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  #46  
Old 08-21-2018, 10:48 AM
BT55 BT55 is offline
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Default Do you have a guitar that highlights your poor technique?

Guitars are like double edged swords. They produce heavenly sounds when played well but your mistakes are equally produced. I am fortunate to own good to great guitars and IMO they all faithfully deliver whatever you play, the good, the bad and the ugly.
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  #47  
Old 08-21-2018, 12:36 PM
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I think that a better more responsive instrument doesn’t necessarily highlight poor technique as demand more from you as a player to get the best out of it..
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  #48  
Old 08-21-2018, 03:22 PM
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One of the reasons I often practice plugged in is that small mistakes like missed strings in the middle of a difference, barr cord not all the way down, etc. Things you wouldn't hear just sitting on the couch are magnified and helps me practice better. As some great music teacher once said, "Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect!"
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  #49  
Old 08-21-2018, 03:55 PM
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Yes. I am reminded daily by my guitars.
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  #50  
Old 08-21-2018, 04:58 PM
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Probably the Franklin. It's very warm, has a MASSIVE bass response and an equally massive treble presence. You barely have to touch it to get it going and that's just not a style of build I'm as familiar with owning/wielding. That said, I can't imagine life without it now. When I play to its strengths, there's nothing better I've experienced. With that guitar, it's best to allow it necessary space to shine and not "overplay"
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  #51  
Old 08-21-2018, 05:00 PM
Rmz76 Rmz76 is offline
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Not sure, but I've heard it said that the J-45 is known for helping mask sloppy playing... Maybe that's one reason I love it If one guitar can mask sloppy playing then another could spotlight sloppy playing. But I'd propose that what is "sloppy" is perhaps subjective and that maybe it's just a case of your play style is better suited for one instrument instead of the other.

If you like to play with your fingers and hit the strings a bit hard (I'm generalizing, I have no idea of your specific technique), then who's right is it to label that as bad form? Especially if there is a guitar that absorbs it and delivers the sound you want! Take the big wall of talking voices with loud opinions trying to put these sort of things into a box and just ignoring them and go with your gut. It doesn't matter if it's a Avalon or some other really high-end guitar that the community loves, if it's not working for how you play and if some other instrument out there does work for you then it seems backwards to me to conform your playing. But to each their own.
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Last edited by Rmz76; 08-21-2018 at 05:06 PM.
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  #52  
Old 08-21-2018, 08:17 PM
GuitarFundi GuitarFundi is offline
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Any electric... when I play one it sounds like R2D2 going thru a woodchipper
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  #53  
Old 08-21-2018, 11:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rmz76 View Post
Not sure, but I've heard it said that the J-45 is known for helping mask sloppy playing... Maybe that's one reason I love it If one guitar can mask sloppy playing then another could spotlight sloppy playing. But I'd propose that what is "sloppy" is perhaps subjective and that maybe it's just a case of your play style is better suited for one instrument instead of the other.

If you like to play with your fingers and hit the strings a bit hard (I'm generalizing, I have no idea of your specific technique), then who's right is it to label that as bad form? Especially if there is a guitar that absorbs it and delivers the sound you want! Take the big wall of talking voices with loud opinions trying to put these sort of things into a box and just ignoring them and go with your gut. It doesn't matter if it's a Avalon or some other really high-end guitar that the community loves, if it's not working for how you play and if some other instrument out there does work for you then it seems backwards to me to conform your playing. But to each their own.

Hmm.... maybe I need a J-45, after all.
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  #54  
Old 08-22-2018, 05:05 AM
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I prefer a guitar that has all the tones available to access, leaving the playing of the tones up to me. I haven’t run into many“difficult” guitars once the setup is done right. I have played certain guitars that simply don’t feel right or don’t produce the tone I prefer, but I honestly haven’t noticed an entire brand that exposes my mistakes in any unique manner.

Last edited by BrunoBlack; 08-22-2018 at 05:10 AM.
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  #55  
Old 08-22-2018, 04:59 PM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
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Confession: I'm a lucky old fogey guitar pig.

Evidence: I have a Martin OM-18V that I can leave in Hawai`i for my annual visits there.

I bought the guitar on Ebay and it has some issues, including need for a fret job. I took it to a well reviewed shop on O`ahu where I asked for a refret with larger frets. The tech persuaded me that he could deliver a great playing guitar without replacing the frets, by evening them out and recrowning them.

I was mistaken to accept his advice, and now I'm grumped over having paid for work that made the guitar less playable rather than moreso. My hands are weak, one reason I fell in love with slack key was the ability to play without cramping and experiencing trigger finger. With this new fret job I have to apply a lot of pressure, more than I can do comfortably, to get a clean barre chord. I use them rarely and briefly, but one piece I'm trying to bring back to performance quality has a few at important moments, and I'm not having a lot of success getting all of them clean.

Further evidence of guitar piggedness: I have _two_ guitars I keep in the islands. The other, an Epi EF-500RCCE, has decent frets but the pickup is not wonderful and I need to record plugged in because my video is to be shot at a busy traffic intersection. I have pickups at home in Cali that might solve the issue, but I'll have to wait until my next trip, next year, to bring the pickup to Hawai`i and install it in the Epi.

I am grumped indeed.

Fran
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  #56  
Old 08-22-2018, 09:15 PM
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Yep.

But I've gotten better to not make it so noticeable.
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  #57  
Old 08-22-2018, 09:19 PM
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I suck on all of them, but my short scale electric with light strings and a thin neck and narrow nut taught me a lesson today by demanding an extremely delicate and precise touch.

My classical lets me get away with a lot more.
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  #58  
Old 08-23-2018, 06:29 AM
slide496 slide496 is offline
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I have about nine out so if I start on one that "highlights poor technique" I'll test on others, I try to match technique and voice of guitar as well as the slide I use as most compatible to the song I am attempting - sometimes I'll try a song on one and think this is so bad why do I bother and change and find that it's alot better regards to action, set up and neck angle.
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  #59  
Old 08-23-2018, 08:45 AM
ctvolfan ctvolfan is offline
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I haven't read all of the replies yet but I went through this with my Taylor 714ce I bought last year. For all intensive purposes it should be a much better quality guitar than my pre-2007 214 but I was really having a hard time warming up to it. It seemed harder to play to me. It has a wider nut (1 3/4) than my 214 (1 11/16) and I use the same Elixir strings I have used forever on both guitars but I still could not understand why I just didn't play as well on it as I did my 214. But I have also been playing that 214 for 12 years so that may have a lot to do with it. That guitar is part of me.

After forcing myself to play the 714 I no longer find it hard to play. If feels comfortable now. It is a different guitar than my 214 so it does play differently, sound differently and feel differently. I guess I have gotten more used to the sound and feel of the 714. I now know what it takes now to get a pleasing sound out of it. It just seems more stiff than my 214. I now find that I don't pick my 214 up much anymore. The 214 does still sound great to me but it clearly fits a different style of playing so I plan on using it for edgier sounding songs. If I want to play something sweeter sounding then I play the 714.

But since buying the 714 I also bought a 224ce-k deluxe so I play them both a lot. It too plays and sounds differently but I took to it just fine right off the bat. It has the same 1 11/16 nut width. I think what also does draw me more to playing the 714 is the fact I have a Tonewood Amp on it. Man that thing opens up a whole new world of playing acoustic guitar. I would recommend everyone to try a Tonewood out. I am addicted to that thing! It just draws you in and makes you want to play more.
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  #60  
Old 08-23-2018, 06:29 PM
Kitkatjoe Kitkatjoe is offline
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Thumbs down Is it the guitar?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
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.

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

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

Practice, practice, practice.
My playing is what it is regardless of the guitar. The problem is me. I don’t blame the instrument.
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