Relearning Guitar After 45 Years

[DaveForAries]

Between retirement and Covid-19 I've decided to start playing guitar again after a 45 year hiatus - boy do my fingers hurt lol! I bought a fender FA-115 beginner pack which I'm not real happy with. I also have a 1973 Framus Jumbo that I bought in Germany while stationed in Manheim as a 21 year old. A friend also loaned me a $60 FirstAct electric with no amp, mainly because after 2 months my fingers still hurt and I could only play about 15 minutes at a time. I'm a beginner when it comes to calluses but I was a pretty good rhythm guitarist back in the day and things are slowly coming back to me. Surprisingly, I can play twice as long with the cheap electric as I can with either of my acoustics.

My problem - I love the low action of the electric, even this low end one, but I've always really loved playing acoustic. I don't remember the finger pain lasting this long when I first learned at 12yo, but I also learned on a friend's electric (a Kay I believe).

After screwing up my courage to go into a store during the pandemic (I'm 68, some other health issues) I went to the local Guitar Center with my mask and tried out a Taylor Academy 12e Grand Concert recently but it didn't really fit me. I was surprised because it's such a nice guitar that is advertised as having a low action but it was not for me. I wanted to also try a Seagull but they had none in stock at that moment.

So, I'm looking for an acoustic or acoustic-electric that plays like an electric. Any and all suggestions would certainly be appreciated! I'm finding the acoustics I have are a little harder to play than I remember. Of course, my hands have 68 years on them instead of 12, maybe that's a part of it. 😁

Thanks in advance! Sorry this is so long.

Dave

ps - I'm also attempting to learn what I think is either (fingerstyle or fingerpicking) with strumming this time! If you're interested, this is a link to a Marty Schwartz youtube video advertising the Taylor Academy guitar that I tried out. He starts playing in the style I want to learn at 2:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NpcfPxJo98

[Sponserv]

Welcome back to guitar Dave!

I hope your journey gets a bit easier. And hopefully its like riding a bike. My suggestion is that whatever you end up buying spend a few extra bucks and get it professionally set up. Tell the luthier you are trying to eliminate your finger discomfort.

Have fun.

[DaveForAries]

Thanks Sponserv I will!

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Welcome Dave. I don't know if you're in an area where you can go try some out but Taylor's seem to have a reputation to be a little easier to play than some of the others. Have fun on your journey!

[TBman]

Welcome to the forum!

I don't know how much you want to spend, but a good all around guitar is the Taylor 314.
There are plenty of others, but the Taylor is easily found in stores.

[unimogbert]

..........

[Mountaine]

Get an old Breedlove or a new Martin and put silk and steel strings on AFTER a luthier has set the action. You can get lower action with wonderful playability.

[Mountaine]

Get an older Breedlove or a newer Martin and put silk and steels on AFTER a luthier has set the action as low as possible without buzz.

[Stairway]

Originally Posted by Sponserv

My suggestion is that whatever you end up buying spend a few extra bucks and get it professionally set up.

Agree 100%. A professional setup will make a world of difference. Ask the tech to give you a "low action". You'll probably want light strings, but you may even want to consider extra-light. The latter will sacrifice on tone, but it'll make the feel more like an electric guitar.

As for the guitar itself, you could just take your Framus to a luthier but you may want to go for a smaller shape for comfort. The Taylor Academy isn't bad at all for the price. It's small, projects well, and has a bevel for your arm. Seagulls are fine guitars too. A good setup will make any of the basic models feel and sound like guitars twice the price.

Glad to have you coming back to the guitar. Happy playing!

[FoxHound4690]

Hi Dave, congratulations on picking the guitar back up. Hope you're journey is fun and rewarding =P

It sounds like you indeed just have a guitar that's designed for beginners, which is ok for the short term but depending on what your budget is go into your music shop and start looking at some higher end guitars, Martin, Taylor and Gibson etc. The trick is to find one that feels perfect in your hands and one that sings at you in terms of tone. Don't just look for a guitar that plays the notes, look for one that sings them that's what a man told me once and its something that stuck with me since.

[David Rance]

Well done Dave. Don't worry your fingers will soon harden up and your hands strengthen. No pain, no gain!

Many new guitars leave the makers with a high action on the principle that it's easier to lower the action than to raise it. So the advice here about getting a decent setup is good. Often this consists solely of progressively sanding a smidgen off the bottom of the bridge insert at each string change with a flat sanding block. If no access to luthier, plenty of YouTube vids on how to do this. You might need a string height gauge but "when the guitar gets comfortable" is the other measure. Not disasterville if you take off too much and guitar starts to buzz. Buy another (upgraded - which often means bone) bridge insert off Amazon and start again.

If you're not sure if you will stick at it, there are many rather marvellous student level acoustics out there in 2020. Yamaha and Eastman get lots of votes. Better still, borrow something if you can. Guitarists are friendly folk.

The other thing that struck me is that archtop acoustics are comfortable. They not only usually have a low action but you can lower or raise the action on them easily yourself by screwing the bridge up and down. Just a thought.

Light/extra light strings too initially?

Enjoy playing.

[rstaight]

Welcome back to playing Dave. I to got away from playing regularly for 30 plus years. Life just got in the way. I would still pick up the SG a few times a year but nothing on a regular basis.

Without a dissertation, I'm back to playing every day. Even if for only 15 minutes. I really like the action on my Takamines. Though I have had them both for over a year and a half, I have never made an adjustment to the setup. They are a still with the factory setup.

So if you can give a Takamine a test drive, I doubt you will be disappointed.

[DaveForAries]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and the helpful suggestions. In a normal world I would be in multiple guitar stores trying out guitars until I found the right one for me - but I live in Raleigh NC and our world here is not normal right now. Covid is running rampant and I rarely leave my house, I even buy my groceries online and the store puts them directly in the trunk for me so there's no human interaction.

I'm considering a Yamaha FSX830C hoping it'll be good right out of the box - we'll see.

On another note, a few of you have mentioned adjusting the action myself, which led me to examine my 73 Framus Jumbo a little closer. I'm attaching a pic of the bridge, which has some large screws that may possibly be action adjustment screws? I'm not sure, when I picked up the guitar a month ago and inadvertently turned it over the assembly fell out. The luthier reinstalled that piece and restrung it with lighter strings, but I never noticed the screws until the adjustment conversation started.

So, here's the picture, hoping maybe someone can tell me what it's for. I've created a shared google library so hopefully this will work, still a newbie posting here.

[jpd]

Hey Dave. Martin with a modified low oval neck!

[zombywoof]

I am a bit older than you and never parted with guitars for near that length of time. My longest break from playing was a fifteen or so year hiatus. For whatever reason, somewhere along the way it had just stopped being fun so I walked away.

I have no advice to offer up as I play nothing that would fit your bill. Only thing I might recommend is going with more flexible strings which to me means those wound on a round or thinner core. Best thing you can sometimes do though is to shut the brain off. It is amazing how much your hands remember when you are not worrying about what note or chord comes next.

Other than that - Welcome Back!