Guitar playing mistakes I used to make

Throughout my guitar playing life, there are things I used to do that were really wrong.

I'm going to list off the ones I can remember. And the reason I say that is because I'm certain there were many things I used to do wrong but just can't remember them all.

Am I playing guitar 100% correct now? The way I answer that is that these days I play correctly for me.

1. Digging into the fretboard with my fingernail for note vibrato

This is something I used to do in my teens and stopped doing in my 20s once I realized how wrong it was. What I did was curl my index finger on the string, push my fingernail right down to the fretboard wood and make a digging motion to make note vibrato.

Out of everything dumb I've ever done with guitar playing, that was the dumbest.

2. Hiking the guitar up really high on the strap when playing standing

It took me a while before I finally learned how to properly play while standing. Before I did, I used to hike up the guitar very high on the strap, almost to chest level. It was ridiculous.

This wasn't necessarily a dumb thing since there are many guitar players who prefer hiking the guitar up high, but it was wrong for the way I play.

3. Raking the pick across the fretboard when strumming

Again, not a dumb thing, but but my reason for doing it was dumb.

Back in my earlier days, I didn't have very good pick control. My way of strumming used to be almost caveman-like, so I used the neck itself to soften the strike when I needed to play chords.

Later on when I switched over to thinner picks with more flex, learned more chords and so on, my picking got lighter and I stopped doing the caveman thing.

4. Never using the volume or tone controls

I used to be one of those "always on 10" guys. Plug in, turn the guitar volume to 10, turn the tone to 10, leave them there, and only touch the volume knob when the riff or song is over.

What made me stop doing this is not making 10 the beginning of the sound but rather the place I went when I needed overdrive. I now shape sounds where 3 or 4 is clean, 5 to 7 is dirt, and 10 is all the dirt.

Having my sound this way is mighty convenient because I never have to click on or off a pedal. All that's required to get the sound I want is done 100% from the volume knob.

I don't use tone controls too often, but they do get used mainly for clean stuff. This is way different from the way I used to play where I literally never touched them.

5. Soloing way too much

Nobody likes solos except guitar players and I know this very well. But being I play guitar, of course I like to solo. It's fun. But wow, does it get in the way of songwriting.

I have to mentally prep myself whenever I sit down to do songwriting. It's just two words I keep saying to myself. "DON'T SOLO."

Even though I don't solo nearly as much as I used to, it's almost too easy to fall into the trap of being in the middle of writing a song, and then.... oh, I think I'll play some single notes. Then a scale. Then another scale. And another. And another. And another. Throw in a bend. Thrown in ten bends. Do a harmonic. Do many harmonics. A finger-tap. More finger taps. Blah blah blah blah frickin' blah.

Suddenly, an hour or two is gone, the song isn't any further along, and all that time has been wasted SOLOING.

I still struggle with this one to this day.

Eventually, I stop soloing and get songs done.

Casio WS1000H review and instructions

This is a brand new model for 2019, and it's the best Casio digital sport watch I've ever owned.

At a Walmart I was browsing the watches and spotted a WS1000H, and almost bought it on the spot after trying it. The reason I didn't is because of color, green. I figured Casio must be offering this in other colors, so after I got home I searched online, and yes, two other colors were offered, blue and charcoal. I found the charcoal one on eBay and got it. Shortly after I received it, I ordered up the blue one too because I like it that much.

Why is the best Casio digital sport watch I've ever owned?

This model literally has everything I like in a digital timepiece, which is this:

• Crisp, legible, uncluttered display
• Big digits that can be read easily
• Case size that fits my smaller wrist (48.3mm lug-to-lug, 42.6mm case size, 12.7mm thick)
• Light in weight (38g)
• 100M water resistance
• Multiple alarms (it has 3)
• Forward or reverse number direction for setting time and timer
• Strap that has a notch at the end so it doesn't accidentally leave the strap keeper and flop about
• Strap that is curved so it hugs the wrist better
• Countdown timer with auto-repeat
• Time, weekday and month/day on the face all at once to give me all the info I want at a glance
• Adjustable night light to shine 1.5 seconds or 3 seconds
• Night light is an amber color incandescent bulb (this is the best look)
• In 12-hour time, A is shown during morning hours and P for evening hours (many models only show the P and no A)
• "10-year" battery (will probably only last 5 to 7 years, but that's still really good)
• Small raised "lip" on top and bottom of dial to keep the acrylic crystal from getting scratched

No other Casio digital that has all this stuff in one watch. Casio finally got it right with this one and stuffed in everything that actually matters.

I own many Casio watches, and for years wished I could take the features I wanted from different timepieces and combine them into one that does everything I want. The WS1000H is that watch. And I happened upon it totally by chance.

I wasn't even shopping for a watch the day I saw the WS1000H. At the Walmart I was in, I looked at the Casio display just to see what was there. The watch just stuck out not only because it was green but also because I didn't recognize the model. This was something totally new and different.

Walmart's price was $19.99. eBay price was $23. I'm pretty sure the price will stay this way because that is about the same price as other Casio digital sport models with a similar feature set. When this watch gets on Amazon (as I'm certain it will), it should also stick to that price point.

Better than a Timex Ironman?

It would not surprise me if Casio made the WS1000H to directly compete with the Timex Ironman Classic 30 and Timex Ironman Classic 50, as it has a very similar feature set and layout.

Where runner's watches are concerned that aren't smartwatches, Timex absolutely owns that segment. When you want a runner's watch, you get an Ironman. That's the way it's been for many years.

But now Casio is finally offering something that's a genuinely decent alternative to the Ironman. Yes, Casio has had runner's watches and pretty much always has. In the current lineup there are models such as the STR300 and STLS300H. The WS1000H however is truly Ironman-like, which is good.

I'm not a runner and just came upon the WS1000H just by chance. It has everything I want out of a digital sport watch, so even though I don't use the running features, it was still a no-brainer to buy it.

Powder Yellow is a cool Reverend guitar color

This is one of the best Reverend Guitars colors I've seen to date.

Take the Reverend Flatroc model in Powder Yellow. If there were any Reverend Guitars model I'd buy if I had the cash, this would be it. The look is what sold me on it first. Yellow against a roasted maple neck really works here. Smartly done.

But aside from that, the rest of the guitar also pretty much exactly the way I'd want it.

The Flatroc has many things going for it (Korina body, pin-lock tuners, proper dome knobs, dual-action truss rod, etc.), but what attracts me other than its look is the configuration. It has a Les Paul style top-loader system with bridge and tail piece and Telecaster style knobs and pickup selector switch.

You're probably thinking, "So what's that knob above the pick guard?" That's the bass contour control. Most if not all Reverend electrics have this feature. It's a passive bass roll-off that adds in some very nice tone shaping. Useful? Actually, yes, it is.

One of these days I'm going to get another yellow guitar in the barn, because I really miss having one. I've got a thing for yellow electrics and always have. The Flatroc, being it's offered in a very nice yellow, is now on my to-get list.

Used BOSS pedals aren't worth buying

I saw my fair share of used guitar pedals at the show I went to recently. The prices weren't good for them. And they never are.

Something I saw at the guitar festival in addition to guitars were of course pedals. This one particular seller had a whole table with a bunch of BOSS effects on it.

They were all overpriced.

The two examples where you save next to nothing buying used are the SD-1 for $40 and the DS-1 for $45. Brand new, the SD-1 at the time I write this is $50, and the DS-1 new is also $50. Had I bought those two pedals from this seller, I only would have saved $15.

I can't blame this particular seller for overpricing used BOSS pedals however, because all sellers that sell used BOSS do this.

For example, a truly good used price on a DS-1 should be $35. But that's not what happens. Every seller tries to get rid of these for more when they're simply not worth it.

Prices aren't that much better on eBay. If you search for a used DS-1 with free shipping, the best price available is $40. Again, it should be $35. For the ones without free shipping, guess what happens. The shipping cost punches up the price to, you guessed it, 40 bucks minimum total spent.

If you're going to buy BOSS, buy new, because you barely save anything buying used.

Heritage Guitars is a cool guitar company

This is a guitar company you already know, even if you didn't know it.

A guitar company I've known about for a while is Heritage Guitars. And the entire reason I know about them is because of their location. Kalamazoo, Michigan. It's not that I've ever been to Kalamazoo. It's that they build guitars in the exact same place Gibson used to.

Here's the very quick story of Heritage: Gibson originally used the factory up until 1984 and then moved to another state. Some of the employees obviously didn't want to leave Michigan, so they pooled resources together, bought the old Gibson factory, and that's how Heritage Guitars came into existence. They've been building guitars ever since...

...and they're damned good instruments. A lot of what they make uses old world style guitar building, and it's done right.

When I went to NAMM 2015, Heritage wasn't there. If they had been, I would have most certainly gone to their booth.

They were however at the guitar festival I just went to recently, and I finally got to play an H150 model for the first time.

It was as good as I hoped it would be, and more.

The guitar I really wanted to see was the H150 in a finish called Dirty Lemon Burst. This is a finish that is as far as I know exclusive to Heritage. Only they make it, and there's less than 100 of them in existence. Yes, it was there. And it was a treat to play it.

The model in the Dirty Lemon Burst finish is available at the moment for $2,499. But before I discuss price in greater detail, I have to talk about that finish more.

There is absolutely no photo anywhere online that accurately shows how much this finish really pops. Professional photos of it obviously exist on the Heritage web site, but even that still doesn't show how crazy-good the color is. It is absolutely a custom shop style finish that goes far above and beyond the price the guitar sells for.

As far as how it sounds, it has the exact set of humbuckers I would otherwise put into it myself, the Seymour Duncan '59 set. I just talked about these recently. These things are voiced to sound like vintage PAFs. Perfectly suited for classic rock tones. The H150 is thankfully not a shredder guitar with super-hot output pickups.

Concerning weight, it has some heft but isn't boat anchor heavy. The first thing I said out loud when I picked it up is that it didn't have the weight of a Les Paul Traditional - which is a good thing. LP Traditionals usually weigh at least 9.5lbs. The H150 weighs less, thankfully. I actually got along with it quite nicely.

The neck felt fantastic, and the rosewood fingerboard was one of the nicest cuts I've ever seen. I actually thought it was ebony at first because the cut was so nice.

Standing next to me in the photo above is master builder Pete Farmer. He chatted with me a little bit as well as anyone else that wanted to ask him about what he and the other guys at Heritage are making. And being one of the builders, he will of course build whatever you want as a custom order if you like.

Is the H150 worth the $2,499? Actually, it's worth more than that. For those who have been following me a while, yeah I know it's weird to hear me say that as I champion cheap guitars. But this is different. Heritage is not some new company that sprouted up and started making copies of something else. They've been around for almost 25 years, know what they're doing, and the H150 is a continuation of a classic.

Heritage makes their single cut electric like Gibson used to make theirs, but with just enough modernization to keep it both classic and modern at the same time. That's no small feat. It has every single upgrade most Les Paul players would put into their guitars in the first place, matched with build quality that is second to none.

I think the best compliment I can give the H150 is that it just felt so solid. It's not some dainty thing. The guitar was made to be played.

The H150 one of the very few guitars in the 4-figure range where I can absolutely say yes, you really do get what you pay for here. More so, actually.

I was glad I finally got the chance to play one.