Musician's Thread

Assuming you've never really listened to shredders before, I love how after playing guitar for all of a few weeks you almost have an immediate appreciation for that type of skill.

 

I see your shredders and raise you... this guy:



I'm trying to figure out what he's doing with those strings. Lots of harmonics, I'm assuming different gauged strings tuned to EADG or something else?

 

You can tell how low his action/ string height is too, he barely touches the frets to make notes. I didn't see too much harmonic stuff though?

 

I meant cords, not harmonics. My bad.

 

Not to spam this thread with stuff but this song has one of my favorite bass solos in it. Tal Wikkenfeld will have my children one day. Solo starts at 1:25.

 

I want to know how you do this:



And I someday want to play this:

 

Sounds standard tuning but the action on that bass must be really low.

First bit there, he's playing a 1-b3-b7, changing keys a few times but consistently on those notes with or without flats.
Second bit, looks like he's just playing harmonics (I think that's the name) on third fret, which makes it play at like two octaves higher.

And he's fucking incredible at tapping.

 

That's the stuff I need to learn. What does that mean, "the action must be really low"???

 

How close the strings are to the fretboard. Generally speaking, the closer they are, the better it is and more playable. You can play more complicated music and not have to worry about pushing so hard on the strings to make contact.

 

I wouldn't say "better" or "more playable." I like my action set probably a lot higher than most people, so do a few guitarists I know, and we can all play just fine. Obviously, there's an acceptable range, but I find the more people start to the play, the higher and higher the action goes. I always feel like there's way more power in my playing when the action is higher, it doesn't feel like a plastic guitar, which is the feeling I get from some guitars when the action is super low.

Plus, if you like to bend a lot a low action makes that more difficult, your note will get cut off if you go too high. It's a comfort thing.

And as much as Wooten/whoever tapping like that is cool and great, I've never been a huge fan, because they might as well be playing a Chapman stick.

 

Thanks. I need to learn the vocabulary. How do you adjust how close the strings are? By changing the nut?

 

Nah, I don't want to fuck with it, I'm just trying to understand the mechanics. My son has an electric, but he only has "tone" and "volume". I'm assuming "tone" mixes the two pickups he has. When I see other electrics that have four or more knobs, is that for blending the pickups? If the nut isn't the answer, how do you adjust how close the strings are to the fretboard?

 

My Wah pedal hasn't been working. When it's turned off, the bypass works fine but as soon as I activate it it kills all the sound. Does anybody have experience with dunlop's pedals? Are there any common problems with them?

To be more specific, it's the Slash SW-95 pedal:

Spoiler

 

I never use batteries so unless the power input is fucked up, I don't think it's that. My usual go-to guitar tech guy tells me it's probably a burned-out tone pot but I wanted to ask around before I start investing in unnecessary parts.

 

I gotta get myself a really nice Wah pedal.

What are some names I should look at?

 

I like where this is going, let's talk about pedals.

What fuzzes do you guys like? I have a Mossrite clone which is pretty awesome since I like that 60's garage band fuzz but sometimes it is just too much, it's pretty balls to the wall. Something that is geared more towards rhythm and not lead would be a plus as well.

 

I love my Swollen Pickle. It can get any sounds you want without the annoying digital sound of Boss or DigiTech's stuff. For the sake of simplicity, it's usually the only pedal I use on stage.

 

Might have to check out the pickle. I have an aqua puss that I really like since I only use delay for slapback anyway. Youtube here I come.

 

This is the Big Muff clone I use, highly recommended.