Guitar Discussion Thread V7 - More strings the better - General

[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;29080646]pretty much anything with strings really. I've got guitars, basses, pianos, violins, and acoustic and electric variations of each (except violin, I've only got an acoustic violin). I've even got a few homemade instruments that defy classification (including a whamola, a banzitar, a dijbass, and some others) My favourite of my instruments is entirely homemade except for the metal bits, it's a 4-string bass guitar, has a poplar body designed after the 1986 Dynabass ([url=http://imgkk.com/i/blxi.jpg]link[/url]), maple neck with rosewood 22-fret fingerboard, all gold hardware, active EQ with a passive bypass switch I've got an old picture of the active circuit board here, from right when I had finished it a few months ago. don't have any pictures of the instrument itself yet, I still need to get it painted properly. [media]http://imgkk.com/i/ug73.png[/media][/QUOTE] Friend of mine built a whamola, I'm not quite sure how it operates though. We all street perform, and we've been meaning to get a cigar box group going, with cigar box guitar, bass, mandolin and bucket-drumming. I can appreciate the awesomeness of home made instrumentation (of course mine is much more simplified)

[QUOTE=dranei;29081108]Friend of mine built a whamola, I'm not quite sure how it operates though. We all street perform, and we've been meaning to get a cigar box group going, with cigar box guitar, bass, mandolin and bucket-drumming. I can appreciate the awesomeness of home made instrumentation (of course mine is much more simplified)[/QUOTE] Whamolas are pretty simple. Mine is just a big long strip of maple with a hickory bridge (which was terrible to cut, so use a softer wood if you ever do it), a hickory nut up towards the top, the string runs through the body, over the bridge, over the pickup (which is just a regular old humbucker), up to the nut, goes over a metal pulley onto the tuning peg on the head, which I used a piece of hickory carved subtly into the shape of a penis. the head is held in place by a hinge. and of course it's normally played with a drumstick, but I prefer to use a cello bow

hooray for penis shaped musical instruments

Lol Absinthe listen to my band you fuck and give me cc

don't get offended if I decide to review it poorly [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] I'll do a narrative so to speak • 8 seconds in and I hate the drum sound and the patterns seems too poppy • 36 seconds in, oh boy, system of a down • god this quality is bad even for black metal • 1:24; that solo was weird but w/e. this new riff seems cool • 1:58; this riff complements the previous well • fucking hell this quality, man • oh boy bass and a bend • gee that drummer sure can keep time • 3:39; that solo. what am I listening to • 4:08; so far the song is leaving a good impression • 4:41; this new riff is cheesy incarnate and not stylish enough to make up for it • 5:32; oh boy, double time first song is pretty ok, I have trouble finding more than one thing I could make fun of second song hasn't started yet. I paused foo fighters - the colour and shape to do this. and it was on 'there goes my hero' at that. this better be worth it • oh boy, authentic viking speak • 7:10; if this intro is any longer that'll be bad • 7:31; just as I finished typing that last line it ended. good thing, this new riff is nice. nice enough to make me get over the bad aud- what the fuck is with those vocals • 8:37; your vocalist sounds like the guy from tool. this is a bad thing • 8:55; VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - is this dubstep • 9:44; I like this lead tone, but it may just be the clusterfuck of mic distortion shaping it • 11:14; is your vocalist trying to be the guy from tool or james hetfield? I can't decide and it seems like he can't either • 11:30; oh boy, more double time • the solos seem more like filler than music at this poin- well that was an abrupt end so there you go. my review feel free to interpret my comments any way you like

Oh man this was awesome [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH2CuO85HwE&feature=related[/media]

[QUOTE=Hullu V3;29083575]Oh man this was awesome [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH2CuO85HwE&feature=related[/media][/QUOTE] It's emo David Gilmour!

[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;29077462]most of my works end up in mixolydian mode if I'm writing on piano, ionian if I'm on bass or guitar Can't tell you why it just happens like that[/QUOTE] What modes are which now, I really like the Egyptian sounding one that powerslave was written in.

[QUOTE=dranei;29079053]Exploring the joys of open tuning, learning some delta blues[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkuW0Yp3FtI[/media]

I think I want a 10-band EQ at some point for more tone shaping. The only pedals I have to get now before I'm just purely buying upgrades and/or replacements is a delay, reverb, octaver and an EQ pedal.

This is marvelous absinthe. Good to get proper criticism! Also in the second song I'm using a bass octave pedal for the lead tone.

You don't want your lead guitar being bassy. You actually probably want to cut more bass than you think, the lead guitar needs to cut through everything. When you're on own it's nice to have a bit of bass in your tone to back you up but if you're playing live or in a studio situation you really want the actuall bass guitar and bass/toms on the drums to fill the bass frequencies, the guitars in the mid and high range (cutting more into the highs) and everything else fits into it's appropriate place too. [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] When I play at home I never leave the neck or neck-mid position on my Strats.. but when I perform with my band I don't ever leave mid-bridge and bridge. Unless I have my G&L which has Bass and Treble controls in the tone pots instead of an overall treble cut/mid tweak.. so if I play on neck I can roll the bass from my signal right out and still cut through the mix while getting that nice stratty neck sound. Edit: [B]Unless[/B] when I'm doing a lead part and I'm really much louder than everything then I'll flip to neck to get that fat sound to back my self up or if I really really need a neck sound I'll use it above everything but I'd probably use a boost pedal in conjunction with that.

[QUOTE=LasGunz;29089029]You don't want your lead guitar being bassy. You actually probably want to cut more bass than you think, the lead guitar needs to cut through everything. When you're on own it's nice to have a bit of bass in your tone to back you up but if you're playing live or in a studio situation you really want the actuall bass guitar and bass/toms on the drums to fill the bass frequencies, the guitars in the mid and high range (cutting more into the highs) and everything else fits into it's appropriate place too. [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] When I play at home I never leave the neck or neck-mid position on my Strats.. but when I perform with my band I don't ever leave mid-bridge and bridge. Unless I have my G&L which has Bass and Treble controls in the tone pots instead of an overall treble cut/mid tweak.. so if I play on neck I can roll the bass from my signal right out and still cut through the mix while getting that nice stratty neck sound. Edit: [B]Unless[/B] when I'm doing a lead part and I'm really much louder than everything then I'll flip to neck to get that fat sound to back my self up or if I really really need a neck sound I'll use it above everything but I'd probably use a boost pedal in conjunction with that.[/QUOTE] I've only gotten to blast my tube amp at 100w four times, and I always played on the bridge/mid and mid position.

Speaking of Tube amps.. I would give anything to own this amp: [img]http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/6/6/4/827664.jpg[/img] It's actually not hugely out of my budget, it would just take a few months to save up for. The weird thing is this FSR/Limited version DRRi (red tolex) is actually cheaper than a typical 65' DRRi at my local guitar shop but being a special/limited run means my time is running out on getting one.. because once this years run is out they won't make any more meaning the used prices will shoot up :(

A lot of people don't realize a few things about equalization. The first is that applying a 6db cut to all frequencies below 500hz would sound the same as applying 6db of gain to all frequencies above 500hz. This is assuming that you compensation for the difference in volume and are using an ideal EQ. So what this means is that you can increase your high frequencies by simply providing a cut to the low end. A common piece of mixing advice is to attenuate frequencies before you apply gain to frequencies. Both methods work and can get you the same result, but cutting is usually safer because you are more likely to not overdo anything and because you are cutting out stuff that doesn't need to be there. A big thing about distortion and EQ is that you are amplifying everything, so you'll end up amplifying a whole lot of junk. There is a lot to the signal that you really don't want to be amplified because it will just mud it up. This is why you should EQ your guitar properly prior to recording. There is nothing you can do to get rid of those unwanted amplified frequencies after recording, and if it really has a big impact on the mix, you'd likely have to rerecord it. I feel as though I've heard this a lot, and it is that your guitar shouldn't need much equalization in the mix because that should have been dealt with in the recording process.

what would i get for this one: [IMG]http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/members/e55et-albums-misc-picture20863-kasuga.jpg[/IMG] it's a Kasuga similar to the one on the picture. that's all i know

i always play in the bridge position of my guitar for rythm and the kind of solos that hit you hard and are really powerful. when i play really melodic solos i use alot of hammer ons and pull off so i like my tone as smooth as possible so for that i use the neck pickup and to top it all off i might add some delay to make it even more epic.

What does true bypass mean when applied to a pedal?

It means it doesn't affect your signal when it's turned off. Some pedals say they are and aren't (normally cheaper ones) and some just aren't (some just aren't, some are based on vintage designs)

True Bypass is when the signal doesn't run through the circuit at all, you get folk who put True Bypass on their pedal but really the signal takes a shortcut through the circuit which can add micro-ohm changes to your singnal and "colour" it, the more bad true-bypass pedals you have in a chain the more it will start to alter/colour and suck your tone. You also get buffered pedals that when turned off actually boost your signal (note: not volume) so keep the signal consistent through all of your pedals. I know people who use a pedal with buffering at the start of their effects chain to keep the signal consistent throughout the chain and then one at the end to make sure it stays the same going into the amp. It really helps remove some of the colouring from a lot of true bypass (and non true bypass pedals) your tone.

[QUOTE=LasGunz;29091158]True Bypass is when the signal doesn't run through the circuit at all, you get folk who put True Bypass on their pedal but really the signal takes a shortcut through the circuit which can add micro-ohm changes to your singnal and "colour" it, the more bad true-bypass pedals you have in a chain the more it will start to alter/colour and suck your tone. You also get buffered pedals that when turned off actually boost your signal (note: not volume) so keep the signal consistent through all of your pedals. I know people who use a pedal with buffering at the start of their effects chain to keep the signal consistent throughout the chain and then one at the end to make sure it stays the same going into the amp. It really helps remove some of the colouring from a lot of true bypass (and non true bypass pedals) your tone.[/QUOTE] This. Entirely, this. :respek:

[QUOTE=LasGunz;29089029]You don't want your lead guitar being bassy. You actually probably want to cut more bass than you think, the lead guitar needs to cut through everything. When you're on own it's nice to have a bit of bass in your tone to back you up but if you're playing live or in a studio situation you really want the actuall bass guitar and bass/toms on the drums to fill the bass frequencies, the guitars in the mid and high range (cutting more into the highs) and everything else fits into it's appropriate place too. [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] When I play at home I never leave the neck or neck-mid position on my Strats.. but when I perform with my band I don't ever leave mid-bridge and bridge. Unless I have my G&L which has Bass and Treble controls in the tone pots instead of an overall treble cut/mid tweak.. so if I play on neck I can roll the bass from my signal right out and still cut through the mix while getting that nice stratty neck sound. Edit: [B]Unless[/B] when I'm doing a lead part and I'm really much louder than everything then I'll flip to neck to get that fat sound to back my self up or if I really really need a neck sound I'll use it above everything but I'd probably use a boost pedal in conjunction with that.[/QUOTE] I only play rhythm in the neck or neck+middle positions and play solo on the neck pickup.

In a band or on your own? If in a band chances are you have your amp louder than everyone else or it just sounds plain bad in the mix. Unless your amp settings favor mids and treble over bass, as in lots more to buff out the warmth and bass of neck pickups. [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] Don't get me wrong, a lot of artists use the bassier pickups. Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan are two prime examples but they're kind of justified.. Hendrix's band were just a cut below him, they were virtually useless to him.. so the sound was pretty much all his guitar.. so the neck actually helped back up him while the band trot behind him keeping tempo. SRV's tone was already very glassy and piercing at times and he used neck-mid a lot which has a brighter more quacky sound so it cut through the mix a lot more. They're also both more known for their skills at guitar than their music as a whole.. so they generally got let away with taking massive lead sections where the band would just step back and let them unleash. There's lots to think about if you want a nice mix wether it's in the practice room or in the studio it all applies, though the set up for each is different you can follow the same structure.

Well we are a trio, so I add more bass to give a fuller sound

That's fair enough then. In that case John Mayer is the perfect example of when the bassier pickups can be awesome live or in a mix, when he plays with the John Mayer Trio it's usually all done like that. [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] Currently have my amp set around 1-2 watts and I'm getting an awesome tone from it. I love this amp for using in the house.. I've got a really nice shimmery glassy blues sound (SRV-like) that's slightly overdriven and then my Tubescreamer clone gives me a boost in volume and gain, then my fuzz pedals are set to how I like them, Wah and Modulation set up right to reduce muddyness in my sound. My chain currently goes like this: Big Muff > Wah > Swollen Pickle > Tubescreamer > Marshall Regenerator (modulation) Soon it will be Compressor > Big Muff > Wah > Pickle > Tubescreamer > Phaser > Delay > Regenerator > Reverb With an expression pedal for the Regenerator off-board probably. I might find a spot for my Double Muff again but I don't use it much currently.

i'm waiting for a miracle to happen so i can get some money and buy my amp > buy dist pedal > tune guitar to drop B [editline]10th April 2011[/editline] and eventually buy DFH

Real men tune to drop Z

You know you've tuned too low when you strum one string it vibrates so wide it hits the strings next to it. :v:

[QUOTE=kirderf;29095772]So I tuned down to drop A again today because I wanted to play Boris. The string was so sloppy that it would often hit the A string too when played :v:[/QUOTE] Solution: Get a 7 string.

[QUOTE=kirderf;29095772]You know you've tuned too low when you strum one string it vibrates so wide it hits the strings next to it. :v:[/QUOTE] Which just happened when I was playing Boris by Melvins