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Played with a bassist who removed the ground pin from his amp. If he made contact with anyone else at any point while playing, we'd both get shocked. We banned that amp from rehearsal REAL quick.
Although you should never remove the ground pin that issue you describe is not caused by a missing ground pin and can occur on amps that have a ground pin. It's very dangerous even with a ground pin and is usually a fairly simple fix for an amp tech. There should never be current on the ground.
Back in the 70s (when electrocution amps were common) I would leave the high string untrimmed so I could brush it briefly against the mic. If it threw a spark I knew it was time to flip the amp polarity switch.
If it was in the UK, a removed Earth pin would cause the plug socket to not let the live and neutral pins to plug in. The Earth pin opens two doors thar cover the other two holes.
Dude, I had this tech who screwed up my board when I had him re-wire it. And he was SO adamant about me removing the ground cause it'll be better. Thanks for confirming he was full of it haha
I love that you mention using jealousy to create something positive, rather than making it toxic, or negative. An awesome outlook, takes practice, but it is such good advice! Thank you
This actually highlights the key difference between "jealousy" and "envy", IMHO. "Envy" is looking at something that somebody else has, and wishing you had it too. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It can lead you to work towards getting better, etc. "Jealousy" is feeling that somebody else shouldn't have what they have (and you should have it instead). That is very different. Jealousy is pretty much always toxic, but envy can sometimes be useful and productive, if directed in the right ways.
@@foogod4237 I like this way of viewing things. Thank you, I will use this phrasing in the future, as I really like it. English is not my native language, so picking up phrases like this is useful.
100% Samurai is right on ear plugs for soundchecks, especially when you start playing mid-tier and up venues. I had perfect hearing before I got big with my blues trio, and one show we did a soundcheck and my right ear was right next to a PA stack that was "muted" according to the soundguy. Next thing I know a sharp feedback hit me and I instantly lost some hearing, ear bled, and started me down the painful road of tinnitus. I was 23, and now at 31 I'm partially deaf in that ear and literally can't use ear plugs live cos I won't be able to make out definition in the music
Years ago my band got to the mid-tier level and was invited to play the big showcase clubs, but never did :(. To fill these crowded mid level rooms we were pretty loud. I never turned my 100w Marshall past about 5 and only brought one cab to the gigs, a set up which was plenty loud enogh. We had the equipment to be really loud though! Like everyone else back in the day I didn't wear earplugs. We were always careful to position our speakers such that they weren't pointing in band members ears. It sort of worked over the five years that I played out. Even so, I've had mild tinnitus for fifty three years. Most of the time the "buzzing" is low enough so it isn't much of a bother although I have lost a bit of my high frequency hearing. The bottom line is use ear plugs and save your hearing. -dave
Absolutely correct on ear protection. Since unwelcome discovery of a horrendous feedback potential of my not so high powered pa system and not overly powerful amp, I have the great joy of partial deafness in one ear, and frequent ringing in my ears. This incident took place when I was 18, so, even given 50 years to get better, it hasn't.
You raise a lot of important points in this video. The ones that resonated the most with me were the fingernail thing and the amp ground pin. I always keep my fingernails trimmed so short that there's no visible white end, but I clip them first, then file the rest of the way. It's a lot quicker and easier than just filing them all the way down. Back when I was a busker, often playing as much as 8-10 hours a day (not including practicing and teaching) I always kept a tube of cyanoacrylate glue in my guitar case, but it wasn't necessarily just for the occasional fingernail peel situation. I would often get little rips or tears where the fingertip callous gave way to normal skin, and I'd use the superglue to create a seal over the little rip. It also acted as a sort of "instant callous," as I had a bad habit of gnawing on rough bits of skin on my fingertips. As for the grounding pin, I once knew an idiot who cut off his amp's grounding pin. He thought it improved his tone, until he got a bad shock and ended up in hospital from stepping on a wet spot on the stage at an outdoor concert. He got the power plug replaced after he got out of the hospital, some three days later and a whole lot wiser.🤣
My Dad was a Factory Inspector (Now referred to as an HSE Inspector). Most of the fatalities he was called to investigate were where people had bypassed the things that were there to keep them safe. Deaths from removing the Earth from an electric socket were quite common. Some other common causes of fatalities or severe injuries were: Using Duck Tape to cover bare wires; Jamming a spanner to disable the protective shield on cutting machinery, Scaffolding, being a farmer.......
As a bassist especially practicing with an amp it's very different as there's some SERIOUS air movement! Makes playing extremely different with all the air around you moving.
I put airtags inside my guitars control cavity using a strong 3M double sided tape to stick it to the plastic cover. I also make sure the speaker is disconnected so that other people can't ping it. That way if the guitar gets removed from it's case or a thief thinks the airtag that's following them is in the case they have to work a little harder to find it. Also very much yes on the ear protection! It's not uncool or expensive to protect your ears!
On the "don't remove the ground" topic, I believe that's how Keith Relf died. He had been both the lead singer of the Yardbirds and a founder of Renaissance, whose original lineup was reuniting (under the name Illusion, since a different lineup of Renaissance was still active), and had to restructure after his death.
KEITH RELF was playing an electric guitar while taking a bath , which is dangerous ! Also the power standard for U.K. electricity is 220 volts @ 50 hertz compared to the U.S. standard of 120 volts @ 60 hertz . I don't think that the U.K. has an "earth ground" on their plugs as we do in the U.S. . I lived in Europe in the 1980's and there were no ground plugs on the sockets . If I recall correctly , there were no grounds on electrical sockets in the 1950's and it wasn't until the 1960's and 1970's that the "earth ground" was made as a standard safety feature in houses and commercial buildings .
I AM NOT KIDDING ! I would not have posted this if I was kidding ! I was born in America and I am an American Navy veteran and I lived in Rota , Spain in the province of Andalusia from June 1985 to July 1988 . I also traveled to Portugal , Germany , Italy , and Greece and I never noticed a ground connection ( no 3 prongs! ) on any of the European country's sockets ( all of them had only two prongs with no ground prong ). You might be relieved if you do some research on Europe's electrical power grid's history to verify my remarks . My command told me that you can't use an electric digital clock bought in the United States for use in Europe , because U.S. made clocks are made for the U.S. standard of 60 hertz ,whereas Europe's standard is 50 hertz . And like I said : verify Europe's electrical power grid as they may have added an "earth ground" prong since I left there 36 years ago.. @@o00nemesis00o
@@drbluzer The UK doesn't follow the same conventions as the rest of Europe, we've had grounded plugs since the 1920s. It's a point of pride that our plugs and sockets are very safe, as the covers on the live and neutral holes won't open without the ground pin going into its hole first, making it far harder for some kid to stick a fork in the socket and get zapped. As well as many other features
Re: selling to the guitar store, Any guitar store I ever knew/or worked for offered no more than 50% of what they could sell it for. Your old place at 60% sounds great! 😄
I remember i went to a party. I played the guitar all the time, another dude smoked too much weed and barfed all over the floor and refused to clean after himself. Guess who wasnt invited to the party the 2nd time?
Yeah. After 15yo only bring your guitar anywhere if you are requested to do so, preferably paid also. I have a lot of friends who are AMAZING guitarists, myself included. I love to hear them play. But not when I'm chatting with other amazing friends.
i absolutely agree with the tuning up one. i have a guitar with not so good tuners and whenever i tune down, pitch goes down even more but when i do it like he said, tuning is stronger and more stable.
I sell gear at guitar stores a lot of the time, take the 50-60% of what they think they can sell it for, and I'm content with it. You get the money now, nobody wastes your time with lowball offers or failing to show up, no opportunity for scammers to try their crap on you. For a lot of items, paying half of its value to not have to deal with the hassles of finding a legit buyer is totally worth it.
When it comes to selling cheaper gear, 40% less than what you'd get selling it yourself is just the cost of not having to deal with the idiots on Facebook marketplace
When you clip a fingernail it's like breaking a 2x4 piece of wood in half and it leaves small jagged edges along the cut. Make sure to file down your nails after cutting them creating a smooth surface preventing the cut nails tiny jaggies from catching and splitting the nail.
Drummers don't have that house party issue. People are always thrilled if you arrive at a chill gathering and start blasting solo's on your 22-piece DW kit.
My grandma is usually imposing sonics wherever she goes if it is at the house she asks for a acoustic guitar, if we’re in a music store she has to show the clerks she can play violin it bugs everyone except me
Hey SG, I do not play guitar and do not even care about playing guitars. I do care about you and you frequently give great general advice. Like this video. Thanks.
As a recovering acoustic-guitar-at-the-function guy, I’ve had the fortune of being around people who were very chill with it, so it can depend on who you’re with. Main thing I’d say is Know The Vibe. If everyone’s just chilling and hanging out, it might be fine to bring your guitar and just provide a little background ambience. Maybe don’t tear into a complex and really flashy finger style piece if the vibe isn’t concert hall performance. Also understand what hangouts the guitar may be welcome at, vs. the times where it comes off kinda presumptuous to have brought your guitar with you in the first place. Social dynamics are hard, at the end of the day just don’t take it too personally. If you’re like me, over time you’ll just kinda laugh at yourself for having done it in the first place and move on.
I have pretty bad social anxiety. I'm getting a lot better, but it used to be horrible. I'd always inadvertently find myself at parties anyhow; craving for that social interaction. My guitar was always my safe space. So, I quickly became the background guitar guy. Never taking center stage unless someone asked me to play something (even then I'd play a song up to the end of the bridge/solo and then stop, because the rest of the song was the same as what came before the break; and I assumed they'd have been bored of hearing the same chord progressions =p). I got good at matching the vibe of the stories and conversations with my guitar; providing depth to the dialogue. I guess a more subtle lesson would be to not be the arrogant guitar guy. Know the piece you are, and where you fit in the puzzle of the gathering.
Thanks for some great advice. However, your first piece (tuning up) needs a bit more. As a professional guitarist, teacher, and guitar maker, I always: first, as you said, tune UP. But THEN, I give it a bit of a pull around the octave area, THEN re-tune. THEN give it ANOTHER pull and again re-tune. REPEAT this until the string keeps it's pitch after pulling it! Also, although a guitar should NEVER be left in the trunk (I used to wrap my guitars in kid's sleeping bags, which insulates them and keeps them out of view thru windows). However, my wife and I are professional musicians, and on the road permanently, so I built an insulated vault in the back of our tow vehicle, so the guitars still get some extremes. It's more important to let them acclimate BEFORE opening the cases! As for humidity, well, I've had many very expensive vintage archtops that were well over 50 years old and never had humidification in their lives and survived just fine, but yes, it's still better to keep humidity stable IF POSSIBLE.
But (unless the plug is moulded onto the cable) you can open the plug with a screwdriver, and remove the earth wire from the earth pin. That's actually far more dangerous because (a) the pin is still in place and gives no clue that the plug is modified, and (b) you have a loose earth wire inside the plug just waiting to hook up with the 240 volts live pin....
60% for a used instrument from a guitar store is actually a deal. I sold a P-Bass once to a guitar store that had some major issues. Weeks later I found it listed by them as is for over 3 times the price they paid me. This was also the same place that offered me $300 for a Les Paul. The followig year I found some at a musicians flea market marked at over ten times the price.
If your getting noise through the ground it's because the building has a wiring problem. carry a power conditioner with you. Sure it's more gear but it is worth it to save your amp.
I’ve been playing guitar since 1974. And I have always heard it sad never tune down always tune up not down. Yeah and I’ve also heard of people cutting the ground cord off of a plug. That is very deadly dangerous. Great advice. Thanks for the video.👍🏼👍🏼😁😎
The house I lived in before the one I own now was built in the 1800's and was renovated around WW2 (this was 16 years ago) none of the electrical outlets in the old house had outlets that had a third hole for a ground pin so for the entire time I lived there I had to either use adapters or yank the ground pins. Usually I just yanked the pins
Great tips, thanks! I'm guilty of your last tip. I see so many guitarists on RUclips that are way better than me. I usually think, "I'll be happy when I can play as well as that guy."
The correct way to deal with the hum problem is to fix your actual electrical problem which is (barring internal electrical problems or electronics degradation within the particular piece of equipment you're dealing with) the fact that you're building is ground for that particular line is probably bad. This is why it's incredibly important in recording studios and other type venues to make sure that every single outlet is independently grounded. If you fix your grounding issue, your hum problem usually goes away
What if most of the people at the party would think the guy who plays Wonderwall is _that guy?_ The parties I've been to lean more towards prog, jazz, classical, soul, blues, rap, punk, funk, and metal. Certainly you could get the jazz band to play that or any song, but it's going to still be jazz. I do really enjoy a lot of pop music, but it's not "the thing" where I grew up.
I miss playing live and last summer my sister moved and her new neighbors had a teenage son that could play and sing. So we played and entertained the campfire or just group of drunk people that wanted to sing something. The teenager moved away for college but I still wanted to jam around the campfire. Most the time it was on request, but I can admit sometimes I just wanted to play. Didn't force anyone to listen to me. Would even wander off and play away from the group. But I still totally felt like "that guy". I hate that feeling.
"I'd be happy if only..." applies to a far greater playing field than just guitarists, just good general advice for living. ;) Thanks for your sound advice, pun very intended.
Always tune UP. THANK YOU. I always tell people this, they never get it. It eliminates mechanical slop. Same for tightening wheels on a car or motorcycle, or anything. If you build an engine and the spec says 80 ft/lbs for a particular bolt, and you take it to 85 by mistake, you have to go below it first, then tighten.
Fun fact: Superglue was originally invented for surgical purposes. Modern dermabond is a better, safer alternative to superglue for wounds, but for something trivial like a nicked fingernail superglue should be fine.
Im new to playing guitar, but have worked in the Film industry for 16 years. I was doing a "Spec" commercial for Fender (based on a marketing idea "Live the Dream") as a film student. Fender lent me their "Newest" guitar a butterscotch Tele Hot Rod 52(the 7th one they made) and (real)Vintage '65 Twin Reverb Combo Amp to do the commercial. I got a band called "Scissors for Lefty" to play the guitar during a gig at the Key Club in Hollywood. When they were done they put the guitar next to the amp at the edge of the stage, and that was the last time I saw the guitar and amp. So yea, use those tracking devices. I never told Fender what happened. and they never asked.
The point about ear protection is golden. I developed Tinnitus by getting a burst of feedback from an amp turned up to 10. My life has genuinely never been the same since. Its manageable, but trust me, it really, really sucks
for fingernail pain, make sure to round off the side of left hand nails so it doesn't have a sharp corner to stick into the flesh if you get carried away by your mad bendz. I had bloody pouring from my left ring finger and it was agony (afterwards)
I only bring my guitar to family gatherings, mostly around the holidays. My dad would always play in our house during these events, and my family mostly ignores me when I do it since they're all used to it, lol. I would never do it any other time.
I used to play guitar a lot and I would bite my fingertips to toughen them . I also kept my fingernails short so I never had any fingernail issues . It was only in the winter when I would develop those "fingertip splits" caused by dry air when I would have problems .
I once bought a very, very nice bass at a very good price from a guy who played in a country band you’ve probably herd of. They toured a lot in the South, where there’s lots of humidity in some places and not so much in others. He wanted to switch to a Modulus bass with a carbon fiber neck so it would be more stable. Humidity changes can mess you up!
Nail filing is generally better than nail clipping because nails consist of microscopic layers that can separate when cut. Or at least that's what an aunt who's a manicurist told me. (Hence: if you want strong nails for fingerpicking you never want to cut them, just file 'em every day.)
I used to have regular Saturday jams in the basement at my place in West Seattle. I had a big ass amplified Peavey board, and a regular guitar player as well as a regular bass player stored their amps there. anybody respectful was welcome to use them. nobody had broken the ground pin off of their equipment, but the house itself was elderly and poorly grounded. several of the regulars (including myself) were multi-instrumentalists, and we’d do the little square dance thing occasionally to give more folk a chance to shine. we weren’t that good, but *damn* we were good and loud. but I digress. one hot summer day we were rocking out, and I was on rhythm (with my electric guitar) and vocals. we were all sweating profusely. I stepped up to the microphone to sing and watched as a blue spark leapt from the mike to my moustache. it wasn’t life threatening, but *damn*, it was more of a thrill than I was looking for. great video as usual Sammy G.
I got a mic shock once at an outdoor evening gig. People said my teeth were blue for an instant. My amp had a ground polarity switch which spared me further pain--the only time I had to use it.
Addendum: if you’re going to wear ear plugs at sound check, don’t keep telling the engineer to keep turning up your monitor. Better yet, invest in IEM’s.
I have an ungrounded amp that I got second hand and it shocks me every time I try playing it. It's not super painful, but it's enough to freak you out.
Earplugs are a MUST. I played in a band years ago, and my amp was to my right. Guess which ear has tinnitus? It might seem cool that your ears are ringing after a gig, but let me tell you - Tinnitus is PERMANENT - Now I have to live with that sound the rest of my life. At 3 in the morning, when the world is quiet, that sound can be deafening. PLEASE - protect your ears!
The problem is : in my room, there is no ground on the wall outlet, so it hums like crazy and I kinda often get shocked, I changed rooms recently, so problem solved, but it took me two months to figure out what was the reason.
One house I lived in, the outlet wasn't grounded and had electrical issues on top of that, so I would try to play and would feel electricity running through me as soon as I touched the strings. I stopped playing temporarily while I lived there.
You are very open when giving advice on jealousy. I just wanted to say that everyone should take that advice to heart and the world will be a much better place . Everyone has their own unique God given talent and no one is better than anyone else .
I used to think the temprature thing was a myth, I bought a UKE for about £350 very nice one, Arrived on a cold cold day took out the case it was freezing! tuned it up and the headstock just snapped right off. Don't be me. lucklly I'm a great luthier and was an easy fix.
Where I live we don't have any guitar/music stores anymore. Everything is sold via webstores. So that solves the problem of selling to a store, ha ha. ;)
The trick is not to avoid tension entirely. It's to train yourself to release tension while playing. You need some amount of tension to play certain techniques.
I've bitten my nails my entire life. On every finger, there's about a quarter inch between the tip of the finger and the tip of the nail. It never even occurred to me until this video that people would have trouble with their nail separating while they're bending strings.
The biggest problem with playing through a computer for practise is that there will always be some degree of latency which will screw you up. That's why i recommend practising with an amp and recording muted (like just listening to the acoustic sound for reference)
One time I brought my guitar to a Christmas party and my aunty had an amp and when I set everything up to play my finger got shocked and I play with a numb left hand. Really sucked
Had an amp Scott tube no ground from factory used to practice in a greenhouse and could feel a tingle in my fingers and feet just a little tingle though
I do like to play guitar when camping. To me, that's the time for that. I don't generally bring my guitar to parties. But instead of just being the guitar guy, I like to bring shakers, hand drums, tambourines etc.. Get everyone involved. Music is a communal activity.
My practice amp is a Vox VT20X, one of those hybrids with a tube preamp and a modeling tube amp; it uses a 12V AC adapter, and they sell new for $280 or so. I got mine for $30, because the previous owner apparently had a problem with the power plug coming out of the jack on the back, so he superglued it in place - and then stepped on the cord and broke the jack and the PCB it sat on. So don't do that either! (The hardest part of fixing it was making a little faceplate to mount a replacement jack on; the original just stuck through the particle board body.)
"Get other people involved, get someone to sing along with you, get people involved." Hey, it's not my fault no one at the party can do the vocals to some tunes from The Black Dahlia Murder.
I made it a habit many years ago of killing the volume on my amp AND my guitar(s) after use so I wouldn't have any surprises the next time I went to play.
1:16 it’s so funny you mentioned this one. I’ve been playing since I was 3 and my guitar has become my fidget toy 💀 when people are anxious at gatherings, they just glue to their phones, for me, I have my guitar, and I play to myself. Been thinking of getting a Donner Hush guitar, bc it really comes down to calming my anxiety and not fidgeting my fingers
Have you heard about alcohol and drugs? They work very well, and you also get invited back more frequently! Lol I was that guy too, but eventually I realized just fidgeting w/ my phone would get nore girls, actually, since I looked less dorky. Ymmv.
3:35, yea, I wonder if it's the frequencies shaking the air in the room, the feedback, where the amp handles the sound better. Nothing will ever beat live music, in any sense, compare a recording of an orchestra to being at an orchestra. World's apart.
how old are you man, if I may ask? Seeing that old beaten up Korg MA-30 metronome in your other vid brought up some memories for me from the early noughties
Don’t bring your guitar to a party. Related anecdote, I worked for Apple repairing iPads for a period of time, a little over 10 years ago. A guy that worked in my department was super obsessed with the new Google tablets that were competing. So much so that it would inhabit most of the conversational topics when he was around. We would have work parties where we would drink and actually party; one night, this dude decided to show up with an Apple iPad and a Google tablet. He actually thought a bunch of drunk temp workers would want to sit and compare the two products for fun… I’ll never forget it.😂 don’t be that guy lol
I know this isn’t likely possible, but would love a video to see the Krazy glue to reattach the nail trick. Do you shove it in there? Is it too graphic for RUclips monetization?
The ‘Ground Pin Trick’ is like ‘Just restart _(insert any electrical device)_’, except the consequences are 😵 and not a trip to the Geek Squad. You decide which is worse.
I've had a hard time not having an instrument. If I get overwhelmed, instead of just playing like "that guy" I'll ask a friend if they have a room I can play the instrument in without bothering anyone to calm my nerves. If they want me to stay so they can listen it's fine, but I always ask for a private area as to not intrude with noise or already playing music from the stereo.
Nothing wrong with selling your guitar straight to the store as long as you understand that you are taking a money hit. Sometimes 60% of something is better than dealing with a bunch of lookie-loos, people who show up drunk to try out the guitar, people who say they will show up and don't, people who want to pay you in Greatful Dead bootlegs, etc.
Great video. But besides of earplugs for just sounchecks, you might have also added wearing earplugs whenever your wife sees you bringing home a new guitar. That high pitched shrill coming from her pie-hole can also really do some damage... just a suggestion. 🙉
4:00 isn't being tense an incredibly invasive problem that starts out from the moment you hold an instrument and if you have to tell anyone to ever not be tense you have to teach them the nuances and story of tension from the beginning?
I am falling a bit into the last one but its probably harmless because im crazy new and ill be happy if i just.... Can play. I sometimes doubt even though im learning chords and making progress actually playing decently isnt something i can manage maybe i started too late and maybe my window of opportunity has passed you know?
For a bit longer save 50% off my new course Elevated Open Chords here: samuraiguitartheory.com/p/elevated-open-chords?coupon_code=launch50&product_id=5063529
Eye always do that
I don't know if you will see this but the timestamps are super messed up.
Played with a bassist who removed the ground pin from his amp. If he made contact with anyone else at any point while playing, we'd both get shocked. We banned that amp from rehearsal REAL quick.
That's a saw trap lol
Oof, and a bass player too lol.
Always the bassist
Yep. Seems like something the bass player would do.
Although you should never remove the ground pin that issue you describe is not caused by a missing ground pin and can occur on amps that have a ground pin. It's very dangerous even with a ground pin and is usually a fairly simple fix for an amp tech. There should never be current on the ground.
Been shocked more than once with an amp that had it's ground prong broken off.
Back in the 70s (when electrocution amps were common) I would leave the high string untrimmed so I could brush it briefly against the mic. If it threw a spark I knew it was time to flip the amp polarity switch.
If it was in the UK, a removed Earth pin would cause the plug socket to not let the live and neutral pins to plug in. The Earth pin opens two doors thar cover the other two holes.
@@philbeausmart
@@pipespeeps5349 yeah American sockets are the most flimsy things I've ever seen. But then you have only 110 volt, so no need to bother...
@@TheHesseJames Here in Brazil, sometimes we don't even have grounding in houses or apartments.
Dude, I had this tech who screwed up my board when I had him re-wire it. And he was SO adamant about me removing the ground cause it'll be better. Thanks for confirming he was full of it haha
I love that you mention using jealousy to create something positive, rather than making it toxic, or negative.
An awesome outlook, takes practice, but it is such good advice!
Thank you
Not just that: the best way to elevate your playing is to play with people who are better than you are
This actually highlights the key difference between "jealousy" and "envy", IMHO.
"Envy" is looking at something that somebody else has, and wishing you had it too. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It can lead you to work towards getting better, etc.
"Jealousy" is feeling that somebody else shouldn't have what they have (and you should have it instead). That is very different.
Jealousy is pretty much always toxic, but envy can sometimes be useful and productive, if directed in the right ways.
@@foogod4237 I like this way of viewing things. Thank you, I will use this phrasing in the future, as I really like it.
English is not my native language, so picking up phrases like this is useful.
100% Samurai is right on ear plugs for soundchecks, especially when you start playing mid-tier and up venues. I had perfect hearing before I got big with my blues trio, and one show we did a soundcheck and my right ear was right next to a PA stack that was "muted" according to the soundguy. Next thing I know a sharp feedback hit me and I instantly lost some hearing, ear bled, and started me down the painful road of tinnitus. I was 23, and now at 31 I'm partially deaf in that ear and literally can't use ear plugs live cos I won't be able to make out definition in the music
Get a set of active earplugs (Etymotic makes them.) They drop the level by almost 30dB and have a control that allows more high frequencies in.
Years ago my band got to the mid-tier level and was invited to play the big showcase clubs, but never did :(. To fill these crowded mid level rooms we were pretty loud. I never turned my 100w Marshall past about 5 and only brought one cab to the gigs, a set up which was plenty loud enogh. We had the equipment to be really loud though!
Like everyone else back in the day I didn't wear earplugs.
We were always careful to position our speakers such that they weren't pointing in band members ears. It sort of worked over the five years that I played out. Even so, I've had mild tinnitus for fifty three years. Most of the time the "buzzing" is low enough so it isn't much of a bother although I have lost a bit of my high frequency hearing.
The bottom line is use ear plugs and save your hearing.
-dave
Absolutely correct on ear protection. Since unwelcome discovery of a horrendous feedback potential of my not so high powered pa system and not overly powerful amp, I have the great joy of partial deafness in one ear, and frequent ringing in my ears. This incident took place when I was 18, so, even given 50 years to get better, it hasn't.
Totally. That advice should be printed on guitar boxes and labels. It's crazy that kids are handed these ear destruction equipment without a clue.
Drunks yelling into your ear to be heard over the music don't help either.
You raise a lot of important points in this video. The ones that resonated the most with me were the fingernail thing and the amp ground pin.
I always keep my fingernails trimmed so short that there's no visible white end, but I clip them first, then file the rest of the way. It's a lot quicker and easier than just filing them all the way down.
Back when I was a busker, often playing as much as 8-10 hours a day (not including practicing and teaching) I always kept a tube of cyanoacrylate glue in my guitar case, but it wasn't necessarily just for the occasional fingernail peel situation. I would often get little rips or tears where the fingertip callous gave way to normal skin, and I'd use the superglue to create a seal over the little rip.
It also acted as a sort of "instant callous," as I had a bad habit of gnawing on rough bits of skin on my fingertips.
As for the grounding pin, I once knew an idiot who cut off his amp's grounding pin. He thought it improved his tone, until he got a bad shock and ended up in hospital from stepping on a wet spot on the stage at an outdoor concert.
He got the power plug replaced after he got out of the hospital, some three days later and a whole lot wiser.🤣
My Dad was a Factory Inspector (Now referred to as an HSE Inspector). Most of the fatalities he was called to investigate were where people had bypassed the things that were there to keep them safe. Deaths from removing the Earth from an electric socket were quite common. Some other common causes of fatalities or severe injuries were: Using Duck Tape to cover bare wires; Jamming a spanner to disable the protective shield on cutting machinery, Scaffolding, being a farmer.......
As a bassist especially practicing with an amp it's very different as there's some SERIOUS air movement! Makes playing extremely different with all the air around you moving.
I put airtags inside my guitars control cavity using a strong 3M double sided tape to stick it to the plastic cover. I also make sure the speaker is disconnected so that other people can't ping it. That way if the guitar gets removed from it's case or a thief thinks the airtag that's following them is in the case they have to work a little harder to find it.
Also very much yes on the ear protection! It's not uncool or expensive to protect your ears!
On the "don't remove the ground" topic, I believe that's how Keith Relf died. He had been both the lead singer of the Yardbirds and a founder of Renaissance, whose original lineup was reuniting (under the name Illusion, since a different lineup of Renaissance was still active), and had to restructure after his death.
KEITH RELF was playing an electric guitar while taking a bath , which is dangerous ! Also the power standard for U.K. electricity is 220 volts @ 50 hertz compared to the U.S. standard of 120 volts @ 60 hertz . I don't think that the U.K. has an "earth ground" on their plugs as we do in the U.S. . I lived in Europe in the 1980's and there were no ground plugs on the sockets .
If I recall correctly , there were no grounds on electrical sockets in the 1950's and it wasn't until the 1960's and 1970's that the "earth ground" was made as a standard safety feature in houses and commercial buildings .
@@drbluzer You kidding? We had earthing prongs on our plugs from the beginning, waiting for the yanks to catch up
I AM NOT KIDDING ! I would not have posted this if I was kidding ! I was born in America and I am an American Navy veteran and I lived in Rota , Spain in the province of Andalusia from June 1985 to July 1988 . I also traveled to Portugal , Germany , Italy , and Greece and I never noticed a ground connection ( no 3 prongs! ) on any of the European country's sockets ( all of them had only two prongs with no ground prong ). You might be relieved if you do some research on Europe's electrical power grid's history to verify my remarks . My command told me that you can't use an electric digital clock bought in the United States for use in Europe , because U.S. made clocks are made for the U.S. standard of 60 hertz ,whereas Europe's standard is 50 hertz . And like I said : verify Europe's electrical power grid as they may have added an "earth ground" prong since I left there 36 years ago.. @@o00nemesis00o
@@drbluzer The UK doesn't follow the same conventions as the rest of Europe, we've had grounded plugs since the 1920s. It's a point of pride that our plugs and sockets are very safe, as the covers on the live and neutral holes won't open without the ground pin going into its hole first, making it far harder for some kid to stick a fork in the socket and get zapped. As well as many other features
HEY !Thanks for the information .I could only respond as far as what I saw in Europe . I have never been to the UK .@@suffoc8
Re: selling to the guitar store, Any guitar store I ever knew/or worked for offered no more than 50% of what they could sell it for. Your old place at 60% sounds great! 😄
I played my first chord yesterday and now I want a dumble. That’s a natural progression, right?
I remember i went to a party. I played the guitar all the time, another dude smoked too much weed and barfed all over the floor and refused to clean after himself. Guess who wasnt invited to the party the 2nd time?
Great opportunity to write a song on the spot!
"Party foul man,
pretty please clean up your puke."
...or something lol
You were never invited back
Yeah. After 15yo only bring your guitar anywhere if you are requested to do so, preferably paid also. I have a lot of friends who are AMAZING guitarists, myself included. I love to hear them play. But not when I'm chatting with other amazing friends.
@@Woozy.0 correct
i absolutely agree with the tuning up one. i have a guitar with not so good tuners and whenever i tune down, pitch goes down even more but when i do it like he said, tuning is stronger and more stable.
I sell gear at guitar stores a lot of the time, take the 50-60% of what they think they can sell it for, and I'm content with it. You get the money now, nobody wastes your time with lowball offers or failing to show up, no opportunity for scammers to try their crap on you. For a lot of items, paying half of its value to not have to deal with the hassles of finding a legit buyer is totally worth it.
When it comes to selling cheaper gear, 40% less than what you'd get selling it yourself is just the cost of not having to deal with the idiots on Facebook marketplace
When you clip a fingernail it's like breaking a 2x4 piece of wood in half and it leaves small jagged edges along the cut. Make sure to file down your nails after cutting them creating a smooth surface preventing the cut nails tiny jaggies from catching and splitting the nail.
Use an emery board too; not metal file.
Drummers don't have that house party issue. People are always thrilled if you arrive at a chill gathering and start blasting solo's on your 22-piece DW kit.
My grandma is usually imposing sonics wherever she goes if it is at the house she asks for a acoustic guitar, if we’re in a music store she has to show the clerks she can play violin it bugs everyone except me
that's cute
Hey SG, I do not play guitar and do not even care about playing guitars. I do care about you and you frequently give great general advice. Like this video. Thanks.
As a recovering acoustic-guitar-at-the-function guy, I’ve had the fortune of being around people who were very chill with it, so it can depend on who you’re with.
Main thing I’d say is Know The Vibe. If everyone’s just chilling and hanging out, it might be fine to bring your guitar and just provide a little background ambience. Maybe don’t tear into a complex and really flashy finger style piece if the vibe isn’t concert hall performance.
Also understand what hangouts the guitar may be welcome at, vs. the times where it comes off kinda presumptuous to have brought your guitar with you in the first place.
Social dynamics are hard, at the end of the day just don’t take it too personally. If you’re like me, over time you’ll just kinda laugh at yourself for having done it in the first place and move on.
I have pretty bad social anxiety. I'm getting a lot better, but it used to be horrible. I'd always inadvertently find myself at parties anyhow; craving for that social interaction. My guitar was always my safe space. So, I quickly became the background guitar guy. Never taking center stage unless someone asked me to play something (even then I'd play a song up to the end of the bridge/solo and then stop, because the rest of the song was the same as what came before the break; and I assumed they'd have been bored of hearing the same chord progressions =p). I got good at matching the vibe of the stories and conversations with my guitar; providing depth to the dialogue.
I guess a more subtle lesson would be to not be the arrogant guitar guy. Know the piece you are, and where you fit in the puzzle of the gathering.
Thanks for some great advice. However, your first piece (tuning up) needs a bit more. As a professional guitarist, teacher, and guitar maker, I always: first, as you said, tune UP. But THEN, I give it a bit of a pull around the octave area, THEN re-tune. THEN give it ANOTHER pull and again re-tune. REPEAT this until the string keeps it's pitch after pulling it!
Also, although a guitar should NEVER be left in the trunk (I used to wrap my guitars in kid's sleeping bags, which insulates them and keeps them out of view thru windows). However, my wife and I are professional musicians, and on the road permanently, so I built an insulated vault in the back of our tow vehicle, so the guitars still get some extremes. It's more important to let them acclimate BEFORE opening the cases!
As for humidity, well, I've had many very expensive vintage archtops that were well over 50 years old and never had humidification in their lives and survived just fine, but yes, it's still better to keep humidity stable IF POSSIBLE.
in the UK if you remove the ground pin, you cant use the plug. That pin pushes a switch (of sorts) that opens the slots for the other two pins.
But (unless the plug is moulded onto the cable) you can open the plug with a screwdriver, and remove the earth wire from the earth pin. That's actually far more dangerous because (a) the pin is still in place and gives no clue that the plug is modified, and (b) you have a loose earth wire inside the plug just waiting to hook up with the 240 volts live pin....
60% for a used instrument from a guitar store is actually a deal. I sold a P-Bass once to a guitar store that had some major issues. Weeks later I found it listed by them as is for over 3 times the price they paid me. This was also the same place that offered me $300 for a Les Paul. The followig year I found some at a musicians flea market marked at over ten times the price.
Bro dropping the knowledge like me as a baby
If your getting noise through the ground it's because the building has a wiring problem. carry a power conditioner with you. Sure it's more gear but it is worth it to save your amp.
I’ve been playing guitar since 1974. And I have always heard it sad never tune down always tune up not down. Yeah and I’ve also heard of people cutting the ground cord off of a plug. That is very deadly dangerous. Great advice. Thanks for the video.👍🏼👍🏼😁😎
The house I lived in before the one I own now was built in the 1800's and was renovated around WW2 (this was 16 years ago) none of the electrical outlets in the old house had outlets that had a third hole for a ground pin so for the entire time I lived there I had to either use adapters or yank the ground pins. Usually I just yanked the pins
Great tips, thanks! I'm guilty of your last tip. I see so many guitarists on RUclips that are way better than me. I usually think, "I'll be happy when I can play as well as that guy."
I usually end up saying to my self “I wanna be able to play like that”
Ground pin issue makes me glad I live in the UK. (mains plugs don't work without a ground pin over here)
What if I play my acoustic about every day? Should I still leave it in its case with the humidifiers?
Nailed it. I especially like the life lesson there at the end about the hedonic treadmill. Lots of wisdom from such a young feller.
The correct way to deal with the hum problem is to fix your actual electrical problem which is (barring internal electrical problems or electronics degradation within the particular piece of equipment you're dealing with) the fact that you're building is ground for that particular line is probably bad. This is why it's incredibly important in recording studios and other type venues to make sure that every single outlet is independently grounded. If you fix your grounding issue, your hum problem usually goes away
What if most of the people at the party would think the guy who plays Wonderwall is _that guy?_
The parties I've been to lean more towards prog, jazz, classical, soul, blues, rap, punk, funk, and metal.
Certainly you could get the jazz band to play that or any song, but it's going to still be jazz.
I do really enjoy a lot of pop music, but it's not "the thing" where I grew up.
I miss playing live and last summer my sister moved and her new neighbors had a teenage son that could play and sing. So we played and entertained the campfire or just group of drunk people that wanted to sing something. The teenager moved away for college but I still wanted to jam around the campfire. Most the time it was on request, but I can admit sometimes I just wanted to play. Didn't force anyone to listen to me. Would even wander off and play away from the group. But I still totally felt like "that guy". I hate that feeling.
"I'd be happy if only..." applies to a far greater playing field than just guitarists, just good general advice for living. ;) Thanks for your sound advice, pun very intended.
All old and very important information! 👍👍
Michael Bloomfield always used to say: keep those fingers loose;)
Always tune UP. THANK YOU. I always tell people this, they never get it. It eliminates mechanical slop. Same for tightening wheels on a car or motorcycle, or anything. If you build an engine and the spec says 80 ft/lbs for a particular bolt, and you take it to 85 by mistake, you have to go below it first, then tighten.
Fun fact: Superglue was originally invented for surgical purposes. Modern dermabond is a better, safer alternative to superglue for wounds, but for something trivial like a nicked fingernail superglue should be fine.
That crazy glue hack has been a serious lifesaver for me
Im new to playing guitar, but have worked in the Film industry for 16 years.
I was doing a "Spec" commercial for Fender (based on a marketing idea "Live the Dream") as a film student.
Fender lent me their "Newest" guitar a butterscotch Tele Hot Rod 52(the 7th one they made) and (real)Vintage '65 Twin Reverb Combo Amp to do the commercial.
I got a band called "Scissors for Lefty" to play the guitar during a gig at the Key Club in Hollywood.
When they were done they put the guitar next to the amp at the edge of the stage, and that was the last time I saw the guitar and amp.
So yea, use those tracking devices.
I never told Fender what happened. and they never asked.
The point about ear protection is golden. I developed Tinnitus by getting a burst of feedback from an amp turned up to 10. My life has genuinely never been the same since. Its manageable, but trust me, it really, really sucks
for fingernail pain, make sure to round off the side of left hand nails so it doesn't have a sharp corner to stick into the flesh if you get carried away by your mad bendz. I had bloody pouring from my left ring finger and it was agony (afterwards)
I only bring my guitar to family gatherings, mostly around the holidays.
My dad would always play in our house during these events, and my family mostly ignores me when I do it since they're all used to it, lol.
I would never do it any other time.
I used to play guitar a lot and I would bite my fingertips to toughen them . I also kept my fingernails short so I never had any fingernail issues . It was only in the winter when I would develop those "fingertip splits" caused by dry air when I would have problems .
I had a solid state Kustom without a ground, and I couldn't play it barefoot on hard floor or I'd get shocked.
I once bought a very, very nice bass at a very good price from a guy who played in a country band you’ve probably herd of. They toured a lot in the South, where there’s lots of humidity in some places and not so much in others. He wanted to switch to a Modulus bass with a carbon fiber neck so it would be more stable. Humidity changes can mess you up!
Nail filing is generally better than nail clipping because nails consist of microscopic layers that can separate when cut. Or at least that's what an aunt who's a manicurist told me. (Hence: if you want strong nails for fingerpicking you never want to cut them, just file 'em every day.)
I cut my nails with a small scissors and then file them to set their appropriate length and end profile. Never had any problems.
-dave
I used to have regular Saturday jams in the basement at my place in West Seattle. I had a big ass amplified Peavey board, and a regular guitar player as well as a regular bass player stored their amps there. anybody respectful was welcome to use them.
nobody had broken the ground pin off of their equipment, but the house itself was elderly and poorly grounded.
several of the regulars (including myself) were multi-instrumentalists, and we’d do the little square dance thing occasionally to give more folk a chance to shine. we weren’t that good, but *damn* we were good and loud. but I digress.
one hot summer day we were rocking out, and I was on rhythm (with my electric guitar) and vocals. we were all sweating profusely. I stepped up to the microphone to sing and watched as a blue spark leapt from the mike to my moustache. it wasn’t life threatening, but *damn*, it was more of a thrill than I was looking for.
great video as usual Sammy G.
I got a mic shock once at an outdoor evening gig. People said my teeth were blue for an instant. My amp had a ground polarity switch which spared me further pain--the only time I had to use it.
Addendum: if you’re going to wear ear plugs at sound check, don’t keep telling the engineer to keep turning up your monitor. Better yet, invest in IEM’s.
I have an ungrounded amp that I got second hand and it shocks me every time I try playing it. It's not super painful, but it's enough to freak you out.
I keep a few circuit testers in my gear bag and guitar and amp cases. Not expensive and it's hard to believe how many places are wired wrong.
I tune downward all the time. The always-tune-up thing is hokum.
Doesn't matter if you tune up or down' tug on the string in-between time while doing so' sneaking up on it until it's in tune.
8:10 - Yep. The fact that I can play Eruption perfectly has not made me any happier than I was when I couldn't.
Earplugs are a MUST. I played in a band years ago, and my amp was to my right. Guess which ear has tinnitus? It might seem cool that your ears are ringing after a gig, but let me tell you -
Tinnitus is PERMANENT - Now I have to live with that sound the rest of my life. At 3 in the morning, when the world is quiet, that sound can be deafening.
PLEASE - protect your ears!
The problem is : in my room, there is no ground on the wall outlet, so it hums like crazy and I kinda often get shocked, I changed rooms recently, so problem solved, but it took me two months to figure out what was the reason.
One house I lived in, the outlet wasn't grounded and had electrical issues on top of that, so I would try to play and would feel electricity running through me as soon as I touched the strings. I stopped playing temporarily while I lived there.
You are very open when giving advice on jealousy. I just wanted to say that everyone should take that advice to heart and the world will be a much better place . Everyone has their own unique God given talent and no one is better than anyone else .
I used to think the temprature thing was a myth, I bought a UKE for about £350 very nice one, Arrived on a cold cold day took out the case it was freezing! tuned it up and the headstock just snapped right off. Don't be me. lucklly I'm a great luthier and was an easy fix.
Where I live we don't have any guitar/music stores anymore. Everything is sold via webstores. So that solves the problem of selling to a store, ha ha. ;)
The trick is not to avoid tension entirely. It's to train yourself to release tension while playing. You need some amount of tension to play certain techniques.
I’d actually add that after detuning, give the string a tug before tuning up.
I've bitten my nails my entire life. On every finger, there's about a quarter inch between the tip of the finger and the tip of the nail. It never even occurred to me until this video that people would have trouble with their nail separating while they're bending strings.
Get an adapter people they are around a dollar at Manards or Lowes.
The biggest problem with playing through a computer for practise is that there will always be some degree of latency which will screw you up. That's why i recommend practising with an amp and recording muted (like just listening to the acoustic sound for reference)
One time I brought my guitar to a Christmas party and my aunty had an amp and when I set everything up to play my finger got shocked and I play with a numb left hand. Really sucked
Had an amp Scott tube no ground from factory used to practice in a greenhouse and could feel a tingle in my fingers and feet just a little tingle though
I didnt know about the ground buzz trick, thanks for the tip SG!
I do like to play guitar when camping. To me, that's the time for that. I don't generally bring my guitar to parties. But instead of just being the guitar guy, I like to bring shakers, hand drums, tambourines etc.. Get everyone involved. Music is a communal activity.
My practice amp is a Vox VT20X, one of those hybrids with a tube preamp and a modeling tube amp; it uses a 12V AC adapter, and they sell new for $280 or so. I got mine for $30, because the previous owner apparently had a problem with the power plug coming out of the jack on the back, so he superglued it in place - and then stepped on the cord and broke the jack and the PCB it sat on. So don't do that either! (The hardest part of fixing it was making a little faceplate to mount a replacement jack on; the original just stuck through the particle board body.)
Good to know lol I have the same amp
"Get other people involved, get someone to sing along with you, get people involved."
Hey, it's not my fault no one at the party can do the vocals to some tunes from The Black Dahlia Murder.
I'm playing Mazzy Star Fade into you or wicked games when I pick up the guitar at a party, but I'm also 42 lol
Good video! And I certainly agree on the ground pin thing.
If you feel jealous, the best advice to remember is that you are unique, noone plays like you do, feel special in yourself!
Also remember you own the stage and the audience for the time you are there.
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Absolutely, great tip! :)
I made it a habit many years ago of killing the volume on my amp AND my guitar(s) after use so I wouldn't have any surprises the next time I went to play.
This was quite refreshing. Thanks a lot for the good advice!
1:16 it’s so funny you mentioned this one. I’ve been playing since I was 3 and my guitar has become my fidget toy 💀 when people are anxious at gatherings, they just glue to their phones, for me, I have my guitar, and I play to myself. Been thinking of getting a Donner Hush guitar, bc it really comes down to calming my anxiety and not fidgeting my fingers
Have you heard about alcohol and drugs? They work very well, and you also get invited back more frequently! Lol
I was that guy too, but eventually I realized just fidgeting w/ my phone would get nore girls, actually, since I looked less dorky. Ymmv.
Excellent advice!
3:35, yea, I wonder if it's the frequencies shaking the air in the room, the feedback, where the amp handles the sound better. Nothing will ever beat live music, in any sense, compare a recording of an orchestra to being at an orchestra. World's apart.
how old are you man, if I may ask? Seeing that old beaten up Korg MA-30 metronome in your other vid brought up some memories for me from the early noughties
Love It ! Great advice !
Don’t bring your guitar to a party. Related anecdote, I worked for Apple repairing iPads for a period of time, a little over 10 years ago. A guy that worked in my department was super obsessed with the new Google tablets that were competing. So much so that it would inhabit most of the conversational topics when he was around. We would have work parties where we would drink and actually party; one night, this dude decided to show up with an Apple iPad and a Google tablet. He actually thought a bunch of drunk temp workers would want to sit and compare the two products for fun… I’ll never forget it.😂 don’t be that guy lol
Samurai guitarist: oh no my string is sharpe.
Me: Oh, here's a bandaid.
Another thing is don't keep tuning up a guitar that has just been tuned times, the neck is probably broken.
Yes, I've seen it.
Superglue? I was using a dab of stronger diclofenac(the Voltarin drug) and it helped a bit. Superglue sounds like better option. Thanks!
My ass is NOT supergluing my fingers together 😂
Yes........ yes..... yes.............
Sound advice... every time.
Thank you, brother.
Yes.
I know this isn’t likely possible, but would love a video to see the Krazy glue to reattach the nail trick. Do you shove it in there? Is it too graphic for RUclips monetization?
Great video as always SammyG and also that Jazzmaster looks gorgeous.
Well said my sage. Thank you for your wisdom ❤
0:37 we need more warning labels
The ‘Ground Pin Trick’ is like ‘Just restart _(insert any electrical device)_’, except the consequences are 😵 and not a trip to the Geek Squad.
You decide which is worse.
I've had a hard time not having an instrument.
If I get overwhelmed, instead of just playing like "that guy" I'll ask a friend if they have a room I can play the instrument in without bothering anyone to calm my nerves.
If they want me to stay so they can listen it's fine, but I always ask for a private area as to not intrude with noise or already playing music from the stereo.
Nothing wrong with selling your guitar straight to the store as long as you understand that you are taking a money hit. Sometimes 60% of something is better than dealing with a bunch of lookie-loos, people who show up drunk to try out the guitar, people who say they will show up and don't, people who want to pay you in Greatful Dead bootlegs, etc.
Great video. But besides of earplugs for just sounchecks, you might have also added wearing earplugs whenever your wife sees you bringing home a new guitar. That high pitched shrill coming from her pie-hole can also really do some damage... just a suggestion. 🙉
Straight to the point. Love it
4:00 isn't being tense an incredibly invasive problem that starts out from the moment you hold an instrument and if you have to tell anyone to ever not be tense you have to teach them the nuances and story of tension from the beginning?
Thanks Sammy G!
I use a 1965 vox , it came from the factory without a ground pin. Never had an issue
You won't have an issue... Until you do. It's like having the oxygen masks on planes. Never had to use one, but they serve a purpose.
innovations and upgrades to technology sometimes happen for very good reasons. the grounding plug being added to cords is one of those.
The airtag is a golden tip
I am falling a bit into the last one but its probably harmless because im crazy new and ill be happy if i just.... Can play. I sometimes doubt even though im learning chords and making progress actually playing decently isnt something i can manage maybe i started too late and maybe my window of opportunity has passed you know?