What Are You Working On Right Now?

[TSJMajesty]

After pinching my fret-hand pinky today , I'm working on that irritating overlapping 'noise' I still haven't quite conquered, when changing strings.

I've gotten pretty good at raising my finger just enough to mute out the string, such as when going from a note on the B, to a higher note on the e. If you lift the lower finger completely off the string, with high gain, it will sound just enough to blend in with the next note, and cause this nasty-sounding dissonance, if even just briefly. And I hate it! I'm trying to get my string changes just as clean as if I played the next note on the same string.

Going the other direction is easy, because you've got the lower note fretted with a finger that 'drapes' over the higher string.

But I've now discovered another issue- When doing a change like I first described, if the note I'm releasing is say, on the 12th fret, even if I lift my finger only enough to still keep it on the string and mute it, if I'm fretting that note right up against the 12th fret, even as I lift/mute that string, I'll still get the harmonic! It's only a teeny bit, but again, with high gain, that's all it takes to make a riff sound bad.

So now, since I'm anal about trying to play as clean as I can, I'm now focusing on making sure I'm fretting those notes back away from the fret as much as I can, to keep my finger off the harmonic.

These are the details that make me really admire the guys who can play super-fast licks with not only precision, but also clean as a baby's ass. Because with high gain, I'm pretty damn sure they had to zero in on these same details.

And with so many riffs in Em, you're going to run into this harmonic issue at some point, if you play solos in this style.

 

[duzie]

After pinching my fret-hand pinky today , I'm working on that irritating overlapping 'noise' I still haven't quite conquered, when changing strings.

I've gotten pretty good at raising my finger just enough to mute out the string, such as when going from a note on the B, to a higher note on the e. If you lift the lower finger completely off the string, with high gain, it will sound just enough to blend in with the next note, and cause this nasty-sounding dissonance, if even just briefly. And I hate it! I'm trying to get my string changes just as clean as if I played the next note on the same string.

Going the other direction is easy, because you've got the lower note fretted with a finger that 'drapes' over the higher string.

But I've now discovered another issue- When doing a change like I first described, if the note I'm releasing is say, on the 12th fret, even if I lift my finger only enough to still keep it on the string and mute it, if I'm fretting that note right up against the 12th fret, even as I lift/mute that string, I'll still get the harmonic! It's only a teeny bit, but again, with high gain, that's all it takes to make a riff sound bad.

So now, since I'm anal about trying to play as clean as I can, I'm now focusing on making sure I'm fretting those notes back away from the fret as much as I can, to keep my finger off the harmonic.

These are the details that make me really admire the guys who can play super-fast licks with not only precision, but also clean as a baby's ass. Because with high gain, I'm pretty damn sure they had to zero in on these same details.

And with so many riffs in Em, you're going to run into this harmonic issue at some point, if you play solos in this style.

unwanted string noise is something that I really struggle with

 

[Sascha Franck]

Gotta learn to mute strings with your "free" fingers as well.

 

[Warmart]

Heh, be lame and use both the input block gate AND an actual gate block

 

[norminal]

unwanted string noise is something that I really struggle with

Turn down the gain.

 

[duzie]

Turn down the gain.

Guilty

 

[PLX]

Turn down the gain.

 

[norminal]

Guilty

Oh, I’m guilty as well. I love all the gain and all the sauce!

 

[Warmart]

Ran into the following, learning a riff from At The Gates "Unto Others", last night. So I'm passing it, onto others!

And it's sort of interesting? Possibly could be modified? Either way, bar 62 is tricky!

You can put your index on the 8's, and jump back to hit the 6, so you're ready for the 11-10-12-10-11 part.

You can also have middle on the 8, index on the 6, and when the 8 goes from pm to non-pm, move your hand so the index is on 8. Would be the 1st time I would ever hit the same successive notes with a different finger.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Ran into the following, learning a riff from At The Gates "Unto Others", last night. So I'm passing it, onto others!
View attachment 29120

And it's sort of interesting? Possibly could be modified? Either way, bar 62 is tricky!

You can put your index on the 8's, and jump back to hit the 6, so you're ready for the 11-10-12-10-11 part.

You can also have middle on the 8, index on the 6, and when the 8 goes from pm to non-pm, move your hand so the index is on 8. Would be the 1st time I would ever hit the same successive notes with a different finger.

I have a few DT riffs where it seems I'm constantly changing my position to help me play the part. (Not that it makes much difference!)

Can you keep the same P.M.'s if you played the A6 as an E11? Or do the "opposite", by keeping the A6 for the E11, then go A10 G7 A10 A6?

Meh, that string skip makes it harder.

I try various ways of playing lots of stuff. I had this one JP riff that I ended up changing the tab drastically, to keep it all pretty much in the same position. Then I watched a couple videos of him playing it. In his earlier video, he played it the way it was tabbed, then in a later video, he had also changed it to stay in one position!

 

[Warmart]

I have a few DT riffs where it seems I'm constantly changing my position to help me play the part. (Not that it makes much difference!)

Can you keep the same P.M.'s if you played the A6 as an E11? Or do the "opposite", by keeping the A6 for the E11, then go A10 G7 A10 A6?

Meh, that string skip makes it harder.

I try various ways of playing lots of stuff. I had this one JP riff that I ended up changing the tab drastically, to keep it all pretty much in the same position. Then I watched a couple videos of him playing it. In his earlier video, he played it the way it was tabbed, then in a later video, he had also changed it to stay in one position!

So far, seems like index on A6 and then a quick move to index on E8, sorta works. I have short fingers so regardless of where I do it, I have to move at some point.

EDIT: Changed my mind, again.

Back to the original: Play 2 pm's on middle E8, index then moves from A6 to E8 and plays single non-pm, and finish up easy on the end.

I think it's outrageous to play the same note successively, in the same location, with different fingers. And that's probably why I like it.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Today I am playing with my most sick, gained-out presets, and playing riffs that involve many string changes, to highlight any string overlap.

I'm getting cleaner, little by little. My playing, that is. I'm still a dirty old fucker.

 

[Warmart]

So far, seems like index on A6 and then a quick move to index on E8, sorta works. I have short fingers so regardless of where I do it, I have to move at some point.

EDIT: Changed my mind, again.

Back to the original: Play 2 pm's on middle E8, index then moves from A6 to E8 and plays single non-pm, and finish up easy on the end.

I think it's outrageous to play the same note successively, in the same location, with different fingers. And that's probably why I like it.

I'm sticking with the original plan, it flows to do the position shift between the 2 pm'd (and one non-pm'd) E8's! Flow is important. I'm ripping it out really well, too! Kind of surprised how much better I'm getting, while still maintaining the general suckage that makes me, me.

I'm still a dirty old fucker.

You don't have to tell us!

 

[TSJMajesty]

For some reason, Just What I Needed crept into my mind, so I think today I'm gonna finish that solo. Iow, completely memorize it, get the tricky parts under my fingers, and string it all together. As opposed to where I left off last time I mucked around with it.

It's such a tasty solo!

 

[duzie]

Just what you needed
Just what the doctor ordered

 

[TSJMajesty]

For some reason, Just What I Needed crept into my mind, so I think today I'm gonna finish that solo. Iow, completely memorize it, get the tricky parts under my fingers, and string it all together. As opposed to where I left off last time I mucked around with it.

It's such a tasty solo!

I always had trouble with the phrasing of that last little riff at the end of the solo, because I would never slow it down and work on it properly.

But now that I see exactly what it is, it's pretty brilliant! Most of the time we do those string-skip "diads", (I think they're called,) as a simple- 2 16ths followed by an 8th note. But he skips a 16th beat near the end, essentially turning beat 3 into a sort of 3-over-4 thing, where you play groups of 3 notes, but still all as 16th's.... dadada, dadada, daa, Dum! Very cool!

 

[Sascha Franck]

I’m trying to learn to be able to play Melodie’s of jazz standards, in conjunction with “1 note per string arpeggios”…more or less improvised.
Getting close..here’s a try on “ all the things you are”..warts and all

Most excellent idea. Trying to keep that in mind.

 

[la szum]

A lot more fun than it looks.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Today I am playing with my most sick, gained-out presets, and playing riffs that involve many string changes, to highlight any string overlap.

I'm getting cleaner, little by little. My playing, that is. I'm still a dirty old fucker.

I do left hand hammers only for that

 

[TSJMajesty]

I do left hand hammers only for that

So do I. In legato riffs.