It's finally not monday - LR for July 26th

[sirmyghin]

Happy not Monday to you all, what is possibly the first acceptable day of the week. No lunch for me yet, I overslept, as I was up late working, so all I have had is some oatmeal with brown sugar and peanut butter ini it. Coffee will be around very, very soon. Black, 2 sugar, and made in a press after I ground it up manually.

G&L topic of the day.

Leo was a cutting edge guy when it came to the guts of the electric guitar. He did a lot for the state of pickups, and gives us unique sounds you cannot find anywhere else on the market. I am still wanting however, I think we need some new pickup designs from G&L. In the spirit of what they were, creating the MFDs and all, I think there should still be internal pickup design and research going on within G&L. I realize that Leo pulled unearthly hours in the shop, and as he was paying himself the work was probably done on the relative cheap (compared to paying someone else to put in all those hours), but this is a big part of what G&L is to me. If G&L started working on a new pickup design, how would you want to see it? Would it be the super high fi Q-tuner style pickups, or a reinvention of the wheel with throw back vintage designs like Bareknuckle (their pickups are exceptionally clear, even under gobs of gain, very nice pieces of work but voiced more 'vintage')?


Growing as a musician and our playing?

While this was somewhat coverred yesterday, as to my shock most of you listen to exactly what you play, I will delve into it regardless. Typically, I do not listen to what I play, at least when it comes time for me to lay down the tracks. I am very much a conglomerate, and all my influences come through in pieces. The trick is I end up in a sort of alternative experimental vein, something I generally don't listen to at all.

Bass playing has been an interesting one, I started with 2 fingers, shunning a pick or anything. In a band setting I began to incorporate double thumb and slap for dynamic nuance, and tap came along too. It was a 3 piece, I had to pull a lot of weight and was more than willing. Recently I had a huge hurdle in my bass playing, after 10 years of playing I realized I had lost my 3 finger technique for the right hand.... I have been working for the last 2 weeks to reprogram my right hand, so that it works properly. While very difficult it is coming out very well. I was no slouch even with my odd index +ring style, but it hamperred endurance in prolonged fast passages. There was so much I dismissed as unnecessary in my early days, I wish I could have them back in some extent, to learn properly the first time.

Bass playing is where I am at my most interesting, and nowadays is no exception. I work rather heavily at touch style playing, that is to say, playing with both hands on the fretboard in legato, like Stanley Jordan. The biggest hurdle I am having is separating my hands so both can do something simultaneously, like Linus and Lucy, or playing a bass line and a melody simultaneously. I found a book recently, by a great touch style player named Jean Baudin (something like 11 string bassist nowadays for his tap). It is chalk full of exercises and in a few days I have seen improvement to this style, the hand separation is still a bear though. I have made myself an arrangement (which needs a few ammendments) of Autumn Leaves inspired by this rendition with Jordan, I haven't gone beyond the simple head and B to solos as I need to learn to play them first, baby steps (opposed to giant steps, if you will).

[youtube]lQZY87PDsnQ[/youtube]

Nowadays I also take theory lessons from someone working towards a career in academia and a degree in composition. This has been very rewarded thus far, as I can tell you that Autumn leaves is a standard progression which incorporates the secondary dominate of the vi chord to end the progression on the 6th, and have it feel complete. Look at me I am all edumacated and stuff.

On Guitar I am learning some more complicated songs, to help make my connection with the guitar more natural. These have been in the vein of Vai tunes lately, due to his use of the bar, something I have neglected to use much despite owning a floyd (and having another incoming). Being able to accurate execute bends and dips with pitch goals can't be a bad thing for sure, just one more tool in the shed. I have a good hybrid picking style, can alternate pick solidly and recently, due to improv jamming have starting to incorporate a bit of sweeping to my playing, mostly as 1 directional rakes to get from A to C, little fast arpeggios and such. Chord melody has been something I have also become a bit more interested in, likely paired with the notions of voice leading I have picked up in the theory lessons. The command over the fretboard it requires is huge, so it helps even more. Even with all this woodshedding, it all started simple, but I feel the need to branch, to pull from every style and make it all my own.

This leads where I am today, probably about a week out from getting my first 7 string guitar. I am hoping this will knock down some walls, or some preconceptions in my playing. It worked for a 5 string bass, by opening a whole lot of doors and I am curious if that can happen again, even with my new wide open thoughts on music. Only time will tell.

[youtube]lNAD65EhsNU[/youtube], One more for the insanity of Jordan

Kyle

[jonc]

While I've never been a fan of 7-string guitar in the rock vein I am a huge George Van Eps fan. I also have a 5 string bass but it's one of Leo's first attempts so it has a high-c instead of a low-b. pretty neat to play though if a bit on the "weird" looking side of things.

Stomping At The Savoy with Howard Alden

[youtube]dpQa7tI63es[/youtube]

Night And Day w/ Howard Alden

[youtube]wAAbQWAYW3s[/youtube]

Stomping At The Savoy solo:

[youtube]FctFQZOqGXk[/youtube]

[sirmyghin]

Cool stuff Jonc, I don't do the metal thing, so I think a 7 string in my hands will be a good thing regardless. Neat bass there, strining high isn't exactly uncommon, I have tinkerred with the idea of getting a high strung 5, but given the touch style stuff I try to do nowadays I am considering just getting more strings instead as the freedom they give with such styles will be welcomed. A 5 can trip over itself a bit, kind of like how Jordan is comping on a second guitar, instead of the one he plays the leads on.

[jonc]

may i suggest you to a Chapman Stick then?

[youtube]cTRD9sWcTUE[/youtube]

And one for the "funny faces" thread from yesterday:

[youtube]xIjB730tx94[/youtube]

And one from an early master of the Stick, Tony Levin

[youtube]nwcSElMLpBM[/youtube]

[sirmyghin]

Sticks are indeed awesome instruments, I don't have the money for one currently, and I have a bass and guitars around (I prefer the more tactile feel of tapping on the bass though). Having to relearn an entire fretboard also gives it a bit less appeal.

[stagecoach]

Pickups - There are already that many different types/styles out there already. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, how about G&L adding a few more pickup variations to their list. Mind you I love the MFD pickups.

I probably don't listen to exactly what I play, probably the next grad to give me inspiration.

I could not find Chet Atkins doing this live as I think it was a cleaner version, but here is Tommy Emmanuel doing 2 songs at once, they call it Yankee Doodle Dixie

[youtube]ETENxLxWL3c[/youtube]

Thanks Craig for the youtube help, I tried 4 different things yesterday and just could not get it to work

[Boogie Bill]

I don't know about the feasibility of new pickup designs. Seems like there are as many pickup models on the market as there are players--and still nobody seems satisified, LOL! I hang out at the Seymour Duncan Forum at lot, and I know there are a lot of folks chasing tone. It just never seems to end.

I'd say that I am pretty happy with the tones I get from my guitars with stock pickups. I do have a few that I've made some swaps on, and I've been pretty happy with what I've done. I think I have four sets of pickups around ready to go into guitars, but I'm not really in a rush to do it--just lazy I guess.

It might be fun to experiment with Z-coils--to see if there'd be a way to eliminate or diminish the 2K spike that seems to cause these pickups to sound edgy to some people. That might go a long way to making the Comanche a more successful model. (And then you'd have people complaining that they, "...don't make them like they used to!")

I think you could offer the entire Duncan catalog to people, and you'd still have some yahoo complaining that you don't have Lollars, DiMarzios, Fralins, BKs, Armstrongs, Lawrence,...ad nauseum...for his favorite guitar.

Bill

[darwinohm]

Sirmy, interesting subjects.

As for pickup design I would be curious as to where it can go. I think it would have to be a whole new technology and I cannot even explaine what I mean. There is probably not a whole lot more to do with magnets and windings that hasn't already been tried. I would think that more could be done with sensing at the bridge such as piezo or some new technology sensing in the bridge. they can do a pretty good job emulating most guitar sounds today. It is an interesting thought and it would be fun to be able to look ahead 20 years and see what has changed.

Trying to improve is always a challenge. A few years back I started experimenting with the first two fingers for bass. This is a style that would be learned as an upright bass player. But as a regular guitar picker I started playing bass with my thumb and first finger and sometimes second finger. I also use fingers for muting when I switch notes. I have found that rather than worry about it I do what I do without thinking and it works. After an outdoor gig in Duluth a few years back a bass player in the crowd and told me that I was one of the best thumb pickers that he had ever seen. Now this could be taken several ways. It could mean that I wasn't as <censored word> as most thumb pickers or what?? Anyway, I have been working on my fingerpicking on 6 string guitar and am moving in the right direction. I also want to flatpick with a finger picking combination which is not as natural as I rest my little finger on the pickguard. Anyway if I was good at all this I wouldn't sitting here on the forum but be touring somewhere, fighting off the ladies and trying to stay out of trouble instead of trying to get into trouble as I usually am. This heavy thinking is almost as bad as heavy lifting-- Darwin

[zapcosongs]

Just chiming in to say that I am looking forward to hearing G&L's new P-90 pickup. I also think it might be a good move for the company to package its large MFD single coil in a standard P-90 size so that these great pups might find a wider after-market audience. - ed

[sirmyghin]

Sirmy, interesting subjects.

As for pickup design I would be curious as to where it can go. I think it would have to be a whole new technology and I cannot even explaine what I mean. There is probably not a whole lot more to do with magnets and windings that hasn't already been tried. I would think that more could be done with sensing at the bridge such as piezo or some new technology sensing in the bridge. they can do a pretty good job emulating most guitar sounds today. It is an interesting thought and it would be fun to be able to look ahead 20 years and see what has changed.

This one is for you Darwin, they are very cool pickups

http://www.lightwave-systems.com/


My thumb doesn't work as you describe, for some reason I can't do it, hense the hybrid picking (or pick and fingers). Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) uses a lot of thumb when going between strings, my thumb is there to mute the lower strings, works very well if I am doing whacky percussion flamenco strumming bass player forget his job type crap


Bill - we will always chase that rainbow, frankly I am pretty complacent with usable tones and the MFDs deliver it from my Special like nobodies business.

Stage - listening to where you want to be is always great, we stand on the shoulders of giants and all that. Or as Hawking put it, better we use the shoulders of giants as springboards. I am a firm thinker that guitar players, the upper eschelon anyway, don't get there from talent but hard work. With enough of that work yourself you will always achieve your playing goals. Just need to make sure you aren't tricking yourself into thinking you are working.

Ed- good catch with those pickups, I didn't notice that they were not just slightly different wound special soap shapes (although I would wager under the case they are). A little more variety in how they make the pickup (maybe hotter/less output on request) would be amazing, but I won't hold my breath. I might try to get a 3 pickup special though as a few of those were built on request last year (which means it would be in the CNC now, so should be go, I would think).

[bassman]

The pickup design that has me curious is the "Alumitone" pickups. i don't see much of a coil in their construction and I admittedly have not yet heard these pickups but they are certainly a different design.

I just wonder how they do with bass and guitar in comparison to a good set of MFDs?

[darwinohm]

Sirmy, thanks for the link to Lightwave systems. Now, this has unlimited potential and could be infinitely voiced. Great Stuff-- Darwin

[sirmyghin]

The pickup design that has me curious is the "Alumitone" pickups. i don't see much of a coil in their construction and I admittedly have not yet heard these pickups but they are certainly a different design.

I just wonder how they do with bass and guitar in comparison to a good set of MFDs?

I have heard very good things about the alumitone stuff, Ola Strandberg (Strandberg guitarworks )seems to use them a lot on his builds. He builds ergonomic travel guitars, often extended range, very nice instruments.