What Did You Do With Your Guitar(s) Today?

Put strap locks and 9-42 strings on my NGD Charvel Guthrie Govan signature:

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I found a spot using my Memory Man and Orange 35RT Reverb that made my Epiphone LP sound like a Persian Santur, spent an hour and a half practicing scales, then waxed it.

My JB pickup arrived from Amazon today. I'm just waiting for my Jazz and the covers, then in they go. Fingers crossed it all goes well.
 
I picked up my guitar today from my tech. I changed toggle switch. That white toggle switch wont trigger my ocd anymore.

Previously my tech change toggle switch and put one with white tip… Ive ordered 5 black tips and none of them fit…. So I went and bought entire switch in black.

Now it looks better.

Then I gave it test drive and it seems fine.


 
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I picked up my guitar today from my tech. I changed toggle switch. That white toggle switch wont trigger my ocd anymore.

Previously my tech change toggle switch and put one with white tip… Ive ordered 5 black tips and none of them fit…. So I went and bought entire switch in black.

Now it looks better.

Then I gave it test drive and it seems fine.



Nice. (y)
Always liked that solo. It's short, sweet and tasty. It's interesting, some of the phrasing makes me think of Gilmour.
 
Nice. (y)
Always liked that solo. It's short, sweet and tasty. It's interesting, some of the phrasing makes me think of Gilmour.
I love solos like that, with bends and melody.

I do like shred to but for one I cant shred and two some shreds make my head hurt hahahha

Im exited tho so I dont have to worry about switching pick ups and not getting a sound hahah
 
I’ve been working recently on integrating “Yesterday” into a “Beatles Suite” for solo guitar (no singing). After playing around with just the melody, and transposing it to G / Em, I struck on an arrangement that spans four octaves, highest A on the 17th fret down to the lowest open E. Mostly just single notes, only a couple of chords on the bridge. With G / Em, I can use open strings and harmonics, whatever is in reach to just hint at the harmony. It’s an approach that is inspired by how Bill Frisell plays melodies.

The last phrase of the melody on the low E string—A G B A E G B B / oh I believe in yesterday—can then begin a segue into the next 2 songs in the suite, “Free as a Bird” and “Blackbird” also in G, followed by a modulation to A for “Lucy in the Sky” and “In My Life.” The latter 4 songs I performed live so I’m prefacing them with “Yesterday.” The suite should run about 15-20 minutes.
 
I’ve been working recently on integrating “Yesterday” into a “Beatles Suite” for solo guitar (no singing). After playing around with just the melody, and transposing it to G / Em, I struck on an arrangement that spans four octaves, highest A on the 17th fret down to the lowest open E. Mostly just single notes, only a couple of chords on the bridge. With G / Em, I can use open strings and harmonics, whatever is in reach to just hint at the harmony. It’s an approach that is inspired by how Bill Frisell plays melodies.

The last phrase of the melody on the low E string—A G B A E G B B / oh I believe in yesterday—can then begin a segue into the next 2 songs in the suite, “Free as a Bird” and “Blackbird” also in G, followed by a modulation to A for “Lucy in the Sky” and “In My Life.” The latter 4 songs I performed live so I’m prefacing them with “Yesterday.” The suite should run about 15-20 minutes.
Why Free as a bird? So many better Beatles songs.
 
Why Free as a bird? So many better Beatles songs.
Hello, thanks for reading and for asking! TLDR, I like the song and it has a special meaning to me.

The first time I heard "Free as a Bird," I actually didn't know it was a Beatles song. It was maybe 15 years ago and I was recuperating in the hospital after a serious operation. There wasn't much to do, but I brought a USB drive with several albums on it that I had accumulated but never really listened.

One night, late and after hours, it was dead quiet and I was alone in pain and couldn't sleep. I was listening to random MP3s with ear buds and "Free as a Bird" came on. But it was the Adrian Belew version. I think it was from "Belewprints," a live recording in New York. It was just him singing with a piano (I later found out it was a MIDI rig and he was playing guitar triggering piano sounds, IIRC). As I listened, I forgot all about the pain and felt "free as a bird." So the song has deep meaning for me.

After recuperating, I learned the song from listening to the 1995 Belew recording. I did some reading and found it was a Lennon song, incomplete, that Yoko gave to the remaining Beatles and they did it as we all know in 1995. Belew's live recording was from the same year, and apparently he learned it from the Lennon demo, which is why he doesn't sing a verse or two as Lennon hadn't finished the lyrics, while the Beatles remake added new lyrics and full instrumentation. To be honest, I don't care for the remade Beatles version (nor, FWIW, do I like the more recent one they did, "Now and Then"). So I guess my post was misleading, as I was referring to Adrian Belew's take, not the Beatles one.

I learned how Belew played it from the live recording, working out some of his chording and such, and did my own thing with it making an instrumental solo acoustic guitar piece. First, I transposed it to G, because that enabled better access to open strings and harmonics. I've been playing it on and off as a solo piece for the past few years that way. Last year, I joined it with "Blackbird" for a "Birds Medley," after which I combined that with an earlier medley I did with "Lucy in the Sky" and "In My Life" into what I am calling a "Beatles Suite," which I performed live last March. So, back to the OP after this long story, I am now adding "Yesterday" to the "Beatles Suite" for a live set in September.

If you're interested, here's the live video of the "Beatles Suite," without "Yesterday," from last March. I performed it in at auditorium as part of a community event, with about 120 people in attendance. I might have posted that clip in another thread, along with a bit about the gear, so I'll leave it at that.



Regarding there being "better" Beatles songs, I wholeheartedly concur. As I said, I don't even like what the Beatles did in 1995 with Lennon's 1970s demo. But to me Belew catches the same mood as Lennon. And I also think that "better" is a relative term, begging the question, "Better for what?" The Belew version was better for me at that time and place, and I slowly built the suite around that. There's some very interesting harmonic devices in G to explore between the first three songs of the suite, but this is getting verbose so I'll leave that for another story. Writing this now takes me back to that night in the hospital for which the song gave me comfort. So thanks again for asking about it.
 
Hello, thanks for reading and for asking! TLDR, I like the song and it has a special meaning to me.

The first time I heard "Free as a Bird," I actually didn't know it was a Beatles song. It was maybe 15 years ago and I was recuperating in the hospital after a serious operation. There wasn't much to do, but I brought a USB drive with several albums on it that I had accumulated but never really listened.

One night, late and after hours, it was dead quiet and I was alone in pain and couldn't sleep. I was listening to random MP3s with ear buds and "Free as a Bird" came on. But it was the Adrian Belew version. I think it was from "Belewprints," a live recording in New York. It was just him singing with a piano (I later found out it was a MIDI rig and he was playing guitar triggering piano sounds, IIRC). As I listened, I forgot all about the pain and felt "free as a bird." So the song has deep meaning for me.

After recuperating, I learned the song from listening to the 1995 Belew recording. I did some reading and found it was a Lennon song, incomplete, that Yoko gave to the remaining Beatles and they did it as we all know in 1995. Belew's live recording was from the same year, and apparently he learned it from the Lennon demo, which is why he doesn't sing a verse or two as Lennon hadn't finished the lyrics, while the Beatles remake added new lyrics and full instrumentation. To be honest, I don't care for the remade Beatles version (nor, FWIW, do I like the more recent one they did, "Now and Then"). So I guess my post was misleading, as I was referring to Adrian Belew's take, not the Beatles one.

I learned how Belew played it from the live recording, working out some of his chording and such, and did my own thing with it making an instrumental solo acoustic guitar piece. First, I transposed it to G, because that enabled better access to open strings and harmonics. I've been playing it on and off as a solo piece for the past few years that way. Last year, I joined it with "Blackbird" for a "Birds Medley," after which I combined that with an earlier medley I did with "Lucy in the Sky" and "In My Life" into what I am calling a "Beatles Suite," which I performed live last March. So, back to the OP after this long story, I am now adding "Yesterday" to the "Beatles Suite" for a live set in September.

If you're interested, here's the live video of the "Beatles Suite," without "Yesterday," from last March. I performed it in at auditorium as part of a community event, with about 120 people in attendance. I might have posted that clip in another thread, along with a bit about the gear, so I'll leave it at that.



Regarding there being "better" Beatles songs, I wholeheartedly concur. As I said, I don't even like what the Beatles did in 1995 with Lennon's 1970s demo. But to me Belew catches the same mood as Lennon. And I also think that "better" is a relative term, begging the question, "Better for what?" The Belew version was better for me at that time and place, and I slowly built the suite around that. There's some very interesting harmonic devices in G to explore between the first three songs of the suite, but this is getting verbose so I'll leave that for another story. Writing this now takes me back to that night in the hospital for which the song gave me comfort. So thanks again for asking about it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. What a great reason to include it.
 
Today I've found the origin of some random noise issues at my Strat. The springs where not only offering mechanical resistance, but also 191kΩ of electrical resistance. I've just filed these suckers at the contact points, and the noise is gone.
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A curious note: measuring resistance between the input jack plate and the tuning pegs, I read difference resistance at different strings. From 1.5Ω to 20Ω. That old vintage bridge!
 
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I've been going down a rabbit hole that I probably shouldn't....

It started with the Do Something challenge and getting the bright idea I was going to cover a new Gilmour tune, he's using the weirdest fucking tone I've ever heard him use on the solo.

(timestamped)


That doesn't sound like a Strat to me, way too much midrange honk and not Strat-y at all. He's got a Yamaha RA-100 rotating cab on tour with him but even he's not trying to recreate this tone, so there's that to feel better about.

I started learning the solo while tweaking, this is where I'm at so far.


He always gets credits for his bends and I know I'm guilty of associating that with the big bends, but this solo is full of these tiny little bends into other notes, they're so subtle and really understated, they're a bitch to nail.

Do you want to try this AxeFX preset? Strat with CS69 neck pickup. Slightly roll down tone. Play with the AMP block Out EQ and the CAB block Preamp EQ.

He is probably using the Alessandro amp. I've found that the FAS Buttery does a great job for that.

 
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Do you want to try this AxeFX preset? Strat with CS69 neck pickup. Slightly roll down tone. Play with the AMP block Out EQ and the CAB block Preamp EQ.

He is probably using the Alessandro amp. I've found that the FAS Buttery does a great job for that.


I'll give it a shot but I ended up doing a full cover of that tune and just kinda gave up on the unique aspect of that solo tone. There's something going on with the rotary there, but it's gotta be an entirely different pickup than a Strat pickup.
 
Today? Nothing at all! But I'm feeling oddly conflicted about that. There's no reason to feel that way; maybe it needs some reflection. Music is not my job, the weekly jam sessions I go to are optional, the only live performance I have booked is not till early September. The Mrs. says, take it easy! Perhaps it's the best option? But we've a house guest who plays piano, so you never know!
 
I finally put 10's on my EBMM JR Cutlass 7. And by just the way the bridge pulled upwards, it confirmed what I had already known- for some reason it had 9's on it when I bought it, supposedly new. (I had measured the high e string.)

That guitar comes from the factory with 10's, so I think someone bought it, had the store set it up with 9's, didn't take to it, and returned it. Which is fine, since it was mint, and they gave me ~20% off.

It didn't feel right under my fingers, and since I'm quite used to playing 10's on 25.5" scale guitars, I kept pulling notes sharp.

Anyway, I set the trem for those strings, and damn is it a fun guitar to play!

It definitely has a different thing going on than my JP models, so I tweaked a preset on the Axe for it, and played for about 2 hours last night.

But even though the scale and strings are the same as what I'm used to on my Majesty & JP15, I can also feel a slightly "looser" feel to the strings. I'm pretty certain I'm not imagining it, so the only thing I can see that could cause it, is the longer distance to the tuning pegs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I finally put 10's on my EBMM JR Cutlass 7. And by just the way the bridge pulled upwards, it confirmed what I had already known- for some reason it had 9's on it when I bought it, supposedly new. (I had measured the high e string.)

That guitar comes from the factory with 10's, so I think someone bought it, had the store set it up with 9's, didn't take to it, and returned it. Which is fine, since it was mint, and they gave me ~20% off.

It didn't feel right under my fingers, and since I'm quite used to playing 10's on 25.5" scale guitars, I kept pulling notes sharp.

Anyway, I set the trem for those strings, and damn is it a fun guitar to play!

It definitely has a different thing going on than my JP models, so I tweaked a preset on the Axe for it, and played for about 2 hours last night.

But even though the scale and strings are the same as what I'm used to on my Majesty & JP15, I can also feel a slight "looser" feel to the strings. I'm pretty certain I'm not imagining it, so the only thing I can see that could cause it, is the longer distance to the tuning pegs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ View attachment 50679
Does it have a different bridge design? Maybe the break angle is not as steep?
 
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