I've recently picked up guitar over the last couple of days, and I've begun progressing through the chords, slowly, but surely...I practice between a half hour and an hour everyday.
The action on my acoustic (an esteban model, I didn't buy it...It was a gift from my grandfather, and I don't have the heart to tell him that it is not all it's made up to be.) is extremely high, and I can strum a chord clearly on one beat, and then the next it sounds terrible with a ton of fret buzz...I'm not changing the pressure on my fret hand either.
I'm planning on swapping over to an electric guitar soon because I want to play my favorite styles of music...I'll be swapping to this package within the next month or so...
moderator edit - link to external website removed from first post
I've heard this guitar being played, and had a sales person tune it up and play it...the action is significantly lower than my acoustic.
My question being:
Should I continue to practice on my acoustic, even though the action is extremely high? I would assume that having to work harder to overcome the action of the acoustic will make playing the electric, that I'm going to buy soon, even easier.
What do you guys think?
Thanks,
Puff
Hi, Puffin, and welcome to Guitarnoise.
I removed the link to the electric starter pack you had included as part of the post.
Your first five posts here require moderator approval before they go live; it's one of our methods for filtering spammers. Your question remains perfectly valid without the link you posted so I edited you rather than delete your post as having no purpose other than to advertise another website or product.
In answer to your question, I would recommend you continue working with the guitar you have until you get the new piece of kit. There is much you can learn, not least learning where the little black dots of standard notation can be found on the neck of your guitar; head over to our lessons pages for this and heaps more good stuff.
And feel free to contribute to everything going on around here.
Best,
A
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Thank you for your help, and I apologize about the link.
I agree with Alan. I started out almost exactly the same way a year ago. The acoustic I had had not been taken care of before I "inherited" it, but I had no idea it wasn't right. I had heard that acoustics were harder to play than electrics, so I chalked it up to that. I picked up a great electric off ebay some five months later, found it to be much easier to play. I still practiced on both thinking I was doing myself a favor by keeping up with the "harder to play" acoustic, at least until I started lessons. My teacher told me the acoustic was in bad shape, and when he heard I had another guitar, he said "don't bring this one back." I've been playing on the electric exclusively since then.
But I didn't have to relearn what I done on the acoustic prior to lessons, so the point is play what you've got until you can get a better axe. Hopefully, the action isn't too bad up by the nut, and you can learn a lot just playing in the first few frets. So, keep working at it, and hopefully you'll get an upgrade soon.
"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right..." - Stewie Griffin
I also have the Esteban guitar also purchased by someone else for me (Christmas present years ago.) It's the only guitar I have. I significantly helped the action around the 3rd time of new strings when I was reading a bunch of stuff on the net. I pulled the saddle (that's on the bridge, right?) out and ran it back and forth on a piece of emery cloth. I didn't go too much and it really helped out. That along with going with some better strings from a music store as well as a lighter gauge helped.
I am in need of new strings and I plan to shave the saddle down some more. I'm talking I maybe took 1/16 inch off the first time and will go another 1/16th of an inch. I play it and it really isn't all that bad. I've been messing about on and off (mostly off) for years now (see my join date) and really haven't learned a whole lot. But that isn't the guitar's fault, that is my laziness. The latest thing I've been messing around with is barr chords and it only took a few nights worth of messing to figure out how to barr. It's still tough on this guitar and I really have to push and move the finger around to get it, but I can do it.
I've always wondered what a shop could do with this guitar with a proper setup. I really don't mind it at all, although the tuners are pretty crap, the rest of it sounds perfectly fine with new strings to me and plays fairly well. I've never had a "good" guitar in my hands, so maybe it is a world of difference, I don't know. Maybe if I was to pick up a "good"guitar, I'd end up a Jimmi Hendrix right off the bat!
Thanks for the advice everyone. I've decided to continue playing it until I get my new guitar...At least I'll have chords and chord changes under way and hopefully decent enough to play them without too much thought by then...A bonus will also be that my callouses will be well under way...So woohoo...
PS...I've learned more from this site in 3 days than I could ever have imagined...Thanks for putting it together.
Puff
The reviews on the Estaban guitars are not good (to say the least). I don't have a link available but I remember reading up on it a couple of years ago.
You can get a decent guitar for $100 to $150 off the internet. If you have the money try to spend around $300. If not, Christmas is coming soon! Try sticking with acoustic...
Bob Jessie
tune the acoustic down a half note and put a capo on the first fret, bit of a botch up - but should keep you going until you get that electric....
Take your acoustic to a luthier for a proper setup. They will look at the neck relief and string action. My low E is 7/64 at the 12th fret and works for me. As they say, if your action is higher than 8/64 start looking for a drum set.
