How a light touch improved my guitar playing
My playing improved significantly when I learned not to bang strings hard.
A Squier Standard Telecaster is a great simple guitar, although what I'm about to say applies to pretty much all electric guitars.
In my earlier guitar playing years, I used to play hard. I used nothing but heavy picks, grabbed strings tight during play and really raked over frets whenever I did string bends.
I don't do that anymore and haven't for a long time. After a lot of experimentation and researching how many other famous guitarists play, I came to the realization that "resetting" my guitar for light-touch play tremendously improved my playing ability.
In the old way I used to set up my guitars, there was basically no way I could hold down a fretted (as in "barred") 6/9 chord. Heck, I even had trouble playing standard major barre chords.
I had the thought that maybe if I lowered my strings and adjusted the bow of the neck so that it was as flat as possible without causing string buzz, that may help out.
I was right. It did. But not without a few tradeoffs, which I'll talk about in a moment.
My old way of setup was a neck set with a somewhat-generous back bow and semi-high string action. Setting up a Fender style neck (as in 25.5" scale, Modern C shape, 9.5" radius, medium jumbo frets) this way allowed me to do 2 and even 3 semitone bends with no fretting out whatsoever. But between frets 5 and 12 it was somewhat difficult to hold down a barre chord. Power chords were always easy, but full fretted chords weren't.
My current way of setup is to have almost no bow with super-low action. Same style neck shape, but now I can fret full chords almost anywhere. The only place I can't hold down full fretted chords on the neck now is after the 14th fret. Yes, this means I can hold a full barre chord at the 14th if I wanted to. Not that I would, but I could.
The drawback to this setup is that I fret out fairly easily for anything over a 1 semitone bend. There are some areas of the neck where I can get a 2 semitone bend, but certainly not 3 anymore...
...and this is something I consider an acceptable tradeoff mainly for the reason I don't play heavy metal anymore.
With the change in neck setup, I switched over to medium-thick picks. The Fender California Clear in that thickness is my pick of choice. Prior to that, I used almost nothing but Dunlop Tortex in .88mm thickness. As for why I didn't switch to the Tortex in .73mm or .60mm, the Fender California gives a much brighter attack when playing clean, whereas the Tortex's edges are a bit on the muted side.
Finally, there was something else I had to do: Learn to play lighter. This took some time to adjust.
With hard rock and metal, the distortion effect covers up a lot of non-desirable noises an electric guitar makes. With cleaner styles like country, jazz and surf, every single non-desirable noise is heard.
I found that it was my playing style that made a lot of those unwanted noises happen more than anything else, and the only solution was to learn how to play lighter. So that's exactly what I did.
In addition to playing light, I also started using fingers to pluck with a lot more. With the pick I strike the strings as I normally would, and with fingers I'll do short pulls on the strings and snap them back to the frets. This allows me to go between fingers and pick almost effortlessly. In my old days of slamming strings hard, this would have never worked. But with a hybrid style with a light play style, it does work.
I should also note that there in fact are a lot of metal players who have adopted a light style of play, but for different reasons. The setup is more or less the same with low string action and an almost-flat neck bow. But the metal player's goal is to make for easier soloing and not for chording. And as for strings bends, the solution there is not to bend at all, and instead use a Floyd-Rose system to accomplish the same goal.
Not much in the way of fret hand fingers are used, but with the pick the metal guys go the opposite route I do and use a super thick pick with rounded edges so little to no strike or "squeak" noises are heard when playing solos using high distortion.
In the end, the light style of play really does make a difference and I'm glad to have switched over to it. Again, the only real drawback is that I can't do crazy note bends. But the fact I can fret full chords in so many more places on the neck now makes up for it.
Mid-2000s Fender Strats are cheap right now
Buying used is always a risk. Buying any guitar over 5 years old is also a risk. But if you're willing to take the plunge, certain mid-2000s Fender Strats are dirt cheap right now.
Take a 2005 Fender Strat Deluxe. The price is $350 at the time I write this, and it's all original. Why so cheap? Because it's Made in Mexico, commonly known as a MIM Strat.
But don't worry, there are plenty of mid-2000s MIM Strats out there right now, many of which are in barely-played pristine condition selling for around $350 to $400.
To put this in perspective, a new Player model (which I assume is replacing the MIM Standard as it's not listed on Fender's web site anymore), is significantly higher in price.
Dealers desperately want to move the older MIM Strats
There are an untold number of MIM Strats in new or like-new condition collecting dust at guitar dealers all across America. And I can assure you that me writing about this publicly won't inflate the price of these guitars, because these dealers want them gone now.
The bulk of these MIM Strats are from 2005 to 2015, and it's not just the Standard. You'll find many models including Deluxe, HSS, HH and so on, with the majority selling for under $400 just to get them out the door.
Where you'll get the best deals are mid-to-late 2000s models, meaning 2005 through 2009. The longer these things sit at guitar dealers, the more desperate they get to move them.
If you decide to get one...
...this is what you need to know.
1. NEVER buy anything listed as "modded" and/or "upgraded"
This means the guitar has been screwed up by the previous owner. Always. Avoid these. Only buy a MIM in all-original condition.
If you want to mod/upgrade the guitar after you buy it, go right ahead. Just don't buy one that's been modded/upgraded by someone else.
2. There is no warranty.
All these MIM Strats are obviously well past their Fender 1-year warranty.
3. Don't buy it to flip it.
This means buy it to play and not to sell, because MIM Strats never have good resale value.
Happy hunting!
$200 Telecaster vs. $200 Jazzmaster
You didn't have the option of getting guitars like this for so cheap a few years back, but now you can.
I remember when Squier introduced both the Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified Series guitars to market. They were priced very well. I bought a few Jazzmasters (I currently own 2) and a few Telecasters (I own 2 of those also).
CV and VM Squier guitars today has risen in price significantly. For example, I got my '72 Thinline Tele right before the price increased to $450. Great guitar, but not exactly cheap anymore.
But then there's the Affinity Series from Squier. This is where you go when you want Fender style guitars cheap.
It's August 2018 as I write this. The Affinity Telecaster has been around for a while but got some slight updating, and the Affinity Jazzmaster HH is something that didn't even exist until 2017, so that's still fairly new.
For those that know the Squier brand, you're probably asking yourself "Isn't the Bullet Series cheaper?" Yes. But a Bullet Tele is an on-again/off-again thing where availability is concerned (my Bullet Tele is more or less a Guitar Center only thing), and the Jazz is Affinity only at this price point.
The guitars
Take the Squier Affinity Telecaster in Competition Orange and the Squier Affinity Jazzmaster HH in Black.
Both of these guitars have 2 pickups, 3-way switching, 21-fret necks, 6 inline sealed tuners and are hardtails (no tremolo).
What differs between the two are as follows:
- Jazzmaster has thru-body strings, Telecaster is top-loading.
- Jazzmaster has dual humbucker pickups, Telecaster has two single-coil pickups.
- Jazzmaster has an offset waist construction, Telecaster has center waist construction.
- Jazzmaster has contour cut in the rear of the body, Telecaster is a slab body.
The sound of the guitars is very different from each other. Telecaster has low-output single-coil twang while the Jazzmaster's humbuckers have greater output with less twang compared to a Tele.
Telecaster offers more choice
There's really only one problem with the Jazzmaster offering. Two colors (black or white), one neck choice (maple neck, rosewood fingerboard).
With the Telecaster, there are 8 color choices (2-Color Sunburst, Arctic White, Black, Butterscotch Blonde, Competition Orange, Race Green, Race Red, Slick Silver), and 2 neck choices (1-piece maple or maple neck, Indian Laurel fingerboard).
However, ultimately the decision boils down to whether you want humbuckers or single-coil, and whether you prefer a center waist or offset waist body guitar.
Jazzmaster is the better sit-down guitar
The Jazzmaster body shape (a design dating back all the way to the late 1950s) was designed first as a sit-down guitar.
This doesn't mean you can't play it standing as you obviously can, but it does have a shape that is more comfortable playing seated compared to a Telecaster.
This also doesn't mean you can't play a Telecaster slab shape seated. I do it all the time. But I'll be the first to admit that the Jazzmaster shape with its offset waist construction and nice contouring makes it the better sit-down guitar.
Which is more mod-friendly?
The Jazzmaster is the more mod-friendly because all electronics are housed under the pick guard, whereas with the Telecaster you have 3 areas to deal with (rear plate, pick guard, control plate.)
For things like swapping out pickups and such, the Jazz HH is far easier to deal with.
Which is better?
I give my nod to the Telecaster for these reasons:
1. More color choice.
Having 8 colors and 2 neck styles to choose from is nice.
2. Easier to fit in a gig bag or case.
The Jazzmaster may be the same 25.5" scale length as a Telecaster, but the overall length is longer, meaning it does not fit in regular-size gig bags or hard cases. I learned this the hard way.
Telecaster, on the other hand, fits in any guitar bag or case.
3. Slightly lighter in weight (usually.)
Jazzmasters are usually right around 8 lbs (3.6kg) and Telecasters are usually around 7lbs 10oz (3.5kg.)
This is not that much of a difference, but when every ounce counts and you want light, Telecaster is usually the lighter of the two. I say usually because sometimes an oddball Tele gets sent out of the factory that's over 8 lbs for whatever reason. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Similarly, sometimes you get lucky with a Jazzmaster and get a light one. My Sonic Blue JM is such an example, as I'm pretty sure it's about 7.5 lbs (3.4kg.)
Now of course, the easiest way to get a light electric guitar is to go semi-hollow. But where the cheap solid-body is concerned, the Telecaster is usually lighter than the Jazzmaster.
In the end, you still get something nice for just 200 bucks
There is one thing that makes Affinity better than Bullet Series Squier guitars, and that's the tuners.
For as long as I've seen Bullet and Affinity guitars from Squier in existence, the biggest cost cutting always happens at the tuners with Bullet. With Affinity it is immediately noticeable that the tuners are much better.
Affinity Series from Squier is genuinely good stuff that can take a beating. That along with its better tuners and better body finishing justifies its $200 price tag over $150 Bullet models.
If I had to choose 3 cheap guitar pedals...
If I weren't using a multi-effect floor unit and had to go with pedals, there are three I would use.
Before I get into that however, in my last newsletter I talked about effects, mentioning the old stuff I used to use and what I use now, which is the DigiTech RP360.
But I made mention that were I go to all-pedal, as in traditional pedal, I would use nothing but Behringer because they build dirt cheap BOSS clones.
Three things I require in my effect lineup are compressor, overdrive and delay, in that order.
Were I to do this with BOSS models, I would choose the CS-3, BD-2 and DM-2w. The total price for all 3 is not cheap.
However, if I do the same with Behringer pedals with models CS400, TO800 and VD400, the total price much cheaper than the BOSS pedals.
Do the Behringer pedals get the job done? Yes, they do.
Behringer is BOSS sound for cheap, with the only tradeoff being the plastic instead of metal cases.
This basically means as long as you don't treat the pedals harshly and keep them clean, they'll last a few years. And by that time they'll have more than paid for themselves.
If I had to give up my RP360 for just 3 pedals, Behringer would be my first choice, because dropping $75 instead of $350 is a lot nicer on my wallet.
The Led Zeppelin Bathroom Sound
When I do listen to Zep, Bathroom Sound is one of my favorite riffs to play personally.
What is Bathroom Sound? It's the song Out On The Tiles from the 1970 album Led Zeppelin III as a rough mix without vocals. I actually prefer this over the finished studio track because you can hear all the instruments so much better.
Side note: Bathroom Sound as far as I know is not available as a digital download. You gotta get the CD Deluxe Edition. It's on disc 2, track 5.
The song, and what I think about it
There are some songs by Zep that are nothing but riffs with Robert Plant belching out vocals over that do not fit at all. Out On The Tiles is one of those songs. When you hear it without vocals as Bathroom Sound, things start to sound a lot better.
What I like best about the song is the guitar is only using a mild overdrive. There's no fuzz box that I can hear and no wildly overdriven hot tube tone. It's just a simple midrange-tuned sound that's even and clear.
I suspect there was probably going to be a lead guitar track on this song originally, but instead there is no solo to be found. That's a good thing, because if one of Page's screechy guitar solos were present, it would have wrecked the song completely.
Is the guitar heard a Fender Telecaster or Gibson Les Paul? I have no idea. It could be a Tele played on the treble pickup with the tone rolled down, or it could be the Les Paul played on treble pickup with everything full-up to 10. I don't know. But I'm sure someone probably does.
This song is the Zep riff I play most. Once learned it's actually easy to play and fun to run through the riffs every so often. And because there's no solo, it's also easy to play it the whole way through...
...by yourself. Don't try to play this with a band. The timing on this song is not easy to get working with a full group. Bonham's drumming on this song is kinda bonkers, and I wouldn't dare go up to a drummer and say, "play this, thanks."
It's best to just practice this one at home to avoid an argument with a drummer.