Playability

Tonedef

There's that word again... and it sounds like one of those nebulous scary horrors you threaten naughty children with.

I've got no idea what it means. I mean, I do have an idea, but no grokking of it.

Define it! What does "playability" mean to you, and how would you describe aspects of a guitar that isn't "playable". What makes you categorise a guitar as "unplayable", "merely okay" or "sweet as a nut"?

ezietsman

To me 'playability' in a guitar is governed by the following things:

1. Ergonomics - Subjective. The shape of the guitar's body and neck. This comes down to preference mostly, but Stratocasters are widely agreed to be the most comfortable guitars to play. How easy is it to play the guitar? How easily can you reach all the frets, especially the upper frets on the thick strings, which is quite a feat on a Les Paul. I would put weight in here too, a lighter guitar is more comfortable.

2. Action - This is something that can be adjusted mostly. This refers to the height of the strings above the frets, The lower the easier to frets, but too low and bending becomes difficult. Also, guitars with a small fretboard radius can cause issues with big bends, which is why 'shredder' guitars have flatter boards. Under this I would put the size of the frets too. Some people (me) like tall frets, makes bending and fretting easier although, because of the space under the the string you can easily push a chord out of tune. String gauge plays a role in action as well as Ergonomics. Thicker == Harder to play but generally better tone. In the end string gauge is a preference. Stevie Ray Vaughn sounded huge on 13s and Billy Gibbons / John Petrucci etc sounds huge on 8s.

3. Tone - Subjective. Magic even. I think it would be fair to say that you would be able to play longer without getting fatigued if your guitar + amp + skillz lets out angel's song instead of nails on chalkboard. Under tone I would put things like sustain, resonance and all that stuff. Its tiresome to try and wrangle good tones out of a shit guitar thats not producing the goods.

So broadly these 3 things are The Subjective, The Adjustable and The Magic things in a guitar. You have control over 1 and 2. Number 3 usually comes after practise, money and karma ?

[deleted]

I play a fairly sturdy guitar in that the strings really need to be worked, but if I play any other guitar I just miss that extra body in the sound. Sure I'm tempted to play something with softer strings that makes playing it feel like melted butter under my fingers (even dream about it), and maybe that perfect guitar is out there waiting for me to find it one day. I just find there's a compromise in sound too often. I need character in a guitar, not just something that's easy to play.

aubs1

+1 Ezietsman..... I think you pretty much covered it ......... ?

singemonkey

Is the guitar easy to fret - and the fretted notes ring clearly - anywhere on the neck. It tunes properly and stays in tune - again - anywhere on the neck.

To a much smaller extent, is it difficult to hold or uncomfortable to play?

Some very famous guitars are not the easiest in this regards. Les Pauls are back heavy and require support when playing on your leg. SGs are neck heavy which requires a high-friction strap when playing upright. Flying Vs require you to change the way you settle the guitar when sitting down (the leg has to sit in the V. Torres-style classicals have very limited upper-fret access. So this is a much lesser characteristic of playability - the ergonomics - and is more an issue to some players than others.

Jericho

ezietsman wrote: The lower the easier to frets, but too low and bending becomes difficult.

I thought that a lower action = easier to bend?

I've been thinking my guitar's action, while fine for everything else, is a little to high for bending?

:-\

Keira-WitherKay

? the real secret is that if a guitar has an incredible tone .then many of us will not care if we need to fight the guitar to play it ...... so playability can be quite easily sacrificed in favour of tone ....

Tonedef

Well that's kief then because I happen to like my cheapie's tone (for now!) ?