Elio
Student Of The Blues
Good morning folks.
So this morning I pulled the Epiphone LP SL out and checked again. A half step appears to be an exaggeration, but I do recall it going from G to G# on the screen back when. I'm using an app on my phone, so maybe not super accurate. But even an untrained ear can easily hear the difference.
Light pressure on E string 3rd fret could go to 15c if I wasn't careful 28-35c if I pressed harder than normal to the wood. Turns out I wasn't pressing to wood at my normal pressure but still you could hear and see the strings bend down and up in tone as I fingered simple chords.
The 2nd fret was much worse. Across all strings. Am chord made me start cussing. I that chord. In so many songs I like to play...
Cmaj was ugh as was Gmaj. I recorded the tests, planning to upload, but I started screaming F bombs and wanted to smash it against the wall.
Whatever the cause or fault, I simply cannot play these things. I have to let go that dream. It blows my mind because millions can and do. From blues to rock to country to rockabilly, but not me. WTF?
Anyway I've got plenty of acoustic and square neck slide alternatives that sound and play fantastic.
Thanks for all your input.
Frustrated as hell.
It would be interesting to get @Griff's thoughts but since you sat the 2nd fret is much worse, in wondering if your nut is too high and that is causing much of the problem. I had a similar problem with my Ibanez AS73 and realized that the nut was set too high and raising the action on the first few frets. I, of course overcompensated and really's mashed them down to varying degrees depending on the finger and resulted in horrible sounding open chords. Filing down the nut properly solved the problem. Is your issue primarily with open chords, barre chords, or both?
A good friend of mine is professor of music who teaches jazz guitar. He has his students (and me) do exercises identifying and practicing the absolute minimum amount of pressure needed to sound a note on any given string. The theory is that the more pressure you exert on a fret, the more of an impedence that becomes to being able to play faster. His advice is to identify the point at which you can actually feel the string barely vibrating under your fingertip when the string makes contact with the fret and with the note ringing out fully. His explanation is that the string appreciates you not mashing it and so it gives your finger a little massage as a thank you
Assuming that there are no setup or string height issues, another approach may just be to go to heavier strings. I generally use 9.5's or 10's on my electrics, and 12 gauge flatwounds on my ES175 style Eastman full hollow-body, which I use for jazz.