Guitar Megathread II: Unleash the picking fury!!!

[Dominik]

Wish I got to see him in his prime. EJ = own sound and style. A truly original artist. Not some parrot ripping licks for clicks.

[DerkBezerk]

Wish I got to see him in his prime. EJ = own sound and style. A truly original artist. Not some parrot ripping licks for clicks.

Some of those EJ performances are incredible, almost a true distillation of 'perfect' guitar playing, if that could ever be a thing. Not perfect in execution (which is always top notch) but in how expressive the compositions are.

[CherryPopinski]

His technique makes string crossing a complete non-issue. Imagine being able to pick on the guitar and not worry at all about crossing string to string, string skipping, what direction you're moving to the next string, how many notes per string, complex string arpeggiation, etc.

I do hate that delay he has on though. Shawn Lane did that **** too all the time where he'd have this obtrusive delay on that, imo, just obscured the cleanliness of his playing. I wish awesome guitarists that use annoying effects did not use annoying effects.

Both Steve Vai and Al Di Meola have said Matteo is the future when it comes to the next generation of guitarists.

Fusion is cool, but I’m mostly a rock/metal player not really a fan of the direction Modern Metal is taking. With the super down tuned guitars and atonal music. I wanna hear melodic face melting solos and kickass riffs haven’t found any new bands that really do it for me

[EoR]

His technique makes string crossing a complete non-issue. Imagine being able to pick on the guitar and not worry at all about crossing string to string, string skipping, what direction you're moving to the next string, how many notes per string, complex string arpeggiation, etc.

I do hate that delay he has on though. Shawn Lane did that **** too all the time where he'd have this obtrusive delay on that, imo, just obscured the cleanliness of his playing. I wish awesome guitarists that use annoying effects did not use annoying effects.

That technique definitely eliminates many issues brought by using a pick. However I cannot get my right fingers to come even remotely close to my hand vibration picking speed. Maybe that's a sacrifice that's worth it but for me I am not hindered playing with a pick that much. With low enough action and a strong fretting hand you can fret notes with no picking for trickier cross string passages. Plus I always hybrid pick string skipping stuff usually, I'll admit alternate picking huge string skipping licks there's always that small delay/gap that pisses me off.

However, I am not going to lie. I might give it a proper go. I have a decent finger picking hand for chords and that moving bass line style but it's a novice level for soloing. Maybe it will spice up my music time feeling more new to a technique on the electric guitar.

I agree people use too many effects. Some delay is nice, it gives your notes a bit more "Belly" but when I want to really hear what I am playing I will usually pick up my nylon guitar - that bad boy will highlight all my mistakes.

Speaking of finger picking, this clip/video is magical.

Wish I got to see him in his prime. EJ = own sound and style. A truly original artist. Not some parrot ripping licks for clicks.

EJ is a real innovator with a recognizable style. EJ has backed up his unique style with solid, iconic songs than will exist probably as long a music does. I mean "Cliffs Of Dover" is obviously the apex of this songs but he has made many others.

EJ is a true great.

[rollerball]

That technique definitely eliminates many issues brought by using a pick. However I cannot get my right fingers to come even remotely close to my hand vibration picking speed. Maybe that's a sacrifice that's worth it but for me I am not hindered playing with a pick that much. With low enough action and a strong fretting hand you can fret notes with no picking for trickier cross string passages. Plus I always hybrid pick string skipping stuff usually, I'll admit alternate picking huge string skipping licks there's always that small delay/gap that pisses me off.

However, I am not going to lie. I might give it a proper go. I have a decent finger picking hand for chords and that moving bass line style but it's a novice level for soloing. Maybe it will spice up my music time feeling more new to a technique on the electric guitar.

I agree people use too many effects. Some delay is nice, it gives your notes a bit more "Belly" but when I want to really hear what I am playing I will usually pick up my nylon guitar - that bad boy will highlight all my mistakes.

Speaking of finger picking, this clip/video is magical.

EJ is a real innovator with a recognizable style. EJ has backed up his unique style with solid, iconic songs than will exist probably as long a music does. I mean "Cliffs Of Dover" is obviously the apex of this songs but he has made many others.

EJ is a true great.

True, finger style rarely if ever approaches picking speed unless you're the late paco de lucia.
In terms of your vibration picking, how often do you write music that actually requires those type of speeds? Let's say you're able to pick 220bpm+ with 16th notes, how often do you need to actually access such speeds on a practical level unless you're doing extreme metal riffs?
I would say that matteo can probably hit around 180bpm with his finger style, I wonder if he actually needs to be any faster for the style he likes to play in.

In terms of string crossing my outside picking tends to be slightly stronger than my inside picking and I typically use pretty high action so it's harder to "ghost fret" notes without disturbing the consistency of the tone I'm trying to achieve. I would love to be able to use finger technique like that just to feel how liberating it must be to not worry about string crossing at all.

I really can't stand delay unless it's pulled way back so the repeating notes are much lower in volume and doesn't obscure the cleanliness of what's being played.
Delay and chorus are my nemeses.

When it comes to eric johnson I'm probably gonna sound like a critic but is it me or does the guy literally always play the same pentatonic ascending/descending 4s and 5s pattern?
Don't get me wrong I totally love his tone and execution, the sh*t is amazing. But I feel like everything he ever did can be encapsulated in cliffs of dover.
I'm also not a fan of his chord playing - it's like holdsworth's chordal clusters but minus all the interesting notes.
I guess I sound like a hater since I'm criticizing one of the best guitarists of all time.

[WellHungOver]

I can't believe I've never noticed this thread before. What does the misc think of my newest purchase? I know a lot of people hate the blueberry burst but I think it's awesome.

[WellHungOver]

Wish I got to see him in his prime. EJ = own sound and style. A truly original artist. Not some parrot ripping licks for clicks.

I don't know what you consider to be his prime but I saw him, Stave Vai, and Satch live in concert in 92'. EJ was by far the cleanest sounding. I remember being a little disappointed with Steve Vai. At the time Passion and Warfare was the chit and I was super pumped to see him but it just sounded muddy.

[DerkBezerk]

I can't believe I've never noticed this thread before. What does the misc think of my newest purchase? I know a lot of people hate the blueberry burst but I think it's awesome.

Nice! I love a blue finish.

That PRS looks tasty too.

[Dominik]

I really can't stand delay unless it's pulled way back so the repeating notes are much lower in volume and doesn't obscure the cleanliness of what's being played. Delay and chorus are my nemeses.

When it comes to eric johnson I'm probably gonna sound like a critic but is it me or does the guy literally always play the same pentatonic ascending/descending 4s and 5s pattern? Don't get me wrong I totally love his tone and execution, the sh*t is amazing. But I feel like everything he ever did can be encapsulated in cliffs of dover.
I'm also not a fan of his chord playing - it's like holdsworth's chordal clusters but minus all the interesting notes.
I guess I sound like a hater since I'm criticizing one of the best guitarists of all time.

This post hurts me — I love delay and EJ. Seriously though I can see why delay triggers you because it's tricky to find the right balance. When it's right it creates the illusion of sustain and notes just float along without it getting in the way. Get it wrong and it's like adding too much salt to a meal or drowning it in sauce.

I use a couple of Strymon DIGs in stereo and have one set up with a short dual delay with a switchable preamp setting that controls how fat it sounds and then a longer dual delay that I like with the neck pickup for clean sounds, and then the second delay is set up as a reverb or a light chorus effect. The key to making it work is to have a volume control that allows me to blend them in and out effectively making them like ducking delays. You can also do this using an expression pedal.

To me delay sounds best when it's separate from the dry signal so that's how my rig is setup. I have stereo dry and stereo wet. Effectively two double miked 4x12s with different power amps. Sounds huge in the room through 8" studio monitors. It's easy to get hooked on delay and drench everything in it so that's why I went with wet/dry. Each is recorded separately so if I tracked with too much delay I can dial it out later since it's 100% wet or just use plugins. Most guitarists just run a delay in the loop so if they used a lot of delay which sounded great under the fingers they're stuck with it on the recording unless they had another amp miked up dry or they DI'd a dry signal and reamp it all later.

As for EJ there's more to him than Cliffs of Dover which I rarely listen to. I think this is one of his best performances.

[Dominik]

I don't know what you consider to be his prime but I saw him, Stave Vai, and Satch live in concert in 92'. EJ was by far the cleanest sounding. I remember being a little disappointed with Steve Vai. At the time Passion and Warfare was the chit and I was super pumped to see him but it just sounded muddy.

Long time ago but was that 1996? That was the first G3 tour and was probably the best one so that would have been awesome to experience like you did.

I saw Vai in February 1997 on the Fire Garden tour probably a few months after you did and his tone with the Bogner Ecstasy and Egnater preamp sounded amazing. Obviously every venue is different and not every tone translates well to a room but he had it dialed in that night. Most of it sounded better than the albums.

[WellHungOver]

Long time ago but was that 1996? That was the first G3 tour and was probably the best one so that would have been awesome to experience like you did.

I saw Vai in February 1997 on the Fire Garden tour probably a few months after you did and his tone with the Bogner Ecstasy and Egnater preamp sounded amazing. Obviously every venue is different and not every tone translates well to a room but he had it dialed in that night. Most of it sounded better than the albums.

True, I saw him at the Spokane Opera House and I suppose it was just a little muddy compared to Eric and Joe. It's probably because he has a lot more going on in his music and at the time he was my favorite guitar player so I had him built up in my mind. Still close to the top.

[WellHungOver]

Nice! I love a blue finish.

That PRS looks tasty too.

Thanks. I traded out the truss rod cover for a standard cover because the Trad V cover is hideous. I've had that PRS forever. The guy who owned it before me had ghost saddle pickups installed and they actually sound amazing. Accoustic-like tones.

[rollerball]

This post hurts me — I love delay and EJ. Seriously though I can see why delay triggers you because it's tricky to find the right balance. When it's right it creates the illusion of sustain and notes just float along without it getting in the way. Get it wrong and it's like adding too much salt to a meal or drowning it in sauce.

I use a couple of Strymon DIGs in stereo and have one set up with a short dual delay with a switchable preamp setting that controls how fat it sounds and then a longer dual delay that I like with the neck pickup for clean sounds, and then the second delay is set up as a reverb or a light chorus effect. The key to making it work is to have a volume control that allows me to blend them in and out effectively making them like ducking delays. You can also do this using an expression pedal.

To me delay sounds best when it's separate from the dry signal so that's how my rig is setup. I have stereo dry and stereo wet. Effectively two double miked 4x12s with different power amps. Sounds huge in the room through 8" studio monitors. It's easy to get hooked on delay and drench everything in it so that's why I went with wet/dry. Each is recorded separately so if I tracked with too much delay I can dial it out later since it's 100% wet or just use plugins. Most guitarists just run a delay in the loop so if they used a lot of delay which sounded great under the fingers they're stuck with it on the recording unless they had another amp miked up dry or they DI'd a dry signal and reamp it all later.

As for EJ there's more to him than Cliffs of Dover which I rarely listen to. I think this is one of his best performances.

I should revise what I stated and say that I do like delay but only when it's just a subtle nuance OR if it's the intended effect and the player isn't playing all this awesome stuff underneath it that's hidden because the delay is too overwhelming. I do have a delay on for my go-to guitar sound but it's very much in the background and serves mainly to keep things from sounding too dry.

EJ sounds great there, as always, kinda seems like he was listening to a lot of Wes Montgomery that evening or something. But even so, his note choices are always altogether to.. vanilla sounding for lack of a better term. Again, I do think EJ is absolutely amazing and his tone is close to inimitable and has monster phrasing. I just get bored of listening to him very quickly for whatever reason. I think it's just gotten to the point where when I listen to a guitar player and understand what they're doing I can get very bored quickly or I just focus on their physical execution more than the music they're making. I think this is why I favor jazz/fusion players these days.

Also, might want to take my perspective with a grain of salt. I'm also the guy who doesn't get Joe Satriani and why he's so popular. I just am almost completely un-moved by his music.

EDIT: Lol I just realized the name of that tune you posted is East Wes

[bignpisst]

Anybody here build any guitars? From scratch or parts?

I built 3 partscasters this year and will post up some pics, once I learn how to post a pic

Ive been on this forum for 15-20 years and still don't know how to post a pic. Do you believe that?

[WellHungOver]

Anybody here build any guitars? From scratch or parts?

I built 3 partscasters this year and will post up some pics, once I learn how to post a pic

Ive been on this forum for 15-20 years and still don't know how to post a pic. Do you believe that?

I've always wanted to but never got into it. I've been playing for 30+ years and I can't even set the action on a guitar, lol.

[bignpisst]

I've always wanted to but never got into it. I've been playing for 30+ years and I can't even set the action on a guitar, lol.

You bring your guitars to the shop for setup?

[WellHungOver]

You bring your guitars to the shop for setup?

I’ll do some minor adjustments, but I won’t mess with the truss rods. I might have one set up every few years.

[bignpisst]

I’ll do some minor adjustments, but I won’t mess with the truss rods. I might have one set up every few years.

To me adjusting a neck is much more easy than adjusting saddles, etc . With the weather here you have to know how. Then you can actually find that sweet spot you are looking for that a tech won't find for you.

[bignpisst]

Gotta learn how to embed too


This dude is very good

https://youtu.be/AuCk1zb5hDw

[SekkendSyklye]

Gotta learn how to embed too


This dude is very good

https://youtu.be/AuCk1zb5hDw

quote this post to see how embed works

[SekkendSyklye]

anyone been to this site? This is where I bought my JS1000 back in 2006. This guy does very good setups on new guitars and sells them for a little bit of a markup. I'd say it was worth it though. The guitar came in perfect condition setup perfectly and I've learned to keep it that way doing all my own adjustments over the years.

Theres a lot of good tech info on this site though, especially if you play IBANEZ

https://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

[EoR]

Also, might want to take my perspective with a grain of salt. I'm also the guy who doesn't get Joe Satriani and why he's so popular. I just am almost completely un-moved by his music.

EDIT: Lol I just realized the name of that tune you posted is East Wes

Come on man. Music is subjective to a point but how can your ears not prick up with these songs? There's a reason why they are so popular. Pinnacle melodic rock instrumental. Caveat being his OLDER work was amazing, I agree now he does nothing for me.

I had friends who don't play or know nothing other than mainstream pop music and when they hear this in my car they were: "Who's this?" lol.








The transition to the solo on this song is one of the most melodic changes in rock I've heard. Goose bump ****: Time: 1:18




The ending and build up on this song gg




Classic shuffle



More slow melodic epic feel:



He still now and then makes a winner this song had it's main melody hook stolen and he took them to court:





For this genre it really doesn't get that much better than Satch's prime. I had to stop selecting songs because the albums they are from are like 80% all the same quality. Time Machine, Flying in a Blue Dream, Surfing With The Alien, Crystal Planet. All of them, it's just batsh*t crazy someone can make that many top albums in a short amount of time.

[Dominik]

Come on man. Music is subjective to a point but how can your ears not prick up with these songs? There's a reason why they are so popular. Pinnacle melodic rock instrumental. ... For this genre it really doesn't get that much better than Satch's prime. I had to stop selecting songs because the albums they are from are like 80% all the same quality. Time Machine, Flying in a Blue Dream, Surfing With The Alien, Crystal Planet. All of them, it's just batsh*t crazy someone can make that many top albums in a short amount of time.

Good luck trying to sell it mang. These guys have taken a steaming dump on Satch every time I've mentioned him even saying they'd rather listen to Kirk Hammett? Ho Lee Fuk I didn't know what to say to that. I really have no idea how you could like instrumental guitar and not be moved by songs like Time Machine and Flying in a Blue Dream.

My first exposure to him was Always. Do you remember that music show on ABC called Rage? I heard that song on the radio but they never said who it was so I got up early when they used to play the Top 40 from like 5am and he was like #38 or something. There was Jeff Beck in the 70s with a couple of albums but no one was making a guitar sing like that in place of vocals. I was into metal back then but practically dropped it cold to explore the whole instrumental guitar thing and I wasn't alone. Anyway I'm glad I had him as a "teacher" even if I never met the guy. Light years ahead of many of today's social media savvy shredders who struggle to compose an interesting melody.

Then again when Rick Graham, Andy James, and Plini sing his praises I'm reminded that many players today still acknowledge his important contribution in the 80s and 90s with those great albums you mentioned. I guess it's no different to putting sh|t on EVH and thinking he just wanked off with tapping while dismissing all those riffs he came up with. I'm not old enough to know what it was like when VH I dropped but all my favorite players were and they never shut up about how much of an impact that album had on them.

[Dominik]

Genius level. Lydian-Mixolydian pitch axis. And that ending. Vai was taking notes.

[Dominik]

Another brilliant composition and epic solo.

Spoiler!

[SekkendSyklye]

two more I was hoping to see

[rollerball]

Come on man. Music is subjective to a point but how can your ears not prick up with these songs? There's a reason why they are so popular. Pinnacle melodic rock instrumental. Caveat being his OLDER work was amazing, I agree now he does nothing for me.

I had friends who don't play or know nothing other than mainstream pop music and when they hear this in my car they were: "Who's this?" lol.








The transition to the solo on this song is one of the most melodic changes in rock I've heard. Goose bump ****: Time: 1:18




The ending and build up on this song gg




Classic shuffle



More slow melodic epic feel:



He still now and then makes a winner this song had it's main melody hook stolen and he took them to court:





For this genre it really doesn't get that much better than Satch's prime. I had to stop selecting songs because the albums they are from are like 80% all the same quality. Time Machine, Flying in a Blue Dream, Surfing With The Alien, Crystal Planet. All of them, it's just batsh*t crazy someone can make that many top albums in a short amount of time.

Out of all of that interminable dross you posted I did actually like one of the songs. I legitimately liked "Flying in a Blue Dream". As a somewhat honorable mention I didn't totally hate "Satch Boogie".
But that's it. The rest just sounds like the ultimate in pure unadulterated CHEESE.

[Dominik]

The rest just sounds like the ultimate in pure unadulterated CHEESE.

[bignpisst]

Newest batch of guitars I built for sale. The light purple one gave me fits trying to get the color and grain right.

Cool guitars

Are you a member of the tele forum TDPRI?
I've learned a lot about finishing there

[rollerball]

Lol