There have been a bunch of older threads (didn't want to necro decade old posts) about recommending guitars or learning guitar. Maybe if there's enough CP interest we can sustain a thread. There's definitely a bunch of CP musicians.
I recently started trying to play again after a year-long hiatus and I've been looking for ways to advance my playing. I'm self taught and have never been great at it. I guess the first step is to get my gear back into shape. I need a proper guitar setup since my strat hasn't seen a setup since I bought it on ebay in 2007 as a beginner and even then I think it was missing some stuff. I've also never had any proper amp or pedals. Any recommendations for local guys or places or anybody to talk to?
I'm also interested in getting a new acoustic since my last acoustic was a cheap Ibanez from 10+ years ago as well. The sound of these Yamaha Transacoustics caught my attention on Youtube recently.
Last edited by Hack&Lube; 02-04-2018 at 04:34 PM.
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A basic guitar setup is pretty easy to do yourself. Essentially you're just checking the neck straightness, string height, and intonation and then adjusting the truss rod and the saddles as necessary. If you do things methodically and in the correct order it's quite easy and effective. Here's a simple guide:
You can get away without the action gauge if you don't have one; just set it as low or high as you like as long as you don't have any fret buzz.
As for acoustics, it really comes down to taste and budget. If money was no object I'd go for a Santa Cruz or a Martin, but in terms of value it's hard to beat something like Simon & Patrick. It's pretty crazy that they can produce a fully solid wood (i.e. no laminated back and sides) made in Canada guitar for under $700. They have a range of models from $350-$1400 and all are excellent value for the price.
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A basic guitar setup is pretty easy to do yourself. Essentially you're just checking the neck straightness, string height, and intonation and then adjusting the truss rod and the saddles as necessary. If you do things methodically and in the correct order it's quite easy and effective. Here's a simple guide:
You can get away without the action gauge if you don't have one; just set it as low or high as you like as long as you don't have any fret buzz.
As for acoustics, it really comes down to taste and budget. If money was no object I'd go for a Santa Cruz or a Martin, but in terms of value it's hard to beat something like Simon & Patrick. It's pretty crazy that they can produce a fully solid wood (i.e. no laminated back and sides) made in Canada guitar for under $700. They have a range of models from $350-$1400 and all are excellent value for the price.
S&P, Norman, and Seagull all hail from La Patrie Quebec. 20 years ago they were easily the best bag for your buck guitar, and I haven't seen anything recently to change that. Fantastic solid top guitars, great tone and really playable.
To save even more, find one of these gems on Kijiji.
Yes, for bang for the buck, I will agree with Simon and Patrick. Godin actually ally established the company and named it after his sons. Seagull is also a Godin subsidiary. They are all quite decent.
I also like Larrivee’s but you are starting to pay more for those.
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A basic guitar setup is pretty easy to do yourself. Essentially you're just checking the neck straightness, string height, and intonation and then adjusting the truss rod and the saddles as necessary. If you do things methodically and in the correct order it's quite easy and effective. Here's a simple guide:
You can get away without the action gauge if you don't have one; just set it as low or high as you like as long as you don't have any fret buzz.
I know enough to do it myself and have been tweaking everything over the years including intonation, etc. but I think since it's been 10 years, I'd rather have a reliable professional have a look at it because there may have been things wrong with it that I don't know about or some parts to replace or something that I'm doing wrong or could be improved.
I recommend Rocksmith. If you have a playstation, x-box or PC you can buy the cable and software. There is even an ios and android version I believe. You learn songs from scratch and it will dynamically change the difficulty as you get better. I know for myself it made me a better guitar player. I've had people that never played guitar before try it and they pick it up faster than trying to teach them. You can buy and download the songs you want to and their catalog is pretty decent. The only problem I find is that I don't remember the songs as well even though I just played them hah, but it's all in fun and a great way to become a better guitar player. Also, I completely abandoned my amps/pedals/etc... and just run everything through Rocksmith, though I have some nice towers that pump pretty good. That's my advice. Cheers!
I recommend Rocksmith. If you have a playstation, x-box or PC you can buy the cable and software. There is even an ios and android version I believe. You learn songs from scratch and it will dynamically change the difficulty as you get better. I know for myself it made me a better guitar player. I've had people that never played guitar before try it and they pick it up faster than trying to teach them. You can buy and download the songs you want to and their catalog is pretty decent. The only problem I find is that I don't remember the songs as well even though I just played them hah, but it's all in fun and a great way to become a better guitar player. Also, I completely abandoned my amps/pedals/etc... and just run everything through Rocksmith, though I have some nice towers that pump pretty good. That's my advice. Cheers!
Yeah, I got this for fun for the PS4 last year. I find learning songs from Rocksmith really hard because it's very difficult to navigate all the notes as they are floating past you and therefore you don't commit it to memory. I've tried playing segments over and over again but it's super hard to figure out what you are supposed to be playing.
The only way I was able to play Iron Maiden - The Trooper is by reading the tab first, learning the song, and then playing it on Rocksmith. By that time I was good enough that Rocksmith decided that it would make all the on screen notes invisible which completely defeated the purpose but made it a fun backing track exercise.
Its also hard to unlock the amps and pedals that I want in game, at least it is with the latest version.
Rocksmith is fun for rock/pop songs. I'd like to get more into clean tone/jazzy stuff and fix up my strat for that.
Yeah I turn the Dynamic learning off so it shows all the notes, but yeah I still have a big problem remembering the notes. Learning the tab first would help with that.
If anyone is interested in learning guitar from scratch on your own, I don't think there's a better website than justinguitar.com So much content, and I used a lot of it to teach myself. And all of the content is free, which is incredible.
If you're looking for gear Long and Mcquade is having a inventory sale this weekend. May find a deal or two. Otherwise I'd strongly recommend the used market.
For those of you that are into gear and don't know about That Pedal Show with Dan and Mick. I enjoy new episodes every Friday. They are usually an hour long and they go off topic as everything reminds them of something, but I find them highly entertaining
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I just did some pedal shopping where I just used youtube pedal reviews to figure out what I wanted and ended up really happy with what I got: Ditto Looper, OCD Overdrive and MXR DynaComp.
The Ditto Looper is a fantastic pedal: simple, cheap, easy to use and great sound. Essential for any closet players or anyone that can't convince their rhythm section to play the same 3 chords for 15 minutes so you can go deep on your stairway solo.
OCD Overdrive, I don't like 90% of distortion stomp boxes, but loved the OCD instantly. It's a great pairing with my Mesa F30, it can dirty up the clean channel a little or push it into Valhalla for an 80s metal tone, or I can layer it with the distortion channel and get booming fuzz.
MXR Dynacomp: wasn't too impressed when I first got it, but finding it mixes well with the other pedals and liking it more as I use it. 50/50 if I'm going to keep it, it provides some nice options, but not sure if I'd miss it much.
Through the years, I've never owned any pedals so it's a bit daunting what to start with. I'll check out that Ditto looper. I'm also looking for a proper amp because all I've ever had was a tiny 15w fender practice amp over the years. I've got a strat for clean/jazzy/blues and also an Ibanez with humbuckers for more of the distortion...I just don't have equipment for either!
I'm not surprised. They have jacked up their prices on not just their guitars but even the parts to unreasonable levels. How many signature series guitars can you release for stupid prices before the buying public says F you!
FFS you really do lose credibility when you realese a Chad Kroeger signature series guitar.
I'll take my old 74 Deluxe over any of the new ones.
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1. Gibson spent too much money acquiring other companies in an attempt to diversify from guitars. They purchased the home audio equipment and entertainment brands from Phillips, TEAC, Onkyo, Pioneer, Cerwin Vega, Stanton, KRK, Baldwin Piano, and Cakewalk.
2. Gibson spent too much money on properties in Nashville
3. Guitar as a whole has been trending downward in terms of usage in pop music and popularity among younger generations. It's the same issue as Harley Davison where they are not correctly finding a target market among millenials in the electronic music and R&B era.
4. Gibson is overpriced and has lost quality
5. Crazy CEO. The CEO is totally nuts. You can read about Henry E. Juszkiewicz online
I just did some pedal shopping where I just used youtube pedal reviews to figure out what I wanted and ended up really happy with what I got: Ditto Looper, OCD Overdrive and MXR DynaComp.
The Ditto Looper is a fantastic pedal: simple, cheap, easy to use and great sound. Essential for any closet players or anyone that can't convince their rhythm section to play the same 3 chords for 15 minutes so you can go deep on your stairway solo.
OCD Overdrive, I don't like 90% of distortion stomp boxes, but loved the OCD instantly. It's a great pairing with my Mesa F30, it can dirty up the clean channel a little or push it into Valhalla for an 80s metal tone, or I can layer it with the distortion channel and get booming fuzz.
MXR Dynacomp: wasn't too impressed when I first got it, but finding it mixes well with the other pedals and liking it more as I use it. 50/50 if I'm going to keep it, it provides some nice options, but not sure if I'd miss it much.
Update: I returned the MXR Dynacomp and Ditto Looper for a Ditto x4 Looper (the top of the line version). The Looper has been a revelation for my playing, I was a semi-retired player that might play once a week or so, but the looper has turned me into an obsessed guitar geek again: I'm working on my looping skills and jamming with myself, learning new songs for the first time in a long time, working on my finger picking technique (sultans of swing!), experimenting with tone, etc.
I've stopped playing video games and now spend my limited free time either playing guitar or looking up guitar stuff online, scouring the web for gear I want but won't buy. One funny thing I noticed is that my 2002 MIM Fender Telecaster is worth more today (by ~50%) than what I paid for it new, it's somehow managed to stay in pristine shape, even though I bought it as a gigging guitar.
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Update: I returned the MXR Dynacomp and Ditto Looper for a Ditto x4 Looper (the top of the line version). The Looper has been a revelation for my playing, I was a semi-retired player that might play once a week or so, but the looper has turned me into an obsessed guitar geek again: I'm working on my looping skills and jamming with myself, learning new songs for the first time in a long time, working on my finger picking technique (sultans of swing!), experimenting with tone, etc.
I've stopped playing video games and now spend my limited free time either playing guitar or looking up guitar stuff online, scouring the web for gear I want but won't buy. One funny thing I noticed is that my 2002 MIM Fender Telecaster is worth more today (by ~50%) than what I paid for it new, it's somehow managed to stay in pristine shape, even though I bought it as a gigging guitar.
That's awesome! I'll have to take your word for it and try to get the Ditto Looper!
Still looking for a nicer practice amp combination as well to go with my 2007 Eric Johnson strat (got a used, slightly dinged one via bargain on Ebay 10 years ago, it's way too expensive a guitar to buy today).
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