SRV’s “Number One”

 

This incredible instrument is currently on display in a museum in Texas. When I look at a photo of Stevie’s main guitar it takes me back to being 13 and having my young mind being completely blown-away by this guy in a big hat wailing like there was no tomorrow.  I’d never really heard anything like it before.

SRV was an incredibly important person in my life…even though I never had the opportunity to meet him, much less actually get to play guitar with him. His passion, humour, courage in overcoming his personal demons and simply awesome songs captured my imagination in a way that few others have.

SRV lead me to Clapton, who in turn lead me to BB KIng, Freddy King, Robert Johnson and Son House. He opened a up a world of possibilities to me that saw me (for a time at least) only wanting to play blues-based music on a Strat and through a Fender Twin or Bassman amp. Nothing else was acceptable!

When he passed away I was devastated. I felt as though my best friend had been taken from me. I doubt many people realised how much his playing had touched my soul and moved me to start copying his guitar style…which ultimately saw me ditch the ambitions of an academic career in history or of being a lawyer.

When Stevie viewed this guitar – as battered and bruised as it was – I can only imagine what he reflected on. All the gigs, the miles travelled, the hard times of trying to establish yourself as a musician, the joy of playing your heart out to an appreciative crowd, getting to jam with your heroes, hearing yourself on the radio or seeing yourself on TV.

The first US-made Strat that I owned held so many similar memories for me. It was a wonderful instrument, but even more than that it held so many memories of where I had been and what I had done. When it was stolen the disconnect I felt with saying good-bye to those memories was almost as painful as  having such a great guitar get pinched.

Music is such a powerful medium. I believe it is in fact the most-powerful art form there is. Music can say things so deep that words cannot begin to express the magnitude and depth of the true meaning.

Music can take you to places where you never expected and provide you with experiences you never thought possible. Playing the guitar has seen me travel who knows how far up and down the east coast of Australia. It has seen me playing in places like LA and Arizona. Celebrating special occasions for family members such as backyard weddings to appearing on national TV.

The guitar has in some ways become an extension of my voice. I can be very shy but the guitar has allowed me to express myself in ways I never thought possible to thousands of people at a time.

If you are thinking about playing – or starting again -just do it!

You’ll never know where it will take you but it will be deeply rewarding

 

Building a Home Studio Part 1

Advances in music technology have afforded musicians many wonderful opportunities that a few short years ago were out of reach or simply unavailable to most. Today we can record and produce music of very high standard in our homes for a fraction of the cost of yesteryear.

But where to start?

It can be confusing when you first commence to look at all the options available to you. And it can be costly if you make a mistake in purchasing something not quite right (and I plead guilty to that on more than one occasion!).

Perhaps the best place to begin is to determine what you hope to achieve from this. Of course the goals may change over time, but at least some basic goals can help you move into the direction you wish to head.

And following this, you will need to determine what you will need to achieve these goals in terms of equipment and space.

If you are a singer-songwriter a simple device allowing you to capture your ideas quickly and easily may be enough. A unit such as the Roland R-05 or Roland Micro BR BR-80 may be more than adequate. But if you are more ambitious you may require multiple inputs to record several sources at once, with complete separation given to each track. And what do you wish to record onto? A stand-alone unit offers some advantages in terms of portability over a computer, but a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), which is a computer-based setup, offers far more (generally) in terms of flexibility, features and ease of editing tracks.

I started out with a Roland 8-track recording to zip disks way back in the ’90’s. I had used tape-based machines before then (borrowed from friends) and played sessions in studios using both reel-to-reel and the nascent stages of computer-based recording. Such systems were beyond my budget at the time! From the Roland I proceeded to a 24-channel desk with 40 gig hard drive. It was quite reasonable and the portability allowed me to take it readily to gigs for live recordings and the like (so it quickly paid for itself) but editing was difficult, transferring it to a computer for further editing was a pain, incorporating MIDI was not so easy and recording at the highest resolution was only offered to a few tracks at any one time.

After a few years I moved to a computer and Cubase. This offered me more in terms of effects, far-easier editing and integrating MIDI and VST options…but it didn’t have enough power to run everything at once!

Things have well-and-truly changed now. These days I am using a Mac with quad-core processing, 8-gig of ram and a ridiculous amount of hard-drive space.

Most people have a computer and this is what i would recommend if you wish to do more than a simple demo (as great and convenient as those aforementioned Roland units are).

So what next? Obviously a software platform is necessary (more on such choices later), but we also need to get determine how we will record into the computer.

Using a webcam mic will not give you very good results! Most inbuilt sound-cards are not really adequate and will struggle to handle more than a few tracks (if they can manage that to begin with). A dedicated audio interface is the preferred option. But which one is right for you?

The most important and most basic question is ‘what do you want to record?’. This will determine the number of simultaneous inputs (and types of inputs) you’ll need. A line-level input is suitable for recording other electronic equipment such as signals from mixing desks, CD and/or DVD players and some synths and keyboards.

A microphone input requires an additional preamp to boost the signal as the output from a mic is much lower than a line-level device. And the third most-common type of input is for an instrument, such as guitar or bass.

If you only work with loops and samples and never record an instrument or voice, you may not need anything other than your onboard sound-card. But if you wish to include voice or an instrument you will need to something a little more expansive. There are a number of units available with inputs that can accept either mic, instrument or line-level signals that can accept two sources. But if you are working with other musicians and wish to record simultaneously you may need to think about something that offers 8-in/8-out options.

Some possible options include the Roland Tri-Capture USB Interface, the Yamaha Audiogram3 , or the Roland Quad-Capture.

Next time we will explore the DAW.

Attaching your pedals to a board without Velcro

If you are anything like me you have take great delight in attaching your ever-growing and ever-changing collection of pedals to a piece of wood. Guitarists are a funny lot!

I think my first attempt at making a pedal board was to use a metal shelf that was lying around at home with cheap Velcro from Woolies. The tubescreamer stayed in position reasonably well. The Crybaby Wah did not! The Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal I also used at the time didn’t stay on the board for very long either.

But ever since then I have built and rebuilt pedal boards with some sort of weird obsession. I have never been particularly good with tools, but then again I have never really owned any tools of note. The kitchen table has often substituted for a work bench. One screwdriver has done the work of many.Screws have been recycled from other projects that have fallen into disrepair.

So, in short, some of my creations have not been particularly good!

And the dilemma of how to attach one’s pedals to the board has become the bane of many guitarists and an otherwise happy existence simply serving society by rocking out.

But no more!

I have tried many variations on the Velcro concept. I have spent enough money on super-duper Velcro that could hold your head to the ceiling if you so desired to (finally) concede that the glue does not wish to hold some pedals down. That the glue is heavy and sticky and yuck when it decides to ooze over everything else on a prized pedal board. That it is time for a different approach!
Enter the bike chain links.

Instead of using Velcro I am now going to screw down my pedals. I don’t really wish to move the pedals around on a whim, so ease of rearrangement is not an issue for me (but may be for others).

The poor lady at Engadine Bike Shop thought I was mad when I started discussing individual links from a chain with her. She had no concept of what a guitar pedal might be and was concerned I was going to screw the links into the guitar itself for some sort of decorative purpose. In the end she was kind enough to give me two lengths of chain that were in the workshop.

Chain breaker

A chain breaker borrowed from a friend allowed me to quickly break the chain into individual links. If you are interested in trying this for yourself I would recommend using one of these. It is possible to break the chain with a hammer and punch but I quickly tired of that. I also managed to bend a few of the links with blows from the hammer that Thor would have been proud of!

After a few minutes I had managed to assemble a reasonable amount of links; certainly more than needed for the job at hand.

Individual chain links

I then removed two screws from the bottom of my Hotcake Overdrive pedal, positioned one of the links over a hole and then replaced the screw.

This resulted in the following; tomorrow I shall finish all my pedals and then screw them straight onto an MDF board that is cut to go within the case. More to follow after I complete the next step

Hotcake Pedal with links attached

How the Hotcake pedal will sit on the board

Getting started with slide guitar

Playing slide requires a different approach to regular guitar. We need to consider how we will tune the guitar, what type of slide we will use, which finger we will wear it upon and how we will approach picking.

And then there is the need for very precise damping of unwanted noise, as well as the need for very accurate intonation when we play. The frets no longer help to compensate for intonation and if we are not spot on it sucks!

STANDARD VS. OPEN TUNING

Slide guitar is most commonly played in Open G/A or Open D/E tuning. The G and A tunings (and the D and E tunings) are the same intervals but a tone apart in pitch. I prefer to tune to G and D tuning and use a capo if needed. Open A puts a lot of strain on the neck of the guitar, as well as the strings.

However it is possible to play slide in standard tuning and to do so very well. I typically play slide on my resonator in Open G, followed by Open D tuning. These tunings are the foundation of the early blues players and their approach to slide guitar. It allows for full chords to be played across all six strings with the slide

Scott's Resonator

and makes some concession for not damping all unwanted strings. If you lay the slide across several strings in an open tuning and mis-hit a string you are probably going to hit a good note from the chord anyway.
The downside is that you have to relearn the fretboard and have at least one extra guitar with you at a gig. I have tried switching between different tunings in the past with one guitar…much heartache and frustration was the end result!

Playing slide in standard tuning allows one to go between regular playing and slide on the one guitar (perhaps even in the same song) but you do lose some of the chord shapes and have to work a bit harder to ensure you mute out all unwanted noise.

I normally play slide on the electric guitar in standard tuning. This allows me more freedom to play over anything I choose as I don’t need to relearn the fretboard for chords, arpeggios and scales. I personally find it easier to play rhythm parts on the electric in standard tuning as well.

TYPES OF SLIDES

The very first slide I had was an off-cut from a piece of pipe. Slides come in all shapes and sizes and are fashioned from all types of materials. Glass and metal are the most common though I have seen someone use a schooner glass at a gig (which was full and he ended up with beer all over the guitar….). Porcelain is also

Different slides I own

used in many commercially made slides.  Brass and bronze tend to be heavier and offer more sustain. Glass slides tend be warmer in sound but break more easily. Porcelain is similar to glass in tone.It also breaks very easily!

Weight in the slide helps with sustain and balance of the finger…though it can get to the point of being too heavy! Two of the bronze slides I own sound great but after playing 5-6 songs my hand is aching from the weight. I personally prefer the feel of brass as it seems to grip the string a little better. Kirk Lorange gave me the smaller brass slide on the right. It is very nicely balanced and sounds great. It is also a good length; I don’t tend to play full chords when playing this style so I don`t need a slide that spans the width of the fretboard.

 

WHICH FINGER TO WEAR THE SLIDE ON?

Though some very good players use their middle or ring fingers, I think the pinky is the best choice for wearing the slide. This allows the player to use his or her other fingers to play chords as well.

PICK OR FINGERS?

Many slide players use their fingers to attack the strings. Bob Brozman uses fingerpicks, Johnny Winter uses a thumb pick. I personally use a hybrid picking approach (pick and fingers) as it offers me a lot of versatility.

GUITAR SETUP

Heavy strings and higher action are the way to go. My Ibanez with the Wizard II neck ( a shred machine if ever there was one)  with very low action is not a good choice for slide playing! The frets would act as ‘speed bumps’ and you would hear the slide hitting them as it moved about.

I have a very light touch when I play so can get away with minimal adjustment to a guitar. I typically use 10-46 gauge strings on my electrics and 12-53 on the acoustics. For slide playing I can get away with 11-49 gauge strings on the electric with a slightly higher action on the guitar. On the acoustic I often use a 13-56 gauge set.

Some players go much heavier than this, with much higher action. Kirk uses a 16 on his top E string on the electric. I guess he doesn’t bend the strings that much!

We’ll get into some more playing examples next time.

 

 

Cascading Harmonics

This is one of my favourite techniques on the guitar. The true masters of this are Lenny Breau, Cheat Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel. All essential listening!

Anyway this is a quick demo of the sound of the technique. I recorded it on an Ovation guitar with a small diaphragm condenser mic into Cubase.

Slide Guitar In Standard Tuning

I love the sound of slide guitar. It is so damn sexy! From the early blues players through to modern masters such as Derek Trucks and Sonny Landreth, slide guitar has been used in so many styles and to create so many amazing textures. I have even heard Kirk Lorange play Coltrane’s Giant Steps with a slide. Amazing!
When I first started playing around with slide I tuned my guitar to an open G chord. Playing in opening tunings is great but it can also be limiting. And you tend to sound like everyone else playing in an open tuning when you do so. Playing in standard tuning presents us with more challenges but also offers more freedom. We do need to be very aware of damping unwanted noise at all times and we no longer have full chords (5 or 6 strings); but we do not need to relearn the fretboard to find notes and chords. It can be more convenient to simply incorporate slide into a few songs (if that is our wish) on one guitar instead of needing to swap instruments. And it is possibly easier to play in many different keys instead of the usual suspects that are used in open tuning (D, E, A and G).

The following is a demonstration of playing a bluesy rock tune with slide in standard tuning

To play this solo I essential used one shape that I moved throughout the chords. I have notated this shape in the following PDF:

slide shapes in standard tuning

Strings 2-4 present us with a major chord when played on the same fret. The three open strings form a G chord and we simply move up the fretboard from there. This is really the only full chord we can play with standard tuning (with a slide), but there are some other options we have for creating power chords (or diads) that can be very effective.

Slide guitar benefits from heavier strings and a higher action than standard playing. To reference Kirk once more, I believe he uses a 16 on his top E. That’s pretty heavy! On the Les Paul I played in the video I have 11-49 gauge strings. The slide is very heavy brass. I generally have a very light touch when I play so I am able to get away with lighter strings and a lower action than most other players. If the strings are set too low you will hear the slide hitting the frets like a speed bump…not a great thing to listen to.

Stomp-boxes or a multi-effects unit?

Is it better to have a number of pedals at your feet to create your particular brand of sonic mayhem, or is one multi-effects unit preferable?

To be honest, there is no definitive answer. I have been through periods where I had many pedals, times when I have just tried to rely on one, and other periods when I have used a combination of the two.

My current pedalboard is a combination of both a multi-effects unit and some other pedals. I used to have  big collection of pedals on a board, and then more gear in racks. Changing from one sound to another in the middle of a song required a performance that would have made Michael Flatley proud! And on more than one occasion I ended up on my backside!

The centre of this new board is a Line 6 Pod HD500. It integrates very well into my DT25 amp. Still getting there with patches and the like, but  have managed to create a few very decent patches. Combined with this are my Banshee Talkbox, A Boosta pedal from BBE, a sonic maximiser from BBE, a Vox Satchurator overdrive and a Hotcake pedal ( and this is probably my favourite OD pedal of all time.

The set up offers me the ability to go through several different amp combinations and tones by simply tapping on a pedal. With the POD HD controlling the DT-25 I can be playing a Fender amp and then switch to a Marshall mid-song. The Line6 link (achieved by connecting either a high-quality XLR or DMX cable from the POD to the amp) carries both audio and data. The data can be used to reconfigure the amp voicing power mode and pentode or triode operation. The audio component carries the guitar signal to the amp.

Brilliant indeed!

Unfortunately I received a faulty POD HD500 initially (the LCD display failed within the first ten minutes of operation) which then took some weeks to be replaced due to lack of stock in Australia. Once that was resolved another issue arose with the USB port failing. I am very disappointed in this development. The replacement for this unit will arrive in February some time and hopefully it will be a case of third time lucky!
I really like the possibilities and tonal options achieved so far between the board and the amp.

As a session guitarist and player who plays a diverse range of styles (country, jazz, rock, pop, blues, funk and it goes on) being versatile in my setup is a necessity. I appreciate that not every player needs (or wants) this. And this relates back to the original premise of this blog entry…which one is better?

A friend of mine barely uses effects, typically relying on the amp and his hands to create the tone he wants. Works very well for him. As one of Australia’s most-recorded session guitarists he is obviously doing something right!

However he doesn’t play al the weird and wonderful covers that I do, so he doesn’t need to go from sounding like the Edge (U2) to Hendrix to George Benson and beyond in the space of a night.

As with most things in music, it really comes back to your needs and vision. No-one can really dispute that, whatever it may be!

 

 

Paratuss Magic Pickguard

My Taylor acoustic (wonderful guitar that it is) was not fitted with a pick guard when it shipped. For some time I have considered getting a clear pick guard and attaching it myself…but has since discovered this wonderful concept from Paratuss. 

The magic pick guard is a clear and reusable pick guard that can be attached and removed (or repositioned) as many times as desired!

Very clever design indeed!

You can find out more about this here

Breaking out of a soloing rut!

There was a time when I only ever seemed to play Hendrix and Clapton licks in any and every solo that I played (and only about 5 licks in total). I had learnt some scales but kept reverting to these few ideas that I felt I could execute.
I grew tired of these ideas very quickly, as did anyone else subjected to my attempts to wail for 5 minutes over a progression!
As a musician I particularly enjoy the art of improvisation. I rarely play anyone else’s solos verbatim in a cover song and at times I take a complete departure from the original solo altogether and create something new and radically different.

I see soloing as an opportunity to express my own personality into the song and don’t feel the need to copy what someone else did at a given moment in the past.
But even though I have learnt so much in the art of improvisation since the early attempts at it when I was 12 or 13, getting stuck in a rut still presents a challenge.

The Roman Numeral System for Identifying Chords

You may have heard of musicians talking about a ‘I-IV-V’ progression, muttering about the ‘II-V’ approach to chord substitution or something else equally as dark and mysterious.

It is in fact a very simple and convenient method for identifying the chord progression or progressions used throughout a song. When we harmonise the major scale (irrespective of which key we are in) the chords always follow the pattern

major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished . So in C Major we would have C, Dm, Em , F, G , Am and B dim. In the key of G we would have G, Am , Bm, C, D, Em, F#. if we are discussing a ‘I-IV-V’ progression in C we would use the C, F and G chords. in the key of G the same progression would include the G, C and D chords.

Memorising this pattern of chords helps greatly with learning a song, transposing (taking it to another key), identifying chord patterns by ear and improvising.

I highly recommend it!