|
Photo by Ken Gallagher
| |
Live Performance FAQ
Q. How long should I practice?
A. That all depends on your goals. Please see my article, "How Long Should I
Practice", for a chart of goals and the practice time needed to achieve them.
Q. How long do you practice?
A. I once read an article in Guitar One magazine about someone who used to hang
with Greg Allmon. He said, "Everytime I see Greg, he has a guitar in his hands."
I am nowhere near the skill level of Greg Allmon, but I want to keep improving
by leaps and bounds. I know that the only way to do that is to have a guitar in
my hands every free minute that I get. Will I ever be as good as Greg Allmon?
Probably not.
Q. I have an acoustic electric with a passive pickup. Why can't I get it to
sound plugged in as it does amplified?
A1. If you are playing to small quiet audiences, an easy cure for that would be
to add a microphone, preferably a small diaphragm condenser (if you have phantom
power on your PA). Place the mic as close to the 12th fret as you can get
without it getting in the way, and aim it toward the hole. Gradually boost your
direct signal to give you just enough volume for the room without comprimising
the acoustic guitar sound.
A2. If you are playing to large or noisy audiences like the bar crowd, you will
need a preamp. Fishman makes a great preamp for certain types of acoustic
pickups, including the kind that go across the hole. The unit is called the
Aura. It sells for around $400, but you can really image the body sound of your
choice. It takes a bit of tweaking, but you can get a really great acoustic
guitar sound. If you are using an "under the saddle" type of pickup, you may
lack string presence. You will get tons of volume, but will need to add just a
touch of small condenser mic to the strings as described in A1. This will bring
out the string presence along with the body presence produced by the aura, and
you will have a great sounding acoustic guitar. It may be more economical and
practical to just buy a better acoustic electric with modern electronics. A name
brand of acoustic electric guitar in the $450-$1,000 price range will give you
everything you need without paying extra for glitter.
Q. What should I look for when buying a guitar?
A. There are a number of things to look for:
- The price of the guitar. A good guitar starts at around $300. That is the
bottom of the scale of guitar quality that begins with all of the rest of the
criteria listed below. From that threshold, the quality continues to get
better to around $1,000. Once you begin to go over $1,000, the quality
differences are unnoticeable to most people, but you begin to pay for things
like mother of pearl inlay, solid gold connectors and tuners, and other
expensive stuff that have little to do with the sound of the guitar.
- Check the action. Press the low E string to the first fret and relax your
finger in that position. If you can play the low E string (f note) without any
fret buzz on the first fret, do the same with the 12th fret. If you can do the
same with the 12th, the action is good.
- Check the intonation. Play a harmonic at the 12th fret of each string,
right over the fret wire. If the harmonic has a long sustain, run it through a
tuner. Play the same harmonic through the tuner and bring it into perfect
tune. Then play the actual note at the 12th fret with the least amount of
pressure it takes to get the note to play without any fret buzz. If the tuning
is identical to the tuning of the harmonic, the intonation is perfect. If it
is off, your guitar will never sound right. Now play a chromatic scale from
the open string to the 12 fret of each string and check the tuning of each
note. They should all be in perfect tune with minimal pressure on the string.
If the tuning fluctuates along the way, try a different set of strings. The
density of the strings that it comes with may be inconsistent throughout a
single string.
Q. What kind of amplifier should I use for my acoustic electric?
A. You need a speaker system with a tweeter, preferably one inch or smaller.
Regular guitar amps don't have this feature because they are designed with
electric guitars in mind and need to produce lots of bass and mid range. They
make acoustic guitar amps that are perfect for this type of situation. You can
also use a keyboard amp or a PA system with 2 way or more speakers.
|
