Some doubts about eletric guitar

[Ksamphos]

I never had an eletric guitar - though I play the acoustic - and I have no experience of how eletric instruments work. However, I often see on local ads eletric guitars and basses for good prices. They are among the easiest instruments to find.

My doubt is how this instrument works... I mean, If I plug It on an audio interface, I can record It with great quality of sound or I need other equipment? The amplifier of a Focusrite interface is enough to record It with phone?
Also, from where comes the differences of sound? Do I need other sort of hardware other than the guitar itself? Or software?
I have no intention of playing it loud, but only of recording.
Does the body of the guitar needs to be big? Does it make difference? I have seen empty-bodied eletric guitars and I wonder if this kind of instrument can be small or if the size is relevant like in acoustic ones. Can it be played with no-nails right hand?

This is an example of the kind of sound i would be looking for:
https://youtu.be/_T6_qzwjR_A

[The Noodlist]

Semi acoustic, neck pickup with the tone rolled off. Tapper Mike is your man in the guitar thread.
viewforum.php?f=298

[BertKoor]

Yeah, this belongs in the guitars subforum.

This looks like a comprehensive article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_guitar

Any questions?

If I plug It on an audio interface, I can record It with great quality of sound or I need other equipment?

Your interface needs a so-called "Hi-Z" (high impedance) input. That's always a 6.3mm (1/4") TS (tip-sleeve) "jack" connection, like a big headphone plug. Usually the manual will state it's usable for instruments, the front panel might have a small guitar icon next to the input.

This is an example of the kind of sound i would be looking for

Ah, mellow jazzy... Typically a semi-acoustical guitar with humbucker pickups (good ones were never cheap). No effects, not that picky about the amp.

Even though there are no effects involved and the amp choice is not relevant, I would say you won't get a convincing tone like that by plugging the guitar directly into the interface and call it a day. You do need something extra. Skipping the amp, its speaker, the microphone in front picking up some acoustic room reverb: that's the icing on the cake to not make it sound super sterile.

There are so many variables in the sound: playing style, pickups, construction of the guitar, effect pedals, amp choice, speaker, microphone and setting of all the pots.

You can discuss stuff like this all day and each player has his own favourite and unique gear. We won't ever agree on anything. Truth is, we all just bought something random decades ago, made use of whatever we could get hold of, and fell in love with it. Or never satisfied, always shopping for something else because grass is always greener on the other side.

Can it be played with no-nails right hand?

Sure. Broken nails only bother classical acoustical guitarists. 99% (of non-jazz players) use a pick / plectrum.

Did you know that Mark Knopfler (got famous with Dire Straits) as a child wanted to sound exactly like Hank B. Marvin of the Shadows, and so he bought a bright red Fender Stratocaster. Little did he know, he never played it with a plectrum but picked with his fingers. That resulted in a somewhat unique technique and sound, which ultimately made him famous. But he never sounded like Hank B. Marvin.
Be careful what you wish for...

[Ksamphos]

I didnt know about Mark Knofler, but Ill research about It! Thank you for your detailed explanation, Im guessing Im going to try a les paul, but Ill write more about it on the guitar session

The Noodlist, thank you for posting it on the guitar session, Ill keep writing there.

[tapper mike]

Another one of these threads. I've never had an electric guitar before I don't know how they sound though I do watch videos of people playing guitar and I can't understand how I can't make one electric guitar sound like another. I see an amplifier in the background but don't understand how electricity works with sound I need to do a school report or a social experiment who can I appear dummer than those people on yahoo ask.

Why not I'm bored.
Classical guitarists are not the only ones who fingerpick with fingernails. There are many different types of players and fingerstyle varies greatly. There is a huge difference in the quality of tone and output (loudness) between playing with the finger and nail. Not to mention playing with the nail facilitates faster and more acurate timing. I've play with the flesh of my fingers as I've done manual labor the greater part of my life and nails never last long. Many fingerstyle guitarists get their nails done or learn to do them themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BqISqpMRo8

There are products that can be fitted onto your fingers which subsitute fingernails such as alaska pik.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_6VBFXqJa4
I'll only occasionally use these. Mostly because I play a combination of flatpicking, fingerstyle and tapping the alaska picks get in the way of my tapping.

I didn't start out as a finger picker. I preferred flat picks (pectrum) but I kept on losing them. The nearest store was 10 miles away and I'd lave to walk when I needed more.

All the above being said. If you want to play fingerstyle... Take lessons with a real person in real life. There are techniques you need to learn and learning the right way the first time (with someone watching you and correcting your technique will save you years of bad habits.

No you aren't going to sound like a fingerpicker using a flatpick. Yes there are limitations to every picking style. While many choose one method and concetrate on that for life accepting the limitations it is possible to develop multiple techniques. Work to gaining proficency in one before expanding to the next is a better course of action than trying to get your foot in the door with all at the same time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVRjrKZkf0E

When I was playing in a classic rock band back in the 90's with audiences that varied between 100 and 600 I would use hybrid picking. Which is flat and fingerpicking.

These days I use a fred kelly slick pick which frees up my other fingers more but still allows me to play flatpicking when needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2fq0ipbbuc

[tapper mike]

Guitars, amps, sims.


Getting back to that video. It's a Gibson ES-175 with a solid state amp. These weren't the gold standard in the golden era of jazz guitars. They were the practical affordable ones. Thin laminated tops with a recessed neck pickup. They became iconic by virtue of affordability (something they lost) and feedback rejection. Still it became the "it" tone of jazz players from the late 50's through the 70's Most jazz recording only use the neck pickup sound or neck and middle position with the tone control slightly rolled off and when using a pick it's often thicker. Jazz can be played on solid or hollow body but it is done less frequently on semi-hollow guitars.
Semi hollow body guitars are not defined by depth but by a center block that separates the body into two chambers They generally have a more punchy mid and or brighter highs than a traditional jazz box.
Most of the guys who play solid body jazz guitar do so on telecasters.
Blame it on this guy who wrote a book on chords and jazz guitarists fell in love with his playing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZENkj7C7Bw
Or this other less than famous guy who spent most of his career being a session guitarist for CBC television in Canada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSDZZ57LiqY

If you are interested in jazz you don't need a "jazzbox" guitar to play jazz. It's more about getting a clean warm tone from an amp and technique. Don't throw your money away on a guitar thinking that the guitar is going to make you a jazz player. That being said... If you are going to be playing jazz because that's your thing there are some really good moderately priced boxes on the market. Each have a different character and you should be familiar with that character before deciding.

So lets talk about moderately priced jazz boxes. Don't even bother with bottom of the barrel cheap ones. You are throwing your money away.

Here are three that I own and one I don't
Jazz boxes are defined by the size of the bout. 17, 16, 15 no one makes 18 anymore. The bout measurement is from the center of the body to the fat lower bout.
- The 17's
D'angelico EXl-1 Premier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW2dIBAaWDU

The EXl-1 harkens back to the 30's and 40's with a little bit of the 50's Contrary to what Vinny Raniolo states it doesn't dig in. It doesn't play well in anything larger than a trio. It's a 17 inch and. While it's very close to the Gibson Les Paul type neck it's actually slightly flatter. The thiing I don't like about it is you can't lower the action to a level I prefer.. The brightness even with only one pup that is mini and "Floating is brighter and doesn't sustain well. Still a fine guitar for much of my chord melody work.

Epiphone Broadway (the one I don't own)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ecBwv9n3EA
Here we quickly realize how body bracing and using mounted pickups as opposing floating. Same woods same dimension but due to the bracing and pickup types it produces more bass and mids

16's
Gibson no longer makes es-175's (the one you showed) For a time they produced inferior epiphone 175's Many manufacturer's produce es175 copies that are far superior in tone for about the same price. An epiphone joe pass emperor is a close facsimile there of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDlhSLkN-_s
Near perfect tone in a 16 inch box but I thought the neck pup was lacking and for all the advice given here I replaced the tailpeice and neck pup and I couldn't be happier (for the most part) so I replaced it.

15'(sort of)
I've wanted a small jazz box for forever. and yet the only one that satisfied my ears was way way beyond my means. That was before the Ibanez GB10EM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERVqVVBnMJs
Ibanez gb10 necks are thinner have a smaller width and a shorter scale length than conventional guitars. Personally I love it.

While there a number of "ibanez GB (George Benson)' models the descriptors mean a lot. The "GB10" is made in Japan using the finest woods and is the most pricey. The GB10SE was made in China with inferior parts and less than stellar workmanship. The GB version I play is the GB10EM. It is made in Indonesia (not china) and has superior hardware to the se version (tailpiece pots, switch). When I got it new the only thing I needed to do was some fret polishing and tune up.


More to come...

[tapper mike]

So... Sound.

jazz boxes like regular acoustic guitars make sound acoustically same with electric guitars. However some boxes (even those with laminate tops) can produce a volume you can here without being plugged in. This isn't the sound of jazz guitars we are used to listening to. Depending on how loud the amp is you will hear a mixture of the acoustic sound and the amplified tone. Audience members and amplifying to record the recording will sound quite different.

It's important not to face a guitar amp directly towards you Even at moderate levels it will produce unwanted feedback.. A better position is off to the side and behind you facing forward or off to the side and directed at an angle. This will affect the tone you hear coming from the amp. What you hear from the amp may not be what the audience hears. But using this method will allow you to balance the tone of the guitar and the amp. Otherwise you might find yourself turning the tone on the amp and the guitar too low. What sounds good to your ears in a live situation won't sound good to the audience or for the recording.

Jazz guitar effects are best used minimally a limiter or compressor on the front end with low values and balance levels in and out and some room or spring reverb usually set around 35% or less. Live on stage I never used reverb the room did that for me. in my apt I'll add a little in because I'm keeping my output low enough that it isn't reverberating all over the place.

Amplification.
Unlike other forms of music jazz guitar tone starts with either a medium low gain tube amplifier(fender deluxe) or a solid state one. polytone, DV Mark, Roland JC (jazz chorus)
Most tube amps are terrible for jazz.

In todays market it makes little to no sense to purchase an expensive one trick pony amplifier unless you like throwing your money away. There are plenty of bedroom guitar amplifiers with modeling capabilities that can be had for reasonable prices and if you ever need to make it louder there are options that won't require you to go out and buy another amp.
I use a Yamaha THR10 C as an amp and I use the Deluxe and the American Blues models exclusively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lag74xNg9mM

It's a great all in one practice amp. It works as a sound card to send audio to a computer and return audio back. It also has an additional aux in for mp3 players or phones.

This amp is way too expensive for me. I love it, just can't afford it. But the important stuff he's doing can be done on most guitar amps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qn-x2rQrto&t=222s
Setting the gain, master and eq.
I keep my treble somewhere between 3 and 4 my mid straight up at 5 and roll off my bass to 4. The rest is handled via my tone control and the position of my right hand relative to the bridge.

[kovacs]

@tapper mike, fantastic posts. Is that you in the videos (Minor7thb5).

I am a classical guitarist by training but I do a lot of fingerstyle music on both acoustic steel string and electric guitar. It broadens your possibilites. Using a flatpick is great for rock music and soloing etc, so it needs to be mastered too.

[JO512]

My doubt is how this instrument works... I mean, If I plug It on an audio interface, I can record It with great quality of sound or I need other equipment? The amplifier of a Focusrite interface is enough to record It with phone?
Also, from where comes the differences of sound? Do I need other sort of hardware other than the guitar itself? Or software?

I am not sure about recording with a phone. I've never done that. I do know that Apple products are better for professional audio applications than Android, as on Android, there is a lot of latency. I play an electric guitar and bass and do not have any amps. I plug directly into an audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett Solo, which is okay, but maybe not the best), which is connected to my PC. I then use Reaper (an inexpensive, or even free, but great digital audio workstation) for playing and recording. I use a variety of software VST plugins to shape the sound.

You can hear the pure sound of the guitar without any plugins, but in most cases, you'll want to enhance the tone with compression, saturation, EQ, amp simulation, cabinet simulation, reverb, and so on. Learning how to get the tone you want is a journey. There are plugins that aim to simulate all sorts of real-world guitar gear like pedals, amps, and cabinets. For nice clean tones, Neural DSP's Cory Wong plugin could be a good bet. Amplitube is popular, but I don't think it has the best cabinet simulation. The same can be said for Guitar Rig. You can do the cabinet simulation separately with a free impulse response loader and some impulse responses. Impulse responses are little audio files that capture the characteristics of something like a real-world cabinet. Many IRs are free, but the good ones cost money, though not too much.

Honestly, if I were starting over and I wanted clean tones, I probably wouldn't even bother with amp sims. I would just use a good compressor/limiter like Presswerk, maybe another good saturator (Presswerk already has saturation, but you might want more possibilities here), some professional impulse responses to simulate cabinets from someone like OwnHammer, a good delay, a good reverb, a good EQ (the included one in most DAWs is good enough to start with), and maybe that's all. I don't know if you are also interested in effects like phasers, flangers, tremelos, wahs, and so on. You might think that with clean tones, you wouldn't want saturation/distortion, but you'd be wrong! Just a little adds something wonderful to the tone, a bit of sparkle and richness, on top of making it fuller by making the body of the sound come up a bit relative to the transient, since saturation is basically soft-clipping the signal.

Half the fun of electric guitars is the huge variety of tonal possibilities achievable through effects and whatnot. You can waste a lot of time here just fiddling though!