GUITAR hero wannabe

[Sbrem]

How's the tracking on that thing?

I remember it being iffy back in the day.

It's really quite decent, it's not like I'm Yngwie Malmsteen, so it keeps up to me. I never had a tracking problem, but after the novelty wore off, I just stopped using it.

Steve

[Catnhat]

Sorry to hijack the thread (not super sorry, but sorry)

What's everyone playing?!

I have (2) rickenbacker 360s, and my main guitar which is a custom built semi hollow Electrical guitar company guitar!

Currently hanging around the house:
Epiphone Les Paul Goldtop
Ibanez Roadstar II
Fender Tele (MIM)
Fender Gemini acoustic
Ovation Celebrity Deluxe
Abilene acoustic (campfire guitar)
Epiphone Mandolin
Ibanez GSR200 Bass
Galveston Acoustic/electric Bass
Vox Violin Bass (late '60's, made in Italy)

Line 6 Vetta HD head and cabinet
Marshall Bi-Chorus 200
Fender BXR 100 bass amp

PA:  been selling off the PA since I don't do live sound anymore, but still have custom CGM, ordered direct from factory when they were still in business, Trapezoid Mains (they have a 15, a 10 and a wide dispertion horn in each) and 18" Subs and Samick Power Amps.

And my "Beat Laboratory": this is what it looked like right before Thanksgiving.  Currently tore apart awaiting a new desk and racks to be finished.  Running Pro Tools 11, or can stay analog and go 8 tracks to 1/4" tape, then to 2 track tape. 

[ABuffington]

I'll check out the Presonus product for the monitoring.  We have a Presonus 8 channel digital converter that we record with for almost every practice.  Once the incoming levels are balanced mix down is immediate so we can burn CD's as we are breaking down to listen to all the mistakes on our travels.  Mixing down a song in Cubase is a lot of fun when I am on the road stuck in some hotel in the middle of El Salvador.  It is amazing what we don't hear that comes out loud and clear in a mixdown.  The I-pad is essential now.  I don't what know the software is called but we have put all our lyrics and tab on the ipad and it scrolls automatically at the speed of the song for the singers and Karaoke guest singers.  It also links to the song so when we are failing we can listen to the offending part. 

The other area we haven't mentioned is music theory.  For anyone starting this helps accelerate the knowledge of where to go next in a song or what notes to play in a lead. Blues is 1-6-8,  So 1 is the root note like A Chord in a lot of songs, 6 is a 6th away from the number one chord (A)  (There are no zeros in modes (scales), so 1 counts as 1, a sixth up is D, from A thats  A (1), Bb (2nd), B(3rd), C(4th), Db(5th), D (the sixth), the eight is an E (2 frets above the 6th).  That pretty much sums up about a hundred blues songs.  Play a pentonic or 7th scale in A over it for lead.  There are only 12 notes that make up all music, and most music is specific to scales and chord patterns that repeat throughout most music and are modified with timing, rests, and song structure.  Music is math to a great degree.  Having this stuff in the back of your head helps to play live.  Know the structure and scale for that song is much easier.  ABABCAB could be the three parts of a typical blues pattern,   A for the verse, B is the chorus, C is the turn around.  Chords would be A, D and E with a 7th scale blues lead in A.  That is Stormy Monday, don't have to remember much this way.

Tonight is practice night, a real addiction for sure, can't wait.
This is the gang:  7th Son, I don't have speakers on this computer so I have no idea how this sounds.
Just a practice vid. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cos6a8BZo4U

Rock on

[Homer]

if you guys are ever bored and want to let out a good "WTF?", check out Nickelback's rig run down on youtube..they completely destroyed what used to be some very nice guitars by "customizing" them......Gibson should kick them all square in the nuts...in fact, I'd do it for free...

[Audifox]

Total newb to this i can't make music happen with a DJ but I am going to dive into an electric guitar just because I always wanted to and now seems to be the time.
Here are two that i am down to, by a real players definition these are possible toys but i am allowing myself a $200.00 toy budget .
Any suggestion/ other recommendations would be appreciated.
Keep in mind I do not play (yet), if this goes as well as my jump into screen printing.........well you know there is always room on E-bay:P

mooseman


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EU8H4Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005RA3RBW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 
Once you have your new axe, you might want to look at this site.   One of the best sites I've found, especially for beginners
http://www.justinguitar.com/

[jvanick]

in my home studio, everything is close mic'd, and we record the entire multichannel set to my Mac...

I use Reaper to do the recording, and then mix down...  makes it really easy to change things around later, make practice tracks for each member with their parts dropped out, etc.

And when we have a really good rehearsal night, makes for great demo material too.

[Gilligan]

Al, the presonous is ridiculously configurable for such a price.

You have a 16 channel mixer that has 4 effects channels built in (2 reverb and 2 delay) and 6 aux sends.  Then the 24 channel has the same 4 effects and 10 aux sends. The 32 has 14 auxes. All of this is completely configurable and controllable via ipad/table/laptop whatever.  It's so remotely controllable that they offer a rack mount only version.  They just have the ins and outs on them... no control surface, everything controlled via pc/tablet.  Full parametrics, compressor, gates... basically an entire FOH rack built into the mixer on each channel.

All for a ridiculous price... only thing bad about them is good luck selling your analog gear now!  EVERYONE is moving to digital consoles.

OH, and since you like to record rehearsals... the presonus has firewire outs that dump EACH channel straight to a computer (free software) and you can do this at gigs, practice or whatever.  All multitrack easy peasy!  We record a massive rock show every year and mix it down for the DVD, even have 2 room mics being recorded but muted in the mains.

My buddy is the tour manager for Sevendust and back when I met him he was running an old Peavy Mark 3 (I think... nasty thing built straight into the flight case)... "upgraded" to a mackie (one of the first bigger consoles) and eventually ended up with Allen and Heath before that bad called it quits.  I NEVER thought he'd be a digital guy... he could mess up a calculator he was so bad with computers. LOL  Now he tours with this little bitty rack for his vocal preamps and everything else is done in the digital consoles.

Here he is with Sevendust on a Digidesign SC 48:



And here he is with Paul Rodgers (Bad Company) in Poland on a Midas Pro 6:



He's come a LONG ways! LOL

[ABuffington]

Al, the presonous is ridiculously configurable for such a price.

You have a 16 channel mixer that has 4 effects channels built in (2 reverb and 2 delay) and 6 aux sends.  Then the 24 channel has the same 4 effects and 10 aux sends. The 32 has 14 auxes. All of this is completely configurable and controllable via ipad/table/laptop whatever.  It's so remotely controllable that they offer a rack mount only version.  They just have the ins and outs on them... no control surface, everything controlled via pc/tablet.  Full parametrics, compressor, gates... basically an entire FOH rack built into the mixer on each channel.

All for a ridiculous price... only thing bad about them is good luck selling your analog gear now!  EVERYONE is moving to digital consoles.

OH, and since you like to record rehearsals... the presonus has firewire outs that dump EACH channel straight to a computer (free software) and you can do this at gigs, practice or whatever.  All multitrack easy peasy!  We record a massive rock show every year and mix it down for the DVD, even have 2 room mics being recorded but muted in the mains.

My buddy is the tour manager for Sevendust and back when I met him he was running an old Peavy Mark 3 (I think... nasty thing built straight into the flight case)... "upgraded" to a mackie (one of the first bigger consoles) and eventually ended up with Allen and Heath before that bad called it quits.  I NEVER thought he'd be a digital guy... he could mess up a calculator he was so bad with computers. LOL  Now he tours with this little bitty rack for his vocal preamps and everything else is done in the digital consoles.

Here he is with Sevendust on a Digidesign SC 48:



And here he is with Paul Rodgers (Bad Company) in Poland on a Midas Pro 6:



He's come a LONG ways! LOL

Ok this is now the main priority purchase for next year.  Our little Mackie 8 Channel needs an upgrade!  I still like Analog sound,  Tube amps for vocals and guitars (Yet my whole rig is digital!) major difference in my lead guitarists Fender Deluxe Tube Amp over my Fender Chorus digital unit, but hey we are just a garage band who likes to learn a new song every friggin practice. Still we have had some great gigs.  If all of you printers out there think collecting a bill from a customer is hard try finding the owner of a bar at 2am to get paid. Prepay only. Literally have had to occupy bars and have the cops brought out to kick us out to get paid sometimes. Cops have no mercy for bar owners who stiff bands turns out. 

[Gilligan]

Damn!

We've never been in that boat before.  Pretty terrible band houses but they always paid us.

http://www.presonus.com/products/StudioLive-AI-Series

This is where you need to be man!



Maybe you need to make a trip down here and I can let you check out the 16.0.2 I have laying around... OR, we could probably hop on over to the Presonus shop and get a grand tour of the place.

[Fluid]

Teaching myself to play the guitar. Have been playing the drums for close to 30 years now. 

[Sbrem]

Yep, this is the only reason I work, to be able to play music.  When I had my shop it was 12-14 hour days and no time to jam.
Now with an 8-5 job we play Mon and Thursday and weekend gigs, which has been for the past 40 years!  It took that long to get the wife trained!

Seriously though this group needs to get together and play.  If anyone is in LA for the Long Beach Show and if we don't do the
gig at ISS, I can take a couple of guests in our studio on Thursday before the show or Monday after the show.  First come first served. The couch holds two people, but the studio is all set up and ready.

And as I said if we get enough interest the band will play at the ISS show Long Beach.  Eric from Action Engineering is quite the singer,
just got get up and do it Eric!  Close your eyes. James Ortalani from Naz Dar also has serious chops and I'd love to get the chance to play a few with him.

You will never see a Murakami Show shirt designed by me without a guitars, drums, or a sax!   

Al

Absolutely, I work so I can play. I opened for some big names in the early seventies, and realized it wasn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I started screening about then, and discovered something I liked ALMOST as much as playing. Now I play for gas money, unless it's corporate functions or weddings, then it's good money. I practice a good hour a day minimum, after working 12 - 13 hours, all acoustic, no plugging in and no recording, just playing. The electrics come out about once a week... sitting in with some friends Saturday night, they usually let sit in for a whole set... can't wait.

Steve

[ericheartsu]

this is my band, if anyone is interested...won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's super fun:
http://destroytinyempires.bandcamp.com/

[Sbrem]

I wasn't going to bring up theory, but since Al did, I would always advise learning to read and understand. Music I couldn't have possibly pulled off a record, I could read. Talking about classical and jazz here; rock doesn't need it much as most is harmonically fairly simple. To add to Al's take on the blues, all the chords in a major key blues are dominant, meaning they are 7th chords, even sexier if you use 9th chords, not to mention 13th chords. For those not asleep yet, chords are made up of thirds, meaning every other note in a scale. For instance, the Key of C (no sharps or flats) the first note is C, the 3rd note in the scale is E, and the 5th note is G. When Moe, Larry and Curly sing "Hello, Hello, Hello" they are singing those notes (or whatever key they are actually in). Sing them together and you have a C chord. In Al's example of the Key of A (3 sharps) the A chord is A, C# and E. F# is the sixth (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#). Dominant seventh chords are built off this theory by using the V chord of the scale (chords are expressed theoretically with Roman Numerals). So, in the Key of C (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) you start with G, and add B, the third of a G chord, D, the 5th, and then F the seventh of a G7 chord. To make a ninth chord, add an A... apply this formula to the C chord in the key of C and you'll have C, E, G, and B, which will make a C major 7th, a "pretty" chord. In the Dominant 7th V chord, the seventh is a whole step below the root, where as with the I (1) chord, the formula produces a 7th that is only a half-step from the root... anyone still awake? This sounds scary to some, but it's really just knowing the names of all of the available tools. Theory is not a bunch of rigid rules, it's an observation of the common practice of composers, labeled, organized and written down. It's there for you, but you do not need to know how to read to play, ala Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, George Shearing, Marcus Roberts or any of the other truly fabulous blind musicians who can sit in with anyone, anytime.(they do know their theory though).

Steve

[ABuffington]

This has been a fun thread.  I will approach the band tonight on the Presonus board.  We have sub boards for the 8  mic drum kit, and split up intruments and vocals over two 8 tracks as well, it would be nice to consolidate all that and have far better recording control. 

[Gilligan]

Yeah, with these guys you don't need to sub mix anything.  Everything stays separate... it's awesome for tracking and especially live recordings since it's all there to be recorded anytime you want.