Can I get an opinion? (Guitar content)

[WolfeMacleod]

I've never considered myself a great guitar player, and have always had a difficult time with the fretboard, which is why I started building instead of playing.

After almost 20 years of... "playing" ...I've decided to start learning scales and whatnot. What a challenge for this apparently feeble mind.

Anyways, I came across a backing track on Youtube, somewhat Pink Floydish, and started messing around with it. This is probably the longest continuous piece I've done.

I'd like your opinions on it so far... If the embedded player doesn't work, click the link below it...

(wish the backing track were higher quality...)

G Minor Blues v3 by WolfeMacleod

[matthew-s]

I think it's great. Very well done.

[LWJ]

Says not available.

[Jandrews]

I would give anything to be able to play like that. Sounded great...thanks for the link.

I would LOVE to hear/see some more of you amateur players, particularly solo like this. Nostatic, Dave Targa, Superman, Rick Lee (especially!!). How about someone start a thread with just audio or even better video links of Pelican guitar or drummers playing solo? I know amateurs don't like to post themselves, but I would sure love to hear some of you guys play!

JA

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by LWJ

Says not available.

click the link below the embedded player that's not working.
oR.. here..

[futuresoptions]

Sounds great to me! Sort of similar to the Pink Floyd echoes live at Pompeii that I posted on the rock and roll songs thread... Bravo!!! Wanna join my band?

[targa911S]

Wow! Very PF! You sound good.

PS: Nobody wants to hear a 61 yr old bass player doing "Somewhere over the rainbow" on a stand up.

[Rick Lee]

Very Pink Floydish. If you don't mind some constructive criticism, I'd put a lot more vibrato on those longer notes. Gilmour has a real talent for making each note really count and last a long time. Vibrato is your friend when you have great tone and aren't shredding, trying to cram a million notes in there.

This guy is my new Youtube hero. He's not old enough to be playing this well. His tone and vibrato kill me. I have this same amp and can't pull this off.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Very Pink Floydish. If you don't mind some constructive criticism, I'd put a lot more vibrato on those longer notes. Gilmour has a real talent for making each note really count and last a long time.....>

I'll do a re-take a bit later tonight.

Always had problems with vibrato during bends .. not so much when bending downwards, but upwards has always been difficult for me, and I don't know why.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Did you get tired after 2 min? I didn't hear you after that.

Joking aside, that sounded great to me. I'll second Rick's feedback, though it didn't occur to me until I read it. FWIW I can't bend up and do vibrato, either. My fingers just won't do it. Hell, I can't do vibrato much at all...I end up always doing it "violin" style or using my Bigsby.

I do indeed like that fact that you took your time and didn't try to shred.

[Rick Lee]

The way I got my hands in shape to do vibrato was by using .010s. When I was a kid, everyone used .009s. Once I took my teacher's old school Kramer home with .010s on it and liked the way they sounded. After a week with that one, when I went back my own guitar with .009s, I had so much more strength and vibrato was so much easier. I've been using .010s ever since and so my hands have maintained the strength and thicker strings sound better anyway. Of course, you can always practice on a steel string acoustic too and then go back to electric after a week or two.

Wolfe, how did you record that? I would like to start doing sound clips like that, but have no recording equipment beyond my iPhone.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Jandrews

I would give anything to be able to play like that. Sounded great...thanks for the link.

I would LOVE to hear/see some more of you amateur players, particularly solo like this. Nostatic, Dave Targa, Superman, Rick Lee (especially!!). How about someone start a thread with just audio or even better video links of Pelican guitar or drummers playing solo? I know amateurs don't like to post themselves, but I would sure love to hear some of you guys play!

JA

Careful what you ask for

Sounds cool Wolfe. I'm with the other guys on the wringing more out of less notes. As for vibrato, that is just practice, but very specific practice. I recently started studying with a new teacher and I'm basically relearning my instrument from the ground up. Dexterity exercises, scales, patterns etc, all with a metronome. PITA

Here is a solo bass thing I did a few months. I need to revisit as my approach to things has changed quite a bit recently

L-anor by nostatic-trio-plus on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Me and the percussion player having a discussion late last year:



I've got gobs of live tracks. Some meanderings from this month (can you tell I got a new delay pedal?)

http://nostatic.com/mp3/17mar12/clay.mp3 (bass solo starts around 7 minutes in - I started the song on fretless, then set a loop, switched to fretted and finished the song)

slap wankery: http://nostatic.com/mp3/17mar12/duck.mp3

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by BlueSkyJaunte

My fingers just won't do it. Hell, I can't do vibrato much at all...I end up always doing it "violin" style or using my Bigsby.

Violin style is great for nylon string acoustics, but not so much on electric. Or at least I can't think of any electric players using that. I just love the thick sound of heavy gauge strings. They challenge you to try harder to bend, wiggle, etc. I do a lot of my vibrato with my index finger, usually bending down (toward the ground). I have never used my whammy bar for that stuff. I'm VH disciple, so I use it for sounds effects like the dive bomb or horsey-sounding pick harmonics screams. I don't even use it that much, but like having a Floyd Rose system to keep things in tune.

Not to hijack, but I really would love to post some soundclips if someone can recommend me an idiot-proof and cheap recording setup.

[targa911S]

Ok Todd ..where's your hat?

[matthew-s]

Originally Posted by nostatic

slap wankery: http://nostatic.com/mp3/17mar12/duck.mp3

Slap slap . . . like that.

That was fantastic. Loved it.

[esample]

Wolfe

The hard compression on your mix makes it difficult listening for me. Dynamics is a good thing. Also, some of your bends are a little under. Not bad, otherwise.

As you gain finger dexterity, try interspersing some more complex lines, then your sustained tones will have more impact. A good solo is tension and release and has something to say.

Just my opinion.

-e.

[LWJ]

Wolfe,

I like it. I am a bass player who has migrated into a guitar hobby. I suck on guitar pretty bad so I know how you feel. Here is what I think.

First, you are not a bad player at all. You however are not a brilliant player, yet. Overall, pretty good. I like the above comments about dynamics and mixing up some complexity into the sustained notes. Also, there is a comment about less is more above. I agree. I think a goal is story telling on solos. Build on the melody. Build the tension. Release.

I am a fan of a number of players we all know. I find more brilliance in someone like BB King who can hit three notes and simply drive it home. The three perfect notes with the perfect delivery. The guys who puke 10,000 notes all over the stage like EVH (sorry for the sacrilege - he is great but he doesn't know the meaning of subtle) really miss a big piece. Not wanting to start an argument over BB vs EVH, I hope you can pick up what I am saying.

Your style is very David Gilmore. A great thing in my book. I LOVE his sound. Some things that work for me. I started playing acoustic bass. I have vibrato all day long. For me, I just wiggle my left hand. It is natural now. Sometimes, I can grab some vibrato on an open note by even wiggling the guitar. Not nearly as pronounced but I can hear it. Experiment.

I greatly prefer fat strings. I will drop a 1/2 step if the tension is too much to pull off what I desire. I get a tonal delivery with the thicker strings that just doesn't happen with the thin ones. This drives my inspiration. I am VERY inconsistent and put out a range from garbage to greatness. Usually pretty crappy stuff. HOWEVER, as well all know, there are times when I really deliver. What is funny? I notice that I am pretty well caffeinated most of the times that I put out something that makes me say "wow! I can't believe I just did that!"

Good luck. I would kill for the tone that you have from your gear. Have fun. I hope this was helpful.

Larry

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Very Pink Floydish. If you don't mind some constructive criticism, I'd put a lot more vibrato on those longer notes.

Rick, here's the re-take with a little more bendy action, an accidental harmonic, and a feedback at 0:33.

G Minor V4 by WolfeMacleod on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I can't get a whole lot more vibrato that this, without bending strings halfway across the neck. The gauge here is fairly light, so I may re-string with a heavier gauge and see what happens. When I started, playing, I started on .13's. I've moved down over the years due to fatigue and old hand injuries. I think it's a little further along on this take, too...

It was recorded with Amplitube, right into Adobe Audition. After I figure out the entire thing, it will be re-recorded using a VHT Sig-X amp and our pedal for a similar "singing" tone (with a LOT more dynamics)

Originally Posted by LWJ

Wolfe,

I like it. I am a bass player who has migrated into a guitar hobby. I suck on guitar pretty bad so I know how you feel. Here is what I think.

First, you are not a bad player at all. You however are not a brilliant player, yet. Overall, pretty good. I like the above comments about dynamics and mixing up some complexity into the sustained notes. Also, there is a comment about less is more above. I agree. I think a goal is story telling on solos. Build on the melody. Build the tension. Release....... style is very David Gilmoure
......

The Gilmoure thing was sort of natural, considering the Floyish nature of the backing track. A couple people have commented that it sort of moves from Gilmoure to Santana to Gary Moore and back again...

In fact, I consider myself a mediocre player, at best. Brilliant, probably will never obtain that level of playing skill. In the last 13 years or so, I probably have less than 100 or 150 hours of playing time under my belt. I've been waaay too busy building pickups to play much. I'll go weeks without picking up a guitar, which is sad.




A big step is to re-do the crap-quality backing track I found on Youtube. I'll get a friend to re-do it using some VSTi stuff he's got, and make a high quality version of it, or a local band I know that could do a live version of it easily enough.

Here's that backing track, if anyone is interested.

g minor blues - YouTube

[ramonesfreak]

i listened to it when you posted the thread but decided to hold off on giving my opinion. ive thought about it and see now that there are a few above who were thinking the same thing i was thinking...getting more from the notes.

maybe i can elaborate a little. you might want to work not only on your vibrato, but also your approach to how to play a note or series of notes. its a bit too complicated and abstract to describe this in writing but ill try.

work on sliding up to and down to, the note and try to work on creating more harmonic atmosphere by using more volume. for example, my own playing is often on the verge of feedback. i used my hands to suppress the feedback until i need or want it...this gives your lead playing notes more personality, as though there is a halo of energy around each note.

when i do allow the feedback to surface, i control it with a bigsby or my hands and then suppress it again. i do ALOT of sliding up to and down to, the note(s) I want....where I start that slide is sometimes random, sometimes more calculated but rarely just from a half or whole step away on the same string.

i dont hear much going on with your picking hand....without thinking about it at all after 27 years, i vary my pick angle alot, i use palm muting alot, i vary my attack with the pick alot as well as varying the stroke....down strokes, alternate, rake etc....

i could give you quite a few more techniques to work on but i think you get the idea...

this may sound strange, but when i listened to it, my first impression was that you were playing sitting down. maybe i am wrong, but if you were in fact sitting...try playing to the same track with the guitar strapped on, standing up, and with your amp at a loud enough volume to get more personality to come out of the speaker...i can never quite get my groove going when im sitting down and it results in a more sterile sound from me. i never ever play or practice sitting down for this reason

[ramonesfreak]

something else...back in the early 90s i read, i think in Guitar Player Mag, an interview with Pat Metheny (who I admire but sound nothing like and dont really listen to much anymore) who talked about practicing scales using 1 string only. Somehow this lesson crept into my playing the past 20 years. I cant tell you how much of an impact this approach has influenced my sound and approach to solos...of course as a result, im not much of a speed shredder, but, my leads are never dull when i mix the single string approach with the traditional scale (across multiple strings) approach.

Thinking some more about what you have done, I would also add that you could work on incorporating a bit more dissonance instead of playing ever note exactly at the point you think it should be, if that makes any sense