Guitar Discussion V10 - February 2013 edition - General

[QUOTE=Rapist;42078474]How low can you tune a guitar with it still being playable? massive bends -3 step tuning double albert king[/QUOTE] as long as there is some tension on them they'll still be playable. [editline]5th September 2013[/editline] there's lots of buzzing and strange overtones normally with a jazzmaster though

So, I got an electric guitar last Christmas, and I've been trying to get better. I know all the basic chords and can transition from one to another nicely, smoothly, and strum them cleanly. I also use to take piano, so with a little bit of thinking I can determine which notes are where on each string. However, because it's electric, I wanted to get better at single notes and not just chords all the time, but when I try it sounds like garbage because I'm just not good at it. Can I get some tips to get better? I'm willing to put forth a lot of time, because I know that's what it will take.

learn to play single-note passages

[QUOTE=supersocko;42082974]So, I got an electric guitar last Christmas, and I've been trying to get better. I know all the basic chords and can transition from one to another nicely, smoothly, and strum them cleanly. I also use to take piano, so with a little bit of thinking I can determine which notes are where on each string. However, because it's electric, I wanted to get better at single notes and not just chords all the time, but when I try it sounds like garbage because I'm just not good at it. Can I get some tips to get better? I'm willing to put forth a lot of time, because I know that's what it will take.[/QUOTE] Grab a real book and learn to play the heads on some old jazz standards. That helped me a lot when I was doing guitar in school.

Am i supposed to use the amp simulators in ableton? They sound unclean as fuck usually.

[QUOTE=Rapist;42078474]How low can you tune a guitar with it still being playable? massive bends -3 step tuning double albert king[/QUOTE] I have my PRS Baritone tuned to 15 semi-tones lower sitting at a C# with the thickest string beeing a .90 It is fantastically playable and tons of fun, tension is no problem since it's a 27.7 scale and it stays in tune more than a standard tuned GIO ibanez :v: tfw 6 string guitar lower tuned than 4 string standard bass. [editline]5th September 2013[/editline] tfw it actually sounds good: [media]http://soundcloud.com/caynug/caynug-unjustly-labeled[/media]

one of my basses is tuned an octave below regular BEADGC

[QUOTE=butre;42084832]one of my basses is tuned an octave below regular BEADGC[/QUOTE] I've been there too with my PRS, lowest I went was A#. I play my 5 string bass in AEADG. [editline]5th September 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=butre;42084832]one of my basses is tuned an octave below regular BEADGC[/QUOTE] You mean your bass is in a standard 5 string bass tuning, octave below regular standard 5 bass tuning would need to have bridge cables as strings.

What distortion pedal should I get? I've got a couple of Behringer pedals and they're pretty rad, but I was thinking of getting a boss ds-1. Any suggestions?

[QUOTE=Pat.Lithium;42085853]What distortion pedal should I get? I've got a couple of Behringer pedals and they're pretty rad, but I was thinking of getting a boss ds-1. Any suggestions?[/QUOTE] Don't ever get a metal zone :smile: Proco-Rat is a quite good sounding distortion pedal. If you really want to make wonders to your distortion sound just get some pedal you think sounds good and put an EQ pedal after the distortion pedal, you will get almost every tone out of such a setup. Also always remember to take out a little bit of the 400-600hz range on your distortion, instantly better sound.

Never been a big fan of distortion pedals, but overdrives on the other hand... hnnnnggh [url]https://soundcloud.com/iambulb/ran-crusher-8-tone-test[/url] [url]https://soundcloud.com/iambulb/mayones-white-blue-fade-regius[/url] What black magic does misha use to make his 8s sound so fucking clear

For me I only really use my Morley ( [url]http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/morley-mark-tremonti-wah-pedal[/url] ). I've never really found myself liking pedals that much, I'd rather switch between clean and dirty amps.

I use boss ds-1 and have a boss ds-2 as well and they are pretty good; many bands use(d) them.

[video=youtube;dFVW-P2Iurs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFVW-P2Iurs[/video] Was playing this song trying to downpick the whole thing hetfield-style and realized the breakdown at the end is the goddamn mario theme but with one note

[QUOTE=Darkslicer;42085149]I've been there too with my PRS, lowest I went was A#. I play my 5 string bass in AEADG. [editline]5th September 2013[/editline] You mean your bass is in a standard 5 string bass tuning, octave below regular standard 5 bass tuning would need to have bridge cables as strings.[/QUOTE] Octave below regular 6 string bass tuning. The low B is a .235

Why would you even do that?

[QUOTE=A Noobcake;42095276]Why would you even do that?[/QUOTE] it's a bass, and it's producing bass frequencies. is there something wrong with that? It can produce them clearly, it's not like it's just muddy shit or anything

wait what do you mean an octave below six string bass? you mean notes below 30hz?

i dont care how or why i just want to hear it

the lowest note is 15 Hz. it's not necessarily audible but you can feel it if the volume is there. honestly though I'd tune it to D0 if I were comfortable with the tension, but the strings were bought used from a guy on talkbass who apparently had way better hearing than me

I don't get it. That just sounds dumb. Why would you tune your bass down below audible frequencies? What kind of music could ever benefit from something like that?

audible frequencies are there you ninny just not at the bottom two notes of the B string

[QUOTE=A Noobcake;42105987]I don't get it. That just sounds dumb. Why would you tune your bass down below audible frequencies? What kind of music could ever benefit from something like that?[/QUOTE] This is the wrong question. Plenty of music benefits from sub bass and some clubs can get resonances below 1Hz that shape the feel of the place. Also, while 20Hz is the average lowest point, some people can hear down to 12Hz, and nobody says you ought to trim higher frequencies on a song (except where you have to) because not everybody hears them. Here's the right question: What cabinet do you use?

I don't typically use it otherwise, but I have a folded horn thing that was built for a local studio that closed down about 10 years ago. It's the only cab I've got that can do those frequencies well, but doesn't really do other frequencies all that nicely

I'm willing to bet your hobby piece doesn't actually hit 15Hz. The average dedicated super-low frequency transducers struggle with 18Hz cleanly.

It will distort the very bottom note a bit. Like I said though, it would be tuned to D0 if it weren't for the added tension. I wouldn't call it a hobby piece either to be honest, the subcontra range can provide quite a neat effect to any song.

Can you post a video or a recording? I'm very interested on how it sounds.

Heh. I actually threw a guitar in the bin and it got taken away by the binmen. Don't worry, it was a pathetic piece of plywood crap that wasn't worth the effort to fix, and it was cluttering up my room, so I threw it away. I just chucked it in a black bag with some other crap and it actually got taken away. I'm quite surprised.

[QUOTE=dcalde78;42123177]Heh. I actually threw a guitar in the bin and it got taken away by the binmen. Don't worry, it was a pathetic piece of plywood crap that wasn't worth the effort to fix, and it was cluttering up my room, so I threw it away. I just chucked it in a black bag with some other crap and it actually got taken away. I'm quite surprised.[/QUOTE] A binman's son is now very happy with his new plywood guitar

I have gotten my shipment of an omen and a hellraiser. the omen is a korean model from 2002, it's sort of cool, but nothing really special, the hellraiser is actually really beautiful, made in 09 south korea