Back to playing - some advise GAD-40CE

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Hi to all,

first post here and back to playing or start some lessons....in 2005 I bought a GAD-40CE....which is my instrument of torture as I refer to it!!!

Not played since that time due to mostly working overseas and since last summer I am stationed back home in Europe...well started a few lessons for fingerpicking in December and so far so good...the strings on it at the moment are D'Addario EXP10...my instructor is advising me to take it to a local lab for a service and to replace the strings with something extra light in view of my being new to playing which can be a lot easier on my fretting fingers.

What are your thoughts please and more importantly what strings do you recommend...I love its sound and would like some type of strings that will even improve it....obviously this is subjective but thought where better to get some advise other than this forum.

Thanks a lot for any advise.

Regards,

Emann
 

fronobulax

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Welcome. No specific advice from me although I'm sure someone with knowledge will suggest 11's.

Good advice from your instructor - so many people have difficulty playing and give up when the real problem is that their instrument is not properly set up.
 

D30Man

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Welcome Emann! Yes those are extra light strings indeed and should be pretty comfy for someone getting back into playing. Assuming you are serving our country please accept my thanks for your service. Also, I am big fan of GAD's having owned a few over the years. Great high value reasonably priced guitars. Glad you are enjoying yours.
 
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Hi,

thanks to all...yes indeed just checked with my local store and infact they are already exp10...so extra lights......my guitar should be back with me on monday evening after coming back from the lab with a service and a new set of strings...any recommendation of extra lights as a brand please which maybe I should try as well until I am in time to ask the shop what to string my guild with....

Now once I am here another advise I am seeking is on my boom chick on another note.

I am using a thumb pick and while i figure that my thumb independence is quite on track, I still have trouble when hitting the g string in that most of the time i palm mute it as well...when then I stay attentive not to palm mute the string I finish off not muting the d string as well...I do not know if it is the angle of my palm or the way I am closing my fingers that is not making me achieve this quite well...

I tried to watch videos on youtube and see either the palm angled diagonally to the strings or else almost a palm parallel to the strings...

Any idea what should I try, what works best and how can I experiment to finally get the correct boom chick going...during xmas got me the guitarpro software and I am very eager to try some exercises on fingerpicking...but dearly want to have a correct technique from the beginning rather then having mistakes which will remain with me...

So any help appreciated

Thanks.
 

Taylor Martin Guild

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When you get the set up, try a set of silk and steel strings.
They are soft and great for someone that hasn't built up a good set of callouses.
 

crank

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A friend recently got back into playing after several years of not. He has a Guild G37 and put a set of silk and steel strings on it. They're easy on the fingers and sound OK. Not great, but OK and that is fine for getting back up to speed and building some callouses.
 

PittPastor

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A friend recently got back into playing after several years of not. He has a Guild G37 and put a set of silk and steel strings on it. They're easy on the fingers and sound OK. Not great, but OK and that is fine for getting back up to speed and building some callouses.

Yeah, I was going to suggest Silk and Steel. Also, you can try the Martin Retros. They're nickel and I find them easier on the fingers.

The nice thing about Electric Acoustic, is (to me) it takes away the downside of something like Silk and Steel. You go lighter and/or into something like Silk and Steel, and you aren't getting as much vibration through the saddle, which means you lose some of the volume. That is a definite downside if you are playing unplugged. Plugged in, it really doesn't make much difference. (Not sure what the electrics are in your Guitar). But for me, even with my D40C, now that I have a pickup that gives me a good result, any time I am anywhere that sound volume could be an issue, I just plug in and the volume issue goes away.

So, don't be afraid to go lighter or change to something like S&S. If you go too light, you might end up having to get someone to do a set-up for you, because lighter strings = looser strings and looser strings = more fret buzz. But those are just variables you can play around with. Find something you like playing first and then adjust the guitar as needed to make it work for you.
 

dreadnut

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Hi Emann, and welcome to LTG!

I do a lot of palm muting as well, it is very useful for a lot of things, sounds like you're on the right track, just keep after it! Pretty soon you don't even have to think about it because it gets to be like "second nature."
 
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