Guitar Megathread - learn-share-talk-lessons-tips-fun

[iTzDevo]

She's dirty, but look at the bandaid I rock on her lol. I dinged it a few weeks ago and the little patch up gives it some character.

[IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/2s8ojuq.png[IMG]


I have trouble muting/not playing strings when doing certain chords. Like the A chord, C chord, D chord, haven't tried an F chord but I imagine I'll have a hard time with that too.

start with incomplete two finger variations and work your way up to full voicing from there

[00o]

start with incomplete two finger variations and work your way up to full voicing from there

Do you read musical notations?

Would it suffice if I were to practice (at least for now) without the ability to read notations?

[StatutoryApe213]

Do you read musical notations?

Would it suffice if I were to practice (at least for now) without the ability to read notations?

Being able to read notations isn't necessary so early on. I'd wager most of us here can't, and I'm sure many have chosen not to learn how after many years because it really isn't very important unless you work with musicians who practice/compose by notations as well. Tabs are much easier to go by if you're a rookie.

[iTzDevo]

Do you read musical notations?

Would it suffice if I were to practice (at least for now) without the ability to read notations?

I do, but I have a degree in music education. It's not required anymore for casual guitar playing because of tablature. Definitely keep practicing whether you know what's going on in the music or not. I didn't read music for the first 13 years of my playing

Being able to read notations isn't necessary so early on. I'd wager most of us here can't, and I'm sure many have chosen not to learn how after many years because it really isn't very important unless you work with musicians who practice/compose by notations as well. Tabs are much easier to go by if you're a rookie.

Reading music is essential to being a competent musician in the realm of improv with other musicians. Notation is intrinsic to learning the theory behind everything in music. Sure, you can write a piece that includes modal mixture, modulation, tonic expansion, diminution, etc. and maybe get some of it right, but knowing why and how it works is the important part. It is very rare for someone to be able to do that on the fly during an improv without any background knowledge of the way that notes and chords work together

For hobbyists, I would 100% recommend learning to read tab. I teach my very young students tab because it's easier for the beginner

[Galindo62]

can someone teach me to play mean monsoon pls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoAVwgGncoo

[Thexzeno]

posted my first cover for the first time yesterday on youtube, i improved about 3 mins over maggot brain by funkadelic. Looking for some tips on how i can improve my soloing

I know one is get out of penatonic box, but i also wanna make my solos more fluid. Any critcism is welcome thanks.

[falldown55]

Len Vogler has an awesome book about this stuff

[iTzDevo]

posted my first cover for the first time yesterday on youtube, i improved about 3 mins over maggot brain by funkadelic. Looking for some tips on how i can improve my soloing

I know one is get out of penatonic box, but i also wanna make my solos more fluid. Any critcism is welcome thanks.

[youtube]watch?v=8R3NoK_AWg0[youtube]

Wasn't terrible but you don't seem to understand the direction of the track that you're soloing with. In your solo, you want to be hitting the root notes of each chord as they change in the backing progression. For example, if it goes from C to A to D, you want to hit notes C A and D on the first beat of each chord change. That is more pleasing to the ear and sounds less random. Also your phrasing needs work, you seem to just start and stop at no particular place for no reason. Am I right in assuming that you just played and decided when/where to stop randomly? It sounds like it's just "stream of consciousness" playing, that is, you just played whatever patterns came to mind without thinking about the music.

Soloing is one of the toughest parts of guitar playing and improv with a decent amount of emotion and clarity is #1 in my opinion. I would spend time watching masterclass videos of professionals talking about phrasing and soloing. This one comes to mind, because immediately you bent to an (in my opinion) inappropriately high note and you lost momentum right from the beginning



Try to find other videos from Berklee, they are excellent sources

[Galindo62]

can anyone give me any more tidbits composing songs? like structure or direction

i know this is amateur hour, but some of my favorite pieces are simple too.

[iTzDevo]

can anyone give me any more tidbits composing songs? like structure or direction

i know this is amateur hour, but some of my favorite pieces are simple too.

[youtube]xQuf6ms9NqQ[youtube]

Composition is a tough topic if you're not properly trained. If you're not looking to write theoretically correct pieces, I would suggest just using various chord shapes all over the fretboard and put together something that pleases your own ear. I have done this in the past and sometimes you can just hear what will work well together and what doesn't. In regards to structure, typical binary form is common.. a simple A B A pattern is the standard verse - chorus - verse - etc. You could go further with it and add a bridge or a prechorus if you write some variations to your original ideas. Directionally, you'll want to start in a single key and modulate or tonicize to a new one if you know how to do that, then end in your original key. If you're not going to change key, you can create direction by manipulating dynamics, tempo, time signature, rhythms, etc. This is a template, of course. In the end, what you write is your own personal expression and no one can tell you how to feel your own music.

[Galindo62]

That exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks dude been reading up on it a bit, but what you said goes perfectly with a lot of the beginner pieces I've learned.

[BetaThanU]

Anyone heard of Anotn Oparin? His vids were popular around youtube as being a little Russian kid shredding like Paul Gilbert.
I did a gig with him in Hollywood a few years ago and have some rehearsal footage.
The kid is a freak of nature. Was amazing playing with him. He is 13 in this vid.


No hate my twig ness, I was 120lbs, before I started lifting ....

[roc430]

^ Impressive as hell bro


Also, I'm primarily a bass player however I just purchased an electric guitar a few months ago, so I had a quick question regarding guitar sound quality:

I play heavier music (usually drop C), but even with my guitar tuned to that, it still doesn't have that deep, heavy sound that heavier music has. It still sounds a little "twangy" for lack of a better term. Is the solution thicker strings? Is it my guitar or my amp?

Any help would be appreciated.

[iTzDevo]

^ Impressive as hell bro


Also, I'm primarily a bass player however I just purchased an electric guitar a few months ago, so I had a quick question regarding guitar sound quality:

I play heavier music (usually drop C), but even with my guitar tuned to that, it still doesn't have that deep, heavy sound that heavier music has. It still sounds a little "twangy" for lack of a better term. Is the solution thicker strings? Is it my guitar or my amp?

Any help would be appreciated.

It's a combination of all 3. Thicker gauges will give you heavier bottom sound. Appropriate pick ups like EMGs will give you crunchy tones and a tube amp (or digital if you're not gigging/dont care about very fine-tuned tone) with some distortion and overdrive pedals will tie it all together. You won't get a meshuggah tone from a stock fender beginner kit

[StatutoryApe213]

If you're going for Drop C I'd recommend .10 strings.

What amp are you using? I could give you some info on EQing so you don't have to go out and purchase another amp to get the tone you're looking for.

[roc430]

It's a combination of all 3. Thicker gauges will give you heavier bottom sound. Appropriate pick ups like EMGs will give you crunchy tones and a tube amp (or digital if you're not gigging/dont care about very fine-tuned tone) with some distortion and overdrive pedals will tie it all together. You won't get a meshuggah tone from a stock fender beginner kit

Well since it's basically my first guitar/amp, I did not go too fancy: Epiphone SG (still with original strings) and a Line 6 Spider III 30 Watt Combo Amp. I assumed the bad tone was a result of my cheapness, but I just wanted to confirm lol. So possibly just deal with it (maybe get thicker strings) until I progress enough to buy equipment like you mentioned?

If you're going for Drop C I'd recommend .10 strings.

What amp are you using? I could give you some info on EQing so you don't have to go out and purchase another amp to get the tone you're looking for.

^Line 6 Spider III 30 Watt Combo Amp

[ctgblue]

A Line 6 30 watt spider will give you just about any usable tone you need, except maybe that touch sensitive 'blues breakup' that you can't really get well except from tubes or models designed for that tone.

You need to take that thing to manual (dump the 'artist tones') and work from 12 oclock on the eq's, up the bass and treble a little and drop some mids for metal, bump the mids for 80's tones, get the PRE gain up, the channel volume up and control the overall with the master
it's hard to get really 'bad' tones from the spider

[Niko49ers]

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0XLp3A6O91k



Yeahhhhhh I got it down lol

Beginner chit right there

[roc430]

A Line 6 30 watt spider will give you just about any usable tone you need, except maybe that touch sensitive 'blues breakup' that you can't really get well except from tubes or models designed for that tone.

You need to take that thing to manual (dump the 'artist tones') and work from 12 oclock on the eq's, up the bass and treble a little and drop some mids for metal, bump the mids for 80's tones, get the PRE gain up, the channel volume up and control the overall with the master
it's hard to get really 'bad' tones from the spider

Thanks man

[iTzDevo]

CTG is the one to talk to about gear. If you want to get real heavy, throw 11-54 strings on. I use Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkies. Also have an EMG 81 in the bridge, you can get one for about a hundred bucks if you're willing to put that into your guitar.

[BetaThanU]

If you're going for Drop C I'd recommend .10 strings.

What amp are you using? I could give you some info on EQing so you don't have to go out and purchase another amp to get the tone you're looking for.

I use 10's on standard. Would be rubber bands on drop c?

[StatutoryApe213]

A Line 6 30 watt spider will give you just about any usable tone you need, except maybe that touch sensitive 'blues breakup' that you can't really get well except from tubes or models designed for that tone.

You need to take that thing to manual (dump the 'artist tones') and work from 12 oclock on the eq's, up the bass and treble a little and drop some mids for metal, bump the mids for 80's tones, get the PRE gain up, the channel volume up and control the overall with the master
it's hard to get really 'bad' tones from the spider

Good advice right there, you could get a pretty good KSE-esque metalcore tone with gain set to high, treble and bass moderate high and mids low with the Spider. It's a good amp, my friend has the same one and he gets a pretty good tone from the heavy distortion channel without any EQing. If you still feel the tone isn't heavy enough, perhaps consider changing the strings to a heavier set. A Gibson SG has pretty decent pickups so I don't think that's the problem.

I use 10's on standard. Would be rubber bands on drop c?

Depends on your action. 10s should be great for Drop C with the action set right.

[matw]

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0XLp3A6O91k



Yeahhhhhh I got it down lol

Beginner chit right there

GJDM, never tell anyone you can play this song. You will constantly will get asked to play it at family birthdays (unless you want to do that).

[SwimToTheMoon]

Yo brahs, what's a good interface for recording and effects? I've been using a toneport ux1 since like 2007 and have never really used real effects and amps before, only virtual from software like gearbox or Guitar Rig..
I don't really play live or with bands, just record chit in my bedroom. I've been playing guitar for so long but I really have no fukking idea about actual guitar gear and effects, I just want something that's good quality and has good effects. The UX1 had pretty good quality but the effects were horsechit..
Wish I had enough cash to just get an Axe FX 2

[Voluspa]

ayy lmao

[Niko49ers]

GJDM, never tell anyone you can play this song. You will constantly will get asked to play it at family birthdays (unless you want to do that).

You have a good point lol.


Just learned the intro to Metallica's "One'.


I'm saying fuk the solos right now haha

[roc430]

Does anyone have a good explanation or a video to demonstrate pinch harmonics? I have watched a few videos on youtube but none have really helped me that much. Any input would be appreciated!

[The_Source]

Kinda lazy to look through whole thread, but reps for any tips, vids, or reads on how to improvise solos. Been self taught for a while now and I could hit pretty much any solo/riff if I have it memorized by tab or something, but still can't improvise for **** lol

[iTzDevo]

Kinda lazy to look through whole thread, but reps for any tips, vids, or reads on how to improvise solos. Been self taught for a while now and I could hit pretty much any solo/riff if I have it memorized by tab or something, but still can't improvise for **** lol

Wasn't terrible but you don't seem to understand the direction of the track that you're soloing with. In your solo, you want to be hitting the root notes of each chord as they change in the backing progression. For example, if it goes from C to A to D, you want to hit notes C A and D on the first beat of each chord change. That is more pleasing to the ear and sounds less random. Also your phrasing needs work, you seem to just start and stop at no particular place for no reason. Am I right in assuming that you just played and decided when/where to stop randomly? It sounds like it's just "stream of consciousness" playing, that is, you just played whatever patterns came to mind without thinking about the music.

Soloing is one of the toughest parts of guitar playing and improv with a decent amount of emotion and clarity is #1 in my opinion. I would spend time watching masterclass videos of professionals talking about phrasing and soloing. This one comes to mind, because immediately you bent to an (in my opinion) inappropriately high note and you lost momentum right from the beginning



Try to find other videos from Berklee, they are excellent sources

^^^

[tk217]

Rather impressed with this rendition.