Electric Guitar Stylings

[snyprrr]

Hey Everybody!

I was hoping we could take a look at an instrument which may or may not have the reputation here at GMG as it does in the Broader Musical World: The Electric Guitar (Yes!, 'The"). I suppose I'd not be being honest if I didn't say that Jimi Hendrix's Electric Guitar Theory has been one of the overriding concerns of my life. The 'Sound' of the Electric Guitar, that SOUUUND!!!,... fuzzed, phased,... dripping, prowling... ALL THINGS, ALL WORLDS.

All Worlds are possible with the Electric Guitar, but, that might actually highlight the Limit of All Possible Worlds. As I was going over my notes, I noticed that after all these years, all my Guitar Sounds seemed to fit some basic categories. As my OP here, I'd like to share with you my Basic Categories into which the actual, different 'Sounds' of the Electric Guitar have manifested themselves. I searched in vain for other avenues, please tell me what I'm missing. Here there are:

1) The "Paris Jazz" Sound: this is the simple sound of an acoustic/electric, very flat and plucky. One can trace the whole 'Tone' oriented sound from here (see Bill Frisell).

2) The "Les Paul" Sound: Double Tracking, Country Music, Danny Gatton.

3) the "Electric Blues": everything up until Hendrix. The raw guts,... similar to the Jazz settings, but with the Bite 'On'.

4) "Surf": the Beginning of Effects, things working together to make a specific sound.

5) Hendrix: The Scientific Theory of Electric Guitar Effects, All in One. All Possibilities, Revolution at the Dawn of Acocalpyse.

6) the "Rock" Sound: what the rest of the guitar players came up with to counter Hendrix. Effects + Bite,... the 'Hollywood' Sound, the Standard Issue Sound for 40 Years.

7) "Disco": the wedding of Hendrix to R'n'B. 'Shaft', 'Who's That Lady', 'Maggot Brain',... the opposite of Pink Floyd's use of Guitar Effects (well,... except for 'Maggot Brain'!).

"Reggae": similar to disco, but more extreme, more like Pink Floyd with a beat!

and, finally,

9) "Metal": No Reverb Thank You!! Flanger only, maybe some delay, BUT THAT'S IT! Gain + EQ, nothing else.


Well, there you have it. See?, All Possible Worlds are still pretty well within reach. What have I left out? What haven't I heard?

[dyn]

i don't know about this Hendrix character. for me, the basic sound of the electric guitar is the sound of Richard Barrett's Dark Matter.

>.>

[North Star]

Some notable omissions from before 1980s:
Tony Iommi (the Heavy Metal sound), Eddie van Halen


Luke is too busy to post here, so...
http://www.youtube.com/v/K3WPJRwZ5pU

[snyprrr]

i don't know about this Hendrix character. for me, the basic sound of the electric guitar is the sound of Richard Barrett's Dark Matter.

>.>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRaC5DbYWhM

No???

[Mirror Image]

For me: reverb (particularly a hall reverb setting), delay, and a looper can go a long way.

[snyprrr]

i don't know about this Hendrix character. for me, the basic sound of the electric guitar is the sound of Richard Barrett's Dark Matter.

>.>

http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Barrett-Dark-Matter/dp/B00ABL6V9C

Wow! I just checked out the samples! Actually, that's about where I'm at with my 'Classical Electric' Tone. I take that back to the 'Les Paul' ToneBank (I mean the guitarist), with all the experimentation with Time Delay.

But still, I have been trying to take that Barrett sound and marry it with some Hendrix inspired Time Effects.

The Hidden Agenda of this Thread was to talk about the Science of Time Delay, from the quickest 'Early Reflections', to 'Chorus', 'Flange', 'Doubling', 'SlapBack', the '360ms.' Rule, and so on.

[Mirror Image]

This is the type of sound-world I'm getting at in my own music:

http://www.youtube.com/v/0y_dgS5yUJY

Although one of the major differences between what I'm doing and this particular group is doing is I don't necessarily want this music to be 'up in the clouds' so to speak all the time. I'm working on ways to add harmonic variety and color to each piece. A lot of this is achieved by bringing in musician friends who play other instruments particularly woodwind and brass. I would also like to add more and more percussion to a piece as time goes along. I have some really old congas that have a nice resonance and warmth to them that I might try to incorporate into a piece pretty soon.

I'd also like to work with vocalists, in particular a female vocalist at some point. There's this great vocalist that sings at a church locally that's been classically-trained and I've heard before. She has a dazzling voice.

[snyprrr]

This is the type of sound-world I'm getting at in my own music:

http://www.youtube.com/v/0y_dgS5yUJY

Although one of the major differences between what I'm doing and this particular group is doing is I don't necessarily want this music to be 'up in the clouds' so to speak all the time. I'm working on ways to add harmonic variety and color to each piece. A lot of this is achieved by bringing in musician friends who play other instruments particularly woodwind and brass. I would also like to add more and more percussion to a piece as time goes along. I have some really old congas that have a nice resonance and warmth to them that I might try to incorporate into a piece pretty soon.

I'd also like to work with vocalists, in particular a female vocalist at some point. There's this great vocalist that sings at a church locally that's been classically-trained and I've heard before. She has a dazzling voice.

Well, that's a good example on one way of 'using' the EC. No attack, no real 'guitar' sound. That's kind of what I was getting at with this Most Unique Instrument.


Who here has a Boss GT box? Any version: GT-3, GT-6, GT-8, GT-10, GT-100? This is what I'm using (I think the GT-6 is the best overall), and I do think it's the best overall box. I have only recently hit on the 'Scientific Method' of 'building' sounds. You HAVE to 'tune' the machine, starting with the Gain, Bass, Treble,... and all the way to the final flanging or delay. TUNED EFFECTS may NOT sound 'natural' to the ear, but when played in context, the tuned effects 'pop' out like 3-D.

I have a particular sound, I call it 'PhuzZPhayzz',... a '60s/Hendrix type sound ('Dolly Dagger' type),... which I 'created' a while back. Well, through the years, I've constantly gone back to this sound, tweaking and tweaking, until I found that I was building up the sound all wrong. With this new 'Scientific Method' I've been able to take this 'wild' sound and tame some of the untucked ends, and tune the 'sweep' better, so that all the elements of the sound come out.

I remember when I first came up with the sound, I thought it sounded neat, but, now, if you heard the original compared to what I have today, you'd HEAR the difference that the 'Method' makes. This is like my new calling here: teach the guitarists the importance of 'smarting up' their effects.

Here's an example:

Normally, lazily, one might order their preamp like this:

Gain: 75
Bass: 25
Mids: 50
Treble: 75
Presence: 25
Output: 50

Now, if you're playing in the key of 'A', for instance, what I'll do is set all the Tone Knobs to '50', then increase 'Gain' until I hear the low 'A' note 'pop' into relief. From there, I begin setting the Tone Knobs, one at a time, until the fundamentals of the 'A' chord pop into relief. This is pretty exact, and HERE IS THE SECRET:

If a tone is 'tempered', it will 'pop' a key. If you're playing in 'A', you will hear the 'relief' on the 'A', 'D', and 'E' chords,... you WILL hear the 'relief' between the 'D' and the 'E'.

IF... IF... IF...

If you tweak the Tone Knobs just a couple of clicks to the RIGHT, your 'key' will change from 'A' to 'E'. If you click a couple to the LEFT, your key will change from 'A' to 'D'.

YES, THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS IS represented in the effects box!! Key = Tone!!!

Do you see what I'm saying? You CAN tune any preamp sound to the KEY in which you are playing! Just think about a metal band that ALWAYS plays in 'E' (or drop 'D'). Why wouldn't they 'tune' their whole rig to low 'E'? Of course they do!!

I've been having quite a time trying to get my F# Metal settings right. You MUST use a capo: if you're key is 'A', then you can tune the preamp by tweaking the knobs until the low 'E' string (open) and the low 'A' string (open) sound 'tuned'. Not 'tuned' ON the guitar,... 'tuned' in the AMP. We KNOW the guitar is in tune,... but you WILL hear the amp being 'tuned'.

Nothing prepared me for the perfectly tuned Double Chorus sound. Wow, all these undulating threads, all coalescing around the 'A' chord. Then, the 'D' and the 'E' chords... perrrfectly tuned. If you play an 'A#' or 'D#', you'll hear that it's NOT in tune, but when you go back to the 'A' or 'D', POP!, all of a sudden all the shimmers are going in the SAME direction.

This is one of the biggest problems with guitar effects. People are using the 'Chorus' wrong. a 'Chorus' ESPECIALLY needs to be tuned ( a chior of out-of-tune voices?, no way!).


Anyhow, I grow weary. So, please guys, let's start being smart with our Tone Production.




So, what I found, comparing to the original amp settings:

Gain: 75
Bass: 25
Mids: 50
Treble: 75
Presence: 25
Output: 50

This is more of what a 'tuned' setting will look like:

Gain: 73
Bass: 21/26
Mids: 12
Treble: 34
Presence: 49
Output: 51

It looks all out of whack, BUT, here is the secret word that will make all things come into view:

PHASE SHIFT

Do you all really know what in/out of phase means? Phase... 'shifting' I ask, because until recently, I did not understand the principle. I'm tired now, but I'll continue this Topic with a discussion about Phase.

[Mirror Image]

I can't say I'm into a lot of the wacky sounding effects like phasers, ring-modulators, or flangers. I do like chorus, but a little bit of this effect goes a long way. It can add great color to your tone if you use it in a subtle way. For me, delay, reverb, and on occasion distortion are really all I need to get a great tone.

[snyprrr]

I can't say I'm into a lot of the wacky sounding effects like phasers, ring-modulators, or flangers. I do like chorus, but a little bit of this effect goes a long way. It can add great color to your tone if you use it in a subtle way. For me, delay, reverb, and on occasion distortion are really all I need to get a great tone.

The Ring Mod can be used for some great Blues leads, but, yea, context and discretion are crucial in all effects.


I was trying to build a new Metal sound, and it's just hard tuning the whole thing to that low 'E' for some reason. It really is more a matter of 'subtracting rather than 'adding'. But you sure don't have to turn the Gain up much at all (one of the mistakes of my youth). I spent all my work trying to get it to not sound Muddy, and I certainly have NOT got the Parametric down all the way (to 'Scoop' the Mids for the 'Metal').

Does anyone know the Frequency and 'Q' and 'Cut' for that 'Metal' sound?

[Mirror Image]

The Ring Mod can be used for some great Blues leads, but, yea, context and discretion are crucial in all effects.


I was trying to build a new Metal sound, and it's just hard tuning the whole thing to that low 'E' for some reason. It really is more a matter of 'subtracting rather than 'adding'. But you sure don't have to turn the Gain up much at all (one of the mistakes of my youth). I spent all my work trying to get it to not sound Muddy, and I certainly have NOT got the Parametric down all the way (to 'Scoop' the Mids for the 'Metal').

Does anyone know the Frequency and 'Q' and 'Cut' for that 'Metal' sound?

What do you mean by Metal sound? Do you mean like the musical style 'metal'? If yes, then some highly saturated distortion will do nicely. I find that a lot of your tone comes from your fingers. I remember I was playing some acoustic guitar at a music store and a friend of mine remarked that I still sounded unmistakably like myself with or without effects, which led to start thinking of ways to get to essence of my own sound. I use the bare minimum now and, personally speaking, I never sounded better. What a difference your tone can have once you get rid of the all that useless junk that, in reality, a good guitarist doesn't really need to begin with.

[snyprrr]

What do you mean by Metal sound? Do you mean like the musical style 'metal'? If yes, then some highly saturated distortion will do nicely. I find that a lot of your tone comes from your fingers. I remember I was playing some acoustic guitar at a music store and a friend of mine remarked that I still sounded unmistakably like myself with or without effects, which led to start thinking of ways to get to essence of my own sound. I use the bare minimum now and, personally speaking, I never sounded better. What a difference your tone can have once you get rid of the all that useless junk that, in reality, a good guitarist doesn't really need to begin with.

I went studying the 'Scooped Mids' thing last night. Well, apparently there's a WAR going on on whether or not to 'Scoop'. At the end I decided not to do anything fancy,... I went and created a real nice 'Metal' sound without resorting to previous models. Aaaand... I used the Limiter in a new way, and wow!, I think I've discovered a new tool! I've always been perplexed by the Limiter, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

[snyprrr]

Check this out.

I was talking about 'tuning' your effects to the key of your song, right? Well, what do you do if there is a key change in your song? Take 'Jackie Blue' as an example. The verse is in the key of Cmaj, and the chorus is in (I'm pretty sure) Emaj.

So, what I did was I 'tuned' the amp/effects to Cmaj, and then I tweaked the Compressor to the key of Emaj (along with some flange and delay: verse/dry, chorus/wet), so, I click the foot-switch just as we go into the chorus.

And? Seriously, it's interesting, it really works well this way. It 'pops' the song like nothin'. We're also going to do 'Sky High' by Jigsaw, which goes from a Bminor to Bmajor key changed. Same thing, it really enlivens the process.

Whaddaya think? I think this is big boy effects processing,... this is like taking GMG-styled knowledge and applying it to the lowest common denominator and getting spectacular results.