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Hello,
I am new to this list and I have been a fan of surf/instro for a
long time. I originally first was intruduced to surf/instro when I
heard a Duane Eddy LP from my dad's record collection when I was 8.
In high school I was a huge fan of the Ventures when everyone else
was into KISS. I am now 34, "Married with Children" and thanks to
the internet I have gotten back into listening to my favorite music
again. It is so great to see that surf is back and has been for a
while. Since I'm located in Nebraska I was unaware of the revival
and overjoyed see all of the great music available on the internet.
I have always kind of had a childhood dream of playing
surf/instro music and was curious what it takes. I tried the
acoustic guitar (which I no longer own) very breifly when I was 15,
but other than that I have no formal training. I see nowadays one
can get a electric starter kit with guitar and amp for a mere $150.
Where is a good place to start? Do I need formal training?
Are tabs OK to start with?
Any help/guidance is appreciated!
Kevin
Since I've still got a little bit of newbie afterbirth
clinging to me, I think I can throw a few suggestions
at you. I started a little less than a year ago and
had no formal training whatsoever. I still don't. I
learned to play everything I know how to play from
tab. I got a Ventures tab book, numerous tabs from
the internet and a there's a pretty cool set of "How
To Play Surf Guitar" DVD's that I leared how to play
Miserlou and Penetration from. Formal training would
probably help you though, as the majority of people I
know that play do have at least some. If you talk to
me in terms of string-fret, I can follow you, but if
you start talking about major 3rds and perfect 5ths
I'll just kind of stare vacantly at you, and might
drool on your shoes. Every once in a while folks will
lapse into music-speak and I'm lost, so I'm planning
on possibly taking some lessons or buying a book to
try to facilitate the learning process. But to start
with, just pick something up and start trying to play
it.
As far as gear goes, one of those Squier starter paks
might not be bad idea depending on what you want to
spend. There are a whole lot of options for lower
cost gear, so the amount you're willing to sink is a
major determining factor in what you want to start
looking at. Mexican made Fenders are very nice, and
I've seen a couple of pretty cheap Yamaha models with
single coils that looked pretty surfish. (Doesn't
Link Wray play a Yamaha?) My personal choice was a
Vista series Squier Jagmaster, a line which was
discontinued but still pretty commonly availabe on
eBay, and I paid about $300 and love it. I play that
through a Fender Frontman Reverb practice amp most of
the time. Most guys here have got more money in their
guitars and amps, I don't because I'm primarily a bass
player. (How many other bass players besides Phil are
there on here?) Just look around, and keep posting
questions to this list because this is probably the
single best resource you'll find. Lots of cool guys
in cool bands here.
~R
__________________________________________________
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Hey Kevin. Welcome. ;)
-Dano
-=The Nebulas=-
>From: Richard <>
>Reply-To:
>To:
>Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Hello.
>Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 06:47:51 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>Since I've still got a little bit of newbie afterbirth
>clinging to me, I think I can throw a few suggestions
>at you. I started a little less than a year ago and
>had no formal training whatsoever. I still don't. I
>learned to play everything I know how to play from
>tab. I got a Ventures tab book, numerous tabs from
>the internet and a there's a pretty cool set of "How
>To Play Surf Guitar" DVD's that I leared how to play
>Miserlou and Penetration from. Formal training would
>probably help you though, as the majority of people I
>know that play do have at least some. If you talk to
>me in terms of string-fret, I can follow you, but if
>you start talking about major 3rds and perfect 5ths
>I'll just kind of stare vacantly at you, and might
>drool on your shoes. Every once in a while folks will
>lapse into music-speak and I'm lost, so I'm planning
>on possibly taking some lessons or buying a book to
>try to facilitate the learning process. But to start
>with, just pick something up and start trying to play
>it.
>As far as gear goes, one of those Squier starter paks
>might not be bad idea depending on what you want to
>spend. There are a whole lot of options for lower
>cost gear, so the amount you're willing to sink is a
>major determining factor in what you want to start
>looking at. Mexican made Fenders are very nice, and
>I've seen a couple of pretty cheap Yamaha models with
>single coils that looked pretty surfish. (Doesn't
>Link Wray play a Yamaha?) My personal choice was a
>Vista series Squier Jagmaster, a line which was
>discontinued but still pretty commonly availabe on
>eBay, and I paid about $300 and love it. I play that
>through a Fender Frontman Reverb practice amp most of
>the time. Most guys here have got more money in their
>guitars and amps, I don't because I'm primarily a bass
>player. (How many other bass players besides Phil are
>there on here?) Just look around, and keep posting
>questions to this list because this is probably the
>single best resource you'll find. Lots of cool guys
>in cool bands here.
>
>~R
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site
>
_________________________________________________________________
Surf the Web without missing calls! Get MSN Broadband.
Hey, I'm right in your shoes. On Friday I finally
purchased a guitar. That is how new to this I am. I
think the first important thing is knowing what you
like and reading this board. They have some excellent
information on gear (look under Guitar n amp
question). I also know what it is like to live in the
middle of nowhere (Northern New Mexico) and the need
to find equipment. I suggest reading quite a bit and
then making some online purchases. This group is
really great and should be able to help you out
immensely.
Anyway, as far as gear goes, here is what I got out
of all the replies to my first post. Fender is the
way to go. The Rolls Royce of the surf world guitars
appears to be the Fender Jaguar. That costing quite a
bit, I got myself a standard Stratocaster. I figure,
for starting, spend a little less for a good quality
guitar. I'm still working on amps. I understand the
married with children (or child in my case) and will
probably stick with a practice amp for a long while.
At least until I don't suck at playing. When I can
finally play something and not feel embarassed, I'm
going to try and find a good reverb pedal to try in a
store. There are plenty of pedals out there and I'm
still working that whole world out.
There are numerous tabs out there. I really like
Brian Neal's Man or Astroman page. If you aren't
familiar with Man or Astroman, check them out. Their
new stuff sounds like Sonic Youth (which isn't so bad,
but not the surf sound they had earlier.) Pre 97'
stuff is great. Anyway, good luck.
pat.
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Hi,
First of all I would like to welcome you guys!!!
I would like to add a thought on reverb pedals.
The Electro Harmonix Holy Grail is a nice reverb pedal, sounds great for
practicing and even for rehearsal.
Also the new Danelectro reverb pedal with kick pad (to simulate the
spring twang when you kick the real thing) seams to sound fine too.
(Didn't have the chance to try that one out)
Anyway there are some cool cheap(er) spring reverb units (with real
springs, instead of digital spring sound) out there.
O.K. Nothing beats a Fender Spring, but that one could get deep into
your pocket!
In the Sixties many (music) companies made freestanding reverb units,
which sound really nice. Not all of them are tube amplified, but most of
them function as pre-amp as well.
Again most sound (very) different from the Fender one, but they have
there own sound which can make a difference when you are on a budget and
they sound surf enough to me.
Just my two cents,
Jerry S. from Belgium "The Ohmmen"
Can you tell me which Danelectro pedal that is (corned
beef?) They have a ton of pedals with names taken off
a grocery list. I saw the Holy Grail listed for $160
or so and most of the Danelectro around 50 bucks.
Maybe I'm looking at the wrong thing....
pat.
--- Jerry <> wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
> First of all I would like to welcome you guys!!!
>
> I would like to add a thought on reverb pedals.
> The Electro Harmonix Holy Grail is a nice reverb
> pedal, sounds great for
> practicing and even for rehearsal.
> Also the new Danelectro reverb pedal with kick pad
> (to simulate the
> spring twang when you kick the real thing) seams to
> sound fine too.
> (Didn't have the chance to try that one out)
>
> Anyway there are some cool cheap(er) spring reverb
> units (with real
> springs, instead of digital spring sound) out there.
> O.K. Nothing beats a Fender Spring, but that one
> could get deep into
> your pocket!
>
> In the Sixties many (music) companies made
> freestanding reverb units,
> which sound really nice. Not all of them are tube
> amplified, but most of
> them function as pre-amp as well.
>
> Again most sound (very) different from the Fender
> one, but they have
> there own sound which can make a difference when you
> are on a budget and
> they sound surf enough to me.
>
> Just my two cents,
>
> Jerry S. from Belgium "The Ohmmen"
>
>
>
>
>
__________________________________________________
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HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now
It's not the corned beef (I heard that and it is horrible!). I beleive
the real spring danelectro reverb is at musiciansfriend.com for $150.
best
Dan
--- In SurfGuitar101@y..., Patrick Shiflett <p_shiflett@y...> wrote:
> Can you tell me which Danelectro pedal that is (corned
> beef?) They have a ton of pedals with names taken off
> a grocery list. I saw the Holy Grail listed for $160
> or so and most of the Danelectro around 50 bucks.
> Maybe I'm looking at the wrong thing....
> pat.
> --- Jerry <jerry.soetewey@b...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > First of all I would like to welcome you guys!!!
> >
> > I would like to add a thought on reverb pedals.
> > The Electro Harmonix Holy Grail is a nice reverb
> > pedal, sounds great for
> > practicing and even for rehearsal.
> > Also the new Danelectro reverb pedal with kick pad
> > (to simulate the
> > spring twang when you kick the real thing) seams to
> > sound fine too.
> > (Didn't have the chance to try that one out)
> >
> > Anyway there are some cool cheap(er) spring reverb
> > units (with real
> > springs, instead of digital spring sound) out there.
> > O.K. Nothing beats a Fender Spring, but that one
> > could get deep into
> > your pocket!
> >
> > In the Sixties many (music) companies made
> > freestanding reverb units,
> > which sound really nice. Not all of them are tube
> > amplified, but most of
> > them function as pre-amp as well.
> >
> > Again most sound (very) different from the Fender
> > one, but they have
> > there own sound which can make a difference when you
> > are on a budget and
> > they sound surf enough to me.
> >
> > Just my two cents,
> >
> > Jerry S. from Belgium "The Ohmmen"
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now
>
Some practical advice for getting started:
-Be disciplined with your practice. It sucks when you first start out
but stick with it, it gets a lot more fun.
-Learn as much as you can, but not all at once. Be patient or you
will get frustrated and give up.
-It may suck learning "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or whatever initially
but you WILL learn something from it. Nothing learned is a waste of
time. (And once you get it down, you could try playing it "surf
style")
-When you are trying to learn something new and find yourself getting
frustrated, take a break and try later. When you come back to it, you
will often find that you can do it better than when you left off.
This really does work. It's how I got through many a clasical guitar
piece. In general, you will do better in the long run if you can
break up your practice time into smaller portions throughout the day
(Not always possible I realize).
-Buy a guitar stand. You are much more likely to practice when you
can easily get to the guitar. A guitar that's packed up in its case
is less likely to get practiced than if you have it on display, ready
to go.
-Learn to listen.
Bob "no band yet" Pryor
--- In SurfGuitar101@y..., "kkamphaus"
<kevin_and_julie_kamphaus@h...> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am new to this list and I have been a fan of surf/instro for
a
> long time. I originally first was intruduced to surf/instro when I
> heard a Duane Eddy LP from my dad's record collection when I was
8.
> In high school I was a huge fan of the Ventures when everyone else
> was into KISS. I am now 34, "Married with Children" and thanks to
> the internet I have gotten back into listening to my favorite music
> again. It is so great to see that surf is back and has been for a
> while. Since I'm located in Nebraska I was unaware of the revival
> and overjoyed see all of the great music available on the internet.
> I have always kind of had a childhood dream of playing
> surf/instro music and was curious what it takes. I tried the
> acoustic guitar (which I no longer own) very breifly when I was 15,
> but other than that I have no formal training. I see nowadays one
> can get a electric starter kit with guitar and amp for a mere
$150.
> Where is a good place to start? Do I need formal training?
> Are tabs OK to start with?
> Any help/guidance is appreciated!
>
> Kevin
bob_pryor_2000 wrote:
>
> Some practical advice for getting started:
> -It may suck learning "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or whatever initially
> but you WILL learn something from it. Nothing learned is a waste of
> time. (And once you get it down, you could try playing it "surf
> style")
Glad I'm not the only one doing this. >:)
I've also found some old punk tunes are easy learners, as well since
they were written to be simple, to begin with. Old 2-chord ramones
tunes, or early Sex Pistols. Pretty Vacant, God save the Queen. Mostly
power-chords and single notes.
-c*
