I think the original Danny Gatton Telecasters came with a pickup selector switch which was bent down away from the strings - that might be worth trying; though if you don’t like it, it might just break when you bend it back.
So “Fender Zang” is when you have a twang with some zing? Cause that IS perfect.
Bending it might just work. I’m going to see if I get my strumming fingers up just a bit out of habit first. I strum with my last three finger sticking out, not rolled under (not sure that makes sense but I don’t quite know how to describe it).
Nah, we get it. Whatever you do, don’t get a Stratocaster; their pickup selector switch is even *more *in the way of a strum hand if you play with your fingers splayed out. 
It is never a bad idea to work on your technique and see if you can get your fingers from “flopping around” if you think they are doing that too much.
One other idea: it is a “common”/well-known mod to take the little metal plate the controls sit on and flip it, so the switch is at the other end and the controls closer. They then put the Volume control closest so you can use it with your pinky wrapped around it for Volume swells. But it would also put the switch further out of your way…
Splayed out! Much better descriptor. And yes, I am trying to work on my right-hand technique (I’m right-handed). My playing can best be described as sloppy for anything beyond single-string picking (and even that isn’t the greatest). Double-stops are up to 4 strings and may not even include the correct two :smack: OK, maybe not that bad but I’m working on it. Plus, with this tele I’m more interested in more finger-picking. More things to practice. Last night even tuned it to open G to try a little Keef’ing. .
I’m have to take the plate off this weekend and see if there is enough slack to flip it. That would be very helpful. Thanks!
Completely unrelated to anything above, but I did something about a month ago that did wonders for my playing:
I got rid of most of my guitars.
I gave away or sold five guitars. I’m down to two reasonably-priced instruments, one electric and one acoustic (an Epiphone Sheraton and an Epiphone EL-00), and one amp (an old Fender Princeton Reverb that’s been kicking around my house, and moving with me, for decades)
They’re budget-priced instruments. I decided that I’m not a good enough player to justify the Stratocaster and the ES-335 and the lovely Guild acoustic and the rest. The Sheraton sounds nice played quietly by myself. The EL-00 is a great guitar for fingerstyle playing, and was wonderfully set up right out of the box. I mean, it didn’t need a thing (although a nice bone nut and saddle might improve the sound, but more about that below).
I’m not thinking about guitars anymore. About tweaking them (so I’m leaving that nut and saddle alone), or about which guitar would sound best for a particular piece of music, or about which picks work best with which strings on which guitar. I’m just playing them.
I just sit down with a piece of sheet music, or a recording, and work through it. I learn faster. Or I play through a piece I’ve known for years, and don’t think, “hey, this would sound better on the 335,” and stop halfway through and go get the 335 and plug it in, and then think “but even better if I play through the Cyber-Twin!”
This is really working out well for me.
I have been playing a ton since I got the Squier Tele and I think my playing has improved quite a bit. Because of the switch placement and me hitting it with my strumming hand, I’ve worked on controlling that hand. I don’t hit the switch nearly as often (I didn’t modify it) and I am hitting random strings far less than before. I used to be super sloppy…I think I’ve upgrade to just regular sloppy. 
Still love this cheap guitar except for one thing: The neck. It’s thin like my Hondo but it’s super flexible. Just playing cowboy chords with me sitting down puts enough stress on the neck that if I ease up the pressure my fretting thumb is putting on the neck or the weight of my strumming forearm that rests on the body, the pitch changes quite a bit. Or, if I grab the headstock and move it back and forth (same plane as the body), I can see the strings change their height in relationship to the fretboard significantly. I’m not reefing on it! My Hondo and Harmony are like rocks in comparison. While I’m playing, I normally don’t notice. It is odd though how easy that neck moves. But, it stays in tune like a champ. I’ve read up now and I see a lot of people put a Fender or Warmoth neck on but that’s about the same cost as the guitar! I’ll just live with it until I can justify getting another guitar 
You think you got problems, check out the guy in this clip. (starts at about 3:30 if you want to skip ahead.)
Ahh…I see he has a Squier as well! 
Congrats on making strides! As for the neck: well, it is a problem if it is a problem.
If it holds its tune when you aren’t gripping hard, could this be similar to your pickup switch? I.e., an opportunity for you to work on your technique? You shouldn’t be cramping your fretting hand, say, because you are gripping hard. Learning to play with a deft touch increases efficiency and speed. To be clear: I have an aggressive playing style, but I am very aware of whether my technique is pulling strings out of tune, killing my sustain, or affecting neck angle.
If it doesn’t hold its tune even if you are playing with a reasonably light hand, then that is not good. Necks really should flex all that much, but cheaper models notoriously do. Gibson Melody Makers have spaghetti necks fercrissake - the old 70’s blues/rock guitarist Pat Travers played Melody Makers because he didn’t need a whammy bar; he just grabbed the headstock and flexed the neck. (I didn’t click on the video from Robot Arm, but assume it is something similar).
If you like the guitar but need a less-flimsy neck, go online and check out aftermarket Tele necks. Try eBay, Stewart MacDonald, Allparts, Warmoth. I bet you could fine one used on eBay for <$100; they can go much higher. When I build my two Teles, I favored a big, chunky neck - the Allparts Tele Fat neck was great for me. (ETA: by the way, Allparts is the brand name that Fender Japan uses to market parts here in America).
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice/info. I don’t think I put excessive pressure on the neck. I don’t really notice this problem while standing. It’s while sitting since you naturally put more pressure (pressure up in the middle from where the body rests on your leg and then pressure down from you picking arm as well as your fretting hand). I’ll try to pay more attention to how I’m playing in this regard as well.
It’s a segment from Home of the Brave, Laurie Anderson’s concert movie from the '80s. Adrian Belew has a tricked-out guitar with a genuinely flexible neck, made of rubber or something, and he gets some interesting sounds out of it. Knowing Anderson, there are probably sensors in the guitar somewhere that are sending a signal to a synthesizer.
Ah. Watched it for a minute or two. That is fascinating - I know Belew and like his experimentation, but wasn’t familiar with that clip or his work with a wacky guitar like that. It would be interesting to learn a bit more about it.
ETA: Ah - a prop. From Wiki: Belew has also been seen playing an extraordinarily flexible rubber-neck guitar in the Laurie Anderson film Home Of The Brave and in the video clip for his 1989 single “Oh Daddy”. In 2007, he revealed that the guitar’s neck was rubber containing “metal vertebrae” and that it was solely a visual (and unplayable) prop.[19]
I figured it wouldn’t work as a guitar. In the video, it looks like there is one string, but with that rubber neck you wouldn’t be able to tighten the string enough to play it. And even if you could, bending the neck would lessen the tension and lower the pitch, which seems to be the opposite of what happens in the video.
However, Laurie Anderson did all kinds of interesting tech stuff with instruments at that time. She strung a violin bow with audio tape, and put a playback head on the violin. As she pulled the bow across the head (at varying speeds) it played what was recorded on that piece of tape. She had a piano-key necktie that was embedded with MIDI sensors so she could play it like a piano. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was something like a strain gauge in that guitar that was sending a signal as the neck was bent.
hey guys, I really need some help with a chord. I’m stumped.
its the chord right after the D. you’ll see the strange hand shape. like a backwards C chord
It always gets played after the D chord.
any ideas?
thanks
capo 5th fret
D ?? D C G F D ?? D ?? C G F D
?? mystery chord
1st finger A string fret 1
2nd finger G string fret 2
3rd finger B string fret 3
open strings E, E, D
Whatever that chord is, it stretches the fingers. Especially in the open position, its painful. Not nearly as bad down on the five fret where she plays it.
Thought I could play this song, great camera angle of her hand. But that one chord put an end to that. I can’t even tell for sure if that 2nd finger (2nd fret) is on the D or G string. Either way the notes don’t make any sense. I can’t figure out a chord from what I see her fingering.
I am wondering if she is using an alternate tuning. For example, that D chord *sounds *like a Dmin to me. (I think the guitar we are hearing is a backup player and not her.) I agree with your interpretation of all the other chords using a standard tuning, but no matter what fingering I use that looks like hers I don’t get a chord that sounds any good. I’m also wondering if she is muting some open strings. I am also not sure if that second finger is on the D string or G string.
So, I feel your pain 
She almost has to be in a non-standard tuning. That chord doesn’t sound right with the fingering she’s using. A friend of mine said he’d help me next week. He’s pretty good at transcribing by ear.
I agree with this, but if you look at her middle finger, it’s hard to be sure that she’s not playing the minor form. Try playing the (first position) D major form, and then slide your middle finger back a fret; it works. I don’t play that form like that, but maybe she does?
Next, that odd-shaped chord looks like an E flat Major7 flat5 to me: going full screen, I think I see enough space between her index and middle fingers to confidently say that she’s not fingering the D string. But really, the E flat in the root is overwhelming the other voices, and it’s hard to be sure. Maybe she’s actually inserting her middle finger between the D and G strings, in order to mute both at once? I also can’t tell if she’s muting the low E string with her index finger, but she may be.
So anyway, if we take that chord shape down to the first position, we get a B flat Major7 flat5, which is a fairly brave substitute chord anyway, even if you omit some voices of it.
But there’s no reason you need to use the same exact chord she does here anyway: you may find one that you think better conveys th mood you’re trying to set, and leave it in there (that’s all Roseanne did, and some people are going to like it more than others).
Once you’ve done that, congratulations, you’re an arranger.
I’m very impressed with John Leventhal’s (Rosanne’s husband) arrangement. He’s a well known producer/musician that has worked with all the great stars. He’s rocking out on that acoustic guitar in the clip I linked.
I’ve heard Clapton and Bob Dylan’s version of Motherless Children and never felt compelled to play it myself. Clapton’s version is rock and a band is needed to cover it. Rosanne’s version is so tight. Very strong, compelling rhythm. I want to play it now. She changed the words from Mother is Dead to Mother is Gone. A smart move. It makes the song less harsh and yet the meaning is still there.
Dylan’s version is very good too.
There’s a similar chord used on the tab of Sheryl Crow’s The Difficult Kind but further up the neck (capo 3rd)and played in drop D. Linky
They call it a Em7b5, but I tend to take the chord descriptions in tabs with a grain of salt.