[QUOTE=WordMan]
Yeah, I am coming at it from the basics in - starting with a bass pedaltone is the easiest way to get the thumb moving a bit more indepedently […] But yes, that finger-and-thumb independence thing - to finally have an inkling of what it must be like - very cool.
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I have learned a few ragtime-blues pieces and I found the “secret” to independent movement is (for me at least) really about coordination. You don’t get there by practicing the parts separately, but together. Incredibly slowly if necessary. I learned pieces literally a bar at a time.
I play the bass parts with a flatpick and use my middle fingers for the rest. Can’t be doing with that fingers and thumb approach.
Yes, I agree. What I do is take a groove I want to play and break it down - grab a bit that I can repeat endlessly until I get it, then another chunk, then string those two together, etc. The trick for me is to make each part of that fun - take the sub-part of the groove and try to groove it all by itself, if you will. That really helps. But within each chunk, there are notes for fingers and thumb that must be coordinated. That is what I am working out, not rehearsing each digit’s bit separately…
And yeah, your flatpick+fingers approach is the Hybrid approach I have been using for the past couple of years. It got my interest piqued towards fingerstyle because of the independence and coordination I found in my fingers vs. my flatpick over time. I am just dipping my toe into dropping the flatpick to see what it feels like. Right now, it feels like I should continue exploring it…we’ll see over time.
By the way - that all sounds cool. When I mentioned Ergonomics, I meant more of the fact that a Gibson has a neck angled to the body, bridge with a sharp break, often a carved top, shorter scale vs. a much…flatter feel overall for a Fender with a longer scale. Some barely notice and others can’t imagine playing one vs. the other. I find a huge-necked Tele with a 3-barrel brass bridge gets close to a Les Paul in feel…
I think they are a *playing *aid, not a *training *aid. I haven’t used those but I frown on that sort of thing. It gets you going faster but IMHO you don’t actually learn anything. Learning comes from repeating the process over and over again of finding notes and learning the fretboard. There is no substitute for grinding practice to do that. And once you learn it unaided, you learn it deeply and forever. I do not know what people’s experience is in transitioning from using stickers to playing without them so I hesitate to bash them too hard. But then again, I don’t like tab either
I see this is part of a new Eric Clapton gear push, across three manufacturers. I’m too tired to gather up all the cites, but basically I see from my Guitar Center guitar-porn junk mail that we can queue up to buy:
A $15k replica Eric! Clapton! Strat from Fender
A $15k replica Eric! Clapton! Les Paul from Gibson
A $15k replica Eric! Clapton! Martin from, um Martin.
I’d repeat the original question, but it’s late.
Yeah, I don’t get it. But I’ve known some rich guys who have bought them and they seem happy to have them on a wall. Not my cuppa…
I’m going to a vintage guitar shop in Brooklyn this evening - a guitar geek/scholar I know wrote a book about the women who worked at Gibson during WW2 called Kalamazoo Gals and this is the publishing party. Folks are bringing their old Gibsons so it should be fun.
2011 Gibson Les Paul Classic acquired today. It looks quite a lot like this one. I can’t say I like black humbuckers on it, I’d prefer cream or nickel-covered, which I’ll probably switch to later. Also the ‘classic’ tulip tuners aren’t anything to write home about. I’ve never owned a Les Paul or any new Gibson guitar, so I’m really excited to have it, and its fun as heck to play. Now I’ve got the Big Three here: Strat, Tele, Les Paul. Mwuahahahahaha!
FYI, it appears that its actually a “Gibson Les Paul Classic Plus '60s Neck” model. It’s weird that the tags in GC and the stuff in the case don’t really say exactly what model this guitar is as far as what Gibson “really” call it. Is that just a thing with Les Pauls and/or Gibson? It doesn’t really matter all that much until I turn around to sell it someday, but I find it odd. The Gibson inspection tag inside the case, which has the data it was made, serial number, who inspected it, etc., just identifies it as model “LPCST6USCH1”, and googling that yields nothing.
OK, I’m probably discussing this with myself at this point, but this LP has an electrical problem I have not seen before. It’s odd.
It took me a while to identify what it was, and I eliminated the cable, the amp, everything but the guitar. When I rub my hand over the wooden finish anywhere on the neck or body, I get a crash of (not that loud, but definitely objectionable) static! It seems like it builds up in certain areas of the surface and rubbing my hand over those areas discharges it and you hear that in the amp, then that area is more or less silent until the charge builds up again. You can then rub your hand somewhere else on the body and get more static crashes. Either pickup must be turned on by the volume control to get this, nothing otherwise. Weird!
I recall there was someone, perhaps in this thread, who had a problem like this on a Tele, where touching the pickguard the same way would give static noise, and they solved it by shielding the pickguard. I pulled off the control cover on this LP, and looked for bad connections or shielding issues, and I really don’t see anything amiss.
Anybody seen this on an LP? What do you do about it?
Whelp, still talking to myself over here about this LP. A light dawns: this guitar is really this guitar. Baked maple fretboard and ceramic magnet humbuckers. Metal-guitar pickups and a controversial fretboard. Shit. I’m thinking this isn’t the best choice as far as resale value goes. I can fix the pickups, no biggee. But I wonder quite a lot if that “baked maple” fretboard would be very resellable. It feels just fine, in fact it feels great. But when you buy a LP, you like to think you own a mainstream axe, not some cul de sac instrument. I love how the instrument feels and plays, but I thought I was buying a canonical Les Paul, not some (half)baked maple Les Paul. Hrm.
No, I’m here sir - was out last night and still fighting a cold. And I can’t type long - I have to get breakfast ready for the brood.
First - it sounds like you like a Les Paul to have in your toolset - that makes sense; they are great, distinctive guitars. So the question is whether that LP is right for you. The grounding issue needn’t be that big of a deal - I would assume that some solder didn’t quite take so you are hearing what you hear. You’d have to get it gone-over, but should be do-able.
The question is whether you want to stick with that LP. As you and I discussed offboard, Gibson has a ton a variants - I am sure the bulk of them do fine with resale - Gibson still does better than most other brands in that regard. But, near as I can tell, the LP’s that do best are the ones closest to the original models - goldtops, sunbursts and black customs. Your example has a burst finish, but if different in a few ways - e.g. Rosewood is really hard to come by these days - Gibson got raided recently and some wood confiscated - so they are trying alternatives. So your fingerboard and other parts are made with other woods.
A lot of your questions have to do with resale - a Gibson, bought new off the floor, will do as well or better than most. But that still means driving it off the floor and losing up to 50% of its value. That’s why I have come to buy used - I let someone else take that hit and I can sort out which features I really want, eg older versions with rosewood fingerboard s for instance.
No easy answers - ultimately it comes down to having a guitar that inspires you to play. If this one does, I am sure you can make it work. If not, move on.
Hi, WordMan, thanks for jumping in. As far as resale: yes, I do worry about it because my tastes slowly change and I’ll want some other instrument eventually, which means having a guitar someone wants to buy from me. You do make a good point about buying used. For me, the choice to buy new comes down to me being just terrible at evaluating instruments in a store, and until I’ve played them at home in my space on my amp, for at least a few days, I don’t really “get” that guitar if it’s not a model I’m very, very familiar with. And Les Pauls aren’t. So I’m paying extra for the comfort of having 30 days to take something back to the store, and I’m fine with that. It also helps that walked out the door with this guitar not quite 20% off the tag so I’m doing pretty good already. I totally do not expect a guitar - any guitar - to appreciate, and that’s not what I’m after. This isn’t an investment, I’m just trying to make sensible choices, ones that make sense to someone else.
As far as “baked maple” - my original take when I saw an LP with that type of fretboard was :dubious:. But what’s weird is the fretboard on this one looks well within the color range of rosewood, so I hadn’t even noticed the different material. And it feels quite nice. I’ve been googling trying to figure if people think they’re too out there and if my :dubious: reaction is widespread, or if they’ve gained acceptance. Or maybe its too soon to tell. What’s your sense?
Anyway, thanks again for jumping in with your thoughts and reactions, always appreciated.
All good. As for baked maple, I have heard about it with Ernie Ball/Music Man guitar necks - but the necks, not the boards. It is a fine hard wood - obviously Fenders have maple fingerboards and do more than fine. It’s just new to LPs - if you like the feel and look, yay.
I agree with living with a guitar - I buy used and try to ensure I get a good enough deal so I can resell later when it’s time to move on. I like to live with new guitars, too - just a different approach…
Huh, funny thing I just noticed: the Les Paul model I bought (which appears to also go by the name “Les Paul Classic 1960” as there’s a 1960 etched into the pickguard [which is not attached to mine] ) is the main illustration for the Wiki article on Gibson Les Pauls.
