Active Melody Forum

Four control knobs on my guitar - Help!

2012-01-31T03:41:38-06:00

I have a squire m80 guitar which has two humbucker pickups (3 position switch) and 4 control knows - 2 volume and 2 tone.

I can get a variety of different sounds with this but can’t work out how the controls work. I originally thought that the 2 volume controls were for each pickup but that does not seem to be the case. One volume seems to be for the front pickup and the other is a volume for both - or maybe not!!! The tone switches are equally confusing.

Their function also seems to change if the volume on the amp is turned up

Can anyone throw any light on this?

Thanks, Alan

Writing Solos

2011-11-29T15:07:05-06:00

Hey so I have a few songs that I have wrote, but I cant figure out a damn solo for them! They’re really great in my opinion, when I play them at college everyone stops for a second and listens haha. But yes, is there like some technique? Currently I am just picking the first chord(for example the first is a e minor chord on the E on the A string), so I used that to start it. But I dont like the way my solos go.

Also, if I want to solo in the key of say G, how would I know where to find that on the neck?

Right Hand Rules All

2011-04-23T14:00:36-06:00

The Right Hand Rules -always

I was wondering if anyone shares my opinion, or has ever considered this.When I was first starting out playing guitar in 69, my buddy showed me how to finger a basic E7 cord. Then he said “Strum this every day for 6 months and you will ready for more chords”
Of course I was all about learning chords and changing chords etc. But my friend/teacher believed that the soul of the sound and what is true guitar playing is all in the right hand.
I have come to totally agree with him. The right hand is what produces the sound. The sound has to be blended with the next sound and so on. The tone, timing, expression, and fun comes with a solid right hand.
I look at the left hand as just a helper. I know hammer ons and pull offs, smooth transitions and all that…but listen I am talking about a basic , root concept.
You should be able to entertain yourself and others by just lightly laying my hand across the stings anywhere on the neck and strumming. Try to get good at it.
Here something to do. Record yourself playing an E-A-B7 boogie . Now listen to it. You may be suprised when you hear pauses, up and dowm tempo, mis hits and just not staying in time.
My Advice…play and E chord every day for 2-weeks, make that right hand a righteous expression of yourself. Make that E chord tell everybody that your woman done done you wrong…or your dog died whatever.
Then record again..you wont believe how much better you will have become.
Hope this helps and if anyone has comments, experiences…I would like to hear them.
Stay strong all,
Jack aka Frost

Fingerstyle or Flatpick?

2009-11-25T22:49:55-06:00

Just out of curiosity…. do most people out there play with a pick, or fingerstyle? I always thought that most everyone that played guitar used a pick until I started checking all of these guitar videos that are all over the web and now I see that there are FAR more fingerstyle players than I realized existed.

Changing the Key of the Jam tracks…

2010-07-22T09:49:12-06:00

Hi,

Hope I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes here, Brian ;o) , but I had a thought on the different jam tracks that you have, in fairness, kindly put up here for us…
I occasionally use a piece of software called Audacity, it’s a free download and is pretty handy for a number of things…
Recently I’ve been using it for playing your jam tracks as you can loop a particular part or change the tempo if needed…
This was all fine until I saw the “Change Pitch” option. Basically this option allows us to change the key that the track is being played in, moving a jam track in E to G or G# even!!
I just though that it would be a helpful tool for everyone to try your lessons in other keys…
Great way to get to know the fretboard…

I’m probably not explaining it very well but I’ll do a video and put it up on You Tube at some point…

For the mean time here is a step by step…
1. Download Audacity from here :http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
2. Install, duh ;o)))
3. Open one of the downloaded jam tracks using Audacity.
4. Select the entire track, (ctrl a).
5. Go to “Effect” and then down to “Change Pitch”...
6. Put in the original pitch and change to a new pitch that you want to practice at…
7. Rock on!

Again, Brian, I hope I’m not stepping on your toes here!!
Ger

Jean Baudin

2010-09-13T12:14:23-06:00

I just saw 11 string bassist, Jean Baudin, preforming on giantbomb.com and he blew me away. I love that slapping bass sound, his covers and video game tunes are fantastic. I wanted to turn you onto what he is doing. Check out his site.

http://jeanbaudin.com/

¿ How Do You Noodle ?

2010-04-24T05:05:25-06:00

Besides the set routines that we set up for ” practice ” and it’s structured sequences of ” do this exercise and then do that ” I believe that even if this accomplishes improvement albeit improvement on ” technical execution ” does it truly get your creative ” fix ” ?

What’s that mean ?

Lets look at it this way ...... expression .........feel ..........groove/hook ..timing / breaks ...emotional content and impact . These are key ingredients to the recipe of a song ..........a great song .........one to be savored and feel it’s pulse move you .

How do you perform like that ? Is there a set practice regime that targets that and makes it a realistic and attainable goal ? Is there a book , video or a coach ?

I read once about a great musician who would sit at a piano and let his imagination roam the grid of ivory and ebony keys discovering as he went seeing how different chords influenced different emotions . Cool huh . He was a contemporary of Louies Armstrong :

” Bix Biederbeck “

Young as a kid I drove my family nuts when we were watching a movie or situation drama/comedy or what ever as I heard the sound track and realized with my harmonica ( or tried and crashed and burned more often as not ) the melody and had a ball doing it as I explored the possibilities and the enjoyment of when I nailed something .

I have done this with every musical instrument I have ever owned starting with the harmonica then guitar - trumpet - drums - keyboard and now the guitar .

I have found that noodling this way really improves your ability to improvise fast on the fly . It helps the creative process in the aspect of making a gracefully fluid approach to having gut wrenching build ups to thundering crescendos .

Try it with a great movie with a fantastic sound track . Don’t stick to one genre either . Try it with a Discovery Channel documentary . 007 movies - PBS anything from Austin City Limits to Jammin At Hippy Jacks and Sound Stage .

Before you realize it you just noodled away several hours and more than likely will not stop there either since you realize your having a ball . I believe this :

The more time ( quality mind you ) you put in - - the more you get out in return .

Sincerely
:

Hurricane Ramon

Blues Tone

2010-04-24T10:22:54-06:00

Hi Brian,

Can you share with us the typical tone settings you have on your amp when using your Telecaster for the Blues Lick lessons? Thanks.

What kind of guitar should I buy?

2009-12-09T23:00:38-06:00

Hi all, my 6 year old son has been asking for a guitar for Christmas and I had planned on running to the local Sam Ash store this weekend and picking one up for him, however when I looked at their selection of acoustics (he wants an acoustic) - they didn’t have any that were remotely close to his small size.

I don’t want to spend a ton of money (around $100) and I was hoping to pick up a small starter guitar. Does anyone know where I should be looking to find a decent cheap (small) guitar?

Wanna get some action

2010-03-10T13:14:07-06:00

I read a lot of discussion on the “action” of guitars.
I have an acoustic Fender, Sam Miguel model from 1992. It’s a cutaway design. I had the guitar tuned up recently, which included a neck adjustment and some new strings (light). But I find that it takes a lot of physical effort, pressure, what ever you want to call it, on the strings to get a nice clean sound. Hammer ons are a real b*#%! and to really appreciate the effect I really have to hammer down on the string hard. I’ve developed good calluses on my fingers (I practice at least an hour a day seven days a week) and I’m wondering if it’s just the “action” of the guitar.
I’ve been thinking about buying a new guitar, but I don’t have enough knowledge or experience to hear the subtle differences in guitars but hope I could feel a difference in the action.
So is action a function of the string gauge, the guitar construction, technique or all of the above? Should I invest in a better guitar or suck it up for now?
Any thoughts?