It's just a matter of oppinion like strings or picks.l

All I know is what I like. I like the strings set as low as possible to the fretts without buzz. (I tolerate a little bit of fret buzz on the E at arround the 12th frett.) I can't stand any frett buzz noise on the G B and e strings though... I also like the neck to be flat but most of the time people put a slight bow in the neck via truss adjustment in an effort to completely remove frett noise.

With low action alot of things become easier to do. Hammer's work better, Sliding to a new note is easier. Even difficult chord shapes become easier. Finger Tapping techniques are also easier. Many more things... including speed.

However,,, some things become more difficult. With super low action you'r aggressiveness with the strings and picking have to be checked a little. Since the action is super low if you really are attacking the strings you'll get some buzz. You may notice that you need to be a little more accurate as to where exactly you press the string to the frett (i.e. pressing close to the frett may cause buzz but pressing center between fretts may not).

Most important... Low action just plain feels better to me.

i agree with JTC for the most part, it is easier to play with lower action, but, if you are interested in doing something like sweep picking very quickly, you asctually want your action slightly higher, this makes it easier to mute the strings when you need to and not get a sloppy sounding sweep. i did not belive this myself until i bought a book on sweep picking by mike philipov (who has a couple lessons here on the site, in the education section) he mentioned in the book to d3efinately raise the action of the strings, so i did, and he was right, after about 10 minutes of getting used to the feel, i played everything more clearly and with better tone. and it was no harder to play.

And if you want to play slide, then you need some seriously higher action, to allow room for you to press down the slide until all strings ring clear and still not touch the frets.

If you are going to try changing the action on your guitar...

Rember that when adjusting action start with raising or lowering the bridge. Do not adjust the truss rod for the purpose of raising or lowering the action.

However, Once you've raised/lowered the action by raising/lowering the bridge then a truss rod adjustment may assist in removing fret noise. ( it may not )

thanks. that helped

Sallen,

I disagree with you regarding the truss rod adjustment. It's a normal and routine thing that just needs to be done occasionally. It is true that you can damage the neck of your guitar by not doing this properly. However, there is no reason to believe that only a luthier or guitar tech should adjust it. It's really fairly easy and if you are aware of what will cause damage then the average person should be able to do this no problem (as long as they are willing to read up on the procedure and know what type of truss is installed in their guitar.)

Also, truss adjustments are necessary to remove fret buzz, change the shape of the neck for the players comfort and preference, and possibly to fix minor problems related to a bowed or warped neck.

Best reference I could find quickly:http://www.athensmusician.net/archive/2001-05-01_geneimbody1.shtml

JTC,

Thats actually a very good article. I would probably fall into the category of terrified musicians when it comes to doing anything like a truss rod adjustment...but I play a high end archtop so I personally would never adjust my own truss rod, and would leave it to a seasoned professional. One thing with regard to this topic that I extracted from that article is this:

"There are a few golden rules to obey when adjusting a truss rod. First, only use the rod to keep your neck as straight as it needs to be…do not use it to adjust your action! Second, only use the proper adjustment tool. If you do not know what it is, check with the manufacturer or visit a good repairman. Finally, do not force anything; an eighth of a turn can make a drastic change. The first step is to know when or in what way the neck needs to be adjusted."

In 26 years I have never found a need to adjust my truss rod on any of my axes. To be honest I don't know if my tech, Sammy Sanchez (shameless plug for Sammy) ever adjusted the truss rods on my necks either, if he did he never mentioned it. Obviously there are circumstances that require it's adjustment, but as the author & JTC stated, one of the golden rules is to not use it for action adjustment. That being said, I would recomend reading that article you found for any guitarist as it's really well written.

BTW I recently have been watching the Bennedetto archtop building series, if you ever want to see a guitar being built from scratch, and I mean planks straight off the tree, I highly recomend it. To see how this luthier puts the guitars together, and fearlessly manhandles his creations is something to behold. Serious 'pron' for archtop lovers/guitar builders.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Video,_DVD/Archtop_guitar_building/Archtop_Guitar_Design_and_Construction.html

-sallan

didn't see anyone mention it, so incase you didn't know --- lower action certainly makes it easier to play fast, and with less strain on the fretting hand, but the lower the action,the crappier the tone. Higher action actually gives you better tone. So for example a classical or jazz guitarist (to which tone is usually the most important thing) will often try to balance the playability factor, with the tone factor. When I say tone I don't just mean strings buzzing or not buzzing, your tone actually sounds fuller, louder (yes you get more volume), and rounder with higher action...Of course string gauge is another factor that affects your tone --- thicker strings = better tone. Combine heavy gauge strings with medium level action (as opposed to super low action preferred by rock guitarists) and you get a pretty big boost to your tone, and perhaps a bad case of tendonitis too :)