Guitar

Steve,

A solid top is a must - otherwise the guitar will sound awful. But a solid wood body is also a big step up. The Seagull bodies are all laminated wood - not necessarily always bad - but never as full sounding as a solid wood body.

 

A good magazine that has articles and tablature is Acoustic Guitar. When I made the transition from playing metal to acoustic, this magazine was very helpful. When you subscribe to the magazine, you get a code that allows you to access all of the guitar lessons on their website, www.acousticguitar.com

Just remember, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and cast it from you, for it is better to enter into heaven with one eye than to enter hell with both eyes. If guitar playing interferes with your walk with God, as it did with mine, toss it. You will never regret it.

 

Yes a solid top does make a huge difference.
The seagull for $350 still cant be beat as far as I can tell. The Alvarez. Dean, Fender, Takamine and everything I played in the same price range didn't compare in sound.
I worked in music stores in Oh and Ca and sold guitars when I was younger, boy that was a long time ago, and some expensive guitars sounded good and some didn't. Alot of time you are paying for name also.
All I can say is go play and listen for yourself. A good pickup system can make an acoustic sound good when you plug in.

 

One more thing.
I recorded with producer Bobby Harts acoustic guild guitar in a studio in California and a good studio and a good engineer makes a huge difference.
He had me record my parts with a normal set of strings and then restring with the 12 string set of high strings and its one of the best accoustic sounds I've heard. I never heard of nashville tuning (I think it was called) at that time but I guess its pretty common in the studio. The guitar seemed like a pretty good guitar but nothing real expensive but they made is sound good. I was young and dumb and a rock and roller at that time in 1993.

 

Have fun and congrats!

 

KenH,

You'll love your Blueridge. My Blueridge BR160 is nothing less then awesome. And those are great selections for videos.

BTW, what kind of picks did you order? Those thin floppy ones wont do for flatpicking. You will need really stiff ones. So stiff they wont bend. At least 1mm. I use Clayton brand picks. The ones made of the "ultem" material. ("Claytun Ultems") 1.07 mm thickness.

Good luck!

Mike

 

I got a couple of Happy Traum's videos. Good choice. :thumbs:

 

I have one, also. An old VHS tape, I believe, where he ran thru the very basics.

Ken, if you are going to play strictly bluegrass, my advise would be, learn the A, C, D, E, F, & G chords, along with A minor, B minor, D minor, and E minor. (You'll NEVER use the B chord, or most of the other minors, in bluegrass) Learn how to switch between these chords without losing the beat of the song, and buy a good capo. These chords & the capo will allow you to play just about any bluegrass song, in any key. If you are with other folks, look where they put their capo, & copy them. Unlike folk music, grassers are usually polite, & keep our egos in check, and we are thrilled when someone asks us how we do things.

I've been pickin' guitars for 34 years, and I learn new things all the time. As far as picks go, I use custom made steerhorn picks, made on a local farm. Tortoise shell picks can run you $50, and they need to be filed now & then, but the steerhorn picks cost $5, use them for about 3 months, and buy a new one.

 

I like the Dunlop "Tortex" picks - 1.14mm!

 

Just keep mashing them, they'll stop complaining sooner or later.

 

Hi guys,
Just found this discussion. Really interesting. I've been itchin to get a guitat and start pickin' for a while, but don't know when it will happen.:tear:

Poncho, is the Gibson Hound Dog a Dobro, or a gitar with a resonator?

 

Dobro is a trademark awarded to the Dopyera Brothers, who made resonator guitars early in the 1900s, and is now owned by the Gibson company. Dobro has come to mean any resonator guitar, but is usually reserved for the squareneck resonators, which you play on yer lap, in an open tuning (G or D, usually). Roundneck resonator guitars are played like a regular guitar, usually in standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning.

That being said, the Gibson Hound Dog is a fine instrument, and a whole bunch of fun to play.

 

I play 2 Dobros. My primary one is a Gold Tone Beard Signature Maple Deluxe. Its my best Dobro. My "back up" Dobro is a Regal RD52 Black Lightning.

Here they are. Gold Tone Beard on the left. RD52 on the right...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h276/Bluegrassmusician/Guitars008.jpg

And here is my primary guitar, my Blueridge BR160...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h276/Bluegrassmusician/Guitars.jpg

Mike

 

If you are new to the guitar I suggest you focus on learning the chords and rhytym to begin with. To be able to play like Norman requires a great deal of talent and God given ability. Remember how to eat an elephant, one bite at a time. I love the guitar and have been playing since '89. If someone has already advised as I did I apologize ahead of time. I just found this thread and read the OP, then responded.

 

This weekend I came across a mid-'60s Harmony Monterey Arch-Top guitar. It was only $400, so I whipped out the VISA, 'cuz I had to have it. I had a ball this weekend playing it, and am very excited to add this great guitar into my collection. It has a very loud mid-range, no top, and very little bass, more of a percussive tone. Not much of a bluegrass instrument, but will fit in nicely with the more jazzier songs we do.