I can't read music, with the exception of tabs, as well. But I plan to learn it once I get the opportunity (Go to music school or something).

If everyone has to write tabs out to communicate an idea to you without actually playing it, I think the problem is with the guitarist.

I'll admit I'm pretty bad at sight reading music on the guitar, but I can at least do it.

I used to be able to read music when I took piano lessons. Does that count?

If you still can't, or you can't turn music on the page into notes on a guitar, not really.

The only reason why I haven't re-learned how to read music is because I haven't had to. I've been playing guitar for 4 years, and I either come up with my own stuff, or learn songs off Youtube. I totally see what your saying though, Sleet. Learning to read music is important. Guitar tabs are easy to read, whch is what I've heard, but I just haven't compelled myself to learn how.

Well I play bass guitar if that counts.

Yes, Bass guitar does count.

Does anyone play a mandolin? Those things are sweet...

I do not.

My mom always refers to my bass as a guitar. I keep telling her that while it's technically a guitar, if you call it that people will think of a different instrument (especially since I have one of those too). But she just shrugs me off and keeps doing it. If she doesn't see a distinction as important to her, she makes no effort to remember it.

Well typically when you refer to a bass guitar, you just say "bass". I think your mom knows the difference, but would rather just call it a guitar.

I also pay Mandolin. Here's a pic of mine.

The brand is Ashville, which is not a major brand by any means, but it sounds pretty good to be a cheaper instrument.

What I really want is a Gibson Mandolin, but their like $10,000 so that's a no-go.

How does Gibson justify 10,000 dollars for a mandolin?! Most of their professional-grade guitars (what they're actually known for) go for less than that!

I know, it's absurd isn't it? The reason for that is (other than the name) is the woodwork.... Mandolins are small instruments, so making them is more difficult than making something like a guitar. Theirs a lot of bending and molding you have to do. There's also 2 types of mandolins: A-style(which is what mine is) and F-style. The F-style mandolins are similar but have a curl in the body next to neck, usually on the right side, plus other differences. Gibson's are quality instruments, so the quality is way above par, which also adds to the value.

It's still too much money, especially when you can get an Epiphone mandolin for like 600 bucks on ebay... Epiphone/Gibson, same thing.

That's actually pretty cool. The only manolin song I know is Losing My Religion by R.E.M.

This is seriously awesome mandolin playing... Ckeck it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylxIRd6f5pQ&feature=related

Oh, and by the way, I am no where near this good...

That's awesome! you should learn it

I love playing guitar, I'm lucky my first guitar teacher had the decency to teach me to read partiture (at least that's what I think it's called in english) so that I wouldn't be stuck only with tabs, tabs are ok for beginners but you don't know the tempo and you don't know the duration of each note with tabs.

I'm currently practicing some songs by Nirvana (come as you are, about a girl and the man who sold the world) along with Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.

Well, that's interesting, for a second I almost confused your Mandolin for a Colombian Tiple, which has 12 strings.

Hey you guys...

I just posted an entry for the Ernie Ball Dreamscape challenge guitar solo competition. Do check it out and support me if ya wanna xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK3P1dhfFFw


Thannkkss!!!

That was sick, man! Loved to see the Silouette in action! You did an excellent job with that, especially when you picked up the intensity toward the end. I loved it!

Really? Thanks! I felt I could have done better though. This took me 20-30 takes at most lol. And now my hands feel like jelly from all that shred xD

Hehe, that looks awesome, I'm just starting to learn some easy songs by Nirvana.

Cool... What songs are you learning by them?

Hey guys guess what

I've seen thrasher play live for meh lolol *bricked*

But that's awesome, thrasher! :3

Come as You Are, About a Girl and The Man Who Sold the Word.

That was really good. I liked it! It was really well pulled off, didn't notice any mistakes. Also, I like your tone.

So 2 days ago I recorded this. Learned it in one day, there are some minor mistakes, but I'd like your comments and critiques.

Also, I'm not sure if I shared this, but if you want, you can check out my cover of The Wicker Man by Iron Maiden.

You guys are awesome. Wish I could solo half as good.

That was really good Alex... I knew that I had heard that Pirates song somewhere. You did awesome! Keep it up!

Thanks, Fox I'm really glad you liked it. Most people don't.... But it's mostly because of the sound. My gear is horrible

What kind of amplification/processing do you have?

Wow POTC! That's awesome dude! Keep it up! And I like your tone too!

Marshall MG15CD
That's all I use. I plug the guitar into it, turn the distortion on and that's it. My guitar sounds much, much better on other amps, but they're really expensive :\

My guitar is a Fender Stratocaster. My brother claims it's an original, but I think it's just a copy :\

Marshall makes good amps. In fact, I'm looking at getting one sometime soon... It actually sounded good on the video, but if your not happy with the sound, you may want to look into getting a pedal or something. You can find good ones for under $100 at a decent music shop. Me and thrasherblades both have ZOOM's and I barely paid over 100 bucks for mine and I love it. Totally worth it...

And I'm sure your Fender is the real thing too because it sounded and looked legit on the video... Have you ever done a serial number search on it before?

Yeah, Marshall does make good amps, but this one is bad. Maybe something's wrong with it, maybe it's just their worst since it was the cheapest, after all. I have a pedal, but it makes it only worse, since the amp makes horrible buzzing noises once I connect the pedal. The pedal I have is a Heavy Metal HM 2, made in Japan.

As for the guitar, it doesn't have the Fender Stratocaster mark on the head of it. However, my brother explains that by saying that early stratocasters had the mark just written on them, and that the mark on this one was already bleak when he bought it, so he washed it off himself. Isn't a really believable story :\

I'd check out the amp and see if the fuse or something's bad in it first, because the amount of feedback you're saying it's making doesn't sound right. Since your guitar has single coil pickups, there's a natural hum that it makes anyway... Do you have good cables? Because if their old or they don't reduce noise level, they can cause everything to sound bad... It's untelling what could be wrong with the sound unless you start replacing/repairing equipment, but that gets expensive...

Guess you're right. I really gotta replace my equipment. Except the guitar, I like it.

The cables are $5 each xD

Yeah, don't get rid of your guitar, there's nothing wrong with it....

I swear by these cables here: Quantum Gig Lines. I've had these for a long time and the're still good as ever. They're not that expensive either.

Well, I'll either have to ask my parents, or get a job, but I must buy new equipment.

Thanks, Fox

I play the absolute crap out of my guitars.

I own a Dean XV,
Epiphone Z,
Yamaha Acoustic
and an Epiphone Acoustic.

For my gear, I just use a Line 6 190w amp. I also own a Digitech RP200. I was thinking about investing into a hollow body electric so I could start screwing around with more blues, and jazz. Math Rock has also been something I've been wanting to pick up on.

No problem man. If you need leads on good deals on stuff I'll help you out...


@Slippery-Q: That's a pretty sweet set up. Epiphones rule. I had a Digitech RP-90 that I used a lot. It's still good, but I gave it to my cousin when I got my ZOOM... How much are those Line-6 amps with that output?