the right guitar strap

[redmunk]

Last year when i went from not having playing properly in a year to about 3 hrs a day i foudn the guitar heavier than i thought. someone suggested getting a thicker strap to distribute the weight better. I tried this, but recently i've been getting more backpain and finally found that when i switched back to my original bog standard, thinner strap i stopped having any problems. Has anyone had a similar experience or do you have any advice on the best guitar strap to use.

thanks

[Bizarro]

Thicker works better for me. You might want to examine your posture and make sure you're not slouching. Looking down at your hands all the time can also tweak your neck and back. It's a good idea to practice NOT looking at your fingers! ;)

It's good to take breaks too. Take the guitar off for 10 minutes every 30-40 minutes.

[Vilesilencer]

I agree. I've never heard of anyone encountering pain because of their strap. My back hurts all the time when I play, even with proper posture and being in decent shape. So, when I'm sitting down and it starts to hurt.. I stand up. If I starts to hurt when I'm standing (less common) then I sit down. I double agree on not looking at your hands, not only does it put your spine out of allignment, it makes you look like an amateur if you're on stage constantly looking down at your guitar all the time.

[redmunk]

Nah, I've spent some time on my posture, which was never really bad in the first place. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing wrong with it. The strap i was using was homemade so that may have been the problem. I've had no problems at all since and can play for lond periods without problems whereas before i couldn only play for 20 mins at a time.

As to not looking at your guitar, I've always thought that was a good skill to have and so I've had another try at working hard at it this week. I find that when I play in the dark i have no problems picking, or with jumps of up to 4 or 5 frets but what i do find hard is

Tapping

Big slides

Sweeping (jumping between arps)

Any tips you may have on mastering this would be greatly appreciated

[Vilesilencer]

Mastering any technique "simply" involves spending enough time on it. I imagine there are enough articles on this website regarding tapping/sweeping to fill a black hole. The only thing I can recommend with the sliding issue is that as soon as you strike the preslide note, shift your eyes to the note you want to slide to BEFORE you begin to move your hand. Being able to shift your hand quickly over large distances (like twelve frets as an example) can come in handy when you are switching from a solo back to rhythm, or just to use extreme intervals in your playing.

Also, I wouldnt worry so much about not looking at your guitar while playing that you actually practice NOT looking at it.. just let it develop. I dont know of any guitarist that dosent look down on occasion, and in some situations you'll need to or simply want to.

[Bizarro]

True, I do look down occasionally too. It's just that I have the option of not looking, and dark stages don't scare the crap outta me! :) I know guys that can't go 30 seconds without looking at their guitar neck.

Several of my guitars don't have dots on the fretboard. At a show a couple months back our rhythm guitar player broke a string and had to borrow one of my guitars. One had dots, one didn't. He can't play w/o dots so it made the choice rather simple! :)
I got hose a bit because I bring two guitars that each sound different from one another. I ended up playing some SRV and Dire Straits on a humbucker because of it!! That's just wrong, pure and simple! :eek:

Vilesilencer, I like doing the blues licks 12 frets apart. I'll play one up high, then go down low, then up high, and repeat!! I often switch from neck to bridge pickup while I do this. It is great for situations where I do a call and response type thing, and the audience loves it because it looks impressive (even tho' it's nothing special to us guitar players). SRV did that a lot and I liberally copied everything I could!! :)

[redmunk]

thnks guys. ofcourse I can't really go for 30 seconds without looking at my guitar, which is why it's a problem. sight reading helps, and I don't have problems with it. I've tried what you suggested about looking at the note is first and looking away when you slide to it and that seems to be working. Thanks. As to tapping and sweeping, I don't have any problems with the techniques I just can't do them without looking. What I meant was, is there really anyone who can just put in a righthanded tap out of nowhere without looking. Cuz if not I'll stop trying.


thanks again

[metalprep6969]

I wouldn't worry TOO much about not looking at your fretboard. I mean, most of the greats do it a significant amount, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Joe Satch, etc etc etc etc. I wouldn't leave my head down the entire time I'm playing if I were you, but don't think that if you look at your fretboard you are performing a bad technique.

\m/

[axe_man_oli]

Yeh.. ity kinda lucks sucky if you are looking down to play rythm and stuff.... but if you are ripping out an awesome solo with lots of sweep and crazy stuff.... you will be forgiven for looking... because even the very very fast and technically ace players look what they are doing when they play...

[Bizarro]

It just takes a little practice and you will find you only have to look when you're doing larger position shifts. Try it 10 minutes a day and you'll be amazed how much better you'll be in 2 weeks!

Everyone looks a little bit, except for guys like Jeff Healey (blind)...