Do you have a guitar that highlights your poor technique?
 

Another member who has the same brand guitar as I do mentioned when he first got his Avalon that it was harder to play. I immediately thought, it must be the setup and mentioned that. He said no, it is actually just harder to play, it takes more work.

So I scratched my head over that one, but didn't let it stop me from evaluating Avalons online. I decided to buy one and I'm really happy about the robustness and tone of the guitar. The one drawback is.......

its harder to play. :D

And it's really kicking my butt a bit. I was just recording myself in a practice session and on playback I hear every little movement, finger on string (not squeak), hand movement on back of neck, right hand fingertips on wound strings, etc, etc

Then I recorded the same thing using my D-120ce (about a $2,000 downward difference in retail) and I hear almost none of the offending sounds, but of course I don't hear the clarity and brillance of the Avalon either.

Back to the woodshed I guess. I'm not letting the Avalon sit and gather dust :D

I would ask for tips, but it'd be like asking directions on how to get to Carnegie Hall...

Practice, practice, practice.

All my guitars highlight my poor technique.

The really good ones can be quite "unforgiving".

They will force you to employ better technique. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

Since I have been playing my acoustics through distortion and chorus pedals I no longer have this problem. Pedals clean it all up. :D

Strangely enough, the one's that make me sound the best are the same ones that "act up" the most.
So I know it's the guitar.

When I owned an archtop guitar it became very clear to me (and to anyone listening) that I hadn’t learned how to play on an archtop. I mean, it sounded passable, I suppose, but there’s a sort of directness to the way archtops process sound vibrations that I wasn’t used to.

Had I kept it and worked more on it I’m sure I would have become more accustomed to its overall attack characteristics, but I traded it in on a baritone guitar, which I use far more than I ever did the archtop.

So live and learn.


Wade Hampton Miller

My family highlights my poor technique.....

My lousy technique doesn't need help from any guitar.

That said, my RainSong is so responsive that it always presents my screwups in HD. :D

I've got a JM1000/JM3000 matched pair of 6- and 12-string jumbos - not only HD but resounding volume as well :sick:, which leads me to:

You're absolutely right in saying that it takes a different approach to wring the best out of an acoustic archtop - one that very few players who started after about 1970 (when the majority of teachers - at least in the major urban population centers - were still in-the-trenches veterans of the Big Band and early-Bop eras) understand, much less master; as you've discovered, you can't just open the case, whack away, and expect to get the same instant gratification as a flattop guitar of comparable (or even lesser in some cases) quality - and when I was actively teaching, I often used my '46 Epiphone Blackstone or '47 L-7 to give many a would-be high-school shredder a heavy-duty reality check. Although most guitar junkies are aware that the genre arose from Orville Gibson's attempts to apply the principles of violin construction to fretted instruments, they fail to grasp the necessity of approaching them with a similarly refined technique, one rooted in the bowing of orchestral strings and as much mental as physical: think "glide" rather than "pick," "stroke" rather than "strum" - what the old-time Big Band players used to call "coaxing the velvet out" - and be aware that a couple millimeters' shift in pick position on a good instrument (particularly 18" - 19" Big Band comp monsters like the Gibson Super 300/400, Epiphone Emperor/Super Deluxe, Gretsch Synchromatic 400/Eldorado, D'Angelico New Yorker, Stromberg Super 400, et al.) can often create a dramatic shift in tone color...

Most players also aren't aware of the all-but-forgotten "classical archtop" style that flourished from about 1925-1940, where an attempt was made to elevate the status of the archtop plectrum guitar to that of the orchestral string family (I've expounded on this topic before in great depth - type "classical archtop" into the AGF search engine for more detailed info); FYI the well-known Mel Bay method was in fact a direct offshoot of this school of thought, providing a near-conservatory-level immersion in technique, theory, and repertoire (particularly in the earliest editions), and a more recent volume entitled Masters of the Plectrum Guitar is a compilation of both transcripts of classical mainstays and original compositions by many of the better-known players of the prewar era. If you're looking to give it a second try and get a handle on some of the finer technical aspects I'd recommend going to YouTube and typing in "archtop guitar" - many of these period pieces are available in their original recorded format, as well as recent remakes by revivalists who recognize their enduring technical and artistic merit; I think you'll also discover that a good archtop, properly played, need not sound steely/strident/one-dimensional as many an uninitiated player will assert, and can be as expressive in its own way as a fine classical instrument - here's an example:

I must admit that I did have a Collings OM2HG that was a marvelous instrument, but was so supremely responsive and resonant that it definitely amplified (exposed) my wayward technique in a way that my Martin and Huss & Dalton did not. I’m ashamed to say that I sold it rather than upping my technique. Oh well, some day when I’m much better I’ll get another. ;).

Of course, my H&D has a way of spanking me when I get lazy too, but not quite so harshly as the Collings.

I don't know if it's a small body thing, but my LG2 sounds more direct than my big dreads and mistakes seem to stand out more. This is especially noticeable on leads and flat picking.

As soon as I read the title, I immediately thought of my SCGC 00-Skye - Eric Skye is one of the most refined and talented guitar players I’ve had the pleasure to hear, and the custom signature guitar that SCGC built for him is the perfect instrument for him. But in my hands, while I could hear what the instrument was capable of doing, in my hands it just highlighted my incapabilities and lack of talent. I’m mostly a flatpicker/strummer/singer, and while the guitar sounded incredible, it also made me too aware of how sloppy my technique was, and that I could never be the instrumentalist this instrument was designed for. I’ll admit I sold it rather than have to hear my inadequacies - and it only makes me really appreciate even more listening to the talented players who can really handle a guitar like that -

I think it’s a good criterion for determining how good an instrument is rather than how good/rich it sounds. Same goes for pro level amplifiers for electric guitars - the more sensitive to string touch it is, the better a musician you can become.

Hey man,

I find this post particularly interesting in that I find my new Lowden to be a bit like that. I’ve noticed that the cedar top is so responsive that I really have to warm up to the guitar itself and how it behaves before I can get anything to sound good. I also have to have my nails filed down really, really smooth to make sure there’s sweetness to the trebles. My old Avalon a1-20 was like that too, as well as my previous lowden f-25.

Alternatively my Beneteau’s make everything I throw at them sound good, but they have a different voice and respond just slightly slower than the Lowden does, probably because of their spruce tops.

I think it’s good to be flexible but if i were to ever record with a certain guitar I’d be sure to spend a few weeks with just that guitar. My new Lowden has a slightly thinner spacing than my Beneteau’s so I’m not sure if it will stick around but I do love the sound when everything is in harmony.

Yep, every Collings I've owned. Don't own them anymore.

Problem solved... :D