Open Forum Lunch Report Tue Aug 10 2010

It is 4:30 PM and maybe someone will post before I get this completed , but here goes.
Lunch today was too much, a buffet and a bit of everything. I always eat too much but it was all tasty.

A couple of things I have been experimenting with this week and what are you experiences/ opinions.

1. Picks, and it has been mentioned by others. I am a soft picker and use medium picks. I decided that I would like a more brilliant attack so I bought a pack of Dunlop Ultex heavy (1.14). Now this old boy was blown away when the attack was much softer with the heavier pick. I have been using Fender Mediums and thinking that I should use the same brand for comparison, back to the store for Dunlop Ultex Mediums (.073). It was not the material as I suspected before the trip. The attack with the mediums is much brighter. Maybe this is something I should have know but it is opposite what my feeble logic was telling me. Someone here uses an agate pick. Others have different favorites. I also am experimenting with National Thumb picks as I am a thumb/first finger Bass Player. With the thumb pick I noticed terrific accuracy but it is different to get used to. The jury is still out but anyone have feedback on this.

2. Could be G&L related. I listened to a guy 2 weeks ago the GC who was trying a Strat/Roland Synth. He was getting some great Sax, Keyboard and other sounds from it. I went back today to try this guitar and it didn't work, most probably a dead battery. Our band now has two guitarist and I do some lead and a lot of fill work. it has added a new dimension to our band which everyone likes. This synth setup may be neat for some special work. Any of you have experience with one? Is this something available from G&L or through a special order? I could bite on something like that.

For those of you who have not seen the F-100 Return Edition, here is a picture of mine.




Hope the pics are sized right.--- Darwin

I play only with my fingers - I can play faster and cleaner that way than with picks. I use, as example, my thumb and 1st finger for single string lines.

I have been interesting in trying those metal national picks though - maybe thumb and first finger. By the way, have you seen what the old National pocks are going for these days - geez.

My old analog mind cannot deal with a synth guitar. I would rather see G&L go for the Alnico fired ASAT.

I have not played one of the reissue F-100s but have played a bunch of originals. I really like 'em and if the RIs are half as good as the originals they must be one heck of a guitar.

Thanks for stepping up to the plate.

Nice work stepping in. Carbon nylon picks are interesting. Much crisper even though they tend to be thinner. Sweating doesn't make them slip either.

I have a piezo to MIDI set-up and go USB or anything MIDI. Computer based synths can work well this way. That's as far as I got... Nice F-100!

1) Just curious Darwin, you pick flat or angled? Holding the pick on the first knuckle of the pointing, opposed ot on the finger tip.

Sirmyghin, I hold the pick so it covers from the knuckle to the near end of the tip. I also pick pretty flat as I back pick a lot. That is where I find the thumb pick is a problem. I have straightened the thumb pick a bit on the end and will keep experimenting. I know that you use an agate pick. I have never payed much attention until I started to experiment recently. Interesting question, I hadn't thought about this.-- Darwin

Hey Darwin,

Thanks for stepping up! I do not have any experience with guitar synths (except listening to Pat Metheny for years now). But I definitely relate to your pick story. I had the exact same experience and all of a sudden understood why these jazz cats used the thicker kind. As you, I try to use a thumb pick and National metal fingerpicks when I play my Tricone, but even after 3 years I still cannot get used to it and rather like to use my fingers (where it's more flesh than nails for me). Maybe I'm now so much used to the sound of it, that the 'unease' I feel with these contraptions at the end of my fingers and thumb causes me to dump them after a minute or 10.

And that Return Edition looks great! Can't wait for mine to arrive ...

- Jos

I sort of rotate through picks, using Dunlop Tortex, Ultex or Gators--all in the 1.14 mm gauge. I like the Gators cause I don't drop them, but they are slightly smaller than the others. The Ultex lasts forever, and produce a very mellow tone. Tortex is my old standby; but when I gig it's usually with the Gators.

I also use some of the Clayton picks, like their Ultrem. They're slightly larger than the Dunlop picks, great for acoustic strumming. But, I try to settle in and use the same pick for all my guitars.

For fingerpicking, I use either National, Dunlop, or Golden Gate thumbpicks; and the Dunlop gauge fingerpicks in .0225 gauge. I can go a little lighter if I need to. I started using finger and thumbpicks back in the day before acoustic electric guitars. I was micing my D-18 or D-28 in the clubs with an SM-56/57, and I need that extra brightness and projection to cut through. I probably don't need them anymore with the pickups on my acoustics but,...it's what I'm used to .

Guitar synths? Oh, boy--I remember the good old days with the Guitarorgans! New synths are pretty good, and very handy if you're the second or third guitarist in a band. Comp with organ tones, play a flute or sax solo, or add brass fills to your Stax and Motown hits.

You HAVE to play like the instrument you're emulating, though; and you have to stay in it's range. You can't play just pentatonic blues riffs! And the synth parts will always sound better using a high fidelity amp and wide-range speaker system--like a small PA rig or a keyboard amp.

Another fun thing to try is the Roland VG-88, the Virtual Guitar. I heard the old VG-8 system back when it was first introduced, and the COSM Modeling was unbelievable! I should have bought one of those--it would have saved me a ton of money instead of buying 48 guitars and ten amps!!!! LOL!

Bill

Sirmyghin, I hold the pick so it covers from the knuckle to the near end of the tip. I also pick pretty flat as I back pick a lot. That is where I find the thumb pick is a problem. I have straightened the thumb pick a bit on the end and will keep experimenting. I know that you use an agate pick. I have never payed much attention until I started to experiment recently. Interesting question, I hadn't thought about this.-- Darwin

I tend to pick flatter playing country, but playing rock/metal/fast picking I use the edges of em only, that is why a sharp point is important to me (low string contact). The fine point really helps as if yo udo not dig overly deep, you do not notice effectively picking with opposite edges of the pick. The edge adds more zing to your attack however, some may not like that. The small contact should also increase the highs. A lot has to do with your hand position while picking, hence the 'flatter' while chicken picking (or playing claw style). Nowadays the fingers tend to creep in on fast runs and string skipping, can't say I can complain over that. My picking is at such a level it is pretty even with fingers.

So I guess I am a pick and fingers guy now. I pretty much do picking exercises a good 30-40 minutes a day. haha. That meaning the left hand is seldom the problem, guitarists seem almost universally limitted by their ability to use their right hand (even the shrapnel folks according to Michael Angelo Batio).

Thanks to everyone for the info on picks and picking. This is good stuff to ponder. It can only result in a better picker!! Eventually I may be borderline decent.--- Darwin