Source
r/Guitar•
TheTozman

What are some things you think that every guitarist should, but doesn't know?

I'll start: that tone is much more dependent on amp than guitar. I see people poring over looking for a specific tone in a specific guitar, but the reality is that you can get much closer to your desired tone by picking the right amp. That being said, it isn't that the guitar is irrelevant in terms of tone- it's anything but. But most of what you're looking for in tone comes from the amp.

You?

Posted Jun 1, 2012, 1:19 AM UTC

23103
bostonmcd•

Humility.

48
ecib•

Oh, hey how ya doing, nice to meet you. Yeah, I was just telling Jay how I was out last weekend playing in my band and we were talking about maybe taking a road trip. I'm sort of used to it from touring with my band , you know, but something more laid back. Be nice not to be stuck in a van for a week, but hey man, its the life of a guitar player, you know? I've got too many projects going on right now, I swear. Be nice just to take it easy for a bit and not have to get on stage and play for a bunch of people. It gets pretty tiring. Hey cool, so anyway, what's your name?

7
OleYeller•

Drummer?

1
ecib•

KABOOM!

1
qverbJackson/Fender Prosonic•

logged in on separate accounts to upvote more!

3
bobovskiReverend•

It's the same complaint I have with most modern music production: the importance of dynamics. Ya don't have to pick and fret every damn note as hard as you can, people!

27
[deleted]•

Amen on the music production part. In his essay "The Problem with Music", Steve Albini quipped that most contemporary rock music sounds like a beer commercial.

Granted, it could just be that a lot of bands are unimaginative and bland, but I also think producers are just lazy and have started to mix everything the same.

7
ZanzibarMcFateGretsch | Fender•

That the spaces between notes in a solo can be just as important as the notes themselves.

23
[deleted]•

Always tune up to a note, as this will keep the coils on the tuning peg tight, allowing you to stay in tune for longer.

21
77bc•

In the machinist world, this space between gear teeth is known as "backlash," and you always keep your gears going in the torque direction to keep the backlash out. I learned about gear theory much later than guitars, and it totally blew my mind.

6
qverbJackson/Fender Prosonic•

I learned this early on in my playing and have used it ever since. It absolutely helps. I also try to leave enough slack for at least 2 wraps around the binding post.

1
sundriedhands•

play every day!

18
thebizzle•

I think this is the most important thing.

2
[deleted]•

"Tone" starts in the fingers.

14
TTLeaveJagstang, PRS•

Also strings. If you're playing regularly you need change them every month or so.

You can spend thousands on the sweetest rig in the world and it will sound pants if your strings are old.

2
[deleted]•

I beg to differ.

1
LongwaytofallGibson (LP)•

I think that's an issue of personal choice. I personally like new strings, I think they sound more alive, brighter, and more expressive (especially on 12-string acoustic). Many players disagree, and who am I to disagree if old strings are part of "that tone" that somebody else is looking for.

1
MatsFanKramer Assault/Matsumoku Skylark•

This is one of my favorite Satriani videos - in some guy's kitchen, playing a Pignose guitar, a Peavey amp and a DigiTech RP 200. Still sounds pretty fucking great to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts

2
Thermodynamicist•

That's one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

Probably the closest I've come to just quitting the guitar, other than watching Martin Simpson live.

Clarke's third law applies:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

1
runpmc'72 Tele Custom•

How to LISTEN. Knowing every mode of every scale in the world won't do you a lick of good if you can't figure out how to fit in with what's going on around you.

14
cjdavdaFSR Tele, FSR Strat, '70 Twin Reverb•

Hiding behind distortion and a whammy bar is not a good way to "play well." Learning to sound good before distortion and a whammy bar is much better. Then go for that stuff. Look at Steve Vai. As much distortion and whammy stuff as he does, I'm sure he sounds just as good, albeit in a different way, on a Tele through a clean Fender amp.

11
[deleted]•

Don't be ashamed to learn styles of music that aren't, "cool."

This is something I've learned from experience. I grew up listening to punk and for the past eight years I've played nothing but power chords and cover songs, it wasn't until recently that I actually sat down and learned where A-G#/Ab were on each string and learned some blues scales and what not. I am progressing faster than a beginner, but I'm still having to pretty much start from scratch and it's hard. I wish I would have learned the basics in the beginning, I would be thirty times the guitarist I am now.

So, now I'm trying to learn jazz and surf, which by all means are cool in my opinion, but they weren't styles that I was interested in so I just brushed them off. Which was bad, because learning things outside of your box will make a tremendously better and more versatile guitarist.

11
bones22•

Not a fan of G or G#?

23
cjdavdaFSR Tele, FSR Strat, '70 Twin Reverb•

He likes Ab better

5
[deleted]•

That was an unfortunate typo, those notes shouldn't be so close together on my keyboard! I see the irony.

However, that doesn't nullify my point. Learn your notes, learn some scales, practice to backing tracks in your spare time, and you will become a better guitar player.

1
bones22•

Haha, I'm just teasing you, I totally agree, having a solid musical background will do wonders for your playing.

1
stabbingbrainiacSchecter/Partscaster•

This is what I'm currently dealing with. I started with punk and metal, and now I know more tool songs than I know the notes on the fretboard. Only recently did I start learning jazz, and now after 12 years of just playing guitar, I'm finally getting to the point of being so excited about playing guitar that I can't learn enough.

3
BlakJasus14Gibson/Gretsch/Guild•

Just because you know how to play a few mildly difficult songs doesn't make you a good guitarist. There is more to it than that. Skill is nice and all, but you aren't yet a master without creativity.

Also, if you are gonna play Wonderwall, Sweet Child O' Mine, and that song you wrote called Rain, don't kill the instrument, don't play it in public. It makes us all look bad.

10
TheTozmanOP•

I have to disagree. It's all rock n roll, you should play whatever your heart wants. You're supposed to freaking have fun with it.

10
BlakJasus14Gibson/Gretsch/Guild•

Exactly, but I know people who think they are master guitarists for being able to play a little Guns 'N Roses. I think that you should play whatever you want, but to be a master means you know technique, creativity and you are versatile. If you wanna play just those songs go ahead, I don't care, but I don't want to hear you say you are incredibly good for playing Paradise City and 5 other songs.

The Wonderwall, Sweet Child 'O Mine, and 'Rain' things are just references to commonly know douche bag guitarist songs that aren't hard but have been played so many times to show off that nobody wants to hear it anymore.

3
TheTozmanOP•

I love Guns N Roses! Guns N Roses and Nirvana are what got me to pick up the guitar, and the first time I could nail Mr. Brownstone was the day I really thought I loved what I was doing as a guitarist. Now, I get your point, but I just think that it takes all the fun outta guitar when you start with your intellectual hipsterism. What does it matter what other people play?

1
BlakJasus14Gibson/Gretsch/Guild•

I love both those bands with all my heart too, and I started for the same reason. It just gets on my nerve when people call themselves masters for that, even if it is something to be proud of, when there are actual masters more humble than them who spent decades learning. It just feels like disrespect towards such a beautiful instrument to think one master it in a few quick songs. That's just my opinion though.

And there are probably some perfectly good songs called 'Rain' ruined now.

0
[deleted]•

that song you wrote called Rain

I wrote one song, an instrumental, and called it 'Mega Jam' or something equally as bad. I can't quite recall.

1
NordstarFender, Breedlove, Aspiring Luthier•

That having a tasty touch is far more important than speed. Learn to do it well- the speed will come after.

9
[deleted]•

How to sing. Frank Zappa was right.

9
leachim6Gibson•

Are you referencing a quote?

2
[deleted]•

More like a well known policy. Zappa would not hire a guitar player who did not sing. He made an exception for Steve Vai, partially because he was such a good transcriptionist, and partially because he did very unique things on guitar that Zappa found useful. Basically, Frank thought that if he was going to pay you to be onstage, you damn well better be singing. Ray White and Ike Willis were particularly great singers. Of course you could say the same about pianists like Bobby Martin, who had an incredible voice, but Zappa seemed to make a specific point regarding guitar players.

3
MatsFanKramer Assault/Matsumoku Skylark•

See also Adrian Belew. City of Tiny Lights FTW.

1
[deleted]•

I remember reading an interview with Belew talking about how he was worried about his singing when Zappa hired him. Then he did that Dylan impression and figured he was OK.

EDIT:Relevant

1
leachim6Gibson•

Hmm, that seems kind of a waste though... Not everyone can be a great singer, you can still be an incredible guitarist

1
[deleted]•

I feel like background vocals are one of the most important aspects of pop music. Also, great guitar players are pretty common. I know tons of them. Imagine how many Zappa knew? Great singers make you money.

1
pigzGibson/ESP/Epiphone/Squier/Blackstar/Line 6•

I see the point as being he wanted an all-round musician, not just a guitar player. Being Frank Zappa he certainly would have had a wide range of applicants to choose from.

1
newtraditionalists•

The name of every note and where they can be played. How to form basic chords, at least form a triad.

8
qverbJackson/Fender Prosonic•

A basic understanding of modes and chord theory will get you far as a guitarist as well. You certainly do not ever have to learn, but doing so will give you much more flexibility.

1
thebizzle•

How to set up your own guitar. This gives you a more intimate feel with it.

8
HR78•

That all of the modes are the same scale, only the root changes. If you learn one over the whole fretboard you know them all.

7
fkingnardisLariveé/Martin/Fender/Gibson/Sho~Bud•

Nitpicking, but not entirely correct. This applies to the seven modes of the diatonic scale...Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian. Correct. But there are other modes as well, for example the Lydian Augmented and Lydian Dominant modes that are derived from the third and fourth degrees of the melodic minor scale, respectively. Also the altered scale from the seventh degree of the melodic minor....aka whole tone diminished. So tasty..... But in short, there are many more depending on how "out there" you wanna get.

But yeah, know your major scales front to back all across the neck and you know all of your diatonic modes. Learning this a while back completely blew my mind.

7
HR78•

True, I guess I should have specified but I didn't want to add any confusion to anyone starting to learn the modes. Most start with the Diatonics built off of the major scale and then progress to the ones built off of the melodic minor. I would recommend learning the diatonics first because the names (and alternate names) of the melodic minor ones make most of them self explanatory.

1
OrgansSuhr Standard•

A better way to think of modes is not to just think of them as the same scale with a different starting point so much as a scale that emphasizes a different note. Take the standard major scale. More or less, the most important note is the leading tone (the seventh scale step). But in something like Lydian, it's the second that sticks out the most. Or is it the fourth? I'm still wrapping my head around them.

3
fkingnardis•

A better way to think of modes is not to just think of them as the same scale with a different starting point so much as a scale that emphasizes a different note.

yes!

1
sunandstarnoise•

It's the 4th in the lydian mode.

1
greenvortex•

How to adjust a guitar's intonation. If it's off, the guitar will never sound in tune.

7
wolv•

This is a minor one, but I keep running into guitarists who don't know about it or use it:

Where you pick on the strings acts as a tone control. Pick right next to the bridge and you'll get lots of treble. Pick toward the neck and get more low end.

Strum an electric right in the middle and you get a pretty typical sound. Strum at the 12th fret and you can hide back in the mix for a rhythm part without changing anything but your picking position.

7
audentisSchecter Hellraiser Solo-6•

This. I deliberately play some melodies near the 12th fret, to get those 'harp-like' mechanics going. If used properly, it's another tool in your arsenal.

1
HR78•

I guess I have a few more tips. If you're only going to buy one amp buy the one with the best clean sound. It's easier to make a Fender sound like a Marshall with the right pedal but you can't make a Marshall sound like a Fender. Entry level acoustic electrics have horrible electronics and will sound like shit through a regular guitar amp. You're better off spending the extra money on a better acoustic.

6
[deleted]•

A good guitarist should make it a priority to be familiar with styles of music in which guitars are less prominent, or entirely absent.

For example, Jazz and Free Improv.

Listening to how saxophone players construct melodies will help you break out of the creative straight jacket of moveable scales on a fretboard.

Besides, it's also just really fun to jam along to records where there's no guitar. :-)

Of course, we all got into guitar most likely because we heard a guitar player and thought, "I want to do that!", but expanding taste is part of growing as a musician. I still love the music of my guitar influences, but most of the music I listen to these days either has a starkly reduced role for the guitar, or no guitar whatsoever.

6
deadflow3rGibson•

The truss rod is your friend. Learn how to use it.

5
guitareatsman•

...and just as importantly, learn when NOT to use it.

1