Q&A: Advice Pasal Equipment Untuk Beginners

(Part 2 of 4)


Sebelum aku masuk part Acoustic Guitar, aku nak jelaskan sket advice
aku sebelum ni. When I say you should be willing to spend a good
amount of money on your equipment, I didnt mean you should overdo
it. Toksah la baru start main guitar, dah beli professional quality punya
equipment.
Kalo spend banyak sangat, takut nanti youll be afraid to use it. And at
the early stage, youll have plenty to go through until you know what is it
about a guitar that you like (fretboard, body, wood etc). Pilihan
equipment yg patut dibeli pon dependant on muzik yg kau suka main.
For instance, you probably shouldnt get an Ibanez RG kalo nak jadi jazz
guitarist. So kalo spend terlalu banyak awal-awal, its too big of a
gamble.

Acoustic Guitar
Untuk beginners, maybe korang rasa electric guitar lagi bagus, sebab
boleh buat sound ganas (distortion), and boleh main clean gak. Kalo
boleh main clean, buat ape nak beli acoustic. I used to think like that
way back. Maybe sebab time tu gitar acoustic keliling aku dont sound
very good. Maybe because aku belum develop the hearing that I have
today.
Aku bukan nak cakap ko wajib ade gitar acoustic. Just know that you
cant get acoustic guitar sound with an electric guitar. Well, ade effect
Acoustic Simulator untuk electric guitar, but I dont believe that itll
sound nearly as good as the real thing. You dont get the same feel too
obviously.
And beginners mungkin tak sedar yg generally ade dua jenis acoustic
guitar. Nylon ngan Steel stringed acoustic.


Nylon Steel
Nylon punya guitar biasanya orang buat main classical music.
(Flamenco pon pakai nylon gak. But although they may look similar to
classical guitars, theyre not the same). Sound dia usually cam mellow
sket. Tengok video ni for an example. In rare cases, ade gak orang yg
main nylon guitar untuk lagu rock. Contohnya Rodrigo Y Gabriella.
Theyre very unique. (And Gabriella is really awesome). Nylon guitar ni
biasanya dia punya fretboard lebar sket, and more flat. And usually
takde fret marker, yg dots kat 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th fret tu. Maybe kalo
ade pon its really small, on the edge of the fretboard.
Steel guitar pulak is more common for modern pop/rock music la. You
know how it sounds. Dia punya tone brighter than nylon. Fretboard dia
narrow sket, curved, macam electric guitar la. Jarak antara tali-tali pon
dekat sket.
So bukan tali jek yg beza. Fretboard pon lain. So kalo beli guitar
acoustic, dont plan on switching the strings from nylon to steel. Buruk
perangai tu.
Lagi satu, kalo ade gitar acoustic, tolong jangan pakai electric guitar
punya tali. Yes, I used to do that, sebab senang sket nak main. But its
not a good idea. Acoustic punya tali memang lagi keras. But its
designed to bring the good acoustic guitar tone. In fact, its a good way
to build your finger strength. Honestly, sekarang aku spend lagi banyak
kat tali acoustic aku. Aku pakai Elaxir, each set costs 3 times more than
Ernie Ball strings yang aku pakai untuk electric guitar aku. Strings are
very important when it comes to acoustic guitar, since you cant really
do anything else to get the best tone.
Sesetengah acoustic guitar ade pickup & preamp. Gitar camni di panggil
acoustic/electric. Gitar camni usually mahal sket, for obvious reason.
Kenapa beli gitar camni? So that you can perform on stage and connect
the guitar to the PA system. That way you dont have to mic the guitar.
Aku plak pakai acoustic/electric sebab aku nak cucuk kat computer, to
record. I wont be able to record the best characteristics of the sound of
my acoustic guitar, but at least I wont have to worry about noise kalau
aku pakai mic. And since aku selalu buat transcription, its good for me
to hear my guitar and the music Im transcribing on my headphones.
You dont buy this kind of guitar to put distortion and pretend youre
playing an electric guitar. It sounds pretty bad, and you dont get the
same playability. (Well, concert Nirvana unplugged lagu The Man Who
Sold the World ade distortion, but its a really simple solo).
Well, since aku dah lama tak dok Malaysia, aku punya idea of how much
Ringgit is worth kurang sket. But for beginners, Id say avoid anything
lower than RM200. No, make it RM300. And kalo beginner, maybe
avoid spending more than RM800. But kalo dah lame main, and you
just want a good acoustic guitar, consider spending more than RM1000.
Brand plak (for steel since aku tak familiar ngan nylon), Id recommend
maybe Yamaha atau Takamine. Brand sederhana mahal yg lain cam
Jasmine by Takamine, Fender (yes, Fender acoustic takde reputation
cam electric dia), Applause by Ovation, Ibanez, Parkwood, Epiphone
pon ok gak. In fact, consider a Baby Taylor too. It sounds really good for
something small.
If youre looking for a high-end stuff, consider Martin & Co, Breedlove,
Taylor, high-end models Takamine, Ovation, etc (not Gibson, because if
you have the money for it, you probably wont be reading this :P). But,
even if brand-brand ni luar budget ko, maybe if you have the chance, try
them. See what you like about them. And find something cheaper that
has the characteristics of what you like.
In any case, unless ko memang perlu built-in pickup system, avoid it.
Buat ape buang duit kat situ. Yeah it looks fancier, but if you dont need
it, might as well get something that plays and built better. Penting beli
gitar acoustic yang bagus. Sebab gitar acoustic ni bukan cam electric.
Electric, kalo intonation ko off sket, senang nak adjust. And again, on an
acoustic guitar, you cant really change the sound other than getting
good strings and change your picking techniques. Aku punya guitar
acoustic pon dua kali lagi mahal dari gitar electric aku, only until
recently.