I'm joining the dark side....

[scorpionldr]

Of the guitarists. I've been hacking away on horn with a band lately, not playing much bass (at all) because A: I don't have a band, B: I've taken into account I want to raise my status as an overall musician.

I got myself an Ovation Applause acoustic-electric, now I'm trying to learn how to get good at it, beyond learning basic chords. I really want to get to the point of not only fluidly changing between chords, but also just generally mastering guitar like I see most players even doing tech metal riffs for "screwing around" on acoustic. I took a guitar 1 class sometime ago, and it helped some, but I'm needing more, so I not only signed up to guitar 2 for this semester, but I also went out to a local record shop and picked up a beginner's folk guitar book, as well as a "guitar exercises for dummies" from Borders.

I was wondering if any converts (whether it be guitar to bass or bass to guitar) have any advice to give on how to build good articulation skills (double/triple picking, pinch harmonics, etc) and fretboard skills (I'm decent with going up, down, and about on the bass, but even so I find myself gravitating to open positions after short whiles of playing....).

I know it sounds kind of silly saying it, being a great deal of a metal/punk player, but I just felt like it was time to get away from the average electric and see about doing something creatively geared in the same direction but with acoustic. I mean, that Dean Acoustic-Flying V was pretty tempting..... http://www.activemusician.com/item--EM.VCOUSTIC

[BryanM]

If you're willing to take the leap, pick up the Berklee book "A Modern Method For Guitar: Books 1-3" by William G. Leavitt and clear some time in your schedule. It's a hard study and requires you to read sheet music but it will increase your proficiency on chords and scales 100 fold. I know it's not particularly in the style you want, as it's more of a jazz/theoretical method, but it will translate well to metal and has some really interesting etudes and practices that come across well on both acoustic and electric.

[scorpionldr]

I hear you on that, but for now I think I have enough books to drive myself mad with.

I was looking more in the vein of advice or even good links to online lessons or something.

I'm on a new job lately so I don't have a great deal of free time, but I'm doing what I can.

Salesman at Sam Ash mentioned to me that a lot of guitarists start on acoustic as it is more difficult (fret/string spacing, technique) so that it translates to electric easier. But I still want to be a do-it-all-on-one-ax guy for now.

[ShredderMaximus]

i myself just came upon a guitar that I got for free, and I find it nice, helped expand my perspective between the two instruments and I found has improved my bass playing, though I gotta say that it would be cool as hell to get both on one instrument some day!

[scorpionldr]

Originally Posted by ShredderMaximus

i myself just came upon a guitar that I got for free, and I find it nice, helped expand my perspective between the two instruments and I found has improved my bass playing, though I gotta say that it would be cool as hell to get both on one instrument some day!

by far. First thing I noticed coming back to bass after a few months of holding chords? I was ripping the **** out of the bass with all sorts of new riffs.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by ShredderMaximus

i myself just came upon a guitar that I got for free, and I find it nice, helped expand my perspective between the two instruments and I found has improved my bass playing, though I gotta say that it would be cool as hell to get both on one instrument some day!

Maybe something like this bit o' double neck goodness?

[scorpionldr]

Originally Posted by dave64o

Maybe something like this bit o' double neck goodness?

some of the eight string mammoth guitars they're making today are stupendous. that and the 11 string basses that reach 11 hz or whatever frequency it is.