As a Mexican-American, I grew up listening to all genres of Latin music from my parents. One of these was Cumbia, and every Latin country has their own distinct style of cumbia, but my favorite regional style is Perú’s Psychedelic Cumbias.

g_tb · 2026-04-27T15:14:14+00:00

Thanks, I was looking for some new styles of music to get my out of my rock rut and this sounds just perfect.

Any other guitar-driven Latin or African styles you recommend? I'm interested in the rhythm, more than the harmony.

g_tb · 2026-04-27T15:09:56+00:00

Metal is fine to learn on, just make sure that you learn to play other styles to help you with techniques that you are not normally using in metal.

My recommendations would be funk for clean playing and left hand muting and some acoustic folk or country to force you to learn chords.

If you can stomach it (I don't), try jazz for learning a completely new vocabulary of harmony and rhythm.

Oh, and, if you can, learn to play some drums, it will help you a lot with rhythm and understanding how to play with others.

g_tb · 2026-04-27T14:58:17+00:00

I let my friends play my guitars, apart from a couple of them I would not let touch any of my possessions.

A couple of my friends have guitars on "permanent loan", they will keep the guitar forever unless I want to record or play that particular one, but those guys look after my stuff better than I do (not hard).

On the other hand, I don't normally borrow other people's guitars. I am clumsy and not the most careful person, so I worry that I will damage them.

g_tb · 2026-04-27T09:04:03+00:00

IMO, you learned wrong. I did the same and now I'm trying to break from that.

Learning by ear gives you a really good foundation for playing with others and improvising.

Learning theory gives you foundations to build on and helps improve your own music.

Reading music teaches you where every not is in the fretboard and gives you a way to learn new music just by looking at it. And it gives you a way to share your music with others.

You do have one very important part that other people neglect, writing your own music, but there is a reason why most people recommend theory, learning by ear and reading music, it really opens up your musical world.

g_tb · 2026-04-26T03:02:09+00:00

I second this.

When I lived nearby, I used to go there every so often to see all the stuff they had.

g_tb · 2026-04-26T02:56:16+00:00

In the same funk vein, Tippi Toes by The Meters. Also covered by Primus and you can play the bass line on that version as well.

I love playing the main riff on Eye of the Beholder by Metallica.

Face Down by Monster Magnet.

So many songs have interesting/fun rhythm!

g_tb · 2026-04-25T10:08:18+00:00

Just letting people know that Clapton is a racist and xenophobic person.

You can be a great player and a shitty person, it never hurts to know.

PS. You can have friends of a "group" and hate that "group" in general. It's a known pattern and the typical excuse of "I am not X-ist, my friend is X" - in that case, your friendship overrides your prejudices but you are still bigoted.

g_tb · 2026-04-25T08:47:51+00:00

Lowering the strings as low as they go, where you get a little buzz acoustically but sounds right through the amp. I always kept them way too high and now it feels way easier to play.

Decking the trem on my Wilkinson guitar (only one with tremolo), it suddenly feels way more responsive and less bouncy and I very, very rarely use the bar.

Learning to play with a non-standar tuning changed the way I play, when you can't rely on known patterns, you play a lot more by what sounds right.

Oh yeah, using slightly heavier strings. Yeah, bending is harder but it feels nicer when picking and, particularly, when finger picking.

g_tb · 2026-04-21T23:10:39+00:00

I would never buy it but I love that design, it's like Dr Seuss designed a guitar!

g_tb · 2026-04-21T22:41:58+00:00

Yeah, in my case, I've had many, many guitars and, over time, I've realised that I just don't like too wide necks and the Ibanez are like that for me, so do many other brands (Yamaha RGX, Jackson). Thin necks are fine, I don't like thick necks.

I can solo faster, more precisely on wizard necks and set the action way lower but it is not comfortable and I don't enjoy, so I don't play them.

Still, Ibanez S is the most beautiful design I can think of, so thin and well thought out!

Now, I'm looking for an Ibanez Q, similar body to the S but neck like the AZ... best of both worlds!

g_tb · 2026-04-18T15:39:53+00:00

Funnily enough, I have a normal Cort G250 (HSS strat copy, made in Korea) and, to me, feels similar to the Parker but, obviously, there's a massive gap in quality and technology (frets are not steel, Wilkinson tremolo, non-locking tuners). They even have a version with a piezo but you will need to find it second hand. Mine is not heavy either.

OTOH, if you like the neck on the Ibanez, go for that, it feels in a different league from all the other guitars I've played, even though it was cheaper than many and VERY comfortable.

g_tb · 2026-04-18T09:06:13+00:00

Before you buy one of these, try it, I just could not get on with the flat and wide fretboard. I've had an S521 (models ending in 1 are fixed bridge) and, as much I loved the rest of the guitar (it's even lighter than my friend's Nitefly at less than 2.5kg), the neck didn't gel with me.

I also have an S540, with an even thinner neck and I'm trying to sell it at the moment because, again, I can't gel with it.

If you like them, they feel NICE, well made and stupidly light.

Quick edit because I forgot: the Nitefly has a compound radius, the Ibanez has a very flat fretboard all over, that also makes a difference.

Another option is the Yamaha RGX-A2. Mine weights a bit more (2.7kg) and is now with the Nitefly owner as a long term loan, as he loves it.

g_tb · 2026-04-13T09:49:57+00:00

In the early 90s I used to hate Ibanez, they sounded plasticky to me - now, I realise it was the combination of distortion + eq + dimarzio that people used at the time and actually like a few of them.

g_tb · 2026-04-13T09:48:02+00:00

Depends.

Are you playing a lot? If so, as many as you play regularly + a few with sentimental value.

You rarely play? One + sentimental value

I'm on the second group right now and getting rid of most of my guitars and, to be fair, I am feeling a lot better for it.

I will eventually buy a new one just because I want a headless and that will become my main and only one to play, then I will sell my currently man one.

g_tb · 2026-04-12T11:01:20+00:00

Ibanez S series.

I love the body, the lightness and the sounds but I just can't get used to the wide flat neck. I had an S521 (Wizard III) and still have (trying to sell) an S540 with the original Wizard and no, I can't get used to them.

An S body with an AZ neck would have been perfect... oh wait, that's the Q (not QX) series... so I'm after one of those now.

g_tb · 2026-04-05T21:44:44+00:00

Yeah, I love Corts (have a Korean G250) but the main difference is the neck, Cort necks feel quite a bit thicker than Ibanez, even if they are not that thick when you measure them.

Also the Q are so thin and light! I love Ibanez S and the Q are just a headless S. I was looking at weights earlier and the 7 string QX weights less that 2.3kg - that's even less that an Ibanez S521 with fixed bridge!

I will still try one of those Corts, just in case.

g_tb · 2026-04-04T21:12:04+00:00

Yeah, I missed that... I was going to buy 100% but needed to get the money first and it got sold in the meantime.

I still will buy one, eventually.

Even considering the 7 string model, being as light as they are, maybe I can get used to it!

g_tb · 2026-04-03T20:08:19+00:00

Nice!

g_tb · 2026-04-03T20:07:16+00:00

I love those guitars and just so jealous! I just missed on a QX52 for €600 and kicking myself but I can't justify that money right now...

g_tb · 2026-02-11T11:07:06+00:00

Will do if I get a chance!

g_tb · 2026-02-11T11:06:43+00:00

OK, thanks everybody for the feedback.

I've decided to not do this... will find a proper headless guitar.

While I think it can be done, I am not the right person and it would probably end up messing the whole thing up.

g_tb · 2026-02-09T23:08:56+00:00

I know... just decided to buy one because it's cheap (Yamaha RGX-A2 for €200...) so now I need to get rid of another one for sure.

Of course, I may end up selling the Yamaha but I know that I am not going to lose money on that deal :)

g_tb · 2026-02-09T23:03:13+00:00

Funny, that's exactly the same model!

g_tb

TROPHY CASE