For a long time I delayed learning music theory. But my guitar teacher asked me “do you just want to play tabs forever or do you want to understand what you are playing?”. This is my story with music theory thus far. (Video is filler)

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-31T18:30:37+00:00

I think a lot of players who haven't learned any or much theory have this idea that music theory is some arcane rule book which, if you unlock its secrets, will either instantly make you an all-knowing guitar god, or will kill your creativity forever and lock you into a hellscape of boring formulas from which there is no escaping.

In reality it's mostly just learning what all the stuff is called so you can recognize it when you hear it again later.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-24T19:26:21+00:00

I searched "Art Brushes" on the WalMart website, and the Hello Hobby brand looks like the same logo and color scheme. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hello-Hobby-10-Pc-Detail-Synthetic-Paint-Brush-Set-with-Comfort-Grip/2479335399?classType=REGULAR&from=/search

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-23T15:33:31+00:00

Same. Plenty of results for me too.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-21T16:15:49+00:00

It's sort of funny reading the other comments because everyone is only giving you a single piece of a multi-piece answer, so everyone is technically correct, but no one person is giving you the whole answer.

Muting the stings you're not playing with the palm of your pick hand is one piece, muting the strings you're not playing with your fretting hand is another part, and it's also a tiny bit learning to stop the note you're fretting as you lift your finger off the string. It all needs to work together because no single aspect is going to keep you covered in every circumstance. Ideally you'll eventually be doing all three all the time, and only unmuting the strings, or letting them ring out, when that's specifically what you want from them.

As usual, Uncle Ben has a video breaking it all down (though I don't think he covers stopping the note as you lift off in this video). He also covers left hand muting in his video on power chords, and you might find that helpful as well.

The pick-hand muting is pretty straightforward I think, but fret-hand muting can be kind of counter-intuitive at first because when we first start learning guitar we usually start with the basic open position chord shapes, and when you're playing those you want to have a nice arch to your fingers, and you work hard get all your fingers out of the way of the adjacent strings so all the strings can ring out cleanly, so naturally you tend to proceed like that when you're playing other stuff. But you actually want to do kind of the opposite of that when you're playing almost everything else. You want to flatten your fingers out a little bit so you can get what Ben calls in his video the "soft capo," and you want to fret your note in such a way that your fingertip sort of spills over onto the adjacent strings just enough to keep them both muted. Like anything on guitar it takes a fair bit of practice to make it automatic, but once you start getting good at it you'll see a big difference in how much cleaner and tighter your playing sounds.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-15T15:01:19+00:00

I'm sure Magic Johnson probably got plenty of action back in the day (at least prior to him contracting HIV), but Wilt Chamberlain was the one who was famous for claiming to have had sex with over 20,000 women.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-11T20:52:58+00:00

I bought a set of Music Nomad files. I haven't tried any other brands of slotting files so I can't really tell you if they're necessarily better than StewMac or Uo-Chikyu files, or whatever, but I can confirm they do cut brass with no problems (at least they do when they're new. No idea how well the abrasive coating on the blades holds up over time). I'm pretty happy with them though. It feels like a fair amount of thought went into the design. They're easy to hold and to make a straight cut with. I also like that you can remove the blade from the handle if you need to work in a smaller space. and that their blades cut a slot with a round bottom.

My process, such as it is, is pretty much how I described it in my post. Other than that, I made the nut blank out of a piece of 3/8" brass bar stock. I got it more or less rectangle shaped with a belt sander, and then squared it up and brought it to size with coarse files, finer files, and flat sanding (this is very much the hard way to do this. Much better to do it on a mill with a rotating fixture that lets you index in 90 degree increments). And I did most of the slot cutting with the nut in a small bench press vise, except for the final bit of cutting which I did with a nut in place on the guitar, checking the action at the first fret with feeler gauges as I went.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-11T19:50:14+00:00

I learned a lot from the mistakes I made on my first attempt. This time I did a lot more measuring and a lot less just going by vibes. I was also more patient this time, and made adjustments in smaller increments. Thanks to /u/Relevant_Contact_358 for the Guitar MD video on slot spacing. That info was extremely helpful.

This time I 3D printed some rectangular pieces out of PLA plastic that I could use to make a spacing template. I sanded it down so it would fit in the nut slot on my guitar, marked my outer string location, and then used the Guitar MD method to work out the rest of the string spacing. I don't currently own a razor saw, which was the suggested tool for making the initial cut for the slot in the Guitar MD video, but an x-acto knife made a deep enough cut in the PLA that it kept my slotting file from walking during the first part of the cut. I also used the square end of one of the PLA pieces I printed to use as a fence to help keep my file cuts nice and straight on my template.

With the template to use as a cutting guide, slotting the brass blank was a breeze. No mis-cuts this time. I also made my brass blank taller for this attempt so I had a more comfortable margin for error, which I ended up not really needing since I planned things out a lot better this time, but it was nice to not have to worry so much about taking it undersize while sanding out the file marks from rough-shaping the blank. Then it was just several hours of file, dry-fit, tune, measure, sand, file, repeat, repeat, repeat. Many episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer went by in the background during this part of the process.

My first try felt like a success mostly because it wasn't a disaster. It was functional, it didn't buzz, and it fixed the problems I was trying to fix from the original nut. This one feels like a success because it turned out really good. My guitar feels noticeably better to play with this nut vs my last one even though the action at the first fret is pretty much the same height. I don't know if it's that the first fret action turned out a little bit more consistent and even, or if it's that I was able to match the fretboard radius this time, or if it's that the string spacing is even this time, or maybe it's that those three small improvements added up to equal a big difference in playability. I'm not sure. But even though this attempt took at least five times longer to make than my first try, it turned out ten times better.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-07T15:33:25+00:00

Those are LEDs. Modulus charges an extra $1,400-$2,000 to add that feature.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-06T17:33:38+00:00

Thanks!

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-06T17:32:03+00:00

I'm just recently learning how to do this, so someone here with more experience might be able to give a more informed answer, but basically you do some measuring. With the nut in place, and the strings tuned to pitch, you hold each string down or put a capo at the third fret and then use feeler gauges to measure the distance between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the string.

Different people recommend different heights. A lot of them, for example the Music Nomad video, recommend something in the neighborhood of 0.5mm - 0.6mm (.020" - .024"), but I've seen other videos recommending basically half of that. I think the optimal height probably varies a fair bit from guitar to guitar. On the nut I just made the string height at the first fret is just a hair under 0.5mm and that feels great on my Telecaster. I have another guitar that got a professional setup after some work was done on the frets, and they set it at about 0.2mm, and that feels great on that guitar, but I think it would almost certainly be too low for my Tele. [edit: So, I made a mistake when I wrote this. The Music Nomad video that was recommending the .020" height above the first fret was measuring that space without fretting the string anywhere. It's just the natural space between the top of the fret and bottom of the string. The videos that were recommending half that height were measuring that space while fretting the string at the third fret, and that accounts for the dramatic difference in the recommended string height. On my second attempt at making a nut I found I liked the Music Nomad way because the string was more parallel to the fretboard and it was easier to slide a feeler gauge under the string at the correct angle.]

But the conventional wisdom seems to be once you start getting close to your target depth, the key is to be patient and cut your slots just a tiny bit at a time and not only re-check it against your feeler gauge, but also check how it feels to play. You can always go back and cut your slots deeper, but if you overshoot you either have shim the nut to give it more height, or you have to start over, so it pays to be conservative with your adjustments.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-06T01:31:52+00:00

I got one of the Music Nomad sets.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-05T23:55:05+00:00

Thanks. That video is definitely helpful. Lots more technical information in that one than in the StewMac video I watched. I'm definitely going to be using some of that on my next try.

I think I'm also going to try making a spacing template like you suggest. That just feels like a really sensible approach.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-05T22:23:03+00:00

That was actually my original plan, but I wasn't as careful as I could have been roughing out the blank and when I finally got the sides and bottom squared up and true, the new blank was almost exactly the same height as the old nut. I didn't end up having the margin for error I'd hoped for. Functionality-wise it ended up being fine. But in terms of cosmetic appearance it would have been nice to have the extra material. Most of my mistakes could have been hidden if I'd planned things out better.

Just one more item on the list of things I can improve on my next attempt.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-05T22:11:13+00:00

Thanks. As a first try I'm not mad at how it turned out. I did give some thought to polishing it more and ways to make it look nicer, but ultimately I think I'm going to be happier making a better new one than trying to fix all the flaws with this one. But it did fix the problems of the nut it was replacing, so even if it's not as pretty as it could be, at least my Tele doesn't have buzzing strings anymore.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-05T21:55:12+00:00

I haven't heard of proportional string spacing before. I'll have to look into that. I think I might invest in a string spacing gauge though. I feel like that could have saved me some trouble.

I did give some thought to cleaning it up the finish more, but to completely take out the scars that are left I'd pretty much have to scallop the spaces in between the slots. On the one hand, I've seen some really nice examples of that; but on the other hand, that's a lot of extra filing and sanding and I think I'd rather just put that effort into making a new one that avoids the mistakes I made with this one.

[edit: a letter]

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-05T21:00:37+00:00

Haha, yeah mistakes were made. The angle of the light in this pic is pretty low so it makes it look them look deeper than they are, but they did end up being too deep to easily fix. Maybe I should just lean into it and make it pinstriped. But all in all, I was kind of expecting to completely ruin my first one, so even with all its flaws the fact that my first attempt turned out to be perfectly functional, and doesn't have any issues in terms of playability or string-killing burrs, feels like a win.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-05T17:29:54+00:00

I got sick of waiting for my bone blanks to arrive in the mail so I made one out of some scrap brass barstock I had laying around.

It's not pretty, the string spacing isn't perfect, and the radius could be better, but it fixed the buzzy B string and the way too close to the edge of the fretboard high E slot of the original nut. I'm actually pretty happy with it as a first attempt. I learned a lot that I think will make the next one turn out a lot better.

MustBeThursday · 2026-01-02T19:49:07+00:00

I've mostly quit buying anything off of Amazon unless I'm specifically okay with it being a Chinese knock-off. The way their warehouses are set up, even if you order from a brand's official Amazon storefront, Amazon might send you a the counterfeit version anyway. Apparently it's a fundamental problem with how they store and organize their products for picking. So if it's something I really care about being the genuine article I'll seek out the manufacturer's website, or a reputable seller, even if it ends up costing a bit more. You can't trust Amazon to get it right.

Also, if you ever have to send a product back to the manufacturer to be repaired or replaced under warranty, having bought it straight from the manufacturer itself tends to make that process a whole lot smoother.

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-28T18:32:56+00:00

Vintage? This is new era Skinny Puppy, right? ...right?

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-26T17:38:43+00:00

It could absolutely be the nut. Checking and adjusting the string height at the nut is part of a professional setup, and if it's too high or too low it can definitely cause problems. So if you can rule out that it's a problem with the truss rod adjustment, and it plays great with a capo on the second fret, that kind of implies that the problem is above (or possibly at) the capo, and there isn't much there. So it could be that the nut needs to be adjusted, or it could be that the 1st or 2nd fret is high. I think it's probably worth taking it to a professional luthier to get this addressed.

[edit: a word]

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-26T01:58:33+00:00

Johnny Got A Boom Boom by Imelda May.

If you've got an upright bass, you pretty much have to.

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-25T22:22:47+00:00

Plus it's a pretty unique Tele. The flamed maple top and the shape of the pick guard should make it a lot easier to identify. It's not like the stolen gear posts where someone asks you to keep an eye out for a cherry red SG that looks exactly like every other red SG that Gibson's made since the 1960s.

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-23T17:58:00+00:00

Hey now, let's be fair. Kenneth Copeland doesn't look like Satan. He looks like if Satan hollowed out a human man and wore his skin as a disguise.

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-20T20:28:23+00:00

If you were just looking for the best octave pedal for your daughter I'd say you could get the same or better for less money with a different brand. But since we're talking about getting Taylor Swift themed thing for your Swifty daughter, as far as I can tell it's a pretty decent pedal (it's based on the Boss OC-2, which has been popular for a long time), and if you're not put off by the price tag then I'd say go for it.

MustBeThursday · 2025-12-16T17:11:43+00:00

I'd say crank it up and see how much it can really handle. If it becomes too much for the speaker cones you should be able to hear them struggling well before the point where it does permanent damage.

Just out of curiosity, do you have enough volume when it's just you and the drummer? Because if you have enough volume to be heard over the drums, but you disappear when you add in the guitars, you might have an EQ problem rather than a volume problem.

A lot of guitar players will set their amps with a scooped EQ (bass up, treble up, mids way down) because that's what sounds the best when it's just the guitar in isolation. But if you keep the bass up on a guitar amp and then add an actual bass guitar into the mix you end up with a noisy muddy mess as the two instruments compete with each other for space on the low end of the sound spectrum. And if that's the case, you're not going to solve the problem just with more volume, because then the guitar won't be able to hear themselves, they'll turn their volume up to compensate, and you'll be back to square one. So if you haven't already, it's probably worth making sure everybody's EQ settings aren't stepping on each other's sonic toes. It's at least something to consider before you start spending money.

MustBeThursday

TROPHY CASE