Home › Forums › Showcase Your Playing › EP 134 Attempt – Midas
- This topic has 19 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 1 month ago by Bryce-AKguitar.
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February 12, 2016 at 10:03 pm #33718
Hello Everyone,
I thought that for this one I would bring out the Electric, blow the cobwebs off it and give it a whirl, but no matter what I try, I can’t get a good sound out of this guitar. I realize that part of the problem is probably my playing, but I’ve seen a lot of postings on this forum and most of you are getting some really GREAT tone! I am playing on a Fender Squire Strat (very cheap guitar) with a Peavey VYPYR VIP2 amp that I have placed a microphone in front of. What else am I lacking? -Aside from skill I mean 🙂 I own a total of ZERO pedals. If I were to go out today and buy 2 or 3, which ones should I get? Do I need a better guitar? Better amp? Just looking for some advice with this one. Thanks Dave -
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February 13, 2016 at 2:06 am #33721
not much going on there that is anywhere near sounding bad, in fact i have been ( practising)learning the same lesson on my acoustic and it doesn’t flow half as good as your playing does.. so a job well done there kiddo.
I don’t have a lot of experience with electrics but like yourself I bought an inexpensive guitar without having or knowing about peddlesSo I did a little search on facebook and found a local to me group who buy and sell music gear and looked at a few effects peddles and did some research on reviews of them and for not more than a case of beer I ended up with this multi effect Zoom 707 11..loads of pre installed effects, enough to keep you busy for a few hours just trying them out….
hope this helps some
Billy..Billy..
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February 13, 2016 at 2:06 am #33722
Wow Dave, well I think everything sounds mighty fine to me!! Love your relaxed playing. You seem so at ease with it, wish I could be as chilled as you in front of the camera. Certainly proves to me that if your good then you can make a cheap guitar and Amp sound great! Im just a sucker for the best I could get and im not worthy of my 2 American standard strats and stupidly oversize Fender Valve amp (I live in a flat so hardly use it) got one of those nice Yamaha amps too haha, all the best! Phil
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February 13, 2016 at 2:39 am #33725
I think you can do way worse then Squire. I hear they are some of the best in their price range.
Does it sound the same when you play it, or is it only the recording which sounds bad to you?My Youtube Playlist
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February 13, 2016 at 3:31 am #33727
Dave,
one anticipated! You did a great Job! It has me really liked it. Now to your Sound. Your guitar and your Amp are totally in order!!!!! The difficulty is the correct positioning of the microphone. Because you have a little try to the right Position to find. Do not go directly in front of the speaker cone. Position it slightly to the side. Then again a stop on the guitar and then the save Position. As long as, until you have the correct Position have found. For this you need time, but as you get to the goal.
Much Success.Wilfried
Play guitar just like you live; don't get bogged down in theory, it's just a tool without feeling.
Wilfried
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February 13, 2016 at 3:45 am #33729
A little trick that I use to get my tone is to go to the 12th fret and do a harmonic on the high E string. (fat string) I then set my amp settings according to the tone I’m trying to achieve on using the harmonic sound.
The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete
It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete
Pete
Active Melody
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February 13, 2016 at 3:45 am #33730
well done Midas – actually I missed that lesson from Brian, so I didn’t know the “original” – so for now your “EP134 Song” is “the master” for me and I will try to play it as relaxed as you !!!
Sound Quality is good for me. If your Amp has a Line-Out you could connect it via your PC to your web cam – selecting the “external Audio”. I’m using a Logitech web cam pro 920 and this works really fine for me.Best regards
Cheese from Switzerland -
February 13, 2016 at 7:38 am #33733
Hi Midas Like every one else I’m in admiration of a job well done. It sounds very nice to me. Certainly new strings always sound so much richer in tone so don’t know how old your strings are? Also there was mention of the Yamaha amps ie THR 10 SERIES. I have an old Strat and use it with the THR10C. I can get most of what I want tone wise but I am checking out the boss Blues driver pedal pedal BD2. I would like to be able to emulate the 335 sound. I m not sure if it will add anything much to my THR at the moment but I also have and old HH2 12 combo and it will likely worlk well through that just got to get my playing up to scratch!
Remember that what we all listen too so often is produced sound and may color our thinking. That said a good player nearly always sounds good as does your video.
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February 13, 2016 at 8:09 am #33736
Hi @Midas, So cool to finally see you on electric and, as usual, your playing is superb. Love your fingerstlye version with the percussive slaps. The sound wasn’t bad but probably could be better . I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the guitar or amp. Not sure what your settings were, but I always add a little reverb and some slapback delay, as Brian always says, it gives you a fuller sound. On my version I even added a little tremelo. I could hear you speaking early in the video, so you must have been using an omni-directional condenser style mike. These will pick up sound in all directions and are probably best in a small room with acoustic and voice. I use a dynamic mike, a Shure 57B. It will only pick up sound in one direction and is placed very close to the edge of a speaker. My understanding is that dynamic mikes are best for electric guitar. A Shure 57B is about $100 Can.
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February 13, 2016 at 9:05 am #33740
Awesome playing…that is categorically NOT the problem…relaxed and confident….nothing to do with pedals.
Squiers are great guitars, and you have a nice amp. I think it’s the mic/recording process…what kind of mic and placement makes a big difference. What mic dod you use? Follow Charjo’s advice. Also, just to see the difference, if you have an ipad, download garageband free, then make a recording with the garageband mic recorder, place the ipad 2-3 feet from the amp….you should get a better recording tone than this one….also if you haven’t used the Squier in a long time, new strings are good…
Congrats on the playing!!
Roberto
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February 13, 2016 at 9:29 am #33742
Dave,
I agree with others, guitar and amp sound fine. You, as usual played this piece well, and smooth. Nice job on this one.
As for improving your sound, the member comments in regards to mic used and placement is the focus.
Thanks for posting,
Mark -
February 13, 2016 at 9:44 am #33743
Playing was nice and relaxed. You managed to hold it together through a slight goof in the e min 7 to A7 grips during the rhythm part.
I liked the tone for the rhythm section, but thought it was a little thin and lacking for the lead parts. How old are the strings? You said you dusted off this guitar. If the strings are really old, then a change might do more to improve your tone than anything else.
The old blues masters that we all love played without pedals. They had their distinctive tone, from a basic setup, and stuck with it. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with pedals, just that they aren’t necessary. When checking the tone of a guitar and amp combe, I think the first question should always be how good they sound clean.
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February 13, 2016 at 9:58 am #33745
First of all that was well played. Good job.
To me it sounds like you could try rolling a little more treble into the tone knob and or select the bridge pickup or the bridge and middle pick up. I’m not sure what tone you are looking for but changing pickup settings and tone knob settings along with the amount of gain you use, can have a big effect on your sound.
There are a lot of things to consider, but tone knob and pickup selector switch adjustments are a good place to start.
It actually sounded pretty good though. -
February 13, 2016 at 10:32 am #33747
Yo Dave,
Great job from here,don’t see any major problems that you can’t fix without spending a load of bucks!!
I really liked your style of fingerpicking with the slap beat.Very well done. The main thing is you can play,and that’s really the point of this whole thing!……………..Sal -
February 13, 2016 at 10:54 am #33748
Very nice job, Midas. The other members have given you some sound advice, pun intended, as expected. The feedback helps a lot of us.
I’m a Squier fan. I recently added a Classic Vibe ’50s Tele that I think is deserving of all the great reviews its received. I have a Korean built Strat that I bought used 30 years ago. It sounded good, but like you, I went on a quest for a certain tone. I tried a better amp and a blues pedal. Each helped.
My research showed that many little things affect tone.
As several others have mentioned, strings have an impact. Age is important but so are material and gage.
Pick material, thickness, and shape have an affect. I realize this doesn’t affect you. I bought a sample pack of V-Picks after reading about them on this forum. I was surprised by the difference that pick shape made.
Setup is big and a basic Strat setup is not difficult. I adjusted the pickup height on my Strat and it made a big difference. Wish I’d done that years ago.
I like the sound of my Strat with a clean amp and just little bit of reverb.
Again, nicely played.
TomBTGuitar
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February 13, 2016 at 3:32 pm #33764
Hey midas nice to see you on electric..And you played very well!!I like your fingerstyle And the slapback on the strings.
Your squier And your amp sound good, Probably thEy’ll sound better if you add reverb (or as brian suggests bit of delay) maybe a compressor And for a dirty sound an overdrive (I use ocd Fulltone)
Cheers
Ale -
February 13, 2016 at 6:54 pm #33768
Thank you one and all for taking the time to reply to this post. I have read all of your suggestions at least 2 or 3 times each and I will be making a few adjustments for the next one of these I do. I will definitely be having a play with the mic positioning or look into getting a dynamic mic if that doesn’t work. I will restring the guitar and have a play with the reverb, tremelow, gain, tone knobs etc… May pick up a Boss Blues driver pedal or an Ibanez tube screamer as well 🙂 Hopefully that will help me out a bit. Thanks again everyone I do appreciate and respect your comments. Hey Ale (smilefred) how do you use overdrive? I don’t have a knob for that on my amp. What is ocd Fulltone?
Cheers Dave
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February 13, 2016 at 8:12 pm #33772
Hi Midas the OCD pedal name i understand to be taken from obsessive compulsive disorder OCD. I think you will find the bd2 to be the best initial pedal to buy. I should have one myself next week. note it is one of Brians favourites. the tube screamers are expensive 2-3timbd the bd2 price
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February 14, 2016 at 6:36 am #33786
Hey Dave,
Not sure what you’re concerned with. Sounded great from my living room. I envy your laid back relaxed style. Personally I struggle a bit getting those nice percussive slaps, you make them seem second nature.Great Job!
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February 14, 2016 at 4:26 pm #33835
Dave,
Really nice job with this one. I thought you sound was good. I struggle with tone as well. Keep up the good work.
-Bryce
Anchorage, Alaska
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