Electric Guitar, Anypony?

[NightColt]

I know I'm not the only one here. This thread is for sharing tips and tricks for playing and recording the electric guitar (and bass). Which means anything, really- equipment, software, books, videos, websites, fingerings, picking, how to effectively strum with your ears, etc.


The center and backbone behind what I record is the Line 6 Floor POD Plus. This thing can churn out pretty much any kind of tone you can imagine. It models a crapton of amps, cabinets, effects and can pile on delay and reverb and wah on top of everything else. The Floor POD Plus also comes pre-loaded with 120 or so customizable presets. To top it all off, it's portable and comes at the incredible price of $200. [/telemarketer]

I also tie a bandanna around the neck of the guitar to mute out any stray open strings I might accidentally play because I suck.

But enough about me, what do you think of me? what do you all do to sound like gods of the 6- (and 4-) string?

[Whitetail]

I'm a horrible guitarist haha, I can't even pull off pinch harmonics with any sort of consistency.

As far as Bass, best advice I can give is play finger style.
Why finger style?

Well for one you have much more control over the tone, but aside from that it opens up many possibilities in technique, you can switch to claw style, slap and even 2 hand tapping in a timely manner, which is near impossible when you're holding a pick.

As for not being able to tremelo pick, once you get good at finger style you can play that fast (not saying I can, I just know it's possible because I've seen other bassists play what I'd figure to be inhumanly fast possible finger style) but before then people really won't notice if you have to simplify the rhythm if you're doing something where you have to stay in synch with guitarists. Really it forces you to write better basslines anyways as you can't sort of "mooch" of the guitars part and thus make the sound more interesting when it's not just this unison between guitar bass and drums.

[DerpyGrooves]

I run an 80$ chinese strat clone (best guitar I've ever played) through a digitech multi-FX I got for 150$ and into a pair of smaller amplifiers.

I really dig my digitech because in addition to all the effects and whatever, it also has really basic phrase looping functionality, which is really fun when I want to work out a jam. I also have a bass, but at the time I'm trying to sell it because I want to buy a new keyboard since my old one got demolished in a construction accident.

BTW I agree w. hooves. When it comes to bass, I think picks are evil as hell.

[RobotPony]

I have a $500ish Startocaster, which was my first electric guitar. However, I haven't touched that thing in forever, because I have a Gibson Darkfire which was way more expensive and is way better than the strat I have. It came with Guitar Rig 3 and some other software, so I usually use that when I'm recording. I also have a Fender Deluxe amp because I spent the money on it. It's heavy as hell, but it's fun to play with.

My guitar teacher has made a website with some lessons and stuff on it. I haven't looked at it because I am currently taking lessons with him, but if what I have learned from him is any indication, then they should be pretty good. http://www.getgoodfast.com/

[Versilaryan]

I agree with Hooves, but you can use picks to get a certain sound. Fingerpicking is more important, but especially if you're into metal, learning to use a pick can be important, too. I'm pretty sure that Tool's bassist uses a pick to get that metallic base sound sometimes (like the riff in Schism, and definitely that tremolo-picked bass solo in Vicarious).

Not a guitar noob, because technically, I've been playing for four years, now, but I haven't exactly been dilligent on the practice. xD I've got an Ibanez S470 and a Vox modeling amp. The amp's not the best thing in the world, but it does what I need it to do.

[Spirit]

i really miss my guitar, right now its stuck at my house at uni with my amp, all i have is my acoustic with me right now. I love my guitars though. right now i have a Fender 212R 100watt amp, a Les paul of some sort wich has a beautiful tone, and a squier strat. right now my plan is to completely strip the strat and repaint, might even get my artist friends involved to paint something on it too, then just gonna rewire the internals and add some better pickups and some shielding. just another thing i need to add to my growing list of things i want/need

[Whitetail]

I agree with Hooves, but you can use picks to get a certain sound. Fingerpicking is more important, but especially if you're into metal, learning to use a pick can be important, too. I'm pretty sure that Tool's bassist uses a pick to get that metallic base sound sometimes (like the riff in Schism, and definitely that tremolo-picked bass solo in Vicarious).

Not a guitar noob, because technically, I've been playing for four years, now, but I haven't exactly been dilligent on the practice. xD I've got an Ibanez S470 and a Vox modeling amp. The amp's not the best thing in the world, but it does what I need it to do.

It's all in the way you play with your fingers, honestly I really wish Chancellor would venture into 5+ stringed basses (imagine him on an 11 stringed haha) or slap bass style, so many of the songs transfer so well to that (the Grudge and 46 and 2 are a lot easier to play on a 6 string). Vicarious and Parabola can be easily slapped into getting the right sound, plus you get more control over the sound that way (aside from that solo, which would be a difficult situation if you're not willing to alter the line) - an interesting note about Vicarious, while it's a bass solo in the actual song when I've watched live performances of it the guitarist always takes the solo, which I find kinda disappointing.

Though doesn't he play claw style in 10,000 days + Wings for Marie? I'm pretty sure that's what that main line is.

[PinkieGuy]

I'm a guitarist, albeit more of a rhythm guitarist than a shredderific leadmeister. For my music I record through a POD X3, using either my Schecter Blackjack C7 (space invader fret inlays ) or my dad's old Aria.

In terms the whole bass guitar discussion, I agree that finger playing is what you want to be doing on any bass guitar worth the price of admission. That being said, I have a tendency to tune low, and the lower I go, the more likely I am to want to use a pick to ensure that i'm getting sufficient attack out of each individual note.

[Bagpipe Brony]

Wait a minute, you can record w/ the POD thingy? My approach to recording guitar was to acquire some kind of external soundcard thingamajig (my tutor has one, idk) and then amp it digitally with some spiffy guitar amp programs (which he also has).

I also tie a bandanna around the neck of the guitar to mute out any stray open strings I might accidentally play because I suck.

Wouldn't that make it hard to hit any open strings one would wanna hit? Like me, every time i jam out I can't help but make good use of palm muted open strings over on the low E. Well, I think for me it would be a low C but w/e.

[DerpyGrooves]

When it comes to open strings, I always capo into the key I'm playing in so the open strings are in tune. That way I can fret power chords and just strum along the whole thing the way Cobain did. I dig that grungy sound.

[Whitetail]

When it comes to open strings, I always capo into the key I'm playing in so the open strings are in tune. That way I can fret power chords and just strum along the whole thing the way Cobain did. I dig that grungy sound.

So that's how he got that sound, I need to go pick up a capo...

[NightColt]

Wait a minute, you can record w/ the POD thingy? My approach to recording guitar was to acquire some kind of external soundcard thingamajig (my tutor has one, idk) and then amp it digitally with some spiffy guitar amp programs (which he also has).

I also tie a bandanna around the neck of the guitar to mute out any stray open strings I might accidentally play because I suck.

Wouldn't that make it hard to hit any open strings one would wanna hit? Like me, every time i jam out I can't help but make good use of palm muted open strings over on the low E. Well, I think for me it would be a low C but w/e.

Well, I record directly to Audacity, so I just have a cable running from the output in the POD to my laptop's mic input.

The bandanna doesn't silence all the strings completely - in fact, it makes more of a palm-muted sound on the lower strings. If I'm riffing on the low strings, it doesn't make a difference, and when I'm soloing on the high strings, you can't hear it underneath the lame melody.

[PinkieGuy]

Wait a minute, you can record w/ the POD thingy? My approach to recording guitar was to acquire some kind of external soundcard thingamajig (my tutor has one, idk) and then amp it digitally with some spiffy guitar amp programs (which he also has).

I don't know if the pod plus can, but my X3 has a USB2.0 port at the back of it, which I run straight into my computer. That lets me use all the tones on the X3 for my distortion, or alternatively go DI into the computer and reamp on there.

EDIT: It ends up sounding something like this: http://higurashi.bandcamp.com/

[Dethonator]

Jackson RR5FR. Bought it mostly for the looks. Five years expirience, and spent a lot of my high school daze practicing scales with a metronome for 4 hours straight. Paid off well, but started getting a bit lazy in the skills department when I started composing with Stealthplug and a load of torrented software. I think I'm still getting better, though. I am developing a lot of speed with tapping.

[Circuitfry]

Behringer iAXE393, USB, plugs into computer, now my laptop controls my guitar's sound. Nothing special.

[IndustrialBreeze]

Using a jack converter, I plug the guitar into the amp, then use a line-in cable to go to the microphone jack in my laptop. A ghetto setup, but using audacity I can remove noise and get a cleaner sound.

Of course, getting a cleaner sound isn't exactly what I want just yet, but it gives me freedom to tweak my sounds with inexpensive equipment.

And no, I'm not very strong in guitar just yet.

[ChromaticChaosPony]

I have a Jackson Rhodes 6 string and a Schecter Omen-8 8 string guitar. I have limited experience, but am fairly decent. I consider myself to be an awesome guitarist, but a crappy musician (I suck at music composition). I love using chromatic notes, as the name suggests. I will play mostly any genre of music, but focus on progressive metal. In other words, I can handle jazz, metal, and classical all at the exact same time.

I will use any tuning, from C# standard to drop E on an 8 string. I even play in a D minor open tuning when covering Opeth songs from the album Ghost Reveries. I can play in every key because of the range of drop tunings my 6 string can handle and the 8 string guitar.

I use sweep picking (needs some work), economy picking, finger tapping across multiple strings, chromatic scales, diminished scales, any other scales that are practical and used in multiple genres of music, slap guitar (sometimes on the 8 string), basslines on an 8 string guitar, odd time signatures (I like 7/8, 11/8, and 5/4 the best), and bizzare chordings (minor 9th, diminished, and suspended 2nd are my favorites).

I record with ableton live and a $79 condenser microphone, and play through a 35 watt fender amplifier (sorry, not a tube amp).

I'm already involved in 3 collabs and a DAW vs. DAW battle, so I'm very busy. I practice as often as possible and have been playing for a year. I'm suprised I got as good as I am in one year, most other people in high school (with some exceptions like you guys) give up as soon as they start. I'm sticking with it, and I hope you all do the same.

[vladnuke]

I miss my guitar.
Oh well, what can you do. Gonna go to the pawn shop tommorow and see if they won't try to play me. Gonna get something nice.
As for techniques, I'd say having some nice effects is always a good way to encourage new styles. Try to play by ear, learn the scales. If you are home alone during the afternoon, don't be afraid to crank dat shit up and get loud. Sometimes, if you don't have any sheet music or tabs to play off, noodiling is a good way to pass time. As for recording it, you could go balls out and get Guitar pro, or you can do what I do and just buy recording mic and hold the amp up to it. Keep your nails short. Apart from that, I don't really know. Been playing for three years, (piano also for three), so still kind of a noob compared to some people. Btw, high school guitar class is a terrible place. It seems like few people in my class actually like playing guitar. I have absolutly no idea how people fail that class. You need to actively work towards failing that class. All I did there is refresh music theory and learn a few more songs. And I guess scales and exercizes. (AP Music theory next year, time to get out of the non-achievement room)

[Applejinx]

I have two strat copies (one with a humbucker, old gibson) and one with three singlecoils...
I run them into a TS9 that I modded and an ISP gate pedal, and then into a Epi Valve Junior (like $100 tube amp that I also hotrodded). That goes to a cabinet with one 12" weber blue dog speaker, very low wattage 'cos so's the amp.
I put a SM57 right on the cone at the best spot I found (no grille cloth so I can do that) and have a Beta 87A elsewhere in the room pointing away from the amp.
The 57 gets panned to the side the guitar is on, and the 87A goes to the opposite side to fill in the space- it's the Van Halen trick of having just one rhythm guitar but the verb's on the opposite side. Oh and I have a variac so the amp is only getting like 100 volts. It's still LOUD though, stupid loud. In the room it's literally all highs fit to kill you but the 57 turns that into a more suitable tone. Closer means more lows, do all the EQing with mic placement.
This is me wasting all of that on a silly dissonant jam over mostly a phrygian mode but playing whatever notes I want anyway
http://soundcloud.com/applejinx/2012-04-26

[Pickslide1992]

2003 Gibson SG Standard in Ebony
Line 6 PodXT Live and Toneport DI Silver
Yamaha acoustic

4 years experience and counting, more of a rhythm player with some slow, bluesy solo skills, though I'd love to shred.

on the Pod thing, yeah, I use the USB input and record into Audacity or Riffworks (If I'm doing the guitar part first)

[Pickslide1992]

I almost forgot: I can tap, I can alt. pick, and I can do plenty of advanced rhythm passages, but I cannot shred for beans. Either I don't have the patience to learn or I genuinely can't do it. xD

[Trillionage]

I've own a white fender squier (pretty swell thing) for three years already but more or less recently i've been getting more into it. I mostly play random scales or mess around with a slide and pedals. I'm not the best by any margin (i can't play a chord progression for shit) and i don't really record, but i'm getting there.

[Versilaryan]

I'd say patience to learn. If you have enough control over the instrument to play complex passages, you should be able to shred. It's just another skill you need to learn. Start slow, develop your right hand technique, and work your way up. Remember: If you can't play it at least five times in a row perfectly, you can't play it live without screwing up.

Me, I can play one or two flashy things and that's enough for me. I don't have nearly enough motivation (or time, for that matter) to practice three hours a day. >.>

[Pickslide1992]

Like I said, I am pretty good with a whammy bar (I can do all the tricks: The dive bomb, motorcycle growl, horse whinny, tremolo picking, you name it), but I can do a couple of shreddy tricks like I said before (Tapping and alt picking). I'm just not a fan of sweep picking as it seems a bit repetitive. Maybe I'm wrong or I'm going by preconceived notions but I don't see it as worth the effort.

That said, I wish I did have the patience, much less the time or inspiration to do it.

[Pickslide1992]

I did at one point, but I had to sell it to get my Gibson. Next guitar I get will have a whammy bar, mark my words. I want to incorporate some whammy pyrotechnics into my songs, but I bet people would think I'm a half-ass Kerry King or Dimebag knock-off.