from a somewhat experienced guitar player let me tell you some of the things that spent my whole career doing in ways I wish I could go back and change now. maybe you are already learning this way, maybe you are not.

The main one being that, when I first learned guitar and was teaching myself (and heck most guitar teachers teach this way too) I learned "scales" as nothing more than a few box shapes. You know, this is the shape of a major scale and you can just slide it up and down the neck for whatever key you want. This is the shape of a minor scale etc. And same for modes of the scales.

However, looking back now...unfortunately past my prime for relearning guitar...I really wish that I had learned scales differently. It is ok to learn the box shapes for sure so dont let me scare you away from that; I think they are great for beginners. But the A Major scale is NOT a pattern that simply starts on the 5th fret of your lowE string. A Major is: a b c# d e f# g# anywhere and everywhere that those notes appear on the guitar.

You will do yourself a GREAT GREAT GREAT service if you put a lot of effort into memorizing every note on your guitar..at least frets 1-12. That way when you are playing a song in A Major and want to solo, you are not confined to your A Major pentatonic, and your A Major box shapes. You have an entire fretboard of a b c# d e f# g# to paint your canvas with. It is easier than it sounds if you put the effort into it.

The other thing that I just recently switched to last year and has helped me a TON is that I no longer talk about my guitar as if it is in any other tuning. Even though my band uses C Standard we used D standard and one point and even normal Standard tuning when I started the band. Through all of this, it gets confusing and really hinders your ability to know where all the notes are on the guitar if you are trying to "transpose" the notes on your guitar in your mind: *No matter what tuning I am actually we (bass, and both guitars in my band) refer to everything we play as if we were in standard tuning*

So, if you are in Eb standard and playing you're lowest open chord, yes tonally you are playing an Eb open chord. But I completely ignore that. If I was telling my bass player what to play I would say I was playing an E and if I am looking at my guitar I am thinking E. For us we are 4 half steps down so it just got annoying trying to think of my guitar in C and ended up being counter productive to knowing and learning all of the notes on the guitar. If I am playing a power chord on the 5th fret of my low string I would say I am playing A as opposed to F which is what it is tonally. That way I already know where all my notes are in "A".

There is really hardly any downside and the only thing you have a chance to hinder here is perfect pitch but thats overrated really, and the convenience you pick up by not trying to mentally shift notes around all the time is way more valuable to me.

This is not some innovative thing, tons of guitar players in non normal tunings do this, but it is something that I did in an inefficient way for too long.

[Edited on January 7, 2009 at 11:23 AM. Reason : ]

1/7/2009 11:19:13 AM

^ The first point is good, but the second point is spot on (even as someone who plays in open tunings very rarely and almost never in drop tunings).

1/7/2009 11:46:37 AM

when i'm trying to figure out what note i'm playing i think of the keys on a piano since i played for a while

i keep using that image of going up and down the keys when i'm trying to figure out what note i'm playing

so my first notes on the low E string will be - E, F, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B, C and so on but it will take me a while to memorize all the strings

1/7/2009 11:58:10 AM

for me when i think about scales A major for example, i always have the root note playing in my head and reference how far away other notes sound from that instead of what note it actually is. But i guess i've always been more interested in sound than the theory behind it.

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

1/7/2009 12:05:55 PM

Why would you think of sharps for the first two accidentals and a flat for the third? Just curious.

1/7/2009 12:08:26 PM

was about to say the same thing lol

i'm kind of similar.. i played sax for like 8 years and still think back to it for scales, key signatures, arpeggios..all that stuff. it's really annoying sometimes

1/7/2009 12:16:31 PM

fuck that, just tune all your strings to e



I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

1/7/2009 12:21:15 PM

^^^its due to what i used to call the keys on the piano

i can't think of that black key higher up and to the left of b anything other than Bb

F# seems higher up and to the right of F so I call it F#

its whatever i can always go back and forth if I need to no problem

[Edited on January 7, 2009 at 12:26 PM. Reason : ^]

1/7/2009 12:25:42 PM

^^ cant see the vid here at work..is that the paul gilbert thing?

Quote :

"so my first notes on the low E string will be - E, F, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B, C and so on but it will take me a while to memorize all the strings "

Its easier than you think. I would start with the dots. Learn your 1-3-5-7-9-12 frets on each string. If you are in standard your 1 and 6 strings are identical so youre already down to 5 strings to learn. From there you should feel pretty comfortable (especially coming from piano) with notes 1/2 step away from any of the dot-notes you know and then eventually you will learn those too as you progress and just play. But its not too much of a hassle in the meantime to know that 5th fret E string is A and 7th fret E string is B and if you need an A#/Bb you can pinpoint it very quickly. Understanding octaves helps too. If you know where your A is on your low E string, you (should) know where your A is on your D string in the blink of an eye.

Quote :

"But i guess i've always been more interested in sound than the theory behind it."

I certainly am too, but it always helps to fill in the writing process. I let theory take a backseat but knowing that kind of stuff really speeds up the process and keeps new ideas coming easier when you get stuck. ie I dont go into a song thinking ok this is going to be a song in 12/8 and im going to use this mode this mode and this mode. We generally have a starting riff in a certain key and work from there. And knowing what key it is in opens the door to possible modes and chords etc. that we can pull up if we are stuck or looking for a different sound. I hear a lot of bands that are just riff riff riff riff that feel totally disjointed because the riffs arent even in the same key. Sometimes it works, sometimes it sounds forced to me.

Most of our songs are in one main key for the most part. for example, a new song we are working on is in F# minor. Now, not every riff in the song resolves to F# minor but its our base point. We might have a riff based around C# but its probably C# phrygian which resolves to C# but still uses the notes in F#. or we might have F# dorian for a riff which is only 1 note away from F# minor. And those arent choices that are made beforehand really, but it helps knowing them when writing because we can have all these different moods and sounds without totally diverging from F#m.

[Edited on January 7, 2009 at 1:06 PM. Reason : ]

1/7/2009 1:05:27 PM

Here is my contribution for today, Golden Ears audio training:

Quote :

" Vol. 1: Frequencies Trains you to recognize boosts and cuts in all ten octaves of the frequency spectrum. Progressive drills build from simple boosts in music to more demanding single octave cuts in pink noise. Vol. 2: Effects & Processing 31 possible signal processing changes, grouped into simple families: amplitude change, gross and subtle distortion, slow and fast release compression, equalization changes, stereophony anomalies and time-delay / reverberation settings. Vol. 3: Delays and Decays Delay settings from tenths of a millisecond to whole seconds; panning / slap / spaciousness effects -- in mono and stereo, on sustained and transient sounds. Reverb parameters -- predelays, decay times, etc. Invaluable when creating programs. Vol. 4: Master frequencies Advanced EQ. Identify cuts and boosts to within a third of an octave; and two octave bands simultaneously boosted and/or cut. "

http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4130381/Golden_Ears_Complete_Program.4130381.TPB.torrent

1/7/2009 3:13:18 PM

^ Each CD comes a a pair of bin/cue files so you will probably need to download Alcohol 120% in order to mount the images to a virtual drive before you can import the audio tracks via itunes. Or you could use Nero and burn the audio files directly to cd.

1/7/2009 4:55:45 PM

PowerIso or magicdisc do a good job with that too

1/7/2009 5:07:35 PM

total n00b question here

i left by big muff pi plugged in for a few days and went out of town - it did not work when i came back

i read that the battery will die if you leave it plugged in for 2 days

i see a small hole but in the manual it seems like that is battery out - is it broken?

[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 10:02 PM. Reason : .]

1/9/2009 9:42:13 PM

any non-true bypass pedals will continuously drain battery if a cable is plugged into the input jack. Even so if the pedal is turned off (bypass).

[Edited on January 10, 2009 at 12:40 AM. Reason : .]

1/10/2009 12:39:09 AM

Replace the battery and you'll be fine.

1/10/2009 11:24:19 AM

so i'm going to have to replace the battery every 2-3 months damn dude

i'm so new to this stuff i'm about to go to the guitar shop right now

1/10/2009 11:40:25 AM

get a power supply and plug it in

1/10/2009 12:01:25 PM

Use a battery. A fuzz, especially one like the Big Muff, sounds best with a little bit of sag that comes from a used battery. It doesn't sound bad with a power supply, but batteries sound better. Anyway, if you unplug the input when you're not using it, the battery will last a long time. My Fuzz Factory has had the same battery for four years...granted, it draws less power than a Big Muff, but if you unplug it you'll get satisfactory battery life.

1/10/2009 12:45:54 PM

haha the guy at harry's kept talking about how some people think the big muff sounds better when the battery is dying down - i bought some vintage style batteries and an adapter

he wasn't even sure what adapter to get so I'm glad I went I was confused

it was a gift I wanted for christmas and i had no idea to unplug it or even what kind of battery it was using

1/10/2009 1:17:32 PM

for you guys with nice tube amps - can you still play it at low volumes? i've heard you really can't get the full potential out of it unless you crank the volume

i've been looking around for a nice low wattage tube amp since my neighbors already hate me

it seems the Epiphone Valve Junior or Orange Tiny Terror seem like favorites

The Tiny Terror is way to expensive though I would rather go all out and get like a Dual Rectifier

is it possible to play those things at reasonable volume levels?

1/15/2009 6:00:15 PM

i've got a peavey classic20 15W (i think) that sounds pretty good at apartment volume, but it still can be loud as hell if you turn it up.

1/15/2009 6:18:04 PM

I have a dual rectifier and like most tube amps it doesnt sound that great until you turn it up some and push the tubes at which point it sounds amazing to me. There are several things to keep in mind here though.

The first being something I already said, tube sound comes from pushing the tubes. So, if you have a tube amp like a dual rectifier that is made to be loud as balls (I dont know if I have ever turned mine up past like 6 even for shows for example) its going to get pretty loud before you are ever pushing the tubes enough to hit that sweet spot. If you have a tube amp that is not meant to be as loud (ie fewer tubes for the most part), you will hit the sweet spot much sooner and have good gain at a lower volume than say a dual or triple rectifier.

The other thing to keep in mind is the speakers you pair it with. I use a 4x12 set of speakers. If I used just a 2x12, I would actually be able to get good gain at a lower level than I would with my 4x12.

So, if you really want a dual rectifier, arent planning to play live anytime soon, and are going to play it at home, you are not going to want anything more than a 2x12 and even that might be loud, depends on your living situation.

1/15/2009 6:31:30 PM

Quote :

"it seems the Epiphone Valve Junior or Orange Tiny Terror seem like favorites"

I own both of these. The Tiny Terror is fucking LOUD, even on 7 watts, but sounds decent at regular volume (I live in a house, not an apartment, so consider what is acceptable neighbor volume). The Valve Junior is a little quieter, but still quite loud, and it's definitely a one trick pony for a nice crunchy Marshall sound and nothing else.

What I'm currently using for my bedroom amp is a modified Motorola hi-fi amp that was built by Tim Ristau from Carr/Superfine Amps. It's 4 watts from an EL84 and has a built-in 6" speaker that helps keep the volume down while still sounding nice and crunchy, but it can also power an 8-ohm cab and get Valve Junior-like volume. The real advantage to this thing is the speaker, which unlike the one in a new Champion 600 of Valve Junior combo doesn't sound boxy at all.

There are a bunch of low-wattage amps from Superfine that would be good, unique bedroom rigs at Guru Guitars on Hillsborough...there's currently one there that's made from a PA box from a school/jail (something like that) that runs on what looks like a 6L6 and fucking ROARS but also sounds good at moderate volume. I'd check those out.

Also, I'm no speaker junkie, but the Valve Junior 112 extension cab is a damn fine cab for the money, and the speaker sounds really nice when it's broken in.

1/15/2009 7:09:04 PM

i think i might go with the Valve Jr and get some nice 2X12 speakers - online you can get one for $100 i think

if you think it has a marshall tone then thats good enough for me - i need to see if they have one at Harry's when I go back on Monday i know they have a tiny terror

[Edited on January 15, 2009 at 7:18 PM. Reason : .]

1/15/2009 7:17:15 PM

When cranked, the VJ has a nice squishy Marshall crunch that screams "T. Rex" to me. The Tiny Terror can't do that sound nearly as well as the VJ can, but the VJ can't do anything else and the TT can get a very nice glassy Vox sound as well as something approximating the famous AC30 overdrive. With all of that said, "Marshall" isn't one thing; there are great sounding Marshalls like the JTM-45, JCM800, and Plexi, and there are less-impressive sounding ones like the JCM900 and JCM2000.

A quick note: any EL84 amp you buy should immediately be retubed with JJ brand output tubes, but in these amps it's a simple plug-in swap since they're self-biasing.

1/15/2009 7:22:25 PM

any suggestions for a good 2x12 for the valve jr?

i've been searching message boards but haven't found much most people are dissatisfied with the built in speaker

i'm hoping this thing can handle something like thrice with the right pedal . . . ?

1/16/2009 1:57:48 PM

what do you mean pedal, distortion? I dont know a ton about the valve junior's distortion, but I cant stand using distortion pedals. Thrice isnt super heavy though so it might work fairly well for what you are doing. if you are looking for something new, a custom 2x12 avatar is usually a great deal.

1/16/2009 2:17:32 PM

the speaker in the VJ combo is useless and does the amp no justice...the speaker in the VJ cabinet is decent

your best bet for a cab is a new avatar (i suggest vintage 30/lead 100) or something from craigslist

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 5:04 PM. Reason : s]

1/16/2009 5:04:02 PM

so i had to go to guitar center today for something since I wanted to restring my main guitar and the small shop i go to was closed early. anyways, i always get a pair of the detuned "not even slinky" or whatever plus 1 wound .22 to replace the 3rd string that comes in the package because I want a wound .22 over their plain .24 in that pack.

Anyways, I ask for that pack and ask for a wound .22 and the kid looks and says "I dont have a wound .22, but I have a plain .18" and sets it up on the counter like hes ready to ring me up. Now maybe im a dick, but a plain .18 is not a 1:1 replacement for a .22 wound string in most circles...

I mean I have been thinking of easing back on the gauges some on the 1-3 strings at some point but still

/guitar center n00bs blog

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 11:53 PM. Reason : ]

1/16/2009 11:32:08 PM

i'd have grabbed a hand full of those picks from the fish bowl and thrown them in his face

1/16/2009 11:41:27 PM

haha

"Do you have these shoes in a size 10?"
"No but we have them in size 8"

luls

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

1/18/2009 12:56:06 PM

anyone have any flat wound recommendations for a jazz tone?

1/18/2009 1:08:11 PM

got the valve junior and cabinet off musicians friend for $250 with free shipping - i went to guitar center and fooled around with it a bit luckily it was in the loud room

that sucker is loud as hell no way i need anything more powerful than that

now i have to decide what guitar i want to replace my squier . . .

1/18/2009 5:39:48 PM

holy jesus christ

walked into guru guitars today

found out they sold my consigned reverend, which was nice

and even nicer, they had replaced it with an original 1964 silvertone 1457, with fully functional, tremelo-equipped 6V6 amp built into the case

needless to say they'll be keeping the money they owe me

1/23/2009 11:51:28 PM

i want my ESP.... why doesn't anyone have one.

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

1/23/2009 11:53:37 PM

walked into atlanta guitar center the other week. they have a room where every guitar is 25K or more.

1/24/2009 2:09:45 AM

alright, so i still haven't replaced my amp like i've talked about doing for so long (but i will no-kidding do it when I get back to the states...that's what i've been waiting for this whole time)

I listen to such a wide variety of stuff, i won't even bring that into the discussion. What I play is mostly blues-based rock. Think Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band, Black Crowes, Guns 'N Roses. I also play stuff like Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam (especially AiC), and some country.

I mostly play a Gibson Firebird. I also have a Mexi-Strat (though kicking around the idea of selling it and buying either Telecaster or a hollowbody of some sort).

I don't know that I'll play any real gigs (it's a possibility, but no plans to at the moment), but I will be playing with other people (I hesitate to use the term "band", but I have a group of friends that will probably jam with. My drummer friend has 3 kits, and I'm trying to talk him into keeping one at my house to come jam on). In other words, I don't need a 4x12 cab or anything, and I also don't need a little bedroom amp.


As far as price range, I'm open to spending what I need to get what I want, within reason. I'm not going to spend $2500, but I don't have a $500 cap or anything, either. On the other hand, if a $500 Hot Rod Deluxe or something ends up fitting the bill just fine, that's cool too...I'm not looking to spend money just for the sake of spending it.

I've thought about the Hot Rod Deluxe, and Orange's AD30 and Rocker 30. I'm totally open to suggestions, though.

2/6/2009 1:00:15 PM

Diezel Einstein

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

2/6/2009 1:25:53 PM

how the hell can you make open chords sound good with plenty of distortion?

[Edited on February 6, 2009 at 1:49 PM. Reason : .]

2/6/2009 1:49:15 PM

^^ you buying?

2/6/2009 1:53:02 PM

^^ P-90s.

I'm only half kidding.

2/7/2009 4:25:56 PM

lol

i actually agree. i'm still looking for something to put some P90's in.

Any suggestions? I played an SG at guitar center a while back that played great but the neck was heavy as hell and I think it was close to $800? Can't remember exactly though.

2/7/2009 6:32:39 PM

Anything that's mahogany will sound great with P-90s. SGs are all neck-heavy, period, which is why they've never been terribly popular guitars (at least not on the Strat/LP level).

I've got a Korean Epi G-400 that'd I'd sell you for cheeeaaaap but it'd need a pickup (it has a Duncan JB in it) and a new set of tuners.

2/7/2009 6:36:18 PM

pics/cost?? PM me

2/7/2009 8:48:52 PM

Quick Question for you Guitar guys out there.

I bumped my acoustic from its stand and it crashed to the floor. One of the ribs/liners got knocked out. It still plays fine, or so I think. I know they exist to provide stability and a surface on which the front of the guitar gets glued on. Maybe I'm being a hypochondriac. It should be fine amirite?

2/8/2009 2:41:55 PM

Ditched the Tele and some stompboxes, bought one of these LPs:

2/11/2009 1:48:52 PM

Picture does kinda make it look like a bari...regular 24.75" scale. That and 24" are the only things I play.

Also, these came stock with P-100s but they were replaced with P-90s before I bought it.

2/12/2009 1:28:14 PM

So it looks like we will be in the studio for the month of July; obviously that is a bit far off still but with our schedules it will be approaching VERY fast.

One of the biggest concerns we have on this record is really getting a lot of different guitar tones as opposed to last time where we were crunched for time and did the entire thing with the same guitar, same pickups, and same amp except for a few of the clean parts. Obviously the producer will help some but we want to try some stuff out and know what we want when we go in to save time.

Our main setup is a handful of Ibanez guitars with EMGs and 2 different Mesa amps with a splawn cab and a mesa cab. And thats fine for the majority of our stuff but not for everything.

-We are interested in trying a tele for some of the clean parts, we'll have to see how this sounds with us though.

-he has a roland jazz chorus 77 in studio. I have heard good things about this amp but does anyone in here have experience? Considering trying it out for our clean parts (possibly paired with the tele)

-we have tossed around the idea of using an Orange head for the rhythm guitar in a lot of the melodic areas, anyone have a recommendation on which Orange amp would perform well in this area for us?

2/24/2009 8:38:08 AM

Do you have access to one of those computer based things like reason or pro tools?
There's something called guitar rig (ver. 3) that models all kinds of amps and effects.
I'm not suggesting using it for actual recording, but you could play around with a bunch of different amp and effects sounds before committing any money.

2/24/2009 9:09:08 AM

We do have reason.


I also need to figure out how to make a 'click track' for our drummer for this record. We've never used one before but it should help a LOT for him practicing before the record and we'll probably use it in some form for some of the songs in the studio too. Im thinking of trying it in powertab but I cant remember if you can export to midi or not.

[Edited on February 24, 2009 at 9:35 AM. Reason : ]

2/24/2009 9:10:14 AM