I get that you need to have the tubes working hard to get that tone, but, at a given volume, does it make a difference if your amp is turned up and your guitar is turned down or vice versa? Or, do you need to push the tubes with a loud guitar to get the tone you want from your tubes? I'm just thinking bedroom volume from a tube amp.
"Still debating whether or not to shell out for an Axe FX II, but I find mostly I think about buying gear when I'm frustrated with my playing."
YUP.
We all know that you can't buy tone, but some of us sure try...I am an admitted sufferer of "GAS" - gear acquisition syndrome. It's in the DSM-V, or if it's not it should be.
Tom, thanks for your comments. I do tend to dig in a lot, and I think I pay for it technique wise. I think I listened to so much Steve Ray Vaughn growing up that I just got in the habit of hammering on the guitar and never really gave it much thought. It's a problem. I've been learning Duane Allman's 1st solo on Stormy Monday over the last week and his left hand technique is so different, especially his bending, it's been good to emulate.
You're absolutely right in that timing is the issue, and I'm trying not to get frustrated...
Gear it is. My latest pedalboard, always a work in progress. I just added an Ernie Ball MVP volume pedal and I'm still fiddling with where I want to place it in the chain.
I rarely use the wah pedal. I used to use the DynaComp a lot more before I got the EP boost (clean boost), which seems to be a great pedal for my particular rig (American Strat w/ Vintage 50s into VOX AC15 w/ mullard tubes).
Now, I basically stack the TS-808 & the box of rock on the normal channel with very little gain so that it's just starting to break up & I can use my volume knob to control the distortion.
Here's my issue: this rig is bright as shit and sometimes seems to have a mind of its own. Sometimes the damn thing sounds awesome and I feel like a rock star, sometimes it sounds like a flabby whining chicken whistle. I've tried to eliminate as many variables as I can to identify the issue. I've replaced cables. I've fiddled with my pickup height. I've changed strings (I'm using D'addario nickel wound 10's at the moment) I've played with rolling off the tone knob on the guitar. I've played just with the amp. I've run my pedalboard in a hundred different configurations, I made sure to put a buffered pedal at the end of the chain, the list goes on and on, and I'm still not able to get it to sound like I want it to.
I'm not an obsessive tone-hound--quite the contrary. I don't need it to sound brilliant--I'm a bad enough guitarist that if you put me on a perfect rig I'll make it sound marginal. But, I just need it to not sound TERRIBLE.
I'll try to post a decent sounding video shortly.
[[File:rig1.jpg|none|auto]]
[[File:ac4 after.jpg|none|auto]]
(Notice the before and after on my AC4. I put the original 4 watt amp body into a custom birch cab with a 12" greenback and put a mullard 12ax7 & EL84 in it and it sounds just as good as the AC15 if not better)
Thanks, PB. Really helpful. It seemed to be all about thumb pressure--I was certainly pinching the &&^% out of the neck and wasting lots of energy hence the chicken elbow. Pretty easy fix, surprisingly.
As I've been re-evaluating my wrist & elbow technique, I've noticed something about my barre chords, specifically the A chord shape barre chord. I've always had a difficult time making this particular chord sound right, and I've posted a video about the proper placement of the thumb, wrist and arm. I know this is a bit of a basic question, but I thought I'd see what others thought about it as it's bothering me now that I've noticed it.
Astute observation. I noticed that myself. Any advice on how to effectively practice combining the two? Is it just a matter of practicing it, or are there specific things I can be doing to work on coordinating my two hands as I play through the scales?
Holy Crap. Those exercises are incredible--I never got the concept of inside/outside. After paying attention to it & running those exercises for about an hour last night I had an AHA moment--thanks for this. I'll post a video here shortly...
Ok. So, the last two weeks I've been on a bit of a pick bender, and I've found the solution in the form of a pick from nashville named V-picks. I paid $20 to get their "sampler package," which is 5 different picks, and the one I like most is called the tradition. Big problem is, the damn things cost $5 dollars a piece. Yes, $5 american dollars. Apparently they are made out of some sort of polycarbonate infused with magic pixie dust. As much as I hate it, so far, this thing is worth every penny.
btw, this happens pretty much only when I'm strumming chords, not picking, and the problem has little/nothing to do with the scalpel technique, this issue predates scalpel for me. just wanted to clarify as the video seems to imply that the two issues are related…they're not
Echo. Dude, anyone who chooses to dedicate themselves and their valuable time to this instrument and can actually make music come from the instrument has the right to be proud of that.
Don't ever compare your insides to any one else's outsides--you'll lose every time.
Hey guys--as another scalpel and forum noob, I thought I would share a few quick things.
I'm only 3 weeks into trying to learn the squalpyul (kidding PB) technique, and I'll admit I was initially skeptical of its use in my own personal style of playing, and after about a week of 5-6 hour days with no discernible progress (or so I thought), I was really really close to bagging it altogether. But after sticking with it for the next two weeks, I managed to make some real progress in the last week or so, I had kind of an "aha" moment during the one string exercises where I felt (just for a moment) what it was supposed to feel like, and I'll I have to say, it was a big moment for me musically.
Anyway, I'm officially a believer now, and after 20+ years of casual playing with no particular initiative, I'm remotivated and I feel like I'm in the first mile of a marathon.
Ok, here's a bit of video on 3 weeks of progress. It's subtle, but it's there. I've been working on scalpel picking, and right now I'm much slower than before w/ just straight wrist, but I can feel how much less energy I'm using and I know it'll definitely be worth the effort.
The app Practice Timer keeps up with your time only when you're actually playing. The clock only runs when the speakers pick up the sound of your guitar, so you find out exactly how much time during a given session you're actually practicing.
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