Fingerpicking good! (guitar playing for beginners)

Fingerpicking techniques 1

Fingerpicking for guitar

One of the reasons I bought the Tanglewood TRF is that the guitar is perfectly shaped for fingerpicking. The TRF has no pickguard but as I'm still totally unexperienced with strumming techniques, for now it'a not a problem. At first I want to learn how to play folk and blues, and learn different styles of fingerpicking. Lots of methods and courses for learning fingerpicking can be found on the internet, but the good ones are hard to find. I did my search for guitar fingerpicking techniques. Here's were I started!

Fingerpicking techniques for the acoustic guitar

Fingerpicking techniques 2

About 30 years ago the Dutch / Indonesian writer
Alfred Birney wrote an introduction in fingerpicking techniques for the guitar, introducing a notation system which combined notes and tabs. His method is still used by many guitar teachers. The 2 books however can not be ordered anymore.

The method is an introduction on fingerpicking techniques for folk, blues and ragtime. It covers the basics as well as the English folk style and the American folk, ragtime and blues. Although the books are written in Dutch, I think they can be very useful for everybody who wants a tool to learn the basics of fingerpicking. An explanation on how to read tabs can easily be found on the net, and the chords used can be found on the last pages in the books.

Best of all, the author offers the fingerpicking techniques for the acoustic guitar in pdf on his website for free!   Just click on the covers on his site,
they will open in PDF. Check them out!

Tanglewood TRF review (acoustic folk guitar)

Tanglewood TRF review (acoustic folk guitar)

The Tanglewood TRF is an acoustic folk guitar from the Tanglewood rosewood reserve series. All guitars from the rosewood reserve series, like the trf (folk), the dreadnought and the Jumbo, are build from the same materials: solid spruce top and laminated rosewood sides and back.

Tanglewood TRF soundhole

Tanglewood guitars are probably not well known in the United States and in most countries in Europe. In the United Kingdom and Australia though, Tanglewood Guitars is a major, well established brand, and they are expanding more and more worldwide. The United States and Canada will be the next markets where Tanglewood, without doubt, will be succesful.
Not only do they produce acoustic guitars, classic, folk, dreadnought and Jumbo, but also some electric ones like a Telecaster and a Les Paul model. From what I've seen on their specifications it can be interesting to compare them with the well known brands in the same price range like Fender Mex, and Epiphone, but that's another story. Here it's about the acoustic Tanglewood TRF, the folk guitar from the Tanglewood rosewood reserve series.

 

tanglewood trf body

What's to like of the Tanglewood TRF

The question can be answered very easy: you name it, I like it! The Tanglewood TRF is like the other models of the rosewood reserve series built in China. I presume most of the "cheaper" guitars are built in China. Not only by Tanglewood Guitars, all the big names are in. Also my Epiphone ES-339 Ultra was built there. I have heard and seen good and bad things about the Chinese building quality, and it seems to me that the quality can depend from brand to brand and within the brand itself, there can be some bad periods. On this Tanglewood TRF though, they did well.

The finish, from the elegant headstock to the dark rosewood on the back (bookmatched) and sides, to the solid spruce top (also bookmatched), is outstanding, no flaws can be found. The single walnut binding finish and the golden tuners make the guitar look a lot pricier than it is.

Playing is a real joy; the neck is made of one piece Mahogany, and is smooth as it should be.

Originally The Tanglewood TRF is stringed with D'Addario. The sound is clear and clean. High tones and middle tones are more standing out than the bass tones, but for fingerpicking it's just what I need.
As the guitar is designed for folk, fingerpicking, more than for strumming (with a plectrum), it lacks a pickquard, and in my opinion it gives the TRF a nice "classical" look.

The guitar is priced in Europe between around 350-400 Euro. My dealer offered the TRF with a nice discount, and I got it for just 250 Euro. For that money I could not get a better guitar, so I choose the Tanglewood TRF. I played some other brands, but this is my choice within my 400 Euro budget.

Can you find better acoustic guitars? Sure you can, but within this price range: value for your money!

Tanglewood TRF head

What's not to like of the Tanglewood TRF

As much as I love the golden tuners on the Tanglewood TRF, that's were it goes wrong. The golden finish from 2 out of 6 tuners seems to be fading. One of the 2 even looks a bit "reddish". Despite of that, I'm very happy with the Tanglewood Folk!

By the way, on the picture above, what appears to be a little scratch on the head of the guitar.....it's just a little dust....

Tanglewood TRF tuners

Epiphone ES-339 Ultra review (the bad)

 Review of the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra

Epiphone ES-339 Ultra built in chromatic tuner

As promised in my previous post, "the good", here is the second part of my review of the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra. It's time for the "bad"!

About 35 years ago I took guitar lessons for some years. At that time I played a classical Yamaha guitar,  nylon strings, and the pieces I played where also classic. Nylon strings and fingerpicking. It's a big step from a classical guitar to an electric guitar, but the semi-hollow body of the ES-339 Ultra still gives me the feeling and the natural sound of an accoustic guitar. Begin january 2012 I bought the guitar at my local guitar dealer.

The bad:

The Cherry-red color on the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra looks great, and overall the laquer finish is excellent. I'm sorry to say that not all of the guitar has the same building quality. The edges on the inside of the f-hole are rough; no sanding here. Further more the first 2 frets on the fingerboard are not polished well. When bending the high "e" and "b"strings they rasp and it all feels a bit sticky, I hope you get my point. Also the battery-lid in the Shadow Nanomag control compartment at the back of the guitar raises about a milimeter above the rest of the panel.

Last but not least, 2 out of 4 volume knobs move very loose when turning, and when all knobs are turned in "0" position they are not outlined.

Didn't I notice these issues when I played and bought the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra? My fault, I was blinded by the looks......

I mostly play the Nanomag in combination with the neck pick-up. After some experimenting with all possible combinations between the Nanomag and both the humbuckers I noiticed that with both pick-ups selected, with the toggle switch in the middle position, the output was weak, and from my hearing, only the neck pick-up takes part in the play. When searching the internet (Google: problems with Epiphone Ultra) I learned that also other (ES-339 and Les Paul) Ultra owners experienced the same problem with the electronics.

Gibson also noticed the problem, and they posted important information for Epiphone Les Paul Ultra III and Ultra 339 owners!
Finally I have problems with installing the Guitarrig software which can be downloaded for free when the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra is purchased, but that's a nice topic for a future review.

Epiphone ES-339 Ultra body

Service:

As a service my guitar dealer offers every buyer a guitar set-up with neck adjustment and new stringing within 6 months after purchasing a (steel string) guitar. About 1 week ago I took the ES-339 Ultra and the printed information from Gibson to the shop. As their repair-staff is not familiar with the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra electronics they offered to send the guitar to the Gibson / Epiphine service center (in Europe), free of charge, and that's todays status. My guitar has left the building.....  I'll keep you posted!

Epiphone ES-339 outputs

Service update 1:

I received an email from the guitar dealer, informing me that my Epiphone ES-339 Ultra came back from the Gibson / Epiphone service center. The guitar has been at the service center for about 1 week. Also they asked me to inform them what kind of strings I wanted my ES-339 Ultra. Normally I would have chosen for D'Addario as I had them in my early years on my acoustic Yamaha (nylon strings, not steel strings), and I have always been content with D'Addario, but I read a lot of good things about the strings from Elixer (more about strings in later posts) so I choose for Elixer '10 strings. The dealer will restring and set-up my ES-339 Ultra.

Epiphone ES-339 Grover tuners

Service update final:

Today I picked up my ES-339 Ultra from the guitar dealer! The guitar has been away for about 2 weeks.

Restringing is done by the dealer, it now is stringed with Elixer. I don't know what strings have originally been on the guitar. The Gibson / Epiphone service center has replaced the neck pick-up, an Epiphone Probucker by Alnico. I had little time to check all functions and electronics, but it appears to me that everything works fine now. Both probuckers can be selected and they now give a firm output. So far so good!

Epiphone ES-339 Ultra review (the good)

epiphone es-339 ultra outputs

Review of the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra

The first guitar I bought, in january 2012, is the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, in Cherry Red. Lots of research was done, like reading reviews, in order to buy me the most suitable guitar.....:).

As I didn't know what kind of music or styles I was going to play (still don't know), I was looking for a guitar with lots of possibilities. The specifications of the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, and the fact that the price was within the budget made the choice for me. And.... I fell for the looks and the colour! I got the guitar for 599 Euro at Tonika, Groningen (my hometown), the Netherlands. It's time for a review.                             

The good:

First of all the ES-339 is smaller than the big Epiphone ES-355. Due to all the electronics stuffed in, the guitar only has 1 f-hole. and the electronics can be accessed from the back of the body. The ES-339 is easy to handle and play.

The Epiphone Ultra is equiped with 2 Epiphone (Alnico) probuckers in the neck and bridge, and, surprise, a "Shadow NanoMag" at the end of the fingerboard next to the neck pickup. The body is semi-hollow, and together with the Nanomag the guitar can give a deep warm natural acoustic tone. The 2 probuckers make it possible to play all kinds of music, from metal to rock, blues and jazz. All in all a nice blend between an (semi) acoustic and an electric guitar. Also the Epiphone Ultra has a USB, to connect the guitar to a computer, and use software like Guitarrig. The plate behind the outputs is made of metal, not a cheap kind of plastic plastic.

From Native Instruments the GuitarRig software can be downloaded for free when the ES-339 Ultra is registered at Epiphone, using the registration and download link from the Les Paul Ultra 3, which uses the same electronics and technology. It took me a little time to figure out where to find the serial number you need to register your Epiphone Ultra, it's placed on the inside of the battery lid, next to the panel with the Nanomag controls, at the back of the guitar.

Tuning the ES-339 Ultra is a simple job. A full function chromatic tuner is built into the mounting ring of the bridge probucker. Little colored leds indicates whether the string is "on tune" or not. It works perfect for me.

Extra is the double output, one mono and one stereo, so the humbuckers can be send to the amp and at the same time the nanomag can be send to an acoustic amp or a PA. I use my Fender Mustang I.

An acoustic amp is on my "wishlist", I would love to hear the guitar on 2 amps!
A lot is packed in this guitar, there's lots to play with!

The bad:

It's not only stars and stripes for the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra!

The second part of my review will be about "the bad", the problems and issues I have with the guitar.

epiphone es-339 ultra neck pickup and nanomag

epiphone es-339 ultra bridge

epiphone es-339 ultra head

The Epiphone ES-339 Ultra comes in amazing colors!

Last but not least, to complete the feast, Epiphone decided to offer the ES-339 Ultra not only in the colors red, sunburst and natural, but also in pelham blue. For me, this guitar only looks good in red, and the pelham blue.... far too much for me! Am I getting old?

epiphone es-339 ultra pelham blue

Guitars and guitar gear that's Guitarleaks

Guitarleaks

Tanglewood TR headstock

Guitars and guitar gear, reviews and experiences, news and history, that's what it's all about at Guitarleaks. 

My name is Maarten, I'm a 49 year old male from the Netherlands, putting new life in my passion for guitars. In my younger years I started out with lessons on the classical guitar, and recently my interest is going more and more towards electric and steelstring guitars, and other styles of music.

Early this year I bought an Epiphone ES-339 Ultra, and recently I obtained a Tanglewood TRF acoustic steel-string. The Tanglewood I bought due to the fact that the Epiphone has some electronic-issues and is sent to the Gibson / Epiphone service center in Europe by the dealer and I would probable have been without a guitar for about 4 weeks.....Here I hope to leak my experiences and interests regarding the guitar: wonderful guitars, gear, stories, history, news and everything related, which has my (and hopefully your) interest.

Fender Mustang I

The picture above shows the headstock of my Tanglewood TRF from the Rosewood Reserve series. As mentioned my Epiphone ES-339 Ultra is still at the Gibson / Epiphone service center to get the electronic problems fixed. Update: the Epiphone ES-339 Ultra is back home! In my next posts more about  the specifications and the issues of the Tanglewood TRF and the ES-339 Ultra.
Hope to see you again!