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[Radium]

Hello,

I was fortunate enough to find a broken guitar in the trash-bin of neighborhood last week.
It is accoustic.
The sound box is broken, but the neck is totally intact.
I fixed it and made it possible to "play", but it sounds toooo quite, since there is no sound box.
But it is perfectly fine for practice and fretting.
I want to practice using it and learn the instrument.
I'm practicing 60 mins daily, and I'm progressing fast.

I have an important question:

I know that when fretting chords, it is necessary to avoid hitting other strings with your fingers.
BUT, is it necessary to pay attention to not touching other strings with your fingers when fretting solo notes?

[FewTrueSeed]

Are we starting a band? Count me in.

1 Like hereje likes this.

[BubbleCat]

3 guitars no bass ? Gypsi flamenco !

[hereje]

As a beginner just worry about making clean sounds and building up the calluses on your finger tips
Watch some videos on youtube on how to tune a guitar (or buy an electronic tuner)
Spend your time each day learning to transition between common cords
Memorize finger placement and strumming patterns so you dont have to watch your fingers

Once you get comfortable with this in about a year you may wanna upgrade to a better guitar - i think i live near you so if you ever travel my way let me know and i have a few spare accoustics i could sell you a nice gibson or fender cheap

I found a picture of the most common cords - learning these well will be a great first step - dont start by trying to shred the strings starting slow is the only way - if your feeling burnt out at some point just take a break for a week because theres no time limit

Theres a lot of video lessons on youtube that are great aswell but nothing is better than practice

2 Likes FewTrueSeed and Radium like this.

[FewTrueSeed]

One of the most important aspects for me as a visual, or in this case auditory learner is being conscious of the tonal changes while listening to music. Then transcribing that awareness to the activity of physically playing. Playing synchronously to the music you love is very important. It gives you a frame of reference. If you can find the love in it, and let it teach you patience, you will find that the activity gives you all the joy that the effort affords. Have fun!!!!

[AcaciaAve]

What kind of music would we play?

[FewTrueSeed]

Incan tribal trance. I was thinking a neck through guitar made from cappi.

[Radium]

My daily fretting practice is this:

Going from the top of the neck to the 12th fret using all 4 fingers.

Starting from the 1st string:

1,2,3,4 - 2,3,4,5 - 3,4,5,6 - 4,5,6,7 - 5,6,7,8 - 6,7,8,9 - 7,8,9,10 - 8,9,10,11 - 9,10,11,12 - (then returning to the top of neck in reverse order)



And then going to the next string, until I finish all the 6 strings like that.



I've heard that once bad habits are formed, they are difficult to unlearn.

I want to know if it is necessary to avoid touching other strings when doing this fretting exercise or not.

[hereje]

If your only trying to press one string then you should avoid touching the other strings

2 Likes AcaciaAve and Radium like this.

[Radium]

I'm getting confused  :

http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=57141

[Radium]

I have callouses now at the tip of all four fingers, and can play single-note melodies (no chords) easily, like the melody of the Papillon movie (Dustin Hoffmann and McQueen).
I've become severely depressed and playing with my broken guitar and hearing its shallow weak sound is the only thing that motivates me to continue life these days.
In fact the only joy in life for me have become the observance of my progress as each day passes.
I'm a superb typist on computer keyboard (around 80w/min 70w/min with only 2 fingers per hand), and each day I feel myself getting closer to the same proficiency on the fretboard bit by bit.


I train all four fingers by going up-down the neck in various patterns, and then train the third and pinky fingers separately as well for emphasized strength on these two less strong fingers.

I want to start learning some chords now.

1 Like FewTrueSeed likes this.

[bosqueberg]

Guitar has been great therapy for me, and saved me at least once. She is great at reflecting and transforming emotions. Glad guitar found you!

I hope this makes sense.

Make sure your guitar is in tune to do the following:

A cool thing to do is to play guitar and listen to the music you like. Go up and down the low E string and hit every fret until you hear something that sounds like it goes with the music. If it never sounds right, you may need to tune better. Once you find the core bass note, see if you can copy the bass line or come up with one that works with the music. Play around and try to find the rhythm. Focus more on joining the conversation rather than trying to play the song as it is recorded. Find notes that work on every string. The high E string is exactly the same as the low E string. Everything repeats, just at a different level from string to string. Over time, try to copy more of what you hear. The bass notes can be turned into chords. Have fun, try to catch the rhythm, and it will come.

Oh, and to answer your question, touching other strings when hitting solo notes can actually mute those strings and make the sound cleaner. This is helpful if you are picking hard and fast. If you slap the other strings in some way, you will hear some sound. If you slide over the strings, you will hear sound. So it really comes down to how they are touched and what you are trying to do. Experiment, there is no one right way. 

[Radium]

I have a new idea.
I laid the guitar on floor on it's back, and tried to play it like a piano/keyboard.
Fretted with the left hand, and plucked with the right.
The advantage over conventional playing is this:
- I can use my thumb to fret as well
- My reach is far wider now, easily encompasses almost the whole length of the neck
- Bending strings is a piece of cake, you can literally bend them far until they rip




It feels a bit weird, but I practiced and it is now getting natural.
I think my typing speed will translate better to this way of playing.


I guess a bit of modification will make playing it even easier.
I must increase the space between strings about 2 millimeters.


Wow, I guess I'm laying the ground for a whole new instrument?
Something between a piano and a guitar, which has the benefits of both worlds?


I must build some pickups, and get a piece of rectangular board, and install the pickups, frets, and electric strings on the solid rectangular board, and make an electric guiano (just invented the name haha)


What do you think?
Or should I forget it and just stick to conventional guitar playing?

[BubbleCat]

There is some instrument that basically is operated like a piano but it has strings that are excited more in the way you do excite the strings on a guitar (not Clavichord ... Cembalo ?).
There is a local instrument like the one you described ... idk if theres an english name... see here:

https://m.

[BubbleCat]

Local "Dulcimer" = Scheitholt

Above "Zither"

Its sadly not letting me post pics right now, strangely.