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ParlourMan

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Posts posted by ParlourMan

    What is the most highly over-rated and under-rated acoustic guitar brand?????

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    Over-rated. In a way I think much of the stuff made by companes like Gibson, Martin and Taylor is over-rated, meaning I am confident I can find as well built and as good a sounding guitar for less money.

     

    Very good point, undoubtedly there is a premium on the brands mentioned given the legacy, infamy, notoriety etc... I do agree with your point though, you can find as well built a guitar with high quality materials for less especially if you're looking for a Martinesque model/sound, they do seem to be the template for the majority of the industry. Some even have the look down to a tee, perhaps this is where Gibson fares better in that they tend to look a lot better than their copies/clones/tributes.

     

    But you can get perfectly good and even great instruments outside of 2-3 American builders... Some of the Japanese Gretsch stuff is ridiculously good for the archtop fans, some European acoustic makers can rival anything from the big three but can't charge anywhere near as much. ...and again, it's only going to be as good as what you do with it, whiffy skills, whiffy sounding guitar no matter what the headstock or price-tag says.

    What is the most highly over-rated and under-rated acoustic guitar brand?????

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    My question for those naming Taylor as the most Over-rated guitar on the planet is how many of you have owned a couple of them.

     

    I'll freely admit I've never owned one, but played more than a few, a mate likes them so have tried his, have tried shop ones, have tried the budget jobs and the pricier ones. As I said above, no real damning critique of them, they're just not to my taste in sound and in modern looking appointments, so I'd never go down that road.

     

    I guess I should never say 'never' but I would be awfully surprised if I did...

    Leo Kottke's Gibson B45-12 on eBay

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    Too much sob in the story for me... I'm homeless but I have this guitar blah blah...

    It's like the stories you get off beggars at bus stations. Selling a guitar of that level of interest to a crowd should be done professionally rather than bu a poor me story.

     

    It's just trying too hard.. Makes me sense a ratty whiff.

    Strumming with a thumbpick

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    I know the type you're speaking about, Nick... I wasn't too mad on them, when I decided to get thumbpicks I ordered about a dozen different types, then of the ones I thought were possibles I then ordered a few different thickness's. In the end the one I've returned to again & again is the Fred Kelly Slick Picks... the dunlops felt like too thick a loop for my comfort, the slicks have a slightly narrower loop without being too narrow and I found them comfy and usable.

     

    A few others were quite cool too but I was tending to prefer the others, the ones I wasn't so keen on I gave them away to other players / colleagues to try out.

    Strumming with a thumbpick

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    Missed this thread before

     

    Nifty tunes there PM...are you attempting up strokes when strumming with the thumb pick

     

    I also am bringing strumming into my technique ... but find upstrokes not working too well..am starting to hybryd using finger for up strokes and tb for down..sounds poretty good

     

    those Blue Chip picks could be good..but $40 feck that !

     

    Cheers Del,

     

    Yeah there is some upstroke fumbling there masked by the sounds of the 2nd guitar and the cajon. What I've found works best for me... it's difficult to explain but I'll try.. thus far I've found the most success by holding the thumbpick differently than when I play a more usual thumbpick style, ie, hybrid.. I'm holding it almost like it was a normal pick, so I'm supporting the bottom of it too, I suppose I'm pretending that it isn't looped over my thumb. From there it's stiffer than a normal pick but I can get a almost normal pick style usage from it. it's hard and it's like a new technique for me, but with the hand in a hybrid pose, the upstrokes don't work and and some strums leave the pick a bit wonky, like it was slightly yanked off... by supporting it like a normal pick I can get the upstrokes without messing with the thumpicks position on the thumb but obviously the thumb is a little less free feeling as it's covered by the loop of plastic.

     

    I'd normally play those tunes with a standard flat pick, but used the rehearsal as a practice session with the thumbpick, I'm quite happy with the results in terms of increasing the time with the thumbpick, but I do notice moments where it's not as free as a normal rendition with the flatpick... practice makes perfect though. I'll persist with it hoping the longer I use it the better the technique will get, it'll loosen up and be a bit more free sounding.

     

    Thus far I've only played the rinky-dink style tunes with the thumbpick like the gary davis stuff I posted before etc... so this was a wee dip into something slightly different. hopefully I'll be able to blend the two styles soon, as moving from the strumming positions to the hybrid positions was tricky and those clips I didn't bother posting, haha.

    Strumming with a thumbpick

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    It does sound solid and good PM, however just looking it appears you were only strumming rather than than doing the hybrid strumming / fingerpickin thang - is that correct ?

     

    And if thats the case, then what the point of using the thumbpick when you can use a normal pick ?

     

    Yes on those tunes, that's correct, the point was just to improve thumbpick skills, it's not too easy to get some strumming together with them. I'd normally use a normal pick on these but I'm trying to get the thumbpick strumming improved. Switching between the strumming to normal operation for a thumbpick isn't too clever yet, I kind of hold the thumbpick like it was a normal pick, it's a weird feeling...

    Plastic Bridge on 1963 Gibson J-50

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    I have a '63 Country Western with plastic bridge and adjustable ceramic saddle... all those things a 'proper' acoustic shouldn't have and it sounds fantastic. I am lucky enough to have owned a number of great acoustic over the years including a '58 martin D28 and (more recently) a new Gibson J45 TV. My advice, for what it's worth would be if it ain't broke don't fix it!

     

    The best hummingbird I've played, and best by a country mile, was an older model with the Adj bridge.... I was even tempted by a reissue of that model I'd seen on Thomann in the hope it'd sound like the one I'd tried. Didn't pursue it though... It needn't be the red flag it's made out to be.

    Tusq bridge pins, not too bad.......

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    Apart from 2 classes at 14, I never took lessons.

    Had the feeling the trip would be more satisfying without it - slower maybe, but grander. Like climbing Everest, , , , without oxygen-gear.

     

    I've never had a lesson by a professional teacher either, my first guitar came with a chord book, the rest I've hacked together from listening and watching. I'm fairly sure I'd be operating at a higher level of mediocrity than I am now if had gone down a more structured route. I'd say being forced to do the boring stuff, scales & modes really pays off in the longrun. When you see those who've been down the more structured path they do tend to be miles and miles ahead. Faster, slicker and more aware.

     

    I don't depend on it to eat though, so my motivations are at hobby/interest levels. If I was depending on it to fill my belly on a daily basis I guess I'd considerably more motivated.

    Tusq bridge pins, not too bad.......

    in Gibson Acoustic

    Posted

    Lessons? Not much to talk about on the forum if you get lessons....

     

    True enough, but many guitar forums show the same thing, endless GAS, endless pursuit of the unattainable, a bunch of 'thrill of the chase' merchants if we stand back and look at it from a different perspective. But nearly all forums have the same undercurrent, the need to improve, it's much easier to improve the gear list, the accessories, the elegance and calibre of the chat you can take part in.. the not so easy part is improving guitar skills.

     

    By example, a thread suggesting that sneezing in your guitar will help to open it up if you're a loud sneezer *, will attract a ridiculous amount of views and end in pages and pages of discussion... a thread containing some musical performance will get 50-60 views and a couple of trophy comments. A thread debating "which is the most overpriced brand" can generate 10 pages, a thread of similar timing talking about performance, technique and theory will yield perhaps 100 views and a token comment.

     

    * The ridiculous sounding threads above are actually real and very active threads on another popular guitar forum.

     

    I'm not knocking it, I'm as amused by it and as inclined to offer a light-hearted tuppence-worth as the next man. Nonetheless it is easy to begin to support the notion that many would rather talk about the intricate details associated with doing it, rather than actually doing it.

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