#11 the biggest sound improve

  • Sometime we need only the little things.


    1) use new strings
    2) try another pick
    3) get a high quality guitar cable


    and not to forget - get some lesson - or learn something new on the guitar.


    any more hints?

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  • Getting out of our confort zone :

    • leave the pick on the table and play with bare fingers ( one thing I did 20 years ago that really improved my overal tone)
    • use a cappo, transpose feature , slide ... playing in Eb will always sound fatter for instance
    • using the great new delays for analog synth like tones and never need to wire a synth anymore
  • Getting out of our confort zone :

    • leave the pick on the table and play with bare fingers ( one thing I did 20 years ago that really improved my overal tone)
    • use a cappo, transpose feature , slide ... playing in Eb will always sound fatter for instance
    • using the great new delays for analog synth like tones and never need to wire a synth anymore


    Hi Waraba,


    That first recommendation has advantages and disadvantages, and really comes down to user preference and personal taste. For me, I much prefer the immediacy and "attack" of a guitar pick...particularly for the style of music I play.


    Now, don't get me wrong, I can't imagine certain artists without their signature finger-picked tone. Mark Knopfler comes to mind. So does Jeff Beck. Knopfler sounds absolutely sublime, when he is playing by himself, onstage. However, whenever he is accompanied by a similarly gifted guitarist who uses a plectrum, he tends to get lost in the mix (IMHO). I have seen this happen many times when he is playing alongside Eric Clapton. Again, it is only something that jumps out at me when Mark is playing alongside another guitarist who solos using a pick.


    I don't mean to sound anti-finger picking...but I also thought Richie Kotzen lost a lot of his dynamics, attack and presence, when he switched from a traditional pick to using his fingers. I kind of want to shout at him to go back to his original technique and picking method.


    Oh well, like I said, it is all a matter of personal taste. ^^:thumbup:


    Cheers, mate.

  • use rigs you wouldn't normally use, i.e. Much lower or higher gain


    Play with your volume and tone pots


    Getting a different sound by these means or any other as different sounds simply inspire different playing, so you'll find suddenly you start automatically using different techniques

  • leave the pick on the table and play with bare fingers ( one thing I did 20 years ago that really improved my overal tone)

    It increase the possibilities but depends on the music you want to play.(and of course skills and personal taste)
    I use fingers for latin music preferably and also sometimes for ballades and slow blues.
    For other music I prefer the attack of a pick.


    Sometime I practise without an Amp.( mainly for technical Problems, if I am not looking for creativ ideas.)

  • I mostly play without a pick except maybe for pm power chords, but even then it's only 20% of time when I need some really hard attack I also play 95% of my leads without a pick, I can't really stand the 'interference' between my hands and the strings and the lack of nuances you got with a pick. Some soft attacks (finger pulp) just can't be done with a pick . Same story for bass takes, playing bass with a pick is counter productive sonically speaking , at least for me ;)


    of course, you'll need more headroom in the volume and attack , that means VERY dynamic rigs & profiles. it also needs some EQ and maybe compression when doing the mix. My own profiles are especially dynamic for this purpose , and they already have EQ or comp as FX to bypass the mixing tricks I used to do later , that's just a shortcut for my own workflow.

  • Try different tunings.


    It's always fun to take an arbitrary string and tune it up or down a whole step.
    You'll get lot ideas for new chords and progressions, which is hella useful for songwriting.

    Is this thing on?
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    Kemper Rack | Behringer FCB 1010
    Check out my band Blodsmak

  • 1) Try to play something improv. Then try and play that same sequence of notes again. It will improve your finger memory and ears, as well as note selection.


    2) Practice solos with a rhythm in the background. It's amazing how soulless something can sound if it's not in context. The Kemper looper is great for this and very easy to operate, which takes me to point 3.


    3) Play in scales that you are not comfortable with. Most of us (and I'm indeed guilty) will stick to the same same few scales for much of our playing life. Do yourself a favour and don't stagnate by trying to play in positions that you are unable to visualise on the fretboard.

  • Find a good singer or even better..find a more than just one singer.. ;)


    Writing,playing for a song you have written together with someone else,finding inspiration for playing something "meaningfull" which helps creating something that could resemble this living creature we call "music" was always the best way for me personally to "improve my sound".
    I had the big luck to work with singers which came from very different styles of music and this was actually the "greatest school of all".


    I would also say that learning about "music theory" without to keep it "theoretical" is also a great way to improve your sound.I always try to "give" something out of the comfort zone when I play for a singer who has written a song and asks me to help her/him with guitar.For example something I do often (when it fits to the idea of the singer) is trying to turn something "very usual minor idea" into a dorian-scale type of thing or a very usual major-sequence into a more mixolydian type of thing.I worked with many singers who had no idea about this modes stuff and reacted very positive to these kinds of "changes" to their own songs.


    Worst thing one can do IMO is playing all alone at home trying to become the next Woody Guthrie or whomever.This will not improve anything but the ego and in the end the anger of failing for trying this stunt.


    ps


    By "good singer" I dont mean necessarily a voice which can go over four octaves but a singer with any kind of a momentous voice who has good ideas,is able to write good lyrics,and most of all is able to cooperate with you.

  • I eventually made a short track using the new delays, it's a very atmospheric one , but no synth or external FX involved, even at mix stage.


    Organ & mellotronic tones were made using my own profiles on new delay pads , using : transpose, harmonizer , long verbs & specific delay setting, and a bottleneck.




    here is the clip , you can hear pads alone at the end of the track.


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    Have any rigs to share?

    I will upload the rigs later during the week-end on the rig EX.

  • I mostly play without a pick except maybe for pm power chords, but even then it's only 20% of time when I need some really hard attack I also play 95% of my leads without a pick, I can't really stand the 'interference' between my hands and the strings and the lack of nuances you got with a pick. Some soft attacks (finger pulp) just can't be done with a pick . Same story for bass takes, playing bass with a pick is counter productive sonically speaking , at least for me ;)


    of course, you'll need more headroom in the volume and attack , that means VERY dynamic rigs & profiles. it also needs some EQ and maybe compression when doing the mix. My own profiles are especially dynamic for this purpose , and they already have EQ or comp as FX to bypass the mixing tricks I used to do later , that's just a shortcut for my own workflow.

    Carol Kaye would disagree. ;)
    One of the most prolific bass players of all time.
    And she's a pick player.
    There are great finger players of course.
    But there are also ones I'd like to tell to use a pick. ;)
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye

  • Some stuff needs to be played with pick AND fingers. It would be great to be good doing hybrid, bare fingers and flat picking, but it ain't easy!!! That's why all great guitar players sound unique ; they do their thing their way. I agree it is good to try new things now and then. Even though we know that it is a territory we are not going to be good at.

    Never too old for rock'n'roll