Simplest home practice set-up

[Scott O]

Arthur - I would suggest you also pose this question in the "Acoustic Amplification" sub forum and you'll get some good tips on loopers, amps, etc. Good luck.

[leew3]

Art,
I'm using the smallest Ditto looper to good effect. I also have a seriously old school (as in wind up!) metronome that I got as a child to help me with timing. It's about as simple and inexpensive set up as I can imagine. Hope this helps.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

Hi Everyone.

I've just sold my Telecaster, G5n and Blackstar amp, to go completely acoustic. Probably going to buy a Yamaha LL16, but I'm tempted to stretch to a Yamaha FSX3.

I only play at home - and while I'm technically intermediate, my musicality and timing are poor.

What's the simplest set-up you can think of for practice and learning. I'm 'Old Skool' / analogue, by the way, so I don't want to sit in front of a computer.

My thoughts are:
- some sort of Di... Zoom AC-3
- looper - Jamman or Ditto X2 (both of which I'm familiar with)
- amplifier or monitor speakers (I have the latter, but they are not great).

Alternatively - buy an amp with built-in looper (and footswitch), but then I'm worried that that's too much of a compromise and I won't have much control over my acoustic tone... and I'll end up hating listening to myself even more!!!

Thanks in advance.

Art.

I recently set up this little area and love it. It's based on the Electroharmonix looper, which has some additional convenient features that I like better than my first Boss RC1 looper which bought to see if I was going to like looping.

What's nice about this setup is it's almost like simply playing live with a couple friends.

I usually grab a guitar and record a form on the looper, often as simple as a verse and chorus form. Set the guitar aside and add a bass to the looper sequence. At that point I can simply use that as a backing track or I can add a second capoed guitar part, which I can silence or activate at will by using the undo / re-do function on the looper.

I use this setup as a practice and/or songwriting rig and I think it's great fun.

The guitar goes through the left looper side and to the Street cube for a splash of stereo reverb and/or chorus. The bass goes through the right looper side to the bass amp, so it's completely independent.

One nice feature of the Electroharmonix looper is there's an adjustable fade option so you can fade out your stop rather than the looper just stopping abruptly.

I also have a very inexpensive Zoom G1on multi-effects pedal (on the shelf above the Cube Street...) that I can use with the looper (or simply plugging it in the the second input of the Cube Street) with some pretty nice sounding drum patterns if I feel like using them. I usually prefer the simpler quick-n-dirty back-up guitar and bass.

[Arthur Slowhand]

Originally Posted by TBman

I think you're shooting yourself in the foot by avoiding a computer.

I should probably have been clearer; I was anticipating someone suggesting I use some kind of computer-based app for recording, rather than a looper.

I do look at You Tube for tutorials. Thanks Trinity - I'll check out those tutorials.

(I'll amend my original post.)

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

The best setup for playing and practicing completely acoustic would be playing and practicing completely acoustic.

This.

If you feel the call for real acoustic music, I feel that you need to abandon the artificial electric music aspect.
Your choice of course.

[Arthur Slowhand]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

This.

If you feel the call for real acoustic music, I feel that you need to abandon the artificial electric music aspect.
Your choice of course.

Others have interpreted the original question in the way it was intended, but in my clumsiness I guess I overstated the electrical bit - it's mainly for recording loops (practice) and possibly to enhance the recorded tone (like a Di or EQ), not to create 'artificial electric music'.

[ocarolan]

Best gear for learning?

Your ears - use them to immerse yourself in the music you are learning. Give yourself a break from Youtube, tabs, music notation etc and just listen. The listen again. And again as necessary until it starts to sink in. Copy what you hear.

Ridiculous? Not to any of us who began learning in the early 1960s!

Good luck.

Keith

[Arthur Slowhand]

Originally Posted by ocarolan

Best gear for learning?

Your ears -

Your ears, maybe, but I disagree - and that's the whole point of the thread.

I don't know if, when you were young, you heard your recorded voice for the first time? I know when I did, it didn't sound quite how it sounded in my head. I suspect that most people who have played for a long time, have done so with other people, or they are more talented (or delusional ) than I am - because for me, I can tell you, my ears lie... which is why I said earlier, that I sound just like James Taylor when I sing to myself (yup, delusional ). Same with the guitar - I have little concept of how good or bad I am unless I hear it played back.

[MChild62]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

Some of the replies are making me feel like a naughty schoolboy... almost wish I hadn't asked...

Seriously!!

Here's a small suggestion if you have an iPhone (and this will likely work with similar apps on Android and other phones):

Anytune+ (app) for recording & looping to play along with yourself, plus a bluetooth speaker (optional). It's easy & quick with no need for cables, etc. Both voice and music memos on the iPhone will work, too, but Anytune + is more flexible and lets you import and slow down/speed up songs (any that you have).

[Arthur Slowhand]

Originally Posted by MChild62

Seriously!!

Not really, mate... but the first few replies were pretty dispiriting.

As for the iPhone suggestion - what's the sound quality like?

I've only just updated from iPhone 4 to 7 (still behind the curve), so I'm only just able to crawl out of the dark ages and use my phone to do more than make phone calls.

I guess I'll give it a try, but I'm a Luddite and all that app stuff leaves me a bit cold. It's as far as I can leap into the 21st century to use You Tube!

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

As for the iPhone suggestion - what's the sound quality like?

I've only just updated from iPhone 4 to 7 (still behind the curve), so I'm only just able to crawl out of the dark ages and use my phone to do more than make phone calls.

It's not bad to begin with, using the internal mic. If you add a decent USB mic, it's actually quite good, depending of course on what you play it back through. With even remotely decent headphones, it's MORE than good enough to hear how good or bad you sound.

I have an Apogee mic, which I bought a few years ago - not sure what they cost now but I think they're kind of high for this type of mic, maybe close to $200? I have a couple of youtube clips up of my electric playing, just done with the mic recording the amp, that sound pretty good. But there are less expensive ones out there that I think are probably still an improvement over the built in mic. Here's an example of an iphone 7 video with an Apogee mic, just some loose electric jamming to the Dead's Althea chord progression (on a looper).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCUz-6v4_b4

[MChild62]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

Not really, mate... but the first few replies were pretty dispiriting.

As for the iPhone suggestion - what's the sound quality like?

I've only just updated from iPhone 4 to 7 (still behind the curve), so I'm only just able to crawl out of the dark ages and use my phone to do more than make phone calls.

I guess I'll give it a try, but I'm a Luddite and all that app stuff leaves me a bit cold. It's as far as I can leap into the 21st century to use You Tube!

Give it a shot! I have an iPhone 7 and I was surprised how good the recorded sound quality is, plenty good for this sort of thing. Playback quality of course depends on your bluetooth speaker, which would definitely be better than the iPhone's speaker (which is loud enough to do the job, though).

I'd just start out with the free voice memo app (and also a music memo app) that came loaded on your iPhone. My guess is you'll see how easy and useful it is, and then decide whether to spend a little on Anytune or a similar app for more flexibility for looping yourself.

[TDavis]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

The best setup for playing and practicing completely acoustic would be playing and practicing completely acoustic.

Nope! That’s way too simple.

[ChrisE]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

The best setup for playing and practicing completely acoustic would be playing and practicing completely acoustic.

I didn't intend for my comment to sound rude, so sorry if it did. But I'd like to add to it by saying instead of buying more gear, take some of that money and take lessons from a good instructor.

[BFD]

Hi Art,
Like most folks here I also think going acoustic is an awesome and noble choice. I'll also encourage you to meet your goals with less gear from "the dark side" (I had my own 6+ year electric mid-life crisis, which I enjoyed thoroughly, including amps, lots of effects, looper - the whole deal).
If you elaborate on your 'musicality' goals, I'm sure we can make more specific recommendations, but I'll offer some general suggestions here:
- I agree that a free phone recording app should give you all the feedback you need. Like my old Jamman, some of them have built-in metronomes so you can have that to record with, then listen back to evaluate how you've done.
- Another thing you can do is record a rhythm track, then play it back to practice lead or melody lines with, just like you might w/a looper. The phone itself won't likely be loud enough w/out external speaker(s), but you can use headphone/earbuds.
- An alternative source of backing tracks is the internet - there are websites with lots of common tunes. If you tell us what kind of music you like to play, someone may be able to help you track one down.