The New Guitar Topic

[PCJ.]

Soundscapes are a real art; a really tough one to do right though. Pretty much anyone can throw a loop together and create a bunch of noise to call a soundscape, but its really not easy to craft a soundscape with depth and emotion that people want to listen to.

 

Once you've sorted a nice crunchy distortion, I'd definitely look into delay, almost a necessity for a decent soundscape, I'd suggest a Line 6 DL-4; really diverse, a good number of modelling functions. A reverb might also be of some help, something like the EHX Holy Grail, and then perhaps some modulation units- chorus, phaser, ring modulator- if you're into that kind of sound, I personally try to avoid them, delay, reverb and distortion tend to do it for me.

 

But aside from the effects, try thinking outside of conventional styles- different tunings and the like. I've ever used and E-bow, but I've heard good things about them, it could be just the thing you're looking for to create a deep atmosphere.

 

[Lochie_old]

Whadda you guys think of this guitar?

 

http://www.theresa2248.sidalcea.info/ (http://www.theresa2248.sidalcea.info/) (http://www.theresa2248.sidalcea.info/)

 

 

I SOOOOO want it!

Thats not a guitar, its a sh*tty dating site.

 

So its sh*t.

 

@PCJ: That post was the icing to Masterkrafts cake, thank you both.

[Slamman]

I don't know if talking 'Soundscapes' subjectively is the proper place in this thread, however, when guitars are involved, it could also go well in the Metal thread.

 

Former Disturbed (MN)'s soundman and co-host on the Root of All Evil, Tim Honebrink was part of the musicians involved in a project called The Circle of Bring. That involved guitars swirling around a collage effect. Negativeland was a major influence.

 

Good stuff with ambient flare.

 

Getting ON the TOPIC at hand, I read that Line 6 has a new portable POD out, and I sold my original over a year ago... I am curious if this thing sounds better or the same....as perhaps the 2.0 version of the original?

I never updated mine, but it makes me wonder if they still update software with patches?

[PCJ.]

 

I don't know if talking 'Soundscapes' subjectively is the proper place in this thread, however, when guitars are involved, it could also go well in the Metal thread.

 

Since when are you any kind of authority on on-topic posting?

Of course this is the right thread to talk about it, take a listen to bands like Sigur Ros or Sonic Youth's more ambient stuff, they manage some pretty solid soundscapes with guitars, but they're about as welcome in the metal thread as you are.

 

Try reading the post:

 

Hmm... I like music that creates a soundscape, and you can't create a soundscape with a single guitar. I'm leaning towards more of the effects as I have a decent guitar right now. What would you suggest to do in my case?

 

In case you missed it:

 

I'm leaning towards more of the effects as I have a decent guitar right now. What would you suggest to do in my case?

 

Thats more on topic that anything I've seen you post in the last six months.

 

On a more positive note, between Christmas and my University bursary, I've managed to scrape together bout £300. I've got my heart set on a resonator. I played one in the shop a few months back but it was a little out of my price range. If any one happens to own one, I'd love to hear some recommendations, i can't say I know a huge amount about them.

[Slamman]

Get off the Slamman bash bus. I don't bash you or anyone elee, only defend my opinions. I got banned for Off Topic which is why I am mentioning what I think are Off Topic leaning posts. Regardless, I have to follow the SAME rules... I know that.

Thanks.

 

 

With regard to the Soundscape EFFECTS that ACTUALLY USE guitar, sure, that can fit in this topic, but not specifically going on at length about music and genres. That's my point solely

Again, the moderators are the judges, not me.... I'm just stating observation

[Blind Joe Death]

Just taught myself the intro to 'Sleep - Dragonaut'.

 

I can't stop playing it now, even though my fingers are hurting like hell. Catchy as f*ck.

[rhyn]

Just taught myself the intro to 'Sleep - Dragonaut'.

 

I can't stop playing it now, even though my fingers are hurting like hell. Catchy as f*ck.

Been there man. I played guitar for 10 hours one day, my finger even bled a little. Silly kid I was

[TheJonesy]

Well, the band I'm in were doing a couple of songs at a concert. And, unfortunately, I messed up my one solo! The most dissappointing part was that it was easy as hell. I was so stressed and so upset when I screwed it up. I felt like I was lit on fire by the amount of heat radiating from me. Luckily, I barely recovered, so I didn't truly blow it. But still! It was my first time doing a show. Oh, the dissappointment.

 

Though, I guess I should relax more when I'm playing a song in front of a few, boredom-strickened parents at a school concert. Ha ha ha! Hell, I prefered to play something like Megadeth's Addicted To Chaos rather than f*cking Hey Jude, but now I'm glad I said nothing. Heh.

 

But what can I say, music is music, right?

[rhyn]

Well, the band I'm in were doing a couple of songs at a concert. And, unfortunately, I messed up my one solo! The most dissappointing part was that it was easy as hell. I was so stressed and so upset when I screwed it up. I felt like I was lit on fire by the amount of heat radiating from me. Luckily, I barely recovered, so I didn't truly blow it. But still! It was my first time doing a show. Oh, the dissappointment.

 

Though, I guess I should relax more when I'm playing a song in front of a few, boredom-strickened parents at a school concert. Ha ha ha! Hell, I prefered to play something like Megadeth's Addicted To Chaos rather than f*cking Hey Jude, but now I'm glad I said nothing. Heh.

 

But what can I say, music is music, right?

I wouldn't worry about it, everyone f*cks up. I can only really say I've ever played 1 flawless set and it was only half an hour. Once you realise that you are going to mess up it's easier to just focus on having fun.

[TheJonesy]

Yeah, I know what you mean. All I can say is, no matter what the song is, it's so much better once you learn to actually play it. Makes music seem that much more entertaining. Very satisfactory once you step up from playing something like Happy Birthday. Too bad it's difficult sometimes.

[rhyn]

Learning Glasgow Kiss by John Petrucci at the moment. Realy fun to play but I'm having more trouble than I'd like keeping the same fret sweeps across the 9th fret sounding as clean as John does. Stupid boney fingers. Any tips?

[Canoxa]

Learning Glasgow Kiss by John Petrucci at the moment. Realy fun to play but I'm having more trouble than I'd like keeping the same fret sweeps across the 9th fret sounding as clean as John does. Stupid boney fingers. Any tips?

Personally, I do that with a finger per string, no rolling. Much cleaner. It's a catchy song, innit? Very fun to play too. I actually had most of the song nailed at the tempo during this summer, but damn, one day was enough to screw up the whole flow.

[rhyn]

Learning Glasgow Kiss by John Petrucci at the moment. Realy fun to play but I'm having more trouble than I'd like keeping the same fret sweeps across the 9th fret sounding as clean as John does. Stupid boney fingers. Any tips?

Personally, I do that with a finger per string, no rolling. Much cleaner. It's a catchy song, innit? Very fun to play too. I actually had most of the song nailed at the tempo during this summer, but damn, one day was enough to screw up the whole flow.

Ah one finger per string eh? I'l give it a go, thanks. Yea I really love that song, every time I pick up my guitar I catch myself playing it now.

[Slamman]

Just taught myself the intro to 'Sleep - Dragonaut'.

 

I can't stop playing it now, even though my fingers are hurting like hell. Catchy as f*ck.

Been there man. I played guitar for 10 hours one day, my finger even bled a little. Silly kid I was

back on the BCR board, years ago, I recall one guy saying "practice, practice, practice". There were some pretty intense guitar players on the forum. I was just a casual player, enjoying guitar for myself, rather then making a go of it as a career or anything. I did aquaint myself with the hardware end, more then playing till I got strong fingers... I tend to have that getting me to put the guitar back down, crossing that stage is no picnic, but it's true, it's part of the path one needs to go on if they are intent on playing the guitar to it's fullest, but don't forget to please YOURSELF first.

 

I've got a 1984 BCR Ironbird. I had it cleaned up and the tremolo removed but since then, the Kahler Pro I wanted has been too dang popular to round up one to go in my axe. I took an old Flyer version off, but if I could find what I did with it, I'd consider installing it again just so I can play the damn thing! haha It's sitting here with no strings or bridge!

[nabo45]

Don't let the topic fade away guys!

 

*Bump!*

 

Anyway, I just got myself a brand new distortion pedal, the Digitech HardWire SC-2 Valve Distortion. After only playing for a hour or so I already f*ckin' love this thing!

 

It sounds amazing, it's very versitle and it's easy to use. It's got 2 seperate channels, sharing the same EQ. The first channel one is called "Crunch" and will give you that old school UFO/ACDC tone. And the other channel, called Saturated, can give you that JCM800 crunch if you turn gain halfways up, and if you turn it all the way up you get a great metal tone.

 

So if any of you guys are gonna get a new distortion pedal, you should deffenatly consider this one!

[Gouveia]

I currently have a Tagima, brazillian guitar. It's not the best one, but with some tuning and fixing on the luthier, it'll do just fine. I don't have any kind of overdrive pedal, I just use the default amplifier distortion, wich is sh*tty but does the job. What do you think that would be better for me to buy first: An effects pedal (Boss ME-70) or an axe (Ibanez GRG-270). I will buy both, but I can't buy them at the same time.

 

Thanks for any help

[Slamman]

"on the luthier"? It's the Luthier who is the guy doing guitar setup and repair, often building custom stringed instruments as well.

[beavis]

Need some advice:

 

I have an Ibanez artcore ag85

 

 

(BTW, I searched for the guitar on google and I came up with a picture I posted on the forums 5 years ago. Neat!)

 

The guitar does a good job playing at clean. It does an alright with some gain, but after I raise the gain, the sounds gets very muddy.

 

I was wondering if anyone recommends a guitar that handles highs very good other than the typical Fender Strat.

[Slamman]

Beavis, you should maybe look at how Ted Nugent fed and tamed his Gibson Byrdlands...also jazz hollowbody design. Those look modelled after a Gretch however....the style is somewhat akin though. Ted fought feedback at high volume for years.

[beavis]

Beavis, you should maybe look at how Ted Nugent fed and tamed his Gibson Byrdlands...also jazz hollowbody design. Those look modelled after a Gretch however....the style is somewhat akin though. Ted fought feedback at high volume for years.

The guitar I mentioned above is a Jazz hollow body guitar. I'm looking for a solid body to semi hollow. Humbuckers preferred considering I'm not into single coil pickups.

[Slamman]

If you recall those huge Byrdlands, they were not thought of in the context Nuge is famous for, but part of that stems from his joy of the guitars, of which he owned a good few.

 

Les Pauls have sharply fallen in price where you can steer around the cheaper Epiphone models. I mentioned for just rocking whenever, whereever, the Charvel has never let me down. I recommend them still.

[nabo45]

Well, if you want a hollowbody you should go with a Gibson/Epiphone Es-335. It's a great guitar, great for many styles of music.

 

If you want a solid body, you should get a Jackson or a Charvel (if you can afford one, that is). Epiphone also makes great guitars, but avoid the lower end ones, as they're pretty much sh*te. Um, Dean guitars are great also, and they also do a lot of styles very well, and for a very good price. ESP's LTD series are amazing, I know a bloke who's got a LTD Eclipse EC-500, I'ts fukken amazing, I tell ya! It's cheap and it's got very good quality pickups & electronics etc. Great for everything from Deathcore metal to soft Jazz.

 

But really, go to your local guitar store and just test out guitars you like untill you found the one that fits YOU the best.

 

 

Edit: Sorry if I'm like rambling, but I'm very tired right now..

[rhyn]

 

If you want a solid body, you should get a Jackson or a Charvel (if you can afford one, that is). Epiphone also makes great guitars, but avoid the lower end ones, as they're pretty much sh*te. Um, Dean guitars are great also, and they also do a lot of styles very well, and for a very good price. ESP's LTD series are amazing, I know a bloke who's got a LTD Eclipse EC-500, I'ts fukken amazing, I tell ya! It's cheap and it's got very good quality pickups & electronics etc. Great for everything from Deathcore metal to soft Jazz.

You forgot to mention the Ibanez RG and SA series'. You can get an excellent quality one relatively cheap and I'd rate them above Jackson any day.

[nabo45]

 

If you want a solid body, you should get a Jackson or a Charvel (if you can afford one, that is). Epiphone also makes great guitars, but avoid the lower end ones, as they're pretty much sh*te. Um, Dean guitars are great also, and they also do a lot of styles very well, and for a very good price. ESP's LTD series are amazing, I know a bloke who's got a LTD Eclipse EC-500, I'ts fukken amazing, I tell ya! It's cheap and it's got very good quality pickups & electronics etc. Great for everything from Deathcore metal to soft Jazz.

You forgot to mention the Ibanez RG and SA series'. You can get an excellent quality one relatively cheap and I'd rate them above Jackson any day.

 

True that. I woulden't know about the RG series, but I have a SA260 myself, and I simply love it. It's a great blues guitar, and if you crank the gain on your amp, you can get a great metal or hard rock tone out of it.

 

Only flaw on this guitar is the vibrato system, which is kind of a mix between a Floyd Rose and a standard strat tremolo system.

 

I would deffenatly reccomend this guitar too.

[Slamman]

There is some theory to tremolo setup, I can help with that, I've owned a great deal of tremolo guitars, and with good reason.

 

I LOVE THEM!

 

Some players look down on it as a crutch.

Other players look down on it as too much hassle.

 

Not just EVH's famous Eruption DiveBombs, but many other nice trem effects can be heard the World over. In metal, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman have been playing Kahler Pro trems since day one, well, pretty much!

 

One of the main tricks getting started is to string up a tremolo blocked off in the back where the tensioner resides, dependant on the cavity, keep the bridge resting solidly while you add strings and tenstion them on the headstock/tuners.

 

As it comes up to the correct pitch, adjust the rear tension at that stage so that the block for the cavity comes out due to lack of tension. Preferably you set the bridge level near flat, so you have room to dive forward and back with the bridge.

 

Next tip is to bend your bar flat if you dived sharp with it, and vice-versa, this can correct for being left out of pitch even with a lock at the headstock.

I have to resort to this myself, because there is no string lock on the bridge for my Kahler fulcrum.

 

It's not something one would like to contend with but I read it suggested elsewhere and that seems to prove itself in use as well. However, when playing at speed, it requires some deft hand to not be noticed in the playing. Correcting when you want to dive the other way would need to be muted from the amped output.

 

Charvel Deluxe models sell at $300 back when I bought mine, and I believe you can come down $100 by now

[fox09]

Excuse the sh*tty phone pictures.

 

Richie Kotzen signature telecaster.

Old and new.

 

 

It plays like a dream. It sounds amazing. And it's incredibly sexy. It must be love.

 

 

[Slamman]

I was at Guitar Center when someone raised the Fender vs Gibson debate with me, while even then, I was firmly in the Jackson/BC Rich camp. I prefer Gibbos, myself. However, mere hours ago I was at the pawn shop getting a new copy of GTA4 and they had a woodgrain, chrome pickupcovered Epiphone Korina V there for $199. NOW THAT'S LOVE!!!

 

They also had a genuine Fender Tele as well, in blue, which is my preferred color. I see that one on the left seems very similar. It was around $300 bones, totally affordable!!

[TheJonesy]

Is anybody here familiar with improvisation? These Ionians and Phrygians and such are kicking my ass trying to make them sound half-way decent with what I'm playing. When I jump into a solo, I try to make it as interesting as I can with - for example - the Major scale. But my "teacher' says I'm not playing the right notes. Maybe I should focus on emphasizing the roots, thirds, and fifths a.k.a. the notes of the chord?

 

Music frustrates me sometimes...

[Mojam]

Is anybody here familiar with improvisation? These Ionians and Phrygians and such are kicking my ass trying to make them sound half-way decent with what I'm playing. When I jump into a solo, I try to make it as interesting as I can with - for example - the Major scale. But my "teacher' says I'm not playing the right notes. Maybe I should focus on emphasizing the roots, thirds, and fifths a.k.a. the notes of the chord?

 

Music frustrates me sometimes...

Tbh, I don't really believe in right or wrong notes, you can play whatever the hell you want. The feel's gotta be appropriate though, you can always justify going out-of-scale or mixing scales if the feel is right. Targetting is a good idea, as you metioned. Your standard intervals are safe places. You can begin the a new measure of a chord by playing the root note or another interval. Sometimes, hitting other intervals can be more interesting but you gotta play around with that.

 

Phrasing and sequencing is essential though, it can make your standard scale run quite interesting sonically. I started off by learning a few licks that I could tranpose into the scales I wanted; they can be quite useful in improv. Ultimately, you just gotta mess around with it. You got the theory side of it down, and that's a great start

 

 

[TheJonesy]

Although I have been playing for quite some time, I've barely practiced much with songs - mostly since what I listen too is way out of my skill range - as well as my novice-leved knowledge. So my ability to have an ear of what sounds right and what doesn't is still off but, hopefully, building. When I'm by myself or atleast when I have control over what we play (we being my friends), I choose to stick with basics such as 12-bar blues, improvising over the chords.

 

As you've confirmed, I seem to know some basic theory well. It's just that there's no sense in knowing all this stuff if you can't utilize it successfully. I do feel rather confident in creating something, whether it being what to play or improv over an existing progression. Though, I'm still a bit iffy about intervals; what exactly are they? Is it like, for example, if a particular chord is being played, you can choose to solo out of the key of it's third or fifth like I had mentioned before?

 

And thank you for your response. I feel better about soloing already.