[heavymetal246]

Hey guys, what's up? I'm a long time die-hard shredder and for a change of pace, I'm going to be getting an acoustic here pretty soon (hopefully by the end of the summer). Right now I'm looking at an Alvarez Professional Series PD905 Dreadnought but that's kind of besides the point. I was wondering if anyone could help me out on finding some good acoustic stuff to play? I am not accustomed to the style at all and am wanting to focus on fingerpicking, string slapping, and other acoustic techniques. Could I get some help on finding some more difficult music for this style of play? I've been looking for Justin King tabs but they are few and far between and sometimes require a double necked guitar. Maybe even some classical style guitar would be cool - but I don't where to start. Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

[dadfad]

Fingerstyle and alternating-thumb bass old-time country-blues is a pretty challenging genre to get into.

[ninjato]

James Taylor

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Doyle Dykes

are a few I can think of of the top of my head. It really depends on what you like.

[Nintendo Freak]

James Taylor

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Doyle Dykes

are a few I can think of of the top of my head. It really depends on what you like.

Go to: http://cvls.com/ Click on the picture of the acoustic guitar, and pick one of the books and buy it (Don't forget the DVD that goes with it!). The green book and DVD teaches you bluegrass/country and the blue book and DVD teaches stuff like rock strums, barre chords, and arpeggios.

This post has been edited by Nintendo Freak: 28 June 2006 - 03:12 PM

[rayvon87]

I guess if you're wanting some picking and slapping, I could suggest 'More than Words' by Extreme.

But it really depends on what you want...

'Freight Train' (Elizabeth Cotten), 'Trambone' (Chet Atkins), 'Windy & Warm' (Chet Atkins) are simple Alternating-Thumb tunes.

'Dust in the Wind' is a good example of 'Travis' style picking.

You could go for somc Clapton, 'Tears in Heaven' is pretty easy.

Probably one of the best things I can tell you is to head to AcousticPower.com, get the PowerTab software and get some tabs from there.

Hope I could help.

This post has been edited by rayvon87: 30 June 2006 - 05:51 AM

[dogpoo]

Maybe even some classical style guitar would be cool

Go with their suggestions, but I'd just like to add, with regards to the quote, that you don't want to be playing classical stuff on a steel string acoustic as you will shred your fingertips to bits and it will hurt.

[ninjato]

Maybe even some classical style guitar would be cool

Go with their suggestions, but I'd just like to add, with regards to the quote, that you don't want to be playing classical stuff on a steel string acoustic as you will shred your fingertips to bits and it will hurt.

I agree, but I have messed around doing some classical here and there and it was OK. Prolonged classical on a steel string would definitely be uncomfortable. Actually, I feel it after just regular fingerpicking for extended amounts of time.

This post has been edited by ninjato: 30 June 2006 - 07:41 PM

[dogpoo]

I'm fine with regular fingerpicking on an acoustic, but pure classical stuff on it just hurts. I stick to my classical most of the time.

[heavymetal246]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll most likely be doing the more familiar songs (More Than Words, Tears in Heaven, Dust in the Wind) first and then get into some Chet Atkins and stuff like that.
Again, thanks.

[gravitas]

Maybe even some classical style guitar would be cool

Go with their suggestions, but I'd just like to add, with regards to the quote, that you don't want to be playing classical stuff on a steel string acoustic as you will shred your fingertips to bits and it will hurt.

Untrue. A common misconception. You build calluses on your picking fingers just like you do on your fretting fingers. Don't make the mistake of trying to play steel string with nails, though. They break.

Oh, and if you're getting into accoustic guitar, start here.

http://www.brucecock...lf_titled.html#

[dogpoo]

I've been classically trained, and I've also played a fair bit of acoustic. One day I decided to be an adventurous fool and played a whole bunch of classical stuff on the steel string. Was fine while I was playing, until that night when my fingers were so tender it hurt. And I have calluses, which were wearing off by then. It's not the picking fingers that hurt, it's the fretting ones.

Steel strings with nails? That's fine. You aren't supposed to have nails longer than 1 or 2 mm past your fingertips anyway. They shouldn't be breaking at that length.

[gravitas]

I've been classically trained, and I've also played a fair bit of acoustic. One day I decided to be an adventurous fool and played a whole bunch of classical stuff on the steel string. Was fine while I was playing, until that night when my fingers were so tender it hurt. And I have calluses, which were wearing off by then. It's not the picking fingers that hurt, it's the fretting ones.

It's a different kind of string. Nylon strings are much smoother, especially considering the difference between those top three on classical and the top three on steel-string, which are like piano-wire. You can build calluses for just about anything, though steel string will probably get you there faster, due to the tautness of its strings.

[dadfad]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll most likely be doing the more familiar songs (More Than Words, Tears in Heaven, Dust in the Wind) first and then get into some Chet Atkins and stuff like that.
Again, thanks.

There's probably a five year learning-curve (at least) between "Tears In Heaven" and most of Chet Atkins' pieces.

I've been classically trained, and I've also played a fair bit of acoustic. One day I decided to be an adventurous fool and played a whole bunch of classical stuff on the steel string. Was fine while I was playing, until that night when my fingers were so tender it hurt. And I have calluses, which were wearing off by then. It's not the picking fingers that hurt, it's the fretting ones.

It's a different kind of string. Nylon strings are much smoother, especially considering the difference between those top three on classical and the top three on steel-string, which are like piano-wire. You can build calluses for just about anything, though steel string will probably get you there faster, due to the tautness of its strings.

I play almost exclusively fingerstyle on a steel-string, and although I don't play a great deal of classical music (as in formal European, because of what genres I'm into more), I use most of the same techniques including rapid glissando and tremolo, etc, etc. I don't use fingerpicks (rarely anyway) and I've built up considerable calluses on the fingers of both hands. I have my nails slightly above my fingertips, but more to offer support to the tips than to use actual nail for picking. To use pure nails to actually pluck the strings with (as some classical players do) would shred them in a few minutes playing complex pieces on a steel-string. I use the backs of my nails sometimes for occasional back-picking (as in a rapid tremolo or prestissimo section maybe) or for a cresendo back-strummed type chord arpeggiation. Things like that, which even still cause "flats" on the backs of my nails. Using nails-only on a steel-string for more normal picking will almost instantly destroy them. The finger-tip calluses build up soon enough to give a pretty tough surface than can give plenty of attack when needed. The occasional times I'll play a nylon string (or silk'n'steel type) classical the strings feel so nice and soft, like butter!

[gravitas]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll most likely be doing the more familiar songs (More Than Words, Tears in Heaven, Dust in the Wind) first and then get into some Chet Atkins and stuff like that.
Again, thanks.

There's probably a five year learning-curve (at least) between "Tears In Heaven" and most of Chet Atkins' pieces.

I've been classically trained, and I've also played a fair bit of acoustic. One day I decided to be an adventurous fool and played a whole bunch of classical stuff on the steel string. Was fine while I was playing, until that night when my fingers were so tender it hurt. And I have calluses, which were wearing off by then. It's not the picking fingers that hurt, it's the fretting ones.

It's a different kind of string. Nylon strings are much smoother, especially considering the difference between those top three on classical and the top three on steel-string, which are like piano-wire. You can build calluses for just about anything, though steel string will probably get you there faster, due to the tautness of its strings.

I play almost exclusively fingerstyle on a steel-string, and although I don't play a great deal of classical music (as in formal European, because of what genres I'm into more), I use most of the same techniques including rapid glissando and tremolo, etc, etc. I don't use fingerpicks (rarely anyway) and I've built up considerable calluses on the fingers of both hands. I have my nails slightly above my fingertips, but more to offer support to the tips than to use actual nail for picking. To use pure nails to actually pluck the strings with (as some classical players do) would shred them in a few minutes playing complex pieces on a steel-string. I use the backs of my nails sometimes for occasional back-picking (as in a rapid tremolo or prestissimo section maybe) or for a cresendo back-strummed type chord arpeggiation. Things like that, which even still cause "flats" on the backs of my nails. Using nails-only on a steel-string for more normal picking will almost instantly destroy them. The finger-tip calluses build up soon enough to give a pretty tough surface than can give plenty of attack when needed. The occasional times I'll play a nylon string (or silk'n'steel type) classical the strings feel so nice and soft, like butter!

Dadfad, you're the authority on everything.

[Will_Wood]

James Taylor, for sure.

Also, if you want to do some simple strumming, try out some stuff like "Country Roads" by John Denver, which sounds fantastic with just a guitar and vocals.

[rayvon87]

There's probably a five year learning-curve (at least) between "Tears In Heaven" and most of Chet Atkins' pieces.

It's not too bad if you go from the simple Chet stuff and work steadily up. I started with Chet (who I discovered through Tommy Emmanuel, but that's a whole other story. ) only a short while after I'd gotten 'Tears in Heaven' down (which only took a few weeks), and this guy already has guitar experience, so it may not even take that long. (Just be prepared to use your thumb to fret some notes.)

Start simple ('Freight Train') then work your way up ('Windy & Warm' -> 'Trambone'), this'll help build thumb independence, and you could look at the simpler stuff off this site (you need to get a program called TablEdit/TEFView (there's a link to it on that site). They're all under 'Music'. There's some Chet stuff, as well as some arrangements of other songs done in the 'Alternating-Bass' style.

Good luck. The 'Alternating-Bass' style is very versatile and very rewarding.

This post has been edited by rayvon87: 12 July 2006 - 02:52 AM

[Will_Wood]

Really, though, I've found that most metal or shred guitarists have a huge amount of trouble just strumming open chords. That may be your biggest hurdle in learning acoustic.

[wilson78jr]

Try some Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett or Jim Croche for some Fingerpicking. You might try picking up Guitar World Acoustic Magazine. Instead of including a CD with the Mag, they have you go to their web site to hear examples of the lessons. The nice thing about it is you can go to the web site and listen to the transcriptions before buying the Mag. WWW.Guitarworld.com. The hardest thing for me to play on Acoustic Guitar is Ragtime Styles. They usually have at least one song. This month is The Entertainer arranged for guitar. They did Maple leaf Rag last year and it took me 4 months to get it right! Give it a try...........

[heavymetal246]

Reply to several things that have been said:

I have no problem with open chords at all. In fact most of the time I prefer them to barre chords in my writing. I am a very progressive metal side of shredding - most of what I play is not just senseless blazing of the chromatic scale.

The using my thumb to play might be extremely difficult however, I have pretty small hands with short fingers and it hurts my hand to reach around the back side of the fretboard like that. If I do get into that kind of stuff, are there any hints that might make the process easier?

I don't doubt there is a five year learning curve between Tears in Heaven and Chet stuff, but Tears in Heaven would be a ridiculously easy piece for me. I've played very solidly for 6 years and I'm pretty sure I could narrow that learning curve by about 4 or 4 and a half years.

I know that some people might be misconsrued to the term "shredding" here but I think I should emphasize that I HATE mindless shredding (Slayer = worst band EVER) and I see myself as a "classy" shredder (much more into Jason Becker or Paganini style pieces than any kind of heavy metal solo). I also have a fairly solid understanding of theory and apply it to my playing on a dialy basis.

[dadfad]

The use of the thumb for fretting, though awkward at first, is actually easier many times for guys with smaller hand in a lot of applications. My hands are not large by any means. The thumb can be used to make easier partial barre chords (like F 02311 or 4X5444 for example) or giving a bass-note added onto a partial barre (like 2XX322) or holding a partial chord freeing other fingers for other things, especially in fingerstyle (like holding a partial G-chord with the thumb 3X0000, allowing the other fingers free to quickly span large distances for treble notes and runs. I'm not saying use your thumb all the time, but after the initial awkwardness it gets easy very quickly and can can give you an edge into playing some things easier and even a few things that absolutely cannot be played any other way using conventional/classical techniques.