I love the sound of the double bass. Whenever I’ve had to opportunity, I’ve been too intimidated to ever try to play one.
Thought you folks would be interested in this picture essay from the BBC - Stringed Theory. These are images taken by ‘holographic interferometry’ to show where the sound board is and is not vibrating. Very cool looking…
And interesting.
In other news, my new bridge (compensated barrels) is in the tele, and it’s in tune to within a few cents both at the bridge and the 12th fret. Vast improvement.
Sadly, I have to report I joined the Conspiracy last night. I moved to a new page in, of all things, Rock Band Guitar Method (Don’t laugh, it has a nice section on hammer-ons and I suck at them), and I discover, to my surprise… I’m playing the Pachabel Canon!
It’s EVERYWHERE!
Le Ministre - to use technical, cork-sniffing terms, that’s fucking awesome.
E-Sabs - all that matters is that you continue to play; it could be Pachelbel’s over-played, cheese-fest Canon or it can be metal shredding or Mary Had a Little Lamb - go for it. Glad the compensated barrels are working for you.
Here’s a youtube linkto the hour-long (47 minutes with no commercials) documentary on the history of the electric guitar - very well done from a “getting the facts straight” standpoint and clips of GE Smith playing historically important gits is always a good thing - question: when he plays the Tele like Muddy Waters, what is he using for a slide? It is hidden between his fingers, but I think it is a metal spoon. At first I thought he holding a stick of foil-wrapped gum…
I recommend this vid as a great way to get grounded in electric-guitar history basics…
Help me get my first guitar!
So I have decided I want to learn to play the acoustic guitar. There seem to be so many different styles/strings/options that I can’t figure it out and I need some help. I thought maybe some of the guitar dopers could give me some ideas on what to look or not look for and anything else that might help me get started.
For example, do I want guitar that uses nylon strings or steel strings? For a beginner would it matter?
-I would like to spend less than $500 on this total, including case and other accessories (I don’t know what I would need though).
-I want to get a nice enough guitar that I can grow into it, and not have to upgrade after a few months (if that is possible within this price range).
-I am not currently interested in acoustic/electric option.
-A few ideas of the kind of music I want to eventually play
–Alexi Murdoch - Breathe
–Extreme - More than Words
–Farmville Theme
I realize I won’t be able to play that kind of stuff for a while, but it’s an idea of what I would like to work towards.
Thanks for the help.
I can say that nylons are easier on your fingers. Steels will make you bleed till you build calluses. But then it’s over. Nylons are mostly classical only. A steel will, probably, be where you want to go. So bleed now rather than later.
Takamine, Ibanez, and anything Ministre said in the other thread, are good choices. But hie thee down to a music store. Feel how it sits. Run your hand up and down the neck, does it cut your fingers?
Are you taking lessons from anyone?
**PKK **-
first of all, tons of luck in your new pursuit; if it sticks, it can be a lot of fun.
Second of all, search this forum on “starting guitar” or other similar keywords - there’s been a few threads on this.
Thirdly, as you will see me say in those threads, too - the most important thing is to do whatever will keep you playing. If you are a Lessons person, take lessons. If you like books and videos, search youtube (there are tons of How to Play Guitar free videos - tons) and buy DVDs. If you like structure and routine - do scales; if you like playing cool songs, search them out on youtube to get the chords.
The first two songs you name are steel-string acoustic based. You also state you want to spend $500 bucks and have the guitar be worthy for a few years. Are you okay with the pain of building up calluses? Steel strings are the toughest to get started on - vs. nylon or an electric which uses lighter gauged metal strings. But Steel string is also like learning manual/stick shift on a car: if you learn on it, it makes you a better player all around.
I couldn’t point to a specific make or model - designs and build quality vary from year to year and even from guitar to guitar. But there are a number of makes where $500 - $600 can do you fine. Even Martin has a lower-priced line now - maybe $600, but the ones I have played have been great. If you have a friend who has a bit of gear geekiness in addition to be a guitar playing, you should ask them to come along…
http://www.jbacklund.com/gallery.html
This guy does wonderful design work. In the Sold Items gallery, there is a JBD-300 in butterscotch with an oval tortoiseshell pickguard that has my name on it…
Wow, George Jetson meets Johnny Rockets. Tre cool.
The attention to detail is awesome, e.g. the way far out bridge designs, some pickups have a unique look, etc. Even the case is custom and cool looking.
Any idea what these things cost? The PDF pricelist on the models page just says “our new price list will be ready 2/2011”.
Great - the only price I could find…was for that one butterscotch JBD-300 that I like. Listed at Fat Tone for $1,900.
Want.
Thanks for digging that up! It doesn’t sound like you’re getting one, unless you buy that one:
If I was at another spot in the G.A.S. cycle (G.A.S. cycle = building up the urge and $ → in research, haggle and acquisition mode → recovering and/or not allowed to look for other reasons for now. I am in that last stage for the foreseeable future 
:)) I could actually see taking a run at that. The design looks exotic, but not Explorer/Flying V cock-rocky, and also like it would be comfortable. The lines are so clean…
It reminds me of something I saw that was done by… maybe Vox? In the 60s.
Y’all please overlook it if this has been asked in this very long thread, but is there such a thing as a “universal chord”? Let me explain what I mean:
Several years ago, I was at a cyclist reunion in Colorado, and three of us learned a few tunes to entertain the crowd with. Even though we had never played together before, we sounded okay with our three accoustics.
Then one of the ladies got up and wanted to sing a song she had written about cycling and wanted us to accompany her. She sang a little bit of it, and we figured out a key (E), but as she progressed, we had no idea where to go from there and we were continually lagging behind.
This was a fun thing and we weren’t expected to be perfect, but we just couldn’t follow her and looked at each other quizzically. Did I mention we had no idea what tune she was even trying to fit her lyrics to?
So anyway, one of our trio said, “just play an A chord”, and that’s what we did, mostly (sometimes there was something familiar in the song’s progression and we were able to match the notes she was singing with an E C G or something.
So to make a long story short, she finished her song, but it left me wondering, “what did we sound like???”, and was Jeff’s suggestion to just play an A a valid one in that it was “safe” and wouldn’t sound atonal?
I need to also mention that since we didn’t know the song she was singing, we didn’t play very loudly at all! 
Sorry. I know this sounds convoluted, but this is the best way I know to describe what happened.
Thanks guys, and I can’t wait to get moved into my new place where I can have a decent room in which to practice!
Quasi
There is no universal chord, **Quasi **- sounds like you were valiantly trying to support an aspiring songwriter and found it hard. There’s no way I would know what to do if someone just said “accompany me for these lyrics you don’t know the rhythm of and don’t know my vocal skills or range” 
Hey, guys.
enipla wants to learn how to play the banjo.
And stpauler needs help figuring out some chords.
Unconventional guitar techniques - I just saw this and felt the need to pass it on… Botswana roots-style playing.
Caught the first half - fun and hilarious; I mean, I can’t really tell if that’s a man or woman - I will go with a guy - but it starts off looking kinda low-rent. He’s playing interestingly; wow, some local guy with an interesting technique (A string removed; low E set up to play basslines; top 4 strings tuned to a chord for easy strumming and fretting - smart for bassline accompanyment).
But then - dude starts struttin’; a little right-hand fretting, a bit of over-the-neck flash; some high-neck pull-offs. Yeah - he’s got moves! Never gives it away in the face, but lemme tell you, from a guitarists perspective? Dude thought he was a total gunslinger. 
As for the music, it started off a bit jumbled to my ear, but about 30 seconds in I found it. Really interesting and fun - I would like to try that string setup to check out the versatility…
Google’s main search page has some weird, electric-guitar-inspired art on it today, at least in my neck of the woods. Like the pickups and bridge but with soundholes - they don’t make sense; just uses the shapes.
[QUOTE=WordMan]
Like the pickups and bridge but with soundholes - they don’t make sense; just uses the shapes.
[/QUOTE]
It’s (or would be) Les Paul’s 96th birthday.
Turn your speakers on and have a strum. Although it looks like it was designed by someone who knows nothing about guitars the ‘strings’ seem to be arranged in a way that lets you strum chords. I think you may be able to play a scale even but it requires a bit of mouse gymnastics.