Thread: Guitar players out there?

Hi folks,

One of my other huge pleasures in life is playing guitar. I'm a bit of what my father likes to call a "techy" guitar player...! I like to shred. Alot. I guess thats more of my OCD side coming out because it means I dont mind sitting there practicing alternately picked 16th note triplets for hours at a time...!

I love to play stuff my Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dream Theatre, Pantera, Metallica, Van Halen, Racer X and all that stuff. Good solid rock/ metal with guitar hero solos in it..! I also like blues stuff like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Walter Trout and some of the newer guys like Joe Bonnamassa.

I find that the OCD, perfection seeking side of guitar playing is very similar to that of straight shaving and seeking the perfect edge, shave, lather etc... You also get to go out and spend loads of money on cool kit..!
Plus there is a zen side to it as well because when I play I find hours just disappear. Really concentrating on the perfect vibrato, really working to get that legato lick super clean and, in my case, working to fit another 4 notes in before the end of the bar (!) is what makes playing so enjoyable. Definately soul food for me..!

I've got an Ibanez Jem (love it) and I run that through a Line 6 Spider amp. I've also got an acoustic Yamaha and a bass as well.

Are there any guitar players out there? If so, what do you like to play? What kit do you have? What do you like about playing? Discuss!

I fall on the exact opposite side of the spectrum as you.

I have a Boss loop station and I end up just laying down some chords, mebbe a bass line and just fool around to see what happens.

Right now I have an

-Ibanez Jet king: humbuckers, non modified

-american made Peavey Predator: single coil that has new caps, pots wires etc, but original pickups (I was going to replace them with the rest of the guts, but it sounded so good after I did the star grounding and shielding, I left it alone)

-acoustic Washburn wierdo that nobody else in the world seems to have, I think it was a limited run prototype or something. This one is my baby.

-a few solid state amps for traveling, and a little Blackheart Killer ant amp and cabinet, unmodified

-misc other beater guitars, a few mandolins, a bass

ah, i do like to play myself. i don't go for uber shredding though. just not my thing. what i really love is folk (the good kind, sorry Dylan old boy), but mostly 20's-50's music. i'm only 18 and i have no idea how i got into it, but i did. can't get enough. a few modern bands that tickle my fancy are normally a bit retro (fleet foxes, Luke Winslow-King)

anyhoo:
Alvarez MD90C - semi acoustic with cutaway, its rosewood back and sides, sitka spruce top, mahogany neck, rosewood and bone bridge, bone nut, very minimal inlays, and i believe its just french polish. its a real beauty.

Alvarez MD350 - acoustic dreadnought same spec as above, just with no cutaway or electrics and slightly different dimensions on the neck, also the bridge projects more and it has golden tuners. some herringbone trim, it's a real stunner.

Epiphone SG - Ivory colour. one of the better models i believe, but still not quite a gibson. really nice guitar, factory spec.

other than that i have just two distortions and a step thingy. on a smaller 20W for my bedroom.

Ciao Chaps,
Mister David

I like to dabble a little bit. I am into rockabilly and blues for the most part.

I play a gretsch electromatic, a Airline town and country and I also have a ovation acoustic. the amp I play through is a Fender twin reverb 64 reissue.

My airline guitar is made by a company called Eastwood guitars they make some really cool stuff and the prices really aren't that bad.

Welcome to Eastwood® Guitars.com

I play mostly country/bluegrass type stuff. Don't really get into "shredding" but would like to learn some of the Clapton/Vaughn/King style bluesey stuff. Mostly do Johnny Cash, Michael Martin Murphey, Marty Robbins, etc.

Guitars:
Taylor 810 Dreadnaught. Rosewood/Spruce. My "baby", college graduation present
Washburn HB-35 hollow body Gibson 335 Knock-off.
Squire Strat
Washburn D10 A/E wine-red. First "good" guitar
Washburn 12 string, I believe it's a D24 or something like that. Probably made in the 80's, rosewood and spruce, 5 piece neck
"Alpine" acoustic. $60 pawn shop guitar.. top with quotes and signatures from my friends
Ibanez Bass

it's probably worth a mention that Martin and Taylor guitars are the most overpriced guitars ever. it's unbelievable. they charge about £2500 ($5000) for guitars that should really be retailing at around £600 ($1000) i tried a few of the medium end Taylors (£2500) a few months back and some of them have tone and playability that is equal to about a £400 Alvarez. it's ridiculous what people will pay for a factory made mass produced brand.

I haven't touched either of them in a few months, but I have an early 90's model Mexican Stratocaster that's just about the easiest thing on the world to play, and a dreadnaught Epiphone acoustic that's been good to me for 10 years or so considering it only cost me 300 bucks. I wanted to get better at playing but work and other hobbies took up all my time.

Once upon a time I had an Ibanez Bass, metallic cherry red and I loved it to bits (literally). Could never read music, learned to play by ear as they say. LOL Fisrt bass riff I learned how to play was "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, then went onto L7, Maiden, Megadeth et al!

I can think of 2 people off the top of my head who would be interested in this thread, will go PM them, hehehe

I've been playing guitar in a variety of styles for about
13 years now, and my primary guitars are a Parker Fly
Deluxe and an Ernie Ball Stingray-5 bass. I play through
a variety of Boss pedals and a Mesa Boogie Dual Rect-
ifier and Mesa 4x12 cab.

I used to teach and tour full-time, but now I've sort of
settled down into a different career (for now... )

- Scott

Yeah buddy, love me some shred. right now I'm on a Jackson soloist custom with emg 81/85 and an original Floyd rose playing through a line 6 setup pod studio UX 2.

I did have a JET guitar (Jeff terwillegar) and a Mesa boogie mark III with analog eq running through a 4x12 with a teese rmc-1 wah and a sweet ibanez 808 tube screamer and that was my sweetest rig to date. I've had deans, ESP's, warriors, PRS, quicksilver, ibanez, vintage USA kramers, steinberger, tagima (brazillian), schecter, Gibson, fender, etc. As kind of a wannabee shredder, the kramer, quicksilver and Jackson have been the best. For overall guitar I don't believe that you can beat a JET guitar. I hope I don't get roasted too bad for this, but I never was impressed by gibsons or fenders. Sorry, I'm on a tangent...

Yes I think there is a link between the perfectionism aspects of guitar playing and straight shaving.