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My finger hurts / Jazz guitars


NewbieGuy

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Hello all, I've got two questions.

 

1. My index finger on my left hand has been hurting lately so I haven't been able to play for like 3 days, but it's almost totally recovered. Is that a sign of me playing the guitar in a wrong way, or is it just that I'm a beginner and the finger needs to get used to me playing the guitar ? (I got my first guitar 3 months ago and I've been playing 3-4 hours per day)

 

2. What's the difference between a regular rock guitar and a jazz/blues guitar ? Can I get that jazzy sound from a regular guitar with effect processors ?

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If the pain starts again once you start playing, it could be a sign that you are holding the guitar wrong and have some sort of repetitive motion injury. If the pain is there, see a doctor before it gets worse. 3-4 hrs a day is pretty intensive so a problem wouldn't be surprising.

 

A lot of guitars have been used for jazz and blues and there are a lot of different "jazz tones" and "blues tones". Can you be more specific? Who's sound are you trying to approximate?

 

You can a get an ok jazz sound out of most guitars by playing through the neck pickup with the tone control turned down. That will give you that Kenny Burell sound.

"You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
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Where is the pain exactly? And how did the pain start?

 

There are certainly guitars that can do jazz or rock pretty decently, but if you want a guitar that really nails jazz, then you'd probably want a guitar designed for that. The big Gibsons, Epis, semi-hollowbodies, etc.

 

Then again, Nugent uses one of those large semi-hollow Gibsons and gets a great rock sound from it.

 

I guess one solution would be to get the cleanest sounding guitar you can find, and run some good pedals in front of your amp to get both tones when necessary.

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Where exactly does it hurt? Developing callouses hurts but not deep, only on the surface. If it's a deep hurt, you may have brused the bone, something I've only done a couple of times, but it takes awhile to get over. Watch other guitarists and pay attention to how they're fingers are hitting the fretboard. The angle, etc.

 

Guitars aren't that different, but the way they're amplified and effected can be really different. A lot of jazz guys like the sound of hollow body instruments, but there are no rules. Any electric can cover most any style depending on how you play it and what you plug it into.

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