio Protools Vocal Studio, M-Audio AV30 Studiophile Speakers ``` M-Audio Pro Tools KeyStudio 49 Keyboard The Recording Studio comes with ProTools. I was just saying I needed something to record with. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? (Remember, Woot deals only last till 1 AM Eastern) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/727 "2010-07-28T14:54:43Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Well, the new pickguard showed, but I was in too much pain to start soldering. Don’t ask. Long day, persistent back injury. Too much pain to dig out the Xaviere, too. On the other hand, [www.woot.com](http://www.woot.com) has some stuff for sale. > > ``` > 1 M-Audio Recording Studio Equipment > M-Audio Protools Recording Studio, > M-Audio Protools Vocal Studio, > M-Audio AV30 Studiophile Speakers > > ``` > > M-Audio Pro Tools KeyStudio 49 Keyboard > > The Recording Studio comes with ProTools. I was just saying I needed something to record with. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? (Remember, Woot deals only last till 1 AM Eastern) Well, it certainly looks like a good deal. I’ve used [M-Audio stuff](http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_au/FireWire410.html) and it worked reasonably well, though the drivers were buggy. Other thoughts: - The package does not come with Pro Tools, it comes with “Pro Tools M-Powered Essential”, which is a stripped down version. - I have no idea what “Protools Vocal Studio” is, or if it’s useful. - The speakers are powered, so you can plug them into straight into the line outputs of the interface. I have no idea if the speakers are decent, but at 15 watts I don’t think there’s much headroom. It seems likely to me that the speakers are about as capable as decent computer speakers, which is a fairly low bar. - If you’re using this rig to record your guitar, you have two ways to do this, both of which involves spending more money on top of this purchase. You can either get a [mic](http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SM57/) and use it to record your current amp, or you can run the guitar straight into the interface and add additional amp modeling software such as [this](http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/guitar/guitar-rig-4-pro/). - It’s nice that the bundle comes with a keyboard, which is pretty useful even for a non-keyboardist. Having said that, you may need to purchase additional Pro Tools plug-ins to make instrument tones that are useful. I don’t know if “Pro Tools M-Powered Essential” includes useful keyboard tones or if it’s just a straight-up DAW sans things like this. Having said that, you can [find cheap or free VST plug-ins](http://www.kvraudio.com/index.php) online, so this may be a moot issue. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/728 "2010-07-28T17:02:16Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Part of why this is an ongoing thread is to centralize all the other threads that show up. And part of why this is ongoing is to document the learning process people have for other people. Go on and ask some stupid questions. It can’t hurt any. Okay, here’s a potentially stupid question. First, a little background. I currently have two guitars, an Epiphone Les Paul and a real piece of crap acoustic that was given to me (as far as I can determine, it was originally sold through late-night infomercials where you would learn to play guitar by putting little colored stickers on the fretboard). It’s been set up as good as it can, but it’s got problems. The neck is glued in at the wrong angle and it would cost more than the guitar is worth to fix that. Needless to say, I play the LP almost exclusively, but I’d like to get a good acoustic. Now the question: Are there any good cutaway acoustics out there that don’t have electronics? I’ve grown accustomed to the upper fret access of my electric guitar, but all the cutaway acoustics I’ve seen have electronics, which is something I don’t really need in an acoustic since I don’t plan on gigging and would never use. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/729 "2010-07-28T17:23:05Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > > Part of why this is an ongoing thread is to centralize all the other threads that show up. And part of why this is ongoing is to document the learning process people have for other people. Go on and ask some stupid questions. It can’t hurt any. > > Okay, here’s a potentially stupid question. First, a little background. I currently have two guitars, an Epiphone Les Paul and a real piece of crap acoustic that was given to me (as far as I can determine, it was originally sold through late-night infomercials where you would learn to play guitar by putting little colored stickers on the fretboard). It’s been set up as good as it can, but it’s got problems. The neck is glued in at the wrong angle and it would cost more than the guitar is worth to fix that. Needless to say, I play the LP almost exclusively, but I’d like to get a good acoustic. > > Now the question: Are there any good cutaway acoustics out there that don’t have electronics? I’ve grown accustomed to the upper fret access of my electric guitar, but all the cutaway acoustics I’ve seen have electronics, which is something I don’t really need in an acoustic since I don’t plan on gigging and would never use. Not a stupid question at all. What’s your price point? What kinda music do you want to play? My own stupid question back ;): Any reason you can’t just ignore the electronics? Get a decent Takamine or Yamaha (typically decent $400 - $600 guitars that often come with cutaways but often also have electronics)? I tend to keep one electric-acoustic around simply for random gigs where I need to amplify an unplugged set… ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/730 "2010-07-28T19:22:30Z")
At the [Seagull](http://www.seagullguitars.com/) website, the electronics are optional on the Artist Mosaic CW, Artist Studio Cutaway, Artist Portrait Cutaway, Artist Cameo Cutaway and Artist ‘Peppino’ Cutaway. Art & Lutherie’s [cutaways](http://www.artandlutherieguitars.com/cutaway.htm) all seem to have the electronics optional. Without taking up a lot of time, it would seem that the situation is the same through out the Godin family of guitars - [Simon and Patrick](http://www.simonandpatrick.com/), [Norman](http://www.normanguitars.com/aboutus.html), [La Patrie](http://www.lapatrieguitars.com/guitars.html). Electronics are becoming pretty common in all acoustic instruments, not just the ones with cutaways. Part of the reasoning behind that is that it is SO much easier to put whatever system it is in when the guitar is being built. Both my classicals and my steelie have been retro-fitted - it wasn’t easy. In fact, it’s a bit nerve wracking to consider how easy it would be to fuck up a great instrument in the process of wiring it up. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/731 "2010-07-28T19:47:23Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > At the [Seagull](http://www.seagullguitars.com/) website, the electronics are optional on the Artist Mosaic CW, Artist Studio Cutaway, Artist Portrait Cutaway, Artist Cameo Cutaway and Artist ‘Peppino’ Cutaway. > > Art & Lutherie’s [cutaways](http://www.artandlutherieguitars.com/cutaway.htm) all seem to have the electronics optional. > > Without taking up a lot of time, it would seem that the situation is the same through out the Godin family of guitars - [Simon and Patrick](http://www.simonandpatrick.com/), [Norman](http://www.normanguitars.com/aboutus.html), [La Patrie](http://www.lapatrieguitars.com/guitars.html). Pushing the Canadian stuff, eh, ya big Canuck? 😉 (boy I hope I used “Canuck” correctly and didn’t offend!!) Both Seagull and Godin are excellently-made guitars at competitive prices - I don’t know the other make. > [@](#): > > Electronics are becoming pretty common in all acoustic instruments, not just the ones with cutaways. Part of the reasoning behind that is that it is SO much easier to put whatever system it is in when the guitar is being built. Both my classicals and my steelie have been retro-fitted - it wasn’t easy. In fact, it’s a bit nerve wracking to consider how easy it would be to fuck up a great instrument in the process of wiring it up. Hence my stupid question above… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/732 "2010-07-28T20:21:45Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > - The package does not come with Pro Tools, it comes with “Pro Tools M-Powered Essential”, which is a stripped down version. > > - I have no idea what “Protools Vocal Studio” is, or if it’s useful. > > - If you’re using this rig to record your guitar, you have two ways to do this, both of which involves spending more money on top of this purchase. You can either get a [mic](http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SM57/) and use it to record your current amp, or you can run the guitar straight into the interface and add additional amp modeling software such as [this](http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/guitar/guitar-rig-4-pro/). I’m aware of the Essential nature. The Vocal Studio is the mike software, the mike, I am told, is very good. And if you note, there’s a line in on the box that comes with Pro Tools. I was kind of thinking of running my amp through it. Jet Jaguar, Eskimo Spy: Somewhere, by the way, earlier down the line, I think I note an Agile acoustic. It’s about $200, and about as good as $400 from a big name. Does have electronics, but you can ignore 'em. [http://www.rondomusic.com/fg50ce.html](http://www.rondomusic.com/fg50ce.html) [http://www.rondomusic.com/acoustics.html](http://www.rondomusic.com/acoustics.html) There are Agiles there that do not have electrics. I can’t really vouch too much for them, but I’ve heard good things about the specific model I linked. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/733 "2010-07-28T22:01:17Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Not a stupid question at all. What’s your price point? What kinda music do you want to play? > > My own stupid question back ;): Any reason you can’t just ignore the electronics? Get a decent Takamine or Yamaha (typically decent $400 - $600 guitars that often come with cutaways but often also have electronics)? > > I tend to keep one electric-acoustic around simply for random gigs where I need to amplify an unplugged set… I thought it was a stupid question because I assumed the answer would be “just ignore the electronics”. I figure the electronics must cost something and I’d rather not pay for something I’m not going to use. I could ignore them if I have to. I’d prefer to do without but they’re not really a deal-breaker. As far as price range I’d like to stick to the $400-600 bracket, but I’d be willing to go as high as $800 if necessary. The type of music I play is mostly classic/hard rock with a little blues and folk thrown in. I’d use the acoustic mainly for folk rock. Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve heard Seagulls are excellent guitars, but the local Guitar Center didn’t have any in stock last time I was there. They supposedly do carry them, I’ll have to keep an eye out. > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Jet Jaguar, Eskimo Spy: That’s Rex Dart, actually. 😉 Interesting Canucks were brought up, which reminds me of an undoubtedly stupid question I have. Awhile back my wife and I caught this local band and one of the guitarists was playing a Tele that was painted with an American flag. I told my wife that someday I’d like to have a flag guitar, but since I’m from Canada originally I’d want a Canadian flag. However, my wife says that because I’ve now lived in the US for longer than I’ve lived in Canada that I’m not “Canadian enough” to play a Canadian flag guitar. Dual citizenship, so that doesn’t help. So, Canadian flag guitar, yay or nay? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/734 "2010-07-28T22:46:55Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Pushing the Canadian stuff, eh, ya big Canuck? 😉 (boy I hope I used “Canuck” correctly and didn’t offend!!) > > Both Seagull and Godin are excellently-made guitars at competitive prices - I don’t know the other make. Nah, I’m too stupid to take offense. Pushing the Canadian stuff? Well, I guess, guilty as charged, m’lud. I just haven’t seen that much that’s in the less than $800 range that impresses me and doesn’t come out of that one small town in the crotch between New Hampshire and Maine. [Godin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godin_(guitar_manufacturer)) is kind of the umbrella company for Norman, Seagull, Simon and Patrick, Art & Lutherie, La Patrie and Godin. They started out in this tiny little out of the way town - [La Patrie, Québec](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Patrie,_Quebec), pop. 800. They now have four factories, three in Québec and one in New Hampshire. I just haven’t been as impressed with the Yamahas and Takamines I’ve played in that same price range. Guilds, Gibsons, Martins, Taylors and Fenders are very good to outstanding in the $1000 to $2000 range, but again, in the lower prices it starts coming down to individual guitars, i.e. _that_ one is sweet, but those other ten don’t do much for me at all, and _this_ one is a downright dud. Once you’re over $2000, I reckon you ought to just hook up with a luthier anyway, but I’m spoiled by all the incredible guitar makers we have up here. (I hope to have a long-overdue report on the Montréal Guitar Show tabled some time next week. Sorry - even if I hate vacations, the rest of the family expects me to muck in and enjoy myself against my will.) I’ll hunt down an Agile sometime and check it out. What other good acoustics in the $300 to $500 range have y’all run across? I’m curious… Jet Jaguar - a Canadian flag guitar would just be so strangely atypical of a Canuck. Even[Stompin’ Tom Conners](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stompin'_Tom_Connors), who in some ways is one of our staunchest Canadian nationalists, doesn’t go for that kind of overt patriotic symbolism. I think he’d be the first to say “If it ain’t in your heart, who cares if it’s on your guitar, and if it’s in your heart, they’ll know it anyway.” Now THIS is a Canadian guitar - [Voyageur](http://www.sixstringnation.com/guitar.html), the Six String Nation guitar. Go to the link ‘Launch the guitar explorer’ to see the historical/cultural significance of each piece of this priceless artifact - it’s amazing. (I got to play it onstage at the Conservatory in a group concert centred around that instrument - you’re almost afraid to touch it at first.) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/735 "2010-07-29T01:01:03Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > And if you note, there’s a line in on the box that comes with Pro Tools. I was kind of thinking of running my amp through it. Well, you had line level already, since that interface has guitar 1/4" jacks, which are basically line level; you’d just need a 1/4" to RCA-style adapter. So: did you order that bundle? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/736 "2010-07-29T01:14:21Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > [@WordMan](#): > > > > Have you played any VH on the guitar? And? Also - pick the neck pickup, put the Volume at about 8-9 and roll the tone completely off. Play Sunshine of Your Love by Cream (through a gained-up amp, of course). Report. You like? Sound like the real song in a good way? If not, what’s different? > > You, ah, overstate my abilities considerably. Sunshine of Your Love is not that hard, once you’ve done it once. I don’t know any “woman tone”, to me it’s always just been a shit load of harmonics (tube amp and humbuckers). First part of the intro: …d…d…c…d * * * * * * —7-----7------5------7------------------------------------------ —0-----0------0------0------7------6------5-----0-----3-----0– —5-----5------3------5------0------0------0--------------------- -------------------------------5------4------3--------------------- and go to the top again. I think I got the tab close enough for gubmint work. For the solo. Clapton did his usual “trick”, switching up between (I think) major pentatonic and minor pentatonic. In short, play some of it in the second (II) position on the neck and some in the fifth (V) position on the neck and you’ve got damn near all of it covered. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/737 "2010-07-29T01:31:18Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > What _are_ good guitar magazines these days? What are these magazines Sam lists that are full of musical theory? Obviously not for rockers, [Just Jazz Guitar](http://www.justjazzguitar.com/index.php)has a great mix of articles, interviews, tutorials, and lead sheets. [Jazz Improv](http://www.jazzimprov.com/)is a quarterly loaded with the stuff for all musicians, not just guitarists, but again, it’s for jazzers. It’s a quarterly. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/738 "2010-07-29T03:02:11Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > > [@WordMan](#): > > > > Not a stupid question at all. What’s your price point? What kinda music do you want to play? > > > > My own stupid question back ;): Any reason you can’t just ignore the electronics? Get a decent Takamine or Yamaha (typically decent $400 - $600 guitars that often come with cutaways but often also have electronics)? > > > > I tend to keep one electric-acoustic around simply for random gigs where I need to amplify an unplugged set… > > I thought it was a stupid question because I assumed the answer would be “just ignore the electronics”. I figure the electronics must cost something and I’d rather not pay for something I’m not going to use. I could ignore them if I have to. I’d prefer to do without but they’re not really a deal-breaker. > > As far as price range I’d like to stick to the $400-600 bracket, but I’d be willing to go as high as $800 if necessary. The type of music I play is mostly classic/hard rock with a little blues and folk thrown in. I’d use the acoustic mainly for folk rock. > > Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve heard Seagulls are excellent guitars, but the local Guitar Center didn’t have any in stock last time I was there. They supposedly do carry them, I’ll have to keep an eye out. > > > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > > Jet Jaguar, Eskimo Spy: > > That’s Rex Dart, actually. 😉 > > Interesting Canucks were brought up, which reminds me of an undoubtedly stupid question I have. Awhile back my wife and I caught this local band and one of the guitarists was playing a Tele that was painted with an American flag. I told my wife that someday I’d like to have a flag guitar, but since I’m from Canada originally I’d want a Canadian flag. However, my wife says that because I’ve now lived in the US for longer than I’ve lived in Canada that I’m not “Canadian enough” to play a Canadian flag guitar. Dual citizenship, so that doesn’t help. > > So, Canadian flag guitar, yay or nay? Nay. Be different and use this.. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Ratfin.jpg/350px-Ratfin.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Ratfin.jpg/350px-Ratfin.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/739 "2010-07-29T03:31:50Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > So: did you order that bundle? Yep. I just get the device and the Pro Tools. The mike set and the keyboard set and the speakers are all sold separately. But I don’t want 'em right now anyhow. The device has a mike-in, you notice? The mike-shaped thingy. But that’s not why I’m posting. I’m posting here to note that this was a triumph. How big a triumph? THIS BIG. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUsbtUrXHk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUsbtUrXHk) Note that said music approximates my skill. But… My creature lives! After… a brief panic before I realized the volume knob was turned to zero. Now, it’s time for pictures! Ladies and Gentlemen: The Pig! [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/StarcasterTuxedo1.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/StarcasterTuxedo1.jpg) 14:1 pseudo-locking Wilkinson tuners. Brass full-size tremolo replacing the zinc cut-away one it came with. Steel saddles instead of pot metal. Locks on the strap (Best fifty cents I spent in a while) D’Addario strings. Black chromed screws in the pickguard and jack. Black chromed jackplate. (I figured I might as well replace it, it was five bucks) And, of course, my new pickups and jackplate in Tuxedo. Total cost… er. Call it $99 new… $60 for the tuners and trem, $70 for the pickups. The \_really odd thing is… I was right. I can hammer on. I can hammer on _three_ notes. I can hammer on two notes, then pull them both off. The new pickups fixed it! Heck, I can even tap. Well. I can fake tapping. I don’t know how to actually tap. BUT WAIT, there’s MORE! [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/XV-5851.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/XV-5851.jpg) The glory of my 585, the one with the VEH pickups. Gonna try that Sunshine thing tomorrow. And, for completion’s sake, my practice amp, a Pocket Rockit I got as a present. [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/PocketRockitV2.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/PocketRockitV2.jpg) Fits nicely in the Pig, and it means I don’t have cables falling all around me. Runs off AAs. And my good amp, the Vox DA-5 [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/Vox1.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/Vox1.jpg) [![](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/Vox3.jpg) ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/LaPucelle/Guitar/Vox3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/740 "2010-07-29T05:19:42Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > [@squeegee](#): > > > > So: did you order that bundle? > > Yep. I just get the device and the Pro Tools. The mike set and the keyboard set and the speakers are all sold separately. But I don’t want 'em right now anyhow. The device has a mike-in, you notice? The mike-shaped thingy. I have an MBox/Protools setup at home. I plan on moving up to a Digi Design 003 interface at some point. Some things about Pro Tools. The learning curve isn’t too hard if you have recorded before and understand the different types of tracks and how to route the signal. A powerful part of Pro Tools (and other recording software) is the plugins. My mainstays, plugins I use on every recording are [SampleTank](http://ikmultimedia.com/sampletank/features/), [Ableton Live](http://www.ableton.com/) and some of the Digi Design EQs and reverbs. [Amplitube](http://www.ikmultimedia.com/amplitube/features/)is also pretty cool. If you are recording electric guitar you DO NOT want to do a line in from the amp. It \*\*will \*\*sound like shit. A huge amount of the tone comes from the speakers moving the air. Mic placement it an art in itself. (Side note, I found the sweet spot for my amp/mic. I don’t move it unless I have to. The mic hasn’t moved in about four months). There is an exception to this of course, which is you can run a line in straight from your guitar and use Amplitube or another guitar amp plugin to produce the tone. The problem with this is that the tone isn’t quite as good as a mic’ed amp and most computers have a lag time. The lag time causes issues because a lot of people have to play without the plug in turned on. Since you can’t hear the actual tone you are recording it is hard to tell if you are getting what you want, especially on things like pick harmonics that are greatly affected by the amp. I use Amplitube for some effects (chorus, etc) every once in a while and sometimes for clean tones. The tones are decent, especially the clean stuff, but whenever possible I use my amp unless there is something specific I want that Amplitube can do. You want separate monitors. A lot of the production is hard with headphones, you don’t really hear what it will sound like coming out of speakers. The plugins will also drive you a bit crazy because once you start buying the things it is hard to stop. My favorite plugin is Sample Tank. It rocks. It has a huge amount of very good samples, piano, bass, strings, horns, percussion, etc. On a side note, IK, the company that makes Sample Tank sells additional sound packages for Sample Tank. Lately they have had some crazy sales going on, like buy 2 get 3 free, though there are some catches. You will want a decent sized midi keyboard. Midi in Pro Tools without a keyboard interface is the suck. It is very time consuming. With a keyboard and a little practice you can get things close enough that the tools in Pro Tools will let you clean it up and get it on time fairly easily. If you are going to mic things then you need to buy a couple different mics. You probably want one of the standards for amps, a Sure SM-57. (SM-58 for vocals) The SM-57s is a work horse, good tone and used in a lot of situations, recording and live. A condenser (LDM\*) is also a good choice for a vocal/acoustic mic. There are tons of mic options out there. Some of them are silly expensive (price a Nuemann U 87, an awesome mic). If you haven’t yet bought the package you linked to, I would highly suggest you check out a Digi Design MBox. The great thing about the MBox is that they come in packages, usually with enough plugins to get you started. See [here](http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MBox2Mini/). Also, they have two inputs which can be very handy when recording acoustic guitars. You can do some interesting thing with amps as well. It comes with Pro Tools LE, which is better than the software the package you linked to has. I am not sure of the exact differences off the top of my head but I know there are some. If you decided to go the Pro Tools route, send me a PM. I wrote up a recording guide for a friend that I can send you. Slee \*Large diaphragm microphones [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=38)