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Post by Eddie on Jul 20, 2014 7:27:56 GMT -7
Tone is important, no doubt. But I think intonation and vibrato really make the guitarist, and the only cost involved in improving both is the time spent practicing.
It is a mistake, imo, to disregard the need to pay attention to intonation just because we have frets - it is still an issue that a good player knows how and where to play a given note to get the best intonation. They greats also listen to the context and band and are constantly adjusting their touch to get the best intonation from every note.
Vibrato should not simply be a "one size fits all" approach, with the player using the exact same type of vibrato for each note (or chord for that matter). A player's vibrato contributes a ton to his or her voice on the instrument. We ignore the development of it to our own loss.
Nothing we all don't already know - just a reminder to myself more than anything. Eddie
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2014 9:14:03 GMT -7
Intonation; that's why I play high end guitars. A good set up can only go so far.
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Post by Eddie on Jul 20, 2014 19:44:55 GMT -7
Intonation; that's why I play high end guitars. A good set up can only go so far. Yes! A good guitar set up well is important. I agree. But I am not really speaking of intonation in that sense, i.e. having your guitar's intonation permanently set up before playing by a luthier, or by yourself. . That's important, but I am driving at the player's control over the instrument's intonation while playing. Pressing with the correct amount of force on the fretted string, stopping bends when reaching the proper pitch, and the ability to make adjustments on the fly for drifts in pitch that the player detects mid-song are all on the player - not the guitar. It takes a good ear and control to really master that stuff. And I am no master! I only have average relative pitch anyway, but I try to work on it. It's an area guitarist's can overlook because they think they have frets and proper set up, so they figure that's all taken care of before they pick up the guitar to play. Those things are very helpful, but they are not enough. I have heard too many players who cannot bend up to (or who bend just slightly past) the proper note when bending, or who fret too hard and pull their notes sharp. (I do it, too!) And I'm not talking about "style" where a player is intentionally playing a bit out. I can make allowances for that. But such intentionally "bad" intonation is rare. Bad intonation, in the sense I am talking about, is due to laziness, and when you really start listening for it, you hear it everywhere. I think we have to take a lesson from our friends who play non-fretted instruments. A violinist is forced to master the intonation at all times while he plays. They must listen and correct constantly, and I think the best guitarists do the same in spite of the fact that they have the "crutch" of metal bars spaced out across the fretboard. :-) Eddie
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Post by The Bad Poodle Experience on Jul 21, 2014 13:28:32 GMT -7
kind of like the ol' Starkist ad.... tuna that tastes good versus tuna's with good taste. who wants to hear a guy with great tone who can't play in tune.
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Post by randalp3000 on Jul 21, 2014 13:42:16 GMT -7
Because I work in/own a guitar store this totally drives me nuts and I hear it all the time. My ears have become very sensitive to this along with the sound of clunking guitars.
Don't hate on me but one in particular that drives me crazy is Nels Cline. Great songs with wonderful tone but can't seem to play in tune to save his life. Makes it almost un listenable.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 15:30:55 GMT -7
tuner in the phone has been a great thing for guitar stores. I can't evaluate an out of tune guitar. And yes, it's in your hands and your ears. I'm glad I played trumpet all those years. Band director could pick the one out of tune person in room with 80 players.
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Post by The Bad Poodle Experience on Jul 21, 2014 15:43:36 GMT -7
and, if you don't have a smart phone handy, a land line dial tone in the U.S. is tuned to F.
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Post by rcrecelius on Jul 21, 2014 17:35:18 GMT -7
This is one reason why I choose to play small vintage frets on my guitars...I just can't get along with the jumbos, I always pressed em too hard and I don't play enough nowadays to try to learn any different.
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Post by Eddie on Jul 21, 2014 19:01:49 GMT -7
This is one reason why I choose to play small vintage frets on my guitars...I just can't get along with the jumbos, I always pressed em too hard and I don't play enough nowadays to try to learn any different. You're right - that can really be an issue sometimes. One thing about me that I have a VERY hard time overcoming is that I start to do everything harder when I play live. I don't gig a lot like some of you guys, but almost every time I do, at least for the first set or half hour, I will exert double or triple the effort needed to do anything on the guitar, and my playing suffers. I pick too hard. I strum too hard. I press the strings down on the frets like the Hulk. Seriously, it gets ridiculous. Even though I don't gig a lot, I do PLAY a lot and my fingertips are usually in good shape with callouses. After the first set, I will notice my hands feel sore and I'll look at my left hand fingertips and notice the callouses are half torn off. WHAT IS MY PROBLEM!? Too much caffeine pre gig, maybe? :-) Happened just a couple of weeks ago. I played acoustic guitar at a wedding - did the entire ceremony including a half hour of playing solo while people arrived and found a seat. It took all I had to get through that without seizing up completely. Fortunately, I was able to keep repeating to myself to lighten up my grip on everything and do OK, but I was still more tense than I wanted to be. At least I knew to be aware of it beforehand and that helped. Eddie
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Post by Sean on Jul 22, 2014 12:38:48 GMT -7
Great topic. I have really been working on my playing lately - specifically my bends. Improving my ear has helped too.
What's killing me lately are dried out hands and cracking nails - the dry CO weather has been tough to adjust back to. I love playing with my fingers as much as with a pic and it has been rough.
"Always take time to moisturize"
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Post by Pete aka shouldb on Jul 23, 2014 2:32:03 GMT -7
When Clapton was asked if, after all these years, does he still practice, he said "only my bends........ I need to practice my bends, every day" 'nuff said.
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Post by simpleton on Aug 3, 2014 19:53:11 GMT -7
Sometimes it's the tone that drives us to intonate and develop techniques unique to us. It's the ear that pushes most of us to practice and play and I think that having better tone helped me to notice the out of tune/bad bend or vibrato ect... more. The Z's have been the most rewarding for me in revealing my own ear and getting me understanding what i do and don't like.
Alot of early blues/rock seems always a little out of tune and I'll be damned I like it anyhow.
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