Making Music

[Dr. Gonzo]

Here's a thread for people for people to post about playing music, writing music, recording music, shit like that.

I'm mostly making this thread so there's a place for @Mel81x and I, so we've got a place for our discussions on gear and shit like that  and I'm hoping we pull in @Happy Blue and anyone else (like say one of you wants to learn an instrument or something and wants to ask questions).

To get things started, here's a bunch of Megadeth tabs: https://www.abysslord.com/megadeth/tabs/tab.htm

[Happy Blue]

Great idea, you can find almost any guitar tab here https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ 

Watch Ola for gear reviews https://www.youtube.com/user/fearedse/featured

These guys for reviews and where to buy that gear https://www.youtube.com/user/AndertonsMusic

 

Tune in later, i will teach you how to play sweet child o' mine with your dick!   

[Happy Blue]

Budget pedals that Rock!!! 

Swedish Death Metal for £30 anyone??   ..i liked it so much, i bought two! 

 

[Mel81x+]

7 hours ago, Happy Blue said:

Budget pedals that Rock!!! 

Swedish Death Metal for £30 anyone??   ..i liked it so much, i bought two! 

 

I've never been a fan of Behringer pedals. They seem to lack something in their drive. I had a HM from BOSS and loved it but I still like my OD more and the blues driver is great too. 

[Happy Blue]

3 hours ago, Mel81x said:

I've never been a fan of Behringer pedals. They seem to lack something in their drive. I had a HM from BOSS and loved it but I still like my OD more and the blues driver is great too. 

Behringer pedals are just mainly knock off pedals at a cheap price! ..if you like overdrives checkout the Behringer TO800, it's a KO of the Tube Screamer and only cost £20 on Ebay   ..i'm going to try there Chorus pedal next and maybe EQ too

[Mel81x+]

51 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

Behringer pedals are just mainly knock off pedals at a cheap price! ..if you like overdrives checkout the Behringer TO800, it's a KO of the Tube Screamer and only cost £20 on Ebay   ..i'm going to try there Chorus pedal next and maybe EQ too

Didn't even know they made a tube-screamer have a really old Ibanez Mini for that. Let me know how that Chorus pedal works for you. I wanted one for bass and ended up getting an MXR after a few months, its an Analog Chorus and works rather well. Never really tried anything for guitar yet. 

Btw, whats your setup like? @Dr. Gonzo and me have spoken alot about modellers and pedals going into amps or in some cases straight into the DAW as well.

[Inverted]

My older brother, who gave up playing a long time ago, has given me his guitar.

I can't really play, but I play a little bit of bass, and I know some riffs and chords on guitar. I don't know my way around the neck or the chord/scale shapes but I could tell that the strings were absolutely fucked. 

Since it's quite a nice guitar (Gibson SG) I decided to have a go at restringing it. I did it myself, and besides some little cuts to my hands it actually turned out fine. I was shocked tbh. I've been messing around on it, just learning some riffs from tabs, and I've worked out how to play the usual major/minor/pentatonic/blues scales along most of the neck. 

I'm still lost around the middle and upper part of the neck, because to work out which notes I'm playing I basically have to count up from the lowest note. So like if I play fret 9 on the A string I have to think "Ok, this string is A and 9 semitones up from A is a... perfect 6th... so I'm playing an... F#". Which is obviously not as quick a process as I would like. 

Saxophone is my first instrument, so I find it bizarre to play without knowing which notes I'm playing, and the whole process makes it harder for me just to play without overthinking it. 

[Mel81x+]

1 hour ago, Inverted said:

Since it's quite a nice guitar (Gibson SG) I decided to have a go at restringing it. I did it myself, and besides some little cuts to my hands it actually turned out fine. I was shocked tbh. I've been messing around on it, just learning some riffs from tabs, and I've worked out how to play the usual major/minor/pentatonic/blues scales along most of the neck. 

I'm still lost around the middle and upper part of the neck, because to work out which notes I'm playing I basically have to count up from the lowest note. So like if I play fret 9 on the A string I have to think "Ok, this string is A and 9 semitones up from A is a... perfect 6th... so I'm playing an... F#". Which is obviously not as quick a process as I would like. 

Saxophone is my first instrument, so I find it bizarre to play without knowing which notes I'm playing, and the whole process makes it harder for me just to play without overthinking it. 

Some of the best ways to learn notes and go from there for me are the following

• Learning Power and Bar Chords. They take a bit of time to master but once you learn then you can actually figure out notes and master most of the neck up to the 12th fret. 
• Learning the CAGED system for Guitar. This probably is the better one for anyone that's had a lot more formal training since it uses existing chord patterns to teach you stuff like the root note, etc so that you can start to traverse the neck a lot better and spend less time figuring out where things are visually. Learning to get past the first three strings on a guitar from the thickest to the thinnest actually improves note theory and traversing the neck from what I have learned.
• Lastly, scales. I think this is the most beneficial from a learning standpoint. Learning one scale pattern can be useful but learning to go past one octave into two and learning to traverse two octaves with one pattern then come back up with another pattern imo really improved my melody process and got me whizzing past things on the guitar.

Some videos

In the end, there's so much more you'll learn as you experiment and play around on the guitar. I play a lot more Bass and can safely say from a symmetry standpoint the Bass is far better than a guitar just because of how things are laid out. But, the guitar is a far more fun instrument.

[Happy Blue]

1 hour ago, Inverted said:

just learning some riffs from tabs, and I've worked out how to play the usual major/minor/pentatonic/blues scales along most of the neck. 

I'm still lost around the middle and upper part of the neck, because to work out which notes I'm playing I basically have to count up from the lowest note. So like if I play fret 9 on the A string I have to think "Ok, this string is A and 9 semitones up from A is a... perfect 6th... so I'm playing an... F#". Which is obviously not as quick a process as I would like. 

 

Don't over complicate it , the first thing you need to do is learn how to read guitar tablature (it's not hard) then pick a simple song to learn like this

e|------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---2----2--------------2----2--------------7----7--------------2--|
D|-2----2---4-2-0-2----2----2---4-2-0-2----7----7---9-7-5-7----2----|
A|------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|------------------------------------------------------------------|

e|------------|
B|------------|
G|--2---------|
D|2---4-2-0-2-|
A|------------|
E|------------|

e|---------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------|
D|--333-333-333-333-2--------333-333-333-333-2-|
A|-3---3---3---3--------0---3---3---3---3------|
E|---------------------------------------------|

Stick to simple songs at 1st that you play one string at a time  ..the bottom line is the thickest string on your guitar and the numbers are what fret you put your finger on (behind the metal bar, not on it) so looking at the song above the first note is 3 strings down from the thickest and you place the finger behind the second bar on the fret board 

[Dr. Gonzo]

12 hours ago, Mel81x said:

I've never been a fan of Behringer pedals. They seem to lack something in their drive. I had a HM from BOSS and loved it but I still like my OD more and the blues driver is great too. 

Some of their pedals are quite good: 

I probably wouldn't ever use any for gigging (although I haven't played a gig in a very long time lol) because their housing is cheap plastic.

[Dr. Gonzo]

7 hours ago, Inverted said:

My older brother, who gave up playing a long time ago, has given me his guitar.

I can't really play, but I play a little bit of bass, and I know some riffs and chords on guitar. I don't know my way around the neck or the chord/scale shapes but I could tell that the strings were absolutely fucked. 

Since it's quite a nice guitar (Gibson SG) I decided to have a go at restringing it. I did it myself, and besides some little cuts to my hands it actually turned out fine. I was shocked tbh. I've been messing around on it, just learning some riffs from tabs, and I've worked out how to play the usual major/minor/pentatonic/blues scales along most of the neck. 

I'm still lost around the middle and upper part of the neck, because to work out which notes I'm playing I basically have to count up from the lowest note. So like if I play fret 9 on the A string I have to think "Ok, this string is A and 9 semitones up from A is a... perfect 6th... so I'm playing an... F#". Which is obviously not as quick a process as I would like. 

Saxophone is my first instrument, so I find it bizarre to play without knowing which notes I'm playing, and the whole process makes it harder for me just to play without overthinking it. 

This guy is fucking brilliant for learning guitar - free courses, shitloads of videos on YouTube https://www.justinguitar.com/ - he wasn't around when I was learning how to play, I learned from an older kid on my street that was friends with my brother, but if he'd been around, I think I would have progressed much faster at the guitar than I ultimately did.

You're clearly a bit beyond a normal beginner as you've figured out how to play scales and stuff. As for getting lost around the middle/upper part of the neck, the inlays can be a good reference while you're learning where all the notes on the fretboard are. If you learn what all the notes on the strings are where each inlay is - it makes things a lot easier to figure out what the other notes between those inlays are.

If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know what any of the notes I was playing were other than the open strings (that I only knew from knowing what notes were supposed to be when I was tuning my guitar) for several years. I just relied on tabs. I still use tabs a lot (although I figure more stuff out by ear now, but when you've got a tab that you know is accurate that's always nice). But knowing what notes you're playing is obviously very helpful, especially if you're playing with other people.

[Dr. Gonzo]

20 hours ago, Happy Blue said:

Budget pedals that Rock!!! 

Swedish Death Metal for £30 anyone??   ..i liked it so much, i bought two! 

 

You seen the one where he takes the Boss Metalzone… and actually makes the fucking thing sound good? Instead of putting it before the amp, he runs it through the amp's effects loop and uses the pedal as a pre-amp. It actually makes an excellent pre-amp.

That video basically singlehandedly changed the online guitar community's views of the Metalzone. Before being considered universally shit by pretty much everyone, now there's a view that it's either shit or (among people who've seen that video) it's actually an underrated pedal.

But shit like that is why I love Ola, he can make most gear sound good. And he's pretty funny. Big fan of his content.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Oh and @Mel81x, @Happy Blue, @Fusion (do you play guitar? if so... cool, didn't know) and @Inverted(I know you're learning but gear is cool, so maybe you'd be interested) if you do want to see some pretty informative gear pedals... I recommend JHS Pedal's YouTube channel... because he's really informative.

And like that Behringer video I posted, he doesn't just cover his own pedal brand. In fact, he doesn't talk about his own brand very much (they make excellent pedals though). He usually runs through what makes certain brands (even cheap ones) better, or explains why you'd want to use certain effects (and giving examples of famous pedals from that type of effect). His channel is so good, it makes me want to buy a JHS pedal just to support him  (I used to have his Boss collaboration pedal, but I sold that after getting my Helix that was fucking stolen... wish my dickhead friend would sell it back to me...)

[Mel81x+]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

You seen the one where he takes the Boss Metalzone… and actually makes the fucking thing sound good? Instead of putting it before the amp, he runs it through the amp's effects loop and uses the pedal as a pre-amp. It actually makes an excellent pre-amp.

This is another reason why i have so many pedals. Yeah you can hear it on a YT video and listen to all the mechanics but until you actually try you'll never really know is my opinion on these kinds of things. I love my Spectra Comp but it wasn't till I went and tried an MXR Bass Comp that I realized I liked a pedal with analog so much more than digital even though i spent so many hours listening to sound clips and watching videos. The plus-side of the Spectra Comp is that you get so much more functionality for the money by just plugging it into a PC and watching the curves and really fine tuning your music but that can be done after the fact in the DAW too.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Mel81x said:

This is another reason why i have so many pedals. Yeah you can hear it on a YT video and listen to all the mechanics but until you actually try you'll never really know is my opinion on these kinds of things. I love my Spectra Comp but it wasn't till I went and tried an MXR Bass Comp that I realized I liked a pedal with analog so much more than digital even though i spent so many hours listening to sound clips and watching videos. The plus-side of the Spectra Comp is that you get so much more functionality for the money by just plugging it into a PC and watching the curves and really fine tuning your music but that can be done after the fact in the DAW too.

My MXR 10-Band made me want to buy 2 more MXR 10-band EQs so I'd be able to put one before my drive pedals, one after my drive pedals, and one in the effects loop. EQ pedals are underrated, and so useful in different ways at different parts in the signal chain.

[Happy Blue]

26 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

You seen the one where he takes the Boss Metalzone… and actually makes the fucking thing sound good? Instead of putting it before the amp, he runs it through the amp's effects loop and uses the pedal as a pre-amp. It actually makes an excellent pre-amp.

That video basically singlehandedly changed the online guitar community's views of the Metalzone. Before being considered universally shit by pretty much everyone, now there's a view that it's either shit or (among people who've seen that video) it's actually an underrated pedal.

But shit like that is why I love Ola, he can make most gear sound good. And he's pretty funny. Big fan of his content.

A metal zone that sounds good?? what is this witch craft you speak of?  ..not seen that one, did he run it through his Randell Satan and Hesu 2x12 cabinet loaded with T75 demon speakers?  ..i wonder if it would sound good on my Line 6 Spider 3   ..people slag the spiders but it's a good little 75watt practice amp and can get almost any sound out of it   ..it turns to shit if you crank it up though lol

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

A metal zone that sounds good?? what is this witch craft you speak of?  ..not seen that one, did he run it through his Randell Satan and Hesu 2x12 cabinet loaded with T75 speaker demon speakers?  ..i wonder if it would sound good on my Line 6 Spider 3   ..people slag the spiders but it's a good little 75watt practice amp and can get almost any sound out of it   ..it turns to shit if you crank it up though lol

He's got 2 videos of the Metal Zone up. One's a Waza Craft one, one calls it the "worst pedal ever"... I think it actually might be the one where it's called the "worst pedal ever" - but yeah he ran it through his signature amp, Hesu cabinet and fancy speakers  which obviously might play a part in why it sounded so good. But he did also show how it sounded before putting it in the effects loop and it sounded like shit with the same gear... so there's that.

Does the Spider have an effects loop? I've never had a Spider (my first practice amp was a Micro Cube - good shit for a first amp imo), but the one I do remember using at a friend's house didn't have an effects loop. Probably one of the smaller ones though. But yeah, with through the effects loop on a clean setting with the spider with you flattening out the EQ and it should give you a decent heavy tone.

[Mel81x+]

16 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

My MXR 10-Band made me want to buy 2 more MXR 10-band EQs so I'd be able to put one before my drive pedals, one after my drive pedals, and one in the effects loop. EQ pedals are underrated, and so useful in different ways at different parts in the signal chain.

Once you get past the learning phase of any instrument plugged into an amp I think the next big step is learning how to manage your signal chain. More often than not we get into a thinking that we have to put pedal X before pedal Y and of course we're not sitting around with 250 - 500 watt amps so we get content with the sound we're putting out. Then you happen to get a gig and you're sitting there at sound check wondering why it sounds so off only to realize you need to swap things around to get more out of your board setup. I kinda wish someone would make something, maybe they have, where all the pedals can just be swapped onto blocks instead of cables so that you can get the joy of a pedal board but also get the ease of not having to rewire everything. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

8 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Once you get past the learning phase of any instrument plugged into an amp I think the next big step is learning how to manage your signal chain. More often than not we get into a thinking that we have to put pedal X before pedal Y and of course we're not sitting around with 250 - 500 watt amps so we get content with the sound we're putting out. Then you happen to get a gig and you're sitting there at sound check wondering why it sounds so off only to realize you need to swap things around to get more out of your board setup. I kinda wish someone would make something, maybe they have, where all the pedals can just be swapped onto blocks instead of cables so that you can get the joy of a pedal board but also get the ease of not having to rewire everything. 

They'd need to be blocks that can still use each pedals input/output... it's a good idea, could be pretty tricky to implement too. Especially as there's no real "standard" shape or size for a lot of pedals.

[Mel81x+]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They'd need to be blocks that can still use each pedals input/output... it's a good idea, could be pretty tricky to implement too. Especially as there's no real "standard" shape or size for a lot of pedals.

Well if you really think about it you could essentially patch the blocks with a base connector for use with a board and a slider so the pedals have pins at the bottom and the board has sliding components like one of those picture puzzles where the blocks go left, right, up and down. Then the pedal simply sits on the slider and the slider is connected to a rail that has persistent connection with the power block and an audio connector to your device of choice. The real kicker in all of this isn't even the fact that pedals are different sizes but who controls what the connectors at the bottom of pedals can and can't do. Its easy when you have specialized pedals for one audio function but for those ultra exotic ones it would be hard to convince them to even get on board with an idea like this since they'd want some kind of industry standard to follow. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

So speaking of gear... what the fuck do I do to replace my stolen Helix? Right now I don't really want to go spend about a grand to get it replaced because... I've got this fucking wedding coming up and I'd recently just bought the fucking thing so I can't really justify spending that kind of money on a whim. I mean, I can afford it... but I don't really want to buy another one until the wedding is all paid for at this point. That way if there's any unexpected expenses, with life (or this fucking wedding that just keeps getting more expensive), I'm not too fussed about the money. 

I mean, for the time being for jamming with my friends, I'm alright - I just have a lot of shite I'll need to be lugging around with me which is a pain in the arse. But for playing at home, I don't really have many options that my fiancé or my neighbors are particularly thrilled with. My 6505+'s 60watts is a bit unpleasant for them, and if I turn the post-gain volume down to something that's more acceptable to them the tone is... pretty lackluster imo. I lose too much of the low end. I've tried fixing it with my 10-Band in the loop, lowering the overall volume and boosting the low end but... it's not ideal.

I've tried using my interface plugins, and there's some good ones, but I just hate playing while sat in front of a computer. When I'm recording, I usually stand far as fuck away from the computer as I can and have someone else hit record for me... or hit record and walk as far away as I can. So that's personal preference and it's my own fault. And I'm willing to burn through some money... just not too much.

So really I'm just looking for something I can use around the house and not piss my fiancé off when she's home (fuck the neighbors tbh). I was thinking at one of the more inexpensive modelers (maybe a Mooer GE200 again, I'd just get a used one... I wonder if the one I sold is still available at that guitar store when I made the trade up ; or one of the Zoom ones, although I don't really like the Zoom shite). My friend suggested getting a Boss Katana as a practice amp... I'm open to that. I feel like a modeler might be more useful as I could take that over to jam sessions when I don't feel like carrying a big fucking amp. But maybe having a dedicated practice amp would be the way to go. I also was looking at the Yamaha THRX amp, but I'm not sure I'll be able to find a used one anywhere near me and while they hold their value well, I think at that point if I'm spending that much I might as well get another GE200 again.

And then a part of me is just saying "go buy another fucking Helix, just don't get it stolen again"

[Happy Blue]

26 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

He's got 2 videos of the Metal Zone up. One's a Waza Craft one, one calls it the "worst pedal ever"... I think it actually might be the one where it's called the "worst pedal ever" - but yeah he ran it through his signature amp, Hesu cabinet and fancy speakers  which obviously might play a part in why it sounded so good. But he did also show how it sounded before putting it in the effects loop and it sounded like shit with the same gear... so there's that.

Does the Spider have an effects loop? I've never had a Spider (my first practice amp was a Micro Cube - good shit for a first amp imo), but the one I do remember using at a friend's house didn't have an effects loop. Probably one of the smaller ones though. But yeah, with through the effects loop on a clean setting with the spider with you flattening out the EQ and it should give you a decent heavy tone.

Will have to check that out, dont think i would ever buy a metal zone but sounds like a fun watch   ..don't think my spider 3 (75 combo) has an effects loop but not looked at the back of it for years   its sat in the corner of my bedroom collecting dust now i have the Peavey head with a 2x12 Eminence Governor cab

The micro cubes get good reviews from what i have seen, them orange tiny terrors too (think thats what they are called)

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Happy Blue said:

Will have to check that out, dont think i would ever buy a metal zone but sounds like a fun watch   ..don't think my spider 3 (75 combo) has an effects loop but not looked at the back of it for years   its sat in the corner of my bedroom collecting dust now i have the Peavey head with a 2x12 Eminence Governor cab

The micro cubes get good reviews from what i have seen, them orange tiny terrors too (think thats what they are called)

The MicroCube's still at my parents. It's almost 30 years old, but I play it when I go back still (well, sometimes) and it still sounds great.

And yeah when you've got that 6505+ MH... I don't see why you'd still have your Spider seeing much action. And yeah, with that amp I don't see the point for a Metal Zone. So much gain on tap in that amp already, it can pretty much cover all bases - just needs another overdrive. In hindsight, I should have bought that + a cab over the combo. But I really just wanted a nice amp right away and I didn't want to buy a cab. In retrospect, that was really stupid.

[Happy Blue]

What guitar (or other instrument) are you all after?  ..i would love a Jackson Warrior Extreme (custom shop)  prob with an inverted head stock but looks good both ways 

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

@Happy Blue

After I got my ESP E-II Eclipse... I haven't wanted another guitar (and I barely ever touch my other guitars since getting it). The person who owned it before me put in the EMG Het Set, which is fucking incredible (and not just for thrash, really great pickups) and it's just a very, very, very, very nice guitar.

If I had to get another guitar (and let's be real, I would absolutely take another guitar) - I'd probably want to get some kind of super strat, either a Jackson, ESP, or Charvel model (I'd say Ibanez too, but I hate Ibanez necks). Something with an original Floyd Rose (or a Gotoh one), the EMG 57/66 set, and an ebony fretboard.

Oh and a cool finish is necessary.