Been playing (very on and off) for a few years now. Sometimes not picking up for a few months though or only a couple of hours a week. But I can play all the open chords, getting there with barre chords, know some of the pentatonic and major scale shapes etc.
However almost all of the time I’ve been using electric guitars but only playing them unplugged. Playing like that I felt I was doing okay and it sounded alright.
However I’ve just bought a Helix Floor and Yamaha studio monitors and spent some time playing plugged in to them today. I felt like I sounded awful. Chords sounding ‘okay’ but not clean, but solos, licks, riffs etc very noisy. Noise from other strings, bends not quite right and touching the string above etc. Vibrato much easier though haha.
Have I made a huge mistake playing all this time unplugged and not hearing my mistakes clearly.
It is what it is now. It’s past tense.
What ya can do is now work on what your not liking about the way your playing.
Move forward with a new goal in mind. Correcting any errors you now here since you ‘can’ now hear.
And for sure enjoy your new helix!
Rather than see it as a big mistake, just see it as the path that you’ve taken up into now and that’s all good. I’m sure you’ve learnt a lot in the process.
However there are things like the following which you are going to have to address and work on over time;
Fret hand tension
String Muting
Bend & Release Discipline
Finger Lift and Shifts
Sympathetic Resonance from other strings.
Pick Attack & Dynamics
You would essentially have been, in a sense, ‘getting away with’ most of these on an unplugged electric but you won’t get away with it on an amplified one.
You should also know that HS series monitors (I assume you have this) rarely sound good out of box. They are industry standard for reference studio monitoring, those are truly flat speakers! Even with perfect technique, they will sound harsh plugged into your modeller out of box. You will have to learn a lot on EQing your Helix. For start, you should apply high pass and low pass filters. There is plenty of other tips you will find on Line 6 forums. Good thing is, if you make it sound good on Yamaha HS monitors, it will sound good wherever you take your Helix.
Not a huge mistake no, I keep falling into this trap too due to practicing late at night, being too lazy to get the headphones etc
Couple of months ago I made a conscious push to play amplified. Felt like a huge step back, but I quickly adjusted to much lighter touch and upped my string muting game.
Everything you’ve been practicing is still valid and useful, no time wasted imo.
This is very interesting to read, I too have experienced this phenomenon…it’s quite odd because I’m lucky enough to have a nice acoustic and can strum away quite happily and it sounds great…but playing the same strumming style on my amplified electric just turns into a bit of a durge. I’m very much a beginner and am at the start of my learning journey, I do sort of understand the whole muting thing, and I don’t think electrics are quite as sympathetic to just the “campfire strumming” style that the acoustic does so well…the electric just seems to highlight any errors that the acoustic seems to forgive!?
There is a common suggestion that electrics are easier to play and often recommended to beginners for this reason. It’s true that the strings are generally lighter (unless you’re SRV!) and action can be a bit lower which makes it easier on the hands and makes barre chords a bit easier physically. However, I think the rather unforgiving nature of an amplified electric makes it more of a challenge to play well in many instances. There are things you can do to negate some of that, like using the neck pickups and time based effects such as reverb and delay. Personally I try and lean into this difficulty and try and use it to improve my playing - I practice exclusively on the bridge pickup with tone at 10 and no time based effects - it can be rather humbling!
I think everyone should at some point try and play an electric guitar loud … really loud … it’s a very different beast and requires some serious muting.
When I first started learning electric guitar it felt like a whole different instrument to the acoustic. To me, it was more like learning to play the violin.
With the acoustic you are more trying to draw the sound out of the instrument and it takes some effort. On the electric guitar the sound jumps out so easily that you have to learn to tame it and control it and manage it.
Due to my wife’s illness and lack of space I very rarely plug my electrics in as it takes a while to drag everything out and plug it all in and then put them all away again but yes on the occasions I do plug them in it does sound a bit off sometimes, I’m sure I hear Keith Richards say once that all an amp does is amplify your mistakes.
I don’t think it’s a mistake. I rarely use my amps without headphones as my wife works from home. Most of my practice is with the electric with no amp. But sometimes, I gotta turn it up. I found that if I play the amp WITH headphones, it helps me concentrate on the sound more. BTW, I also own an acoustic. But mostly work on chord shapes, etc. with it.
I also do that regularly because I don’t want to bother my husband much, although sometimes I turn on the amp. I liked what @Curlypaul said, that was not wasted time. Lots of your acquired skills are there. Just a game of adjusting things a little bit.
I started guitar on acoustic and for years did not touch an electric. The difference in string gauge when an electric was played was a revelation, so much easier.
Though as some have said, electrics do amplify mistakes whereas acoustic does not let you hear them in the same manner.
Not a mistake to play without an amp, simply different.
I’ve had a couple of days now and played around with the guitar plugged in and feel better about it.
It really seems to depend on the tone I’m using, how much overdrive, distortion etc. For ‘most’ tones then it’s okay/fine. Only really driven or ‘noisy’ tones you can hear the discrepancies or where I touch another string when bending etc.
Still need to control that but feel a bit nbetter about it all.
Yeah, overdrive of pretty much any flavor makes it difficult to avoid unwanted noises unless your muting is on point. this is probably a pretty big reason why power chords are such a mainstay for overdriven electric. it’s more or less mandatory that you mute the strings you’re not playing.
That said, all that extra oomph can hide other mistakes.
I tend to practice most while playing pretty clean tones on my electric. if a song begs for some drive, I don’t practice it with my OD pedal on until after I’ve got it clean. That way, I can focus more on just the muting once I go hard.
Playing unamplified can also help you avoid this guy’s bad day
Hi Paul,
Yes you make a mistake
If you had been a good boy and done (or remembered? ) all the beginner lessons, you could have heard that this also happened to Justin… so you be in good company
although he did it on purpose because he thought it would help him learn to play better…
it comes up regularly on the forum, a while ago with a reclining ( EDIT my new translation machine is a #@#$% … lying on the couch ) Brian @brianlarsen I myself also quite often play unplugged (usually in the garden or when my wife is next to me, and especially when practicing if she is in the room, and a few other times). I almost never play really loudly and I know that if I ever get on a stage this will cause me problems, and I intend to change this quickly .
For now, just calmly go through what Shane has written and have fun
Hehe, time spent thinking about- messing with- or God forbid, even practicing guitars is never wasted!
Could we be more efficient in developing skills?
Almost always.
Don’t worry about it if you’re having fun.
Congrats on your Helix & monitors. Enjoy!
and done (or remembered? 
) all the beginner lessons, you could have heard that this also happened to Justin… so you be in good company 
my new translation machine is a #@#$% … lying on the couch ) Brian 
