Acoustic Guitar Talk

I stumbled into a music store this afternoon and fell in love with two guitars. I was not there to fall in love with a guitar. I was there because my youngest daughter is playing the violin in band this year, and she needed some rosin and a shoulder rest.

The two guitars that captured my heart were both Takamine Acoustic/Electric guitars. They were both really pretty, and both seemed well made. The store was more of a band lesson sort of store, not Guitar Center, so I wasn’t allowed to play the guitars unless I was “seriously interested.” So, what I know about the two guitars is that I like them both, but one was $600 and the other was $1,400.

Takamine EF-350SMC-SB Acoustic-Electric Guitar Vintage Sunburst Solid spruce top. Highly figured maple back and sides. Concentric rings rosette. GRAPH-EX pre-amp.

If I had found $2,000 lying outside in the street (and I weren’t married) I might have gone back inside and purchased one of the guitars. At that point, obviously, I would have played them both and gotten a feel for which I liked better. But, I wonder if I would be able to make a rational choice.

Takamine G Series G5403S-VFT NEX Acoustic Guitar Violin Finish 6-string acoustic. Body shape: NEX. Rosette: concentric rings. Top: solid spruce. Inlays: dots. Back: flame maple. Sides: flame maple. Fingerboard: rosewood. Tuners: nickel with ivory buttons.

Obviously I perceive from the outset that the more expensive guitar is “better.” It is probably made of a finer wood, or constructed using better materials. But, I know a thing or two about marketing. I know that you can but take two cars from the same factory and double the price of one of them if you put the right logo on it. I know that Fruity Dino-Bites are pretty tasty, and cheaper than Fruity Pebbles.

I also know that crappy guitars sound crappy – no matter who you are.

But, we’re not talking about crappy guitars – at least, for $600, I hope it’s not a crappy guitar. So, when given the choice between two guitars, one of which is more than double the price of the other, will we always think the more expensive guitar is better?

I do want to play both of these guitars. I see that Guitar Center has them online, so I may go to the store and see if I can play them. In the interim, I’m going to go shop for Guitars at GuitarCenter.com

I think the bug is about to bite again.

The fourth-most popular search in Google for “Acoustic Guitars” is for Free Acoustic Guitar Lessons. I understand the motivation – people want acoustic guitar lessons, for free. But, don’t you almost always get what you pay for?

I had Free Acoustic Guitar Lessons, and when I get together with by guitar playing buds who paid for their lessons, it’s pretty clear that I got what I paid for. I taught myself, which is the free-est kind of free there is. And, I am here to tell you that there are things about playing guitar – sometimes little, sometimes not – that you don’t get from books or software or internet sites.

Of course, I’ve picked up things from my friends, and eventually, I’ll be where they are today. They’ll be that much further ahead as well, but my goal is not to be better than anyone, but just to be able to pick up and play when we get together without feeling like an amateur.

My point about Free Acoustic Guitar Lessons is that, if it is at all possible, you should invest in yourself (or your kids) and pay for some decent lessons – at least while you are starting out. I wish I’d done so – I think much of what I struggle with would come more naturally, and that I would be more confident in my ability.

This is where I should be giving recommendations, but I have none. I’d check out the board at your local music shop or Mega-Music store. There are lots of folks out there willing to share their guitar knowledge with you. But, keep in mind that it took them years of hard work and practice to be able to play effortlessly. If this is something you value, then you might consider compensating the person for their time and knowledge. It’s just the right thing to do.

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How to Read Guitar Tabs

or,

How the Heck Do You Read Guitar Tabs?

If this article were titled “how to read music,” it would begin by saying that it takes time and patience to learn musical notation. The same is true for guitar tabs – while the notation makes sense, it still does not make for easy reading.

In a nutshell, guitar tabs have six lines representing the strings. The low E string (the one closest to your face, unless you are Jimmy Hendrix) is actually at the bottom (which I find backwards, at best) and consequently the high E String (the one closest to your legs) is at the top. Basically guitar tabs are drawn as though you were bent over your guitar and looking at the strings upside down.

Maybe you do this a lot. I don’t want to judge.

On each line there appears a number. This number corresponds to the fret that you will finger. So, a “3” on the third line means that you will finger the 3rd fret of the D string.

This makes total sense, and for songs that use random chords that you’ve never seen like F#MajSus7Dim, it is extremely helpful to see the fingering. But, if you really don’t know the chord, are you going to look at the picture mid song and figure out the right fingering on the fly?

No. You are not. And, that is not the intent of guitar tabs. The intent is to show you the chord, and have you memorize it, along with the rest of the song, so that you don’t have to reference the guitar tabs while playing, or in fact, ever.

So, by looking at guitar tabs, what have you saved? You have saved all that time learning to read music. But, you can’t actually “read” tabs, except to learn a song, and you could just as easily learn the song from actual music notation. (Brings back memories of 6th grade band when I wrote the notes in letters above all the music notes.)

There is some advantage to guitar tabs in that they offer some notation for more advanced playing. Below is a list of some common notations.

• Hammer Ons (h)
• Pull offs (p)
• String bends (b)
• Slides (/ or \)
• Vibrato (v or ~)
• String Mute (x)
• Harmonics (<>)

If you have not guessed already, I prefer guitar chords to guitar tabs. First, If I showed you the guitar tab at left, you could play it, but it doesn’t represent anything in your brain.

But, if I told you “play an E chord,” wouldn’t that be easier? And more memorable for next time you wanted to play. “Wait, the song went E, G, A” instead of “it was 002330, then 320023, then 022200” see what I mean.

Maybe I’m wrong. I should probably consult some acoustic guitar books to see what I am missing. If there are those of you out there that live by guitar tabs, please chime in and tell me what makes them superior to chords, or even actual music notation. Because, honestly, I don’t see the benefit of guitar tabs.

I have always loved the sound of a 12 string guitar. Two years ago my wife bought me one for Christmas, and it has been my main guitar since then. This weekend while I was changing the strings on my 12 string I remembered back to when I first received the guitar. Obviously I was in love with it immediately, but I did fear that the first time I had to change strings I would be sorry for not trading it in on a 6 string.

Time proved me wrong. It does take a little longer to tune a 12 string, and a little longer to change strings, but this extra time is minute in relation to the hours of enjoyment I get from the unique and beautiful sound.

The 12 string guitar is not a Labrador Retriever, it is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. It does the same job, but looks and acts just a little different. The neck is a little wider to accommodate for the extra strings, but not as much as you might imagine, since the strings are really in pairs. It is just a touch tricky to finger pick a 12 string and get both strings at once, but with practice, it comes naturally after a while.

While I would not recommend a 12 string to everyone, I would recommend it to most folks who love the guitar and want to incorporate the unique and beautiful sound into their guitar playing. I learned most of the basics on an old beat up six string, but I’ve done most of my beginner to intermediate learning on the 12 and I’ve never felt hindered by it. If anything, the effect of the extra sounds hides a few of my mistakes and has allowed me to play in public sooner than I might have with a six string guitar. I think it sounds great, so I am confident, and all my friends seem to think it sounds great too. So really it is a win-win.

I’ve included a list of some great 12 strings below – in a pretty wide price range. Since I am a middle of the road guy, I have the middle one – the black Takamine. I HIGHLY recommend it because it is a perfect guitar. But then, I might be a little biased. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these.