Members boston1991 Posted August 13, 2009 Members Posted August 13, 2009 I've been asking so many stupid questions lately... but here goes nothing. So I just bought a new guitar, and it arrived today! Hooray! It's a seagull S6 slim. Anyway, I was wondering how much people usually charge for an half/hour for lessons? 30? 40? 50? per hour? Also, I did some looking around on the net, and different sources discourage/recommend lowering the action on the guitar saying factories have it higher than necessary or others saying that if you're a beginner you just don't have any finger strength so you're wimping out... what should i do? The new guitar does feel rather harsh, but that might just be I'm using different finger muscles than what I've developed. Maybe I should buy a pack of new strings and put those on?
Members Virgman Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 Take it to a qualified tech and get it set up. Talk to him about it. There's more to a good playing guitar than string height. Lessons are usually in the range of $20-$50 for a half hour. Free lessons here: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php
Members GreenAsJade Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 Also, I did some looking around on the net, and different sources discourage/recommend lowering the action on the guitar saying factories have it higher than necessary or others saying that if you're a beginner you just don't have any finger strength so you're wimping out... what should i do? Is there really any substance to the claim that lowering the action will reduce the need for finger strength? That seems like a massive furphy to me - the effort to deflect the string the extra tiny amount that you might move it further or nearer the frets is going to be neglibible. Action is a comprimise between the efficiency of motion (low action -> not much movement -> fast/efficient) and things like string buzz (low action -> strings near frets -> potential for buzz etc, especially if hit hard). Indeed, with a low action I could see an argument that says you need to use more strength holding barre chords, because everything is closer to that nasty buzz than if the action is high, so it needs to be held firmly and precisely. Whadayall reckon? GaJ
Members Jasco Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 I'm a fan of thicker strings and higher action, but I'm probably in the minority opinion on that one.
Members Alex_DeLarge Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 I bought my guitar+amp for 80 bucks, and it is a Strat like. It has higher action than most other guitars I've played, I kinda like it that way. For example I don't like the Ibanez kinda thing of the strings being to close to the fretboard.
Members mosiddiqi Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 Over the years I think I've been through all string gauges and set ups trying to find what works for me. Which is, 0.09-0.46 gauge strings (on a Strat) and a medium/low action, not super low and not so high that I could drive a train under it.... Depending on what stage you're at, a guitar with thick strings and a high action might actually discourage you from playing. Just my 2 cents, which is now almost back to the level it was at as the Pound has strengthened agains the Dollar. (Thats for Jeremy)
Members Virgman Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 Measure your string height based on this. Is it fairly close? A little higher won't be bad. 12th fret: 4/64" on high E and 6/64" on low E Adjusting action on an acoustic may require truss rod adjustment of sometimes lowering the bridge by sanding down the bridge insert or adjusting the nut. Unless you know what you are doing have a tech do this. Read this for info: http://www.guildguitars.com/resources/guild_guitar_setup.php
Members jeremy_green Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 To me comfort far outweighs anything else. The guitar needs to feel nice to play and make you want to play it. There are a lot of factors that make that up (size of your hands, action setting, neck back shape, radius, fret wire size and type, bridge type, scale length, string gauge - all that). So I cant say "I like high action and fat strings" because it is just so varied. On my strat I use .10 - .46's with pretty low action. On my SG the strings are heavier (due to scale length likely). On my JEM 9-42's with super low action (its my shred guitar baby!!) So to me, you need to find what gauge works best to make you comfortable on that specific instrument. Best found through experimenting. I went "all heavy string gauge" when I was in the worst of my "tone chasing time" (which never seems to stop) for sonic reasons. I ended up with my hand starting to hurt so I backed it off. It was a worthwhile test though because i found some options I wouldn't have discovered elsewhere. ie. you can dig in more on a heavier string, which I like, so that was a cool improvement for me. Once I found out that Billy Gibbons uses .09's I stopped! Cheers! P.S. > Mo - your 2 cents is worth about 4 cents Canadian so I have always respected your opinion!
Members meganutt7 Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 Well... Here are my 2 Cents... Action-wise, I prefer it as low as I can get it without getting buzz or fretting out.... Though I do understand the reason people like higher action.. The tone is (arguably) better and clearer, there is less string noise (believe it or not) and bending is far easier... I personally like more legato phrasing, so for that the lower action is simply superior... It requires far less effort to press the strings down... As far as string gauges... I am not a thin string kind of guy... I will go as thin as 10's, but usually on my electrics I play 11's. On my Baritone I got 15's. On my 8 string Hybrid (on the guitar side) I play 13's. I just think that lower than 10's the tone gets too dinky and strings break too easily if you dig into it and play aggressively.Having said all that, I still think that everyones' preference is king. If you can make something sound good, by all means do it, by any means necessary/available.Rock on!!!Also, my new track is pretty much done.. yay.. I just gotta add one tiny melody section, some ambience and then mix/master it. I hope it'll be up before Sunday!!! The solos came out very interesting... I am pretty happy with them.. interesting phrasing and tones.. On each solo I useda different pedal... First solo is my Carvin Tele through my Keeley modded Boss SD-1... Second Solo is my Washburn Idol through my Fulldrive II Mosfet.... Third and final solo is my Strat with my Z Vex Fuzz Factory... The main riff is my Tele through the Fulldrive... Man, what an array of tones... I tried to keep it pretty unified, eventhough there is such variety... Hopefully I did a good job.I am sure you guys will let me know...When it's up, it'll be called "Fear and Trembling".Fun.www.myspace.com/dannyhayounakaprofessorparkinson
Members Jasco Posted August 14, 2009 Members Posted August 14, 2009 I went "all heavy string gauge" when I was in the worst of my "tone chasing time" (which never seems to stop) for sonic reasons. Yes, you always hear about heavier strings equal better tone, but I'm not so sure I'm sold on that premise either. On acoustic I think it holds a little better than electric. And once you enter a high gain environment the difference is almost negligible in my opinion. My reasons for high action and heavier strings (.11 or .12 on high E for electric .12 to .16 on acoustic) are: 1. Because I like the guitar to fight back a bit2. I play slide often enough that I don't want to switch guitars all the time3. I seem to break thin strings too easy because of a heavy right hand (at times), and since I'm playing floating strat bridges for electric, I can't have that happening very often during a gig.
Members GreenAsJade Posted August 15, 2009 Members Posted August 15, 2009 It requires far less effort to press the strings down I just don't get this. The physics don't add up. How can there be noticeably more effort required to press strings down from a high action compared to a low action? We're talking about minute differences in deflection (0.3mm?) over a string that is nearly a metre long. That's like 0.000 stuff all % difference in deflection amount. The force required just can't be that much different, can it? The amount of movement required can be significantly different (for example, a high action could be twice as high as a low one) ... this means much greater efficiency of movement for the low action. But this business about high actions needing higher "force"... why? Is there some amazing non-linearity of deflection force that I'm not seeing? GaJ
Members Virgman Posted August 15, 2009 Members Posted August 15, 2009 I just don't get this. The physics don't add up. How can there be noticeably more effort required to press strings down from a high action compared to a low action? We're talking about minute differences in deflection (0.3mm?) over a string that is nearly a metre long. That's like 0.000 stuff all % difference in deflection amount. The force required just can't be that much different, can it?The amount of movement required can be significantly different (for example, a high action could be twice as high as a low one) ... this means much greater efficiency of movement for the low action.But this business about high actions needing higher "force"... why? Is there some amazing non-linearity of deflection force that I'm not seeing?GaJ Not so much force as time. It takes longer to depress a high string and more accuracy.
Members GreenAsJade Posted August 15, 2009 Members Posted August 15, 2009 Yeah, _this_ I fully see. It's the "you need stronger fingers for a higher action" that seems to miss the mark. Of course, since it takes more time, you want to do it faster, and maybe more accuracy requires more muscle fine control, so these add up to tiring you more ... that might make it _feel_ like they need "more force"? GaJ
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