Increase your tambre and finger strenght...

[COLOR=Red]Increase your tambre and Strength hear...


Now, i figure a great way to develop as a guitarist is playing with entry level quality axes. Im not talking about, say something thats been growing fuzz in your friend's basement for the past 6 years, but, in irony, you should look into purchasing a low quality axe. Why? Weeeeellll....

First off, playing with a p.o.s guitar makes it much harder, yes, but it makes you a better player. It can develop strength, in all your fingers.

- Ah, another way to build muscle is to practice a bunch of hard inversions, as progressions. Each chord on 4 beats, as sloooow as you need, then getting faster and faster...so on and so forth...

(I'd suggest a steel string acoustic, due to higher tension, plus it can really help develop your calluses...)

It will also improve your tambre (basically, tambre is the quality in which you play the note, meaning if you hear a lot of buzzing strings, muted notes that werent supposed to be there, so on..., that would mean you would have bad tambre. Someone that doesnt have those problems will have good tambre.) It'll make you more aware of what your actually doing, and you wont get lazy over the fret board...

A lot of us think we play better than we really do, oddly enough. Another suggestion of mine is to record yourself. Take at least a decent level digital sound recorder recorder. You want to be able to tell which notes are what when you hear you recording. You can get these for somewhat little moola, and they are pretty much at electronic stores. Record a lick, song or what ever it may be, and listen to it. You'll probably notice stuff like,

"Geeze, there is a lot of buzzing strings in that part in the middle..." and so on...

It'll also help with your writing process. Ever listen to the radio to someone playing, and think to yourself,

"Hmmm, i probably would not have chose those notes..."

If you dont, you should, it helps you on at least a couple of levels.

You might wanna change your mind on how you play a few phrases, change the lick, and so forth.

My last note is that you dont have to play entirley with horrible guitars. I say poor quality to learn on, good quality to present, record, (ect.) with...

This is my first thread, so let me know how I did...
And please, dont be afraid to brutally honest... I really wanna know how I did...

Hope it helps...

yeah, i know, but it helps build strenght rapidly... and adjusting the action doesnt fully replicate the crappieness of crap

damn! i keep missing strenght....

I learned on crap gear, and while yes, it can be helpful, it can also cause just as much harm as it does good. The pro's of learning on a poor acoustic guitar that is hard to fret, and has high action, are... finger strength, and stronger, and possibly faster, finger independance. However, it can also cause you to form bad habits. You'll tend to want to fret the strings much harder than needed, which can cause you to make the fretted notes sound out of tune. It's also hell trying to go from a crap acoustic to an electric guitar. It's almost like having to learn how to play all over again. There are many other possible bad habits to be formed as well, but it really just depends on the person.

I say, learn to play on what you plan on playing for a good while. Learning on crap gear can be frustrating, which can prolong progress. A similar situational example.... If you're learning how to play the electric guitar, and wanting to eventually be in a band, would it be better to learn and practice while sitting down, or standing up? Of course, it would be much better to learn and practice while standing up, because that's how you'll most likely be playing while in a band. Also, learning on the gear you plan on using for a long time is the best way to get completely familiar with your gear.

It's all personal preference, but, speaking from experience, I dont' suggest learning to play the guitar on a crap/hard to play guitar. YMMV

Want finger strength? Play bass.

Playing a crap guitar may be a necessity - I didn't have £1000 for a plank with strings when I started playing at 8 years old, I had a cheap (£40 / $75) classical guitar made of plywood my parents bought me. It may even be a right of passage thing.

Acoustics will build finger strength, but there's no need to deliberately buy a bad one. Get a 'gripmaster' if you want to build strength. I think newer players (as a sweeping generalisation) are focussing too much on speed. Speed is in my opinion, a by product of a developed technique. Drilling yourself in to going faster is a fast road to tendonitis, and combining that with sky-high action and excessive string tension is a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

I have developed far more as a player since I started investing in pro-quality tools for the job. I still play a squire strat sometimes, but it's set up professionally.

If you knowingly buy a crap guitar, there must be something wrong with you...

yeah, i know that you dont want to play ALL the time on a crap axe... just a bad one to learn modes/ inversons (ect.), and have a good set up for writing, and having fun with...

>Timbre< could pretty much be described as the tone of the instrument. Basically, if you play an E chord on one guitar, and then play it on another guitar, it will sound different, eventhough it's the same exact chord. The reason it will sound different, will be because of the differences in how the guitars are constructed.

Well, each individual guitar has it's own tone... even if its very similar to another one of it's model, though not every guitar can be made EXACTLY the same as the last...

Tambre? Well, Ive seen it with an i and an a... eseetially meaning the same thing... though I have always known it as the way the player PRESENTs the note, not the tone of the axe ITSELF....

Why cant you learn modes and so on a great guitar? Well, there is certainly no reason why you cant, or shouldnt...though I always did. What if you always play with great, really smooth working necks, set up nice and such.... but to one day break out of the norm and play with a crappy guitar? You might not have the strength to play it without screwing up. If you learn it on a horrible guitar, and play it whenever you may on a great guitar, your not at a disadvantage when playing a high quality axe. Alas... opinions aperantly seem to vary with person to person....

Knowingly buying a crap axe... well, first off, if you knew you were buying one, you would know what to look for, such as a truss tod... though Martin didnt put ones in thier guitars for a while, though Martin makes some niiiiiice guitars. Plus, you would also probably know how much to pay for it at THE LEAST, not being ripped off by some cheap salesman... There is no reason for not having a great axe with a great set up, unless for lack of funds in your pocket, or whatever the reason may be...

Originally Posted by: pizzicatopickerIf you learn it on a horrible guitar, and play it whenever you may on a great guitar, your not at a disadvantage when playing a high quality axe.

Actually, you more than likely would be, because you have to learn to play different for a crap gutiar and a quality guitar. Fretting a note too hard can cause it to sound out of tune, which is more than likely what you will do when going from crap to quality, because the notes will more than likely be much easier to fret on the good guitar. Learning a hard touch is much easier than learning a soft touch (especially if you already have a hard touch like I do).

Alas... opinions aperantly seem to vary with person to person....

Here's a saying I learned a long time ago, and it will prove very useful when communicating with people on an internet forum. "Opinions are like ass holes... everybody's got one." Also remember that opinions are not facts... they are views based on a single persons personal experience, and/or knowledge of the topic at hand.

Honestly, if I was going to buy a guitar just to increase my finger strength I'd rather buy a mid level acoustic than a crappy electric. That's just me.

There is no need to buy a crap guitar to improv a thing as natural as finger strenght. Just play guitar for increasing amounts of time, and your fingers will adapt. No matter the guitar. If I play a thin neck super strat such a Jackson Soloist for 3 hours non stop, its going to make my fingertips red and I would be able to see the dead skin flakes... Getting a crappy guitar will discourage you playing because your trying to play phyically, not emotionally.

Originally Posted by: AkiraJackson Soloist's have thin necks? :confused:

Compared to my Stratocaster, yes.
I guess thin is a subjective term. :rolleyes:

Well Excuuuuuuuse me Princess!!!! :p