Feb 022011
Sweet!
Musicians and music lovers, is there a “sweet spot” you can identify on an instrument you play? For instance, I love the G chord in barre position on the third fret. I spend a lot of time there. If I come over to your house and check out your guitar I’ll be sure to settle in on that fret. I love the third fret on a guitar, but better yet is the eighth fret on a guitar neck, a position I don’t get as many opportunities to play around as I should, but when I do it’s sweeeeeeeeet!
I am betting that drummers have a sweet spot on their kit, keyboardists have a sweet spot on a keyboard, etc. Let’s hear from you—and if talk of your instrument’s sweet spot gets a little steamy…heh, so it goes.
I never even considered that I might have one until you posed the question. But I’ve done some soul searching and I now realize that mine would probably be where you put your middle finger on the B string (7th fret for example) and then put you pointer and ring fingers on the 6th and 8th fret of the G string and hammer on with the ring finger. It’s a nod to Curtis Mayfield/Hendrix type guitar noodling and usually sounds disproportionately good compared to the effort required to pull it off.
Other than that, the A chord played as a cowboy chord. You can easily segue from an open A into No Matter What, pinky rock, or some faux Exile-era Keef-isms.
What’s with the gear talk, Mod?
I love the D on my bass. A string, 5th fret. Plus, you can do a wicked sounding octave thing. From that D to the open D to the octave. I just love the sound of “D.”
TB
The sweet spot on every guitar is the open E chord.
Spoken like a true Who fan! (I associate A and D chords with their music.)
I don’t know why I’ve got gear on the brain, TB. It’s unusual for me, I know. Sometimes topics just develop a life of their own.
I only get to the sweet spot during a gig when the soundman puts some kick and snare in the monitors. At that point the whole kit becomes sweet and I feel that I play better. PS, don’t try to tune between songs. The singers hate that!
Man, I dunno, probably a low G on the E string. That’s where the bass starts getting definite enough to hear the note well, you can gliss a bit between F# and it, and you can go to the open octave and still stay on the low end of things and anchor the song. Maybe it’s because I like G chords on guitar.
GUITARS ARE MEANT TO BE TUNED TO F-SHARP!
Once you’ve done that (or, just as effective, used a capo) — all chords sound perfect. BigSteve, you are WRONG. An open E just sounds flabby. Now, an open F-sharp… ah!