Guitar playing ... what gets in the way?

axisus

Noticing some people have probs with the strat volume placement, and recall some not liking middle pickup as it's 'in the way'. What bits of a guitar have hindered your technique?

Having only started playing an LP in the past 6 months, I found myself constantly knocking the switch for ages. Think I've finally got it under control now.

JookyChap

It used to be the bass player, but these days it is usually my 8yo

Bucket

With Teles it's the pickup switch being so close to the volume control - a toggle instead of a lever would probably solve it. With LPs it's the fucking massive neck heel (and the weight, and the balance, and the toggle switch etc etc) and with SGs it's the balance (or lack thereof). 

No problems at all on Strats and nothing much to report on my Flying V either. Jazzmasters seem ergonomically pretty much perfect too.

p90fool

Bigsbys.
I love them but they're always in the way of volume pots, which are an important part of my technique.

jeztone2

Work...

iseverynamegone

I just broke my little finger last night.

And the volume knob on Strats.

hubobulous

On a Les Paul, the pickup toggle is in the way when I'm tapping if the bridge pickup is selected. I moved the switch position on my Feline MIDI Lion because of this and replaced it with an arcade button.

It took a little while to get used to a middle single pickup since I was primarily a HH player when I started.

richardhomer

Mostly my ex-wife got in the way of my playing....

Seriously when choosing a spouse, if they find you wanting to spend time on music annoying early in the relationship, it will get a whole lot worse over time.

I effectively didn't play for over ten years.

p90fool

richardhomer said:

Mostly my ex-wife got in the way of my playing....

Seriously when choosing a spouse, if they find you wanting to spend time on music annoying early in the relationship, it will get a whole lot worse over time.

I effectively didn't play for over ten years.

Me too! My ex used to jokingly say "you love that guitar more than you love me" early in our relationship (even though we first met because we were in the same band) but she started to really mean it. I put my Strat in the attic and it stayed there for eight years.

I started to play again when we moved abroad, and I landed a bit of session work and a couple of short tours. Even though it was our only income and we were miles from home and skint, she tried to break my fingers to stop me going back on the road. I finally walked out on her after 15 years and have no idea where she is or if she's dead or alive.

stimpsonslostson

JookyChap said:

It used to be the bass player, but these days it is usually my 8yo

This. (Except my wee one is 3. #2 is days away, all my guitars will do is gather dust).

RocknRollDave

Gigging in a wedding band gets in the way of my Blues Rock noodlings

XWulfhere

I fire up the amp for an hour a day if possible, more when I can. I'm fortunate that I'm around a lot in the week during the day. I do like to give our dog a long walk (3-4 hours) twice a week, and I also spend a lot of the time in the garage building stuff so it eats into it. My wife is very tolerant of my hobby but of course I also want to spend time with her so I'm not playing guitar all the time :-)

timmysoft

For a long time, as weird as it sounds, my band got in the way of my playing. Rehearsing/gigging/touring/recording, left very little time for me to actually enjoy playing.

Sassafras

Middle pickup on the Strat catches my nails when I'm fingerpicking, which is most of the time. I wouldn't like to get rid of it though, I love the sound of it, on its own or with the bridge or neck pickup.

guitarfishbay

Massive baseball bat necks. I just don't enjoy playing on them, they're uncomfortable to me.

MatthewShreddery

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/

monofin

Strats: middle pup, volume knob. Geometry just seems odd to me
Tele's: control layout.

viz

The neck gets in the way of the neck.

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab217/Vizzage/Gear/IMG_2406.jpg

mike_l

^^You're doing it wrong........

HAL9000

People who think that me picking up my guitar is a sign that I'd like to have a meaningful conversation. At one time I seriously thought of having a tee-shirt made up with something like 'F#*! Off. Can't you see I'm playing my guitar!' printed on it.

Philly_Q

Bucket;548360" said:

With Teles it's the pickup switch being so close to the volume control - a toggle instead of a lever would probably solve it. 

I bought a couple of control plates with the volume pot hole moved a little further away from the switch.... but when I fitted one on a Tele I just didn't like the way it looked, it got on my nerves.  It would be OK with the plate turned 180 degrees, I guess, because I don't have such a fixed mental image of how that's "supposed" to look.

I do have a bit of a problem with accidentally turning down the volume on Strats.  And I also find the elongated upper horn of a Strat makes it hang in a way that feels awkward to me.  I'm more used to guitars with necks that stick out further to the left.