Blog Entries from OurJud

  1. Guitar Progress [Back to my acoustic]

    Back to my acoustic, or to be precise, back to my new acoustic. I've never liked my Dreadnought 'tank' ever since taking delivery. The strings are too heavy and the bulk and size of the body makes it perhaps the most uncomfortable thing I've ever held. My new toy is actually an electric acoustic, with a rounded back, and already I can feel it's just what I needed to rekindle my interest in an acoustic. The body is barely larger than my Les Paul copies, and has strings that require hardly any...
  2. Guitar Progress [My first 'I quit!' moment]

    I had my first 'I quit!' moment today. I'm sure it won't be my last, and if I know me (and unfortunately I do) I'll ultimately quit for real at some point in the future. It came when trying to learn the F chord. I couldn't do it, so me being me I went looking for alternative ways to play it. There are many 'easy' variations of the F chord apparently, none of which I found any easier. My fingers will not separate to reach across the frets. End of. I can't even get close. Guitars are fucking...
  3. Guitar Build [Complete Part 2]

    So it's finished finished. I'm still not convinced the set-up is perfect. The action at the nut was very high so I adjusted the truss rod and got it closer. I must admit I was doing it blind, turning the allen key without really knowing what I was doing. I then had to play around with the height of the bridge and tailpiece because I was getting terrible buzz when fretting high up the neck. It's far louder than my Epiphone Les Paul. Don't know if that's because my Epiphone is based on the...
  4. Guitar Build [Complete]

    I'll have some images next week but I completed the build late last night. As some foretold, however, all was not well when it came to testing. There's clearly an earthing issue somewhere and the volume and tone controls seem to be crossed in some way or other. Obviously I went wrong when connecting the electronics. It's also in serious need of a professional set-up, and that will be happening sometime on Monday.
  5. Guitar Build [stage 1]

    Stage one of my DIY authentic Les Paul copy. Stained and the first couple of coats of Danish oil. Heaven knows how the pros get that glass-like finish on their guitars, but it’s beyond me. I don’t mind it looking a little rough to be honest. I’ll call it character.
  6. Guitar Progress [Can’t pick up picking up]

    As some light relief from practicing I tried to learn Misourlou but I’m finding up-picking very difficult. Tried using a thin plecky but just can’t stop it snagging on the string.
  7. Guitar Progress [Unlearning]

    I'll put it down to lack of practice, or simply not being in the right frame of mind, but my A E D chord practice today didn't go well. Last week I could play along with the first few bars of Diamond's Sweet Caroline on medium tempo quite competently. Today, it sounded like I was playing with my feet... in hobnail boots.
  8. Guitar Progress [Three-chord songs]

    Can stumble my way through a few three-chord songs (E, A and D) on slow tempo. It's true to say I'm finding chord changes difficult - as I knew I would - but at the risk of tempting fate not quite as difficult as I imagined.
  9. Guitar Progress [Introducing the E chord]

    Today I learnt the E chord, which supposedly (along with the A and D) opens up a huge repertoire of songs. I also discovered that I can no longer feel the 1st string because it's so thin. I suppose it's a good thing in one way because it tells me my fingertips are hardening, but I'm still feeling my way (quite literally) around the fret board right now and I'm never quite sure if my fingers on the high E string when I play the D chord. Once I get to the stage where my fingers just go there...
  10. Guitar Progress [From A to D and back again]

    Today's lesson at Justin Guitar was switching between two chords (A and D). I became familiar enough with the two that I could switch between them while consistently strumming a 4-4 beat (A, strum strum strum, D, strum strum strum, etc) The chords didn't always ring out properly and I lost my way a few times after several loops, but I downloaded his app which lets you strum along to a selection of two-chord songs, and it felt really good to hear my guitar's notes change along with the notes...
  11. Guitar Progress [Needs Be]

    The right arm support of my desk chair was getting in the way of my practice, meaning I was perching myself on the edge, which became uncomfortable fairly quickly. Now I can sit right back and support my back.
  12. Guitar Progress [Damn thumb!]

    I've read so many articles and watched many a video telling me my thumb needs to be placed on the back of the neck, ideally as vertical as possible. I'm not doubting this is wrong. It's even backed up when I watch accomplished guitarists by the fact it's only the tip of their thumb I can see. It's said this will help alleviate pain and strain and allow more reach. But, and you knew there was a but coming, I find the opposite is true. When I lift my hand to the neck, to shape the chord I'm...
  13. Guitar Progress [Oh, shit! I have tiny fingers!]

    I was horrified to discovery just now, that while I have a longer than average hand length, my fingers are at least 10mm shorter than average! Hand length of adult male, on average, is 198mm (mine is 204mm), with the middle finger measuring an average 95mm (mine is 85mm). No wonder I can't play the fucking guitar!
  14. Guitar progress

    Had a go at some finger picking. Only three-fingers but it was hard! I thought chord shapes were tough but it has nothing on picking. It started to come eventually but in the 30 minutes of endless attempts at some kind of consistency I never really mastered it. I could get three, maybe four loops of the sequence before my fingers tied themselves in a knot. Tnanks @Steve Rivers, I’ll link to some SC snippets if I can figure out how to get it there. My proudest moment is the Satisfaction riff...
  15. Arrgh! Novel Identity Crisis!

    Some bastard in my head has just pointed out that my two characters come across as very immature, and that this along with the first-person narrative will only serve to reinforce presumptions it's aimed at the YA market.
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