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Posted by: fretdancer Dec 31 2006, 01:52 PM

Just in case anyone does not know (It is a site for learning after all) the action on a guitar is the height of the strings above the frets.

I have just been playing the intro to "sweet child of mine" which I can now play ok but I do have trouble when playing up to full tempo of catching the "B" string when skipping between the "E" and "G" strings. Having tried to analyse why I am doing this I noticed that around the 12th fret my action is perhaps a little high and the unfretted "B" string is high compared to the fretted strings.

I never thought of my action as high before but now I have convinced myself it is, and now I have noticed it - I think I may be making more of it than it really is...lol

I know how to adjust my guitar but I am loath to do so for fear of causing fret buzzing which I had and struggled to cure on a previous guitar, I was always making adjustments there and its harder than you think to get everything just right !! - (dont suggest taking to a professional because I am too much of a cheapskate) ha ha.

anyway - who thinks they have a perfect action?....Is a very low action better ( I realise there is an element here of personal preference).

To describe the action on my guitar - I tend to use a med/heavy pick and I cannot get it under the strings at the first fret - when I get to the 12th fret I can get just over 2 picks between the strings and the fret (without touching the strings).
I think If the action was lower it may be better...but until 20 minutes ago my action seemed perfect..
I used to be decisive but now I am not sure.

Discuss.

Posted by: n0x Dec 31 2006, 02:20 PM

the action on my guitar is slighly higher than urs, and I can get the intro to sweet child of mine pretty perfect. The whole lead guitar of the song, too. I reckon the problem is practicing skipping strings.. Either that, or there is something wrong with the bridge of ur guitar causing that string to be higher than the rest in general?

To answer your question, lower action does make for easier playing in general, shred/ bends and vibrato. And faster playing, tapping, etc. For chords, it should not matter much though. Your action (according to what I understand) is low enough as it is slightly higher than mine, and I can do just about anything with my guitar.

I think experimentation is the best method. Try to lower ur action slightly more, and if fret buzzing occurs, then bring it back up to what you had before.

Posted by: dogman Dec 31 2006, 02:55 PM

well, I would think that if you havent had a problem or noticed it until now, it would be more of an issue in the fingering and not the guitar.

the intro to sweet child is a tuff little lick especially learning it and then trying to play it to tempo before you have the lick down.

I actually almost bar that jump to the e string using the ring finger so there is no getting stuck when you try to come back and no trouble muting unwanted noise either.

I dont recommend it but it works for me (cheating) I learned it that way and have had a terrible time trying to fix that so I just play it that way

anyway, I think you should unconvince yourself of setup issues if it wasnt like that with anything else you played before now unless you've noticed dead spots or frets that dont ring as clearly as it use to.

Just a thought....

Posted by: fretdancer Jan 1 2007, 04:39 PM

OK I have been playing around a little with my guitar and have a tip that may be of use to some people.

This may be blindingly obvious to some, but I have had a little moment of epiphony and it may help you.

I have found that picking closer to the bridge is much better when string skipping especially because the strings are all pretty much level whether fretted or not.
I have been picking up to now pretty close to the neck, very close to where the fretboard ends, of course at this location the strings are probably at the highest and so string skipping can be something of a problem as you have to lift your pick up over unfretted strings. - Picking closer to the bridge and there is no high unfretted strings.

I think on reflection this will also make palm muting easier - now I have to get my arm to actually do it - now I start off near the bridge and 10 bars later I am back near the neck - should I tie my hand to the end of my guitar !! lol