The Guitar Thread • Page 58

Anyone know about replacing or fixing pickup leads? My dumb fuck ass accidentally cut the lead wires too short on the neck pickup on my favorite set of humbuckers (not in production anymore so I can’t just order a new one) and I’m low key panicking I just bricked my pickup

 

Unfortunately I don't know iIonce did that but thankfully it was on the stock one I was yakingt out and never used again anuway i get so nervous everytime imI'stripping the leads on a nwe pickup

 

can’t you just solder new leads?

 

Yeah, if you buy some equivalent core cable and some heat shrink or something, you could just extend the leads again. There's nothing special about the wire used particularly.

 

Something I brought up on r/guitar the other day: Does anyone know a person who was taught to play all downstrokes as a beginner? Downstrokes can offer a unique sound, but I'm sure it's dangerous to constantly play like that because of the stress it puts on your wrist when you try to play faster, and of course it's limiting technically. I'm getting more comfortable with alternate picking now but for most of my life (I'm 28 - started when I was six or seven with a bunch of breaks in between) I played downstrokes and no one ever looked and said "What the fuck are you doing?" I'm just curious if anyone knows someone who learned this way.

 

I never downstroke strummed only but for yhetfirst couple years I played iIonly did down picking. Took a while to unlearn that although i will still downpick only on some shit depending what's going on. Ur right tho fast down strumming definitely has a unique sound instantly makes me think of the ramones

 

Yeah I go in and out of the style I grew up with (all downstrokes, no pinky, thumb at the side) for certain intervals, and try to play my new way (alternate picking, pinky activated, thumb further back) in other sections. I like the new way better in a technical sense but when I want to be creative it's easier to play the old way for now, since it's what I'm more comfortable with despite how limiting it is.

 

I only downstroke because I suck

 

I only downstroke because I rule

 

I only upstroke

 

I wish I had the patience to learn good finger picking technique

 

I've thought about that too. Is it how you were taught from the beginning or did you learn this later on?

 

I was just kidding. I do both strokes. I got better at upstroking by practicing chord transitions, following a rhythm, and following a metronome. Then came hitting the upstrokes on the offbeat.

 

Ha should have known you were joking but now I'm wondering if there's anyone who actually plays like that.

But yeah, starting slow with a metronome and gradually increasing the tempo is how I've been going about it.

 

I literally can’t upstroke

 

Idk if this is bad technique or not and have never thought to ask anyone else:

when you are transitioning from one chord to another, do you guys play and open stroke while changing chords?

Idk if that makes sense, but if I’m in 4/4 and hitting eighth-note strums and I need to go from one bar of C chords to a bar of G chords, I almost always play 7 counts of the C and then a count of open strings to transition to the G.

It’s basically hardwired into my brain and I’ve been using 3 free months of Fender Play for the fun of it and realizing that when they teach chord changes they just play the chord for the whole count change with no open strum at all and I cannot reprogram my brain to change lol

 

i wouldn’t say it’s necessarily good practice but it isn’t the worst way either

 

I watched a video of Josh (ex-RHCP) covering Not by Big Thief and noticed he did it for that song. I’ve been watching more and more players and trying to see if they do the same thing ever since it dawned on me that I could be doing something wrong.

 

just to be clear, you're talking about doing this, right? (first example that came to mind haha)



because I feel like if you're doing power chords or playing metal/punk where some dissonance and off-sounding notes are okay, it's not really an issue. but I'd work on getting out of the habit if you're doing it in any other capacity, especially on acoustic.

it takes getting used to but I don't think it's a very hard habit to break.

 

Yeah that’s what I’m talking about and I don’t really have an issue doing it with power chords or any chord that has to do with shifting the same chord shape. It’s mostly a habit when I’m going through a chord change that results in either a very different chord shape.

It’s just one of those things where I never questioned whether it was common or not because it was just how I taught myself to play early on and never broke the habit. But yeah, should be easy enough to unlearn.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with that and I feel like most guitarists do it. However you want to be sure that the open notes are in key with the progression. What matters is how does it sound?

 

I feel like it’s not super noticeable since it usually only happens at high tempos and often times I find that I still manage to hit the root note of the chord in the offbeat before completing the chord in the next downbeat

 

Not sure if anyone is interesting but I've been digitizing and downloading digital copies of all the guitar tab books I own as well as trading with others to build up my collection. If anyone is interested, I can post my list.

 

Ah man. I'm getting near the end of the finance on the last guitar I bought and I'm really hankering for selling a few things and buying something new.

Got my eye on some sort of 335 type centre block hollow body. Currently eyeing up the Eastman T486 or a D'Angelico Deluxe DC (although they are quite expensive).

 

I just found out about this kid a couple days ago and I can’t stop watching his videos. Fucking awesome