Any Guitar Players Out there? (page 3)

James Brown

I took guitar lessons in the 60's and learned many chords.

I never learned a power chord or never saw one.

I played in bands all my life and never saw a power chord until the 21st century.

Another thing... power chords are usually what a piano player plays with their left hand. When you are playing "bassy" notes you need a lot of speration between them so they don't clash. If you play a full three note chord all in the same ocative in the first couple octaves of the piano it will probably sound bad. Play the same chord up a bit higher and it sounds great. The lowest 3 or 4 strings on a guitar are considered "bass notes".

James Brown

I saw the kinks live many times

and they could never play their hits and sound good like the record.

They must have been playing power chords live.

When I see someone playing a power chord the sound like the record is not there something is missing.

That is why I never played them and figured those who used them did not know what they were doing or had

a tin ear.

I have encountered guitarist in the 2000's that I play with that cannot play chords.

All they know is bar chords and they are always the weak link in the band.

In fact the only reason they are in the band is because they are the band leader.

James Brown

When I play the piano.

I dont use power chords either, I just use the bass.

I just use one bass note and play chords with my right hand.

James Brown

I am sitting here and using bar chords the full chord to play you really got me and it sounds just like the record,

I tune to drop d and play it with power chords and it does not sound like the record.

I submit that when the kinks recorded you really got me they used full bar chords.

Then when they toured and lip synced on tv they used power chords.

Because it is strenuous and challenging to play full bar chords and Dave was sloppy and lazy on tv.

But the record sound is bar chords

The van halen record sound of you really got me is power chords and it sounds like a power chord

something is missing.

little_Socrates

Just a hint.... it is very possible they had studio musicians working on their records :) It is kind of an open secret that a lot of bands did this in the 60's and 70's.

James Brown

Just a hint.... it is very possible they had studio musicians working on their records :) It is kind of an open secret that a lot of bands did this in the 60's and 70's

I know that.

They had someone who knew what they were doing.

And it sounds like it.

There have been rumors that Jimmy page played on the kinks early hits.

And I suspect he played the chords and the solo.

little_Socrates

Jimmy Page is my hero when it comes to guitar! I just love the fact that he could rock so hard on an acoustic guitar. Everybody else playing the same type of music was playing electrics. Aslo he is used the ENTIRE fretboard. He played lead and rhythm at the same time. Most gutiar players have a few signiture riffs or styles, once you know them you can sound just like them. On the other hand.... every time I learn a Jimmy Page guitar song I learn something new about my instrument. Aspiring guitar players would do well to study his work.

James Brown

Little socrates. What kind of guitar do you have?

I started out in the 60's with a cheep Japanese guitar, "St. George"

I was able to find it or one like it on ebay this past year and buy it back.

Then I got gibson sg with a paf paf pick up and a whammy bar.

I played that through my school days and in my early bands.

I had about 10 guitars by the time I turned 25 and wanted to find one guitar for the rest of my life.

My research led me to a Fender Stratocaster because my idol Jimi Hendrix played one.

I still have it and spent a lot of time with it.

Since then I started collecting gibson les pauls, Rickenbackrs, Fenders, Ibanez.

Now, I have started assembling building guitars from kits and also buying Stratocaster bodies

relicing them and beefing them up with hot pickups, better bridges and locking tuners.

My favorite guitar right now is white strat with a rose wood neck. I went with rose wood for the jeff beck srv experience.

Most of my strats are maple necks. I put in lace sensor pickups with a wilkenson tremolo. I have not broken a strink yet

its been about 6 months. Thats a long time for me. I have broken stiring on bass guitars.

For the past several years, I play without a pick like jeff beck. There was a time when I could never have considered that.

Today I am working on a torched strat body that started out with brown sunburst i am putting in an emg prewired pickgaurd.

Locking tuners a wilkenson bridge and a graphite nut. The body looks like SRVs guitar

I do a lot or recording I have mixcraft 6 and 7 and pro tools.

little_Socrates

I have an old Hondo acoustic guitar. It was probably from the 60's. It has a two ply front pannel and no truss rod. I didn't know untill I had it worked on it was a cheap guitar when it was made! The tech didn't want to work on it becasue he told me I could get a better one for a hundred bucks. A good friend of mine rescued it from a yard sale and reconditioned it for me to learn on. This same friend commited suicided a while latter so it holds special sentimental value to me. Even though it is a "cheap" guitar the tone is fabulous. I have tried other guitars but I would probably have to spend thousands to get a better tone.

I also play a Washburn AB95 a giant semi hollow body 35" scale 5 string bass. I learned bass because everywhere I go there is already several guitar players. Often I am better than the other guitar players but nobody seems to play bass. I love playing guitar if I am the only guitar player but that is almost never an option for me. When I play bass I get the whole low end all to myself :) (Do I sound like a snob?)

Any Guitar Players Out there?

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