Ibanez AE245

[Saul]

Ibanez AE245

This has been one of my favourite guitars over the past few months. The Ibanez AE245 not only looks fantastic but also it plays and sounds as good as it looks

Equally at home strummed or played fingerstyle the use of solid Okoume for the the top and layered Okoume for the back and sides means the sound remains warm, earthy and rich with overtones and harmonics.





I spent a lot of time with this guitar whilst I had it and was very sorry to see it go. Perhaps another one for that ever lengthening wish list?

Check out the full review here.

[shelly0624]

Now that I feel like I will, afterall, be able to play my songs on a different instrument.. (I can see that it is doable and maybe even provide a whole new flavor to them) ..I am venturing out in the guitar forums and not feeling the twinge quite so much. This is a really beautiful sounding guitar and your playing is a pleasure to listen to. Keyboards are wonderful, but nothing beats the sound of a rich, earthy, skillfully played guitar. I miss it, I won't lie, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate listening to someone else play one well.

[Saul]

Thanks for your kind comments Shelly.

I really liked that Ibanez. Shame it had to go back but I would definitely buy one if the opportunity arose.

By the way, how is your arthritis these days? You know there are treatments in the works that might enable you to play guitar again? Still 2-3 years off but it's coming

[shelly0624]

Right now, the most effective arthritis treatment is stem cell injections into the affected joints..(your own stem cells). Insurance won't pay for it but the results are remarkable. I'm going to see a hand surgeon to see if anything would help. Still, I can play keyboard by using my hands a little differently and I'm happy about that..

[shelly0624]

Today I was looking at Keith Richard's famous, gnarled fingers. Somebody said they have been looking better lately. Not sure if that's true. I noticed the swelling is on the dip joints, above the fingernail, which is a sign of osteoarthritis. You can still bend your fingers sometimes with that. If the arthritis is on the knuckles, like mine, that's a bummer. I found this old YouTube video of Phil Keaggy, who is missing his right third finger. I always loved this guitar solo.

[Saul]

Thanks for sharing that Shelly. Beautiful piece of guitar playing there. I need to practice more!

There are so many medical advances heading our way over the next few years. I certainly think arthritis will eventually become a thing of the past as will so many other ailments we thought would always be with us. Great for us lot heading into the final quarter

[shelly0624]

If there is a remedy someday, wouldn't it be cool to be able to play both guitar and keyboard? I believe there are good things ahead, in whatever form they come, but I'm definitely open to any medical advances .. not just for me, but for so many others who suffer a lot more than I do. I'm just glad I can still hike the trails, no pain anywhere but my hands.

[Saul]

Just a thought Shelly but have you ever looked into playing a MIDI guitar? Not sure how much pressure on your fingers causes you too much pain? With a MIDI guitar such as the Yamaha EZ-AG there are no strings on the fretboard, just soft rubber pads so may be easier to press down? Also the main strings across the soundhole are nylon and all at the same tension.

Old video but I think shows what it's all about.

[shelly0624]

Wow, I love that! I didn't even know those things existed! It looks like minimal pressure is required to press on the "strings". My problem is that my left middle can't bend very much, but if the pressure and finger strength required is much less, one wonders if other fingers could compensate. While I know very little about midi at this point, I'm also interested to learn more about guitar user tones for keyboard. A friend has a really great recording set up.. (I told him about this website.. I'll have to send him a link) ...anyway he talked about some fairly authentic guitar sounds, and he is a guitar player so that was high praise. There's such an ocean of great musical technology out there. Playing only acoustic guitar, I had no idea. My recording gear was from the 80s and early 90s so there's lots to learn.

[Saul]

Oh there is a huge world of wonderful instruments awaiting you once you start using MIDI. You don't even have to understand it. Often it is a case of plug the keyboard into the computer. Start the software. Choose your keyboard as the input. And from there it is just a matter of selecting the sounds and playing them using your keyboard.

Check out this piece of software to give you an idea of how you can play authentic acoustic guitar just using your keyboard

[parametric]

Picked Acoustic looks and sounds GREAT. I wanted to try melody lines on Guitar, but SA, which I have, won't do it (of course)

BUT unfortunately PA is Kontakt6 . . . I have 5.

I have reservations about 6 - also voiced by ChickenSystems -

It seems to cut off their ability to advance their Translator SW in creating instruments for Kontakt6 . . .IYSWIM . . .

I've NOT heard (so far) if this has been resolved or not. (CS were in discussion with NI about this some time ago .)

As I only want to PLAY PA in my DAW, perhaps the free Kontakt6 Player would do?

Not Sure . . . .

parametric

[Saul]

Just had a look at the specs and it says:

For use with: Free KONTAKT PLAYER version 6.1 and higher, or KONTAKT version 6.1 and higher

So should be fine

I do wish they would make demo versions available though. My interest in these products would be in playing real time through the keyboard, not stringing samples together. I could of course just record my own guitars but Native Instruments have gone to the trouble of professionally recording in a studio and all that goes with it. Not sure my own recordings would be quite the same quality