Two Questions

[Professor Monkey]

Hello! Im asking a lot of questions...

 

Well.. here they are!

 

1. Is there an exercise that will help me stop playing choppy? (let ring)

 

2. How important is waxing and polish? Will the Ernie Ball wipes suffice? I do not perform

[theTragicRich]

1) I'm not sure what you mean? A more legato playing style, or are you just having trouble letting notes ring out for their full duration? Is it chords and arpeggios? or scales that sound choppy? If you don't already have a metronome or some sort of time reference device, that may help.

 

2) I'm not a wood enthusiast, but I've read that it's good to keep your wood waxed on a regular basis, but what regularity is it? Every week? Month? 6-months? I'm not sure. I'll clean/wax mine whenever I do a string change which is anywhere from 3-6 months. Obviously, keeping your instrument clean and polished looks great and prevents gunky build up (especially on the fretboard), but keeping your strings clean will definitely make them last longer and sound better.

[Professor Monkey]

1) Its that the notes arent ringing out for the full duration. When I am fingering the notes, I continuously mute the other strings on accident

[mdrs]

Slow down your playing, and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. You'll get better at not muting adjacent strings. Also, maybe your fretboard is too narrow for you??

 

Do NOT over polish your guitars!! Most polishes available will tend to build up, and make a smeary gummy mess eventually!!

 

Use a soft clean guitar cleaning cloth and wipe down your guitar and strings everytime you play. I'd only polish infrequently...??yearly??.

 

I use Martin guitar polish, and only use it lightly.

[mdrs]

also, work on your positioning of your fretting hand, trying to comfortably make your fingers come straight down onto the fret board.

 

 

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

1) Its that the notes arent ringing out for the full duration. When I am fingering the notes, I continuously mute the other strings on accident

 

Sounds like your fingers aren't "standing up" properly on the strings. If so, you may need to do something about your LH position.

 

I don't know if there are any specific exercises for that, because it's such a fundamental part of technique. But the good news is that it's the sort of thing you can practise with ANYTHING you play.

[Michael Patrick]

2. How important is waxing and polish? Will the Ernie Ball wipes suffice? I do not perform

 

Personally, I prefer a nice protective coating of grime on my guitars. Why expose the pretty finish to the elements?

 

I am being completely honest in saying I have not owned or used guitar polish in many, many years.

[Hardtail]

Hello! Im asking a lot of questions...

 

Well.. here they are!

 

1. Is there an exercise that will help me stop playing choppy? (let ring)

 

2. How important is waxing and polish? Will the Ernie Ball wipes suffice? I do not perform

 

Slow down what you're doing to a snail's crawl.

 

Polish? What's that? Seriously, I polish mine about once every other month. I just wipe it down mostly.

 

 

For the strings, I'll use Fast Fret sometimes but only when they're really old and I want to extend their usage a little bit more (or if it's a humid day).

 

[Rampdog]

My comment on the strings is to wipe them with denatured alchohol. JUST THE STRINGS... You don't want to soak the fretboard, especially if it's rosewood...It'll dry the rosewood out... I find it brings alot of life back to my tone...

[Caevan O’Shite]

1. Pretty much like many have said here, practice, practice, practice. And slowly.

 

Focus on the sound and the tone that you're getting from the way that you're fingering and picking the strings. Since you're question concerns letting the strings ring-out properly, particularly focus on not unintentionally muting or damping the strings with your other fingers, and properly fretting the strings so that they don't buzz-out or ring falsely.

 

Let yourself explore and get lost in the sound and tone of the simplest things, even playing just one note. Try all kinds of variations. Pay close attention.

 

Be sure to fret between the frets near, but not on top of or right against, the fret that you're fretting at.

 

Be sure your fingers are fairly straight and not laying or angling across other strings, other than in barre and partial-barre grips. Much of the time, your fingers should be working like pistons or stomping-feet coming fairly straight up-and-down, not slapping across the strings like you're typing.

 

Speaking of grips, yours should be relaxed and comfortable, and not tightly choking the neck; just enough pressure to fret the notes cleanly, without having a death-grip choke-hold on it! This is a VERY common problem. If there's too much unnecessary tension in your hand and fingers, you will be prone to improper fretting and also cramping in between your thumb and hand. Align your thumb more or less parallel to the strings along the back of the neck, with just so much of the thumb's finger-print applied to the neck, contacting about half or three-quarters of the way around the back towards the bass-strings. This will vary as you play in different positions and registers and fingerings, let it go where it tends to naturally so long as you aren't forcefully choking the neck. (Play a few chords with your thumb completely OFF the neck, pointing pretty much the same way as the headstock, to see just how little of a G.I.-Joe Kung-Fu Grip you actually need!) Loosening up your fretting-hand will let you play more freely, naturally, comfortably, accurately, and eventually with greater speed!

 

Borrow heavily from the posture and positioning and techniques of Classical Guitarists. They've got this down to a science; while the rest of us play around with different effects and amps and speakers and tubes and strings and cables and all kinds of gizmos... posture, positioning, and technique are pretty much ALL they use! Much tried-and-true gold to be mined there.

 

2. Clean and polish only as needed. Often just a dry, clean, lint-free, all-cotton cloth (T-shirts are wonderful) and a few breaths to fog-up the finish before buffing will do just fine, thanks. Same, minus the fogging-breath, for the strings, getting under 'em as well.

 

When you need 'em, use only polishes and cleaners that DON'T have wax or ESPECIALLY silicon in them or leave residual build-up. (DO NOT USE "PLEDGE" OR "OLD ENGLISH" OR ANY OTHER "FURNITURE" POLISH!!) GHS makes a polish- they used to call it "New Age Guitar Gloss: I'm not entirely sure what it's called now, probably just "Guitar Gloss", IIRC, anyways they slightly changed the label; anyways, it is supposed to be applied and left to dry to a powdery-consistency, after having soaked-up oil and grease and what-not; at which point it will flake away as you buff it off, polishing the guitar. (DON'T use it anywhere that a powdery-substance will get lodged in open wood-grain pores or the like, such as on most fretboards other than finished maple, or on areas where the finish has worn through or cracked enough that it'll get underneath the finish. Seems fine on ebony or "ebonized" bridge-plates on acoustics, though.) Spray-on (pump-bottle) "Trick"-brand guitar-polish seems to work nicely, too; I've used it following the GHS Guitar Gloss. That leaves a GREAT feel on the back of a guitar-neck, I've used that combo on both nitro-lacquered and "unfinished" tung-oiled/Butcher's Waxed necks.

 

Stewart-MacDonald has come out with "Preservation Polish", which is supposed to leave no residue, gumminess, wax, or silicon, being not only kinder and gentler on your guitar but also on the repair-person that might one day do some work on it, allowing glue and refinishing to work much, much more happily! I haven't tried it yet, but it's great in theory and probably lives up to its claims.

 

I'm also inclined to look into the Fender/Maguire's polish and care products sometime, they're supposed to be great. Pricey, but maybe just the ticket, and I'm sure that a bottle of each of whatever their kit includes will last a long, long time, unless you're polishing the living snot out of your guitar all the time!

 

A little fretboard-oil once in a while (except on a maple fretboard) will keep your rosewood or ebony fretboard nice, too. Just a little, again with the cotton-cloth (it'll get dirty here), rubbed back-&-forth between the frets. I think I gave away my last little bottle of Gibson fretboard-oil, so I think I'm gonna try some "Fret Doctor" oil soon...

[Professor Monkey]

Alright..

 

Im using a Ernie Ball Fretboard conditioner and then letting it soak in for about 3-4 minutes, and then wiping it up with a paper towel ( I dont know if this is correct)

 

On the body, I'm using Ernie Ball body polish and then wiping the whole body, then taking a cloth and wiping it off again.

 

 

[ThisSiteSucks]

For #1, check the callouses on your fingers Really!

 

If I look at my left hand, palm up, my callouses are on the RIGHT side of my finger tips. If you have them towards the middle, I'll bet a couple bucks you're getting to much "finger" on the fretboard and killing your notes.

[Bejeeber]

1) When I am fingering the notes, I continuously mute the other strings on accident

 

You have to put your left hand on a diet, because your fingertips are fat. Chubby. With unsightly bulges.

 

But seriously though, I agree with what those other forumites are blabbering on about on this subject.

[Wolfgangsta]

1) I'm not sure what you mean? A more legato playing style, or are you just having trouble letting notes ring out for their full duration? Is it chords and arpeggios? or scales that sound choppy? If you don't already have a metronome or some sort of time reference device, that may help.

 

2) I'm not a wood enthusiast, but I've read that it's good to keep your wood waxed on a regular basis, but what regularity is it? Every week? Month? 6-months? I'm not sure. I'll clean/wax mine whenever I do a string change which is anywhere from 3-6 months. Obviously, keeping your instrument clean and polished looks great and prevents gunky build up (especially on the fretboard), but keeping your strings clean will definitely make them last longer and sound better.

 

Umm, I wax my wood regularly. Oops, you're talking about guitars!

 

Sorry, couldn't resist!

 

I'm with Michael Patrick on this one, I don't remember the last time I did anything other than wipe down my guitars with a t-shirt.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Oh, another thing- if you are fingering a barre-chord and having trouble with the barre evenly fretting all the intended strings without buzzing or weak notes, try rolling your finger ever so slightly so that the side of the finger closest to your thumb is partly facing the neck, about 3/4 of the way around; part way between the underside and the side of the finger.

 

Picture one of those plastic, toy snakes that are made of jointed segments, so that when you hold them flat, the snake sways back and forth while extending out; but if you turn it towards its side, it will all fall downwards, hanging from your hand.

 

Your finger is like that toy; if you use a bit of its side to fret, its joints are no longer weak points that flex, it becomes stiffer and more efficient at holding down the strings...

 

Man, this would be so much more obvious with a few pictures!

[smirk]

I didn't read every post here but one thing people miss, esp begginers is the importance of left hand thumb positiion. If you are keeping your thumb wrapped over the top even when playing on the lower strings this effectively shortens your fingers on the front of the neck and makes it harder to spread them out to reach even a four fret span and keeps them from coming down on the strings at the right angle to avoid muting the next string.

Lower your thumb down to the midle of the back of the neck as you go to the lower strings and bend at the wrist not the knuckle. Notice how hard it is to spread your fingers if your hand is bent?

 

I like Guitar Honey for the fret boards and rarely use any polish.