"Dare to Suck" 2

[DocNrock]

I previously posted a video of me playing and promptly took it down.  I had taken Cagey's tagline too seriously, "dare to suck."  After watching it, it sucked, alright.  This one, I had been up almost all last night doing an emergency operation, then did my scheduled cases during the day.  With enough coffee, when I got home today, I felt inspired (pardon the scrubs, I didn't change clothes).  I decided to jam along with the Dr. Rhythm and set up the iPhone video, just in case I came up with anything.  Well, I came up with a riff that I kind of like, so I jammed with it and variations on it.  The original video was 30+ minutes.  After editing, it is down to 7 1/2.  Don't feel the need to watch/listen to the whole thing.  I don't want to waste 7 1/2 minutes of your life!  There are definitely a few moments of suck, but it is entirely improv.  I'm not, and never will be, to the point to where a string of my improv doesn't have some suck in it.  I also never will be a shredder.  It just is.  So, I try to be melodic, instead. 

I hope it doesn't suck too badly.    :laughing7:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-T0hi147Eo

 

[Cagey]

I don't think it sucks. I think it has the potential to turn into a good jam. It's a good hook.

I will say that it has a bit of a staccato feel to it overall. I know another base rule is to always play to a metronome (or a drum track), but it's not there to lead or control you. It's there to give you reliable time divisions or markers so things line up and have a rhythmic "feel" to them. Sometimes you wanna stretch a note out for a measure or two, sometimes you wanna force 128 of them into an 8 pound sack. As long as you come back to the timeline, you're good to go.

 

[DocNrock]

Thank you for giving it a listen, Kevin.  Good pickup on the staccato vibe.  I've always had a bit of a staccato "style."  That's just me.  I've been playing on and off for over 30 years, and that is just where my playing has led me.  Also, I didn't have a whole lot of sustain to work with.  My wife was watching TV in the other room, so I was playing at a fairly low volume.  I'm actually surprised the iPhone picked it up as well as it did. 

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.  :icon_thumright:  I like the hook riff, too.  It just kind of came out when I started playing, so I went with it. 

 

[stratamania]

I listened to it also, there are some ideas that you could develop.

And you can't beat a guitar for unwinding.

 

[Cagey]

If you don't already have such a thing, a compressor pedal is a handy way to gain sustain without a great deal of effect on your tone. Some amps (usually tube-based) will do that for you for free, but you have to crank 'em or push the pre-amp with the power stage throttled, which can have a pretty dramatic effect on your tone. Very satisfying, though. Making a note sing on its own does a lot for the character and feel of a tune.

The compressors I've had have either been junk or outrageously expensive, so I don't have any good recommendations for you. But, there are a lot of them out there and I'm sure somebody will chime in with a reasonable solution if you're interested. It's a very common thing to use.

 

[DocNrock]

Thanks for the tip, Kevin.  Actually, I was playing through a compressor (Boss CS-3).  My guitar went into the compressor, which went into the front end of my tube amp (Peavey JSX half-stack, Ultra channel).  The signal went through a chorus and reverb in the effects loop.  The power amp output then went into a THD Hotplate before going to the 412 cabinet.  The volume was really low, so even with the compressor, sustain was somewhat limited.  Long enough for me, but not long enough to let a bend sing out for a few measures, for example.

It's all good.  Your point about holding some notes out is well-taken.