Guitar players?

enormouslyaverage

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I'm 20 and I've been playing for about 5.5-6 years now. I'm playing a Cherryburst Les Paul through a Crate Blue Voodoo head into a 380w Randall 4x12 cabinet. I also have a cheap Yamaha acoustic and an OLP Stingray bass. I have no bass amp though. I've played hundreds of shows and I've done three tours. One Ontario tour, one West coast tour and an East coast tour. Currently my band is kind of on hiatus, with all of us focusing on school instead of rocking out but things should pick up again in summer. We play a wierd brand of punk/metal/alternative. Very technical riffs over fairly simple chord progressions.

I won't give links to my band but the band Wheels on the Bus (RIP) and us have done many shows in the past and frankly, we sound exactly the same.

MySpace.com - WOTB - REUNION SHOW SEPT 15 @ AGGRESSION - Brampton, CA - Rock / Punk / Metal - www.myspace.com/wheelsonthebus
 

lucky8

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I'm a beginner.

I have an electric now, I used to have an acoustic. I know a few chords - D, A, G, C. But I still need to learn to move between chords. There's a long pause between chords :redface:

My girlfriend's brother is going to teach me to play, he taught himself. I envy people like that!

I don't want to post my 'rig' since its probably shit lol.

But yeah...I'll start practicing again, tonight hopefully.


its not what ya play, its how ya play it that matters!

o ya, and im pushin all my power through a Marshall MG250DFX combo amp when i feel like being loud.

RandyLahey, hows that Ibanez phaser sound? ive been thinkin about buying a phaser but havent seen one that is worth the money yet. would you recommend it? i too am obssessed with playing SRV and would love to hear how you achieve his tone. so far ive only been able to come close to it with my microvibe and DS1 mixed with reverb, and i feel like a very sutble phaser effect on top of my setup may be the way to go.
 

faceking

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Agreed, Kotzen is great. Allan Holdsworth is my all time favorite...crazy player, and an improvisational genious. One of the main influences of the entire shred genre, and far beyond most of them.

YouTube - Allan Holdsworth - Tokyo Live 1984 [masterpiece solo]

there's a funny interview for 2 minutes before hand...just skip it if you want.

EDIT: This one is more song like
YouTube - Allan Holdsworth - Proto Cosmos

There are a bunch more on youtube...all phenomenal

Gadzooks... the problem with Holdsworth is he's the most INACCESSIBLE guitarist in history... maybe that's his redemption. But please, give me a guitarist with soul/spirit/vibe/etc/.... (see Jimi Hendrix).

to me.. the "technician" aspect of guitarist is very, no VERY overated (see Holdsworth, Malmsteen, and very wanker on a small label)...

what counts is spirit.. I think Miles Davis said it best.. "it's no so much the notes you play, but the notes you don't play".
 

circumstances

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guitar player and singer here as well.

i've played professionally for many years (cover bands, some originals liberally sprinkled in).

main influences are buck dharma, alex lifeson, jimmy page.

rush is my favorite band of all time.

my current gig is a three piece, 2 acoustic guitars, 1 stand up bass. mostly alt/rock from the last 10 years or so. radiohead, incubus, death cab, you get the picture.

i love all kinds of rock from classic rock (zep, floyd, genesis, yes) to the mars volta, jeff buckley, muse, stp, alice in chains, tool, a perfect circle - to the girls, tori amos, kate bush, sarah mclachlan, fiona apple - to bloc party, franz ferdinand, the killers, keane.

for gear i have:

Electric
1994 Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 cherry burst.
1984 Fender Jap Strat
1967 Gibson Melody Maker, cherry red, double cutaways.
1977 Ibanez PF100 Les Paul copy

1975 Rickenbacker 4001 bass

Acoustic

2007 Taylor 810ce
1998 Yamaha Dreadnought
1984 Vantage semi acoustic

Marshall 50 watt head, Marshall 4x12 cabinet.
Dean Markley combo amp

Electrovoice 967 mic

lots of effects, digital delays, octavers, rack mount stuff.
 

Hotrocker

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Wha? I can't believe I missed this thread.

I've played guitar for about 7 years, so far.

I enjoy playing anything thats soulful on the guitar, whether that be slow or fast. Usually, that means instrumental progressive stuff like Joe Satriani, Dream Theater's stuff (Petrucci is on another level...), Steve Vai, and Paul Gilbert's solo stuff and his Racer X/Mr. Big stuff. I also get into alot of the more jazz inspired guitarists, like Allan Holdsworth, Greg Howe, Frank Gambale and Tony MacAlpine. I list guitarists, not bands, because its the guitarists that write the guitar stuff almost 90% of the time. I'm also in a progressive death metal band. But all in all, I'll play anything just to hear some good music. I can play something from every genre and still be able to improvise, and its that improv that attracts people.

I've played on stage with a few different bands as a lead guitarist a few times, but none of them really wanted a music oriented band.... so that mean no real soloing :p Remember, my favorite kind of music is instrumental.

I've recorded my own stuff in the past, but recently, I've been more concerned with getting technique and feeling down over pressing albums out. I've got all the techniques down... I just need to refine them to sound say... like Satriani, or Vai's. Vai and Satch have incredible legato and fluidity in their playing... and they employ the use of lots of lydian and dorian modes, which is really what gives them that signature sound. Also, Satriani taught Vai to play, so yeah. Frank Gambale's and Jason Becker's technique's favor strong sweep picking in combination with legato, as well as good alternate picking, as do Vai and Satch, of course. I just want to be able to play ANYTHING.

As far as my gear goes, my main studio/stage setup is an Ibanez S470. Looks just like this actually:
S540CherryOverall.jpg


I play that through an Ibanez ToneBlaster 225 2x12 combo amp. I think its a 50 watt, but I may be wrong. I use a Digitech RP300 effects processor pedal to augment my sound. I try to achieve a Satch/Petrucci style tone, but I'm still perfecting it.
 
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Anyone who mentioned Ritchie Kotzen should check out his work on TILT with jazz-extraordinaire Greg Howe.

It's absolutely fantastic.

Someone also asked about SRV's tone.



Stevie's tone is relatively unreachable, much like Hendrix or EVH, because of the spec in most of his equipment during the period in which he played.

SRV is most closely associated with running 80's Soldano SLO-100 heads simultaneously with '60's Fender Twin Reverbs or Riveras. The Soldano was hand built by Mike Soldano and was the first SLO-100 to emply a mod which increased mid-range. This mod can still be put on the SLO-100's today. Another user of this amp is Warren Haynes of Govt. Mule...they fetch around $3,000-$3,500.

Not only were his Stratocasters vintage, but so were his pedals. Yes, this makes a huge difference. Alot of electronic specifications were changed on his choice equipment over the decades. "Number 1" was a '62 body with '66 neck, while Lenny was a '65 with a Charvel neck. Stevie often used two seperate Ibanez tube screamers hooked next to each other in the effects loop.

Let's not forget though, that tone is in the hands. You can only sound as good as you play. This is always apparent to me in younger, inexperienced players. A lot of kids like to throw their mids on 0, bass and treb on 10, then crank their gain. Here's a quick basic tone dial that'll get you started though.

To work a Strat like SRV worked it, you should have .13-.60 gauge strings tuned down one-half step, and start working on barred pentatonic licks and double stops. The man effortlessly combines fast triplet runs and diad/triad soloing in pretty much his entire catalog. For a "Texas Flood" tone, dial your bass in at 5, mids at 6.5, and treble at 7. This all depends on your amplifier, but I'm specifically citing this for the setup I mentioned above. Stevie often would use the Soldano's gain channel on about 3 (note: Mike Soldano had the knobs on the SLO-100 go to 11 as a joke after Spinal Tap came out) and let his Twin Reverb produce the top-end bite with the Tube Screamers.

That should be a good starting point for achieving SRV-style tone.
 
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Gadzooks... the problem with Holdsworth is he's the most INACCESSIBLE guitarist in history... maybe that's his redemption. But please, give me a guitarist with soul/spirit/vibe/etc/.... (see Jimi Hendrix).

to me.. the "technician" aspect of guitarist is very, no VERY overated (see Holdsworth, Malmsteen, and very wanker on a small label)...

what counts is spirit.. I think Miles Davis said it best.. "it's no so much the notes you play, but the notes you don't play".


I agree with this. I looked back at all the guitarists who had huge influences on me in my years as a budding musician:

Edward Van Halen
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Dimebag Darrell
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Warren Haynes
Derek Trucks
Duane Allman & Dicky Betts
Greg Howe

The only "speed-demons" on here are Dimebag and Howe. But even then, those guys played with all the raw emotion and intensity that they could. Howe never places a bad-sounding note. I guess you might call Vaughan a speed-demon, but I've been able to play his material effortlessly for years now, so it doesn't seem as impressive as it did to me years ago. What's still impressive about it, is the amount of energy and soul that's thrown into the playing. You can hear the dude crying through his guitar. His live cuts at Austin City Limits will confirm this.

None of these guys wank. It's all about fucking that guitar, guys. They have sex with that shit till it moans back. I love a guitar player who can make his instrument sing like a voice. Every time that I'm out watching some cat from my area play, I feel like an asshole because I'm critiquing constantly. Everyone just wants to play fast. No one ever makes love to those strings...and that's why all the guitar heroes are gone.
 

Hotrocker

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Anyone who mentioned Ritchie Kotzen should check out his work on TILT with jazz-extraordinaire Greg Howe.

It's absolutely fantastic.

Someone also asked about SRV's tone.



Stevie's tone is relatively unreachable, much like Hendrix or EVH, because of the spec in most of his equipment during the period in which he played.

SRV is most closely associated with running 80's Soldano SLO-100 heads simultaneously with '60's Fender Twin Reverbs or Riveras. The Soldano was hand built by Mike Soldano and was the first SLO-100 to emply a mod which increased mid-range. This mod can still be put on the SLO-100's today. Another user of this amp is Warren Haynes of Govt. Mule...they fetch around $3,000-$3,500.

Not only were his Stratocasters vintage, but so were his pedals. Yes, this makes a huge difference. Alot of electronic specifications were changed on his choice equipment over the decades. "Number 1" was a '62 body with '66 neck, while Lenny was a '65 with a Charvel neck. Stevie often used two seperate Ibanez tube screamers hooked next to each other in the effects loop.

Let's not forget though, that tone is in the hands. You can only sound as good as you play. This is always apparent to me in younger, inexperienced players. A lot of kids like to throw their mids on 0, bass and treb on 10, then crank their gain. Here's a quick basic tone dial that'll get you started though.

To work a Strat like SRV worked it, you should have .13-.60 gauge strings tuned down one-half step, and start working on barred pentatonic licks and double stops. The man effortlessly combines fast triplet runs and diad/triad soloing in pretty much his entire catalog. For a "Texas Flood" tone, dial your bass in at 5, mids at 6.5, and treble at 7. This all depends on your amplifier, but I'm specifically citing this for the setup I mentioned above. Stevie often would use the Soldano's gain channel on about 3 (note: Mike Soldano had the knobs on the SLO-100 go to 11 as a joke after Spinal Tap came out) and let his Twin Reverb produce the top-end bite with the Tube Screamers.

That should be a good starting point for achieving SRV-style tone.

Good information. Keep in mind though, that its generally more tasteful to put your own personal flare on tone instead of mirroring another's. I wouldn't say stray too far from your pre-desired tone, but do what feels and sounds good to you personally, this includes the tone that is, in fact, very much in your fingers.

Your fingers give you those nuances that everyone strives to achieve. That fast slide from G on the G string to E on the G string in "Flying in a Blue Dream," the first lead lick that opens in Satch's aforementioned song, is a perfect example. All the different kinds of bends and vibrato are unique to the player, and you mostly hear players liken their style and technique to a famous player, but never say that they play JUST like them. Its just common courtesy to the pro, of course :biggrin1:.

And most people wouldn't be able to really distinguish the difference between say.... a vintage Hendrix- era Strat and a modern Ibanez Jem. This in consideration, the average listener probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between pedals being used and other assorted effects (including amps, mics, and recording equipment). To be honest, only us guitar nerds really care about that stuff :tongue:. right?

I own both a 2001 highway- one Strat and a 99' Gibson Les Paul Studio, but the Ibanez S I have manages to almost mirror the tones of both of those guitars due to the H/S/H layout and well designed Wizard II neck. I think the Strat and the Gibson are the best sounding for each of their respective sounds: both the bolt- on neck/ single coil sound and the set- neck humbucker sound, respectively. Yet, with the tone in your fingers, you can make that versatile guitar sound amazing.

If you run any decent guitar through a good vintage tube amp, played by an experienced player, magic can happen.
 

ddazndd

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Just bought my 2nd electric guitar!!!

<3<3 Ibanez RG350EX <3<3

Dream Theater - John Petrucci ----> goal ----
 
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"And most people wouldn't be able to really distinguish the difference between say.... a vintage Hendrix- era Strat and a modern Ibanez Jem. This in consideration, the average listener probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between pedals being used and other assorted effects (including amps, mics, and recording equipment). To be honest, ***only us guitar nerds really care about that stuff :tongue:. right? "

I don't mean to be a dick, but that's completely false. I can guess a guitarist's Amp model correctly when I'm listening. This is purely dedication and ear training. I know what "watery" mean, I know what "thick" means, when describing tone. A lot of guys tend to throw those classifications around and say "This sounds smooth and warm," when they're listening to something that a true ear would call "Tinny and thin."

No one could ever make me listen to something and pass off an Ibanez as a 60's Strat on me. There's not a chance in blue Hell. Also, many pedals are simply designated single effects. If you know the sound, you can guess the brand. Again, this is dedication and ear training. I can pick up on flange, chorus, and all that good stuff, but it's equally as important to me to realize that the flanger sounds shitty because it's a digital Digitech RP50 effects processor rather than a 1975 MXR Flanger stomp with a 12AX7 preamp tube.

The difference in these 2 flangers would be phenomenal to a disciplined player. As I said, I'm a gear freak, and if you want to play, tone is half the battle.

***Even if you don't play guitar, I'm confident the average listener will at least pick up on the annoyance factor. People with shitty tone sound twice as bad as players, while slick tone gurus can sound like seasoned veterans even if they're not virtuosos. Take a lot of players like Malmsteen and McLaughlin who just play whatever they feel like playing as fast as possible. Malmsteen just picks every arpeggio and harmonic minor scale he knows and plays it through a scallop-neck Strat w/ Marshall JCMs...gain cranked and even through a distortion pedal. The guy sounds like a bunch of angry, buzzing bees coming out of the next room. McLaughlin is even worse. His sound literally clips; he has such distorted EQ dialed in that he often peaks his bottom end levels, making his guitar sound like popping static. These guys, while revered for their speed, are often put in the food chain guys like SRV who don't play their style but sound that much better while doing it.

Also, confusion about the tone write-up: I never said I sounded exactly like SRV, I just said I can play almost all of his stuff. I wrote down that rig overview for the other person who said they've been trying to sound like SRV. I don't think they want to sound like him forever either, they're just curious about why it sounds so damn good, like anyone else would be. This is where I'm at a fisticuffs with your Ibanez comment. You may be a Satch fan, but SRV wouldn't be caught dead playing one of those, and he would never have sounded the way he did without his Pre-CBS Stratocasters. Those things fetch more than 1000 of the Ibanez RG models added value. Some of the model year strats that Stevie played are worth upwards of $300,000 even if they hadn't had touched his hands. That means this is one sick instrument, with rare parts that aren't easily mimicked even in custom shops. Or how about how Gary Rossington of Skynyrd has a true '59 Les Paul Standard.? Valued at $250,000, even Warren Haynes had to settle for a Reissue, and constantly complains in interviews that it doesn't have a vintage sound because the wood isn't as old and doesn't age and expand the same way as it did resulting from construction back then.

I started off my post by saying his tone was unreachable, and the reason I said that was because of his equipment, AND his hands. Also, check out my rig posting earlier in the thread. You'll see a completely different setup than most guitars, and a more professional system than a lot of the guys that posted here. I have the gear I have, and have it hooked up that way, in that order, because that's the way I sound good and I know how to bring out the sound I'm looking for. I.E. - A Strat sounds ridiculous through solid-state...so even if you had SRV's own axes, if you're playing it through a MG100HDFX or something of that nature, you're going to sound like complete shit. This is stuff you have to account for. Stevie knew how much mids are produced in a Strat. He was fond of single-rail and hot-rod pickups to add presence to his top end. This was why he would keep his EQ balanced in a "smile." His tube screamers/pickup additions make a huge difference to his sound. If you were to throw stock pickups in his Strat, and take away his TS-1s, then his sound isn't as defining as you'd remember it.

I'm trying to make a point that nothing any company makes today is really of any relevance when trying to reproduce someone's tone. If you play an Ibanez RG through a solid-state amplifier, you are THAT much further away from achieving "______ sounding tone", because "______" uses a '62 American Stratocaster through a '68 Fender Twin Reverb fitted with 4 EL34 power tubes. If you want vintage, you have to go get vintage. Get on ebay for all that stuff, though.

This is the reason I own a '70's Les Paul Custom instead of some cheap-ass Epiphone Special or Studio, or whatever the hell kids waste their money on these days. Not to mention they don't even do real binding anymore. I have genuine ivory binding. Fuckin' elephants died for my sound. I could go on for hours about how much they've changed Les Paul construction over the past couple of decades, but why bother.
 

Qua

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Gadzooks... the problem with Holdsworth is he's the most INACCESSIBLE guitarist in history... maybe that's his redemption. But please, give me a guitarist with soul/spirit/vibe/etc/.... (see Jimi Hendrix).

to me.. the "technician" aspect of guitarist is very, no VERY overated (see Holdsworth, Malmsteen, and very wanker on a small label)...

what counts is spirit.. I think Miles Davis said it best.. "it's no so much the notes you play, but the notes you don't play".

Oh I agree, terribly inaccessible, but I'd not put him in the technicial/shred category. The man's compositions them selves contain ridiculous amounts of intentional notes and harmonic textures that provide spirit and mood (if you can get over the complexities of his lines and hear it). He may seem repetitive, which granted is the biggest fault of shredders, but I assure everyone he is the antithesis of that. He almost never repeats a line.

Of those wankers only Holdsworth manages (to me) to avoid the monotony of most Petrucci/Vai/Malmsteen style shredders. To me he never sounds like he's playing fast simply to show off or simply to play fast. It's complete freedom of musical expression, rather than a stupid speed contest like most metal lead players. And he doesn't always play with such ridiculous pyrotechnics as displayed there.

I used to be a major shredhead, but that has worn off because of the things you've said (I vehemently push Holdsworth as having amazing soul/vibe/spirit, however hard it might be to access). However, players like Hendrix/SRV and other blues based players do so little musically that it literally bores me to listen to them after awhile. Sonically and expressively they excel, but blues is so limited in its (usually employed) harmonic and melodic possibilities that I feel that I've heard it all before. For example...I cannot stand the I IV V blues progression anymore. I concede and play it live for jamming purposes sometimes because it's such a standard, but listening to others do it (usually) bores me to tears. Miles Davis was completely correct, however he never said anything about limiting the number of different notes you play, just the total amount.
 

Captain Elephant

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Yeah, can't believe I missed this thread, too. Music is my job. It's what I do. I graduated from performing to doing only studio work now, and mostly production. The best part of my job is finding talent. I won't even go see anyone who asks me to come; I want to do the discovering or have it passed along by a friend or someone knowledgeable.

I've been playing 31 years since I was 13. Started with a horrible Silvertone, but soon graduated to a cool Yamaha acoustic. Know I've got a guitar jones of horrible proportions with a Strat, Les Paul I found in a pawn shop for $100 (not the original pickups), a few acoustics, Taylor 814CE among them, an EB0 and my pride and joy a 1951 Fender P-Bass.

I've gone through so much equipment that I'm kind of ashamed to say what I'm using now. I still have an old Krate kit that's probably over 20 years old that I still kick around with. Saving my money now for a Robot Guitar.

Although I'm living in Florida I miss my days in Texas greatly. Austin is fantastic. Hung around with this guy Monte Montgomery who is scary awesome. He inspires me to unplug everything and try it all over again.

I've worked in Nashville (sorry, hated it) and Muscle Shoals (crazy cool) for a while and then finally settled down here. Yeah, the music scene is not so hopping down here on a national level, but Gainesville has some awesome local talent. You may have heard of one of the guys from here, Tom Petty?

Cool topic.
 

vergax

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I almost missed this thread, also.
I have been playing classical guitar for 21 years, now. Travelled all over to get lessons an study with my favourite artists, now I am about to finish "konzertdiploma".
My girls are custom made 8 stringed "Brahms" guitars.
Music is my life and, yes, I dedicate far more time to it than to sex :p
 

psidom

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sticking musical pieces together that are good and junking pieces that aren't
i can sit at my sound desk for 3 hours and come up with only
2 soulful riffs and a bazillion riffs that my cat could have written.

match the key and combine the two, creating a transition.
do this over and over and you will have alot of good riffs and combinations among combinations of transitions and key changes.
the hard part is being "original" because everything has been done.
now it seems we just pull style from ancient and apply modern technique
to it and it is called original when it is just remixed classic.

like "disco house" or nu-metal.
 

Principessa

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I almost missed this thread, also.
I have been playing classical guitar for 21 years, now. Travelled all over to get lessons an study with my favourite artists, now I am about to finish "konzertdiploma".

My girls are custom made 8 stringed "Brahms" guitars.
Music is my life and, yes, I dedicate far more time to it than to sex :p
That's a shame because with a cute ass and beautiful cock like that you should be dedicating at least equal time to sex. :flirt:
 

lucky8

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Can I just ask - how do you go about teaching yourself? Or does it 'just happen'?

start out by buying a guitar book for beginners, learn the chords and scales, and youll be on your way. if you dont want to do that, you can also look for tabs on the internet of songs that you like, those are easy as hell to read, but by doing it will take a lot longer to understand your guitar and how it works/sounds. tabs are how i first started tho, after i learned some tabs i went and bought a book...so the combo of the 2 will probably work best...and in saying this, im assuming you dont want to take lessons...goodluck, a year from now youll be so much better, trust me