Otis
Footballguy
I'm getting back into playing a bit after about a 15 year hiatus, and was looking for a place here in the FFA that has all of the guitar stuff. I stayed at the Westin in Memphis last week and learned you can borrow any of their Gibson custom shop guitars that they have in a display case at the front desk, with a pod amp and all. Very cool. I took a beautiful ES335 up to my room and loved it, and that prompted me to trade in an old Taylor acoustic that has been collecting dust, and with the proceeds, pick up an awesome ES 335 knock-off -- an Epiphone Dot Deluxe ($275 off Craigslist) and a Fender Blues Jr. Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp ($300 off Craigslist).
Specifically, I'm looking to get back into jazz playing and improv, and I was wondering about good online resources, apps, or books for learning this style. I guess what I want mostly is a book that sets out chord progressions for jazz standards and tells me which scales could be used over the chord progression (and which maybe explains why, so I can remind myself how to figure out what scales/modes work in what keys, etc.). But basically, I'd like to start just by learning some chord progressions and maybe some lead licks to play over them.
Somewhat related, the amp sounds great, except the reverb isn't working -- did a little research on the web and there are some awesome sites out there for modding these amps to improve the tone, fix the reverb tanks etc. (all DIY stuff, relatively cheap). Similarly, the guitar sounds AMAZING and plays beautifully, but it's pretty beat up (some goofball hipster from Brooklyn owned it, and he obviously beat on it pretty well) -- the strap peg at the bottom is just a screw, the gold hardware is all tarnished/rusted, and the controls and pots are a little loose. But it has the fundamentals, and sounds and plays beautifully, so I'd like to clean it up, upgrade the pickups, get a tech to do a professional setup, do the frets, add a bone nut, etc. The potential in these Epiphone Dots is amazing, and from what I read, with the right mods you can get them to sound every bit as good as their Gibson big brothers (and I wasn't about to drop 2 grand on one of those -- and frankly, rejuvenating this old guitar with some character is half the fun).
Any other Gibson nerds here? Any other players looking for/know of good resources for learning or teaching yourself at home? What's the easiest way for me to just record my chord progressions so I can play over them? (When I was a teenager, I had an old cassette tape and recorder in my basement -- are there "better" options out there for a setup like this today?)
Post your axes and rigs; post your info. Guitar nerds unite.
Specifically, I'm looking to get back into jazz playing and improv, and I was wondering about good online resources, apps, or books for learning this style. I guess what I want mostly is a book that sets out chord progressions for jazz standards and tells me which scales could be used over the chord progression (and which maybe explains why, so I can remind myself how to figure out what scales/modes work in what keys, etc.). But basically, I'd like to start just by learning some chord progressions and maybe some lead licks to play over them.
Somewhat related, the amp sounds great, except the reverb isn't working -- did a little research on the web and there are some awesome sites out there for modding these amps to improve the tone, fix the reverb tanks etc. (all DIY stuff, relatively cheap). Similarly, the guitar sounds AMAZING and plays beautifully, but it's pretty beat up (some goofball hipster from Brooklyn owned it, and he obviously beat on it pretty well) -- the strap peg at the bottom is just a screw, the gold hardware is all tarnished/rusted, and the controls and pots are a little loose. But it has the fundamentals, and sounds and plays beautifully, so I'd like to clean it up, upgrade the pickups, get a tech to do a professional setup, do the frets, add a bone nut, etc. The potential in these Epiphone Dots is amazing, and from what I read, with the right mods you can get them to sound every bit as good as their Gibson big brothers (and I wasn't about to drop 2 grand on one of those -- and frankly, rejuvenating this old guitar with some character is half the fun).
Any other Gibson nerds here? Any other players looking for/know of good resources for learning or teaching yourself at home? What's the easiest way for me to just record my chord progressions so I can play over them? (When I was a teenager, I had an old cassette tape and recorder in my basement -- are there "better" options out there for a setup like this today?)
Post your axes and rigs; post your info. Guitar nerds unite.
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