Relearning an old hobby (Guitar...)

[Murgatroy]

Many many years ago (don't ask for an exact number, haters) I had dreams of being a rock star. I bought a guitar, and learned a few chords. There were a handful of us back in them there woods, and well, everyone wanted to play guitar, and well, you can't have a band with five guitar players. So a buddy of mine decided he would play bass, and I bought a set of drums. This is pretty much how it went for a good handful of years. I played drums, and after a while I started playing bass as well (seems bass players are rare as hen's teeth.)

After a handful of years had passed by, and one day I realized that while I enjoyed playing in a band, we really weren't going anywhere, and I was in a dead end town. I have told my story a time or two, and being in a band was not enough to keep me on that track, and to be honest, I don't think the two were mutually exclusive.

I haven't touched a musical instrument in fifteen years or so. I have an old Epiphone Les Paul in my closet, and that is where it has set.

A couple of years ago, my daughter wanted a guitar, so for Christmas we got her a little acoustic starter guitar. She plinked around on it for a while then dismissed it. Well a handful of months ago, she dug it out of the closet and it has gone everywhere with her. She made up her mind, she wants to be a rockstar. Last week, I came home, and she had stripped a tuning peg and broken the headstock, making repair nearly impossible.

She was crushed.

The end of the world. And the Mayans saw it coming.

So in her fit, she somehow remembered Daddy had a guitar in the closet. And out it came. She fell in love with it, and made her mind up, she had to have an electric guitar, and it had to be red.

The journey began. And it was filled with adventure.

In the end, it resulted in a Squier Affinity HSS starter pack for almost a third of retail. That was pretty awesome.

She rather enjoyed Christmas.

And I have too. It grabbed a set of strings, and tuned up my old Les Paul, and started teaching my daughter the very limited things I remember from twenty years ago.

I guess I am going to look into some lessons for her, I am thinking piano, and then grabbing more learning material for the guitfiddle for myself to learn, and her to translate. It has been a really good day.

[Peace]

Congrats... Piano is a great foundation - I know you know this, so just some encouragement to make sure she has something (among all of the tedious practice) that is fun for her. All the best to you and yours-

[G27ATT]

I've been an off an on player for fifteen or more years.... That means I NEED to know what model Les Paul you have! Standard, custom!, studio? Had a classic and custom. Ultra sweet guitars. Loved my Jackson USA guitars the most though. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[G27ATT]

Must have skipped the Epiphone part.. Oops. My bad. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[Murgatroy]

Must have skipped the Epiphone part.. Oops. My bad. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, I was never really skilled enough with a guitfiddle to justify anything expensive. I can sit around and look at all the pretty ones, but they all sound the same in my hands.

 

Which isn't good.

 

I will have to admit, that when I was tuning and noodling on my daughter's Squier, it had a much faster neck and just felt better than the Epiphone. That was really the first time I had ever noticed a difference. Which again, shows my lack of experience.

[G27ATT]

I've messed around with some "budget" guitars with low action and really fast and comfortable necks. I have owned a few. Setup is what matters. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[jimmydeuce]

Glad to hear you're getting back in to playing. I've been at it way too long and own way too many guitars to be no better than I am but I love playing. Helps keep me semi sane.

[TrickyNicky]

Fwiw that broken headstock can most likely be repaired with a few clamps, some wood glue and a few small pieces of plexi glass. If your interested Lerner know and I can most likely walk you through it. Worst case I can easily point you in the direction of a few places to do the research on your own. Congratulations on getting back into it. Sounds like you and the daughter are in for some good times.

[Motasyco]

I've been practicing (but not enough) for about 50 years.  I've got three chords down pretty well.  OK, maybe a few more than three but still I'm not very good.  I always made the most progress when I had someone else to practice with.  Or maybe it was just more fun with someone else.  Good luck!

[G27ATT]

[quote name='TrickyNicky' timestamp='1356488099' post='868716']Fwiw that broken headstock can most likely be repaired with a few clamps, some wood glue and a few small pieces of plexi glass. If your interested Lerner know and I can most likely walk you through it. Worst case I can easily point you in the direction of a few places to do the research on your own. Congratulations on getting back into it. Sounds like you and the daughter are in for some good times.[/quote] I seriously doubt that guitar is worth fixing unless there is some sentimental value. Better to use it as kindling. A hundred bucks will get a cheap Yamaha acoustic. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[Murgatroy]

Fwiw that broken headstock can most likely be repaired with a few clamps, some wood glue and a few small pieces of plexi glass. If your interested Lerner know and I can most likely walk you through it. Worst case I can easily point you in the direction of a few places to do the research on your own. Congratulations on getting back into it. Sounds like you and the daughter are in for some good times.

 

 

I seriously doubt that guitar is worth fixing unless there is some sentimental value. Better to use it as kindling. A hundred bucks will get a cheap Yamaha acoustic. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, it is just a really cheap acoustic guitar. I didn't feel like dropping a large chunk on buying a three year old a guitar.

 

It was still a hard deal dropping $150, but for what I got, I didn't feel too bad, and it will last her a while. Odds are good that I will invest in more instruments in the future if we both progress and enjoy it. A hobby ain't worth having if it isn't expensive.

[TrickyNicky]

To each his own, I personaly enjoy doing that kind of work so for me it's no big deal. I probably would not spend more than .45 in glue considering I already have the clamps. A new set of ping tuners for around $8.00 and for less than ten bucks have it back up and running to use as a beater. If you haven't trashed it yet you can send it down to me and if there's anything that can be done I'll send it back working, no charge of course. Sure beats throwing it away or burning wood most likely covered with polyurethane in the pit.

[G27ATT]

[quote name='TrickyNicky' timestamp='1356492506' post='868749']To each his own, I personaly enjoy doing that kind of work so for me it's no big deal. I probably would not spend more than .45 in glue considering I already have the clamps. A new set of ping tuners for around $8.00 and for less than ten bucks have it back up and running to use as a beater. If you haven't trashed it yet you can send it down to me and if there's anything that can be done I'll send it back working, no charge of course. Sure beats throwing it away or burning wood most likely covered with polyurethane in the pit.[/quote] If someone who knows what they are doing sets the headstock correctly, it might.... Uh no. Not worth the shipping. Set it wrong and the action just might be worse than it was new. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[TrickyNicky]

Not worth $40.00? My friend, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

[G27ATT]

[quote name='TrickyNicky' timestamp='1356496499' post='868801']Not worth $40.00? My friend, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.[/quote] Definitely agree. Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[Murgatroy]

It was a $40 guitar to start with.

[peejman]

Cool.  I'm another wanna be guitar player.  I didn't start until I was in college, wish I'd started a decade earlier.  I really enjoy it, but have very little time these days.  My best advice is to get her into some lessons.  I piddled for years and couldn't do much other than make noise.  Then I took a few lessons and began to play music.  Then we moved and had kids....

[KJ48]

I have been playing for nearly 40 years, took all kind of lessons when I was young, but always lost interest because after years of lessons I never was able to play what I wanted to play.  I learned mostly by listening to songs and watching the players on TV, pretty tedious unless you want to learn a song badly.

 

Recently one of my kids (10yr old) picked a game called Rocksmith for the xbox 360, I let him use one of my beater guitars and in a month he was playing a ton of songs, not goofy three chord stuff but artists like Allman brothers, Clapton, Rush and some newer artists I wasnt familiar with.  Then I started fooling with the thing and was amazed how well it works with a real guitar, you can play two guitars at once, or a guitar and bass too.  I have to admit taking some pleasure in beating the kid on a video game - even though once he gets his finger strength up I'm sure he will be kicking my butt.  Its not really a good theory or music reading teacher, but its good for learning scales, chords and rock techniques. 

 

It wont replace a classic instructor but it will get her up and playing popular songs right from the beginning, thats what keeps kids interested..

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I am only marginally competent on keyboards but in an end of the world emergency could sit in on bass if nobody else was willing, but it would be a sad situation indeed. :) Long ago after a few years playing keyboards had learned exactly what you are supposed to do to play geetar but it is frustrating because over the decades my fingers always refused to do what I commanded them to do on guitar. Hopeless. The fingers are only barely cooperative on keyboards. The mind knows how to play lots of things on keyboards that the fingers refuse to do, as far as that goes.

 

From my perspective the theory is lots easier than the practice thereof. The advantage of learning the theory is that a fella can then play "workmanlike" in short order on just about any musical instrument he wants to pick up, assuming the person has a decent ear and cooperative fingers. Going past the "workmanlike" level requires rarer talents that can be specific to a particular instrument. The last 10 percent takes more work/talent than the first 90 percent, and the last 1 percent takes more work/talent than the first 99 percent, etc. So there are not many people talented enough to eventually become top virtuoso's on multiple instruments, but plenty of folk can become jack-of-all-trades journeymen.

 

IMO keyboards may be the easiest to attain a "workmanlike" level, perhaps even easier than electric bass. The keys are big targets and if you can only manage to hit the correct big targets and avoid hitting the incorrect big targets, and hit them and release them at the proper timings, then you've got it under control. If you can just hit the correct big targets on-time, the notes will be in-tune, assuming the keyboard is in tune.

 

Now on geetar or fiddle, banjo, mandolin, etc-- Even bass-- The notes are tiny little targets for one hand, and the strings are tiny little targets for the other hand. Both hands have to hit the tiny little targets simultaneously, so your odds of success are cut in half from the get-go (compared to piano or organ). Even if you manage to hit both tiny targets in the correct time window, then if you don't press "just right" on the string, and exert "just the right" amount of pressure on the neck, the note will fluff or choke, and even a clean-played note might be woefully out of tune.

 

Good geetar players can git-er-done on any old piece of junk guitar if that is all that is available. Though the good players appreciate good instruments of course. The beginner has better luck and an easier introduction with a pretty easy to play good instrument. Good guitarists tell me that the cheap Fenders and Gibson Epiphones, and some other cheap brands as well, can typically be set up to play about as good as a middlin-expensive guitar. They say that a big reason the $2000 fender at the music store plays easier than the $99 squire, is that they can't afford to properly set-up $99 geetars at the factory or the store, but if they didn't properly set-up the $2000 geetars then nobody would buy them. Ain't saying there is no quality difference between cheap and spensive. There are big quality differences. But if you can afford to hire a guitar tech who knows his trade to set up a new cheap guitar, then it is probably worth the money to do so. Dunno what they charge nowadays. Maybe even a pimply faced kid working part time at the local geetar emporium could make it better, though it would be best to find someone who knows the difference between sheets and shinola. Setting up the cheap geetar might not turn a sows ear into a silk purse, but maybe it will at least turn it into a good usable nylon purse. :)

[TrickyNicky]

Lester is right on to a point. A good setup can make a world of difference in any guitar regardless if cost. As mentioned, I'm big into DIY when it comes to guitars. Electrics in particular are easy to adjust and if your already set on paying a tech I can see no reason not to try your hand first. I would avoid the truss rod until your familiar with how they function but the action at the bridge, intonation, pickup height can all be tinkered with to one degree or another. One of the best investments I ever made was a set of books by renowned luthier and repairman Dan Erlewine. As a collector/player with about a dozen guits in the current stable, it has saved me a bundle considering I'm a firm believer in a good bi-annual setup. At $45-$60 a pop that would cost a small fortune every year.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Lester is right on to a point. A good setup can make a world of difference in any guitar regardless if cost. As mentioned, I'm big into DIY when it comes to guitars. Electrics in particular are easy to adjust and if your already set on paying a tech I can see no reason not to try your hand first. I would avoid the truss rod until your familiar with how they function but the action at the bridge, intonation, pickup height can all be tinkered with to one degree or another. One of the best investments I ever made was a set of books by renowned luthier and repairman Dan Erlewine. As a collector/player with about a dozen guits in the current stable, it has saved me a bundle considering I'm a firm believer in a good bi-annual setup. At $45-$60 a pop that would cost a small fortune every year.

 

Yeah, as a keyboard player I learned to tune/repair pianos, organs and synths "in self defense" and most of the pro guitarists I know have learned to set up a guitar pretty dang good "in self defense". Though if they are more lazy than they are poor, they will gladly pay someone else to do the chore.