Student Questions #6 - Beginning Guitar Gear

Beginning Guitar Gear - Student Questions #6 Video Transcript

Dave Dougherty: All right. Hello, everybody. Or as Chris would say, "Hello, friends." 

Chris Becknell: Hey.

Dave Dougherty: This is Episode 6 of "Student Questions." So, if you're unfamiliar with it, hello, welcome. In this type of lesson Chris and I take some of the questions that...we take the questions that we have either been asked directly or questions that we've seen across the Internet as we're, you know, interacting with guitar content. 

You know, some of them seem kind of like, "Really, people are asking that?" but I think, you know, especially with beginner guitar students, no question is invalid because everybody has a different journey. So, Chris might argue with me on that but, you know, everybody comes at it in their own way. And, you know, some of these are just kind of fun softballs to ask Chris. 

Question #1 - What are the best acoustic guitar strings for fingerpicking?

Dave Dougherty: So, yeah. So, question one, and this might just be an opinion for Chris to go on about, but, "What are the best acoustic strings for fingerpicking?" 

Chris Becknell: Ooh, that's a great question. The key, when you're starting with acoustic strings and learning to use your fingers, is to make sure you're using light gauge strings and that, most importantly, your guitar is set up for those light gauge strings. A lot of guitars are kind of generally set up for kind of medium strings on a steel-string acoustic, and, with the help of a luthier, in 20 minutes, you can get your guitar set up to play really easily with light gauge strings. 

And that's going to allow you to play the longest at first. As you build some stamina and endurance, and hand strength, you can move into using some heavier gauge strings. Which what we mean by "heavy" and "light" is the thickness of the string and how it feels on your left hand when you're pressing it down and the resistance it gives your right hand while you're plucking. So, with the light gauge strings, we've got lower resistance on both fronts. 

They're easier to pluck and they're easier to press down, which is, in turn, going to allow you to play longer. And the heavier gauge strings, the benefit of that is they create more volume but, until you master your technique and have the endurance and knowledge to dig in a little bit more with the guidance of a good teacher, you're going to want to use the light gauge strings just in order to be able to play comfortably. 

So, seek out some light gauge strings and a good guitar tech. There's a great guitar tech in every city in the country, and almost every city in the world there's somebody who that's what they love doing is, wrenching on guitars. Setting up the neck, setting up the bridges, and making it a comfortable experience. You can have a moderate, you know, to inexpensive guitar and, if it's set up properly, it can be just absolutely a dream to play as a beginner. 

And then, you can upgrade into, you know, higher end equipment as you go on. But proper setup and light gauge strings, you'll be able to play for a while. 

Dave Dougherty: - Yeah. Now, I will say, with setup stuff, if you're interested in learning about that, Gibson has a whole series that they're doing on their YouTube channel with their master luthier for their Gibson Custom Shop, down in Nashville. And he walks you through the Gibson approach on how to set things up and do things there. And then, have you been to the StewMac site recently? 

Chris Becknell: - Not recently but I've definitely seen a lot of Dan's videos on there, he's just...you can go down a rabbit hole of hours watching him restore all these vintage instruments. 

Dave Dougherty: - Yeah. So, again, if you're unfamiliar, StewMac is, basically, where all the luthiers buy, you know, their stuff or, you know, people interested n getting started in luthier stuff. There's a great selection that StewMac has on those things. And they have a whole bunch of stuff on there, their blog on, you know, "How do I fix a rusty bridge?" to, you know, fixing the nut or string buzz, all that kind of stuff. 

Now, a follow-up for you because, on acoustic, for me, I use tens or elevens.. 

Chris Becknell: - And that's pretty light. 

Dave Dougherty: - Yeah. And I've noticed that, on the different string packs, the acoustic light gauge tends to be slightly different than the electric light. Because, you know, with electric guitars, you'd usually think like nines would be the light gauge string. Does that ring true, since you're buying more acoustic packs than I am? 

Chris Becknell: - Yeah. Well, the big difference is in your bass strings there too. So, a light gauge set of acoustic strings is going to have a slightly thicker fourth, fifth, then sixth string than on the electric pack. Like, a set of tens, you might have a 0.46 or a 0.48 for your bottom E, which is pretty light. 

If you put that on an acoustic, it just doesn't stay in tune as well. So, a lot of the acoustics, even in a light gauge set, will go up to, like, 0.52, which is pretty heavy. You know, if you're going to have that on an electric, you'd really feel the resistance and you'd probably need some adjustment at the nut to get the string to fit the guitar properly on an electric. Whereas acoustics are pretty much set to manage that gauge right off the bat. 

Dave Dougherty: - Interesting. And is there any real difference with light gauge steel string versus classical? 

Chris Becknell: - Oh yeah, a massive difference. Classical strings are the most comfortable and lightest type of string you could possibly play. Now, if you put classical strings on an acoustic guitar, generally, you're going to get a ton of buzz because the guitar is just improperly set. 

Classical strings belong on, what we call, a nylon or folk-style guitar. And steel strings belong on a steel-string acoustic guitar meant to, you know, manage the stress on the top of the instrument with the steel string. So, never ever put steel strings of any kind on a classical guitar. 

And if you're going to put nylon strings on a steel-string guitar, you need a massive adjustment from a luthier. It's better to just get a separate guitar because the money you're going to spend getting a steel-string guitar setup to use classical strings...these days you can just get such an affordable nylon-string option for, you know, 150 bucks used or $299 new for a really good sounding, you know, starter classical... you might as well just buy a classical guitar if you want to use nylon strings. 

Dave Dougherty: - Any reason to get a new guitar, right? 

Chris Becknell: - That's right, absolutely. They all have different tone colors, they all do different things, and you need them in your collection. 

Question #2 - Should I learn electric guitar or acoustic guitar first?

Dave Dougherty: - Exactly. That's why I have the stupid collection I have over here. Awesome. So, actually, that's a good segue because the second question we have is, you know, "What should I learn first, acoustic or electric?" And I know I've been asked this a bazillion times by student parents. 

And my answer is always, "Well, what do you have?" You know, because so many people have, you know, grandpa's guitar in the closet or, you know, "My dad was in a band in high school and the Les Paul has just collected dust for 20 years, so, I'm using his," right? 

But if you don't already have a guitar on hand, what would you recommend? Or at least how do you approach that when you have students and/or students' parents asking you that? 

Chris Becknell: - Yeah. You know, if there hasn't been a specific interest expressed, it's just guitar in general, I just recommend acoustic. You know, my personal preference is for beginners to start on an acoustic guitar. And particularly a classical nylon-string guitar, it's just such a comfortable way to start. Your left hand experiences no, you know, extra effort, you're not going to fatigue your left hand unnecessarily by playing on classical strings. 

They're the lightest guitar possible, so, they're easy to hold. Another big reason, with children especially, I recommend starting with fractional-size classical guitars and finding an experienced teacher who's good at working with young kids. The kids are going to be able to play longer, they're going to have great posture that'll translate over to different styles as they get older. 

And, you know, when people approach me with like a six, seven, or eight-year-old, I always recommend starting with a classical guitar and doing some classical guitar studies which develop both hands equally. And then, as the kids get older, they can move into using a plectrum, or guitar pick, that's the technical term, the plectrum, and buying an electric guitar as their body can handle it. 

Electric guitars really...the smaller ones that they make, in my humble opinion, they don't sound good. And the bigger ones are heavy, they're just heavy, it's too much weight to put on a child. Usually, the guitar weighs as much as they do. So... 

Dave Dougherty: - Especially when you look at some old Les Paul's they’re like boat anchors. 

Chris Becknell: - Absolutely. So, I recommend the classical acoustic, you know, guitar just because it's so light and easy to play. And anything you can do on a classical, you can do on an electric later. Stuff you learn on an electric you can't necessarily do on a classical, such as, like, string bends, you know, idiomatic things to the different styles that you're playing. 

But yeah, total beginners, especially if they haven't expressed a preference, you know, start on the acoustic and build that great foundation and that great dexterity between both the hands. Now, if you have like a 12 or 13-year-old who's just obsessed with punk rock and obsessed with a certain genre of music, generally, their body's big enough to handle an electric guitar. And if that's all they're motivated to practice and learn, then you need to seek out a teacher who's great at playing that style and teaching it to kids too. 

You know, you got to find the right combination of not only knowledge but able to break down the pedagogy for kids to be successful in their step-by-step learning. And a child's probably going to have a great time learning how to play. There's a lot of kids who started as teenagers playing electric guitars who then later moved into the nuance and the dexterity necessary to play finger-style acoustic, steel string, or classical guitar. 

I mean, there's so many guitarists in the classical world who...yep, this guy. There's so many guitarists in the classical world especially who, you know, they'll tell you that the guy who got them playing was Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jimi Hendrix or, you know, John Petrucci and that's what motivated them to play in the first place for a couple of years, and then they just expanded. 

They just listening to guitar music you're going to, eventually, down the road discover styles of guitar playing that you've never knew existed, and you're going to be captivated by them. And that's the great thing about being a lifelong learner. 

Dave Dougherty: - Well, I was reading an interview with Mikael Akerfeldt, the lead singer of Opeth, and he started out on classical, which is one of the reasons Opeth sounds the way it does because of all those open chords and his finger-style pieces. And then there's a lot of modern metal guys that are, you know, rediscovering classical guitar, not I think just as a timbrel thing but also as a nicer way of playing some stuff. 

Which has been interesting to see, you know, Tosin Abasi or... 

Chris Becknell: - What I always point out to parents is, you know, if you've got the time to just kind of dive deep into it is if you look at, you know, a shred-guitar player like Steve Vai and an incredible classical guitar player like, you know, Berta Rojas or John Williams. The position of the guitar is exactly the same, the people from the electric guitar with great virtuosity and just flying left-hand fingers and a flying pick technique, the central body position, the angle of the neck, it's all universal, the thumbs back on the neck. 

You know, they're just playing with great dexterity and mobility, one's on an electric, one's on a classical. So, to achieve high levels of virtuosity, eventually, you're focusing on the same types of technique and the same progress down that road of mastery at a really intricate level that it doesn't matter if you're playing an Ibanez or you're playing a classical guitar, you're going to be focused on the same aspects of high-end technique, light finger [inaudible], playing with minimal tension, you know, our whole phrase for mastery at the upper levels of virtuosity is economy of motion. 

We want everything our body does to yield the maximum result with the least amount of effort. And that's the focus of all high-end virtuosic music playing on any instrument. 

Dave Dougherty: - Yeah, I went the route of, I think, a lot of people where, you know, well...so much as school still offer, you know, band and music classes, I started on base and did that for three years, learned guitar at home. But, you know, that path was interesting because I think my left hand was already more developed than, you know, kind of the typical beginner just because I was doing the finger picking, at least from bass playing. 

But it led to some heavy hands. Yeah, I'm not a soft touch player, unfortunately, from that.

Question #3: What is the best guitar pick for beginners?

Dave Dougherty: - So, you brought this up and it was actually the third question. So, question three is, "What's the best guitar pick for beginners?" Now, I know I have my own theories about that but I'll let you go first. 

Chris Becknell: - Yeah, one of my favorite picks for beginners is this brand, which I'm not mentioning specifically because we haven't gotten any kind of endorsements. But this type of pick is made out of nylon, it has a very good sound on a multitude of strings. [inaudible], you know, you don't use a plectrum on classical strings, so, we just don't really play classical strings with a pick. 

But steel strings of many varieties, this brand of pick...I'll just go ahead and say it, it's the Dunlop brand. They make a great nylon pick. Nylon is a great choice for a pick. Acrylic is really harsh, really, really metallic-sounding, there are not a lot of good-sounding acrylics picks out there. And getting into the thickness, that's really the key you want to focus on as a beginner is the thickness of the pick. 

And so, that's measured in millimeters, and so, this one, in particular, is a 0.73-millimeter. And they go lighter, you know, down to 0.6 something, 0.5 something, and they go higher up to like 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, and thicker and heavier. And as a beginner, I'd recommend starting with something under 1.0. 

So, this is the heaviest pick I recommend for a beginner, it's 0.73-millimeters. And if your strumming chords, I like using a 0.5 something, something very light, you'll be able to, you know, flex it in between your fingers very easily. And it'll move through the strings, you know, relatively smoothly allowing you to play all the strings fully as you're working on big chords. 

When you're playing individual notes, scales, and patterns like that, the slightly thicker pick drives the string, it pushes through the string a little bit more firmly producing a better resonant tone from your guitar, whether it's electric or acoustic. It just helps the string to sing, we want to get that string moving and singing, and the thicker pick will drive that. 

When you want to get really heavy and do a lot of power chords, that's where the 1.0-millimeter, you know, pick will come in handy. But starting with open chords and single-string patterns, 0.7 and lighter I just think is a great way to go. You know, just to nerd out on picks here, I saw that question and I grabbed a pick that I have by a guy in the U.S. who makes these out of old vintage celluloid. So, this is a celluloid pick that used to...I mean, celluloid, they were using celluloid, you know, way back, decades ago, and it just has a different sound. It's not definable until you hear it, and it sounds different on different types of strings. Like, if I play with a celluloid pick on nickel electric-guitar strings, it has a different sound than if I play with it on phosphor-bronze steel acoustic strings. 

And it's just unique, it's just got a different kind of timbre and it's kind of fun to have that. And picks are cheap. So, you know, thickness, this is a 0.7 something as well. And you can just get a lot of different picks in that 0.7 or 0.5 and it'll cost you like 10 bucks tops to get a ton of picks. 

Yeah. 

Dave Dougherty: - This is my pick container. What does it say? "Keep calm, rage on." But yeah, I've got a lot of the commemorative stuff, you know, like, throwaway thing. Like, here's a Metallica pick. I will say, you know, doubling down on what you said previously, I've discovered that, for me, as I've gotten further down my journey, I have been going heavier with my picks. 

First, because of the sound. So, I'm using the Dunlop Jazz III. But I was really trying not to just, like, totally, you know, nerd out on Prodigy stuff but his little shield ones are just, like, perfect for my feel, like the way that I like to play. But I have noticed, and this would be something to talk about too, I started out on...again, I was going to say the Dunlop Tortex. 

So, this one is this...what is it, seven...? No, 0.88. Yep. I recommend this one to start out with because it's...now, granted, I'm more on the rock side, so, I deal with more electric players. At least I'm kind of assuming that, so, yell at me if I'm being wrong. 

Chris Becknell: - I think I've seen James Hetfield say that if you cut open one of the Metallica albums, it just bleed green Tortex picks because that was his favorite pick for so long. 

- Well, yeah. And when I was starting out and I was looking at, you know, "Okay, what gear do all my favorite people use?" Almost everyone at that time was using, you know, these green ones. So, I'm like, "All right, that's at least some place to start." Right?

I do not like going, this is a personal preference, I don't like going lighter than this because of the flappy sound it makes against the strings. So, you know, when we say, "What's the best thing?" Well, again, you have to experiment. We can talk generally here but you have to find your own likes and dislikes for the way that you want to play. 

You know, I tend to be more of a technique geek, so, I want that single-note, you know, ring out more so than a lot of the strumming stuff. Size does matter as well. So, here's the standard one versus the smaller jazz-style. And yeah, I have fat fingers, so, these just don't work for me. 

But if I had really skinny fingers, I'd probably like them a lot more, you know. Yeah. So, anyway. I think I'm up to...was it 1.15? 

Chris Becknell: - Oh, I thought you were at 1.5 with those, those... 

Dave Dougherty: - I go back and forth. And actually, this is an interesting thing maybe for people who want to nerd out or maybe this will just be the point where everybody skips. 

Chris Becknell: - If you bullet pointed that by telling people about your guitar, you're using an eight-string guitar with really heavy bass strings, you're doing a lot of low-string rhythm keeping, and the thick pick is going to drive those immensely, huge big springs. You know, most people, as they begin, aren't going to play on anything nearly as hefty as what you're slinging around. 

Dave Dougherty: - Right. Well, yes. So, you know what's funny? I have the eight-string but I use it mostly, like, for really particular things. My main axe for years has been this one that I built with my dad. It's just a seven-string... yeah, it's a Carvin neck, which is now key soul guitars, but the body is all ours. 

These are the Steve Vai pickups. You talked about anchor, because this is home built, this thing is relegated to the studio now, I'm no longer gigging with this one. Just because it is, like, you know, you start developing shoulder problems from holding on to it. But yeah, I do just a lot more single-note stuff than a lot of other people. But I have noticed...so, during the pandemic, I took the time to dive in and nerd out on picks because I realized that the stuff that was working on my electrics wasn't working on my acoustics and I couldn't play the way that I wanted to. 

So, I tried out like all these sharp-point ones, which I don't really like for the way that I play. Sometimes I do for, like, single-note stuff but strumming, the points just don't feel right to me. Have you ever used the pointed? 

Chris Becknell: - I have. I agree, for strumming large amounts of strings, or six-string chords, I don't enjoy the feel of it as well either, I like the more traditional rounded and beveled. In particular, a thicker pick with beveled edges, you know, you can get in...so, that's the next step up in your pick purchase, you know, you get a lot of these basic picks, they're cut, they're machine-stamped, and then the next upgrade you're going to pay a little bit more per pick, sometimes $2 a pick more when you get a pick that has had a particular attention to the way the edge is shaped. 

It will be rounded and, you know, very similar to like fine metal work, except they're doing it on, you know, on the plastic material of the picks. And that gives a whole new experience to plucking single strings and strumming chords when you're playing with a beveled pick. So, a lot of things to explore. But don't forget, the most important thing to focus on when you're a beginner is keeping rhythm. Rhythm's the most important thing, and just practicing your foundation. You got the rest of your life to continue to explore this and definitely have fun doing so but don't do it at the expense of your hard-earned and dedicated practice time. 

Question #4 - What is the deal with acoustic guitar players' fingernails?

Dave Dougherty: - Right, right. Yeah. So, okay. So, this is something that, this next question, I've always wondered but I've never actually brought up to you in person, so, I'm just going to take the opportunity to do it, what is the deal with acoustic guitar players' fingernails? Yeah. So, I know that they're, you know, built-in picks, basically, but what's the why behind that, you know? 

Chris Becknell: - Yeah, absolutely. It's the absolute fine control of your fingertip, it's that balance between the flesh at the tip of your finger and the way you shape your nail and the length of your nail, that combination of touching the string before the pluck with a combination of nail and flesh creates a specifically unique to you sound. 

Your hand sounds different than anybody else's hand and you're going to get a really warm beautiful sound off of the string by using your fingernails if they're shaped and buffed correctly. It's a multi-step process, that's a whole another instructional video, and there are videos out there on nail care, but you have to get some length, and then you have to clean them up too. 

You know, you have to buff them and file them so that they look like the edge of a guitar pick. You're, essentially, creating guitar picks on the end of your fingers and it creates a tactile sensation with the string that it's just...there's nothing like it, it's the most connected to the instrument you can feel. And there are a lot of great electric guitar players who play with much shorter nails, they'll still have just a little bit of nail edge, some have no nail edge, but there are an immense amount of incredible electric guitar players who just play with their fingers and rarely use a pick too. 

So, the idea of connecting to your instrument with your right-hand fingertips is universal, it's across the styles. Not just steel-string acoustic, not just nylon-string classical, but, you know, vast... 

Dave Dougherty: - Really great blues players never touched a pick but did the whole electric thing. 

Chris Becknell: - Yep, absolutely. 

Dave Dougherty: - Nice. Well, so, that's the questions we have for today. Yeah, anybody who's still with us, thank you. And personally, I like this format. So, please send in any questions, comments so we could, you know, ask your question - on one of these and just to nerd out on these kind of things is fun, at least for me. So, I'm having a good time. 

Chris Becknell: - Yeah. And there's no silly question, you know, this is a place for beginners to feel comfortable asking anything they've wanted to know about the guitar. And sometimes it's hard to find an answer to a question you think would be, you know, easy to find an answer to. And that's what we're here for, to be a resource for you and help you get those answers correctly from years of experience that we've got. 

We're here for you. 

Dave Dougherty: - Right, right. Yeah, especially, with, you know, some of these things, some of the Internet sites where you go to ask a question and then you have all of the opinions of the community on you. Like, you know, "Anything post-Jimi is just dumb," and you're like, "What? Who are you?" Like, everybody can have their own thing, like, you know. 

Yeah. So, we're definitely not going to be that space. I will delete those comments because we don't want those kind of comments for, you know, anybody who's engaging with us. So, anyway, long story long. Thank you. 

Like, subscribe, share. And we will see you next week with another lesson. And let us know what you think. Take care.