Some more random, learning guitar related ramblings. I hope talking about guitar playing is not too much here anymore. Beginning to wonder.......
It took a while, but I think I am finally getting an educated ear for different guitar tones. Kind of snuck up on me, and I've been monkeying around re-learning my gear the past few weeks. Ken and I have chatted about this in the past. There were just some things I couldn't pick out and identify. Single coil vs humbucker, for example. I knew what I liked when I played it, but picking it out of a song while listening to it never happened.
Recording has helped a great deal, too. I can output higher levels to my PC and play them back at low volumes as if playing a CD on low volume.
My lastest discovery is that I actually like my bridge pickup on my MIM Strat now. It's a GFS of some sort. Part of a Texas Hot Trio or something they had a few years ago. I also like the 2nd position (bridge and mid) for lead playing.
Other things too, like now being able to tell a world of difference between the Epi SG with SD pups and my Epi LP with the stock pups. I was fiddling with something last week and decided that the tone I wanted for some fills was not what I had in my hand, but probably the Squire Tele with the USA pickups. Switched it out and I was right. Another night I was just playing some songs on the recliner and went to play the chord I thought was next, but stopped before the strum and quickly switched to a different chord that I thought would have been right based on sound and it was.
I sort of stumbled into a really nice, jazzy or jangly tone on my multi-effects. I had it on my patch that I created for my accoustic guitar with the sound-hole pick-up. I plugged my P-90 guitar in and turned it on without really looking. Played a bit and kind of liked it, but it was too much input for the patch. I saved it off elsewhere and cranked down the bass and mids. The patch goes through a "full range" preamp, Accoustic Guitar simulator, Accoustic Guitar Processor, Delay, Chorus and Reverb. Sounds good with my Gretsch too, being the only other one I tried out with this. I sat back last night and just did some slow lead style noodling, which is rare for me. Each note seemed to be like a symphony. One of those really relaxing, laid back sessions. Feet up on the desk, eyes closed and just chilling away. 8) It sounded like some of Gilmour's tone on Shine On, but without any gain, drive or fuzz. I'll make another patch and introduce a bit to see if I can get close.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Each note seemed to be like a symphony. One of those really relaxing, laid back sessions. Feet up on the desk, eyes closed and just chilling away.
Oh yeah thats what playing is all about, getting in the groove, wether it be relaxing, kick-ass ragey, cool, HARDCORE, or whatever your groove is you just get in there and have fun.
But feet on the desk ? :shock: lol that could be painful for both u and ur guitar.
I get into those in my room, I put my cellphone on repeat on a little Bossa Nova I love, I recorded myself and play over it, Bossa Nova is so cool ( genre ) its like romantic Jazz, and you play over it with some jazzy scale with a classical guitar ( I love to chill with my cheap 60 buck classical ) and it just sounds so right.
With school, and relations, and all the stuff in a teenagers life ( or an adults life o.o ) its so great to be able to spend time with your guitar just relaxing, other times having fun, chilling, letting your woes just go with the music, there comes a moment when your mind is blank, or atleast mine does...
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Yeah, my playing position is not taught by many instructors, I'm sure. :oops: When I'm at the desk, I'm leaned back, feet up and head gently resting on the head rest. Sometimes downstairs it's Indian-style sitting back against the couch and sitting on a couple of pillows, but 44 year old knees with a touch of arthritis males getting up interesting. Most of the time, though, recliner and laid back.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Good to hear your insights, and that you are enjoying your guitars and playing in your own style, and in your own way, on your terms and with experimental sounds and such. That's a good way to appreciate what you can do and feel, and progress toward.
But the "ear candy" and enjoyment, again, get the emphasis IMO, from the sound of it (pun intended). What a way to relax and have clean, healthy, creative and rewarding fun. :D
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
. Sometimes downstairs it's Indian-style sitting back against the couch and sitting on a couple of pillows, but 44 year old knees with a touch of arthritis males getting up interesting. Most of the time, though, recliner and laid back.
Funny, I have lower back problems that get much worse when I sit and play "Indian style." (Or the politically correct "criss-cross apple sauce" as my kids taught me.) I try to play standing up and moving around as much as possible (keeps the joints warm, I think), or if necessary I'll lean my butt against a stool for support.
Anyway, yeah, I also learned to like my bridge pickup after trying to emulate the sound of some songs I like; never realized that nasal twang can sound so good with distortion, and is often the sound heard in recorded songs. But for clean tones I like the neck pickup better. I swapped the stock high-output Godin pickups with some lower-output GFS pickups, and really like them. (Alnico II humbucker, neck version I put in the bridge, and a "Memphis" bridge pickup, like a Gretsch Filtertron, in the neck. It's an interesting pairing.)
Sounds to me Roy like you are really beginning to appreciate your gear. That is great! As for the feet on the desk, I'd like to do that but my desk in The Man Cave is where the ceiling slopes and I would hit my head if I jumped up there. :twisted: :lol: Seriously though, I like to play standing up but I sympathize with the aging joints. I think my body gets more aches if I play sitting in a chair though so I tend to stand.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Funny there was a discussion on pick up positions a few months back and I was one of the few that preferred the bridge pick up, to me all the rest sound muffled. I have over the last few months used the other positions a bit more but prefer the bridge position still because it seems to cut through better. Part of the reason is the other guitar player plays through a Marshall half stack and he likes to really crank the volume and if I don't do something I get lost in the mix like I'm not even playing....hmm I think there might be a reason he does that, never thought of it.
Anyway since I put the Seymour Hot rail in the bridge I like it even more the Strat is alittle too bright for my liking and I really play it clean except if we play Play That Funky Music but that's been rare lately.
And I prefer to stand now when I'm playing an actual song even if it' just me jamming to a CD through the PA but when I'm practicing it's usually sitting down until I have the passage down reasonably well, then I'll stand up crank up the CD and play along.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Funny, I have lower back problems that get much worse when I sit and play "Indian style." (Or the politically correct "criss-cross apple sauce" as my kids taught me.) I try to play standing up and moving around as much as possible (keeps the joints warm, I think), or if necessary I'll lean my butt against a stool for support.
Yeah, same here - can't sit in any one position for too long. I prefer to stand up whenever possible, stops me tensing up and getting muscle spasms and cramp. I don't have a recliner, but I do have one of those swivelling office chairs upstairs - with that and a carefully-positioned pillow I can get comfortable and kind of half-reclining.
Funny there was a discussion on pick up positions a few months back and I was one of the few that preferred the bridge pick up, to me all the rest sound muffled.
Not sure I remember that particular thread, but if I'd been there, I'd have been one of the few as well! I use the bridge p/u about 95% of the time: can't remember the last time I used the middle position: and the 5% of the time I use the neck p/u is when I'm using a lot of gain but want a slightly sweeter tone in a solo (think of the tone Slash gets in the intro to Sweet Child Of Mine...that's pretty close.) Stock p/u's on a MIM Tele, BTW - with that and a Cube30X, I can get pretty much any tone I need from just that one guitar. No more GAS! The only problem I'd have is trying to recreate that tone in a large auditorium but that's not likely to happen.
Roy, isn't it COOL when you start finding some nice tones - apart from anything else, it means your playing's getting better. Or at least to a standard where you can start enjoying what you're playing. I know one thing that's helped me, though - every time I've recorded something, or even when I'm working on something new, I always, always, ALWAYS make a note of the exact settings I'm using.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
One other thing I've learned along the way is that as much as certain gear gets you certain sound and so on, but you can still do pretty much anything with whatever's in your hands right now. No, nothing is going to make my LP sound like any high dollar Martin, but I can still very much play anything I want with whatever I've got. Last week I decided to fiddle with a little Country beat. Didn't feel like getting up and going for the Tele or an accoustic, so I just used the bridge pick up on my LP, cranked the tone to 10 and I just started twanging away.
A multi-effects board or a modeling amp with lots of doo-dads sure is fun. Still like the clean tone out of my Fender Blues Deluxe the best, though.
Vic: I started using a naming convention on any track I record. In it is the guitar, switch position and user patch number on my GT-10.
It is cool coming up with tones, that's for sure. I made one today for Mark Knopfler's lead on the Brothers In Arms song. I was reading a book I have, one of those "Guitar Styles of...." books. It mentioned that he used an amp called Soldano. Sure enough, that's an option on my GT-10. Just had to dial the proper amount of gain and was in. Very Knopfler-esque. I've also done one for Keith's tone on "Thru and Thru" and Neil Young's tone on "Hey Hey My My", the latter one I've used for a few other Young Classics. It's a little extra work for me because I have to keep the amp cranked way down. I get close to it and then fine tune it by recording, low playback, fiddle, record, etc, etc.
cnev: I imagine that it'd be frustrating to come up with a good tone in the silence and then have it drowned out when the band mates come over.
TR: Yup, I'm really starting to get a feel for some of it, tone wise. Playing is a different story, but it's coming along.
Gabba, that's the key ingredient I didn't have before. Some distortion or power. I had to play everything clean and by golly, that's what I did.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
It took a while, but I think I am finally getting an educated ear for different guitar tones. Kind of snuck up on me, and I've been monkeying around re-learning my gear the past few weeks.
Good to hear Roy. :D
I just love that stuff that "sneaks up on you". It's amazing how much does just creep forward while you're busy concentrating on other stuff.
Cheers,
Chris
