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nrr posted:Also, you could enroll for this really cool looking free online course on improvisation that's starting in a couple of weeks. This kinda sounds awesome...but I'm scared! 
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Apr 8, 2013 16:35
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I'm going throw in another suggestion to not focus on constantly doing different things. If you want to improvise well you're better off having a bunch of favorite licks and positions and also a ton of ways to vary them and connect them. Practice building up the tension leading up to your go to melodies and they'll become less of a boring repetitive thing and more of a defining feature of your sound. If you pay attention to the greats they all had their favorite ways to play, even the jazz guys who never like being trapped in one section of the fretboard. Improvisation is all above finding your groove with the music and you have to have anchors to make yourself sound good and like you know what you're doing. Also, steal everything you can. Old school rock guitarists basically robbed the blues at gunpoint and that's where a ton of their ideas came from so don't be afraid to blatantly take ideas and make them their own. If you do it right no ones going to use "oh you sound exactly like insertgreatguitaristhere" and if they do it's a compliment. The greatest thing about learning music nowadays is that if you ever get stumped on your own learning you can dive into hundreds of years of what people did before you. Every single one of them went through the same struggles and successes to get where they ended up.
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Apr 8, 2013 17:03
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Kilometers Davis posted:I'm going throw in another suggestion to not focus on constantly doing different things. If you want to improvise well you're better off having a bunch of favorite licks and positions and also a ton of ways to vary them and connect them. Practice building up the tension leading up to your go to melodies and they'll become less of a boring repetitive thing and more of a defining feature of your sound. If you pay attention to the greats they all had their favorite ways to play, even the jazz guys who never like being trapped in one section of the fretboard. Improvisation is all above finding your groove with the music and you have to have anchors to make yourself sound good and like you know what you're doing. Also, steal everything you can. Old school rock guitarists basically robbed the blues at gunpoint and that's where a ton of their ideas came from so don't be afraid to blatantly take ideas and make them their own. If you do it right no ones going to use "oh you sound exactly like insertgreatguitaristhere" and if they do it's a compliment. The greatest thing about learning music nowadays is that if you ever get stumped on your own learning you can dive into hundreds of years of what people did before you. Every single one of them went through the same struggles and successes to get where they ended up. This makes a lot of sense. A big part of why I feel like I'm going all over the place, is because I am going all over the place. But I'm kind of intentionally doing it because my instructor had me working on all 5 positions of whatever scale and now I'm supposed to play it so I feel like I should be all over the place just to demonstrate that I know the scales. My feeling was that it made me feel disorganized and like I wasn't going anywhere worth going. Which is kind of the vibe I'm getting from people's feedback. This week I'll work on some better organized stuff around a couple licks and see were that leads.
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Apr 8, 2013 18:54
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why oh WHY posted:I like them quite a bit actually. My only real problem is the they don't seem to last as long as other types of strings but hey it's not like they are really expensive. I say try them out and if you don't like them then hey cut the fuckers off and go back to your old strings. Ernie Ball strings always die like instantly for me. Not sure what it is about them, but it's like the moment they touch air their ticket's about to get punched Kilometers Davis posted:Elixirs can last over 6 months easily. Nothing really compares to them if your goal is to have a set last forever. Flatwounds~
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Apr 8, 2013 19:53
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Flatwounds will last forever. I usually only start changing them when they make my fingers smelly.
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Apr 8, 2013 20:23
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Thanks for the advice a few pages ago re: my wonky pickup selector. I am a gigantic baby when it comes to taking small things apart and putting them back together, but I popped off the back plate and was able to tighten the mechanism by hand and now everything's working fine. I can tell that my output jack is on its way to getting loose. I should be able to do the same thing with it, right? Also I was wondering if anybody had any tips for sweep picking. I've been playing guitar for over a decade, but I just can't wrap my head around sweeps. I think I've been so focused on alternate picking that I have a hard time letting the pick "fall" onto the next string cleanly. Anybody face a similar roadblock? I've been practicing super slow with a metronome, but any tips or tricks are appreciated.
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Apr 8, 2013 20:37
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Destro85 posted:This kinda sounds awesome...but I'm scared! The best part is that there's literally nothing to be scared of. You can take the course at your own pace and if you want to complete it and get the little meaningless certificate, then great. If you don't, then there's nothing wrong with that at all seeing as this is the sort of thing that you're doing for you, to gain knowledge and further yourself. Not to show someone your certificate, because your certificate is basically going to be the improvement in your playing. You can watch the lectures and just leave out the assignments if you want, and that requires maybe an hour or two spread over each week. Anyone can find that kind of time, especially since the videos are split into anywhere between 1-15 minute chunks that make it even easier to dip in and out of at your own pace. You don't have to invest anything in the course at all, so there's no risk. So sign up, yoink what knowledge you can out of it, and if you don't finish then who cares? Unless you don't sign up, (this goes for everyone) and then I'll care, because this does sound awesome and for zero dollars and barely any effort, everyone should be a part of it.
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Apr 8, 2013 20:48
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Destro85 posted:Thanks very much for the words of wisdom, guys. If this is a normal thing I'm experiencing and it is just a function of skill then I'm not so worried. Though, I can definitely see where falling into the habit of playing the same fingering patters is a thing that's easy to fall into and I'm even starting to do that, but not so much that it'll be a hard thing to stop doing. Just to be totally clear there's nothing wrong with using patterns, it's just when you play them automatically without listening to what you're doing, with a 'whatever I play will sound fine' mentality. You can get into a rut too by playing the same patterns, but if you're listening to your playing you'll hear that and start to try new things. You just have to make sure you're not going through the motions, but the motions themselves are useful tools
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Apr 8, 2013 21:03
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nrr posted:The best part is that there's literally nothing to be scared of. You can take the course at your own pace and if you want to complete it and get the little meaningless certificate, then great. If you don't, then there's nothing wrong with that at all seeing as this is the sort of thing that you're doing for you, to gain knowledge and further yourself. Not to show someone your certificate, because your certificate is basically going to be the improvement in your playing. That's very true. I shall check it out.
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Apr 8, 2013 21:19
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I think I'll probably join that course. I'm all for having a nice goon group to discuss it and whatnot, sounds really fun and rewarding.TopherCStone posted:
I can't wait to buy a nice semi hollow jazzer to keep flats on.
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Apr 8, 2013 21:25
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baka kaba posted:Just to be totally clear there's nothing wrong with using patterns, it's just when you play them automatically without listening to what you're doing, with a 'whatever I play will sound fine' mentality. You can get into a rut too by playing the same patterns, but if you're listening to your playing you'll hear that and start to try new things. You just have to make sure you're not going through the motions, but the motions themselves are useful tools Kilometers Davis posted:I think I'll probably join that course. I'm all for having a nice goon group to discuss it and whatnot, sounds really fun and rewarding.
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Apr 8, 2013 21:34
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Econosaurus posted:Does anyone have a link for learning basic ska strumming/theory/anything for guitar? Click. Twang. Repeat. I started playing it ~15years ago when I started on guitar. Just learn your barre chords and practice only strumming on the upstroke. There's not a whole lot to the rhythm sections to the songs (most times). Practice. Try starting on the low tempo reggae stuff and work faster?
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Apr 8, 2013 21:51
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Zuhzuhzombie!! posted:Flatwounds will last forever. Flatwounds already sound dead and will only get deadder as you play them  They feel nice but they make my SG Jr sound like somebody threw a blanket over my amp. They do last forever, though, so I haven't changed them
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Apr 8, 2013 22:44
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Declan MacManus posted:Flatwounds already sound dead and will only get deadder as you play them Depends on the flats, but yeah if you want a super bright tone you'll be disappointed
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Apr 9, 2013 00:38
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Econosaurus posted:Does anyone have a link for learning basic ska strumming/theory/anything for guitar? Not sure how useful this will be, but it's a great series in general (the funk one might be good too, for general technique at least). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MA7tgqp10&t=262s Guitar starts at 4:22 if the timecode doesn't work. It's reggae rather than ska (although it's mentioned) but obviously there's crossover
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Apr 9, 2013 00:52
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I've found that no matter what height I have my Pearly Gates at, there's just too much twang in comparison to my single coils on the Strat. Would it be sacrilegious to put a nickel cover over it and pot it for a Strat? I know SD sells one with a cover already, but its a little late for that. EDIT: \/\/\/\/ Thank you. My only local "guitar friend" runs a recording studio, so his answers are like "tube purist" kind of things. Sockington fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 02:09
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Cover's not going to do poo poo if the pickup is too twangy for you. It'd be a miracle if you could notice a difference.
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Apr 9, 2013 02:25
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Sockington posted:I've found that no matter what height I have my Pearly Gates at, there's just too much twang in comparison to my single coils on the Strat. You could eq the thing to death to get rid of the band that's offending you. It's a strat so I'm guessing stock bridge materials and a maple neck/fretboard? It's not very noticeable but together that could all add up to the perfect storm of twang and just likely needs a different amp setting.
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Apr 9, 2013 02:57
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How loud should I be micing my guitar amp with an SM57? I'm using a Fender Superchamp X2 at around a 2 on the volume knob, which is enough to hear over my strings. I don't like playing extremely loud because I don't want to piss anyone off. Right now I'm using about 50 decibels of gain on my preamp/interface (Mackie Onyx Blackjack), which seems like far too much. I'm just not getting the tones I had always hoped to get with this setup. I have a decent guitar and tube amp, but I still get better tones with a (very) carefully tweaked digital amp (I like TH2) than my tube amp. This is a shame because I hate digital amplification, it hurts my ears to listen to for too long.
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Apr 9, 2013 03:34
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coolbian57 posted:How loud should I be micing my guitar amp with an SM57? I'm using a Fender Superchamp X2 at around a 2 on the volume knob, which is enough to hear over my strings. I don't like playing extremely loud because I don't want to piss anyone off. Right now I'm using about 50 decibels of gain on my preamp/interface (Mackie Onyx Blackjack), which seems like far too much. I'm just not getting the tones I had always hoped to get with this setup. I have a decent guitar and tube amp, but I still get better tones with a (very) carefully tweaked digital amp (I like TH2) than my tube amp. This is a shame because I hate digital amplification, it hurts my ears to listen to for too long. Jesus H Christ turn your amp up
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Apr 9, 2013 04:34
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coolbian57 posted:How loud should I be micing my guitar amp with an SM57? I'm using a Fender Superchamp X2 at around a 2 on the volume knob, which is enough to hear over my strings. I don't like playing extremely loud because I don't want to piss anyone off. Right now I'm using about 50 decibels of gain on my preamp/interface (Mackie Onyx Blackjack), which seems like far too much. I'm just not getting the tones I had always hoped to get with this setup. I have a decent guitar and tube amp, but I still get better tones with a (very) carefully tweaked digital amp (I like TH2) than my tube amp. This is a shame because I hate digital amplification, it hurts my ears to listen to for too long. 50 DB of gain is way too much and your amp is too low. If you're worried about volume that much, just go direct from the amp to your computer with the USB output.
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Apr 9, 2013 05:37
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Declan MacManus posted:50 DB of gain is way too much and your amp is too low. If you're worried about volume that much, just go direct from the amp to your computer with the USB output. You would think that is a good idea, but there is a crap ton of lag when using the USB connection for me. I'm working at somehow reducing the lag, hopefully someone at Fender gets back to me on that. There is a disappointing lack of support/documentation for using the USB connection for anything other than FUSE. I can't even figure out how to get their ASIO drivers to recognize their own amp. So, what is a reasonable amp volume to mic pre-amp volume ratio then? What decibel level should I be using my interface at? I can try to match my amps volume to that and see if it is too loud. coolbian57 fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 17:14
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The Super Champ has a line out that you can use instead of the USB to get a signal directly to your computer.
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Apr 9, 2013 20:44
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You'll always have some latency, is there any way to monitor what you're playing through the amp itself while you're using the USB? Even if it's through headphones or something?
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Apr 9, 2013 20:54
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coolbian57 posted:You would think that is a good idea, but there is a crap ton of lag when using the USB connection for me. I'm working at somehow reducing the lag, hopefully someone at Fender gets back to me on that. There is a disappointing lack of support/documentation for using the USB connection for anything other than FUSE. I can't even figure out how to get their ASIO drivers to recognize their own amp. This might be a stupid question, but have you tried using ASIO4all? Zen Punk fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 21:19
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thanks for the intrigue. i'm going to try using asio4all and see if that eliminates the latency issue. unfortunately using the line out from the super champ x2 does not silence the speaker when being used. this is something to consider for those that want to buy the amp for the line out feature. it's hard to monitor when the amp is also going at the same time.
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Apr 9, 2013 22:03
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coolbian57 posted:thanks for the intrigue. i'm going to try using asio4all and see if that eliminates the latency issue. unfortunately using the line out from the super champ x2 does not silence the speaker when being used. this is something to consider for those that want to buy the amp for the line out feature. it's hard to monitor when the amp is also going at the same time. I'm not sure how loud a Super Champ is, but I was running into similar issues trying to record my Vibro Champ. It was hard to hear what was actually being recorded while the amp was blasting next to me, so it would sound great in the room, and terrible recorded. I came up with a high tech solution, which was putting it in a closet with the door closed and running the guitar and mic cables under the door. It helped a lot.
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Apr 9, 2013 22:16
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coolbian57 posted:thanks for the intrigue. i'm going to try using asio4all and see if that eliminates the latency issue. unfortunately using the line out from the super champ x2 does not silence the speaker when being used. this is something to consider for those that want to buy the amp for the line out feature. it's hard to monitor when the amp is also going at the same time. No you're supposed to mute the input monitoring on your computer, so you monitor your playing through the speaker. You can hear all your backing tracks and play along to them through the amp, without also hearing the inevitably delayed guitar signal and getting thrown off. When you're done recording the guitar track should be automatically shifted to compensate for the latency, or you can adjust it yourself. That's why most audio interfaces have a monitoring output, so you can hear what's going in 'live' instead of the delayed result. Computers are inherently laggy to some degree
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Apr 9, 2013 22:53
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baka kaba posted:No you're supposed to mute the input monitoring on your computer, so you monitor your playing through the speaker. You can hear all your backing tracks and play along to them through the amp, without also hearing the inevitably delayed guitar signal and getting thrown off. When you're done recording the guitar track should be automatically shifted to compensate for the latency, or you can adjust it yourself. I understand this, but I can't listen to my amp through the speaker (at most times during the day). I would if I could, I hate digital amps and have 2 decent condenser microphones and a nice interface to record with, but w/e. I solved my problem by uninstalling asio4all, and getting an older version of asio4all, as well as updating the firmware on my superchamp, and using a different USB port to connect the superchamp to my computer to get it to recognize it?! Some stuff to try for anyone else having similar problems.
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Apr 10, 2013 00:43
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You can get things pretty drat close as long as your cpu etc is up to it. I can't really feel the latency when I'm playing in amplitube using just a preamp into my integrated soundcard's line-in with asio4all. You can adjust buffers and things to shave the latency down as far as your hardware will go. edit: Somebody in this Fender forums thread Says that turning the volume pot on the amp down to zero won't affect the signal going out through USB. Zen Punk fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Apr 10, 2013 |
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Apr 10, 2013 00:46
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Yeah I was going to say, you can probably turn the volume down without affecting the sound. I'd assume the gain control changes it though.
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Apr 10, 2013 01:05
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coolbian57 posted:I understand this, but I can't listen to my amp through the speaker (at most times during the day). I would if I could, I hate digital amps and have 2 decent condenser microphones and a nice interface to record with, but w/e. You do know that the Super Champ is digital, right? While it is tube driven, the digital signal processing that goes on in the preamp stage is vital to the design and sound of the amp
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Apr 10, 2013 01:10
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TopherCStone posted:You do know that the Super Champ is digital, right? While it is tube driven, the digital signal processing that goes on in the preamp stage is vital to the design and sound of the amp The way I understood it, it only undergoes digital processing when used on Channel 2. And I actually do like most of the amp models on channel 2, for different sounds they seem to work in different scenarios. Channel 8 is good for hard rock, channel 14 is good for light 80s metal type distortion, and the others are good for jazz, country, and effects laden stuff. The digital effects are not too cheesy and in fact I don't even see any need to get pedals for those effects now. The distortion sounds are weak though and I may have to get a pedal if I want actual good heavy distortion. Channel 1 sounds like any tube amp, but doesn't break up easily at all (need an attenuation). I think I should clarify by saying that normally I highly dislike the grating sound of digital amplification, and have tried them all (TH2 seems to be the only one I can stand). But Fender did a good job making near perfect amp models specifically for this amp, so they actually sound acceptable when played through the speakers. coolbian57 fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Apr 10, 2013 |
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Apr 10, 2013 04:17
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If I don't plan on playing for a couple weeks, should I loosen the strings on my electric? Will that help keep the strings "fresher"?
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Apr 10, 2013 13:01
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Unless you're shipping it or leaving it somewhere with radically different temperature and humidity you don't need to do anything. The tuning might drift a little in that time, but that's about it.
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Apr 10, 2013 14:04
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Declan MacManus posted:Flatwounds already sound dead and will only get deadder as you play them I was actually thinking about them from a bassist perspective hahah. quote:I've found that no matter what height I have my Pearly Gates at, there's just too much twang in comparison to my single coils on the Strat. Don't be scared to roll off your volume and play with that tone knob man! That's what they're there for. Play around with your amp EQ. My Jeff Tweedy can be really really bright (even raspy) if I don't twiddle my knobs.
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Apr 10, 2013 15:22
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coolbian57 posted:The way I understood it, it only undergoes digital processing when used on Channel 2. And I actually do like most of the amp models on channel 2, for different sounds they seem to work in different scenarios. Channel 8 is good for hard rock, channel 14 is good for light 80s metal type distortion, and the others are good for jazz, country, and effects laden stuff. The digital effects are not too cheesy and in fact I don't even see any need to get pedals for those effects now. The distortion sounds are weak though and I may have to get a pedal if I want actual good heavy distortion. Channel 1 sounds like any tube amp, but doesn't break up easily at all (need an attenuation). Fair enough, I just thought you were one of those people who has a "digital is always bad no matter what" perspective. Usually those people tend to be using some kind of digital gear without knowing it I am a big fan of the Vibro/Super Champs. I wish I could find something that does a good Hiwatt impersonation
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Apr 10, 2013 16:40
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TopherCStone posted:Fair enough, I just thought you were one of those people who has a "digital is always bad no matter what" perspective. Usually those people tend to be using some kind of digital gear without knowing it Tech21 makes a pedal designed to emulate the breakup of a Hiwatt and Zoom's G-series does excellent modeling of a Hiwatt. You can also get a Reeves amp, which is very similar to a Hiwatt and the rest of this conversation probably goes in the amp thread.
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Apr 10, 2013 17:15
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I saw someone playing an amazing looking Gibson at an open mic last night but I can't find it anywhere. It was a hollow or semi-hollow with no cut away on either side. Body shape was a lot like this Gretsch. It had 2 F-holes, no pick guard and 2 or 3 (but not 4) volume/tone pots. One P90 in the neck (I think). It looked vintage but who knows? Anyone got any ideas?  Edit: btw it wasn't a 1934-L5 as it had a P90 and a standard les-paul style Gibson headstock but the body shape was similar. Final edit: so looks like he had a vintage Gibson ES-125. And, yep, I can't afford one. Gaze on its beauty. 
Nigel Tufnel fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Apr 10, 2013 |
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Apr 10, 2013 18:33
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50s ES-125 maybe?
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Apr 10, 2013 18:41
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