The Guitar Thread

[jeffe]

Good look.I would imagine that guitar has a very quiet sound when you strum it.

[sgs4u]

but the sustain, Nigel. can you hear it?oh... I forgot to mentionSidney Crosby Rocksnow there's a band name

[edteja]

Quote:hey guys,I will get my guitar-to-midi system at the end of the week (axon ax 50 usb) - I'm really curious if it works for me in the way I hope.Martin, I am waiting to hear about this.

[gitarrero]

Quote:Quote:hey guys,I will get my guitar-to-midi system at the end of the week (axon ax 50 usb) - I'm really curious if it works for me in the way I hope.Martin, I am waiting to hear about this....yeah, me too. the shop where I ordered sent me twice the wrong unit - I still need the hexa-pickup to check out the axon.now I ordered the pickup in another store, it should be here next week.I'll let you know.Martin

[gitarrero]

...update: I get the PU today. will test it tomorrow thursday & let you know how it works.

[horacejesse]

Some of you folks from the west coast or Hawaii might have heard of my friend Freddie Singh. He is one of the best player/singers I have ever heard. You would probably have to walk into thousands of bars with music before finding anyone with near his talent.He used to have a set of custom made bass foot pedals but he wore them out years ago. There were four rows with five buttons in each row, like the first five frets of a bass guitar. Twenty buttons and each one big enough for him to stand on.Freddie was on his way to becoming a professional tap dancer when someone shot him, ending that dream. He was only nineteen, but like a lot of dancers, he played instruments too. So he switched over to guitar.It was no problem at all for Freddie to tap dance on these buttons while he was playing and singing. It always sounded like he had a very good bass player with him. He could sing, solo and play bass buttons at the same time with the greatest of ease. He was also able to reach over and snap the drum machine on and off for velcro stops. I would take the bets of all comers that he is the best one man band in the country.He has his own system of tap dancing from a chair and making rhythms with his hands at the same time which makes hambonig look like child's play, which he call rhythmetics.I have been fortunate enough to have Freddie in my studio in the last couple of weeks for a few days. He sang one of my songs which was way too low for him, but still managed to pull it off. We will be doing a lot more in the coming weeks and months.In the meantime I was wondering if anyone has ever seen a performance of Freddie's, who gigs mostly in northern California? He would be the guy scat singing along with his solos a la George Benson.

[horacejesse]

Hey, you guitar playing lads and lassies. Wouldn't it be nice if key changes on guitar did not destroy our grooves and riffs?Recently I had to make a key change in one of my songs to accommodate a female singer. You know how it goes. Some things are only possible because of certain open string configurations.When you put on a capo, hoping to be able to use the same groove up higher, you find that it does not work nearly as well in the new register. The capo causes the strings to sustain differently, plus some things just sound better in one register as opposed to another.I believe I dealt successfully with it. Part of the solution was using a drop-D tuning on the bass. Somehow that helped things settle into the new register. Not that the original groove sounds as good in A as it did in E, but it does work now.But wow, that one low note really stands out among the other bass notes. I guess what I will do is wait until I have it mixed on the masterlink and perform most of the equalization there, since the note is so low that cutting it down should not affect anything else drastically.Any other more creative solutions and thoughts would be appreciated.In the meantime, this is something we guitarists will always have to deal with. Once in a while we wil even get surprised when the new key sounds better than the old one for the guitar. It does not work that way often though. Usually we have to be willing to settle for a little less when it comes to those riffs specific to certain strings and registers.I remember hearing a Nashville gal cover one of Mrk Knoppfler's songs. Knoppfler actually palyed guitar on the recording. It was interesting to hear how the new key had messed with his groove. He got some of the main ideas into the new key. But the superiority of the old key with regard to his groove was really apparent when you listened to her version. He did a fine job but not as good as the original.The song was off the "on Every Street," album. I think it was called, "Cold, Cold Heart," at least it did have that phrase in it.

[ggalen]

When I returned to the guitar after 12 years of keyboard work, I bought my first electric.I didn't know if I'd like it, so I read up on what the people in the know were saying, and bought what they said was solid and basic: A Fender Mexican-made Strat for $429.Although I can afford a more expensive guitar, I just love the way this Strat feels and sounds. I stick with it. I LOVE playing electric finger-style. You can see me play it in the video below. Like Mark Knopfler, I am into banjo rolls. You can see some at 1:14 in...sloppier than I like, but <shrug>.

[horacejesse]

My computer is too slow for videos, but I would love to hear some of your stuff if you can provide a link just for the sound. I am into the same kind of stuff. Knoppfler was a big influence. I've done a lot of development on these rolls. The key to Knoppfler is what I call interruption. The thumb and index finger keep interrupting each other on the same string. You probably know exactly what I am talking about.

[horacejesse]

Glen, I did manage to watch your video. Just a matter of waiting a long time and then rewinding for me to see it all in one piece. Well worth the wait That is some excellent playing you do. I like the tone. What amps and effects are you using?