posted
Well, I decided I needed a hobby....call it a mid-life crisis or just for plain 'ol fun....so went out an bought a Fender Standard HSS Strat (Chrome Red - Mexico) and a Fender G-Dec 30 amp amplifier...
The Amp has a ton of drum/instrument background loops, etc so that you can feel like you're playing with a band....and you can record/import your own loops......and record your guitar stuff too.
Lots of neat guitar effects built in....
I should have asked beforehand....but I plugged a strat into this amp and was really impressed with the sound.
So, should I play Mary Had a Little Lamb with the Blues effect or the Metal effect Hahahahahaha.
Actually, I played a very small part of a simple chorded version of Highway to Hades by AC/DC....
Here's what I got....did I do ok, or would you have gone a different route?
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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Now some day you may go looking for those vintage vibes and subtle untouchable tones of a '50's strat and a Deluxe Reverb, but that could set you back a few(read thousands of) bucks. And once you want that, you'll want a Gold top Les Paul, a 335, a 6120, a DuoJet, White Falcon, and a plexi Marshall, an AC30, and of course you'll need an Echoplex, and one good echo won't do so you'll want a Watkins Copycat and a Echolette, and a Leslie, and a talk box and a Vox and a Crybaby wah wah.
-Mary Had A Whaa?
Since computers got in the manufacturing process, the less expensive guitars are really very playable. That amp will also likely have alot of great settings.
Now if you listen to that guitar side by side with a '50 strat you'll definitely want the old one. The one you've got sounds like a strat, but there is a world of difference in the pickups and the type of wood and the character of the wood that makes the old ones magic.
Still I think you done good. The only thing I would have gotten different is I would have opted for the 3 single coil pickups vs. the humbucker in the bridge position.
The important thing is you're going to have fun. Just always keep playing.
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Thanks Dusty....I can tell you've got some serious experience under your belt....
Tell me a little about the 3 pickups verses the layout I ordered (I just ordered it today - they didn't have it in stock...so it will be a couple weeks...I could change it if I needed to I guess)
I was thinking the extra pickup would make it more "rocky"....but I don't know jack.....give me the skinny on pickups and why you'd prefer the other setup.
Thanks!
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
That's great you will enjoy it. Music is a great hobbie, I picked up the bagpipes about two years ago. I find it a great stress release plus I can clear a room in 20 seconds and enjoy some quiet time to myself.lol
posted
I'd just prefer it because that's the original Stratocaster layout and the combinations are going to sound more like a Strat.
In the beginning there was the single coil. Gibson came out with their humbucker(two opposite polarity single coil pickups wired together to cancel out electrical hum). It produced a stronger signal also with which you could more easily overdrive an amp to distortion(distortion pedals and preamp gain controls are later inventions to simulate this). After a while people tried to get that beefier sound out of a strat by installing humbuckers. But by doing that they moved away from the original Stratocaster layout.
Also originally Stratocasters only had 3 way switches one setting for each pickup, but people figured out if you get right in between the positions you get a different sound that's really cool, so that's where the 5 way switch comes from. You can still use the neck and middle combination to get that sound, but with the humbucker in the bridge position, you can't get it from the middle/bridge combo.
It's all subjective, so there's no right or wrong. If there had been a 50 year delay in figuring out the 3way-5way switch development, there would be purists that would trash the 5 way and consider it the worst sound ever made.
posted
Hi Todd, It sounds like you have yourself a pretty cool set-up After years of telling my wife I don't know what I want for Christmas, I decided to ask for guitar lessons. Its something I always wanted to try, but never had the time. I could always plunk out a few cords here and there, but people can only take the intro. to Smoke on the Water for so long. Being in my late 40s, I decided I need something different than just paint and deadlines. I think you'll find it to be a great thing to do at the end of the day or just to unwind. I knew if I took some lessons I would have a better chance of sticking with it. I'm just in the process of going the electric route also( and my wife thought all my paint and brushes were a pain.) I'm just trying to make up my mind between a Stratocaster or the Gibson Studio. Good luck on your new hobby. Remember, if the neighbors aren't complaining, your not playing loud enough.
[ February 21, 2007, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: Rick Janzen ]
posted
Now you need to take that guitar apart, gold leaf it, pinstripe it and give it a custom look! (Like all the guitars at our house. Some of them two or three times ) Boys and their toys! See our web page...guitars...have fun!!
My guys spend hours, playing and enjoying. It's a great hobby and has been a wonderful passion for all of them! Joe even bought all the parts and made his own bass. www.carvin.com
You should see Ricky Jackson's guitar!!! Alton did quite a job on IT!!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
cool stuff Todd, and when you get your Mac you'll have even more fun with the GarageBand program, recording and composing in the digital world (you can plug that Fender directly into the Mac too).
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Have fun playing it Todd, But yes with your talent lets be seeing some artistic love put on to that red canvas.
-------------------- Sam Staffan Mackinaw Art & Sign 721 S. Nokomis St. Mackinaw City, MI dstaffan@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1697 | From: Mackinaw City, MI | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
The only thing I could add Todd is "Wow, what a great setup!" I started with a cheesy little no-name guitar with the strings about 3" off the fretboard, and an amp that had at least 5 watts of pure power unleashed thru a single 4" no-name brand speaker. The amp had all the controls you could ask for: on/off, volumn, and tone! I've had the stack Marshall and that was cool but I've never regretted the double (small) Fender amps setup that I have. I run my signal thru a digital signal processor and it splits it into stereo out to the two amps. Until I plugged in at the Dixie meet, I hadn't touched my guitar in about 2 years, much less practicing chops or scales so it was pretty embarassing. I actually used to be pretty darn good; I played the lead on all the Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, James Gang, Grand Funk, TYA, and several other good bands.
I can only imagine the pure fun of setting a good 12 bar blues backup and sitting for hours and hours improvising riffs. I don't think practice could get much more productive than that. Get the chords down and move on to scales; that's where it really gets fun. Pretty soon you'll have forgotten Mary had a little lamb and playing Eddie Van Halen chops.
I wonder what a humbucker would sound like in the neck position? I think you'd get a really sweet mellow tone. I should have brought my '67 Gibson Trini Lopez (I bought it new in '68); it's the most bluesy sounding instrument I've ever heard. It's a lot like a dressed up 335; 7" maple, neck-thru body design, diamond holes, 6 in-line tuners (replaced with Schallers but still have original Klusons), and trapeze tailstock.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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I ended up taking Dusty's recommendation and picked up the Strat with the 3 single pickups....they had that one in stock...whereas the other one I had them order and it was going to take two weeks to get it....
So, it'll look like the website pic above, except for three single pickups instead of the HSS setup.
I left the guitar at the store and am having them put the white pearl pickguard on - - - I was afraid I'd screw something up or run a scratch across the finish with a screwdriver if I did it myself.
So, I'll be picking it up tomorrow.....
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Sorry about that Todd; just plug in "Altonized guitar", posted by me, subject only, in the search tool.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
With a little pracice, you'll be sittin' in with me and Ricky and Dusty and all other hacks and and make some noise at future Letterhead meets. Shortreed plays too and there are plenty more. Doug Allen is great on the drums.
It is more fun than humanly possible -- jamming with Letterheads. We may only be able to accomplish making it through 1 or 2 songs, but we have enormous fun trying. It's like "How about this one!!....
I think you did real good on your purchase. Fender's are great fun. They're by far and away the most popular guitar and most copied. When you get real good and have the green you can always get an American Strat, Gibson or Paul Reed Smith.
As far as amps go, my main amp is a Peavy Black Widow tube amp, that will blow you, me and the dogs off the farm, but it's too heavy for me to lift so it sits in my jam room at home. What a waste. I had a little Marshall that I blew at the Dixie Meet. It was on its last lap. I need something more practical. What you've got looks real good. How heavy is it?
I hear Mesa Boogie makes a powerful studio amp with big sound. Do you get Musiciansfriends magazines?
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2108 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Looking up the specs of the amp ... man, you're gonna have to learn to play the amp so you can play along with it. To many bells and whistles for me ... plug it in, turn it up, make noise. I'm sure you will have fun with it. Learn to read tabs (easy way to learn to play songs) ... powertabs is a great program for play-along tabs.
Next on my list is an acoustic bass. (not stand-up) We have a few guitars, some basses (what we play), a number of pedals and lots of watts but nothing you can really play in a blackout. Was at Guitar center one day with the kids, couldn't find 'em after finishing my business. They were doing a little session in the acoustic room... now I want one... someday
-------------------- Compulsive, Neurotic, Anti-social and Paranoid ... but basically Happy Posts: 2677 | From: Rochester, NY, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Yeah, Mark, tabs are kewl! Beats the hell out of playing a song over and over to get chords and lyrics.
I tried showing my boys how to play via chords and they almost gave it up. Finally one of them said, "Hey I just want to learn this one song." It required learning bar chords. But he learned to play songs with bar chords first and then learned regular chords. It was backwards from how I learned, but hey whatever works for you.
Like Ricky said, his first guitar -- the string stood 3" off the neck and it probably took all his strength just to make a sound. A lot of people make that mistake with their first instrument, because they don't think they're worthy of the expense of a really good guitar. But sometimes the inexpensive guitars are so difficult to play, that the person will get frustrated and give up. Fender has made sure those Mexican knock offs are easy to play and they make decent sounds. You're not going to have a problem with your equipment.
You might need to learn a song right off the bat to keep your interest up.
I have found that there are literally a gazillion songs that use just 3 or 4 chords. Good lead guitar players play notes in boxes and use all their fingers. They practice playing scales in a finger movement that resembles a box. There's definitely a logic to it all.
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2108 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Hey thanks guys! for all the comments/advice...
I'm really looking forward to this....I have had a couple acoustic guitars in the past - sold them both - and took lessons for about a year about 13 years ago....
So, I know some chords and can play the first 3 seconds from about 6 songs - hahaha - but I blame my lack of following through on my dream/desire on the fact that I had a young family at the time, full-time work, committments, etc.
Well, now the kids are grown up...daughter in college-moved out, my son is graduating H-school this year and I'll have more time on my hands.
No more excuses....time to have some fun.
The other thing is I let a few people in the past talk me out of an electric guitar...saying that I really needed to "learn" on an accoustic.
Well, I really wanted to make noise with an electric....you know, the whole *I wanna be a rock-and-roll star* fantasy....
This go round - I'm getting what I want and am going to make some hellacious noise...even if it breaks some windows and sends everyone running plugging their ears....it's all about the fantasy....hahahaha.
Edit: Bill - the amp shown is very light and very small....I enlarged it in the pic above so people could see it better - - - it's really not in proportion to the guitar at all.
If you get on Fender's site and click on the G-Dec amp...there are some videos of a guy playing the amp in a bunch of it's different modes, with and without a background beat - and it has a gob of "effects" built in for different sounds: rock, blues, Latin, etc....it seems like it would be a great little lug-along amp.
They made it originally in a 15 amp version - I opted for the 30 because I want to scare away the squirrels.
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I've got a beautiful Taylor accoustic sitting in it's case, never ever played. It's a fabulous instrument but I'm just not the accoustic kinda guy. I know I look like a mild-mannered business guy, but inside I look a lot more like Mark than Bill. I'd love to have long hair again but I'd probably look like some old homeless guy, LOL.
Todd does the volumn on that amp go all the way up to 11?
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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I giggled when I read that Ricky! "...but inside I look a lot more like Mark than Bill." If you would have seen Bill "back in the day", even before I met him, he had long hair down to his belt. We are both just old hippies!! Far out, man!!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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) Boys and their toys! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
See our web page...guitars...have fun!!![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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