For the Pony Guitarists!

[Sonarch]

Hm. Just reading this makes me feel unskilled. See, I've had a guitar for a few years, taking really informal lessons, mostly just to learn songs I like to play music I enjoy, not really to make it or perform for anyone. So I'd say I have a decent level of control as far as forming chords, strumming, hand position, etc.. And I just took a year of Guitar 1 at my high school (which taught me a lot of music theory, as well as how to read actual music) and i'm doing Guitar 3 next year, so I suppose I am by no means experienced, but I mostly enjoy playing upbeat, happy kind of stuff, and other than that, just learning songs I enjoy. That's what I think I'd like to start out with, making guitar arrangements of brony songs I enjoy, and recording each part separately. We did that in our class with Viva la Vida, where we got all of the separate parts and all played an acoustic version for a concert. However, since I don't have much of an ear for music yet, I really would need to see the midis and sound stems to hear individually, and try to find the right notes. So really, I wouldn't worry about sounding like me if I were you!

[Sonarch]

Thanks! I'll definitely look at some of those scales to jam on, I really should try to practice daily.

[Warbalist]

Don't stop practicing. That's what separates good guitarists from great guitarists.

^Whether you know it or not, this is a Steve Vai quote!

Sonarch:You like happy music? Have you ever considered studying Queen? Brian May is a master guitar orchestrator and continually writes catchy guitar solos. I mean, listen to Killer Queen or Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy sometime and see if that kind of playing is for you.

Also, check out some of Mattias Eklundh for crazy shredding that's also happy-bouncy-fun-time-yay! Something like "Caffeine" or "There's No Money in Jazz."

...and now Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy is stuck in my head. Thanks a lot, self.

[Foxtrot89]

Woo! A post that's a few months old that recently got necro'd and gives me a chance to rant on about guitar stuff!

---When you are practicing, what kinds of music(scales, songs, improv, what have you) do you usually do?

I'm a big fan of drop tuned heavy chugging/rhythm riffs. I'm also a huge fan of the train of thought that insanely difficult and complex does not instantly equal out to be a good thing. Shredders are really a dime a dozen, so shredding isn't a main goal for me. I'm not quite capable of writing odd time signature riffs, but it's something I aim to improve. As for scales, I'm really into the arabic/middle eastern scale. It's real easy to just noodle around within that scale.

---What is your favorite music style to play on the guitar

I'm open minded when it comes to this sort of thing. My actual favorite is some form of drop tuned metal. That's not to say I don't like playing clean stuff in standard tuning, in fact I just got finished building a guitar specifically for cleans. Anyway, fairly slow chugging with lots of groove to it is catchy to me. Although I'm not a huge fan of the band, but Korn has a lot of nice rhythmic stuff going on in their tunes that appeals to me. (at least in their older tunes.) So things along the line of Korn and Periphery are things I enjoy.

Fun fact; the most recent song I learned to play is the acoustic version of "Sullivan" by "Caroline's Spine." A great song from my youth, both the original and acoustic version.

---What kind of strings do you have on your guitar

If I recall correctly, my eight string has the stock strings (unsure of what they are exactly) and my two six strings have the Ernie Ball "skinny top heavy bottoms." My dad recently gave me a box full of Ernie Ball strings of varying types. I'm curious to try out the "not even slinky" strings as well as the Cobalt's.

Worth noting here is that I have a five string bass of which I'm unsure of the string type on.

---What system/strategy do you use to record your guitar (microphone to amp, USB plug-in, etc.)

I grew up in an apartment, so noise making has always been out of the question for me. Even now that I've moved into a house, where a bit more noise is acceptable, I've been sticking with DI recording. And by that, I of course mean guitar=>soundcard=>RevalverMkIII.V. As far as amp sims go, I like Revalver the most. Unlike just about every other amp sim out there, it's got the ability to load custom impulses right into it, so it doesn't eff up the signal chain if you wanted to have some effects AFTER the cab. I also have a little peavey vypyr 15 amp that I sometimes line out of into the sound card and record from there too, but so far I haven't mic'd an amp in my life. A shame, since that always sounds like the way to go.

Anyway, I love me some guitar, which is sad because my playing is pretty lackluster as far as most would be concerned. Still, I find that it is one of the few instruments that fits comfortably within almost ANY genre of music. I must say that I generally dislike guitarists, though. They're usually so opinionated. If you don't use the same brand, methods or show the same respect for certain techniques, they're quick to get up in arms and chew you out. My favorite example of this is guitarists telling people who play guitar hero to play a real guitar. GH fans bumped up to the whole rock band thing that emulated real guitar, guitarists tell them that it's a toy or some such. They move from rock band onto a legit Epiphone and they get chewed out for having a "shitty" guitar. I always try not to hate on people for liking/having certain things. I try to be encouraging rather than discouraging.

Hooray for ranting. An imaginary cookie to anyone who bothered to read through the entire thing.

[theNewWorldMan]

^Well that was a big wall of text. Now Its my turn. Oh, and this is my first post here!

Anyway, I started as a bass player about 5 years ago, but started getting more into guitar about 2 years ago. I still play jazz bass and whatnot, but I prefer guitar now.

-When you are practicing, what kinds of music(scales, songs, improv, what have you) do you usually do?
I recently started using John Petrucci's Rock Discipline for warmups and technique. Most of those exercises focus on alternated picking and precision. As of right now I have been practicing Breaking all Illusions by Dream Theater. I have been at it for a couple weeks and its sounding pretty good.

-What is your favorite music style to play on the guitar
I have to say the most fun music to play is Metallica. The riffs are just fun to play and carry a a lot of energy and the solos are great to just shred off of.

-What kind of strings do you have on your guitar
I just use Ernie Ball regular gauge on my electric. My acoustic is brand new, so I'm still using the stock strings.

-What system/strategy do you use to record your guitar (microphone to amp, USB plug-in, etc.)
I double mic my cabinet with a pencil and a condenser and run a direct line from the amp to a (pos) m-audio fast track usb interface. I think it gives a decent sound for my lack of professional equipment.

-What kind of tricks and formations do you tend to practice (aka: Shredding, Solo comp, Arpeggiation, blues fill, hybrid harmonic/melodic sliding, etc.)
I don't really have a specific favorite, but I do find myself shredding more than anything else.

[Sonarch]

I should add that I really love all types of music, so i'm pretty much in awe of anyone who can play a guitar, regardless of skill level, because there's so many different styles out there. I think most of the reason I play a lot of happy music is because it involves major chords, and major and minor are the only ones I really know how to play around with at the moment. I wish I knew how to do more on my uke, cause those are pretty much always happy sounding! In fact, if I can figure out how, it would be super cool to have a uke in one of my songs (once I actually start making songs, that is). All i've got are a cheap classical nylon string acoustic and a not quite as cheap peavey electric guitar. I also have a uke and a guitalele (basically a 6 string uke that you can play just like a guitar) and an old black flying V that I got at a pawn shop in Florida for 60 bucks that appears to be smaller than a normal guitar, but not quite half size, but it needs new strings and it really needs the action adjusted. I'd love to learn more about jazz and flamenco style playing, cause those sound fun, and eventually I may be fast enough to really shred on my guitars. This text wall may be boring, but I do like dumping out my thoughts about guitar playing!

[Applejinx]

Guitar makes me sad, frankly. Stuff like the Marc Ribot guitar solo on 'Clap Hands' by Tom Waits is burned into my brain, but if I do stuff I have a hard time being that confident about being out, and I don't reach anybody. There's a bit of Jimmy Page solo on the Zeppelin live DVD thing where it's this brief incandescent spatter of notes across time. I love when guitar noises break out and go organic like that but shit is organic too and nobody wants it around... I've kind of deleted everything I did off soundcloud but haven't gone after the youtube stuff yet.

[Applejinx]

It's more just trying to figure out what sort of noise I even want to make. Might be really crazy ugly noises. I don't want to just practice stuff I don't like or want, so it's gonna be about figuring out what to want.
Worst feeling in the world is getting up on stage or even in public and having nothing musically to say- and putting up music is to some extent public, so that's why I take stuff down.

[Sonarch]

But when you've always got control of that. Unless you get forced to go up and perform live with no preparation, you can always figure out what you want to do beforehand. Before you start recording things, listen to a few different styles of music for inspiration, and practice until you're happy with it. And I suppose that's only if you're determined to solely make music with your guitar...

[Foxtrot89]

:D i'm so freakin' glad this thread got resuscitated. I'm also going to apply a shameless self-plug. and change a slight topic of the conversation: If you have pieces that represent your skill, LINK EM!

I shall post a link when I get home from work. I have a particular tune I desperately want to redo. It's mixed and mastered awkwardly, but it's probably my favorite non-EDM tune I've done.

[Applejinx]

I guess some of what I'll do is continue to weird out the guitar until it doesn't sound anything like a guitar anymore

[ChromaticChaosPony]

Quick question: am I the only one here who knows how to make a djent tone?

[Warbalist]

Quick question: am I the only one here who knows how to make a djent tone?

Nothing but treble and a combo of distorted tube and mildly distorted solid state tones?

Unfortunately for me, the last time I did a djentish thing, my strings were old, and that just won't do for djent... http://soundcloud.com/warbalist/discordfalldowngoboom

Gotta have new, buzzy strings!

[Applejinx]

Quick question: am I the only one here who knows how to make a djent tone?

I'd like to hear more because I do love Meshuggah and grew up on old King Crimson- and my TS9 might help. But I do wonder whether I could even make a djent tone with an amp and speaker or whether I'd actually need a digital modeling amp (which would be both annoying and kind of awesome because it'd be so much more accessible for day-to-day tracking. Thing is I don't have my J-station anymore (Line 6 would be more suitable, right? But can't go buyin' stuff for a while)

Doesn't this guy have a pretty good idea? Listen for the way the whole top end is just a wall of crunch and instead of chug chug it's like CHOK CHOK (or indeed djent djent?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpRyRx0tZUQ

Maybe I can make somethin' in Logic amp sims...

[Foxtrot89]

Quick question: am I the only one here who knows how to make a djent tone?

It's not terribly difficult. A lot of the sound is in the method of picking, too.

Edit: also, there's a guy on YouTube who has a decent tutorial series and he makes a nice djent tone with some sort of line6 pod. His user name is something along the lines of mojojojo. Maybe look up "mojojojo metal tutorial."

It's a really long and really descriptive tutorial series. Totally worth checking out. Also also, I forgot to post my link. I'll hopefully get to that tonight.

[Applejinx]

I djented (not in a song, just by itself)
Turns out all the plugins and stuff were free! Now I have all these cool ampsim plugins

http://soundcloud.com/applejinx/2012-07-29

Spent all day fooling with it but I'm happy. It's definitely a sort of djent. Not only that, since it's digital it's a anytime, anywhere djent that I can tweak after the fact. Got to love modern newfangled stuff

[Sonarch]

brb, looking up what djent is.

[Sonarch]

Because for the most part i'm a musically uncultured swine.

[VINXIS]

I never actually recorded using my guitar or bass, heck I don't even use my guitar anymore since I play bass now and my friend plays guitar.
Anyway: My guitar:
like 60 bucks or something lol. It's been with me for 3 yrs. nao. It has light-mid strings (I think idr), only use 1.0mm picks if I ever do shred, though I've been only making 3-note arpeggios lately in C dorian. Usually play from soft-rock to heavy metal.
My bass:
It's about 240 bucks, yamaha lol, has a tone, main volume and back volume, I play almost any scale on it, and I always use a 1.00 mm pick. Though I'm better in fingering when playing fuck (u no, slaps and shit).


Dats all I hav to sai

[Foxtrot89]

VINXIS, my bass was ~$200. It's surprising what $200 can get you, actually. Mine's a Douglas 5-string from rondo, (pretty much a no-name brand) and it's pretty nice for the price. It's got a nice set of active pickups. (neck= Single coil. Bridge= Humbucker.) It needed a setup straight out of the box though.

Anyway! Link to that song I was mentioned: http://soundcloud.com/foxtrot89/sanction
It's pretty old, so I've progressed since, but this is along the lines of stuff I record.

[VINXIS]

VINXIS, my bass was ~$200.

I know lol, I was saying my guitar is bad tho, I didn't say my bass was

[Sonarch]

XD THEN STOP BEING UNCULTURED

Hey, I looked up what djent is

[VINXIS]

VINXIS, my bass was ~$200. It's surprising what $200 can get you, actually. Mine's a Douglas 5-string from rondo, (pretty much a no-name brand) and it's pretty nice for the price. It's got a nice set of active pickups. (neck= Single coil. Bridge= Humbucker.) It needed a setup straight out of the box though.

Anyway! Link to that song I was mentioned: http://soundcloud.com/foxtrot89/sanction
It's pretty old, so I've progressed since, but this is along the lines of stuff I record.

you can get far with a guitar if you're just changing the pickups on it, but I would advise making sure that you buy the best guitar you can afford stock (for the sake of quality materials) and then change pickups and upgrade from there.

unless it's acoustic... >.>

[Foxtrot89]

VINXIS, my bass was ~$200. It's surprising what $200 can get you, actually. Mine's a Douglas 5-string from rondo, (pretty much a no-name brand) and it's pretty nice for the price. It's got a nice set of active pickups. (neck= Single coil. Bridge= Humbucker.) It needed a setup straight out of the box though.

Anyway! Link to that song I was mentioned: http://soundcloud.com/foxtrot89/sanction
It's pretty old, so I've progressed since, but this is along the lines of stuff I record.

you can get far with a guitar if you're just changing the pickups on it, but I would advise making sure that you buy the best guitar you can afford stock (for the sake of quality materials) and then change pickups and upgrade from there.

This is true. Vinxis is also right. With an acoustic you're really screwed with what you initially purchase. Electrics are a bit more forgiving. So long as the build is sturdy, you can change out just about every part of the guitar. If the wood is decent, you can turn a $100 guitar into something top notch for around $100 more

[Warbalist]

This is true. Vinxis is also right. With an acoustic you're really screwed with what you initially purchase. Electrics are a bit more forgiving. So long as the build is sturdy, you can change out just about every part of the guitar. If the wood is decent, you can turn a $100 guitar into something top notch for around $100 more

If you put $200 more, you can really soup up a piece 'o junk!

Locking tuners, graphite everything and better pickups (though my favs cost a bit more /cry).

But I'm siding with Kyoga on this one because of the wood. Wood makes a big difference in weight, tone, feel, pretty much everything. That's the main reason my souped-up Line6 Variax 300 STILL can't even come close to touching my 13-year-old Schecter A-7+. You know the difference when you pick up a good part of the tree, especially that neck.

Save your money and buy the one that makes you play the right way for you.