Best Guitar Advice You Ever Got

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

For me it was probably.....turn down the guitar volume turn up the amp gain. EVH style.

[feoul92]

Always practice using a metronome!

[xtp]

This bloke's channel is full of interesting stuff (and you should see some of the fretboards!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86SMXWPl5lQ

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I wasn't trying to be rude. I haven't been on the internet for 6 months.

Cheers for this.

[Doc3g]

The best advice I ever got was to let a professional set up. For the longest time, I had the mentality that I needed ever increasingly more expensive guitars to finally a guitar that played well, had great intonation, stayed in tune, etc.

What I finally realized was that even an average-skill tech (not even a full-fledged luthier) and a few basic upgrades (locking tuners and a decent bridge pickup) can turn just about any otherwise-unplayable hunk of wood into something that is a joy to play.

[sjm]

If you're singing and playing at the same time it helps to be able to play at least a lot of the time without looking at the fretboard. Stops you looking like some shoegazing fop..

100%, as it keeps you singing into the mic. I had to switch to bass guitar for a gig at short notice because the bassist was ejected from the band shortly beforehand. I was playing keys, and we figured we could get by without the keys (this was rock covers) but not without the bass. Having played guitar for years, I had no problem playing safe and solid bass for the gig.

But what I hadn't realise was that because the fret spacing was so different from guitar, I'd be spending much more time checking that my left hand was in the right place. So when it came to Should I Stay or Should I go - the only song where I was doing lead vocals - the beginning of each phrase got lost. I'd turn my head to the left to look at the fretboard and sing at the neck, not into the mic. Wasn't helped by the fact that we also played it very fast

I learned from the experience though, and of course practice goes a long way towards learning how to position your fingers without needing to look.

[pekbro]

I cant really sing without a guitar or some kind of instrument. There are some songs i cant play without singing.

[donkey tugger]

Always find it much, much harder to play bass and sing. You've got more latitude to be a bit sloppy and get away with it on guitar I think.

[sjm]

Always find it much, much harder to play bass and sing. You've got more latitude to be a bit sloppy and get away with it on guitar I think.

It's about getting enough practice - it's become so much easier after playing on and off for years with bands. Your fingers know what to do and so it just becomes automatic; it's a lot harder when you don't have that motor control on autopilot and are cognitively trying to process 3 things at once (left hand, right hand, voice).

[mdcarte2]

Tap your foot