Welcome back, guitar geeks! Well, here's my latest confessional. I need to get a few musical thoughts off my mind.
In the past month or so, I've been doing a fair amount of practicing and improving in some areas of my guitar playing, but my unrelated plan to go out to the pub more often so I'm not stuck at home so much and maybe drink less while I'm out, has sort of backfired. Weird, huh? While I have been getting out more and feel more confident about doing so, I'm now basically drinking three times as much each week. I don't have a problem with this, on principal, but it's had a knock on effect not only on my purse and health, but I've not been playing guitar as much. And that's the real tragedy here. Although maybe not for my neighbours. So I'm going to go back to my old drinking habits of going out once a week and take it from there. My block of lessons with my tutor has just ended, so I'm going to take a break for a while to digest what we've been doing for the past few months. I might start up again after Christmas, but I'm starting to think that I have all the knowledge I require now. I just need to practice my skills, and not being in the pub so much will definitely help this. Anyway, here are some of my random musical adventures...
TORNADO OD
I've been slowly falling in love with my Rothwell Tornado overdrive pedal, which I impulse bought a few months ago. My reasons for buying it? Well: I'd never heard of the brand before, it looked super cool and it was at that sweet 2nd hand price where it meant it wasn't going to be junk, but wasn't an extravagant purchase either. It's got a solid but immature growl to it that has become great for developing my power chord skills. I'm not sure how "immature" works as a sound description, but it kinda does. Or maybe the pedal's basic yellow casing makes me think of a playschool toy. I dunno.
ORANGE MICRO TERROR
I've currently swapped over to my Orange Micro Terror head from the Crate PowerBlock. The PowerBlock seems to be stuttering a bit, so I'm worried it's on its way out. Or it could just be bad signal chain wiring by me. We shall see. Both mini-amp heads are lovely machines, so I'm glad I have the option to swap over when I fancy a change. I'm also thinking about buying my first cabinet, as I currently play quietly through headphones. It's very rare for me to play through my combo speakers these days. I'm very shy. And live in a flat.
DRUM MACHINE PEDAL
A month or so back, I invested in a drum machine pedal to help me improve my rhythm and timing. It's the Micro Drummer by Mooer, a company that makes cost-effective, no-frills pedals that I'd recommend to pedal noobs like myself if they're wanting to test the, erm, pedal water. But the Micro Drummer is really quite special! Not only does it have loads of beat styles, but you can speed them up and slow them down as you so desire, and it also has volume and tone controls. Most importantly, though, it doesn't sound like a synthesised drum machine - it legit sounds like you're sat in a room with an acoustic/analogue drum kit. Damn, do I feel like a badass when this thing is pounding away and I'm grooving to some power chords! I've put it near the end of my signal chain, just before my looper (before it all goes into an amp). So if, like me, you're a bedroom musician who's looking to discover what it's like being in a band but can't be arsed to search YouTube and sit through ads to find a backing track you can't modify, then get this puppy! It really has opened up a new world of playing possibilities for me.
SIGNAL CHAIN - CHORUS
So I'm hopefully going to be picking up my new first chorus pedal soon, but I'm wondering where to place it in my pedal signal chain. Apparently, atmospherics should be placed AFTER compression and distortion, but I'm not sure whether chorus counts as an "atmospheric", like reverb and delay. I don't know why it wouldn't, though. I'll end up searching for advice online, of course, but if you fine folk have any ideas or preferences, then let me know!
Ok, I think that's enough for now.
Rock on!
P.S. Yes, you read right, I actually thought that that pub plan was a good idea. Now stop laughing.
Wednesday, 18 July 2018
Monday, 9 July 2018
Jim's Analogue Noise Bunker - Report 1
And... we're off! Well, at least with this new guitar playing/tech blog series, which is named after a fictional recording studio in a story that I'm currently in the middle of NOT writing. But it's on my list of creative things to do.
So, for the first proper post in the series, I've just quickly put my musical adventures down under some very basic subheadings. It's nothing fancy as yet but, who knows, maybe things will develop as I go along.
Right, here we go...
HEAT
I'm struggling to play in this heatwave. I can usually play for about an hour or so in mild weather, but at the moment I can only play for five or ten minutes at a time before I risk electrocution. I'm sure that that can't really happen, but it's better to be safe than deep fried. Also, when you're sweating buckets, playing becomes tricky after a while, especially once it starts running down to your hands. I'm looking forward to some milder weather, basically.
ROTARY CHORUS PEDALS
So, for the past few weeks, I've been obsessing over chorus pedals. It's not an effect I've particularly liked using in the past, but learning the history of chorus pedals and who've used them and how has made it really appealing to me, so I've become a bit distracted of late by which pedal I purchase. As with all guitar fx pedals, there's a range of prices and qualities. If I'm not going to use an effect much (delay and reverb, for instance) then I'll look at moderate to cheaply priced models. But since chorus pedals are trying to recreate the whirling analogue Leslie organ speakers of yore, I've kind of wanted to do this one properly. Luckily, there are plenty of useful demos on YouTube so you can find what's right for you. I really wanted one with a level/mix function, as I want to be able to use the effect quite subtly, thus having control over its input on the signal has become quite important. Eventually, I decided to go for the Maxon CS-550 Stereo Chorus, which seems to do everything I want, was for sale second hand at my local music shop and is moderately priced (relatively speaking). In a perfect world, I'd have gone for the Neo Ventilator 2 Rotary Speaker Simulator but, errr, I don't have £350 spare. I've yet to pick the Maxon up, but I'll let you know how I get on with it, hopefully in the next post!
POWER CHORDS
I've always hated power chords. I've loved hearing them on record, but when it comes to me actually playing them, I've been stumped. I've never managed the simplistic finger positioning, and never gotten the tone right. This is one of the reasons why I love Telecasters so much, as you can play standard barre and open chords with distortion and still get a wonderfully crisp tone, while humbuckered Les Paul-type guitars tend to produce something mushier. Well, my guitar tutor finally showed me the trick to holding down power chords that begin on the 5th/A string while silencing the bottom 6th/E string. Ever since then, I've been upping my power chord game. I think I'm improving my movement and tone, which is very pleasing indeed. I think investing in some upmarket distortion pedals and amplification has helped too. The experiments continue!
STRAP
This week I've dropped my strap length down and am playing quite low-slung. Admittedly, anything low or ultra-high is cool as funk, but in between just looks rubbish. I know I shouldn't think about looks but, hey, sometimes we just do, don't we? I seem to be playing quite well with my guitars low, and am even managing some solos. The newer straps I bought don't seem to have very generous lengths, whereas the older, plain, black one I have can go VERY low. I'm very happy with it. Sadly though, it doesn't have an outrageous pattern like the newer ones I have. Alas!
LO-FI DISTORTION PEDAL
While having my daily browse of my local guitar shop's second hand gear pages, I found a pedal called Radio Havana by Heavy Electronics. It recreates the effect of a low-fi transistor radio, with a tinny sort of vibe. I think it's similar to an activated (but uncocked) wah, but with more clarity and acts as its own drive pedal too. I fell in love with it instantly. I'm hoping to pick it up soon, along with the chorus pedal mentioned above. I've current only put the deposits down on both. What drew me to the Radio Havana pedal was its retro sound. While I don't have the money for genuine vintage equipment, I sure do love modern tech that tries its best to recreate the older sounds. I'm certainly no metal buff, that's for sure. I'll let you know how I get on!
Right, well, I think that's all for now. I hope those of you who are interested in this sort of thing have found this useful, interesting or at least can empathise with my plight. Do get in touch if you fancy discussing stuff or have anything to suggest/recommend.
Rock on!
So, for the first proper post in the series, I've just quickly put my musical adventures down under some very basic subheadings. It's nothing fancy as yet but, who knows, maybe things will develop as I go along.
Right, here we go...
HEAT
I'm struggling to play in this heatwave. I can usually play for about an hour or so in mild weather, but at the moment I can only play for five or ten minutes at a time before I risk electrocution. I'm sure that that can't really happen, but it's better to be safe than deep fried. Also, when you're sweating buckets, playing becomes tricky after a while, especially once it starts running down to your hands. I'm looking forward to some milder weather, basically.
ROTARY CHORUS PEDALS
So, for the past few weeks, I've been obsessing over chorus pedals. It's not an effect I've particularly liked using in the past, but learning the history of chorus pedals and who've used them and how has made it really appealing to me, so I've become a bit distracted of late by which pedal I purchase. As with all guitar fx pedals, there's a range of prices and qualities. If I'm not going to use an effect much (delay and reverb, for instance) then I'll look at moderate to cheaply priced models. But since chorus pedals are trying to recreate the whirling analogue Leslie organ speakers of yore, I've kind of wanted to do this one properly. Luckily, there are plenty of useful demos on YouTube so you can find what's right for you. I really wanted one with a level/mix function, as I want to be able to use the effect quite subtly, thus having control over its input on the signal has become quite important. Eventually, I decided to go for the Maxon CS-550 Stereo Chorus, which seems to do everything I want, was for sale second hand at my local music shop and is moderately priced (relatively speaking). In a perfect world, I'd have gone for the Neo Ventilator 2 Rotary Speaker Simulator but, errr, I don't have £350 spare. I've yet to pick the Maxon up, but I'll let you know how I get on with it, hopefully in the next post!
POWER CHORDS
I've always hated power chords. I've loved hearing them on record, but when it comes to me actually playing them, I've been stumped. I've never managed the simplistic finger positioning, and never gotten the tone right. This is one of the reasons why I love Telecasters so much, as you can play standard barre and open chords with distortion and still get a wonderfully crisp tone, while humbuckered Les Paul-type guitars tend to produce something mushier. Well, my guitar tutor finally showed me the trick to holding down power chords that begin on the 5th/A string while silencing the bottom 6th/E string. Ever since then, I've been upping my power chord game. I think I'm improving my movement and tone, which is very pleasing indeed. I think investing in some upmarket distortion pedals and amplification has helped too. The experiments continue!
STRAP
This week I've dropped my strap length down and am playing quite low-slung. Admittedly, anything low or ultra-high is cool as funk, but in between just looks rubbish. I know I shouldn't think about looks but, hey, sometimes we just do, don't we? I seem to be playing quite well with my guitars low, and am even managing some solos. The newer straps I bought don't seem to have very generous lengths, whereas the older, plain, black one I have can go VERY low. I'm very happy with it. Sadly though, it doesn't have an outrageous pattern like the newer ones I have. Alas!
LO-FI DISTORTION PEDAL
While having my daily browse of my local guitar shop's second hand gear pages, I found a pedal called Radio Havana by Heavy Electronics. It recreates the effect of a low-fi transistor radio, with a tinny sort of vibe. I think it's similar to an activated (but uncocked) wah, but with more clarity and acts as its own drive pedal too. I fell in love with it instantly. I'm hoping to pick it up soon, along with the chorus pedal mentioned above. I've current only put the deposits down on both. What drew me to the Radio Havana pedal was its retro sound. While I don't have the money for genuine vintage equipment, I sure do love modern tech that tries its best to recreate the older sounds. I'm certainly no metal buff, that's for sure. I'll let you know how I get on!
Right, well, I think that's all for now. I hope those of you who are interested in this sort of thing have found this useful, interesting or at least can empathise with my plight. Do get in touch if you fancy discussing stuff or have anything to suggest/recommend.
Rock on!
Sunday, 8 July 2018
Jim's Analogue Noise Bunker - An Introduction
Hello! Gosh, I'm writing again. It's been a while. Well, I did start a Blade Runner 2049 review, but that's on hold until I'm in the mood to watch the film again. I've been thinking about it in the last week, so I'm hoping I'll finally have that with you soon-ish.
Anyway, on with the subject at hand...
While I still consider myself an amateur guitarist and very much the "noob" at heart, after fourteen years or so of playing seriously, my passion for it is as strong as ever. This surprises me. As someone who is essentially a swirling vortex of forever changing interests, sexuality, gender, habits, diet and personality traits, playing guitar is something I genuinely didn't think would stick. I thought, by now, I'd be looking back and going "Hey, do you remember those weird few years where I wanted to be a rock star?" and be really embarrassed by it. But, looking back, much of my hobbies have gone through cycles, being very intense for a short period, then going cold for a while, then returning a few weeks or months later. I even went off movies for years when things got a bit stale in the mid-00s, even though I still identified as a "movie buff". You gotta have a central point to start at, right? Well, I'm sticking to that rule, but feel that my interest level in playing guitar has shot up enough to where I need to start expressing myself about it properly. My main three outlets for this recently have been: my Twitter feed; an old friend (and ex-colleague) who I consider my "guitar Obi-Wan Kenobi" and who I bug regularly via Facebook for gear advice; and my music tutor, who I have half an hour once a week to squeeze as much information out of as possible. I also text him when I'm drunk sometimes, but that's another story.
So, while the latter two outlets listed above are still fine (until I get blocked by either gentleman), the Twitter thing hasn't received a particularly vocal response from my followers, so I'm a bit concerned that they're either just confused or slightly annoyed by my tech talk.
And so we come to this.
I thought a few times a week I could write a summary (or digest) of all my guitar playing/tech thoughts, feelings and obsessions, rather than just spewing them onto Twitter as and when they randomly come up. I'll try and make notes and - shock horror! - maybe even record a few musical samples for you. If I manage to keep up with it, I may even open up a separate blog for it, rather than just adding to The Whittling Post. This should all reduce my output from twenty tweets a day on the subject, down to a few a week simply linking to this blog.
Everybody's happy.
Right, I'll go away and start jotting ideas down for the first official post.
Rock on.
Anyway, on with the subject at hand...
While I still consider myself an amateur guitarist and very much the "noob" at heart, after fourteen years or so of playing seriously, my passion for it is as strong as ever. This surprises me. As someone who is essentially a swirling vortex of forever changing interests, sexuality, gender, habits, diet and personality traits, playing guitar is something I genuinely didn't think would stick. I thought, by now, I'd be looking back and going "Hey, do you remember those weird few years where I wanted to be a rock star?" and be really embarrassed by it. But, looking back, much of my hobbies have gone through cycles, being very intense for a short period, then going cold for a while, then returning a few weeks or months later. I even went off movies for years when things got a bit stale in the mid-00s, even though I still identified as a "movie buff". You gotta have a central point to start at, right? Well, I'm sticking to that rule, but feel that my interest level in playing guitar has shot up enough to where I need to start expressing myself about it properly. My main three outlets for this recently have been: my Twitter feed; an old friend (and ex-colleague) who I consider my "guitar Obi-Wan Kenobi" and who I bug regularly via Facebook for gear advice; and my music tutor, who I have half an hour once a week to squeeze as much information out of as possible. I also text him when I'm drunk sometimes, but that's another story.
So, while the latter two outlets listed above are still fine (until I get blocked by either gentleman), the Twitter thing hasn't received a particularly vocal response from my followers, so I'm a bit concerned that they're either just confused or slightly annoyed by my tech talk.
And so we come to this.
I thought a few times a week I could write a summary (or digest) of all my guitar playing/tech thoughts, feelings and obsessions, rather than just spewing them onto Twitter as and when they randomly come up. I'll try and make notes and - shock horror! - maybe even record a few musical samples for you. If I manage to keep up with it, I may even open up a separate blog for it, rather than just adding to The Whittling Post. This should all reduce my output from twenty tweets a day on the subject, down to a few a week simply linking to this blog.
Everybody's happy.
Right, I'll go away and start jotting ideas down for the first official post.
Rock on.
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