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Post by birdo on Nov 3, 2016 8:14:51 GMT
I m just wondering what's makes a good guitar for accompanying a voice. To start with body shape , is a dreadnought the way to go? I notice they tend to be more American sounding guitars like martins , Gibson etc but very rarely seen with lowdens , avalons and the like. Is there a reason for this? Do the American ones strum better and the others suit a bit of picking better? I m thinking about guys like Ryan Adams, Ben Howard, sheryl crow.
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Post by vikingblues on Nov 3, 2016 8:33:14 GMT
My take on it, and it's a very uneducated one, is that it depends on your own voice and the genre of music and the style of playing. At a basic level the guitar has to be comfortable - if not the strain of playing it will affect your quality of vocal. Whether you stand or sit can have a bearing on this - if standing and singing a larger guitar will become less obstructive. The type of woods of an individual guitar can make a difference and it depends on the vocal style. If your vocal is less strong then a guitar with strong overtones due to woods / design may work against you. A brash sounding guitar needs a strong vocal style, and possibly vice versa. A gentler vocal style can benefit from a more mellow guitar - quite possibly a smaller one and maybe mahogany or cedar rather than spruce. Each guitar has its own personality though, so it's more complicated than being able to define a particular type of guitar as good / bad for a particular person. This is probably why there's plenty of articles about tuning a guitar to suit your voice but hardly any about how to find a guitar that suits your voice in the first place. But I'll stand back and let someone reply who knows what they're talking about. Mark
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Post by geddarby on Nov 3, 2016 9:24:43 GMT
This touches on the alchemy of of singing and playing and the only way of finding out if a voice, a player and instrument a compatible is to try it out. I have had the experience of playing some good guitars that did not suit my voice at all. On the other hand at HB7 this year I was very pleasantly surprised by the davewhite baritone guitar where I thoroughly enjoyed bonding with the instrument. So just keep trying them out and have fun in the process. Ged
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Nov 3, 2016 9:50:58 GMT
With the artists you mentioned, birdo, I think the choice of instrument is more down to sponsorship deals than personal choice... allied, I reckon, to wanting to be seen with an 'iconic' brand. Here in the U.K. you have singer-songwriters like Dougie MacLean playing Moon, and taranguitars, instruments, Martin Simpson playing Stefan Sobell, Show Of Hands using David Oddy instruments... and not many dreads amongst them.
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Post by scorpiodog on Nov 3, 2016 11:57:47 GMT
There's a lot of truth in the saying that you can play anything on any guitar. However, some guitars excel in different areas. You mention strumming and fingerpicking, and it's true that some guitars are better at certain of these tasks. But some guitars are good all rounders.
As Mark says, it's one of these "it all depends" questions. I think most guitar buyers have been brainwashed into thinking dreadnoughts are the best. There's certainly a great deal of choice in dreadnoughts, particularly at the lower price ranges. They have one major disadvantage. They're huge, and can be uncomfortable to play when sitting down. That also applies to some jumbo guitars, but the more pronounced waist in those tends to make them more manageable than dreadnoughts.
But are you going to play and sing sitting? I rarely do, because I find I can't get my breath control right when I do. A major problem with dreadnoughts in this context is the volume and sheer whoomph factor. Unless you have a loud voice, you can easily be drowned out by a dreadnought played robustly.
For me, when playing solo, I'd prefer a smaller bodied guitar. I have a 00 sized Brook that I'm particularly fond of and enjoy singing with. I also have a rather nice 000 size made by one of our members on the forum, which is also nice to sing with. I do own a decent dreadnought that I use when I'm singing in a duo, but that's rarely purely acoustic.
But to get a decent answer to your question you'll need to tell us (among other things) what your guitar style is (or who you admire and would like to model yourself on), what type of songs you sing, and how big you are. Will you be singing purely acoustically or will you be amplified?
I think the reason most singers are seen with American guitars is to do with the marketing by Gibson, Martin et al. British guitars are brilliant in most settings.
I don't know how helpful this is. It's so much a matter of taste and perception that it's impossible to give any generic rules.
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Post by andyhowell on Nov 3, 2016 16:58:58 GMT
A guitar we really like and that feels comfortable. I guess.
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Post by sweyne1 on Nov 3, 2016 17:41:25 GMT
Try as many as possible. If you tried 20 guitars you'd be able to cross probably 15 of them off the list straightaway, not because there's anything wrong with them but because they suit you better. As Andy says, you'll immediately feel more comfortable with some. You'll also prefer the sound of some. You'll also prefer the look of some.
Replicate, if possible, how you'll be using it. As others have said, if you plan to play standing up then try the guitars standing up.
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Post by delb0y on Nov 4, 2016 13:03:32 GMT
Must confess I've never thought about this too deeply except that I have noticed that whenever I really enjoy a singer-songwriter there's a strong chance that there's a J45 involved.
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Post by birdo on Nov 4, 2016 20:14:54 GMT
I suppose the guitar suiting the voice is probably the most important point. You don't want either one to overwhelm the other. I once heard somebody play a lowden in a guitar shop and it was the most amazing sound I have ever heard from a guitar . I don't know if that would sit with a voice very easily as there was so much going on . It sounded like more than on guitar was being played , with other tones and harmonies .
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Post by dreadnought28 on Nov 5, 2016 2:28:21 GMT
Paul Simon OM James Taylor SJ Joni Mitchell D Etc etc
Whatever floats your boat.
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Post by sijos1 on Nov 5, 2016 23:20:09 GMT
J45. Easy!
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007
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Post by 007 on Nov 6, 2016 16:54:25 GMT
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mandovark
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Post by mandovark on Nov 6, 2016 21:31:45 GMT
I'd agree with what people have said already about finding a guitar that suits the voice and style of the player. I don't think there's such a thing as a singer-songwriter guitar - it's whatever works for you. That said, if you're looking for the one guitar to take to a gig, you'll need to think about the range of styles you play and how much of an all-rounder you need the guitar to be. If you need to be able to move from gentle fingerpicking to all-out thrashing on the same guitar, you'll need to think about that when choosing a guitar. There might be some compromise involved, as the guitar that can do everything well might not be your favourite for any single thing, but it's about getting the right tool for the job.
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Riverman
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Post by Riverman on Nov 9, 2016 1:31:15 GMT
Must confess I've never thought about this too deeply except that I have noticed that whenever I really enjoy a singer-songwriter there's a strong chance that there's a J45 involved. What, like this?
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Wild Violet
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My main instrument is: Symonds OM-14
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Post by Wild Violet on Nov 9, 2016 18:49:11 GMT
What, like this? I think I might need that.
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