OT: Guitar Talk

[SLY]

I need a wah pedal... Thinking about this one.

 

[SLY]

I am just worried about the mechanics of it. Reviews say its great and sturdy, but the fact that it turns on and off by just touch is weird.

 

[SLY]

Anyone use those Way Huge pedals? They're pretty fucking nice. I am going to get the Aqua Puss Analog Delay... The array of OD pedals they have are pretty awesome. Bonamassa uses them all.

 

[SLY]

Completely rough draft of something I am working on. Still trying to fine tune the rhythm guitar parts before I start working on leads. And, no it isn't going to be 2:32, I still need to add a lot more to it. Make parts longer, add more... This is just a basic "riff outline".

 

[guitarmy21b]

I seem to have plateaued as a guitar player....anyone have any tips on how to break out of the same old chords cage and learn how to play lead? My fingers don't seem to work that way.

 

[SLY]

Repetition with different scales. Learn the neck. Start using the same chords you're using with different voicings and stuff. You will quickly break out of habit.

Whenever I feel like everything I write sounds the same, I'll start learning other peoples work. Then it usually alters my songwriting.

 

[puckhead]

I seem to have plateaued as a guitar player....anyone have any tips on how to break out of the same old chords cage and learn how to play lead? My fingers don't seem to work that way.

depends where you are as a guitarist.
I've found the best way to learn lead is to learn other people's leads... soon you will find patterns and movements and other things that grab your attention. and work it into your own stuff. One of my favourite riffs takes a half of a bar from Dire Strait's Sultans of Swing that runs up one scale, and a half bar from the solo of Judas Priest's Night comes down that takes me back to the same spot.
also just noodling in a scale can give you ideas. skip strings in your scale to force yourself to do something different. change scales mid stream (C to G to D for example, two bars of each or something). basically, fuck around, and even if is sounds awful for the most part, you will find new ideas that will work with going forward.

to step outside of the box, you need to break outside of your comfort level, whether that be new scales, new modes of those scales, step into jazz or even eastern scales for a while... you will probably sound like ass to start, but you will pick up little tidbits that you can bring back home to your zone, as it were.
try an open tuning maybe. try slides or a capo to make yourself do something different.

my humble opinion, your mileage may vary

 

[SLY]

I've been messing with eastern scales. heres another little something i got brewing. lot of fuck ups in this video. again just a rough idea till I get some proper mics for recording and shit.

 

[blindbaby]

I seem to have plateaued as a guitar player....anyone have any tips on how to break out of the same old chords cage and learn how to play lead? My fingers don't seem to work that way.

Try playing/learning every little ditty melody (e.g. - Mary had a little lamb, Star Wars, Most christmas melodies) you can think of. Then, try playing them off the top of your head once you get more comfortable; then try playing them in real time off the top of your head. Once you get good at this, try taking a familiar melody and improvising different notes or making it "your own style". Eventually, you'll develop the skill to play close to what you're singing or thinking off the top of your head. Your guitar solos will really come alive this way; you won't have to just rely on thrashing some mindless notes on a pentatonic scale and hoping for the best.

Basically, if you can't play "old mcdonald" off the top of your head, you will probably not be in a place to play something cool or hip off the top of your head.

...start small, then build.

And when learning your scales, licks, arpeggios, quartals, quintals; whatever....play them at a super, super slow speed to start off with NO mistakes.

 

[elocomotive]

Completely rough draft of something I am working on. Still trying to fine tune the rhythm guitar parts before I start working on leads. And, no it isn't going to be 2:32, I still need to add a lot more to it. Make parts longer, add more... This is just a basic "riff outline".

I really enjoyed the first video, lukewarm on #2. At the :47 mark of above, it sounds a little like American Woman. But I liked almost all the riffs from the one quoted above. Good stuff.

 

[blindbaby]

The first video is a good basis to start writing a song with; the main riff is pretty strong.

Some good ideas in the second video too which I'm sure you'll probably use to incorporate into a song or two. To be honest, I think this one would/will come across a lot better with bass and drums.

 

[SLY]

Thank you guys. Like I said, those aren't even remotely close to being done. Just ideas at the moment. And, both will have bass, drums and keyboard added eventually. Just trying to get some material together to work with in the Fall when I really start getting serious with this more rock project. I'm pretty much done with extreme metal. I quit that hardcore punky band I was in... Couldn't stand the music we were creating.

 

[SLY]

You guys just wait till I add bass to this shit. I've been fucking around on a friend of mines bass. Gonna be some real funk infused shit... Really looking forward to bringing this shit alive. Hope I can find the right people for the project, if not, I will just be making music solo. I will never settle again.

 

[SLY]

Also, I don't know how much you guys are willing to dish out on pedals, but these Catalinbread pedals I stumbled across are some of the best shit I have ever heard. Ever. The Octapussy Fuzz and Montavillian Echo pedals will be on my pedalboard in the near future. Well, definitely the Octapussy pedal, check that thing out on Youtube it is amazing. I'm stuck between the Montavillian Echo by Catalinbread and the Way Huge Aqua Puss by Way Huge (Dunlop).

By the end of Summer by board should be:

Cry Baby Classic, Octapussy Fuzz, One of those delays, and still looking for a phaser, Hardwire polyphonic tuner. Thats really all I am going to need aside from a noise reducer at some point.

 

[SLY]

Got my eyes on an Olympic white strat with a maple neck... So beautiful. Nothing good will come of this. I may pull the trigger on it, but not until the end of Summer.

 

[blindbaby]

Completely rough draft of something I am working on. Still trying to fine tune the rhythm guitar parts before I start working on leads. And, no it isn't going to be 2:32, I still need to add a lot more to it. Make parts longer, add more... This is just a basic "riff outline".

Yo Jeff -- Try jamming over this if you want. It should work for the first the beginning riff (first 47 secs); I didn't do anything for the rest of it yet:

Slys groove by yamarolorg on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

/If soundcloud's a prob, I can send you something else.

 

[SLY]

That fits real well for the first 25 seconds... In my mind the percussion and synth would change drastically for the next riff. But I really would love to float ideas back and forth. I really need a cheap option for recording.

The best way to do this is to plug directly into my PC, but I want the tone I am getting from my amp. But good mics are friggin expensive. I haven't even delved too far into that Sonar program you sent me. Ugh, I am such a slacker when it comes to recording.

 

[SLY]

I'm definitely going to buy one of those avid recording box things and EZ Drummer.

 

[blindbaby]

That fits real well for the first 25 seconds... In my mind the percussion and synth would change drastically for the next riff. But I really would love to float ideas back and forth. I really need a cheap option for recording.

The best way to do this is to plug directly into my PC, but I want the tone I am getting from my amp. But good mics are friggin expensive. I haven't even delved too far into that Sonar program you sent me. Ugh, I am such a slacker when it comes to recording.

Definitely. Different concept once the next riff comes in.

I know what you mean about wanting your guitar/amp tone. I've used Guitar Pods with "ok" results, but there's nothing like the real thing.

I'm not sure if EZ drummer has a step sequencer, but I have PC drummer and it works pretty good. For now, I just use the drum sequencer on my synth. It's good enough just to get the idea down and get it down quickly and easily.

 

[SLY]

Whats a step sequencer? I'm literally retarded with this shit. lol