A lot more true these days than it was 30 years ago. A crappy guitar was a fight most guitarists lost back in the 80s. They make decent stuff at reasonable prices now. When I was 15 I had a copy of a BC Rich Warlock (some 'brand' called Series A). It was a nightmare. It rattled so much I heard it in my sleep. I bought a decent Jackson 7-string for less than $300 CDN, but I'm also getting a better Ibanez 7-string because the tone and feel are totally different. Not really because there's that much quality difference (other than ergonomics, which Jackson isn't very good at). I speak from experience when I say fighting with a guitar is the surest way to get someone to quit. I did for a really long time.
From my experience unless your playing top 40, only guys show up to a gig. If no chicks are there even the guys leave. Also let’s say you do play guitar and start getting some action eventually one is going to stick and it’s going to cut into your guitar time. Just saying as a happily married man of 12 years, I don’t play like I used to.
Why stop there? You can get a First Act from Walmart for a fraction of what a high end Epiphone costs. Buying a 4k Les Paul Standard is significantly more than necessary, and you're right it won't make you awesome. Buying a quality Epiphone, or even a less expensive Gibson, can help you learn faster though. (Same examples for Fender USA, Mexican Fenders and Squiers.) The advantages are: 1. If you enjoy looking at and holding the guitar, you're more likely to be willing to practice. The mid to high end guitars give you this. My LP is a work of art, playing it makes me happy. 2. If you're playing a properly set up and in-tune guitar of that same mid to high end sort, it will stay in tune and set up. And 3. When you hear awful noises coming from a mid to high end guitar, you can know without doubt that the problem is the player, not the guitar. I bought a Yamaha Pacifica 14 years ago. Package deal, guitar, gig bag, Peavey amp, strap, patch cord. $150. I bought a Hal Leonard book and hacked at it for a couple of months. Then put it away for about 4 years. Picked it up again, bought more books, hacked some more for about 6 months. Was actually playing some songs, but I went through a time where I couldn't play for a while. Then 2-3 months ago, I picked it up again (after about 10 years). The time in storage had caused problems with the guitar. Even with new strings, it wouldn't stay in tune. The output was low and dull, and resulted in only being able to play on high gain...no clear tones. And the tones were just ugly. I'm fairly sure it's a bad pot or two. Anyway, I'm at a point where I could afford to buy a nicer guitar, and I did it. Under 2k, Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro. Maple arch top, minimal relief (heavy!), wine with stainless hardware, binding all around, satin back and locking tuners. I also invested in a decent tube amp. The result is that when I practice, I use clean settings, and I'm not only learning to play guitar, but to HEAR when it's right. Now when I hear sour sounds, I KNOW it's me, and I can try to find out where it's coming from.
@@TheScottJeter, d'ya think your dynamite info might be a bit overwhelming for a "starter, beginner"? But you sure know the stuff! I should "have" known! But you do know that you can find treasures at a "reliable" pawner. You're an o k guy!
Andrei Grozea - A musician is someone who knows how to play, also known as a player... Anthony Braxton is a musician, although he played some "unlistenable" stuff... I mean, the man is a genius... And so were Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band...
Thank you for this. I am a luthier and I agree with everything you say. I always tune my guitars before shipping and I have repaired a lot of guitars as a result of dry fretboards. There was one myth I did not know about and it was the first myth about the tubes. I have always used gloves with tubes, I will continue to do that but now only to avoid fingerprints. So Thank you for this great video
Actually that depends where you are... being from the North of England there are some bars that you will not be allowed to leave... unless you play Wonderwall. This week as soon as my son stood up... WONDERWALL!!!!!!!!! pbs.twimg.com/media/D5zHWSfXkAEOMEK.jpg
@@danieljensen2626 many people seem to forget that last part... That's why I never bring my Acoustic anywhere except when it's for singing with children or whatever and I'm the only one able to strum more than three chords
I think many guitarists *think* they can. And perhaps it’s good enough for the average listener. But if you actually put a tuner on afterwards, I highly doubt they got it right down to the cent.
One of my favorite debates is the idea of always tuning UP. I have heard people swear that it doesn't make a difference whether you tune down to a note or up to a note in regards to stability and staying in tune. I can shoot this down with simple physics. You should always tune up to a note because of the static friction encountered at the nut, especially if it is not self lubricating graphite. Time and time again I have watched guys tune down to drop D and instead of tuning below and then beck up they tune straight to it. Then after 30 seconds of playing they are flat. Yet they insist it has nothing to do with bad tuning technique. This really only applies to non-locking systems.
Static friction is an interesting concept. It’s real and I deal with it in my work all the time. Static (not moving) friction (things rubbing against each other soo,,, moving). So it’s resistance to movement between things that aren’t moving.
"If you learn music theory it'll sap your creativity and you'll just obey the rules and play mechanically." I don't know if I actually believed that as such, but I certainly used it as an excuse for why I didn't know any theory. In the last couple of years I have started to get to grips with music theory and it has definitely had the opposite effect: I am much more creative in my composition, having a greater knowledge base on which to draw. And I still break the rules without any issues. I just know that I'm doing it now.
i think it depends entirely on the person's personality. some people really need rote rules and inflexible axioms for every little detail otherwise their brains explode. music theory requires imagination to use it. I've seen music theory liberate one person and cage others. but to be honest, for the people it cages... they're pretty much hopeless as artists or musicians anyway. maybe they should try accounting! lol (kidding, just because they're not generally creative doesn't mean they won't be popular or successful as musicians). i have noticed that the people it cages tend not to study it formally- ie don't go to school for it. when done right it seems to help waaaaay more often than not. (myself, i was worried that the intense grind/pace of a music education might kill my love of music- not knowing the math- so i stuck with private lessons and youtube videos- just kidding... i mean books. i'm not young enough to have learned theory from youtube)!
Paul McCartney once said that studying music formally might "take all the magic out of it" for him. I don't know if he ever put that to the test, but I do know that the Beatles' famous lack of musical education reinforced the disdain that baby boomer rock musicians had for theory. I fell for it myself, but now I think that if you have the talent and imagination, a bit of formal studying can only enhance your abilities. For all their inspired amateurism, look at how much the Beatles relied on George Martin.
This argument has always baffled the living shit out of me...how on God's green earth does NOT KNOWING YOUR INSTRUMENT increase creativity, and adversly knowing all you can know make you less creative somehow? This is nothing more than an excuse, usually put out there by those who are either too lazy to put in the hard work or don't possess the mental capacity to learn! Those relatively few players throughout history that have achieved greatness with zero knowledge to back it up? Chances are extremely good that you're not one of them...neither am I...and since neither of us possess an absurd level of inexplicable natural talent, we can only benefit by hedging our bets and learning as much about the instrument we love as possible, to help us achieve the highest level of musical greatness we can reach!
Maybe you did it the right way. Explore the country, then look at the map. This is the way I did it, and still do! After playing for almost 30 years in ignorance when I do watch some theory guy out of curiously i find that he is just giving names to what I already knew. I think education is mostly a BAD thing for rock and roll guitar. I'd rather listen to some kid in a garage than Steve V.
The biggest Guitar Myth that I believed for 15+ years, and in retrospect it's quite embarrassing as I told people this for years, ... it was that I was actually good at playing the guitar!
"You need to learn "acoustic guitar" - aka nylon - before you can pick up the electic. Otherwise you will miss out on basic techniques and conditioning, you will never EVAARR able to adopt / regain later on."
i think this is common for children and i feel that this is single handedly responsible for a 90% reduction in te amount of guitar players around today.
I’ve played guitar for 20 years... i now have 3 young children, two are having guitar lessons at school... they hate the cumbersome acoustics they play there, gave them a 3/4 strat and boom, the practice is fun for them again.
My mom told me this when I first started! She never played before but I just think it was because she didn't wanna hear a 13 year old badly playing Metallica all day.
I mean really, the single most detrimental thing to learning how to play an instrument is losing interest and giving up on it. This is several times more likely to happen if you're playing an acoustic finding yourself bored out of your mind. Learn acoustic if you want to play acoustic. Learn electric if you want to play electric. Learn both if you genuinely want to play both. All "rules" for playing and making music are really just guide lines anyway to make things easier. No point if it works against you lol.
A friend of mine wanted to learn the trumpet. His parents, who never played an instrument, said he had to learn this wooden flute first. Idk, because they have so much in common? Long story short, hated the flute, quit playing anything.
The biggest terrible myth I learned just after my high school days: Too many "musicians" seem to think that drugs and alcohol make you into a rock star. That misconception made me eventually want to NOT be in bands anymore.
Not only do people ship guitars in tune, but think of all the guitar techs out there who pack up multiple guitars and shove them onto a truck to go to the next gig, day after day. Now ask that tech if he wants to detune and retune those guitars every day...
Actually they still do tune those guitars every day and probably change their strings every gig anyway. I've watched a lot of rig rundowns and the average I've heard is around every 8 songs the strings are changed.
these days all people hear is the quality of your amp or recording. most 'musicians' i've played with can't tell the difference between a skilled player and a glorious amp. nevermind the general audience. a great amp can make chord strumming sound like the hammer of the gods. it's absolutely true. on the inverse a great Player can make the cheapest of amps (except line 6) and guitars sound like a fine quality instrument. this happened when i was a newbie and a deaf blues lady picked up my plywood warlock (seen in profile pic) and made that baby weep! it was a great lesson for a newbie metalhead.
Regarding light strings - True that lighter is easier to bend but think about the opposite. If you aren't trying to bend, lighter strings are harder to use. They sometimes bend when you don't want them to due to imperfect technique.
Light strings for 12 string guitars and finger picking on acoustics seems to help me. Even then, I try to avoid bar chords on a 12 string acoustic. And understand that if my 12 sting was a $3500.00 guitar, I might just be fine. But I don't seem to have enough strength for clean sounding bar chords on an acoustic 12. This could also be affected by surgeries I have had. On an electric guitar, I have tried them all. Heavy/light, medium, heavy, and am still experimenting to see what works best. My next string change I'm going to try Elixir Optiwebs 11/49, to see if I like them.
I much prefer the sound of 9-42's, but I'm just too heavy-handed for them, unwanted bends and too many broken strings. Ended up just compromising with 10-46's, a bit hardier without sounding too different.
I put some rev Billy 7s on a strat and holy cow all they do is bend, they practically sag. Won't sit tight over nut angle unless you physically push them down to form the bend. Fun and interesting for leads and melody, but not practical for my rhythmic needs.
I find that with 9-42 strings certain things like tremolo picking are harder because there's more string movement. On my "shred" guitars I've started using D'Addario 9.5-44 sets as a compromise.
My band plays Smoke on the Water, because nobody else does. Nobody else does because they think everybody plays it and people are sick of it. But nobody plays it so how can people be sick of it? People love it when we play it.
2003. I was teaching my gf to play. She could do smoke on the water and the intro to manson’s sweet dreams. We went to out Local music store. She tried smoke on the water on a couple guitars. No one cared.
Well........I’ll give you a fact. UPS & FedEx require you to detune a guitar if you want the insurance you bought through them to pay off on a claim. Another little known fact is if you pack the guitar yourself, UPS and FedEx will always DENY your broken guitar insurance claim. The way around this BS is to let a representative of UPS or FedEx (whichever shipping company you are using) pack the guitar in the shipping box for you. If THEY don’t detune the guitar or they don’t pack it correctly and the guitar is damaged or broken during shipping, they will NOTdeny a claim because a representative of theirs packed it! I learned this the hard way once when FED-EX snapped off the headstock of an SG for me. The claim was denied and I lost $900 on the deal. The shipping company then told me about the rule of a representative packing it versus the consumer packing it. Lesson learned on my part!
Yeah, FedEx broke one of my acoustics shipping it back from Chicago. I had it packed extremely well! Plenty of "fragile" stickers on it as well and it was in a really good hard case inside the box,packed with bubble wrap...They must've managed to throw a mini refrigerator (or something) on top of it because they put a crack/dent in the top. Yeah, they denied my insurance claim even though they had no problem letting me purchase the insurance. Oh, and it was detuned, lol!
Yea... it's not the pressure changes that bother me when considering putting a guitar below in a plane. What concerns me is the "Care" the handlers assign to it. I've seen more than a couple go pretty awry, due to that.
@@hayden8491 Yep, I can see the airlines new publicity campaign now: "SCREW THE FRIENDLY SKIES! We are Honest Airlines; We don't care and we admit it! Just ask our newest baggage handler. We hired him after the other airline fired him because HE DIDN'T CARE! He's a lousy worker, but we got him cheap. Hayden Wade may be bad for your luggage but he's good for our bottom line. See how honest we are!" So....FLY HONEST AIRLINES AND TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!
Yeah, my acoustic neck got cracked near the headstock, not really sure if it had anything to do with the strings being tuned or not though. But I'm sure manufacturers have different procedures for shipping rather than literally throwing the guitars into an airplane.
Exactly! I've had some shops ship me tuned guitars, other shops shipped them detuned. I never had any problems, but I prefer detuned, just in case. My own theory, with no knowledge about this, is that the wood will be more flexible the less stress it has, so it should be able to take a hit better with detuned strings.
Yeah I'm sure it's happened to others but specifically, I remember a couple of years ago reading an article where an airline severely damaged one of fingerstyle guitarist Don Ross's expensive custom Marc Beneteau guitars.
When I was a wee lad in the 50's I was told not to touch tubes with you bare hands due to the oil, this was 50+ years ago, so this "myth" is very old. I do remember reading that back in the day certain tubes were sensitive to contaminants on the envelope because they operated at very high temperatures, maybe the materials used to manufacture the tubes back then were sensitive to this and prone to fail? I would guess this was true in military applications and carried over to the general public. Apparently now a new myth is it's relating tubes to halogen lamps. Keep them myths a comin'.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this. I'm so tired of dumbasses "demanding" that I ship their guitars detuned, even though I've been shipping 'em for 25 years without a SINGLE issue caused by my packaging.
I received a repair job, a guitar that sat poorly stored & ignored for years. The rosewood fretboard had dried out so badly that it split from one end to the other, leaving a gap of almost 3/16th" in places. Right down the central section of the board. It would have been in much-better condition, if the owner had even just sprayed plain water on the fretboard every year or so. Or even Lemon Pledge, Armor-All, 3-In-1 oil, bike-chain lube, or probably even dish detergent, fer chrissakes.
I think that number 2 also stems from older, or classical, guitars that do not have truss rods. I have heard from some techs that if you are dealing with a guitar that doesn't have a truss rod, it is best to detune when shipping, or storing for an extended period of time. I think it's more important with the storing rather than shipping, but I do believe that this is where the myth comes from. I also could have been completely mislead.
First thing to remember about guitar necks. Most guitars use an adjustable truss rod, even the ones that don't can have some built in tension to counteract the pull of the strings. When the strings are tuned to pitch on a guitar the neck is in equilibrium, that means the forces on the neck are balanced, when you de-tune it you have a tremendous force from the truss rod, OPPOSITE of the string tension. If anything, shipping the guitar DE-TUNED is the worst thing for it, because the neck forces are out of balance.
One more. "I can't adjust my truss rod myself" Yes, you CAN!!! Just don't force anything, and turn it about a 1/4 turn or less at a time, and move the neck (bend it back and forth a little), and check it. It needs to have a little teeny bit of bow. you can check it by holding down a string at the first and (14th fret for acoustics and higher for electrics,which tend to have longer truss rods). It's a bit harder on some Strats & Teles that have adjusters at the body end of the neck, as you need to remove the neck, so more trial and error.
I was told not to handle tubes with bare hands long before halogen bulbs were the rage. I learned it in electronics school many decades ago - not sure why, but I distinctly remember being taught that. It's just a habit for me - I touch them with bare hands, but I wipe them down. The oil from your fingers will adhere to the glass of the tube - but it wipes off. I wish my electronics teacher was still alive so I could ask him why. Very cool information - thanks!
The more I watch your videos, the more I think the song from the beginning is the perfect song for the channel. Now every time I hear it I get excited and know that I will learn something In the next seconds. Love what you do!
You can but if you’re referring to the standard model of fenders tele’s they’re really not designed for metal. John 5 and Jim root from slipknot play custom telecasters with humbuckers or active pickups instead of single coils.
So my old 80's Randall amp isn't powered by demons, snakeskin and Aquanet??? Yeah, you didn't address this because you know it's true!!! Seriously though, good vid.
hi VoxofReason....your old 80's Randall has the spirits of ex-Fender California engineers. Man!! I have some fantastic memories of my RSM-150, Randall SwitchMaster, an RG-80 and a RB-60 bass amp that my buddy used in small clubs. Thank you for your comment. It brought back some cool memories. Rock on and Tight Lines!!!
Another one that is sort of similar to shipping a guitar in tune. is storing a guitar in in tune for extended periods of time. some people believe that storing a in tune for extended periods of time. can damage the neck or headstock and others don't. I believe if you think the guitar is going to be stored for an extended period of time. it's wise to back the strings off to a point where is a small amount of tension on them. because the neck is meant to have tension on it. and having the strings backed off some. will cause less stess on the tuning machines, the nut, the truss rod, and the bridge components. after all a person wouldn't want to come back later. and find damage to the guitar.
Guitar myth number - the actuality of the myth goes back much further than the few decades you proffer...Back when stringed instruments (Lutes, violins and the whole shebang) used gut strings, musicians would de-tune their instruments before casing them so as to increase the life of the strings. Unlike today if a string broke you couldn't just pop in to your local Guitar Center or friendly neighborhood mom and pop music store and pick up a new one. And like now, full time working musicians had other things to worry about, like food and lodging. Obviously modern guitars and strings don't suffer from this problem, but it is easy to see how this myth could have survived, especially when one is classically trained. History for the win!
True up to a point. I spoke to a lutanist a while back and he told me that his biggest issue was gut strings go out of tune if you look at them the wrong way. Shipping with less tension is good for gut.
Also he let me in on thefact that each of his strings on an tique ten string instrument cost $40+ and they would still go out of tune every other song.
Good info. The heavy v light string issue depends on style. I use 9s for blues and country picking styles mainly for ease of bending. Rock / Metal style uses pull offs and hammer ons for speed. Again these are best on lighter strings. For jazz style heavier strings are faster. They provide "bounce" to the plectrum and produce rapid stoccato runs. This applies to bluegrass guitar. I string guitars to suit the style.
My Nana found an old acoustic guitar in her cupboard and took it to her local music store, the people working there said that it would be impossible to put strings on it so she gave it to me to have a look at and I bought strings and they worked perfectly, my Nana then sent a photo of the guitar to a music shop and said “unstringable guitar eh?” No response from the shop...
As the others said, the way you say this makes it seem very unlikely to have happened. BUT if it did, the music shop did have a reason to say, at the very least, it's inadvisable to put strings on it. Old guitars, are well, old, and therefore they are much more prone to breaking. If they were poorly kept (Which sitting in a cupboard for years on end would qualify for that) then they would likely be damaged by the tension strings put on the neck, especially heavier strings. You probably just got lucky that it didn't horribly warp the neck.
@Phil McCrevice Also, they probably said something like, "We cannot affordably set up that guitar due to the age and dried out condition of it. You would be better served to buy a nice entry level accoustic." To rehabilitate an old guitar you'd have to rehydrate it, and fix all the problems caused by dehydration. If it was a vintage, collectible guitar, spending $500-1500 to rehabilitate it might be worth it. If it's a 60 year old Sears parlor guitar, shine it up with some pledge, put some strings on it and nail it to the wall. Use the $500 to buy a really nice midrange Fender, Gibson, Yamaha or even Martin acoustic.
Oy my! For the 23 years I owned a mailing service I completely loosened the strings on guitars I packaged and shipped. Some came in with no case or a soft case and I'm happy to say they all arrived with no damage. My business was a few miles east of Tacoma in Washington State and one of the guitars I shipped was a six string The Ventures Nokie Edwards used in the 1960's. I found out about this when I asked the person who brought it in why they wanted to insure it for an unusually large amount for a guitar. I strummed it for a while before I loosened the strings.
Sounds like you caught the cool video by Josh on his JHS Pedals channel. He did cover all that as I recall. I played a legendary Germanium fuzz once (or at least a modern day recreation by a major brand), and it sounded terrible, weak and nasal, so I hear you, but some people like it filtered into other devices, etc. Different strokes for different folks, no doubt.
@@colinmcnab6145 Analog can be better than digital in many cases. Depends on quality of the analog device and the result you are trying to achieve. For the average person digital would probably give a better result.
Technology is always at its peak because it is always improving. But if you were talking about guitar design, yeah, the best guitars were designed in the 1950s. That doesn’t mean that technology was better, just that people were better at designing guitars.
As a guitar builder, I can tell you that beyond a shadow of a doubt that guitars are WAY better now than they were in the 50's. However SOME electronics have improved, while some '50's pickups are still the gold standard. Using the Telecaster (which was the very first mass-produced and successful solid body guitar), as an example, the necks were unstable in the first ones (due to a lack of a truss rod). The three barrel saddles could not be intonated, the ashtray bridges lacked weight (and therefore, sustain). Some of the circuits were horrible. Etc.. Hard to believe that Fender actually re-creates these flaws in their "reissue" models, and even harder to believe people actually buy them. Another example is the earlier Gibson & American made Epiphone ES335 and variants (330, 335, 345, 355, Casino, Riviera, Sheraton, etc.) All these guitars (models with stud bridges) had the bridge studs set either too far forward or too far back (can't remember which). To be properly intonated, either the studs had to be re-set, or have the bridge replaced with the extra wide Schaller style bridges. There were many other changes and improvements thru the years, but these two are pretty blatant blunders!
A bonus like for putting the no smoking advert on. I also dislike the habbit of putting a cigarette on the headstock when playing overtime the nicotine and head can cause damage to the headstock.
IMO If you play mostly rhythm it's advantageous to have thicker strings because it's easier to play chords in tune, precisely because the strings are harder to bend.
My guitar teacher told me to practice on an acoustic guitar then play on my electric because bending would be so much easier. He was right. Now I just use 10's on my electric all the time and enjoy it because I've built up the hand strength to do so over time. Chording, note playing, bending - meh it's all the same after a while, bro.
@@anidemolimacnauj you can put something under the bridge if you want and then take them all off. Although I have a Brian Moore guitar that came with specific instructions to only change one string at a time from the manufacturer. That's the only time I've seen that. It has a crazy thin neck though
Absolute garbage. I always remove all of strings at the same time. It gives me the opportunity to clean the fret board and polish the frets. It’s also a good time to clean up around the bridge and pickups. When I do restring it, the action and relief are exactly the same as they were before I cut the old strings off.
Touching halogen lights with your bare fingers *does* transfer oils to the glass that *will* cause uneven heating and blowouts. I worked as an [resume speak] Illumenary for several years and had to council many teachers on why their projector bulbs were blowing out so quickly.
As a former theatrical electrician/ lighting tech, I know well that you don't touch a high heat producing lamp (bulb) with bare fingers. I've seen the melted glass after one goes bad.
String gauge + scale length does have an effect on how your guitar will feel. 25½" and 24¾" scales with the same gauge strings will feel just as different as say, going between 9s and 11s.
Absolutely and not only that 24 .75 scale will feel cramped at the high frets for some players and the bass strings can lack definition regardless of string gauge. Some guitar reviews don't place enough importance on this. I wish more makers would offer 25 inch scales.
Yep. If you got extended scale like (like 27") with the exact same gauge strings and even same tuning, it will still definitely feel different not just in fret spacing (obviously) but also in how the strings feel as well.
Thanks - very informative, I learned a few things. For instance - I’ve had a tube amp since the 1970’s and I was positive that if I touched the tube then allowed it to get hot the oil in my fingers would cause the tube to crack. And this was long before halogen lamps were so prevalent. Everyone said so - so it had to be true, right? And I wasn’t going to find out for myself. At least I have really clean tubes . . . Thanks again.
Interesting point. The fact that you heard this before halogen bulbs is worth discussing. I wonder if the same “finger oils not being bad” applies/applied to the giant hi wattage radio transmitter tubes from back in the day. I imagine those babies were much more delicate and sensitive. I wonder what type of heat they generated.
I worked for Northern Automotive in Phoenix AZ. We handled the special orders for Checker Auto's stores, and they paid us for our expertise rather than having a minimum wage worker order parts that would cost them to return them to the manufacturer and piss off the customer after waiting for the right part to be shipped out to them. Anyway we ordered gas shocks from two major manufacturers only to have them arrive with the pressure bladders blown. It turned out that at that time the cargo holds in commercial aircraft weren't pressurized. They wouldn't ship paint cans or any other aerosols because of this, but the idiots in upper management didn't have a clue how gas shocks were made. They went well over a year trying to figure things out when if they would have asked us what the problem might be it would have been solved within a week or two! Thanks for these videos!
William Land: I was told by my instructor, now this is only for acoustic finger style, that having a cut away with a shorter scale length, would help with string bending. He has a s 25.5 Martin, and bought an Artist series Seagull cut away 24.75 scale length. His Martin is a dreadnought, and he wanted a cut away as well. This was his recommendation to me. There was at no time any mention about changing to heavier strings. Do you think this is solid advice?
If the goal is to make bends easier, then going to a shorter scale length but keeping the same gauge, is a good option. If you want a shorter scale guitar to have the same feel as the longer scale, then going up in gauge would accomplish that.
For sure! I remember when i started out i picked up an old guild electric in a pawn shop and it played so well! Later i figured out the scale was 24 1/4”. I miss that guitar. The fat single coil in the neck sounded unlike anything ive heard since
Oh and fretboard conditioner saved an 1997 Ibanez uv7 ( bought before everybody and their mama had 7strings) after it was in a flood and warped horribly after drying. I religiously added fast fret to the neck every night (like marsha brushing her hair 100 times) and in a month it came back to life and straitened up. That was the best $1506.00 I have ever spent and that includes the 5 cans of fast fret.
The #2 myth i think comes from violins. They are known to implode under string tension when transporting them when they get hit quite hard. Therefore most violin players slightly loosen the strings for transporting them. Also the bow is ALWAYS loosened when not being used, but for a different reason. The pressure part is complete bullshit anyway, a guitar will not react to any noticeable amount to pressure changes, its not an air sealed container. The low or high pressure will do nothing to it. It doesn't even have an effect on instruments like violins and such. It will on the other hand be an issue for your marshmallows!
Additionally, both violins and acoustic guitars are known to explode when stuffed with dynamite and/or other highly volatile explosives. The more you know....
When traveling via airlines Slacking your guitar strings on your acoustic guitar will prevent damage to your guitar face. Upon leaving from the mainland to Hawaii my friend packed his acoustic guitar in its case and had it flown with him. He didn’t slack the strings. On arrival he checked his guitar & notice the body face separated from the side & underside of body just under the bridge. It showed no impact marks. Upon repair it was determined that the stress from the strings in the different environment pressures in the plane & locations caused the damage.
My pick scratches must come from my pick, because my finger nails are wayyyy too short to do any damage. Also, I don't use the shown picking technique.
Nathan Seybold tucked in you say...hmm interesting technique...must search this out..my technique is in getting my fingers fucked usually between sets...well if a quickie is unattainable...
suparosc02 DR is great for tourists, not so good for dominicans. Minimun wage is less than $200 a month and middle class average is between $400-600. So there's not much money to enjoy our beautiful country.
In the electrical engineering course that I took we were taught that a long time ago touching tubes with your bare hands would damage them but as technology advanced that issue was fixed. I do not remember the exact details such as the date that it was fixed because I took the course almost twenty years ago but I suspect that that is where the myth comes from.
Fretboard conditioning seemed to suddenly become a “thing” when two industry changes happened 1. Guitar setups became a business, not just something people did occasionally at home. 2. Manufacturers started using cheaper, less attractive fretboard wood. No one “conditioned” fretboards before that and vintage instruments were no worse for it. Orchestral string players don’t “condition” their fingerboards. If a 300 year old Strad doesn’t need it then neither does a 3 year old strat.
David Malone nice insight. I think you are on to something with the less attractive wood thing. Oil will make the wood look darker. I personally don't care and have never oiled any of my fingerboard and nothing ever happened
Rawhide Leather - Guitars from the late 1700s on have had metal frets. They aren’t a recent idea and generations of guitarists have played on instruments blissfully unaware of the supposed benefits of fretboard conditioning. On new guitars, poorly seasoned timber can shrink soon after manufacture and fret ends might become noticeable and need to be filed. Fretboard conditioning won’t fix that issue. I’ve never seen a modern guitar where the problem was so severe that a fret became loose. Have you?
1. heavier gauge strings will make you sound better 2. light gauge strings are for the begginers 3. tube amps are superior to solid state 4. set neck and neck trough guitars have more sustain than bolt on guitars 5. guitars with thicker body will have more sustain
Ah, but what about a fixed bridge vs. a trem system when it comes to sustain? That might explain where the bolt-on myth comes from, unless that too is a myth.
The thing about leaving guitars in tune for shipping gave me a chuckle because my classic vibe telecaster and an old korean Encore L6 clone both sat in their gig bags for about 7 years, getting two string changes each in that whole time. Summer, winter, hot cold, even a move up from California to Washington. Never needed so much as a truss rod adjustment, even when trying 9-46 or 10-52 string sets. And then my new Tagima strat showed up nearly in proper tune, but needing a truss rod adjustment because of some buzzing on the 3rd fret on a couple strings.
big myth! but i have noticed that to get really, really bad warps out (like warps that aren't just along the one dimension a truss rod is designed to combat- ie torquing/twisting warps) you need to make measured adjustments and let the guitar be for a week or so in a good humidity room. then come back and do another adjustment, repeat until good. playing and tuning regularly in between seems to help a lot also. (i've gotten some pretty bad warps out this way in used electrics). most just need routine maintenance, time, and some good old fashion practice usage.
I've never had problems adjusting my truss rod to exactly am where I want it. It's just that after a while, it might need another tweak. But it doesn't take weeks. After this, it hardly need to ever be adjusted again unless I change string gauges. I think I've inly needed to adjust a neck again after 6 months due to the climate changing.. maybe once or twice... and I've always had over 25 guitars in my posession at a time for over 20 years... but I also have lived in humid climates for most of that time.
Well there's some reasoning behind that when applied to older guitars. If the neck on an old Gibson had been in one position for 50 years the Truss rod won't immediately change the neck relief it might take around 6 hours or so. Now that's not 24 but in some cases I'm sure a neck continued to move after the initial adjustment for a day or so
A truss rod adjustment may not produce instant results; neck relief can take over night to stablise. I recently set up a 5-string bass with new strings and it played perfectly when it left my hands a day later. A week on and it was unplayable because the strings buzzed so badly. Who knows how long it took the neck to move, but it was definitely more than 24 hours, so if you are doing super low action give the neck time to respond to changes in truss rod tension. Myth not busted.
Lindsay Rowlands The myth is that you have to let it sit there without playing.. resting. In fact, if you play it, you might get it to settle faster. Still, most instruments tend to settle pretty quickly unless something drastic has changed like string gauge tension, temperatures, etc, or the neck is just not very stable...maybe even an old instrument. Luckily, I haven't had these problems. If you have a problem, it isn't that difficult to fix. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or have a doctorate in physics to do it.
A few myths I hear constantly from beginners, and even seasoned players sometimes (I teach Swing and Blues Guitar Workshops). "My fingers are too short, so I'll never be able to play well" "I need a nylon string guitar because they're easier to play" (nothing that a week of practice on a steel string won't cure). "If I change my pickups I can sound just like (insert famous guy here)" (The same pickups can sound vastly different on different guitars. I learned this from my friend Rob Turner, who is founder, CEO, and owner of EMG. And, of course, playing technique can make pickups & guitars sound extremely different as well). "My guitar won't stay in tune, so I need new tuners" (proper tuning and string installation would fix that). "This is a REALLY good guitar. I know because It stays in tune for weeks" (maybe in your house, but not in the real world) "Locking tuners will fix my tuning problems" (Very doubtful. Proper tuning technique is all-important). "If I get a (insert famous player here) signature guitar, I'll sound like (so and so)" (playing technique again, and people tend to forget that an amp is half of your signal chain)
If you cut your strings under full tension you should wear eye protection or make sure the strings can't fly out and poke you when all that tension is released.
Sort of related, I've been told that tightening the strings can help adjust a warped (hyper-extended) neck...This doesn't sound right to me. Is the neck, with truss rod, really so weak?
Re: Myth 2: Not only is the cargo section of an airliner (aka lower lobe) pressurized, it is also heated with the same air in the main cabin. The cabin air flows into the lower lobe prior to recirculation or venting to the outside.
“Floyd Roses don’t stay in tune”. In my experience, this usually comes from players who don’t have theirs set up right. Usually it’s players who just aren’t into the whole 80s whammy thing, so they don’t take the time to explore what it’s realy capable of. In-store examples can be a factor too. I’ve played some pretty horrible setups in stores that, if I didn’t already own one, could put me off Floyd Rose bridges forever.
A real Floyd Rose, when well set-up, will stay in tune very well. But to get to the well set-up stage is a fucking pain. I never really got the hang of it, and my friend, who is a luthier and guitar tech, he absolutely hates working on Floyd Rose bridges. As he jokes "I'll pay you to not have to set it up".
i never liked Floyd Rose, and ive set them up for several folks. As a Jazz player, i don't have much call for dive bombing. They are great at holding tune to be sure, but the majority of owners don't know what to do with one. Still, it is a preference, which is legit. i don't tell anyone to remove theirs. i just set them up and turn them loose. They often return when its time to re-string. For those who love using it, it is fine workmanship, and wont let you down. Its just not on my pallet. ":^D
Love the blue Lace Sensor strat hanging in back. I have an 85 MIJ w the Lace pups and its probably my favorite sounding strat. Love the videos thanks for the knowledge......
@@MintyCoffee I have owned many epiphones and a couple of Gibsons, no doubt the Gibsons are a far superior instrument. They may not be set up correctly when you get em, but once you get it to your liking, the Gibson Les Paul is a top notch instrument..... My guess is that you don't own a Gibson either.
My local FedEx in Roseville California will not accept a guitar for shipment unless you state that the strings have been loosened. I always tell them "yeah, sure,,," and they have never opened the box to check. They tell me it's company policy based on their research. Since all manufacturers ship their guitars in tune (or close), I wonder who they researched.
I’ve had 20 plus guitars shipped in tune . Only one got messed up. It was a poorly packaged dean ml from China. My buddy thought it was cause of string tension. It was poorly packed and those crazy headstocks. Was cheap so I didn’t even send it back I just fixed it and took off all the paint and scalloped the frets. I may have lead poisoning now though
I've purchased two guitars off Amazon and both were shipped in tune with the G string just slightly out of tune when they arrived. Mind you both were delivered by FedEx and their delivery being "better" than the USPS or UPS is no myth!
Here's a myth that I just took as a truth to this day, but know it could be nonsense and just haven't cared enough to test it like science. It works for me so don't see why change now: When tuning the guitar it's best to go from flat to in-tune than from sharp to in-tune. To the point where if a string is sharp, I lower it down to flat, and then tune UP to pitch. It's supposed to help the guitar keep the tuning better.
That can be a factor in some cases. A quality nut which is set up properly should allow the string to move smoothly over it without binding, but a less-than-ideal nut will be very prone to hold for awhile and then slip if the tension on the peg side is looser than the tension on the bridge side, but less prone to slip if the peg-side tension is higher. Ideally, though, the string should slide smoothly enough for that not to be a factor.
+Jimmy Parris Unless you have a really bad plastic nut that was cut for much thinner strings than what you are using, the amount of tension that could "leak" across the nut to the headstock side while playing is relatively small. Compare the length of those parts of the strings, nut to tuning peg/nut to bridge. But that isn't so bad. The human brain finds slightly flat notes less dissonant than slightly sharp notes. It's all about taking up slack in the gears of the tuning machines.
Thank you for dispelling the tube myth - that was one I thought was true. On shipping guitars tuned - a friend and I flew to Galveston TX from Dayton OH in December in 1992 - we did not detune our guitars. My Alveraz 12 string broke 3 of 12 strings; his Washburn thinline snapped the headstock. Both guitars were in SKB flight cases and we just checked them as luggage. Our guess is the extremely low temperature of the luggage area contracted the strings. It costs nothing to take 2-3 turns off the strings before shipping it. I've taken guitars to Europe and the Carribean this way without incident since that one trip. Even if its "safe" according to the airlines I'd rather not take the chance.
Tungsten lamps (bulbs) for professional video lights usually come with a piece of sponge in the box that you use to handle the lamp. The lamps get hot enough in everyday use that the oil from your fingers will cause the lamp to fail. Amp tubes don't get that hot.
You should talk about your thoughts on people using curing oils versus non-curing oils. People use linseed oil instead of lemon oil and some people think lemon oil is bad because “it’s acidic”. They must think people put lemon JUICE on their fingerboards. Lemon oil is NOT lemon juice. So many opinions, so little time.
So many that are UN-Scientific as well! I'm tired of opinions from meatheads that aren't backed up with some scientific fact especially where something like using lemon oil and my fretboards are concerned. Besides who is using lemon oil on the fretboard every time they play?
Jep, just scented mineral oil. The next problem is that there IS "real" lemon oil and some people look for it and use it for their instruments...and that one is really bad for the instruments. So if they want to use it, they need the fake one. The linseed/olive oil guys...boy..."I used it for years"...and they don't know that it can get rancid and really mess up the guitar. The other thing is the fire hazard. Look up "linseed oil +spontanous combustion"...some houses were burnt down by experienced woodworkers cause they left the rags lying around and they just start to burn.
crush537: Yes it’s mineral oil with a nice scent. But it’s a non-curing oil which is a better choice than linseed oil. I have just used mineral oil for years, much cheaper.
Biggest Myth I know of is that if you have a passive guitar like a Strat with 3 single coils, you can create a ground loop by connecting a ground wire to all 3 pots and the shielded pick guard they are mounted to. Both are on the same ground plane. As someone trained in both electronic theory and guitar this is total bullshit. You can't create a ground loop within a single ground plane environment. It will not create hum, it will not create noise. If you are hearing hum or noise either your bridge isn't grounded or you are just hearing normal 60 cycle hum from a tradition single coil pickup. But it has ABSOLUTELY Nothing to do with a ground loop, but I hear it all the time. I have seen this on so many guitar wiring websites and videos it drives me nuts. The implication that putting a jumper between all three pots is bad is completely false.
I've travelled 4 times between the United States and India. Once with a telecaster in the cabin, twice with an Epiphone s600 superstrat in the cabin and once with an Alvarez electric solid body bass in the cargo. All 4 times the guitars stayed in tune. I even remember taking out the tele in Heathrow to pass the time. I still own the bass its still fine.
As for carbon-comp resistors, Dave Hunter makes a statement on that issue in his "The Guitar Handbook" book. In high voltage circuits carbon comp can make a slight tonal difference. In pedals, it makes no sense to use them, though.
Carbon resistors, or any other reistors, have no tonal properties. Carbons resistors are the most noisy ones so it's better to avoid their use in some critical parts of the amplifier. That's the myth origin.
hand wired sound much better than pcb boards. there's less crap to interfere with the signal. you do definitely get more of an "immediate" tone if that makes sense
@@melvynobrien6193 Why should something outside the signal path make a signal sound better? All power becomes DC before entering any amp stage in the signal chain. Solid state parts are more efficient btw.
point to point is just build better more robust there are no chances of a bad connection or bad solder that's why in the end it may sound better pcb if it's build well it also sounds good carbon resistors have a noise but in a guitar amp it's described as warmth or sweetnes in a hifi amp metal resistors are better
especially steel string acoustic guitars. The slightest change in temperature makes all of the strings go out of tune. Temperature changes have a far lesser effect on the tuning of a nylon stringed or electric guitar.
I have seen acoustic guitars that dried out and cracks developed in the thin wood. I've not seen that on electrics, although I'm sure it could happen if the wood got dry enough.
Some other myths: Plugging a bass into a guitar amp will fuck up a guitar amp Taking all the old strings off when you re-string your guitar will mess it up You can't use certain pedals with certain amps
nut and bridge slots are cut for specific gauges of strings, good idea to have your guitar adjusted by someone who knows what they're doing if you use different size strings than the manufacturer's spec, probably need a new nut if you're switching more than one size up or down, could also have bridge issues, and you'll obviously need a new complete set-up
Here's one I wanna know. Is it true that when tuning a guitar, you should always finalize the tuning by tightening the peg, rather than finalizing the tune by loosening the peg?
You are supposed to drop below the note and then tune up to it. If you don't, your strings will remain a little loose. The comment above explains it, but it's something all guitar teachers should be teaching.
@@RainStickland Also i would reccommend to tune up the ones that are loose first. The ones that are a little too high tend to be a little loose after that. Sometimes you dont need to tune them down.
@@search895 That's especially true if you have any kind of tremolo system. I don't, thankfully, because I hate having to tune all the time. It's also more true when you're tuning the heavier strings first. The thicker the string, the more it pulls the neck forward.
@@RainStickland I been using tune o matic type guitars for some years. Some of them are so well built they are in tune days after las playing session even if they travelled by car in their case. I usually do that tuning routine when i have to anyway. I'm willing to start using tremolo guitars again because i miss rhe possibilities and tricks of the bar. I have floyd rose or stetsbar in mind.
@@search895 I need to intonate mine still, but my Ibanez stays in tune better than my Jackson. It's got a monorail bridge, so each string has its own bridge, basically. It's also a multiscale, which probably helps, and I can do bends on that without a huge problem, but I also locked my strings when I put them on (until I can afford Ratio tuners for both guitars). I haven't done that with the Jackson yet. They're both basically new still, and I'm working them in.
MYTH: Smashing your guitar on the stage floor a la Pete Townshend is bad for tuning
not if u have an original floyd rose. I tested it
Not true if you have a tele too
Absolutely fine for a Steinberger. It'll still be in tune.
I had a 87 mij squire and threw it about 10ft up and it landed flat , no tunning problems whatsoever.
Prove it
Watching with the volume off. Why is he destroying that tube with his bare hands at 1:30
John Hanks smh.
You were awesome in Cast Away!
😄🙂
Fellow no-volume kiddo, that's a tube? I thought it was a weird looking lightbulb.
Very underrated. You, sir, are a genius.
Myth #2: need a better guitar.
Truth #2: Need more PRACTICE
TRUTH!
You don't need a $1000+ guitar, but you do need one with decent action and intonation at least.
Truth #2a:Need even more practice 😯
Mr.SmithGNR Smith What did you own before?
A lot more true these days than it was 30 years ago. A crappy guitar was a fight most guitarists lost back in the 80s. They make decent stuff at reasonable prices now. When I was 15 I had a copy of a BC Rich Warlock (some 'brand' called Series A). It was a nightmare. It rattled so much I heard it in my sleep. I bought a decent Jackson 7-string for less than $300 CDN, but I'm also getting a better Ibanez 7-string because the tone and feel are totally different. Not really because there's that much quality difference (other than ergonomics, which Jackson isn't very good at).
I speak from experience when I say fighting with a guitar is the surest way to get someone to quit. I did for a really long time.
Guitar myth: learning to play guitar will get you a girlfriend.
I'm so lonely guys
I feel your pain man
Have you considered lower standards? Just saying
maybe in the 80s that would happen but not today my friend...
Cristiano Salgado I have a girl yet I am not really great at guitar
From my experience unless your playing top 40, only guys show up to a gig. If no chicks are there even the guys leave. Also let’s say you do play guitar and start getting some action eventually one is going to stick and it’s going to cut into your guitar time. Just saying as a happily married man of 12 years, I don’t play like I used to.
Myth #23. Buying a 4K Les Paul makes you an awesome guitar player. Damn! I should of purchased an Epiphone. 😂
@M. S. ...paid attention in grammar class?
Why stop there? You can get a First Act from Walmart for a fraction of what a high end Epiphone costs. Buying a 4k Les Paul Standard is significantly more than necessary, and you're right it won't make you awesome. Buying a quality Epiphone, or even a less expensive Gibson, can help you learn faster though. (Same examples for Fender USA, Mexican Fenders and Squiers.) The advantages are: 1. If you enjoy looking at and holding the guitar, you're more likely to be willing to practice. The mid to high end guitars give you this. My LP is a work of art, playing it makes me happy. 2. If you're playing a properly set up and in-tune guitar of that same mid to high end sort, it will stay in tune and set up. And 3. When you hear awful noises coming from a mid to high end guitar, you can know without doubt that the problem is the player, not the guitar.
I bought a Yamaha Pacifica 14 years ago. Package deal, guitar, gig bag, Peavey amp, strap, patch cord. $150. I bought a Hal Leonard book and hacked at it for a couple of months. Then put it away for about 4 years. Picked it up again, bought more books, hacked some more for about 6 months. Was actually playing some songs, but I went through a time where I couldn't play for a while. Then 2-3 months ago, I picked it up again (after about 10 years). The time in storage had caused problems with the guitar. Even with new strings, it wouldn't stay in tune. The output was low and dull, and resulted in only being able to play on high gain...no clear tones. And the tones were just ugly. I'm fairly sure it's a bad pot or two. Anyway, I'm at a point where I could afford to buy a nicer guitar, and I did it. Under 2k, Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro. Maple arch top, minimal relief (heavy!), wine with stainless hardware, binding all around, satin back and locking tuners. I also invested in a decent tube amp. The result is that when I practice, I use clean settings, and I'm not only learning to play guitar, but to HEAR when it's right. Now when I hear sour sounds, I KNOW it's me, and I can try to find out where it's coming from.
Should have
@@TheScottJeter, d'ya think your dynamite info might be a bit overwhelming for a "starter, beginner"? But you sure know the stuff! I should "have" known! But you do know that you can find treasures at a "reliable" pawner. You're an o k guy!
Shoulda
Awesome video!
oh my god you´re famous
Hey there
Didn’t expect u here
Omg hi paul
Hi paul
Myth #1: Having a guitar makes you a guitar player/musician.
myth #2. Being able to play guitar makes you a musician.
So true lol
Edgy.
Well...playing the guitar makes you a guitar player, and a person who plays a musical instrument, by definition, is a musician. :p
Andrei Grozea - A musician is someone who knows how to play, also known as a player... Anthony Braxton is a musician, although he played some
"unlistenable" stuff... I mean, the man is a genius... And so were Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band...
Having a primadonna attitude is actually very endearing to bassists, drummers, and sound guys.
Thank you for this. I am a luthier and I agree with everything you say. I always tune my guitars before shipping and I have repaired a lot of guitars as a result of dry fretboards. There was one myth I did not know about and it was the first myth about the tubes. I have always used gloves with tubes, I will continue to do that but now only to avoid fingerprints. So Thank you for this great video
I never liked tube amps they sound weak to me
If you take your guitar to the crossroads at midnight, Ole Scratch'll show up and tune it for you.
and change your strings
Then youll be a pro
Chaka Wolf -It's usually my old drunk neighbor Ernest, and when he's finished,he passes out and the guitar sound horrible....damn crossroads😈
not a myth,,, just ask eric clapton...
Ol' Willie Brown!
"A good guitarist will make a cheap guitar sound grand. A bad guitarist cant make an expensive guitar sound even mediocre".
Actually, that's not a myth at all, but entirely true (provided the cheap guitar plays reasonably well)
Guitars are mostly marketing, so true.
There's something to be said about quality gear, but otherwise this is mostly true.
I’d rather hear a good player on a cheap guitar than a bad player on an expensive one.
Guitar myth #1. Everyone at the party will love it if I bring my acoustic an play some wonderwall.
Actually that depends where you are... being from the North of England there are some bars that you will not be allowed to leave... unless you play Wonderwall. This week as soon as my son stood up... WONDERWALL!!!!!!!!! pbs.twimg.com/media/D5zHWSfXkAEOMEK.jpg
There is a time and place. House party? No. Bonfire out in the desert, yeah, bring your guitar. But only if you can sing.
Literally pissed myself laughing at this....
@@danieljensen2626 many people seem to forget that last part... That's why I never bring my Acoustic anywhere except when it's for singing with children or whatever and I'm the only one able to strum more than three chords
Who's Wonderwall ??
When you were pressing on the neck of that Gibson on the floor my toes curled lol
Guitarist myth: “I can tune the guitar perfectly by ear”
I know a couple of guitarists who can tune a guitar accurately by ear. It is a talent that comes naturally though and cannot be taught.
That's perfect pitch my dude. It's rare.
I can...Not :-)
+Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa actually perfect pitch is different. Being able to tune the guitar without a tuner, many people can do this.
I think many guitarists *think* they can. And perhaps it’s good enough for the average listener. But if you actually put a tuner on afterwards, I highly doubt they got it right down to the cent.
One of my favorite debates is the idea of always tuning UP. I have heard people swear that it doesn't make a difference whether you tune down to a note or up to a note in regards to stability and staying in tune. I can shoot this down with simple physics. You should always tune up to a note because of the static friction encountered at the nut, especially if it is not self lubricating graphite. Time and time again I have watched guys tune down to drop D and instead of tuning below and then beck up they tune straight to it. Then after 30 seconds of playing they are flat. Yet they insist it has nothing to do with bad tuning technique. This really only applies to non-locking systems.
This was actually the first thing I learned about playing guitar before even strumming a note. Very important to know!
Music...,
Well hell.........That actually makes sense. THANKS!
ALWAYS TUNE UP. I go a half step down, then back up, before each session.
I have also noticed that my gutars stay in tune much longer when I tune up as well.
Static friction is an interesting concept. It’s real and I deal with it in my work all the time. Static (not moving) friction (things rubbing against each other soo,,, moving). So it’s resistance to movement between things that aren’t moving.
"If you learn music theory it'll sap your creativity and you'll just obey the rules and play mechanically."
I don't know if I actually believed that as such, but I certainly used it as an excuse for why I didn't know any theory.
In the last couple of years I have started to get to grips with music theory and it has definitely had the opposite effect: I am much more creative in my composition, having a greater knowledge base on which to draw. And I still break the rules without any issues. I just know that I'm doing it now.
i think it depends entirely on the person's personality. some people really need rote rules and inflexible axioms for every little detail otherwise their brains explode. music theory requires imagination to use it. I've seen music theory liberate one person and cage others. but to be honest, for the people it cages... they're pretty much hopeless as artists or musicians anyway. maybe they should try accounting! lol (kidding, just because they're not generally creative doesn't mean they won't be popular or successful as musicians). i have noticed that the people it cages tend not to study it formally- ie don't go to school for it. when done right it seems to help waaaaay more often than not. (myself, i was worried that the intense grind/pace of a music education might kill my love of music- not knowing the math- so i stuck with private lessons and youtube videos- just kidding... i mean books. i'm not young enough to have learned theory from youtube)!
Paul McCartney once said that studying music formally might "take all the magic out of it" for him. I don't know if he ever put that to the test, but I do know that the Beatles' famous lack of musical education reinforced the disdain that baby boomer rock musicians had for theory. I fell for it myself, but now I think that if you have the talent and imagination, a bit of formal studying can only enhance your abilities.
For all their inspired amateurism, look at how much the Beatles relied on George Martin.
This argument has always baffled the living shit out of me...how on God's green earth does NOT KNOWING YOUR INSTRUMENT increase creativity, and adversly knowing all you can know make you less creative somehow? This is nothing more than an excuse, usually put out there by those who are either too lazy to put in the hard work or don't possess the mental capacity to learn!
Those relatively few players throughout history that have achieved greatness with zero knowledge to back it up? Chances are extremely good that you're not one of them...neither am I...and since neither of us possess an absurd level of inexplicable natural talent, we can only benefit by hedging our bets and learning as much about the instrument we love as possible, to help us achieve the highest level of musical greatness we can reach!
Maybe you did it the right way. Explore the country, then look at the map. This is the way I did it, and still do! After playing for almost 30 years in ignorance when I do watch some theory guy out of curiously i find that he is just giving names to what I already knew.
I think education is mostly a BAD thing for rock and roll guitar. I'd rather listen to some kid in a garage than Steve V.
crush537
Yeah, I have found that I already knew the theory - I just didn't know the official names for certain things.
The biggest Guitar Myth that I believed for 15+ years, and in retrospect it's quite embarrassing as I told people this for years,
... it was that I was actually good at playing the guitar!
It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect ;)
"You need to learn "acoustic guitar" - aka nylon - before you can pick up the electic. Otherwise you will miss out on basic techniques and conditioning, you will never EVAARR able to adopt / regain later on."
i think this is common for children and i feel that this is single handedly responsible for a 90% reduction in te amount of guitar players around today.
I’ve played guitar for 20 years... i now have 3 young children, two are having guitar lessons at school... they hate the cumbersome acoustics they play there, gave them a 3/4 strat and boom, the practice is fun for them again.
My mom told me this when I first started! She never played before but I just think it was because she didn't wanna hear a 13 year old badly playing Metallica all day.
I mean really, the single most detrimental thing to learning how to play an instrument is losing interest and giving up on it. This is several times more likely to happen if you're playing an acoustic finding yourself bored out of your mind. Learn acoustic if you want to play acoustic. Learn electric if you want to play electric. Learn both if you genuinely want to play both. All "rules" for playing and making music are really just guide lines anyway to make things easier. No point if it works against you lol.
A friend of mine wanted to learn the trumpet. His parents, who never played an instrument, said he had to learn this wooden flute first. Idk, because they have so much in common? Long story short, hated the flute, quit playing anything.
I'm sure "pressure change" is airportese for the baggage handlers used this as a trampoline
Can't believe nobody else mentioned this! first thing on my mind.
Look up "United Hates Guitars" here on TH-cam
The biggest terrible myth I learned just after my high school days: Too many "musicians" seem to think that drugs and alcohol make you into a rock star. That misconception made me eventually want to NOT be in bands anymore.
Not only do people ship guitars in tune, but think of all the guitar techs out there who pack up multiple guitars and shove them onto a truck to go to the next gig, day after day.
Now ask that tech if he wants to detune and retune those guitars every day...
yes - but packed in flight cases instead of paper cardboard
Actually they still do tune those guitars every day and probably change their strings every gig anyway. I've watched a lot of rig rundowns and the average I've heard is around every 8 songs the strings are changed.
"If I buy that $3000 amp rig I'll sound like Jimi"
You will but you won't play like him
Not all drugs are bad for you. Psychedelics are great every once in a while. :-P
Watchman4u I did it all wrong with the 20 menthols in prison-.-
these days all people hear is the quality of your amp or recording. most 'musicians' i've played with can't tell the difference between a skilled player and a glorious amp. nevermind the general audience. a great amp can make chord strumming sound like the hammer of the gods. it's absolutely true.
on the inverse a great Player can make the cheapest of amps (except line 6) and guitars sound like a fine quality instrument. this happened when i was a newbie and a deaf blues lady picked up my plywood warlock (seen in profile pic) and made that baby weep! it was a great lesson for a newbie metalhead.
You can sound like Jimi on a fender frontman. His tone is quite simple
Regarding light strings - True that lighter is easier to bend but think about the opposite. If you aren't trying to bend, lighter strings are harder to use. They sometimes bend when you don't want them to due to imperfect technique.
you also have to bend them further to get to the next half step...
Light strings for 12 string guitars and finger picking on acoustics seems to help me. Even then, I try to avoid bar chords on a 12 string acoustic. And understand that if my 12 sting was a $3500.00 guitar, I might just be fine. But I don't seem to have enough strength for clean sounding bar chords on an acoustic 12. This could also be affected by surgeries I have had. On an electric guitar, I have tried them all. Heavy/light, medium, heavy, and am still experimenting to see what works best. My next string change I'm going to try Elixir Optiwebs 11/49, to see if I like them.
I much prefer the sound of 9-42's, but I'm just too heavy-handed for them, unwanted bends and too many broken strings. Ended up just compromising with 10-46's, a bit hardier without sounding too different.
I put some rev Billy 7s on a strat and holy cow all they do is bend, they practically sag. Won't sit tight over nut angle unless you physically push them down to form the bend. Fun and interesting for leads and melody, but not practical for my rhythmic needs.
I find that with 9-42 strings certain things like tremolo picking are harder because there's more string movement. On my "shred" guitars I've started using D'Addario 9.5-44 sets as a compromise.
Myth: Everyone in the guitar store wants to hear you nail 'Smoke On The Water' before you buy..............
Only if you're Mr Methane.
Liam Whiting you’re a mad man
Crazy train baby. Vomit
My band plays Smoke on the Water, because nobody else does. Nobody else does because they think everybody plays it and people are sick of it. But nobody plays it so how can people be sick of it? People love it when we play it.
2003. I was teaching my gf to play. She could do smoke on the water and the intro to manson’s sweet dreams. We went to out Local music store. She tried smoke on the water on a couple guitars. No one cared.
Well........I’ll give you a fact. UPS & FedEx require you to detune a guitar if you want the insurance you bought through them to pay off on a claim.
Another little known fact is if you pack the guitar yourself, UPS and FedEx will always DENY your broken guitar insurance claim.
The way around this BS is to let a representative of UPS or FedEx (whichever shipping company you are using) pack the guitar in the shipping box for you. If THEY don’t detune the guitar or they don’t pack it correctly and the guitar is damaged or broken during shipping, they will NOTdeny a claim because a representative of theirs packed it!
I learned this the hard way once when FED-EX snapped off the headstock of an SG for me. The claim was denied and I lost $900 on the deal. The shipping company then told me about the rule of a representative packing it versus the consumer packing it. Lesson learned on my part!
Yeah, FedEx broke one of my acoustics shipping it back from Chicago. I had it packed extremely well! Plenty of "fragile" stickers on it as well and it was in a really good hard case inside the box,packed with bubble wrap...They must've managed to throw a mini refrigerator (or something) on top of it because they put a crack/dent in the top. Yeah, they denied my insurance claim even though they had no problem letting me purchase the insurance. Oh, and it was detuned, lol!
Fedex doesn't temperature control their cargo.It's cheaper. They don't ship live animals with their boxed cargo.
Dude, thank you for that shared lesson! I am about to start selling and shipping guitars. This bit of info is priceless for me! Cheers!
Yea... it's not the pressure changes that bother me when considering putting a guitar below in a plane. What concerns me is the "Care" the handlers assign to it. I've seen more than a couple go pretty awry, due to that.
Yep, when baggage handlers see really sturdy, damage resistant, expensive luggage......They take it as a challenge.
@@hayden8491
Yep, I can see the airlines new publicity campaign now:
"SCREW THE FRIENDLY SKIES! We are Honest Airlines; We don't care and we admit it!
Just ask our newest baggage handler. We hired him after the other airline fired him because HE DIDN'T CARE!
He's a lousy worker, but we got him cheap.
Hayden Wade may be bad for your luggage but he's good for our bottom line. See how honest we are!"
So....FLY HONEST AIRLINES AND TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!
Yeah, my acoustic neck got cracked near the headstock, not really sure if it had anything to do with the strings being tuned or not though. But I'm sure manufacturers have different procedures for shipping rather than literally throwing the guitars into an airplane.
Exactly! I've had some shops ship me tuned guitars, other shops shipped them detuned. I never had any problems, but I prefer detuned, just in case. My own theory, with no knowledge about this, is that the wood will be more flexible the less stress it has, so it should be able to take a hit better with detuned strings.
Yeah I'm sure it's happened to others but specifically, I remember a couple of years ago reading an article where an airline severely damaged one of fingerstyle guitarist Don Ross's expensive custom Marc Beneteau guitars.
When I was a wee lad in the 50's I was told not to touch tubes with you bare hands due to the oil, this was 50+ years ago, so this "myth" is very old. I do remember reading that back in the day certain tubes were sensitive to contaminants on the envelope because they operated at very high temperatures, maybe the materials used to manufacture the tubes back then were sensitive to this and prone to fail? I would guess this was true in military applications and carried over to the general public. Apparently now a new myth is it's relating tubes to halogen lamps. Keep them myths a comin'.
So far, the my-guitar-playing-sucks myth has proven to be stubbornly true...
Neal B it’s like that sometimes isn’t it
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this. I'm so tired of dumbasses "demanding" that I ship their guitars detuned, even though I've been shipping 'em for 25 years without a SINGLE issue caused by my packaging.
I received a repair job, a guitar that sat poorly stored & ignored for years. The rosewood fretboard had dried out so badly that it split from one end to the other, leaving a gap of almost 3/16th" in places. Right down the central section of the board. It would have been in much-better condition, if the owner had even just sprayed plain water on the fretboard every year or so. Or even Lemon Pledge, Armor-All, 3-In-1 oil, bike-chain lube, or probably even dish detergent, fer chrissakes.
Placing your face on the body of a guitar while over tightening the strings could result in a poked out eye.
i actually lolled thanx for that one
True, it's happened to me with a bass string on my first ever restringing moment as a teen-ager
I broke a string once, and it stuck into my thumb.
I only place my face on my guitar while caressing it...ooof I’ve said too much, carry on
Yeah...I knew a piano tech that snapped a string that he was tuning and lost an eye.
I think that number 2 also stems from older, or classical, guitars that do not have truss rods. I have heard from some techs that if you are dealing with a guitar that doesn't have a truss rod, it is best to detune when shipping, or storing for an extended period of time. I think it's more important with the storing rather than shipping, but I do believe that this is where the myth comes from. I also could have been completely mislead.
First thing to remember about guitar necks. Most guitars use an adjustable truss rod, even the ones that don't can have some built in tension to counteract the pull of the strings. When the strings are tuned to pitch on a guitar the neck is in equilibrium, that means the forces on the neck are balanced, when you de-tune it you have a tremendous force from the truss rod, OPPOSITE of the string tension. If anything, shipping the guitar DE-TUNED is the worst thing for it, because the neck forces are out of balance.
Mr McKnight; your a man of Wise Wisdom !!!!( This is a Great Channel ! )
One more. "I can't adjust my truss rod myself" Yes, you CAN!!! Just don't force anything, and turn it about a 1/4 turn or less at a time, and move the neck (bend it back and forth a little), and check it. It needs to have a little teeny bit of bow. you can check it by holding down a string at the first and (14th fret for acoustics and higher for electrics,which tend to have longer truss rods). It's a bit harder on some Strats & Teles that have adjusters at the body end of the neck, as you need to remove the neck, so more trial and error.
I was told not to handle tubes with bare hands long before halogen bulbs were the rage. I learned it in electronics school many decades ago - not sure why, but I distinctly remember being taught that. It's just a habit for me - I touch them with bare hands, but I wipe them down. The oil from your fingers will adhere to the glass of the tube - but it wipes off. I wish my electronics teacher was still alive so I could ask him why. Very cool information - thanks!
4:25 *watches D string go out of tune *
11 is louder than 10
Nigel Tufnel says it's true so it must be fact!
But this amp goes to 11 . . .
Well...It's ONE louder, idn't?
The real joke there is that the amp they put the custom knobs on normally has knobs that go up to 12.
Are you doubting our Lord and saviour Niguel Tufnel
The more I watch your videos, the more I think the song from the beginning is the perfect song for the channel. Now every time I hear it I get excited and know that I will learn something In the next seconds. Love what you do!
“You can’t play metal on a tele”
Never heard of that? you can play anything on a tele. A humbucker (bridge) would be ideal though.
One name, John 5.
You can but if you’re referring to the standard model of fenders tele’s they’re really not designed for metal. John 5 and Jim root from slipknot play custom telecasters with humbuckers or active pickups instead of single coils.
Plot twist, you can, seariously you just need to know the songs XD
Now if you wanna SOUND metal, well, go for the pickups
*cough cough* JaReD DiNeS
So my old 80's Randall amp isn't powered by demons, snakeskin and Aquanet??? Yeah, you didn't address this because you know it's true!!!
Seriously though, good vid.
hi VoxofReason....your old 80's Randall has the spirits of ex-Fender California engineers. Man!! I have some fantastic memories of my RSM-150, Randall SwitchMaster, an RG-80 and a RB-60 bass amp that my buddy used in small clubs. Thank you for your comment. It brought back some cool memories. Rock on and Tight Lines!!!
Another one that is sort of similar to shipping a guitar in tune. is storing a guitar in in tune for extended periods of time. some people believe that storing a in tune for extended periods of time. can damage the neck or headstock and others don't. I believe if you think the guitar is going to be stored for an extended period of time. it's wise to back the strings off to a point where is a small amount of tension on them. because the neck is meant to have tension on it. and having the strings backed off some. will cause less stess on the tuning machines, the nut, the truss rod, and the bridge components. after all a person wouldn't want to come back later. and find damage to the guitar.
Guitar myth number - the actuality of the myth goes back much further than the few decades you proffer...Back when stringed instruments (Lutes, violins and the whole shebang) used gut strings, musicians would de-tune their instruments before casing them so as to increase the life of the strings. Unlike today if a string broke you couldn't just pop in to your local Guitar Center or friendly neighborhood mom and pop music store and pick up a new one. And like now, full time working musicians had other things to worry about, like food and lodging. Obviously modern guitars and strings don't suffer from this problem, but it is easy to see how this myth could have survived, especially when one is classically trained. History for the win!
That is a really good point!
You just made that up, didn't you?
True up to a point. I spoke to a lutanist a while back and he told me that his biggest issue was gut strings go out of tune if you look at them the wrong way. Shipping with less tension is good for gut.
Also he let me in on thefact that each of his strings on an tique ten string instrument cost $40+ and they would still go out of tune every other song.
Phil is brilliant, since I started tapping into his vids my whole out look on the guitar world has changed.
Good info. The heavy v light string issue depends on style. I use 9s for blues and country picking styles mainly for ease of bending. Rock / Metal style uses pull offs and hammer ons for speed. Again these are best on lighter strings. For jazz style heavier strings are faster. They provide "bounce" to the plectrum and produce rapid stoccato runs. This applies to bluegrass guitar. I string guitars to suit the style.
Always Wash your hands before you pick up my guitar 🎸🎼
Michael kemper i
DON'T PICK UP MY GUITAR
My guitar...Don’t touch it...don’t point...don’t even look at it...it still has the tag onnit
Haha weird, I make a point to play with super dirty hands. But, I love that shitty worn look. To each his own I suppose.
austindorf83 then I’ll just wave a hello and skip the handshake...lol
My Nana found an old acoustic guitar in her cupboard and took it to her local music store, the people working there said that it would be impossible to put strings on it so she gave it to me to have a look at and I bought strings and they worked perfectly, my Nana then sent a photo of the guitar to a music shop and said “unstringable guitar eh?”
No response from the shop...
X - Doubt.
Doubt
And then they all clapped.
As the others said, the way you say this makes it seem very unlikely to have happened. BUT if it did, the music shop did have a reason to say, at the very least, it's inadvisable to put strings on it. Old guitars, are well, old, and therefore they are much more prone to breaking. If they were poorly kept (Which sitting in a cupboard for years on end would qualify for that) then they would likely be damaged by the tension strings put on the neck, especially heavier strings. You probably just got lucky that it didn't horribly warp the neck.
@Phil McCrevice Also, they probably said something like, "We cannot affordably set up that guitar due to the age and dried out condition of it. You would be better served to buy a nice entry level accoustic." To rehabilitate an old guitar you'd have to rehydrate it, and fix all the problems caused by dehydration. If it was a vintage, collectible guitar, spending $500-1500 to rehabilitate it might be worth it. If it's a 60 year old Sears parlor guitar, shine it up with some pledge, put some strings on it and nail it to the wall. Use the $500 to buy a really nice midrange Fender, Gibson, Yamaha or even Martin acoustic.
Oy my! For the 23 years I owned a mailing service I completely loosened the strings on guitars I packaged and shipped. Some came in with no case or a soft case and I'm happy to say they all arrived with no damage. My business was a few miles east of Tacoma in Washington State and one of the guitars I shipped was a six string The Ventures Nokie Edwards used in the 1960's. I found out about this when I asked the person who brought it in why they wanted to insure it for an unusually large amount for a guitar. I strummed it for a while before I loosened the strings.
Some more myths:
- True bypass is better than buffered bypass
- Analogue is better than digital
- Germanium is better than silicon
You are actually wrong on all three of those.
Sounds like you caught the cool video by Josh on his JHS Pedals channel. He did cover all that as I recall. I played a legendary Germanium fuzz once (or at least a modern day recreation by a major brand), and it sounded terrible, weak and nasal, so I hear you, but some people like it filtered into other devices, etc. Different strokes for different folks, no doubt.
@@colinmcnab6145 Analog can be better than digital in many cases. Depends on quality of the analog device and the result you are trying to achieve. For the average person digital would probably give a better result.
For synthesizers, I can most definitely hear a difference between analog and digital. Analog sounds so much better.
Well they’re all opinions but I guess to you they are true.
Myth: Technology peaked in 1950's.
Zakk Saam I would argue 70s
Well as far as pro audio gear
Technology is always at its peak because it is always improving. But if you were talking about guitar design, yeah, the best guitars were designed in the 1950s. That doesn’t mean that technology was better, just that people were better at designing guitars.
@Jay McDanieL because people want to sound like their favorite bands who used tube amps because there wasn't much else available?
As a guitar builder, I can tell you that beyond a shadow of a doubt that guitars are WAY better now than they were in the 50's. However SOME electronics have improved, while some '50's pickups are still the gold standard. Using the Telecaster (which was the very first mass-produced and successful solid body guitar), as an example, the necks were unstable in the first ones (due to a lack of a truss rod). The three barrel saddles could not be intonated, the ashtray bridges lacked weight (and therefore, sustain). Some of the circuits were horrible. Etc.. Hard to believe that Fender actually re-creates these flaws in their "reissue" models, and even harder to believe people actually buy them. Another example is the earlier Gibson & American made Epiphone ES335 and variants (330, 335, 345, 355, Casino, Riviera, Sheraton, etc.) All these guitars (models with stud bridges) had the bridge studs set either too far forward or too far back (can't remember which). To be properly intonated, either the studs had to be re-set, or have the bridge replaced with the extra wide Schaller style bridges. There were many other changes and improvements thru the years, but these two are pretty blatant blunders!
A bonus like for putting the no smoking advert on. I also dislike the habbit of putting a cigarette on the headstock when playing overtime the nicotine and head can cause damage to the headstock.
Myth No.482 -- People who spend time watching these U-tube videos instead of practicing,, NEVER become good guitar players.
what about during? lol
I got my epi. L.p. in hand now
Pa - Pa D what about watching Bonnie Rotten porn ?
that's true I wacth beginner vids for drummers and turns out I'm a Awsome guitar player compared to them
@@stevestevestevesteve6466 So which is correct, Yutube or Outube?
IMO If you play mostly rhythm it's advantageous to have thicker strings because it's easier to play chords in tune, precisely because the strings are harder to bend.
My guitar teacher told me to practice on an acoustic guitar then play on my electric because bending would be so much easier. He was right. Now I just use 10's on my electric all the time and enjoy it because I've built up the hand strength to do so over time. Chording, note playing, bending - meh it's all the same after a while, bro.
That's true.
@@molochsorcery4357 10's aren't thick. I play with 14's on my jaguar..flatwounds. that'll test your finger strength =D
Another one to research: changing all the strings at once damages the neck. Great vid Phillip!
Myth: When changing your strings, you have to change them one at a time, to keep tension on the neck. BS.
If its a fully floating isn't true?
@@anidemolimacnauj you can put something under the bridge if you want and then take them all off. Although I have a Brian Moore guitar that came with specific instructions to only change one string at a time from the manufacturer. That's the only time I've seen that. It has a crazy thin neck though
Makes me wonder how these people think that a re-fret is accomplished or replacing the tail piece on a Les Paul.
"Thinking" and "reasoning" are lost.
Absolute garbage. I always remove all of strings at the same time. It gives me the opportunity to clean the fret board and polish the frets. It’s also a good time to clean up around the bridge and pickups. When I do restring it, the action and relief are exactly the same as they were before I cut the old strings off.
Guitar myth- if you title yourself a guitar teacher on youtube, it must be true.
Touching halogen lights with your bare fingers *does* transfer oils to the glass that *will* cause uneven heating and blowouts.
I worked as an [resume speak] Illumenary for several years and had to council many teachers on why their projector bulbs were blowing out so quickly.
As a former theatrical electrician/ lighting tech, I know well that you don't touch a high heat producing lamp (bulb) with bare fingers. I've seen the melted glass after one goes bad.
String gauge + scale length does have an effect on how your guitar will feel. 25½" and 24¾" scales with the same gauge strings will feel just as different as say, going between 9s and 11s.
Absolutely and not only that 24 .75 scale will feel cramped at the high frets for some players and the bass strings can lack definition regardless of string gauge. Some guitar reviews don't place enough importance on this. I wish more makers would offer 25 inch scales.
Yep. If you got extended scale like (like 27") with the exact same gauge strings and even same tuning, it will still definitely feel different not just in fret spacing (obviously) but also in how the strings feel as well.
Thanks - very informative, I learned a few things. For instance - I’ve had a tube amp since the 1970’s and I was positive that if I touched the tube then allowed it to get hot the oil in my fingers would cause the tube to crack. And this was long before halogen lamps were so prevalent. Everyone said so - so it had to be true, right? And I wasn’t going to find out for myself. At least I have really clean tubes . . .
Thanks again.
Interesting point. The fact that you heard this before halogen bulbs is worth discussing. I wonder if the same “finger oils not being bad” applies/applied to the giant hi wattage radio transmitter tubes from back in the day. I imagine those babies were much more delicate and sensitive. I wonder what type of heat they generated.
I worked for Northern Automotive in Phoenix AZ. We handled the special orders for Checker Auto's stores, and they paid us for our expertise rather than having a minimum wage worker order parts that would cost them to return them to the manufacturer and piss off the customer after waiting for the right part to be shipped out to them. Anyway we ordered gas shocks from two major manufacturers only to have them arrive with the pressure bladders blown. It turned out that at that time the cargo holds in commercial aircraft weren't pressurized. They wouldn't ship paint cans or any other aerosols because of this, but the idiots in upper management didn't have a clue how gas shocks were made. They went well over a year trying to figure things out when if they would have asked us what the problem might be it would have been solved within a week or two! Thanks for these videos!
Play-ability is also dependent on scale length. A shorter scale length is easier to bend strings, therefore you can go with a heavier gauge string.
William Land: I was told by my instructor, now this is only for acoustic finger style, that having a cut away with a shorter scale length, would help with string bending. He has a s 25.5 Martin, and bought an Artist series Seagull cut away 24.75 scale length. His Martin is a dreadnought, and he wanted a cut away as well. This was his recommendation to me. There was at no time any mention about changing to heavier strings. Do you think this is solid advice?
If the goal is to make bends easier, then going to a shorter scale length but keeping the same gauge, is a good option. If you want a shorter scale guitar to have the same feel as the longer scale, then going up in gauge would accomplish that.
For sure! I remember when i started out i picked up an old guild electric in a pawn shop and it played so well! Later i figured out the scale was 24 1/4”. I miss that guitar. The fat single coil in the neck sounded unlike anything ive heard since
1k likes
11 dislikes
That's how you know you're doing an awesome job.
Oh and fretboard conditioner saved an 1997 Ibanez uv7 ( bought before everybody and their mama had 7strings) after it was in a flood and warped horribly after drying. I religiously added fast fret to the neck every night (like marsha brushing her hair 100 times) and in a month it came back to life and straitened up. That was the best $1506.00 I have ever spent and that includes the 5 cans of fast fret.
guitar myth: more gain equals heavier tone.
No, it doesn't.
guitar myth #2: scooped mids equal heavier tone.
No, it doesn't.
Answer: Just get EMGs.
@@idk4529 No...
Lace Sensors all day
@@88_TROUBLE_88 Either
@@idk4529 fair enough
The #2 myth i think comes from violins. They are known to implode under string tension when transporting them when they get hit quite hard. Therefore most violin players slightly loosen the strings for transporting them. Also the bow is ALWAYS loosened when not being used, but for a different reason.
The pressure part is complete bullshit anyway, a guitar will not react to any noticeable amount to pressure changes, its not an air sealed container. The low or high pressure will do nothing to it. It doesn't even have an effect on instruments like violins and such.
It will on the other hand be an issue for your marshmallows!
Wupme oh I gotta see that..,maybe on here or google, thx I’d never heard that love listening up the.violin or fiddle if you’re amongst us Texans😝😝😝😝
Additionally, both violins and acoustic guitars are known to explode when stuffed with dynamite and/or other highly volatile explosives.
The more you know....
Wupme same thing with mandolins. Tuned the same as a violin and similar scale length
bottles of shampoo or lotion will often 'splode in the cargo area also, or used to, i guess before they began pressurizing the entire plane.
I may be wrong, but I thought the violin thing was mainly about damage to the bridge.
When traveling via airlines Slacking your guitar strings on your acoustic guitar will prevent damage to your guitar face. Upon leaving from the mainland to Hawaii my friend packed his acoustic guitar in its case and had it flown with him. He didn’t slack the strings. On arrival he checked his guitar & notice the body face separated from the side & underside of body just under the bridge. It showed no impact marks. Upon repair it was determined that the stress from the strings in the different environment pressures in the plane & locations caused the damage.
My pick scratches must come from my pick, because my finger nails are wayyyy too short to do any damage. Also, I don't use the shown picking technique.
rcmaster207 hate to tell ya...somebody else has been playing your guitar...notice any marks on your girl too...i know buddy we’re the last to know
Same here. I actually play with my fingers tucked in. Helps me play a bit faster and I don't risk bumping knobs or anything.
BaldAndBarefoot no ukeleles...mandolins...there’s your goto...exotic acoustic...I jest of course or do I
Nathan Seybold tucked in you say...hmm interesting technique...must search this out..my technique is in getting my fingers fucked usually between sets...well if a quickie is unattainable...
I'm a guitar player and I also have a mandolin. Mostly a guitar player.
You really seem like a really nice and kind person, Phil. Love this channel. Cheers from Dominican Republic.
José Dalí Ortega yeah he's a great chap
Not a myth
The legend says that in Dominican republic everyday is Sunday
suparosc02 DR is great for tourists, not so good for dominicans. Minimun wage is less than $200 a month and middle class average is between $400-600. So there's not much money to enjoy our beautiful country.
In the electrical engineering course that I took we were taught that a long time ago touching tubes with your bare hands would damage them but as technology advanced that issue was fixed. I do not remember the exact details such as the date that it was fixed because I took the course almost twenty years ago but I suspect that that is where the myth comes from.
Fretboard conditioning seemed to suddenly become a “thing” when two industry changes happened 1. Guitar setups became a business, not just something people did occasionally at home. 2. Manufacturers started using cheaper, less attractive fretboard wood. No one “conditioned” fretboards before that and vintage instruments were no worse for it. Orchestral string players don’t “condition” their fingerboards. If a 300 year old Strad doesn’t need it then neither does a 3 year old strat.
David Malone nice insight. I think you are on to something with the less attractive wood thing. Oil will make the wood look darker. I personally don't care and have never oiled any of my fingerboard and nothing ever happened
Hear, hear!
Flawed logic. Violins don't have frets that can become loose.
@Rawhide Leather If it's a viola da gamba, you have frets :P
Rawhide Leather - Guitars from the late 1700s on have had metal frets. They aren’t a recent idea and generations of guitarists have played on instruments blissfully unaware of the supposed benefits of fretboard conditioning. On new guitars, poorly seasoned timber can shrink soon after manufacture and fret ends might become noticeable and need to be filed. Fretboard conditioning won’t fix that issue. I’ve never seen a modern guitar where the problem was so severe that a fret became loose. Have you?
1. heavier gauge strings will make you sound better
2. light gauge strings are for the begginers
3. tube amps are superior to solid state
4. set neck and neck trough guitars have more sustain than bolt on guitars
5. guitars with thicker body will have more sustain
Ah, but what about a fixed bridge vs. a trem system when it comes to sustain? That might explain where the bolt-on myth comes from, unless that too is a myth.
The thing about leaving guitars in tune for shipping gave me a chuckle because my classic vibe telecaster and an old korean Encore L6 clone both sat in their gig bags for about 7 years, getting two string changes each in that whole time. Summer, winter, hot cold, even a move up from California to Washington. Never needed so much as a truss rod adjustment, even when trying 9-46 or 10-52 string sets.
And then my new Tagima strat showed up nearly in proper tune, but needing a truss rod adjustment because of some buzzing on the 3rd fret on a couple strings.
Another myth : Having to let your neck rest for 24hours after adjusting the truss rod.
big myth! but i have noticed that to get really, really bad warps out (like warps that aren't just along the one dimension a truss rod is designed to combat- ie torquing/twisting warps) you need to make measured adjustments and let the guitar be for a week or so in a good humidity room. then come back and do another adjustment, repeat until good. playing and tuning regularly in between seems to help a lot also. (i've gotten some pretty bad warps out this way in used electrics). most just need routine maintenance, time, and some good old fashion practice usage.
I've never had problems adjusting my truss rod to exactly am where I want it. It's just that after a while, it might need another tweak. But it doesn't take weeks.
After this, it hardly need to ever be adjusted again unless I change string gauges. I think I've inly needed to adjust a neck again after 6 months due to the climate changing.. maybe once or twice... and I've always had over 25 guitars in my posession at a time for over 20 years... but I also have lived in humid climates for most of that time.
Well there's some reasoning behind that when applied to older guitars. If the neck on an old Gibson had been in one position for 50 years the Truss rod won't immediately change the neck relief it might take around 6 hours or so. Now that's not 24 but in some cases I'm sure a neck continued to move after the initial adjustment for a day or so
A truss rod adjustment may not produce instant results; neck relief can take over night to stablise. I recently set up a 5-string bass with new strings and it played perfectly when it left my hands a day later. A week on and it was unplayable because the strings buzzed so badly. Who knows how long it took the neck to move, but it was definitely more than 24 hours, so if you are doing super low action give the neck time to respond to changes in truss rod tension. Myth not busted.
Lindsay Rowlands The myth is that you have to let it sit there without playing.. resting. In fact, if you play it, you might get it to settle faster.
Still, most instruments tend to settle pretty quickly unless something drastic has changed like string gauge tension, temperatures, etc, or the neck is just not very stable...maybe even an old instrument. Luckily, I haven't had these problems. If you have a problem, it isn't that difficult to fix. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or have a doctorate in physics to do it.
Phil...Excellent content and video. In response to touching the tubes, I wouldn't recommend touching them after eating fried chicken for lunch.
It is now noted. lol
i heard KFC?! lol
There's clearly a story here, and I'd like to know. Lol
sit down my boy, next to the fire, and i will tell you. now get me some chicken
A few myths I hear constantly from beginners, and even seasoned players sometimes (I teach Swing and Blues Guitar Workshops).
"My fingers are too short, so I'll never be able to play well" "I need a nylon string guitar because they're easier to play" (nothing that a week of practice on a steel string won't cure).
"If I change my pickups I can sound just like (insert famous guy here)" (The same pickups can sound vastly different on different guitars. I learned this from my friend Rob Turner, who is founder, CEO, and owner of EMG. And, of course, playing technique can make pickups & guitars sound extremely different as well).
"My guitar won't stay in tune, so I need new tuners" (proper tuning and string installation would fix that).
"This is a REALLY good guitar. I know because It stays in tune for weeks" (maybe in your house, but not in the real world) "Locking tuners will fix my tuning problems" (Very doubtful. Proper tuning technique is all-important).
"If I get a (insert famous player here) signature guitar, I'll sound like (so and so)" (playing technique again, and people tend to forget that an amp is half of your signal chain)
The belief that handling a vacuum tube will damage it has been around a lot longer than halogen bulbs.
Really? I have never heard it before.
Its not Halogen bulbs that you cannot touch, it Quartz bulbs that will burn out where your finger has touched it.
Correct....I was told that in the late 60's.....when I bought my first valve-powered amp
Myth: Cutting all of your strings off at once when changing to new strings can potentially warp your guitar neck.
False.
Sean Macaluso I define before I cut my strings
If it was true then dive bombs would quickly destroy guitar necks.
Detune*
If you cut your strings under full tension you should wear eye protection or make sure the strings can't fly out and poke you when all that tension is released.
Sort of related, I've been told that tightening the strings can help adjust a warped (hyper-extended) neck...This doesn't sound right to me. Is the neck, with truss rod, really so weak?
Re: Myth 2: Not only is the cargo section of an airliner (aka lower lobe) pressurized, it is also heated with the same air in the main cabin. The cabin air flows into the lower lobe prior to recirculation or venting to the outside.
Myth: "Poor people with bad ears dislike Gibson guitar" (according to at least 10 Gibson enthusiasts I've met)
Lol. If you want to play cleans most Gibsons are useless.
Lol i bet you play a schecter or some shit. Gibson rules
@@lgiorgos1 not true at all
@@noahbergman7777 humbuckers don't fit for clean sounds
@@lgiorgos1 they definitely can,its easier with a single coil but ita definitely achievable with a humbucker
“Floyd Roses don’t stay in tune”. In my experience, this usually comes from players who don’t have theirs set up right. Usually it’s players who just aren’t into the whole 80s whammy thing, so they don’t take the time to explore what it’s realy capable of. In-store examples can be a factor too. I’ve played some pretty horrible setups in stores that, if I didn’t already own one, could put me off Floyd Rose bridges forever.
True, a lot of the licensed Floyds are no better at staying in tune than a good nonlocking trem.
I have the Gotoh GE1996T and set up properly it holds tune nicely
A real Floyd Rose, when well set-up, will stay in tune very well. But to get to the well set-up stage is a fucking pain. I never really got the hang of it, and my friend, who is a luthier and guitar tech, he absolutely hates working on Floyd Rose bridges. As he jokes "I'll pay you to not have to set it up".
i never liked Floyd Rose, and ive set them up for several folks. As a Jazz player, i don't have much call for dive bombing. They are great at holding tune to be sure, but the majority of owners don't know what to do with one. Still, it is a preference, which is legit. i don't tell anyone to remove theirs. i just set them up and turn them loose. They often return when its time to re-string. For those who love using it, it is fine workmanship, and wont let you down. Its just not on my pallet. ":^D
Love the blue Lace Sensor strat hanging in back. I have an 85 MIJ w the Lace pups and its probably my favorite sounding strat. Love the videos thanks for the knowledge......
Myth: expensive is better.
Broken Gibsons. Nuff said
You obviously don't have. A gibson... I've played a lot of guitars, but nothing compares to my Les paul
@@GrauFPV He said Gibson, not les paul. A good epiphone les paul will be leagues better than the crap churned out by Gibson lately.
@@MintyCoffee I have owned many epiphones and a couple of Gibsons, no doubt the Gibsons are a far superior instrument. They may not be set up correctly when you get em, but once you get it to your liking, the Gibson Les Paul is a top notch instrument..... My guess is that you don't own a Gibson either.
@@MintyCoffee for the record I have a 2019 lp classic....wonderful instrument, and no regret paying 2500 for it either...
It’s a joke... and it’s funny... wtf
Myth: D minor is the saddest of all keys.
Not a myth! Nigel Tufnel said it, so it's gospel truth!
The people that actually believe that one is true are pretty stupid, especially when considering the fact that minor =/= sad and major =/= happy.
No, it's A minor, of course.
Hey, Scott, just you mentioning Dm started me crying........... :'(
I'm torn.
My local FedEx in Roseville California will not accept a guitar for shipment unless you state that the strings have been loosened. I always tell them "yeah, sure,,," and they have never opened the box to check. They tell me it's company policy based on their research. Since all manufacturers ship their guitars in tune (or close), I wonder who they researched.
I’ve had 20 plus guitars shipped in tune . Only one got messed up. It was a poorly packaged dean ml from China. My buddy thought it was cause of string tension. It was poorly packed and those crazy headstocks. Was cheap so I didn’t even send it back I just fixed it and took off all the paint and scalloped the frets. I may have lead poisoning now though
I've purchased two guitars off Amazon and both were shipped in tune with the G string just slightly out of tune when they arrived. Mind you both were delivered by FedEx and their delivery being "better" than the USPS or UPS is no myth!
Here's a myth that I just took as a truth to this day, but know it could be nonsense and just haven't cared enough to test it like science. It works for me so don't see why change now: When tuning the guitar it's best to go from flat to in-tune than from sharp to in-tune. To the point where if a string is sharp, I lower it down to flat, and then tune UP to pitch. It's supposed to help the guitar keep the tuning better.
Edit: It's true - Look at the Petross explanation
LawrencePetrossDesign I agree. That's why I also consider it true.
Geronimo Egea
That is true. Objectively it's 100% true. That's just the nature of the geared system a tuning machine is based on 😉👍
That can be a factor in some cases. A quality nut which is set up properly should allow the string to move smoothly over it without binding, but a less-than-ideal nut will be very prone to hold for awhile and then slip if the tension on the peg side is looser than the tension on the bridge side, but less prone to slip if the peg-side tension is higher. Ideally, though, the string should slide smoothly enough for that not to be a factor.
+Jimmy Parris Unless you have a really bad plastic nut that was cut for much thinner strings than what you are using, the amount of tension that could "leak" across the nut to the headstock side while playing is relatively small. Compare the length of those parts of the strings, nut to tuning peg/nut to bridge. But that isn't so bad. The human brain finds slightly flat notes less dissonant than slightly sharp notes. It's all about taking up slack in the gears of the tuning machines.
Thank you for dispelling the tube myth - that was one I thought was true. On shipping guitars tuned - a friend and I flew to Galveston TX from Dayton OH in December in 1992 - we did not detune our guitars. My Alveraz 12 string broke 3 of 12 strings; his Washburn thinline snapped the headstock. Both guitars were in SKB flight cases and we just checked them as luggage. Our guess is the extremely low temperature of the luggage area contracted the strings. It costs nothing to take 2-3 turns off the strings before shipping it. I've taken guitars to Europe and the Carribean this way without incident since that one trip. Even if its "safe" according to the airlines I'd rather not take the chance.
Myth: The right gear will make you sound like Brian Setzer.
Super light strings aren't easier for me to play at all. I end up bending chords out of tune because I'm used to the resistance of 10's.
Tungsten lamps (bulbs) for professional video lights usually come with a piece of sponge in the box that you use to handle the lamp. The lamps get hot enough in everyday use that the oil from your fingers will cause the lamp to fail. Amp tubes don't get that hot.
You should talk about your thoughts on people using curing oils versus non-curing oils. People use linseed oil instead of lemon oil and some people think lemon oil is bad because “it’s acidic”. They must think people put lemon JUICE on their fingerboards. Lemon oil is NOT lemon juice.
So many opinions, so little time.
So many that are UN-Scientific as well! I'm tired of opinions from meatheads that aren't backed up with some scientific fact especially where something like using lemon oil and my fretboards are concerned. Besides who is using lemon oil on the fretboard every time they play?
Jep, just scented mineral oil. The next problem is that there IS "real" lemon oil and some people look for it and use it for their instruments...and that one is really bad for the instruments. So if they want to use it, they need the fake one. The linseed/olive oil guys...boy..."I used it for years"...and they don't know that it can get rancid and really mess up the guitar. The other thing is the fire hazard. Look up "linseed oil +spontanous combustion"...some houses were burnt down by experienced woodworkers cause they left the rags lying around and they just start to burn.
Mineral oil. It's lemon oil without the lemon, marketing team and high price.
crush537: Yes it’s mineral oil with a nice scent. But it’s a non-curing oil which is a better choice than linseed oil. I have just used mineral oil for years, much cheaper.
Biggest Myth I know of is that if you have a passive guitar like a Strat with 3 single coils, you can create a ground loop by connecting a ground wire to all 3 pots and the shielded pick guard they are mounted to. Both are on the same ground plane. As someone trained in both electronic theory and guitar this is total bullshit. You can't create a ground loop within a single ground plane environment. It will not create hum, it will not create noise. If you are hearing hum or noise either your bridge isn't grounded or you are just hearing normal 60 cycle hum from a tradition single coil pickup. But it has ABSOLUTELY Nothing to do with a ground loop, but I hear it all the time. I have seen this on so many guitar wiring websites and videos it drives me nuts. The implication that putting a jumper between all three pots is bad is completely false.
I've travelled 4 times between the United States and India. Once with a telecaster in the cabin, twice with an Epiphone s600 superstrat in the cabin and once with an Alvarez electric solid body bass in the cargo. All 4 times the guitars stayed in tune. I even remember taking out the tele in Heathrow to pass the time.
I still own the bass its still fine.
Myths?
Point-to-point wiring sounds better than circuit boards.
Carbon resistors sound better than metal film or some other type.
As for carbon-comp resistors, Dave Hunter makes a statement on that issue in his "The Guitar Handbook" book. In high voltage circuits carbon comp can make a slight tonal difference. In pedals, it makes no sense to use them, though.
Carbon resistors, or any other reistors, have no tonal properties. Carbons resistors are the most noisy ones so it's better to avoid their use in some critical parts of the amplifier. That's the myth origin.
hand wired sound much better than pcb boards. there's less crap to interfere with the signal. you do definitely get more of an "immediate" tone if that makes sense
@@melvynobrien6193 Why should something outside the signal path make a signal sound better? All power becomes DC before entering any amp stage in the signal chain. Solid state parts are more efficient btw.
point to point
is just build better more robust
there are no chances of a bad connection
or bad solder
that's why in the end it may sound better
pcb if it's build well
it also sounds good
carbon resistors
have a noise but in a guitar amp
it's described as warmth or sweetnes
in a hifi amp metal resistors are better
Acoustic guitars are more susceptible to temperature and humidity fluctuations. I think this is true?
especially steel string acoustic guitars. The slightest change in temperature makes all of the strings go out of tune. Temperature changes have a far lesser effect on the tuning of a nylon stringed or electric guitar.
I didn't know that. I've played few nylon string guitars. I do like their sound though.
That should be true if compared with solid body guitars.
I have seen acoustic guitars that dried out and cracks developed in the thin wood. I've not seen that on electrics, although I'm sure it could happen if the wood got dry enough.
Aye it's good ole Jim Morrison from The Doors
Some other myths:
Plugging a bass into a guitar amp will fuck up a guitar amp
Taking all the old strings off when you re-string your guitar will mess it up
You can't use certain pedals with certain amps
Awesome vid, would love to see more guitar myths debunked!!
thewebspinner yeah I hate bunked myths😜😜😜
Myth 1000: you can re-tie/glue a broken guitar string together.
nut and bridge slots are cut for specific gauges of strings, good idea to have your guitar adjusted by someone who knows what they're doing if you use different size strings than the manufacturer's spec, probably need a new nut if you're switching more than one size up or down, could also have bridge issues, and you'll obviously need a new complete set-up
Here's one I wanna know. Is it true that when tuning a guitar, you should always finalize the tuning by tightening the peg, rather than finalizing the tune by loosening the peg?
You are supposed to drop below the note and then tune up to it. If you don't, your strings will remain a little loose. The comment above explains it, but it's something all guitar teachers should be teaching.
@@RainStickland Also i would reccommend to tune up the ones that are loose first. The ones that are a little too high tend to be a little loose after that. Sometimes you dont need to tune them down.
@@search895 That's especially true if you have any kind of tremolo system. I don't, thankfully, because I hate having to tune all the time. It's also more true when you're tuning the heavier strings first. The thicker the string, the more it pulls the neck forward.
@@RainStickland I been using tune o matic type guitars for some years. Some of them are so well built they are in tune days after las playing session even if they travelled by car in their case. I usually do that tuning routine when i have to anyway.
I'm willing to start using tremolo guitars again because i miss rhe possibilities and tricks of the bar. I have floyd rose or stetsbar in mind.
@@search895 I need to intonate mine still, but my Ibanez stays in tune better than my Jackson. It's got a monorail bridge, so each string has its own bridge, basically. It's also a multiscale, which probably helps, and I can do bends on that without a huge problem, but I also locked my strings when I put them on (until I can afford Ratio tuners for both guitars). I haven't done that with the Jackson yet. They're both basically new still, and I'm working them in.