Guitar Nerds Anonymous

I want a bass player and a drummer for a cunning plan.

"A cunning plan" sounds like a middle aged rock band

In.

So after about three years (I've forgotten exactly when I started...) of weekly evening classes at London Met I've finished my guitar - I've not had loads of time to play with it but it sounds pretty good.

It's built from plans for a Martin 00 with a spruce soundboard, rosewood back / sides / head, mahogany / ebony neck, maple binding, the odd little piece of walnut for decoration and inlaid with Paua shell dots and around the soundhole.

The actions still a little high, I'll hopefully be getting that lowered with my tutor (Godefroy - http://www.mjsguitars.net/ - who's both a lovely guy and incredibly generous with his time and sharing of his knowledge) over the next few weeks.

Really crappy phone pictures, I might take some more some other time and update this post. Hopefully these will embed...

From this, c.June 2009:

to this:

"A cunning plan" sounds like a middle aged rock band

In.

Ha, yes it sounds like a bunch of fat bearded pub wankers playing 'all along the watchtower' .

But that's remembering the middle aged bands from when I was 17, these days the best rock bands are middle aged.

Actually there's nothing cunning about this plan, nor is it really a plan. I just want to jam with other middle aged musicians with low aspirations

Brilliant, Chris! Hope mine turns out half as well as yours.

Cheers Ben! It should do, I was a long way off being the most competent builder there :) I've picked up plans and templates for a through neck Firebird, to be built in the shed / garden if it ever stops bloody raining...

Ha! Tell me about it! All my projects are on hold because it pisses down every time I step into the garden.

Hi all, just after some advice really.

I've been playing since I was about 12 (I'm 22 now). I was bought an electric to begin with and had weekly lessons for a good 6 or seven years with a great teacher who I really got on with. After a few years I bought myself an acoustic because I started to prefer the natural sound and the way it lended itself to being used for solo singing/songwriting. I also bought some recording software and a microphone and produced a few tracks that I'd written, focussing on meaningful lyrics with fingerstyle guitar and some lead guitar. The feedback from my friends was good. I intended to find a female vocalist and maybe a drummer (something like tablaa or a box drum, not a modern drum kit) and do a few gigs but it never happened because all my time went into university work and the associated social life of living as a student and I sort of forgot the guitar.

In the last 3 of years I've rarely played for more than half an hour at a time (there's been one song that I still haven't finished writing that I've been working on for this entire time!). A few people have said that I should try to get back into it because I have some talent but I find it very hard. I've been 'stuck in a rut' before, but this feels more like a valley.

Any ideas for how I can get a bit of that early enthusiasm back? Could it be I need to make a conscious effort to play with other musicians and if so what's the best way to do that? I used to do some jams with another guitarist but we were on completely different wavelengths about the styles we were into so that failed pretty quickly and sort of put me off playing with other guitarists. Maybe someone on a different instrument would be better?

You can rock the jams with moi.

Hi all, just after some advice really.

I've been playing since I was about 12 (I'm 22 now). I was bought an electric to begin with and had weekly lessons for a good 6 or seven years with a great teacher who I really got on with. After a few years I bought myself an acoustic because I started to prefer the natural sound and the way it lended itself to being used for solo singing/songwriting. I also bought some recording software and a microphone and produced a few tracks that I'd written, focussing on meaningful lyrics with fingerstyle guitar and some lead guitar. The feedback from my friends was good. I intended to find a female vocalist and maybe a drummer (something like tablaa or a box drum, not a modern drum kit) and do a few gigs but it never happened because all my time went into university work and the associated social life of living as a student and I sort of forgot the guitar.

In the last 3 of years I've rarely played for more than half an hour at a time (there's been one song that I still haven't finished writing that I've been working on for this entire time!). A few people have said that I should try to get back into it because I have some talent but I find it very hard. I've been 'stuck in a rut' before, but this feels more like a valley.

Any ideas for how I can get a bit of that early enthusiasm back? Could it be I need to make a conscious effort to play with other musicians and if so what's the best way to do that? I used to do some jams with another guitarist but we were on completely different wavelengths about the styles we were into so that failed pretty quickly and sort of put me off playing with other guitarists. Maybe someone on a different instrument would be better?

Write something in an hour, or just in one go. Just knock out something and go from there. I never intend to write anything, yet I often come up with ideas, not necessarily anything great. The secret is never to actually sit down and think what you want to write beforehand.

When you pick apart any record it can seem unoriginal, it's not the parts it's how they come together. You have to let it free. I don't write much but when I do it's the last thing on my mind.

First off, don't worry. No one is forcing you to create. I have had songs that took a few minutes to write and some that took years.
Listen to more music. Listen to bands you have never heard before. Listen to styles of music ou have never heard before.
Play another instrument. Learn piano or cello or something. Give your fingers and brain something else to work on.
Keep a phone with voice memos about your person at all times. I've written some good songs based on melodies or situations I dreamed, ones that came to me as I made a cuppa, or ones that happened at work. Hum them and record them. Some will be shit on the second and third listen, but some will be worth further work. I sometimes get one riff for a chorus and then months later get one for a verse.
Get new virtual instruments, samples etc. sometimes one new sound is enough to fire those neurons.
Put yourself in a new and uncomfortable situation. The brain cannot create when everything is all fine.
Buy a capo. Try it out on different frets to fire the imagination. Try different tunings
Relax and RTFO.

Oh, and join a band.

Any ideas for how I can get a bit of that early enthusiasm back? Could it be I need to make a conscious effort to play with other musicians and if so what's the best way to do that? I used to do some jams with another guitarist but we were on completely different wavelengths about the styles we were into so that failed pretty quickly and sort of put me off playing with other guitarists. Maybe someone on a different instrument would be better?

Don't force it. You can't switch creativity on and off like a button. You need inspiration, it usually helps to find some new music you are really impressed with, or rediscover some old music you used to like, go see some live bands, check YouTube vids. Think about any songs you've always wanted to do a cover of...
Don't rely on others, play with a bassist/drummer/piano/whatever by all means but don't make them responsible for your output.

So after about three years (I've forgotten exactly when I started...) of weekly evening classes at London Met I've finished my guitar - I've not had loads of time to play with it but it sounds pretty good.

It's built from plans for a Martin 00 with a spruce soundboard, rosewood back / sides / head, mahogany / ebony neck, maple binding, the odd little piece of walnut for decoration and inlaid with Paua shell dots and around the soundhole.

The actions still a little high, I'll hopefully be getting that lowered with my tutor (Godefroy - http://www.mjsguitars.net/ - who's both a lovely guy and incredibly generous with his time and sharing of his knowledge) over the next few weeks.

Really crappy phone pictures, I might take some more some other time and update this post. Hopefully these will embed...

From this, c.June 2009:

to this:

Amazing.

So after about three years (I've forgotten exactly when I started...) of weekly evening classes at London Met I've finished my guitar -

Excellent work. How about a soundcloud link so we can hear it?

^ Guitar looks seriously GREAT.

I've met Godefroy... lovely chap.

+1 to soundclips when you get it settled in.

Thanks for the kind comments on my guitar :)

I'll post a clip of it, but I'm an awful player (I'm basically not much better than a beginner), so I might wait until I get it in the hands of a mate of mine, who is pretty competent - be nice if it's put in the hands of someone who can make it sound as pretty as (I think!) it looks at least once in it's life...

Stairway to heaven will do...

Pretty happy with my bedroom setup, just decided I 'need' an octave pedal though. Doh!

Nice Junior Rob, is it coil tapped?

Nice Junior Rob, is it coil tapped?

It's a 'les Paul melody maker' not a junior, although essentially the same thing it has a 491 instead of single coil. Single volume pot.

£230 for an actual USA made Gibson, the finish is abysmal but it has good parts and sounds and plays brilliantly.

^^Those Gibson MM's were top value. Nice workingman's pedalboard too. I'm after a Pedaltrain Mini to mod if anyone's got one...

i got this fender squire bass last november for my birthday as i wanted a change in instruments. It plays lovely, and as a result, a real joy to play. The serial number on the neck plate also dates it back to 1984, which is pretty cool!

Let me help.

Nice bass. One of the early ones with the big Fender and the little Squier. A lot of these 'lost' the "Squier" bit over time and got sold as regular Fenders, which is why they switched to big Squier/little Fender.

Tah for that and also for the correction of the spelling :). The man i got it off was an awesome bassist, such a great collection of them too. He sold a rickenbacker for 2 grand which had to be one of the most gorgeous guitars I've ever seen. Very jealous whoever got it. Id be cool to play with other people sometime though, I once tried with a friend, but our music tastes are very different

Lovely bass. Is that a DiMarzio pickup? 1984 sounds a bit late - a Squier with a JV serial number and the big 'Fender' logo and little 'Squier' should be from the spring or early summer of 1982, not 1984. The date code should be printed on the butt of the heel, if you want to take a screwdriver to it. What's the serial number?