GUITAR MEGATHREAD: Sorry for the nipple, I'm depressed.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No More Drake > Musician's Lounge > GUITAR MEGATHREAD: Sorry for the nipple, I'm depressed.

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The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

a.p. dent posted:

some thoughts:

as the chords change, emphasize the chord tones of each chord - this means playing them on strong beats, or with longer notes

sing what you play. ideally you should be hearing what you're going to play in your mind before you play it. this helps develop that skill

singing will also help you play more melodically

avoid playing too many chord roots - other chord and tones have a richer sound than the root, which will usually be played by the bass or piano

vary your rhythm as much as possible

place accents in different spots - first on strong beats, then on 8th note offbeats. mix and match as much as possible. try playing a single pitch, and use rhythm and accents to keep it interesting

lots more you could try, but that's a start. singing what you play is extremely important for developing more melodic improvising

This is some great advice! Things that have helped me the most have been:
- singing a line out to get at least a small idea that sounds good, even if it's surrounded by more noodley stuff
- emphasizing the chord tones to really clarify that you're following the harmony. This can also mean stepping outside the pentatonic, even just for a note or two, which keeps it sounding more interesting
- avoid starting on the 1 - you definitely don't always have to do this, but starting phrases on other beats can really liven things up
- repetition! If you land on something that sounds cool, keep using it. I always think of the Purple Rain solo (9:55 in this video if it doesn't embed right) where it almost seems like he realizes in real time how cool this little lick is and just keeps driving it home. If you go back around 30 seconds in the video, you hear parts of it start to appear, then it all comes together and works perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frbVVDAyJ1w&t=595s

# ¿ Jul 19, 2022 18:01

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 23:04

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Major Operation posted:

An even more farfetched possibility would be having a telecaster bridge with strings through the end of the bridge instead of up through the body. I don't know if Fender even sells any with bridges like that. I have a plywood T-style guitar that was unbelievably cheap on Amazon, and it has that kind of bridge. I guess not drilling through the body and putting in string ferrules saved some production cost.

It's not very common, but there are a few oddballs out there like the J Mascis Telecaster. Which argument wins out - "Through body and sharper break angle on the saddles = more sustain" or "More tonewood = more tone"??

# ¿ Jul 29, 2022 18:09

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Huxley posted:

As I understand it:

Csus2 (replaces the 3rd with the 2nd, wants to resolve up, C D G)

Cadd9 (just stacks the 9th over the triad, C E G D)

C9 (an extension of the maj7, C E B D, sometimes with the 5th in there, too)

One minor correction - C9 would be an extension of the dominant 7 (C E Bb D), which you see all over the place in James Brown songs, to give a single example. Cmaj9 would be C E B D. Like you said, 5ths can be there or not.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2022 12:31

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Dr. Faustus posted:

I went back to the band leader's place and got back my other Headrush 108 cabinet which I had left there all this time, and I am ready to try out on Sunday.

It seems funny to me to just pull this out from your post, but I�m wondering how you like the Headrush. I�ve been thinking about getting a FRFR to get away from using my monitors, and this one seems to come up a lot as a recommendation.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2022 12:12

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Elissimpark posted:

I was flicking through the Cash Converters website (which is an Australian chain pawn shop) and saw one of these:

which is a Parker P-36. I'd be really interested to know who they'd be marketing a Teleparker to...

Hmm, probably directly to me if I had to guess

# ¿ Aug 15, 2022 21:56

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Elissimpark posted:

I was flicking through the Cash Converters website (which is an Australian chain pawn shop) and saw one of these:

which is a Parker P-36. I'd be really interested to know who they'd be marketing a Teleparker to...

OK which of you people put in an offer for the P36 on reverb last night? I know you're here, show yourself!

# ¿ Aug 16, 2022 13:37

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

curried lamb of God posted:

I'm far from the best/most sophisticated player, but as an apartment dweller, the HX Stomp is one of the best purchases I've ever made, especially since I also play bass. It's also reasonably cheap used or on discount - I bought mine for $450 new when Prymaxe had a 25% off coupon.

Other guitar forums are also full of praise for modelers from the Chinese companies like Nux, but I ended up going with HX just due to their extensive history of providing updates and adding new amps/effects. Fractal is very well regarded too, so you can't go wrong with either.

Seconding the praise for the HX stomp. I got it as a gadget to fool around with effects pedals I would otherwise not pay for, and it�s turned into the center of my setup, and almost the only thing I use. There are tons of great sounds in there, and it�s easy to use as just a pedal platform or a full on amp sim.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2022 19:35

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Baron von Eevl posted:

That's the dominant baby, bust out that harmonic minor. The real fun one is to pull a Creep and play a III chord in major, it's the dominant of the relative minor of the key.

Creep makes me laugh because they went after Lana Del Rey for stealing from them after they ripped it off from the Hollies. People just really like using that same I-III-IV-iv progression and melody.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2022 12:50

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

800peepee51doodoo posted:

Got a couple packs of the Dunlop Jazz III Gator Grips. I'd been using the 1.5mm regular Gator Grips and after getting used to the Jazz III smaller size, I gotta say I like the sharper point. There's a noticeable increase in pick attack, especially on fast trem picking. Pretty nice! I wish they had them in a thicker profile with the grippy texture though.

Also, question: what are some good IR packs that people are using? I want to try out some different cab sims with my HX Stomp but I'm not really sure whats worth looking at. I remember seeing internet people talk up the Ownhammer stuff but that shits spendy. Not a big problem if they are worth it but I'd rather not just throw money at things randomly.

Not to dissuade from more purchases, but you can definitely get some good sounds out of the stock Helix cabs, though it might take some tweaking. I know Jason Sadites on youtube has a ton of videos on using the Helix stuff and is a big proponent of the stock cabs - if you haven't checked him out, there's a huge amount of useful information there.

One piece of advice that keeps coming up is to drop the high cut on the cab significantly. They're all (I think) defaulted to 8kHz, and just to pick a super common example, a Celestion Greenback starts rolling off the highs way before that. Pulling the high cut down to 4 or 5 kHz can help a lot in terms of sounding better/more real.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2022 14:29

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Thumposaurus posted:

If you ever come across a 339 at guitar center give it a shot.

I'm a small skinny person too. They aren't that much bigger than a double cut LP or SG but more manageable than a full size 335 with the same tone.

I had one of the Ibanez versions, the AM series, and it felt and sounded real nice. Definitely recommended.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2022 00:10

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Disco Pope posted:

I've been looking at a PRS Mira as a possible SG alternative but I can't get over those goofy loving birds.

If I can ever justify an SG to myself, I like the looks of the Guild S-100 as an alternative. I saw Cheetah Chrome play one, so they must be legit.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2022 20:58

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

DOPE FIEND KILLA G posted:

the blues rule

This checks out, when I saw Jon spencer, most of the vocals were variants on �the blues is #1!�

# ¿ Sep 24, 2022 12:03

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

NonzeroCircle posted:

I'd love to see more bands/artists playing "wrong" guitars, like a 335 in a drone band (which would probably work actually) or twee indie but played on an Ibanez RG9, completely ignoring the bottom three strings.
Basically, I want Paul McCartney to ditch the Hofners and play a Karl Sanders spear, and vice versa

McCartney has branched out a little, though it's not too out there:

And Lou Reed had those weird Klein guitars

# ¿ Sep 27, 2022 00:10

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

OK but what about shredlord Mickey Baker and his sweep picking from the 50's?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fGizY77-q8&t=110s

BizarroAzrael posted:

Amazon photos reminded me of this from visiting an exhibit for Factory Records last year.

Ian Curtis's Vox Phantom. I kind of want one, even though it looks pretty ugly and uncomfortable IMO. The on board effects are kind of interesting.

Sterling Morrison played one too at times, they definitely have some cool players.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2022 14:08

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

a.p. dent posted:

ha! i initially learned jazz chords from "Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar", which i can't recommend as all the voicings are huge and antiquated. never heard him play though, i can see why he'd want those full 6-string voicings for solo stuff.

I ran across that book somewhere and wondered if it was any good. Makes sense that it's pretty old school, and it doesn't sound like it's for me, but I do really like that song.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2022 19:09

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

a.p. dent posted:

the first page of the book:

i remember #6, D13b5b9, being particularly ridiculous, but a bunch of these are super impractical. i learned them all and promptly forgot them.

1,2,4,15, and 16 are in regular use, and I might try to steal a few others, but whew there are some finger twisters there

# ¿ Oct 3, 2022 20:10

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

luchadornado posted:

Is there a reason pedals aren't left to right? It's kind of maddening to me for some reason.

I'm pretty sure it's that most guitar players are right handed, so the cable comes out of the guitar on the right side, and having pedal inputs on the left would mean the cable getting in the way as it snakes in front of you. Some of the early pedals were set up with input on the left and output on the right (ex: fuzz face) or input on left, output on the back (ex: Maestro FZ-1), but I'm not sure when the consensus was formed on the current way of doing things.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2022 14:56

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Jonny 290 posted:

i exclusively upstroked for like 20 years, yeah. no explanation.

I remember reading an interview with Paul Gilbert where he talked about playing exclusively with upstrokes until he got a teacher and found out that you don�t have to do it that way, so it can work out I guess

# ¿ Oct 21, 2022 12:42

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

800peepee51doodoo posted:

Somewhat ironically, J Mascis's solos are relatively easy to figure out if you know your major and minor scales. From the Dino Jr songs I've learned, he almost always plays completely diatonically so if you can figure out what key/mode the song is in, you're already like 80% of the way there. Learning by ear is much easier if you already know what they are likely to be playing. Having at least some theory definitely helps a lot.

I�m glad you mentioned this, because I went through one of his solos that I really liked, got it all down, and it was like �wtf, this is just the G major scale, how does this sound so good??�

# ¿ Oct 25, 2022 18:20

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

a.p. dent posted:

any Jackson Browne fans in the house? incredible songwriter imo. beautiful melodies that are deceptively complex / difficult to sing (trying to sing Late for the Sky at the moment). you'd probably know him from Runnin On Empty (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNmIbSre7Tw) and These Days from the Velvet Underground & Nico.

Never really dug into him much beyond the Running on Empty album, but I do like that one a lot. I think he was also one of the original Dumble guys and provided amps for Texas Flood, which is a weird connection I wouldn't have expected.

I found this lesson on one of the lap steel solos from that song, and it's on my list to learn - just sounds so great all the way through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXpwF0h6ZMs

# ¿ Oct 31, 2022 23:39

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

widefault posted:

Feeling proud of myself. Sold 6 guitars in the last month and only bought two, and I'm $50 ahead.

The goal is to get this hoard down to a more manageable, focused, collection, by dumping a bunch of crap ones to pay for one nice one. So it's time to look over the spreadsheet again.

For anyone here, how do you know when it's time to get rid of/replace one or more? I'm trying not to just endlessly cycle through buying and selling new gear, but there's always a feeling that the grass would be greener if I switched something out.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2022 17:50

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

ethanol posted:

if you're going to complain about I V vi IV then you might as well complain about big boy I IV V and all derivative blues progressions in which case guitar I feel like will be a difficult path for you... but of course I went deep into ego jazz technical school looking for the secret progression that would open up my world and came out thinking that shits blows and all that theory just gets in the way of feeling your own voice.....man

Spice up that boring ii-V-I by playing the ii as a rootless minor7 chord. Very few people have used a chord progression as radical as this.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2022 18:58

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

JamesKPolk posted:

I want a hollow body guitar to play jazz on. My current lineup, to their credit, all sustain too much.

I've been thinking about :
-Artcore
-Starcaster
-LP (the chambered ones do this right?)
-335 or 339
-Thinline tele
- Jazz box of some kind? but idk where to get one for under 6-700

I love fender but I also love shorter scale lengths especially for chordy things. I have a tele thats great and part of me is like just figure out how to make that work instead of buying stuff

Any obvious yeses or nos here? I like the Ibanez (and the Starcaster when its on sale) for the price, am worried the 335 is gonna be uncomfortable, and other than that idk. Probably the answer is go play a bunch of them. Anyone tried the Fireflys? They decent?

I had one of the 339-sized Artcores (the AM series), and it was really nice, especially for the price. Definitely worth a look if you think you might be interested. I never played any jazz when I had it, and now I�m considering something like that again since I dabble in a little jazz now.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2022 23:38

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

I keep eying an SG any time I get the itch for a new guitar, but it�s hard to make the most important decision - big or small guard?

# ¿ Dec 8, 2022 15:50

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

The Fear posted:

didn't Wilson say bends are sloppy and lazy

Got to do it like Mustaine and bend into a strobe tuner to ensure non-sloppiness.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2022 17:32

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Dr. Faustus posted:

I play a MKII Turbo at home and an FM3 at rehearsals, and I have never in my life been happier with my gear.

One thing about the FM3 is you'll want to adjust your input level for your hottest pickups before you try putting any pedals in front. I cannot say how the FAS gear handles gain stages in front.

On the other hand, you have amazing send/return routing available and your modulation/time effects can all go in the effects loop.

My experience has been: Buy FAS gear, sell almost everything, buy more guitars. YMMV

P.S. - Just came from a rehearsal with a sound guy who came to dial in our PA. Since my presets are home-built and properly leveled my part of soundcheck was over just after it started. I am crazy about this tech. I just carry in a pedalboard and hook up an FRFR and plug into the PA. I'm usually set up before the drummer and all he does is bring cymbals.

What FRFR do you like? I may finally get to start jamming again, and I�ll have to either buy a real amp or get a FRFR for my hx stomp if I want to leave my apartment.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2022 15:14

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Wowporn posted:

Ever since I found out East Bay Ray puts his delay right in front of the amp I feel like effects loops have been lying to me this whole time

I�ve never had an amp with an effects loop, and so I�ve always gone straight in with whatever pedals with no real problems. It�s not like there�s any shortage of people who have gotten great tones this way. It was pretty funny to me recently watching the TPS guys realize that it�s not necessarily unplayable that way when they ran a reverb pedal into the front of a plexi assuming it would be garbage, and it sounded like� a guitar with reverb.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2022 20:53

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

ethanol posted:

What do you guys think about vintera '50s MIM strats? local shop has one discounted at $899. two tone sunburst though.

I don't know if that would be too hard for me to stomach after failing to get an AVII

but then again, you do all seem to love your MIM strats

If it�s the two tone sunburst, it�s the Vintera 50s Modified, which is more modern and doesn�t have the big fat soft V neck, if that�s something you want.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2022 15:44

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

ethanol posted:

Oh yes you're right, not what I'm looking for

Hah, glad I could help out. I've spend a disturbing amount of time poking at the details of the Vintera / Vintera Modified, and Classic / Classic Player variations of the Strat and Tele. For reference, I know the soft V neck is on the Classic Player 50's Strat, Classic Player 50's (Baja) Tele, Vintera Modified 50's Tele, and apparently the Vintera 50's Strat. I've owned the first 3, so I can definitely speak to those necks being largely the same other than the finish.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2022 16:33

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Quizzlefish posted:

Sweet eh?

I tried one of those recently, and it seemed pretty good. Sounded better than most strats I�ve tried, and felt really solid overall. The neck felt really wide to me, but that�s probably just a couple of mm of difference that I would get used to in 20 minutes.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2023 16:51

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Pollyanna posted:

What�s the absolute minimum it takes to make an electric guitar?

If I understand correctly, the basis of an electric guitar is a pickup reacting to vibrations from strings and emitting an electrical signal. Sounds like all you really need is a headstock, a fretboard, strings, a pickup, and a box to put the pickup in and hold the strings over. And the actual shape of the box doesn�t matter too much, it just looks neat with certain designs - you can saw a bunch of it off. Maybe you could even saw the fretboard in half or make it hinged.

I�m imagining just a really long fretboard with a couple pickups, which is amusing.

You too can own a minimalist guitar!

https://reverb.com/item/64100757-eastwood-la-baye-electric-guitar

Or if that's too much missing, you can go partway:

https://reverb.com/item/57827134-eastwood-starway-pete-shelley-signature-red

# ¿ Jan 4, 2023 18:02

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

luchadornado posted:

Copeland is an amazing drummer. All three are tremendous talents, really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmBdz1txGSo

Bring on the Night, So Lonely, Synchronicity II, Can't Stand Losing You are all great songs that get overlooked.

Sure, amazing drummer and possible intelligence asset! His father was a founding member of the CIA

# ¿ Jan 5, 2023 03:05

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

ethanol posted:

continuing my epic series of bad purchasing decisions to upgrade my gear, I ordered a tone master twin. attenuating a twin to lower volume level is very attractive to me. And now realizing I have to buy pedals for it lol because I've been living on regular modeling amps for so long. for such an overpriced product, it's so god drat classic fender to not throw a software looper and delay / multieffects api onto it. I mean it's just a cpu in there like a mustang gt

I think I'll start with the behringer tube screamer and fuzz before anything else though

Looking forward to the report. I�ve been considering a tone master deluxe as a way to get back to using a real amp and not just helix -> monitors so I can maybe get away from the computer sometimes.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2023 22:30

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

creamcorn posted:

https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1611895768368963586

this old balding florida man doing gratuitous pinch harmonics during the anthem is really funny imo

When I attempted to sell a digidelay on craigslist, I got some great responses, though I probably would have been killed if I followed up on any of them.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2023 19:27

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Major Operation posted:

Lollar Pickups also has an article on pickup phase/winding/polarity that might be clearer than the one from Fralin Pickups.
https://www.lollarguitars.com/understanding-pickup-phase

If you have out of phase pickups, you�re required by law to use �Peter Green� in the description of the sound.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2023 16:39

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Disco Pope posted:

I settled on giving a little relief to my Tele neck as it seems a bit too flat from what I can gather. God, I'm loving terrified.

Just to check - a "quarter turn" means 90 degrees? Or is it a quarter of that? I assumed tye latter, but might have been too subtle with the adjustments.

Yeah, 90 degrees. Necks are strong, you won't mess anything up that you can't turn back if you just do small adjustments like that and give it time to settle.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2023 16:21

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

luchadornado posted:

I'm questioning what I'm doing with my life as I'm starting to build my Tele-like partscaster. Adding a forearm contour to the body already felt shameful enough, but now I'm seriously considering a 24.75" scale length instead of the standard 25.5". Do I even like teles any longer?

Forearm contour on a Telecaster (ok Esquire, but close enough) was good enough for Jeff Beck, no shame there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E4ACHhD8tk

# ¿ Jan 19, 2023 18:47

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Helianthus Annuus posted:

Anyone have experience with "dummy pickups"? The idea is to either take the magnet(s) out of one of the pickups (or replace the magnets with ferrite), then that pickup will work with the remaining one to behave like a humbucker.

https://www.frettech.com/frettech/dummy/index.html

I had the idea when thinking about how single-pickup guitars have better sustain, and i was wondering if i could get that mojo with one of my two-pickup guitars by taking one of the magnets out.

Not exactly the same thing, but you got me thinking about this system that my teacher has mentioned a few times. He speaks pretty highly of it, and the reviews are good, but it definitely seems more expensive than I'm prepared to deal with for messing around with bedroom playing. Maybe if I find a guitar that REALLY feels right.

https://www.ilitchelectronics.com/
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ilitch-electronics-pgncs-t

# ¿ Jan 27, 2023 16:29

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

drhankmccoyphd posted:

Idiot talk. I have a Strymon blue sky reverberator v1 that has a 9v input. The only power supply I have on hand is 7.5v and 80mA. Would I be a complete idiot to use this supply with the pedal? Pics:

Two strong reasons not to:
That power supply is center-positive, and the pedal wants center negative. This could go from �doesn�t work� to �goodbye pedal�.
It�s only 80mA and the BlueSky wants 300mA so it probably wouldn�t work anyway.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2023 19:28

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 23:04

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Buschmaki posted:

SGs should be red.

I sometimes think otherwise, but yeah, this is correct.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2023 22:45

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No More Drake > Musician's Lounge > GUITAR MEGATHREAD: Sorry for the nipple, I'm depressed.

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