Am I causing myself future grief?

[skilsaw]

I have a les paul with a scale length about 24 3/4

and two other guitars with a scale length 25 1/2

 

Right now I'm a rookie and play everything in the first hand position up by the nut.

 

Will I have extra difficulty learning higher finger positions if I use guitars with different scale lengths?

Or do you just learn the difference?

[surfpup]

Will I have extra difficulty learning higher finger positions if I use guitars with different scale lengths?

Or do you just learn the difference?

 

No and no. Nothing to learn. You won't even really feel a difference. Size matters... but not that much.

[Johnny 6 String]

I have a les paul with a scale length about 24 3/4

and two other guitars with a scale length 25 1/2

 

Right now I'm a rookie and play everything in the first hand position up by the nut.

 

Will I have extra difficulty learning higher finger positions if I use guitars with different scale lengths?

Or do you just learn the difference?

 

 

 

 

Its not more difficult other than maybe for stretching/reaching, some people notice it, others not so much. For me the difference was noticeable more in the beginning of my playing Fender style guitars (I'd been playing Gibson types prior). Don't even notice it anymore and switch back and forth pretty regularly.

['Scales]

just buy a capo, then the further from the nut you go, the less you stretch

[pippy]

As Surf has already said No and No.

 

Think about it; the biggest differences in fret-positioning between the two scale-lengths - by far - are to be found in the first few frets; after that the differences become almost negligible.

If you haven't experienced too many difficulties in adjusting your finger-work down by the nut-end then you won't even notice that there IS a difference up past the 12th fret...

 

Pip.

[Rabs]

Yeah I agree as others have said.. not really an issue...

 

We are talking about 3/4 of an inch spread out over 22 (or 24) frets... that's nothing.... well not so much that its an issue anyway.

[capmaster]

To me there's no general trouble with these two "standard" scales as such. Lots of other influences will also come into play, like nut width, width all along the neck, neck profile, fretboard radius, fret wire dimensions, neck positioning when playing which will affect the fretting hand's reach, and overall balance. They all together determine if a guitar feels right to you, or how much of work getting acquainted with the specific playability means.

[Dennis G]

As Surf has already said No and No.

Add me to the list. You'll have far more complicated things to deal with down the road than this (6 string vs 12 string, alternate tunings, etc. but I digress). Short answer is no biggie.

[sparquelito]

Here's a thought;

 

Pick up a bass guitar, plug it into the amp, tune it up, and then put some of your favorite music onto the stereo or computer speakers.

 

Jam along.

Work the fretboard.

Kick some bottom into your favorite songs.

 

Then, later on,

go back and delete this thread.

 

The scale length doesn't matter one bit.

Music is music.

[jdgm]

I played the longer scale (Fender length) for 35 years until late 2011 when I got my LP.

 

Revelation. Everything is that much easier and it has completely opened up my playing, re-motivated me and playing my Fenders seems easier now too.

[brundaddy]

Great to be a beginner and have 2 guitars! Play em both all the time and you'll get better faster.

[L5Larry]

I've never had any trouble switching between scale lengths, but....

 

As mostly a sit-down written music player, where the neck lies in relation to how the guitar sits in my right thigh can sometimes throw me for a loop. As my eyes are reading the chart, my left hand generally is moving around the neck without visual guidance.

 

This difference between my L-5 and 345 is about two frets at the middle of the neck. If I were to put quantitative analysis to it, I would say in a perfect world I would want the dimension from the knee hole to the 8th fret ("C" position) to be equal on all my guitars.

 

In other words, I think what's more important than different scale length measurements, is how/where the necks lie in your personal playing position.

 

Did any of that make any sense?

[capmaster]

Yes, it does make sense, and that's why I mentioned this point in my previous post, too.

 

Despite of the shorter scale, an SG's neck reaches farther out on the fretting hand's side than that of a Stratocaster. Among these two models I prefer the neck position of the Strat but the picking position of the SG. When it's about playing position, my personal favourite is the Les Paul, followed by the Telecaster.

 

When I play sitting, I put my guitar on the thigh on my fretting hand's side - the classical position - since it makes picking easier for me.

[zigzag]

If I've been playing a 24¾ (like an LP) for awhile and switch to 25½ (like a Tele), it does take me a little while to get used to it, esp. playing toward the nut. I like to get as close to the fret wire as possible, and it could just be me, but it seems that a Fender has to be played a little more precisely to sound good. It is interesting that an ES-335 seems like it has a longer scale length than an LP, and it could be because of its larger body, and if you hold the two the same way, the fact that the bridge is farther to the left from that end of the guitar for a right handed player. This seems to jibe with what capmaster was saying. Call me crazy. Bending strings seems easier to me on a shorter scale length.

 

The differences are minimal, and adjustment is not difficult. Switching back and forth often would probably ease the transition.

[Rabs]

Call me crazy. Bending strings seems easier to me on a shorter scale length.

 

 

No you arnt crazy :)

 

Shorter scale length = less string tension = easier bends....

 

Also you gotta take in to account the difference between hardtails and string through body design... Again the string through body design = more tension

 

Also the more tension on the strings the twangier it will be which is one of the reasons LPs sound so fat.... short scale hardtail.

 

Well this is how I understand it all anyway (its open to debate :))