RI Guitar Club

[Elvis]

How many guitarists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Just one: he holds the lightbulb to the socket while the world revolves around him.

[Wombaticus Rex]

The consideration of gear gave me a nice little morning revelation here.

I've been playing on a "shitty" Yamaha acoustic since I landed here...it was a friends and it occupied the case full-time prior to having a Wombat inhabit his couch. In the past I have been quite a lucky damn collector with open but specific taste. I would spend a lot of time strategically "trading up" and networking through the slow-motion distributed bazaar of used instruments in New England, from shops to living rooms. In retrospect I see clearly this is behavior I learned from my father's gun dealings. Can't tell if musical instruments are more or less inherently dangerous.

Anyways, this Yamaha has probably taught me more than any instrument I've had so far. Because it's not easy to play and I have to compensate for dead spots on the neck, and especially because the tone is so beautifully warped -- it's a really gorgeous/ugly instrument! I've often preferred classical strings, but for steel my all-time favorite instrument was a Gibson F-25, which has an unusually wide neck and feels exactly like a generous classical...and the tone is like a piano in a Roman ruin! Gave it to an ex-gf and dear friend who is currently writing songs and doing gigs on it out in Seattle, so I view that as a wise investment.

The Yamaha, though, made me realize I've been spoiled from the jump by parents who wanted me to have the best stuff they could afford. Practicing on this humble beast has increased my hand strength to a level I don't think they've ever had to reach before (outside of masonry / construction work context) and it's enabled me to get down a lot of expressive tricks I never pushed myself to reach for.

[marycarnival]

Anyways, this Yamaha has probably taught me more than any instrument I've had so far. Because it's not easy to play and I have to compensate for dead spots on the neck, and especially because the tone is so beautifully warped -- it's a really gorgeous/ugly instrument! I've often preferred classical strings, but for steel my all-time favorite instrument was a Gibson F-25, which has an unusually wide neck and feels exactly like a generous classical...and the tone is like a piano in a Roman ruin! Gave it to an ex-gf and dear friend who is currently writing songs and doing gigs on it out in Seattle, so I view that as a wise investment.

Ha! I also have a shitty/awesome guitar...it's called a 'Global'. Never heard of it. I think it's supposed to be a copy of a Gretch hollow-body (or a Gibson, not sure...it's THAT shitty). A good friend of mine gave it to me years ago...he could never get it to stay in tune or stop shocking the shit out of him whenever he plugged it in. My ex has a talent for repairing/modifying guitars, so he whipped it into shape for me using almost all recycled parts--tuning machine heads, knobs, nut, and he bolted the very loosey-goosey neck onto the body with 6 giant screws...it's a total Franken-guitar! The electronics are good now, but I usually play it unplugged (total parlor guitar). When plugged in, it has this remarkable sound...not sure how to describe it, let's just say, 'garage-y'. And I feel that playing it has made me a better player...like you say, Wombat...compensating for dead spots and the like...if I can play this guitar, I can play ANYTHING!

[dada]

(though i find that mostly i'm inspired by horns, voice and guitar-wise. Miles is king.)

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Agreed. Miles' sound is what I'm looking for in a guitar tone. His phrasing too, but that's something else.

On the gear front I keep it pretty simple. A half stack and some pedals. An old Musicman HD150, which is a 150watt tube head with phaser and reverb built in. I use a wah a whole lot. Not just in a waka waka hendrix way, but set it in a position and leave it, maybe three quarters open, or all the way back, etc. to add tonal color, change the overtones and stuff. I've been using the same vox wah for years now, it's very loose, no resistance anymore when you pivot it. I keep meaning to get a new one, but whatever.

My old boss delay pedal broke a few years ago, so I took the opportunity to update not just my delay, but to try out some different distortion. So I set aside the old tube screamer, and tried out a shit ton of different pedals; old ones, cheap ones, fancy boutique ones. I was leaning towards a pedal with a tube in it, like an Ibanez Tube King. But the Tube King model nowadays doesn't sound the same as the old model that I liked, and I just couldn't justify spending the money for an old tube king. Then I found this Chinese company, Biyang, that makes a tube distortion pedal for like a hundred bucks. I ordered it, and loved it. And the company was great too, initially they shipped the wrong power supply for US power outlets, but when I wrote them about it, they shipped me the correct one with no problem. I used it until a few months ago, when a PA bin fell on it and it stopped working. I think it's just the input or output jack, but I haven't bothered to figure it out yet. So now I'm back to the old tube screamer, and it's sounding just fine and I'm happy. In the interim, my bass player started using the tube screamer, and he was enjoying it so much that when I took it back, he went and got his own.

In ancient times, I used an ADA mp1 preamp that had a tube in it, and I loved the sound. I thought it would be great if they made that in a pedal. But they didn't. Until just now I was googling around, and I see that on March 20th of this year, ADA released the pedal equivalent of the mp1. Pretty cool. Although it's $399. No way I'm spending that much, I don't care how sweet it sounds.

For delay I ended up getting an MXR pedal. It's good for conventional delay, but I miss my boss digital delay. More knobs to mess with, for when you make sound effects doing that delay feedback washout thing that delay pedals do so well. A boss digital delay isn't so cheap either, but at some point I'll have to break down and get one, I think.

I like talking guitars and video games while the horrors of the world are displayed in all their sick glory in General Discussion. It may look like we're just fiddling while Rome burns, but I like to think there's more to it. Everything is connected, and things effect each other in unexpected ways. I don't know.

Here's the "album." Free download, recorded on my macbook using Logic and an 8 channel mic interface at the rehearsal studio. Lots of fun recording this. We haven't played out in awhile, but now that the bass players wife had the baby and we're rehearsing regularly (once a week) again and even writing new material, hopefully we'll have some gigs soon, maybe even before the summer is over. It's really up to me to get it together.

Crowds and Power, Rough Beast Vindaloo. I photoshopped the cover myself.

http://crowdsandpower.bandcamp.com/

[vanlose kid]

The consideration of gear gave me a nice little morning revelation here.

I've been playing on a "shitty" Yamaha acoustic since I landed here...it was a friends and it occupied the case full-time prior to having a Wombat inhabit his couch. In the past I have been quite a lucky damn collector with open but specific taste. I would spend a lot of time strategically "trading up" and networking through the slow-motion distributed bazaar of used instruments in New England, from shops to living rooms. In retrospect I see clearly this is behavior I learned from my father's gun dealings. Can't tell if musical instruments are more or less inherently dangerous.

Anyways, this Yamaha has probably taught me more than any instrument I've had so far. Because it's not easy to play and I have to compensate for dead spots on the neck, and especially because the tone is so beautifully warped -- it's a really gorgeous/ugly instrument! I've often preferred classical strings, but for steel my all-time favorite instrument was a Gibson F-25, which has an unusually wide neck and feels exactly like a generous classical...and the tone is like a piano in a Roman ruin! Gave it to an ex-gf and dear friend who is currently writing songs and doing gigs on it out in Seattle, so I view that as a wise investment.

The Yamaha, though, made me realize I've been spoiled from the jump by parents who wanted me to have the best stuff they could afford. Practicing on this humble beast has increased my hand strength to a level I don't think they've ever had to reach before (outside of masonry / construction work context) and it's enabled me to get down a lot of expressive tricks I never pushed myself to reach for.

yep, the first guitars i had were shitty. started out way way back on a dimestore spanish trying to play big rock riffs. transitioning to the first yamaha was a relief. but they both help with fingering and technique once i got hold of a "real" guitar. still, i used to have odd ones that i'd find in antique stores that i just had to have because of their offbeatness.

on Ali Farka Toure. "discovered" him myself about 2 years ago (when i had "given up" playing forever). dude is a master. if you like him you might dig these guys (apologies if youknow them already):





trying to learn african guitar myself. it's a whole "other" world.



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edit: forgot to mention the other great Toure, i.e. Yaya!



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[vanlose kid]

on the topic of personal greats: my main man at the moment is Nels Cline. love his game.





two amazing (to me) solos.

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[crikkett]

The general consensus in the music business is that The Bass Player is the most aggrieved and dissatisfied member of any ensemble.

Eye have many good friends that are bass players and even they will admit there is some truth to this stereotype."

Where I come from it's the drummers. But they're just hired hands, mostly.

[marycarnival]

The general consensus in the music business is that The Bass Player is the most aggrieved and dissatisfied member of any ensemble.

Eye have many good friends that are bass players and even they will admit there is some truth to this stereotype."

Where I come from it's the drummers. But they're just hired hands, mostly.

In every band I've ever played, I've been the drummer..and some of my best friends are bass players! The glue, baby! The glue!!

It's almost ironic that I play guitar at all...heee...

[Joe Hillshoist]

How many guitarists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Just one: he holds the lightbulb to the socket while the world revolves around him.

Its four actually - one to do it and another 3 to tell him how he could have done it better. (One of my oldest friends told me that. He's a great guitar player, these days plays for Paul Kelly who some people call Australia's Bob Dylan. Which is of course wrong, he's Australia's Paul Kelly.)

[DrVolin]

My crappy/awesome guitar is a Les Paul clone from the 80s branded 'Tracer Performance Series USA', not to be confused with the Peavey Tracer. Picked it up for 20$ at a garage sale. The pickup switch only works two of three positions and the tuning keys are extremely inaccurate, especially when loosening. Basically, you have loosen a lot and then tighten very slowly. If you overshoot, you have to start over It has a uniquely crappy sound that I love. I have a Beaver Creek 12 string acoustic that sounds amazing for a guitar under 300$, and that is remarkably easy to play. My classical is a Kamouraska, a local product from the early 90s that isn't all that bad, but not all that good either

[crikkett]

If you're looking for a socially acceptable way to withdraw from boring conversations, I highly recommend picking up the guitar!

This is great advice.

I handed our house guitar to a dinner guest recently who looked intensely bored at the conversation the rest of the table was involved in. He was profoundly grateful and enjoyed the evening again.

What you should not do, though, and what I caution readers here against, is ask a guest to perform for you or someone else at your dinner, which crosses the fine line between an invitation and an imposition.

[norton ash]

How can you tell a drummer's knocking on your door?

It speeds up.

[MacCruiskeen]

If you're looking for a socially acceptable way to withdraw from boring conversations, I highly recommend picking up the guitar!

Either that or the bagpipes.

[vanlose kid]

How can you tell a drummer's knocking on your door?

It speeds up.

excellent!

re the crappy guitar thing. like a lot of you not knowing better playing on a crappy guitar helped a lot once i stepped up. but like i said, i didn't know better. question is, is it something you would recommend a beginner, i.e. "learn your chops on a piece of junk guitar" and then move on"?

a related question is whether learning to play on a junk guitar actually helped or is it a sort of rosy picture of one's past and attributable to the ease with which one can play on a decent guitar? (when i was a kid we had to walk 10 miles to school everyday and for lunch we had bricks with a bit of salted butter on them! those were the days. and i never complained. yadda yadda yadda.)

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[Joe Hillshoist]

(when i was a kid we had to walk 10 miles to school everyday and for lunch we had bricks with a bit of salted butter on them! those were the days. and i never complained. yadda yadda yadda.)

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10 miles? 10 Miles!! Why when I was a kid we had to play tennis rackets hooked up to phone lines. 10 miles. Luxury I tell you.