Well. I started playing guitar about 8 months ago - just before my 40th birthday. For several weeks, I rented a nice Blueridge acoustic and started taking lessons. Then I rented Squier Strat, too, and played around with it for a while. A few months in I decided that electric was best for me since that is the music I listen to most - and it was easier to play - and a friend of mine plays electric some, etc. I bought a nice Ibanez AS73 and a Vox AD15VT and continued with my lessons.
I just could not shake the allure of the acoustic guitar - and, as fate would have it, a Johnson acoustic turned up on Cragislist about a month ago. How could I go wrong with a $20 guitar? Everybody needs one to take camping, etc. assuming it wil play decently. This one had a decent sound but really high action. I sanded the saddle down as low as I dared and made a few truss rod adjustments. Between these tweaks and getting some moisture back into the wood in my basement, this guitar is decently playable - especially up in open chord land.
PRoblem is, I find myself enjoying this beater more than my electric at the moment. I have continued working on ope chords and some finger picking and feel like I am really learning more and having more fun playing it.
The sound is just so much more organic - and I can feel it as I play. The chords just ring and finger picking notes sound so musical. Now when I play the electric I just can't seem to find a tone I like - even on the cleanest settings.
Now I am on a quest for a better acoustic guitar and feel like this is really the right path for me. But I don't want to give up the electric either. I just feel like I need to focus on one or the other and seem to keep going back and forth.
Am I crazy or is this normal behavior?
Normal for you I suppose. :P Seriously, I prefer electric, always have, but alot of people like the acoustic better. You like what you like. Go with it! 8)
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Welcome to Guitar land .... its just GAS and no it does not go away !
You will get a better acoustic, then decide you need a better electric, then a tube amp oh and maybe a few pedals better leads more picks, and "am I learning enough from theis teacher maybe a new one will be better". :D
We all go through it LOL ( some never get over it).... Just have a look through this thread and see where you are headed..
http://forums.guitarnoise.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13995&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=post+your+gear
Keith
I know a little bit about a lot of things, but not a lot about anything...
Looking for people to jam with in Sydney Oz.......
Sounds just like me - I didn't like acoustic at all when I started, focused entirely on my Strat, but two months later I wandered into a store looking for an acoustic-type sound, tried some hybrid guitars, and tried a couple of real acoustics. After that I didn't rest until I bought my acoustic.
It was hard to go back to the electric guitar after that - I only went back to it repeatedly because my fingers couldn't handle that much acoustic playing. The sound was just so much better.
But... now it's a month later and I'm playing the electric more often again. Partially because I'm learning barre chords (ouch) and partially because I got a new amp and am enjoying exploring some more electric sounds. [And partially because it's 20% humidity here and I'm afraid to take the acoustic out of its case...]
Nothing wrong with going back and forth. It keeps things fresh.
Are you crazy?
Why else would you be here? :D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Are you crazy?
Why else would you be here? :D
+1 Hehehe.
Here's how I look at... do you play golf? Do you play with just "ONE" club?
Well then...... :wink:
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)
Are you crazy?
Why else would you be here? :D
+1 Hehehe.
Here's how I look at... do you play golf? Do you play with just "ONE" club?
Well then...... :wink:
Great - now I have to convince my wife I need 9 guitars!!!! She doesn't get the 2 I have and the 1 more I want...
My whole house is cluttered with 100s of air-guitars I have...
Samething, but I got back to electric and now my electric is my main instrument.
My first guitar was an electric and I also wanted to buy an acoustic, which I did a couple of months later. I bought a Takamine G Series and compared to my cheap GK electric guitar, the sound was WAY better.
But later, I bought a nice electric guitar, an Ibanez, like you, and after playing for about 8-9 months, I was getting better, and knew how to control the sound of my electric guitar. I started to take lesson and learned really how to play electric guitar.
Now that's what I enjoy the most, even if I still play acoustic.
So, the thing is that you can practice both on your acoustic and your electric. Do what your want :wink: But don't left your electric alone too long, when you'll be able to control it and play pinched harmonic, you'll enjoy that powerful sound :wink:
" First time I heard the music
I thought it was my own
I could feel it in my heartbeat
I could feel it in my bones
... Blame it on the love of Rock'n'Roll! "
Samething, but I got back to electric and now my electric is my main instrument.
My first guitar was an electric and I also wanted to buy an acoustic, which I did a couple of months later. I bought a Takamine G Series and compared to my cheap GK electric guitar, the sound was WAY better.
But later, I bought a nice electric guitar, an Ibanez, like you, and after playing for about 8-9 months, I was getting better, and knew how to control the sound of my electric guitar. I started to take lesson and learned really how to play electric guitar.
Now that's what I enjoy the most, even if I still play acoustic.
So, the thing is that you can practice both on your acoustic and your electric. Do what your want :wink: But don't left your electric alone too long, when you'll be able to control it and play pinched harmonic, you'll enjoy that powerful sound :wink:
Thanks for the encouragement. But... what's a pinched harmonic?
Here's a lesson to learn how to play pinch harmonic:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5I5O8P-r5Rk
And the first exemple that comes to my mind is a Bon Jovi solo, Wanted dead or Alive:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zMXsEML9MUs (played by an unknown guy, but you can hear the pinch harmonic at: 00:16, 00:23 and 00:28)
Don't really know how to explain what it is exactly, but I love the sound of it! :wink:
" First time I heard the music
I thought it was my own
I could feel it in my heartbeat
I could feel it in my bones
... Blame it on the love of Rock'n'Roll! "
:| I guess I don't get GAS ... maybe it's cuz I am a pianist originally ( i.e. most of us don't have several pianos kicking around the house to mix things up! ) ... maybe cuz I have been playing my Rhodes 73 electric piano now since 89? and it was the slight buzz in the speaker that inspired me (Ok I panicked) to switch to acoustic guitar ... but really I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to take my music with me wherever I go ( channelling my inner minstrel I guess :roll: )
..." cuz I'm a cowboy-y-y-y " and if I can do a clean acoustic version of that song that people can actually recognize (however simplified), without my having to sing - that is good enough for me - I still have a day job :wink:
... I mean, I COULD blast the neighborhood if I really really wanted (300 W speaker 8) ) but prefer the idea of sitting on the deck strumming my acoustic for the benefit of the birds and the squirrels (is there a finer thing?) - plus the next time we have a power failure I can whip out some candles and FORCE my family to listen to me playing (no tv :twisted: hehe)
What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's really all about?
~ why yes, I am available on youtube ~
http://www.youtube.com/stellabloo
I do the same thing. I have periods of time where my electric is my fav, then my beater, then my acoustic-electric, back to the electric.
I mean c'mon would you limit yourself to one wife? :shock:
:lol:
Jim
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
I'm back beating on my first guitar, a Washburn D11TR.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Good to know, that, while I probably am crazy... at least I am in good company!! :)
I commented in passing to my wife last night that I wanted a new acoustic and got the expected reaction.
First the rolled eyes :roll: and then the comment - "I thought you have an acoustic?"
Me - Well, yeah, I do - but it is a cheap one - I only spent $20 and some sandpaper on the saddle to get it decently playable.
Her - But when you bought it you said you got a good guitar for $20...
Me - Well, it IS a good guitar for $20 - but that doesn't mean it is a GOOD guitar.
She just can't see the obvious logic in it at all... :shock:
