Scott's Guitar Stuff

Just snagged a new computer, and with it a new interface. The musical possibilities are pretty much endless; gear = inspiration. I Thought I'd try a Universal Audio Apollox4 this time around, paired with a Mac M4. This marks the first, and very shaky adventure with Luna (I don't know that DAW at all, I normally use Logic Pro!). Really awesome (feeling and sounding) guitar plugins - I am using the Suhr amp here! But It's kind of cool, I can create a loop, a track or an entire song and potentially do a "play-through" in realtime with a lot less hassle, and I have tried a lot of ways to achieve this - now it's plug and play, hit record and go! I guess it's on me to get creating and do something cool - I humbly submit a quick progression (Implied Emin-G7-Amin G7-Fmaj) where I am still working on integrating picking and hybrid picking in my playing. A bit at a time, it'll get there, I'm sure! Anyways - have a great weekend everyone!

Some messing around today on guitar (it's fun!) over C7 #9, E7 #9 and D7 #9 and seeing what I can get away with. Lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs here, (legato for the win!) and I kind of decided to play off of a Cmin7 arpeggio for the most part as a kind of springboard for my ideas. Thought I'd share it for those who like this sort of thing! Interestingly enough, I abandoned any kind of amp modelling/direct in guitar sims and used (GASP! No.... don't say it...) A MICROPHONE to capture my guitar/amp/pedalboard. I always come back to that, I mean sure there's a bit of background noise and unlike a plugin you can't choose between 8000 different amps and IR's or whatever, but I have come to believe that your pedals and your amp as well as the microphone is an extension of the instrument, and you have to build a relationship and understanding of it all and how it works for you. I recorded myself jamming in Logic Pro and videotaped myself as I played. Really it's just a snapshot in time of what I'm up to musically, hope y'all dig it! It was super fun to create! hahaha My computer is on it's last leg so I am glad it was able to capture this!

I thought I'd share a quick tutorial on my sequence that I shared yesterday. It's a lot of fun to play, and it really syncs with my DSX (downstroke escape) picking, which yep, needs a ton of work! Still, even in it's primitive version, I think it's safe to say that it will become a useful melodic statement as I develop it. Used a real amp today. It was dang loud... Have a great day!

Okay, time to work on some picking...

So, as I go further down the DSX (downstroke escape) rabbit hole I worked out a sequence/lick that takes advantage of my picking form's proclivities - escape on downstroke, and one-directional sweep/economy (for me it works best if I sweep/economy on upstrokes). So far the sequence is in a primitive state, not too fast (but not too slow either, definitely useable!). The scalar stuff is all alternate picked, carefully crafted to escape on a downstroke for string changes, and the sweep section is all upstroke descending sweeps in C minor. Utilizing the super cool C Melodic minor scale! CDEbFGAB. Lots of fun developing a vocabulary, especially now that I understand how this works! Anyways, have a good one, I hope y'all dig the lick!

Well, I got ahold of a ToneXOne a while ago, and dang it if I haven't really been able to bond with it. So today I decided I was going to do some creating with it. ToneXOne is an amp emulator/modeller, so I snagged a Fender Bassman model and ran my pedalboard through it. Musically, and playing-wise I was originally doing something much different, but it was getting close to supper time, so I had to cut it short! Hah! Anyways, It's always a lot of fun to create, and I *think I got the 'ole pedalboard to talk nice to the ToneX. All right back to practice!

I had 6ths and 2nds on my mind tonight, and thought I'd post a thing talking about them, as I think they sound cool and are too often overlooked. In my daily practice, I am "looking" for a certain sound I hear in my head and intervallic playing is to my ears, some of the most interesting stuff. So I ditch the plectrum and put on the fuzz and try and conjure up something interesting, even if It's only me hearing it. Any ways, the overall theme here is a fi*****ng being inverted, starting as a 2nd, and then a 6th. Really fun, and leads to a lot of different ideas i find in my explorations. Not too difficult to execute, either! Rock on!

Behold! Saturday night tone test! Where I see if I can maybe get a cool sound going over some chords (Emin9-Cmaj7add9 #11-Emin9-Gmaj7add9 - implied). No picks were harmed during the making of this video, and I also managed to remove this extremely annoying high pitched squeal I was getting from the ToneXOne (ART CleanboxII to the rescue!). Normally I like a bit of delay on my lead tone, but I opted for just a room reverb this time just for something with a bit more clarity, delay effects can sort of blur things sometimes which creates a fun cascade, but not what I was looking for, so no delay! I find myself trying to channel Jeff Beck type playing more and more these days when I am working on a composition, or a melody loop. Not that it sounds anything like the great Jeff Beck, but the attempt is worthwhile! lol Something about the sound I think when it's just fingers and no pick contacting the strings... lol I could be just going crazy but it's a sound I prefer more and more! Not a lot of guitar insanity here, just trying to focus on something that I like the sound of. Hah!

So for the very nerdy music enthusiast - over the Emin9 it's E Aeolian, Cmaj7add9 #11= C Lydian and for the Gmaj7 add 9 we're in G Ionian as far as the modes go. It would sound pretty clunky though if I tried to "change modes" with the changes - instead, the key center is all Gmajor, so my melodies draw from that, and te modes "happen" because of the chordchanges underneath. That's how modes actually work; the chords and related harmony underneath dictate what the mode is, not just the melody on top.

Anyways, have a good one, rock on!

Doing some jamming today, finally breaking free of a picking rut... by not doing any picking! hah! More and more I find myself gravitating towards a more legato sound and that's okay I think! I thought I'd share this little bit of music on guitar - playing over an A minor progression, there's an idea or two that are all right I think! I used a ToneX One Pedal direct to Logic while I was videotaping with my trusty Zoom Q2. Legato, fingers and tap!

Just kind of messing around, more or less working on trying to fuse the various techniques and strategies I've gathered over the last bit. Stitching them together, seeing where the exit hatches are, that sort of thing. Having some fun with a very dry tone, MXR yjm overdrive into the Boss Nextone amp. Kind of reminds me of the tone I used to get out of a Peavey Classic 30 with the pre cranked! Just having some fun, no big whup...

Messing around on guitar tonight after working out some band tunes, I thought I'd try playing over a quick loop of Amin-Dmin Emin in a sort of almost rocked up minor blues type thing trying to squeak out some cool tone and a few melodic moments here and there! Hah! Keep on trying! Anyways, have a great weekend everyone!