And we get to the 5,000th post of this thread with a great guitar getting a workout. Fitting!
What led you to these, River Hippie? And what do you think about what you’re hearing?
ETA: Oh, and Eddie, I’ve never tried a Chapman Stick. I am trying to think if I have been seen one in the wild where I would’ve had access to it, but can’t recall. I tend to try everything I can get my hands on at least once.
Two-handed playing - whether on a Stick, or on guitar like Stanley Jordan, EVH when he is tapping and so many others - it really is a different beast. Even vs. fingerstyle, where both hands are used to trigger the same sounds. Two handed is independent and more piano like, only really not.
It has never appealed to the sloppy-rock player in me - or better said, i suspected I could never clean up my act enough to get a lot out of a Stick. Hearing Tony Levin on one though is wonderful.
It’s a Sunday morning, so I will expand on this. To egregiously oversimplify, you can break guitar players into different sets of “There are two different kinds of guitars players…” categories. Which ones do you use when you mentally break down where you fit it to the guitar world?
To be clear: in this type of grouping, NEITHER IS BETTER - just a way to understand the world.
I have a couple off the top of my head:
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Slop-ful vs. Slop-free? or: Page vs. The Edge? There are two kinds of guitar players in the world: those who play precisely and seek precision as an integral part of their sound, and those that have a bit of slop in their sound, as part of their reaching creatively as they play. I couldn’t be more skewed in the Page direction
even while I look across the gap to Edge types and covet their precision. -
Play for the Boys vs. Play for the Girls - who are you trying to impress in the crowd when you play? (or would be if you don’t play out). It is so much more gray than black and white, but in general, if you think about it, you get the point. Townshend played for angry boys; Santana gave love to all, but by focusing on women. Some, like Hendrix, or EVH, do both, but they are as rare as, well, Hendrix or EVH. (I am not trying to comment on LGBTQ-type issues here; I think the concept is pretty universal, regardless of who you are attracted to.) I tend to play harder rock to appeal to that aggressive male energy, but groove rock not metal.
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I suppose a last one might be: in the mix vs. on top of the mix? I was watching those videos **River Hippie **posted of that fella playing great old guitars. The guy is basically a David Gilmour type - soulful lead work. Wants to sit on top of the mix as the lead melodic voice. i couldn’t be more different. I want to be the mix - the substrate that forms when the drums and bass and I create the groove. Keith Richards vs. David Gilmour.
Thinking out loud here…???
I am Slop-ful. I’ve tossed around various self-made genre labels for the music I make and a lot of them focus on the fact that groove and feel and enthusiasm are much more important to me than technical precision: things like slop rock, crud rock, grub rock, etc.
Considering my goal as a guitarist, I suppose it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that I play for the boys, but that isn’t my intent with that goal at all.
And I’d rather be in the mix, but then I prefer a mix, with very little floating on top of it. Like you, WordMan, I want to help create the groove, not be the focus of attention. I want the attention to be on the groove.
ETA: :smack:
I almost forgot to link this TED talk: Building the perfect guitar: Paul Reed Smith at TEDxMidAtlantic. It’s from 2013 so it may have popped up in this thread already, but I thought it was excellent and hope that some of y’all enjoy it.
Cool close up of flatpicking a Guitar.
No wonder it takes so many hours practice. 
I set aside time every day focusing on my pick accuracy and building speed.
The second video is Molly playing with flatpicker Bryan Sutton. She’s incredible to play that good and be so young. Imagine how she’ll be playing in another 10 years.
I quit playing over 2 years ago (after playing for 45+ years) because of my disabilities and age. I tried playing my guitar today and I was god awful. No coordination whatsoever.
I played rock and I’m not going to try something easier because I loved to rock and solo.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. 
I had all this (and sold em all):
https://s25.postimg.org/tovtbctr3/S5030594_2.jpg
And I have these to noodle around with including today. It’s on CL now. :rolleyes:
Have you considered a different instrument?
A keyboard for example. Sit comfortably in a chair and play. You can get a pretty nice 88 key for $650. It’s all anyone needs playing at home.
Nothing heavy hanging off your neck. You don’t have to balance and grip a keyboard.
I’ve learned the basic right hand chords on a keyboard. I can play the chords for a standard I IV V song just as easily as I do on Guitar.
Harmonica can be a lot of fun and there’s some good web sites for instructions. A good Blues riff is something you can play anywhere.
Sorry to hear it, man. Per ace, there are other ways to make music.
I’ve talked with friends that have a lot more musical experience than me. They all sing and play multiple instruments.
They’ve often commented how easily they learned a 2nd instrument. So much musical experience and technique crosses over. Understanding chord progressions, keys, rhythm, improvising lead, and ear training are things we learned playing the first instrument.
It can all be applied to playing a new instrument.
I get all that but I think I’m burned out too. Tried a keyboard but didn’t like it. If it ain’t a guitar forget it.
Speaking of that, over the weekend I picked up a G&L L-2000 bass. I’ve been wanting a bass for a long time and saw a deal I couldn’t pass up.
I have only spent a couple hours with it so far, but it is a lot of fun. And of course, moving from guitar to bass is probably one of the easiest transitions to make (along with the uke which I also have).
Not sure why I would pick up a bass since I don’t have enough time to play my guitars. :smack: I need winter to get here so I don’t have a mountain of outside projects to work on.
No argument from me! But if I couldn’t play guitar, maybe I’d sing along or just make sure I am watching others players do their thing.
wguy - cool! Hope it gets cold soon!
Have you thought about a lap or pedal steel? They’re types of guitar, and you can certainly rock on one (yes, being John Paul Jones helps).
If you’ve played slide, you get the idea of a lap steel. It’s just got 2-6 extra strings to tune, giving you a bigger selection of chords to slide on.
If you’ve never played pedal steel, playing a lap steel gets you close to what playing one is like, but that’s not even close to how wonderful and strange it is. Pedal steels aren’t cheap, either. But you’ll have something you can learn for decades if you like.
Either way, neither of them is likely to cause back problems. One can be set on a table, and the other’s got a cottage industry of people making portable seats for them because you’re expected to sit down while playing. If you get really good, you can hold your own with the best of the six stringers
Oh, and missed the edit window, but the riff Buddy Emmons does at 5:27 of the above clip makes my brain melt. You know which one is Buddy, because he’s clearly labeled.
And how is it that you newly minted bass players get nicer instruments than I can fathom buying for my bass gigs? It’s because I’m cheap, isn’t it?
Either way, yeah, here’s to wishing you a long, cold winter.
Ha! I’m cheap too. This is one of the newer, made in Indonesia models…not one of the older made in US models. Much cheaper…I mean affordable. The quality is great though.
And thanks guys for the cold wishes.
My Parker PDF30 guitar is Indonesia made too and amazingly a well made guitar. The pups sounded so good that I Emailed Parker and asked about them. They said they are Duncan.
I did not believe it because it does not say Duncan nor Duncan Designed. Their better models do. The numbers got no results in the search though they do look well made.
Nice looking guitar. I also have a made in China Squier Tele and it is also very well made.
Here are a couple pics of the new bass:
squeegee - I found the guitar to go with your new Tweed amp: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/bowler-brothers-tweed-fender-amp-tele-w-amalfitano-pickups.1858043/ (Tele finished like a Tweed amp - I’ve seen 'em before, but this one’s for sale!!)
Ah, G&L. Interesting pup layout.
That Tele is witchin’