I play guitar on average two hours a day (give or take). All I want to do is focus on my playing, but there are things that get in the way.
What are the biggest guitarist problems? The biggest guitarist problems can be anything from finding committed band members, developing callouses, annoying feedback issues and dealing with endless miles of tangled wires.
Being able to play the guitar is the uniquely most fulfilling thing on earth. There is nothing better than grabbing something and create sounds. That to most other individuals is just a board of wood with strings. In the correct hands and with the correct expertise, any guitar cheap or expensive can sound amazing. From the lightest of harmony movements to the most underhanded, tearing guitar a solo the world has ever heard. But, more than anything else, there will be those inconceivable issues, and professionals deal with and it immensely improves their sound.
In this post, I will go over 30 issues that will almost convince you to jacking in playing.
#1 Developing Callouses
This is an issue that new guitarist encounters. However, when I increase my playing time each day then my fingers starts to become very sore and detaching your skin away from your finger. When you start playing, it is a very painful experience because your fingers are soft.
There is no getting away from it. However, there are things you can do to ensure this pain is limited and it passes quickly.
Firstly, when you start to experience the pain and you want to practice for a few more hours then tape your fingers, with duct tape or plasters before your finger starts to shred.
#2 Trying To Find The Perfect Tone
People spend hours and lots of money trying to find the perfect tone. Even I found myself buying compressor pedals, EQ’s pedals, noise gates, thousands of distortion pedals; but the truth is none of that will help. It actually, reduces your practicing time.
If you find yourself having this problem and you do not like your set up, it is because you have over complicated it. Literally, my current set up is a Vintage Les Paul and a Cube amp with only a fraction of distortion and delay. I mean, I haven’t even added much reverb.
The point is that you only need to worry about this stuff, is when you are recording. But, you will be amazed what you can do with less. So, stop over complicating your set up and stick to the basics when you are practicing.
#3 To Much Distortion
This is a massive pet peeve of mine, and yes, I was a massive victim of this. Especially, in my death metal days. However, distortion hides your mistakes. When you are playing, you always want to base your technique building on the sound to output.
When your pick hits the string, it can sound different depending on how you position the pick. When you have high distortion, you cannot hear the resonance of the strings that well. You will think you are playing fine until you turn down the distortion.
#4 Dodgy Connection
So let us say you have a set up that involves 8 effects pedals and an amplifier, and you have a crackling and a cutting-out sound. This usually dust has into the effects petal or the connection terminal is broken somehow.
This means that you have up to 8 wires to check, but what if none of those wires are causing the issue? Then, you have to individually check and test each pedal just to isolate the issue. Now imagine if that happens at sound check? It’s enough to drive anyone to arson.
First of all if it’s the leads then you need to buy new leads, or just purchase a lifetime lead. I purchased mine 10 years ago and it still works fine, and I have noticed when using high distortion it reduces noise compared to cheaper leads. This cost me £20.00 two years ago and in the long term, this has saved me loads of money.
Secondly, if the problem is with the pedals then you need to get a screw driver, open it up and apply switch cleaner.
Overall, do not have a complicated set up. I would advise a bit of gain (nowhere past half way), some delay and reverb and just get your levels right and you will sound good if you have good technique. If you are trying to hide your bad playing, then you can’t polish a turd and it will just sound like white noise anyway.
#5 Busting Your Amp With A Bass Guitar
Okay, so this is a silly one and I have been guilty of it. Yes, my fellow band members did not have a bass amp and we plugged it into the guitar amp. I warn you, that it did pop and a smokey smell was made.
But, it was okay and cheap to fix. I think it will cost £20.00.