Why is playing acoustic sooo hard? ;)

[Freeman Keller]

The way I see it' date=' acoustics are completely different instruments. It's kind of like the difference between riding a motorcycle and a bicycle.[/quote']

 

I hate generalities but I'm going to make a couple (and you can find all sorts of contradictions to the following). I think that there is a big difference in the WAY they are played too. Acoustic guitars are often solo instruments - they can be the complete band. They can be the bass and rhythm and lead instrument all at the same time - particularly if they are finger picked. OTOH electric guitars usually need some others around - a bass guitar, some sort of rhythm, maybe the drum guy. Look at how many lessons have a "jam track" to play over.

 

When I listen to many electric players I hear power chords and riffs and pentatonic scales - I rarely hear "a song" - is the solo to Freebird really the song? Often, of course, its more or less noise - feedback, distortion, two step bends, all the little effect pedal thingies. Acoustics often feature big lush six string chords, all the subtle overtones of the wood and air box, the nuances of the players fingers on the strings.

 

I'm afraid that most of the time when I play my electric guitars I do pretty much the same things that I do on an acoustic - I set the amp clean, I like neck pickups and I finger pick the little beasties. Sorry, I was brought up on acoustic guitars and that's where my real love is.

 

(FK puts on his asbestos underwear and prepares for the flames to begin)

[Glenn F]

You're point is well-taken, Freeman. Whenever I'd play solo acoustic guitar for people, they'd always want me to play more. Whenever I played solo electric guitar, well, it was a different story, regardless of what I was playing. To me, there are very few things as relaxing or meditative than sitting comfortably and playing one of my acoustics. It is how I commune with the Universe.

 

Tele: practice, practice, practice! The side benefit of this is that your electric playing should clean up somewhat, too!

[WRGKMC]

The frequency response of an acoustic is much wider then an electric and the music you tend to play on each tends to be different.

 

The noise problem comes does come from finger friction and the string wraps. You may want to try some other string brands that have smaller wraps which reduce the noise. With electrics you have flats and semi flats which can cut down noise but with acoustics there aren't very many options besides going with a smaller wrap.

 

Mic position can sometimes minimize the string noise, but the rest comes from the performers techniques. Lifting the fingers when making a position jump instead of sliding is the key item you need to develop. Its surely not easy to retrain yourself to do this especially if you've been playing a long time.

 

The only trick I can think of to help you master its is by increasing the issue when you're tracking. This may sound counter intuitive but it actually works. You'd need to add an EQ between the interface and headphone amp, then boost the offensive frequencies when tracking. You will naturally adjust your playing skills to minimize the noise. Then when you play back the tracks normally, you will have avoided producing much or most of it to begin with.

 

This is a common studio technique by the way. Vocalists especially can be coaxed to change their mic techniques by tweaking their monitors. For example, if a singer is used to singing live and is singing through a completely dry mic he may tend to change his technique to fit the dry sound, back off on his dynamics, trying to make a dry mic performance fit a live mix. The fix is, give him reverb or echo in his monitors only, and keep the recorded track dry. Then you can add those effects in later mixing and his technique will fit.

 

You can do this for volume, adjusting his level and force him to back off or get up closer, and by using frequencies. If you back down on the bass he may try and get more bass from his voice. Back down the air and he'll try and get it through his singing techniques. You can use these same things on guitar. You may want to try different headphones too. I's always found those to be the number one culprit in getting inaccurate tracking tones.

[DeepEnd]

. . . I'm afraid that most of the time when I play my electric guitars I do pretty much the same things that I do on an acoustic . . . Sorry' date=' I was brought up on acoustic guitars and that's where my real love is. . . .[/quote']

^This. I play exactly the same on either. Not as well as Freeman but... I like some reverb and a bit of distortion on an electric but I play the same way.

[Idunno]

My take on improvement is to play plugged while listening through phones. Phones pick up every nuance of poor technique. I can hear a nick on a fingernail coming through and poor attack (sweeping versus plucking) on the right hand, and poor fretting on the left. It's like a real time critique and improvement exercise in the space of a single song. If I can correct at that level I'll be okay.

[Phil O'Keefe]

You had me up until the point where you started talking about downsizing the guitar collection, but in spite of such blasphemy, I kudoed your post anyway.

[Delmont]

Sorry if this is a little obvious, but if the problem is condenser mics, try a dynamic mic. Here are a couple of tunes that are just my voice on one track and my acoustic on another track. I EQed the guitar slightly and left the voice alone, so no compression or reverb. The mic is just an all-purpose Audix OM2 - nothing fancy.

 

A percussive blues tune: http://www.thefullertons.net/uploads...ng_my_mind.mp3

 

A more open, folkier ballad: http://www.thefullertons.net/uploads...e_crossing.mp3

 

And those are cheap mp3s. You might get some great sounds with good gear. They're not called dynamic fer nuthin'!

[Delmont]

PS: Just sit down and get used to playing it. I'm far from the first person to say it: If you can't play it solo on a six-string folk guitar, you ain't got a song!

[Delmont]

My take on improvement is to play plugged while listening through phones. Phones pick up every nuance of poor technique. I can hear a nick on a fingernail coming through and poor attack (sweeping versus plucking) on the right hand' date=' and poor fretting on the left. It's like a real time critique and improvement exercise in the space of a single song. If I can correct at that level I'll be okay.[/quote']

 

Hm. I can hear my mistakes just fine without a stethoscope. But if it works for you, wotthehell!

[Terranaut_X]

It's the guitar and strings. If find coated strings like Elixir Nanowebs kills the squeak and squeal of fretting notes on the wound strings. Plus you have to find a guitar that plays well that you can hear. That will depend on your budget.

[tbry]

Record using 2 mics...1 pointed at the 12th and one pointed at the sound hole 6-10 inches away (play with this) and play your song....when you have played it as well as you can you edit in Cubase by panning 1 track left and the 2nd track right and ad reverb to taste...this leaves a nice space in the middle for a vocal to be added, (if so desired)...raw acoustic sound can be a little unforgiving.

 

Coated strings seem to help a bit too...

[bigald18]

One tip. Use a slowdowner to practice. Pay attention to the surgical and musical details. You'll have an advantage that neither Kottke nor Segovia had.

 

You mean being on this forum?