fumblefingers Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 11 hours ago, Karloff said: I really don't mean for this to come across like it's going to but if you can only tune up "the best you can" without a tuner, then there are issues greater than finger strength & dexterity . Sure you did, that's why you said it, and even prefaced it like you did. But there's a reason Rick Beato and everybody else who can play the **** out of a guitar has a Snark on the end and are tuning it to that. I can tune mine pretty close by ear, but using a tuner helps me get it closer. I'm just not as good as you, man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 Appreciate all the comments. I am looking to do things a bit differently than last time, just mix it up a little and challenge myself more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 When I first bought my guitar, the action seemed so good compared to the old piece of junk Matao I had first started playing on. But it still seems high and difficult compared to other guitars. Also had a guitarist play it a little bit and he said the action seemed really high and difficult. The original inspection checklist says: Action 12th L 6 H 4 Action 1st L .22 H .11 Does the action seem acceptable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 6 hours ago, fumblefingers said: Action 12th L 6 H 4 Action 1st L .22 H .11 I have no idea what UOM you are quoting, but so far mm, cm or inches doesn't make any sense. This might be a system I haven't come across before. Hopefully someone will understand it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) https://imgur.com/5j1jswDhttps://imgur.com/5j1jswD Edited December 10, 2021 by fumblefingers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NighthawkChris Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 12th fret action is in 64ths of inches usually and the 1st fret measurement is plain ol’ inches. I just say thousandths such as an acceptable 1st fret action to ALL 6 STRINGS I’ve been taught which is 20 thou give or take a couple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) 12 hours ago, fumblefingers said: When I first bought my guitar, the action seemed so good compared to the old piece of junk Matao I had first started playing on. But it still seems high and difficult compared to other guitars. Also had a guitarist play it a little bit and he said the action seemed really high and difficult. The original inspection checklist says: Action 12th L 6 H 4 Action 1st L .22 H .11 Does the action seem acceptable? Did you ever tell us what kind of Guitar you have? We might be able to advise what the Manufacturer recommends… Or you could check the Manyfacturers website.. Or call them & ask… Edited December 10, 2021 by Larsongs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitefang Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Yeah. Are you talking acoustic or electric? For acoustic, I can only suggest what worked for me when setting the action: Run the bottom of the bridge saddle on the flat side of a small file a few times, but not too hard as to not file it down too much, and keep checking it every few strokes or so. It is time consuming, but you've got no solid deadline, do ya? Plus, DON'T go by what anybody ELSE says your guitar's action should be. Take the time to set it to where YOU'RE comfortable with it. Whitefang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NighthawkChris Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Well when you’re about to go on stage and you can’t hear diddly, clip on tuners best thing ever made… All I can say is the first fret action should be uniform. 12/17 fret action can vary. But you know, no rules only guidelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, NighthawkChris said: Well when you’re about to go on stage and you can’t hear diddly, clip on tuners best thing ever made… All I can say is the first fret action should be uniform. 12/17 fret action can vary. But you know, no rules only guidelines. Many Acoustic Guitars come with built in Tuners.. Why don’t Electric Guitars too? I use a Snark but hate the way they look! Fugly! I take it off after tuning if I’m on Stage.. They’re not a great look.. Manufacturers have recommended Specs for Set ups.. The OP may be better off having a Guitar Tech do the Set up… Edited December 10, 2021 by Larsongs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NighthawkChris Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 52 minutes ago, Larsongs said: Many Acoustic Guitars come with built in Tuners.. Why don’t Electric Guitars too? I use a Snark but hate the way they look! Fugly! I take it off after tuning if I’m on Stage.. They’re not a great look.. Manufacturers have recommended Specs for Set ups.. The OP may be better off having a Guitar Tech do the Set up… Yeah I wouldn’t be sporting the clip on tuner on stage necessarily… i usually find myself in some hallway about to go on stage before I play and it’s a nice final check for me. I agree a good setup means he could be playing an instrument to make it as playable as possible. High action can definitely make one work too hard. And if it’s all over the place or they get buzzes, etc… not a fun guitar to play most likely. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand how a guitar works especially since we have the internet to get a good head start to find answers to basic questions. You can at least watch someone do a setup and ask yourself if this is for you or not. Sort of how I’d approach doing something around the house too come to think of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) One very simple exercise could be as follows..... Curl fretting hand round neck, thumb behind, and put all 4 fingers on 1st 4 frets of thickest string. The idea is now to take them off one at a time (4-3-2-1), leaving the others on, and pick each note cleanly with a downstroke. Do it slowly, trying not to ground your hand at the base of the fingers on the other side of the fretboard, and keep your hand parallel to the neck so the fingertips press down from directly above the string while your thumb behind the neck keeps the hand steady. It's not music but it is a good exercise for hand position, strength and picking co-ordination. There are plenty of ways to vary it. Do it ascending and descending so you begin to gain some finer control over those fingers, do it on different strings, do it with upstrokes and downstrokes alternately. If you start on the thinnest string with your 4th finger on the 4th fret and include every open string, you can play every note down to the low E on the thickest string. And you can't beat practicing chord changes; things like all the open chord combinations. 3 chords in different keys for instance - E A B7...A D E7...G C D7...C F G7 etc, slow and make it sound clear as you can every time. Also when I started, I practised changing to/from the E and A barre chord shapes but up at the 5th fret, and gradually came back down the neck as I got better at it. Good luck! 🎸 Edited December 10, 2021 by jdgm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted December 11, 2021 Share Posted December 11, 2021 I'm glad I read through the other comments before I posted. I was going to suggest exactly what jdgm above said. I think it's called the caterpillar exercise or something like that. I also will practice moving select fingers across the fret board. Like I'll pick-up and put down on the adjacent string my First and Ring finger. Then my Middle and Pinky together. Then maybe First and Pinky...you get the idea, Work for the skinny strings to fat and vice-versa like this. I find it helps with my brain/finger coordination. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 12, 2021 Author Share Posted December 12, 2021 On 12/10/2021 at 5:39 AM, Karloff said: well you can take it however you like and obviously you did. I prefaced it as I did because of the subject of your post then your comment of tuning it "the best I can" made it sound like you are just starting out. sure everyone these days uses tuners, they are quick & easy. convenient. didn't mean to insult you. It's ok, I am at peace with my suckage. I have no aspirations of anything other than playing sounds which please my own ears. I went ahead and downloaded a tuner to my smart phone, and I was actually pretty surprised by how close I got it. My ear is not the greatest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 12, 2021 Author Share Posted December 12, 2021 On 12/10/2021 at 7:08 AM, Larsongs said: Did you ever tell us what kind of Guitar you have? We might be able to advise what the Manufacturer recommends… Or you could check the Manyfacturers website.. Or call them & ask… Sorry. Gibson J45 Custom. 2014 vintage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 12, 2021 Author Share Posted December 12, 2021 On 12/10/2021 at 10:29 AM, Larsongs said: Many Acoustic Guitars come with built in Tuners.. Why don’t Electric Guitars too? I use a Snark but hate the way they look! Fugly! I take it off after tuning if I’m on Stage.. They’re not a great look.. Manufacturers have recommended Specs for Set ups.. The OP may be better off having a Guitar Tech do the Set up… I would like to take this guitar to somebody, but the problem is I'm not a very trusting person and nobody has touched it since it was factory new. I'm afraid somebody might mess it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fumblefingers Posted December 12, 2021 Author Share Posted December 12, 2021 On 12/10/2021 at 12:15 PM, jdgm said: One very simple exercise could be as follows..... Curl fretting hand round neck, thumb behind, and put all 4 fingers on 1st 4 frets of thickest string. The idea is now to take them off one at a time (4-3-2-1), leaving the others on, and pick each note cleanly with a downstroke. Do it slowly, trying not to ground your hand at the base of the fingers on the other side of the fretboard, and keep your hand parallel to the neck so the fingertips press down from directly above the string while your thumb behind the neck keeps the hand steady. It's not music but it is a good exercise for hand position, strength and picking co-ordination. There are plenty of ways to vary it. Do it ascending and descending so you begin to gain some finer control over those fingers, do it on different strings, do it with upstrokes and downstrokes alternately. If you start on the thinnest string with your 4th finger on the 4th fret and include every open string, you can play every note down to the low E on the thickest string. And you can't beat practicing chord changes; things like all the open chord combinations. 3 chords in different keys for instance - E A B7...A D E7...G C D7...C F G7 etc, slow and make it sound clear as you can every time. Also when I started, I practised changing to/from the E and A barre chord shapes but up at the 5th fret, and gradually came back down the neck as I got better at it. Good luck! 🎸 Thank you so much. THESE are the kinds of exercises and things I need to start doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 (edited) 33 minutes ago, fumblefingers said: I would like to take this guitar to somebody, but the problem is I'm not a very trusting person and nobody has touched it since it was factory new. I'm afraid somebody might mess it up. Your J45 is a great Guitar.. Xlnt choice. Do not trust your Guitars or Amps to just any Tech… Get as many recommendations as you can from the best Musicians in your area before letting anyone touch your Guitars or Amps… Ultimately, learn to do your own Setups.. The Tools aren’t that expensive & You Tube is your friend… But, experiment with a cheapie to start… Edited December 12, 2021 by Larsongs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NighthawkChris Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 I don’t know why it’s so hard to understand that if you want to do “hand” exercises or whatever, you want to get better. Why else then? So get a teacher so that you don’t do the exercises needlessly wrong - and possibly hurt your hands thinking you’re “feelin the burn”. Again, teacher watches you do something and tells you then and there what you’re doing wrong. A lot of great guitarists had teachers… I could suggest exercises too because I’ve played nearly 30 years regularly whether it be guitar or piano and I have some things to share in this department, but will it help you… not if you’re doing it incorrectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 Agree - hand exercises are just a small part of the equation. As NhC suggests - if you're having problems, you might be doing something a little wrong. Only thing I could add to what I wrote earlier is - before you start playing, stretch your hand and fingers to loosen them up, shake them out a little as well. Squeeze your had tight a couple of times too. This will get some more blood flowing to the muscles: It will only take 20 seconds and you will find it improves your 'feel' for fretting right out of the gate. As opposed to starting out to play with a stiff, tired, cold hand and wondering why for the first 5 minutes you're getting buzz and pain! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitefang Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 I press the idea that he should for sure determine what's causing the loss of dexterity and finger strength. If there's a mild neurological cause or something else medical, then all the theory, scales and YT presumption isn't going to be any help whatsoever. And 40----- Sure. "loosening up" never hurts. I crack knuckles and open the hands wide and close them several times myself. Always have before playing, except after my TIA, those movements always come last. Even in times I'm not playing I'm still working my fingers on that sandbag and doing the "finger to thumb" exercise bit. Whitefang 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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