New Guitar!

[Fingernail]

Spent about 4 hours playing different guitars in the Spanish Guitar Centre, London yesterday - and this is the result:

 

http://www.finefretted.com/html/antonio_picado_model_62.html (only pics I could find on the web. Mine's less red on the back, more subtle brown, and has a "double back".)

 

W00T! :lol: I'm so happy, I just wanna play it all the time. Got the price knocked down by £500 so WIN.

[oDDity]

Three grand on a guitar, eh? Why don't you upload some audio of you playing it, that's what matters, not what it looks like.

[Fingernail]

we paid £2400, the list price was £2900

 

And yes, I will make some LO-FI HOME RECORDINGS

[sparhawk]

2400??? WOW! That must be an awsome piece of guitar. Sounds pretty expensive to me but I don't know what they cost so it might be a steal.

[Fingernail]

It's pretty good (my last one only cost £500), but for a REALLY pro concert guitar you could expect to pay £5000 or more. It's (my new one) a low-level "concert" guitar, really. A high level student guitar would be about £1500 - 2000 - and after playing so many yesterday, the quality difference is ENORMOUS - the leap you get from going into a higher price bracket is quite large.

[sparhawk]

I hope so. After all why would you spend the additional money otherwise?

[SneaksieDave]

Congrats on the purchase. I can easily say mine is no-where-near that expensive! Maybe 10 years ago(?), I bought a sub-$1000 Takamine and have used that since. But I am very curious as to the quality differences, if it improves in a linear fashion, "barely," or even geometrically. There sure as shit better not be intonation problems with something that expensive. I do wonder. I think you've inspired me to hit the guitar shop nearby today for the first time in a while. Need new strings anyway.

 

Yes, recordings please! They could even have place in TDM. Remember 'Saturio Returns Home' - its use of classical guitar in sitting rooms was possibly the single most dramatic, emotionally evocative audio ever added to an FM, IMO. I swear I "sat down" (crouched) on the couch, in front of the fire, and listened to it over and over. I got a mental image of the dignified cat burglar, caught because he couldn't pull himself away from the music playing in his victim's home.

Edited June 1, 2005 by SneaksieDave

[Fingernail]

Yeah, you'll hear - and all I know is I've never sounded THIS good before

 

As to the intonation, I assume you're referring to the standard 12th fret harmonic vs note - it's pretty perfect, but some of the other expensive ones I tried didn't even get that right!

[SneaksieDave]

Yep, that's what I'm referring to (and in general intonation across the neck), and possibly the most heartbreaking thing when it's bad in a guitar you otherwise love.

[Fingernail]

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97225

[SneaksieDave]

Cool, will check those out!

 

Based on this conversation, I hit my not-quite-local Guitar Store today (creative name, huh?) for the first time in a long time. Even bought strings. You see, back when I was heavily playing, every single day, in a band, all that crap, I was an old teenager. Since then, I've cooled down a lot, and at some points, actually taken a year or more away from instruments. Yes, it sucks, and I mean to correct it pronto (and have been doing so, recently). Anyway, point is, when I was younger, there was never any reason to touch the really expensive guitars - no money, so what's the point? Without mentioning that my local crappy shop would keep the expensive ones secured up to the wall, and you'd have to get assistance to try it, so it was always easier to just sit down and fiddle with the newest Satriani series Ibanez instead.

 

Well, today, for the first time, I played a $4000 Martin (steel string, unfortunately - they had one lousy classical/nylon in the whole place ). Regardless - oh, dear lord.

 

Long story short: yes, there is a very big difference. It's hard for that thing NOT to sound simply great. The intonation is perfect at every spot on the neck. Good thing my Takamine is still pretty good, or I'd be in for a largish purchase soon.

 

Edit: Wow, I've only got a piece of each so far (56k) but these are excellent. Glad you chose familiar ones - that makes listening much easier and more pleasing. How long have you been classically trained?

 

Edit2: Nice! At the risk of sounding too fanboi: Do you know Recuerdos de la Alhambra?

Edited June 2, 2005 by SneaksieDave

[oDDity]

NEver mind that corny old piece, everyone can play that, do Sueno en la Floresta as your tremelo piece.

[SneaksieDave]

everyone can play that

:lol:

 

Sueno en la Floresta

Never heard of it... I will look that up.

[kwc]

Ahhh, Recuerdos... A nice little song, that...

 

Well, Fingernail, congrats on your new guitar, it really looks beautiful... And the clips are awesome as well - may I ask what microphone exactly did you use? It sounds quite good for a dynamic...

 

I've got one classical at home, it's just a cheap 200 dollar yamaha, but I quite like it. It has a nice tone (not fantastic, but very good) and intonation is decent - I've played much pricier guitars with much worse intonation, actually. I wonder how is it to play on a 2500 dollar guitar though

 

Like I said, those clips sound really good. Don't think I'd even try to learn those songs as of now. I'm a self taught guitarist, but I mostly play electric guitar (for 2 and a half years) and only occasionally pick up the classical, and even then I prefer to just make something up on my own. I also played piano in the music school for 4-5 years, but forgot most of it. It's been only recently that I began playing it again (only have a synthesizer, though). Currently I'm attending viol classes in the music school and DAMN, I used to think guitar was hard to play O_o

 

Cool to see -and hear- fellow musicians on this board. Really great, TDM is in good hands

[oDDity]

It's a piece by Barrios. http://208.49.149.118/floresta.mp3

This is played by John Williams. I have about 30 Cds of guitar music, just about most ever written for or transcribed to the guitar.

Recuerdos de la Alhambra is not hard once you've worked out your tremelo technique, it was one of the few pieces I could play without any mistakes.

Edited June 2, 2005 by oDDity

[SneaksieDave]

Getting it now. Yes, this sounds like a doozy.

 

Well, you must be further along than I am. I've worked on my tremolo picking for what seems several years now, and it's still clunky, uneven, and unsatisfying. I'm waiting for it to "break out" and finally start working, never to stop again even without practice/upkeep, but that's nonsense that's not going to happen. I plateau too much, that's for sure, probably due to the fact that I haven't had formal training for many years now, and when I DID have it, I was a dumbass teenager flaking it off, taking it for granted. I remember I met Elliot Fisk after a concert he gave in Philadelphia, oh, maybe 10 years ago, and when I and my friends were getting autographs from him, we were bombarding him with eager questions. I asked him about tremolo, and why I might be having trouble with it. He immediately asked me, "who are you studying with?" When I replied, "no one." He said (quite rudely! haha, I remember being offended), "well, there's your problem." And proceeded to continue signing autographs.

 

Twit. I wanted to smash his fingers.

 

Of course, he was right.

[oDDity]

My only problem with tremelo was uneven tone caused by my ring finger, it always sounded too sharp and I never was able to fix it. I haven't played a guitar in 5 years now anyway. Of course, I never had a lesson or even saw anyone else playing a classical guitar, so what my technique was like, I don't know - I learned it from a book)

A good way to pinpoint poblems is to record youself and slow it way down to find out what's going wrong.

[Fingernail]

Leyenda/Asturias is always good fun, but the tremelo effect gets lost underneath all the chords and banging of the earthquake!

[oDDity]

It is, but those three Albeniz peices (Asturas, Granada and Sevillia) get played way too much, so they lose their appeal somewhat. THere are other great Albeniz pieces like Cordoba and Mallorca which seem to be mostly ignored. Hardly wise considering how relatively small the guitar repertoire is. If you discounted pieces that weren't originally written for the guitar, there wouldn't be a whole lot left)

I've heard all his music on the piano, and I have to agree that the Suites Espanolas sound much better on the guitar, and he said as much himself with the pieces Tarrega transcribed.. I've heard some of Iberia on guitar, but most that doesn't transcribe so well.

[Fingernail]

Well, there is actually a sizeable repertoire for guitar - larger than you might think.

 

Aside from all the 'popular classics' like Villa Lobos, Granados, Albeniz, Tarrega etc. there are many works by Sor, as many transciptions of Bach Lute pieces as there are Bach lute pieces (alright, not strictly written for guitar, eh)

 

Then there are many more composers - Rodrigo, Ponce, de Falla, Turina, moving to more modern composers with Walton, Brouwer, Koshkin - alright, some of them aren't great, but there are some true modern classics.

 

One of my favourite modern pieces is the Usher Waltz by Koshkin - I'll try to record it soon - it's based on the Poe short story, and is great fun to play and listen to - John Williams has done it famously, and it's got some great effects and power. I'll do the second Bagatelle by Walton as well - it's a real CHILLAX piece.

 

Then there are all the small composers - Ferrer for instance - simple 'salon' music, but quite charming. Not to mention Gaspar Sanz, et al.

[oDDity]

Dunno, I'm not a big fan of modern music. All those discords for the sake of them, because writing a tuneful piece is too old fashioned. I like something with a clear melody and harmony - something you can hum.

Prokofiev is as daring as like to listen to.

I'd like to hear you play the third part of La Catedral by Barrios, it's something I always wanted to play, but I never even made a dent in it.

[SneaksieDave]

Cordoba is one of my personal favorites. About 6 years ago (at least) I could probably play about 20% of it from memory. It was a combination of trying to combine duet parts from the sheet music I have and listening to/interpreting Williams playing it solo, since the arrangement was for two. Now? Now I can play about 3% of it.

 

Doh But I'm working on it! Trying to, anyway.

 

Heh... is anyone else looking at this conversation, and the participants, and thinking, "who knew..?"

 

Edit: OH! By the way. Wanted to share - check out what I found, inspired by this sudden guitar outburst.

 

Classical Guitar Tabs

 

Yes, it's only tablature, so for sight reading purists, it will be looked down upon, but hey, it's better than nothing. Besides, a good tab layout can often show you to rethink your current fingerings. Currently, 950 pieces in tab.

Edited June 2, 2005 by SneaksieDave

[Napalm]

Congrats, I have an excellent....ly bad guitar. I gotta squire hand me down freebee stratpack strat and a handmedown old goya from the 70's. Someday when I have money I'll get something else...

[kwc]

Well, it's my firm belief that you can play music (or, afterall, compose your own) well even on a low budget guitar. I wouldn't hesitate to record something with my yamaha - it's got a good enough tone, and it plays rather well. A guitar with intonation problems, heavily bent neck, (...) is a different matter altogether. But as long as a guitar is well in tune up to 12th fret and reasonably so above - with action low enough to be able to play without having your fingers slip under the strings, I find it good enough to play around with.

[oDDity]

My ear is just to tuned to listening to professional guitarists plying the best imstruments, that I really notice the difference in hearing cheaper ones. THat's not to say the best guitarist in the world (IMO) Manuel Barrueco couldn't still play beautifully on a guitar that cost 200 quid, but it would certainly detract from the overall performance.