plugging a guitar into an atari 130xe

[+Stephen]

One of my all time favorite concert videos is "Meeting Of The Spirits" from 1979, with John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Paco De Lucia. Absolutely amazing piece of work.

[UNIXcoffee928]

One of my all time favorite concert videos is "Meeting Of The Spirits" from 1979, with John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Paco De Lucia. Absolutely amazing piece of work.

Yeah, that is Awesomeness! I knew the studio version, but that was a real treat! Here's the

.

 

 

Apart from the general greatness of the performance, note the eyes closed playing, and the right-hand thumbnail technique. Cool.

 

My introduction to John McLaughlin was with him & Miles, on the "

" album... very psychedelic jazz on a blues base, great stuff. I like the looseness of his playing, a lot, on that album... he's not afraid to let the notes ring out! I learned a lot about guitar playing from that album. To this day, a lot of his sound on this album comes through in my playing. In my own head, I consciously merged a lot of it with early Pink Floyd, Dave Navarro, Daniel Ash, Robert Smith, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, & John McGeoch style stuff, and it works nicely together.

 

In the later, "cleaner" McLaughlin department, I've always liked his rendition of "A few of my favorite things".

 

My good friend, and former guitar teacher, the Norse guitar god, Arnt, & I used to constantly dissect performances, into the witching hours. One night, after watching the nuances of Hendrix's live performances, we came to a very solid conclusion that part of the greatness of a great player is to see how they recover from fu*king Up. & it really is true... in fact, I prefer to see a live video with mistakes, because you can lean from the player EXACTLY how he recovered from the mistake, and made it look effortless, so that it falls into the, "I meant to do that" category, lol... There is a special sort of greatness in that.

 

I thought that it was really amusing that someone had used the Dollyrot's tongue-in-cheek song, "

" for the soundtrack of a Tony Alva video retrospect, on youtube... It could just as easily be used (even more irreverently) for a McLaughlin video Retrospect, flashing back & forth to contemporary pop stars. lol. Great player... from, like, Mars, ha. Edited February 19, 2011 by UNIXcoffee928

[+Stephen]

One of my all time favorite concert videos is "Meeting Of The Spirits" from 1979, with John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Paco De Lucia. Absolutely amazing piece of work.

Yeah, that is Awesomeness! I knew the studio version, but that was a real treat! Here's the

.

 

 

Apart from the general greatness of the performance, note the eyes closed playing, and the right-hand thumbnail technique. Cool.

 

My introduction to John McLaughlin was with him & Miles, on the "

" album... very psychedelic jazz on a blues base, great stuff. I like the looseness of his playing, a lot, on that album... he's not afraid to let the notes ring out! I learned a lot about guitar playing from that album. To this day, a lot of his sound on this album comes through in my playing. In my own head, I consciously merged a lot of it with early Pink Floyd, Dave Navarro, Daniel Ash, Robert Smith, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, & John McGeoch style stuff, and it works nicely together.

 

In the later, "cleaner" McLaughlin department, I've always liked his rendition of "A few of my favorite things".

 

My good friend, and former guitar teacher, the Norse guitar god, Arnt, & I used to constantly dissect performances, into the witching hours. One night, after watching the nuances of Hendrix's live performances, we came to a very solid conclusion that part of the greatness of a great player is to see how they recover from fu*king Up. & it really is true... in fact, I prefer to see a live video with mistakes, because you can lean from the player EXACTLY how he recovered from the mistake, and made it look effortless, so that it falls into the, "I meant to do that" category, lol... There is a special sort of greatness in that.

 

I thought that it was really amusing that someone had used the Dollyrot's tongue-in-cheek song, "

" for the soundtrack of a Tony Alva video retrospect, on youtube... It could just as easily be used (even more irreverently) for a McLaughlin video Retrospect, flashing back & forth to contemporary pop stars. lol. Great player... from, like, Mars, ha.

Are you familiar with any of his work in Mahavishnu Orchestra from around 1972? Some more amazing work, I believe Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham were in the band at that time. Incredibly fast and complex stuff, great to hear live. I only with the sound quality on the bootlegs was higher quality, but considering the age, they still sound good.

[UNIXcoffee928]

...

 

Are you familiar with any of his work in Mahavishnu Orchestra from around 1972? Some more amazing work, I believe Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham were in the band at that time. Incredibly fast and complex stuff, great to hear live. I only with the sound quality on the bootlegs was higher quality, but considering the age, they still sound good.

 

 

Ha, I keep feeling like I'm talking with Cheech, haha. I've heard a lot of his stuff, but it's a drop in the bucket of his total output. Nowadays, between youtube & playlist.com it's all so easy (and sometimes overwhelming in sheer choice) to find rarities, and to listen to stuff that you never got, back in the day. Lately, I've been watching a lot of old Sabbath live recordings, and just finished reading Keith Richard's new autobiography, "Life", which is an amazing book. If you play guitar, read this book. He is such a great storyteller, and a fabulously gifted, & worldly intellectual, despite his stage/public image. To me, this book was like a father passing on his secrets, tips, and his memories of the music business, touring, stage-life, etc. to his son. It is a very important book to read, if you are a musician. Money well spent.

 

I feel kinda bad that this thread has turned from "Plugging a a guitar into an Atari" to just "Plugging the guitar", ha, but it is nice to talk with you guys about this stuff, and I'm really enjoying it.

 

 

[+bf2k+]

Are you familiar with any of his work in Mahavishnu Orchestra from around 1972? Some more amazing work, I believe Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham were in the band at that time. Incredibly fast and complex stuff, great to hear live. I only with the sound quality on the bootlegs was higher quality, but considering the age, they still sound good.

 

I had all of that vinyl!!! In the 70's, if John McLaughlin played on it, I had it.

 

Some of my other favorites with supporting musicians that played in the Mahavishnu Orchestra:

 

Jerry Goodman & Jan Hammer - Like Children

Jeff Beck - Wired

Narada Michael Walden - Garden of Love Light

Jean Luc Ponty - Imaginary Voyage

Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior

 

I am also a SEVERE Frank Zappa fan (could you guess?)

 

I could go on and on....

 

 

I always prefer live music to studio stuff - even more today than then.

[+Blues76]

Question:

What type of nod is needed to plugin a guitar or any type of analog audio?

Also, is there an a/d converter in the atari or what kind of mod is needed?

How to read the input ?

I have a guitar tuner I made in a ti dsp kit and it would be cool to test.

[Kernal]

Question:

What type of nod is needed to plugin a guitar or any type of analog audio?

Also, is there an a/d converter in the atari or what kind of mod is needed?

How to read the input ?

I have a guitar tuner I made in a ti dsp kit and it would be cool to test.

here is the program i was first speaking of in the OP

 

Also, it speaks of a converter in the joystick port and the cart port...

can we build and / or buy this?

Audio Digital Sound Control.xex

Audio Digital Sound Control.doc

Edited February 20, 2011 by Kernal

[+Blues76]

Question:

What type of nod is needed to plugin a guitar or any type of analog audio?

Also, is there an a/d converter in the atari or what kind of mod is needed?

How to read the input ?

I have a guitar tuner I made in a ti dsp kit and it would be cool to test.

here is the program i was first speaking of in the OP

 

Also, it speaks of a converter in the joystick port and the cart port...

can we build and / or buy this?

 

Thanks... the doc file , which I open in my mac, is very short... it doesn't say much...

 

Ok, the Atari has to have at least an D/A converter since it sends digital output to an analog device, when we play anything in the atari. I wonder if it has an A/D converter inside...

Also, someone talked about having an stereo input mod (I think someone did...)

It would be really cool to know how to plug analog audio into the Atari to process the data and do some cool stuff with it... Having said that, I know people said that there will be limitations due to the processing power ... but is worth a shot...

[UNIXcoffee928]

It would be helpful if everyone that can remember a specific audio digitizer, would post the product name, & model, and whatever they know about it.

 

Personally, the one that I remember was called: "Parrot", from a company called, "Alpha Systems". They often advertised it in the Atari Magazines. It was around for a along time, and I don't know if they made revisions to it, or if it was always the same revision. I'm unsure of if it sampled at 4 or 8 bits. There was a short review, in Antic Magazine, here.

 

 

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Subject: 6.15) What sound-digitizers/samplers were produced for the Atari?

 

 

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/

Edited February 20, 2011 by Fox-1 / mnx

[UNIXcoffee928]

OK, here's a good description of techniques to use with 2-4 bit digitizers, to get the best sound:

http://home.clara.net/dgs/sampling.htm

Yeah, the FAQ list has a number of them, but is somewhat incomplete.

 

I would guess that the 8-Bit External Audio Digitizers for the Amiga could probably be made to work with the Atari (Such as: "Perfect Sound"), too. Since they were usually just hooked up to the parallel port.

[Stormtrooper of Death]

I dont remember the names of the 2 samplers i had.

 

I remember that John Marris made a 4 bit sampler, that connected through the joystick port. It had 3 paddle-turn switches on it.

 

the 8-bit sampler was to be put in the cartridge port.

 

I played at lot with it. Made some old (and maybe known) demos with the samples on Atari.

 

oh, and my 130Xe also had the Stereo Pokey upgrade, so, the Guitar FX program also made use of this stereo-upgrade, otherwise, several FX were not possible.

 

Programming was done in Atmas II assembler. And the 6502 of the Atari had enough power and speed left to also have the screen on (instead of being it black).

 

a relative cheap way to make a nice guitar FX processor from an Atari 8bit computer.

[Kernal]

I dont remember the names of the 2 samplers i had.

 

I remember that John Marris made a 4 bit sampler, that connected through the joystick port. It had 3 paddle-turn switches on it.

 

the 8-bit sampler was to be put in the cartridge port.

 

I played at lot with it. Made some old (and maybe known) demos with the samples on Atari.

 

oh, and my 130Xe also had the Stereo Pokey upgrade, so, the Guitar FX program also made use of this stereo-upgrade, otherwise, several FX were not possible.

 

Programming was done in Atmas II assembler. And the 6502 of the Atari had enough power and speed left to also have the screen on (instead of being it black).

 

a relative cheap way to make a nice guitar FX processor from an Atari 8bit computer.

 

Yes this is what i need,

any one have a parrot they would be willing to part with or lease out to my band to use on the new album?

maybe ill give the person who lets us borrow one 25% of the profit of the album?

[Kernal]

I dont remember the names of the 2 samplers i had.

 

I remember that John Marris made a 4 bit sampler, that connected through the joystick port. It had 3 paddle-turn switches on it.

 

the 8-bit sampler was to be put in the cartridge port.

 

I played at lot with it. Made some old (and maybe known) demos with the samples on Atari.

 

oh, and my 130Xe also had the Stereo Pokey upgrade, so, the Guitar FX program also made use of this stereo-upgrade, otherwise, several FX were not possible.

 

Programming was done in Atmas II assembler. And the 6502 of the Atari had enough power and speed left to also have the screen on (instead of being it black).

 

a relative cheap way to make a nice guitar FX processor from an Atari 8bit computer.

 

Yes this is what i need,

any one have a parrot they would be willing to part with or lease out to my band to use on the new album?

maybe ill give the person who lets us borrow one 25% of the profit of the album?

[+AtariNerd]

It's probably a good thing that the Atari's can go up all the way to 11 and beyond.

[+Blues76]

I have created a dedicted topic about Atari Analog to Digital converter to have a more specific discussion.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/177535-atari-analog-input-ad-converter/

thanks

[Kernal]

I have created a dedicted topic about Atari Analog to Digital converter to have a more specific discussion.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/177535-atari-analog-input-ad-converter/

thanks

 

wow thanks for stealing the thread and all. heh.

[flashjazzcat]

I feel kinda bad that this thread has turned from "Plugging a a guitar into an Atari" to just "Plugging the guitar", ha, but it is nice to talk with you guys about this stuff, and I'm really enjoying it.

Thanks to your comments on right hand positioning (which really set me thinking) I took a break from coding tonight and tried using the George Benson "locked hand" picking technique (fingers curled under, hand very stuff, playing largely from the elbow and shoulder). I had attempted this in the past, but I now realize it was doomed to failure while I had two fingers of my picking hand anchored firmly to the scratchplate. This meant it was impossible for the hand to remain rigid, since movement was necessary to keep two fingers on the pick guard and two others moving laterally over the strings. With the fingers curled up, it's now impossible to subconsciously use them for leverage on the scratchplate, and this encourages (in fact obliges) playing from the elbow/shoulder. Of course much of my precision (which took twenty years to perfect) has now fallen to pieces, at least until I get used to this new approach. My shoulder's absolutely burning, since I'm clearly exercising different muscles. Providing I don't develop sciatica through this, it should be good when I get the hang of it. The "feel" seems much better, and string skipping and circular picking should be easier.

Edited February 25, 2011 by flashjazzcat

[UNIXcoffee928]

I feel kinda bad that this thread has turned from "Plugging a a guitar into an Atari" to just "Plugging the guitar", ha, but it is nice to talk with you guys about this stuff, and I'm really enjoying it.

Thanks to your comments on right hand positioning (which really set me thinking) I took a break from coding tonight and tried using the George Benson "locked hand" picking technique (fingers curled under, hand very stuff, playing largely from the elbow and shoulder). I had attempted this in the past, but I now realize it was doomed to failure while I had two fingers of my picking hand anchored firmly to the scratchplate. This meant it was impossible for the hand to remain rigid, since movement was necessary to keep two fingers on the pick guard and two others moving laterally over the strings. With the fingers curled up, it's now impossible to subconsciously use them for leverage on the scratchplate, and this encourages (in fact obliges) playing from the elbow/shoulder. Of course much of my precision (which took twenty years to perfect) has now fallen to pieces, at least until I get used to this new approach. My shoulder's absolutely burning, since I'm clearly exercising different muscles. Providing I don't develop sciatica through this, it should be good when I get the hang of it. The "feel" seems much better, and string skipping and circular picking should be easier.

I'm glad that I was able to help you to isolate & identify that aspect of your right hand technique. I pay a lot of attention to all aspects of both hands, player posture, sitting/standing position, guitar strap length... thousands of little nuances, while I'm watching others play, live, or in videos. I go out of my way to study the people who are the top players, in each of their specific genres. This way, you know how to get a specific sound, when you want it. It is also good to study these things, and look to see how you can streamline them, in your own playng.

 

Now, I know that you are going for the strict GB sound, & technique, but what you are describing WILL probably hurt your shoulder, and in the worst case scenario give you a 3 month long pinched nerve, with the potential for lost sensation in a number of your fingertips. This happened to me once, and I had to put skateboard griptape on both sides of the top of my pick, to be able to even feel the damn thing between my fingers. It sucked, and I was really afraid that it would be permanent. Thankfully, after a lot of months of stupid nonsense, including watching & following physical therapy for nerve damage videos, on youtube, it vanished. ...but I will tell you that your fingers perspire lightly as you play, and if you can't feel the pick, it will slip out of your fingers without you even realizing it fell, initially. The grip tape helped, because the nerve damage was topical... I could feel pressure, but not the sensation of touch. & it only effected the two fingers that hold the pick, and a bit of the top knuckle on the third finger... because we're wired that way... ha...It was miserable.

 

You will see players use their whole shoulder when they are going to be letting a chord ring out (Led Zep)... & it's mostly for flashy looks. Then too, you see The Ramones, and The Who, and there is a LOT of whole shoulder playing going on.

 

Really, though, it is wasted motion. Analyze your motion & arm position based on physics. You want to avoid wasted motion, and unnecessary muscle use, as a general rule. Watch both Dick Dale, and Les Paul play. They have perfect efficiency of movement in their right hand.

 

Just grasp the pick on the fingerprint of the thumb, use the top-side of the fingerprint of the first finger, at a 45 Degree angle, and stabilize the pick with the top-side of second finger. Your other two fingers should be clasped directly into the center of your palm, on the natural angle that they fall (pulled in, but not pushing your nails into your palm... held in loosely (but don't let them move on their own, laterally, your whole hand has to be following the same motion path, with no wiggling fingers straying).

 

The motion is all in the wrist, and for lack of a better method of distance teaching, it is identical to the type & speed of wrist motion used while manually stimulating a clitoris, the last 30 seconds before she orgasms. lol, did I just say that? ha, yeah, I did. = ) I suppose that I could have said that it was identical to cleaning enamel paint off of a brush, in turpentine, in a glass jar... but it would have been the wrong wrist angle. I guess that it's fairly close to the speed of the tremor of the hand that you see in Parkinson's Disease, but that's just gross. lol.

 

Once you can do it without thinking about it, then start incorporating different right hand techniques, for different things. Learing to transition from one right-hand technique to the next might be hard, at first, but will become natural, over time.

 

The rest of it is the height & angle of the guitar, in relation to an imaginary circle (the diameter of a basketball) at your torso, with the center being right around where your belt buckle would be. Try standing, & play, then raise it then lower it, by degrees, 3 inches, in both directions, with about ten different "settings", in between, by adjusting your guitar strap. By doing this, you will find the ideal spot that requires the least hand/arm/shoulder movement, while playing quickly with tight up/down strokes on a single string. A guitar slung waaaay low looks cool, but really reduces your soloing ability... better for chordal rhythm playing, and photographs, ha. Conversely, once past a certain height, upward, a guitar looks ridiculous. You need to find the sweet spot, in front of a mirror, where it both LOOKS and FEELS perfect. Slightly below 1980 Eddie Van Halen, height works best for me.

 

It is VERY worth it to take the time to analyze all of this based on physics. Include the angle of your right forearm, in relation to your bicep, in this analysis (geometry of triangles). Left hand wise, it is most effective to keep your thumb inline (parallel) with the neck, to play the fastest stuff.

 

It is a good idea to watch everything from Segovia, the Guitar Master, and study all of his movements. It is also an interesting approach to play with his sitting posture, and guitar placement... it gives you a whole different feel. He did write an illustrated book, and you should own it, if you play guitar. His interviews are amazing, as well, particularly this one: "Segovia at Los Olivos". A very Serene & Peaceful man, filled with emotion, & life philosophy. It is very soothing to hear him speak, and you will learn much from his wisdom.

 

OK, so, there ya go, Dick Dale, Les Paul, Segovia. Youtube beckons!

[flashjazzcat]

Intriguing teaching analogies, LOL!

 

I was discussing this with my guitar-playing friend last Saturday (shortly after you made the initial observations), and I was surprised to hear that he maintained that his right hand is absolutely glued to the pickguard when he plays. I hadn't noticed that, although I was aware that he uses right-hand muting (which I don't; he's a rock-blues player, which is the style I started out playing - inspired by him - but I later made a long and difficult transition to jazz, and somewhere down the line started doing all the string muting with the left hand, which I have no desire to change. I'm also starting to use the left thumb hooked over the neck to keep the bottom strings from ringing out and causing feedback, etc, when playing single notes in the high registers). But anyway, I wasn't entirely surprised that at least a bit of his playing posture had stuck, since neither of us had a single guitar lesson in our lives.

 

My friend's (typically sage) opinion on the subject kind of echos your own: that - while there may be perceived "correct" postures - it's really most important to find and stick with a style which minimises discomfort and maximises efficiency. Ritchie Blackmore famously had a trapped nerve in his shoulder, and there are probably plenty of other players out there who've caused themselves long-term injury through playing the instrument in an unnatural or unnecessarily exaggerated manner.

 

Now, that's all well and good until you reach the stage I'm at, where there's no "slack" left in your technique. Most guitarists want to constantly improve and push themselves, and I'm no exception. It took me about two years a decade or so ago to intuit (solely from listening at the time) how GB synchronises his right and left hand in order to play a downstroke at the start of a phrase and then be ready on the upstroke the instant the left hand has done what would usually be a pull-off, and then implement the technique. Then second note is then picked, and so on. That was unbelievably difficult at the time. However, one naturally draws inspiration from the greats, and in this age of Internet video, I am now privvy to many live performances in which GB does a lot of stuff which never makes it on to the albums. Moreover, you can actually see what he's doing. One technique - circular picking with string-skipping - has proved virtually impossible to pull off cleanly using my current RH posture. It excercises a whole different approach to picking, and I watch in envy as GB's right hand loops and circles with tremendous, metranomic precision.

 

I think the muscle training approach you suggest is sensible, and one will probably find the natural "centre" of movement over time. I actually feel that the shoulder pain is mostly due to the weight of the right hand "floating" above the guitar, as opposed to being supported by the fingers on the edge of the pickguard.

 

Certainly the angle of attack on the strings, and the positioning of the right hand over them makes a big difference on the fluidity of circular picking, etc. Tentatively, I have found the best approach so far is to keep the pick flexible between the fingers, but maintain rigidity between that point and the wrist.

 

In any case, your avenues of study should prove illuminating. However, it's a little like the GUI project: one could choose to research every existing GUI in order to glean a mash-up of techniques, or choose one interface and slavishly implement its visual style and API. Of course, the most doable is probably a mixture of both, with plenty of originality thrown in. I'm always wary, though - in both projects - of information overload. Sure, we could build-in DOS, and put the GUI on top of a Unix kernel, etc, etc... I don't want too much scope/feature creep in my guitar playing.

 

Anyway, I'll certainly try to get the wife on-side with the training programme.

Edited February 26, 2011 by flashjazzcat

[Kernal]

ok so im building on of the A/D CONVERTERS, and hopefully in about a week we'll begin recording guitar samples directly off the atari.

 

also some insight in to atari guitar playing.. as we are making electronic beats, that are syncopated, the guitar rythem needs to be syncopated as well

 

im thinking about recording 8 beat measure samples of each riff and loops with the looped beats...

 

i don;t want to reveal the secret recipe just yet though =)

 

http://www.soundclick.com/cannabissativa

[Kernal]

i will be making a separate thread with my finished works.. in a while.. some stuff isalready done.

[UNIXcoffee928]

ok so im building on of the A/D CONVERTERS, and hopefully in about a week we'll begin recording guitar samples directly off the atari.

 

also some insight in to atari guitar playing.. as we are making electronic beats, that are syncopated, the guitar rhythm needs to be syncopated as well

 

im thinking about recording 8 beat measure samples of each riff and loops with the looped beats...

 

i don;t want to reveal the secret recipe just yet though =)

 

http://www.soundclic.../cannabissativa

You could, but there are a lot of tricks necessary to know, so that it won't sound choppy, &/or break up the beat. A lot of contemporary music is done by lining up tens of thousands of little wave snippets of each soundbite into a Bewildering Forest of Little Colorful Rectangles (lol)... It is usually done by "R&B" (& I don't mean "Rhythm & Blues") & rap "artists" who can't reliably play a part over multiple measures, because they can't really play an instrument.

 

It takes A LOT of time to do it this way, & it is a VERY fidgety & annoying way to work. This method is also used to create a "slick" sound, by contemporary producers, before mastering, which, along with Compression, is why so much music sounds waaaay too overproduced (in a bad way).

 

They do it this way for precision, so that everything lines up perfectly & exactly within subdivisions of the measures, on a grid, because each little wave snippet can be slid, in time, with minute precision. In theory, this sounds desirable... in practice... well that's the subjective view of the contemporary listener... but, I don't like it.

 

A much less annoying (but, still fidgety) method is to do your backing parts on multiple tracks with MIDI notes, this way you have control over the precision of the beat, pitch, & timbre... then play the guitar over top of it all. It is a different way to work, because you must construct the arrangement & song structure like you were hiring laborers to build a house, from the foundation up, so that you may masterfully show off your skill in tar-papering & shingling. lol. Of course, you get what you pay for... cheap laborers, cheap house... cheap MIDI gear, cheap sound. It pays to have good MIDI gear, to do it right, this way.

 

From your description, if you record your rhythm parts (in full) directly into a DAW, on one/two tracks, then play your guitar over it, on another track, you will have a much easier time of it. It is a MUCH less annoying way to do things.

[UNIXcoffee928]

Intriguing teaching analogies, LOL!

 

...I'm also starting to use the left thumb hooked over the neck to keep the bottom strings from ringing out and causing feedback, etc, when playing single notes in the high registers).

 

 

...

 

Anyway, I'll certainly try to get the wife on-side with the training programme.

Why else would women put up with guitarists? lol.

 

Despite Hendrix using the fret-hand thumb-over technique, it is considered an inefficient form... you simply can play faster if your thumb is the other way, inline with the neck. ...but if you are using an alternate tuning, thumb-over can be advantageous for chord construction. Something like the simple "Dropped D" tuning benefits from the thumb-over technique, as does "Open G", with a slide. In general, for Concert Tuning (E) you will play leads faster (particularly "vertically-oriented" leads, if you keep your thumb inline with the neck. Blues players often play more "horizontal", in Pentatonic boxes, and don't often utilize the same kinds of vertical runs found in jazz, surf, & flamenco, so the thumb-over technique doesn't really hinder them much... but, they too can benefit by switching to the inline technique.

 

Players with small hands, women, in particular, often have to resort to using the thumb-over technique, just to reach around the neck. It is important that the player chooses a guitar that has a neck with the correct thinness to allow them to play chords properly. The thickness of the neck will make or break a new player... a cheap guitar with a very thick neck, and a new student, with small hands is a guaranteed recipe for that person to give up guitar playing, in frustration.

 

Then again, if you have large hands, a thin neck is excellent, too, because it allows you to reach MUCH further with your pinkie, allowing your to pick out melodies just with the pinkie, WHILE playing your chord progression. This is one of the main reasons that I like the Fender Jazzmaster. The Jazzmaster has a thin neck, but a long scale length... so if you have big hands, you can play chords comfortably from the bottom to the top of the fretboard... which is simply just not the case on most guitars. The other main reason that I like them is that they have two completely separate sets of controls for pickup setups, each with their own settings. Great guitars.

 

Though I've never married, personally, I have found that, generally, and in my personal experience, many women like the idea of dating a guitarist, but, in reality, they often have a hard time dealing with the long hours of practice that are involved, because it gets in the way of their planning things, and doing "real-life" kinda stuff. Just my observation. You are very lucky to have found a good, patient wife!