Guitar playing: on the frets themselves

[DavidC]

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What do you guys mean by "high action", exactly?

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The action on a guitar is the height of the strings above the fretboard.

High action = you have to push strings harder to create notes = harder to play.

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Cool... and the bridge is that thing that elevates them above the fretboard, I take it?

Thanks.

(btw now I know what a fretboard is).

Now, is there a different term for the note that you would play on the 3rd fret of the first string, and the piece of metal between the frets?

Edit: And yeah, my guitar is a real friggin pain to play. I can't really play, as I've never had lessons, and I just picked it up in the past few weeks after a while of playing dust, but I'm having fun screwwing around with it between p-ker sessions. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Slow Play Ray]

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Cool... and the bridge is that thing that elevates them above the fretboard, I take it?

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essentially, yes.


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Now, is there a different term for the note that you would play on the 3rd fret of the first string, and the piece of metal between the frets?

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Yes - the former is a "G" and the latter is a "fret"

(that piece of metal is the fret)


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Edit: And yeah, my guitar is a real friggin pain to play. I can't really play, as I've never had lessons, and I just picked it up in the past few weeks after a while of playing dust, but I'm having fun screwwing around with it between p-ker sessions. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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lighter gauge strings help too.

[smokingrobot]

action: the distance between the strings and the fret board

the larger the space, the higher the action (literally, you have to move the string more)

[smokingrobot]

just play a lot, go to olga.net to find tab's for songs you like and try them out.

i taught myself guitar too, im no technical master, but you can definately do it.

[Slow Play Ray]

I was just listening to Umphrey's McGee on my way home, and I think they may actually use this technique on the intro to "Uncommon" or it may just be muted chords - can anyone confirm?

[zephed]

Try this, lightly touch a string (don't press down onto fret board) over fret 5, 7, or 12 (there are others too) and pick the string.

It's called "harmonics". (I think, it's been awhile)