Small Suggestion

I think that it would we cool to show the difficulty of a lesson directly on the video lesson page (example). Currently, you can see it in the instructor's page and in the search engine but when you click directly on a link from the homepage, you cannot see the difficulty. I think that it might be helpful to display it (for instance in the "Bookmark this" column). Sometimes, it's not easy for the student to evaluate the difficulty before working on the lesson.

First Tube Amp: Hot Plate?

Hello there!

I've been playing with a Line6 Spider III for about one year and a half, and it is a good amp, but now I'm starting to find the sound a little bit "artificial" and as my first payroll approaches, I'm thinking of buying a new amp, this time a tube amp. I was looking at Marshall's Vintage Modern series, the 2266c comco in particular, which has a veru good reputation and just fits in the budget I set. Still, since I have never played with a tube amp yet, I have a few questions that might seem stupid, but I am really lost with all the technical stuff:

* I've read that with a low volume, tube amps don't sound good. The main purpose of my new amp would be to play at home, even though I also want to be able to use it elsewhere. Is the loss really significant?

* I've just heard about the THD Hotplate, which appears to be a device used to reduce the volume of a tube amp while keeping the benefit of a cranked up master volume. Does it really work well? Also, that might be a stupid question, but if I am supposed to put the hot plate between the amp and the cabinet, is it possible to use it on a combo amp, like the 2266c?

I'm asking this because it is really hard for me to go to a guitar store with my agenda and so I'd like to know as much as possible before I go to the store. Thanks in advance for your advices!

3 Strings Tuning (eee)

Hello GMCers!
I was thinking of tuning one of my guitars with only 3 strings tuned to E with an octave interval between each in order to try to play a few Paul Gilbert songs (Get Out Of My Yard, Three E's For Edward). The problem is that I don't know what's the best way to do it. I guess I would have to switch some strings, but I have really no idea of what would be the best solution. Did anyone else do it here ? Thanks for your advices!

Problem With Hand Position ?

Hello there,

I've been playing the guitar for something about 6 months now and never hired a teacher, so I realize I can take bad habits. And I am afraid it is what I just did with my hand position while picking. To explain what might be a problem, here is a little schematic :

What most guitarists do:
|----\-------
|-----\------ ... [Neck]
|------\-----

What I do:
|------/-----
|-----/------ ... [Neck]
|----/-------

The '-' represent the strings and the '\' or '/' the pick. The above schematic illustrates the (exagerated) orientation of the pick I see on every picture or video of a guitarist. The image below illustrates "my" way of picking. When I first grabbed the guitar, I felt this was the most natural position and therefore adopted it. This is related to the position of my hand, which is located pretty low. It might be interresting to know that I also hold my pen in a silly way while writing, with a similar crooked wrist position.

This way, I feel comfortable, but I am afraid this is a bad habit and that one day I may regret it. Actually, I find it much harder this way to mute upper strings and to play pinched harmonics. There seems to be a lot of great guitar teachers here, so here is my question : Is it a common "problem"? Should I spend a couple of weeks/months trying to fix this or is it OK?

Thanks a lot!

(please excuse my poor English, I'm still learning)

Oh, and congratulations for the site, I only watched a few video lessons for now but those were great!