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Guitar memory?


SteveFord

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A long time ago I was reading an interview with Skunk Baxter and he said something about don't overlook used guitars, especially those played by good rhythm players.

 

I thought that he was just full of hot air but over the past five years or so I've noticed that certain guitars just seem to play things perfectly or parts that you've never played before will just come naturally. I don't remember figuring out this King Crimson bit, stuff like that.

 

Sometimes it seems like the previous owner was REALLY good and somehow the guitar just makes you the same way despite your best efforts to be incompetent.

 

I think that each guitar has something to teach you. You just have to spend a little time and figure out what it is.

 

Has anyone else noticed this or am I finally going senile?

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I agree totally...........

 

part of why I love playing different guitars is that I think the "FEEL" of each different guitar brings out different things in my playing.

 

When I got my LP Studio a while back, all kinds of new (and really cool) riffs just started jumping out of the thing....not sure if it is just that a new guitar build inspiration or what.

 

I've mostly ever bought good used guitars instead of new (with a few exceptions) because I can get more bang for my buck. If it has been well cared for and I can save a few hundred over brand new, Its fine by me......I love them "pre enjoyed".

 

NHTom

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You're not going senile at all, Steve. I steadily experience this kind of guitar memory and think it is just part of breaking them in. Sometimes I even beat the dull notes out of them, and it works to an amazing degree. [scared] No, I'm not crazy, I just want them to talk like I want them to and dislike when they disagree! [biggrin]

 

As for rhythm playing, when wanting to break up dull notes, it seems best to me when using them as part of chords or playing lower notes containing them as an overtone. However, the vibration memory of my guitars seems to work.

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Has anyone else noticed this or am I finally going senile?

 

 

I'm gonna go with,,, "perhaps it's time to start reading retirement home brochures"...

 

Lol...

 

Kidding!!! lol.

 

 

While I can totally appreciate the "I play different on a strat than a les paul" theory

I just don't buy into the previous owner mojo. Complete nonsense

 

Just because the previous owner was a killer lead or rhythm player there is no mojo of his skill transferred to me

whatsoever!!!

 

I hate to alarm anyone but it's not the arrow, it's the Indian.

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...over the past five years or so I've noticed that certain guitars just seem to play things perfectly or parts that you've never played before will just come naturally.

 

I think you've just started a new religion, which, like all religions, is based on the hopes and wishes of the converted. [smile]

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There is no religious aspect within the topic. It's just about physics, not "mojo" or whatever one may call it. No matter if about tyres, rims, wheel suspensions or the entire car, pylons, ropes, deck, lanes or the whole bridge, they all clearly have a memory for all the things ever happened to them. I think it is the same with pianos, drums, trumpets, bassoons, violins, guitars and all the other musical instruments.

 

Since of May, 2013, I am witnessing how a solidbody bass stored badly adjusted for about twenty years comes to life again. It is still somewhat away from how it assumably could be, but it is gradually getting better with time.

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Well...

 

I don't think it's any sort of mojo, but rather player geometry and a bit of "wearing in" perhaps of the neck finish.

 

No matter what, I'll never be as comfortable playing a 25 1/2 scale big box as I will be a 16-inch lower bout 24" scale instrument more or less the size of a classical guitar or ES175. Nor will I be comfortable with a really narrow nut or a short-radius fingerboard.

 

If there's an age difference involved it's that I think the older one gets, the more likely to favor guitars that are comfortable as opposed to guitars that are of a certain type due to looks.

 

m

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I agree. Scale length, fret size, neck size and shape, fretboard material, bridge/saddles (since that is where I rest my right hand for palm muting), and overall size and geometry all affect feel and, therefore, the way a guitar plays for me. What I choose for my main guitar is largely determined by those factors. It may just be psychological, but no less real for me. I also much prefer humbuckers for their warmth. I am in the process of ordering some P-90 type (Fralin P-92s) pickups to install in a new/used Epi Dot, and they may become my new favorite pickup.

 

I find that Gibsons, and guitars modeled after Gibsons, tend to fit me better for all of the reasons above.

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Well...

 

I don't think it's any sort of mojo, but rather player geometry and a bit of "wearing in" perhaps of the neck finish.

 

No matter what, I'll never be as comfortable playing a 25 1/2 scale big box as I will be a 16-inch lower bout 24" scale instrument more or less the size of a classical guitar or ES175. Nor will I be comfortable with a really narrow nut or a short-radius fingerboard.

 

If there's an age difference involved it's that I think the older one gets, the more likely to favor guitars that are comfortable as opposed to guitars that are of a certain type due to looks.

 

m

 

you're absolutely right, if I had Roy's Tele, it would be in a shadow box in my den...

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Ziggy...

 

Absolutely right on "Gibsons or guitars modeled after Gibsons..."

 

Me too, although the longer scale... not as well, nor the 17" archtops or bigger acoustics.

 

OTOH, I'll not knock how others play and their own physical and performance geometry.

 

m

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I thought about it some more and some guitars just have "it" (whatever that might be) and others don't.

 

I remember trying out 5 different used Les Paul Studios one night when I decided to get back into playing again - it went Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, this is it.

 

The one that had "it" wasn't the one I had my eye on but it just had that special feel to it. There was something really unique about it. My first thought was whoever owned this guitar was really good - much better than I am. You just couldn't hit a wrong note and I can hit a lot of wrong notes if I don't practice every day.

 

I'm not sure if it has to do with the previous owner who was really skilled or build quality or set up/wear or simply finding one that fits your body like it was sized for you but something will make one guitar really stand out from all the others.

 

Perhaps it's a combination of things.

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I thought about it some more and some guitars just have "it" (whatever that might be) and others don't.

 

I remember trying out 5 different used Les Paul Studios one night when I decided to get back into playing again - it went Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, this is it.

 

The one that had "it" wasn't the one I had my eye on but it just had that special feel to it. There was something really unique about it. My first thought was whoever owned this guitar was really good - much better than I am. You just couldn't hit a wrong note and I can hit a lot of wrong notes if I don't practice every day.

 

I'm not sure if it has to do with the previous owner who was really skilled or build quality or set up/wear or simply finding one that fits your body like it was sized for you but something will make one guitar really stand out from all the others.

 

Perhaps it's a combination of things.

 

What about new guitars? I haven't bought a used guitar in decades. Nothing against used, just haven't been in the market, which is funny because I am this year, but that's another story.

 

So the day I got it up my butt to have another strat I went to three stores and prolly played two dozen strats and came home with the one with "it". That was...11 years ago. Since 1971 I've never owned a strat for half that long, so this is a pretty good one!

 

rct

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Well I've always been a nut so when senility truly settles in nobody will know the difference. [rolleyes]

 

For me it's a bit different. I try to play the same music on different guitars. This is really to help my technique. For example, it's much easier for me to play YYZ on my PRS or Strat than on my ES-339. But I play it on the ES-339 to help my coordination. I even try playing Satriani's Midnight on the ES-339 (that's not easy at all). My different types of guitars are more for their tones than anything else.

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A long time ago I was reading an interview with Skunk Baxter and he said something about don't overlook used guitars, especially those played by good rhythm players.

...

Maybe the vital information is not about guitar memory but about a good rhythm player having chosen them. In case the guitar was selected intentionally for response, it should indeed have a consistent reaction to playing.

 

Finding an instrument matching and supporting personal playing style is what we all are out for, isn't it?

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...I remember trying out 5 different used Les Paul Studios one night when I decided to get back into playing again - it went Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, this is it.......

There was something really unique about it. My first thought was whoever owned this guitar was really good - much better than I am. You just couldn't hit a wrong note.....

IMX this applies equally to new guitars which suggests - to me at least - that you are much closer with the "Perhaps it's a combination of things" bit.

I'm fairly sure pretty much all of us here believe there are some instruments which have 'It' - I certainly do - but trying to explain what (and 'Why?') this 'It' is? Tricky.

 

If you happen to believe some guitars have 'memory' and 'soul' and so on - this mysterious 'It' for you? - then that's absolutely fine by me.

If it makes you happier with your instrument then why not? Moreover; I seriously doubt whether anyone can offer-up any incontrovertible proof that you are wrong...

 

[smile]

 

P.

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My different types of guitars are more for their tones than anything else.

 

That is a good point. Not many metal players are going to use a jazzbox. I know that when I am moved by a Hendrix tune, I want to pick up a Strat. I think that in our own minds we assign generic tones to each of our guitars, and this may be where the mojo comes from. If I play a jazz standard, I've got to play it thru humbuckers on a hollow or semi-hollow body. If I play an SRV tune, it's got to be thru single coils. Shredders gotta have a flatter fretboard radius on a solid body.

 

As far as playing five studio LPs... I guess in everyone's minds, each guitar has a vibe; I won't deny that. I think I once heard that some Amerinds believed you take on the spirit of the animals you hunt or eat. The human psyche is interesting.

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