Joe Satriani / Satch dreams - improvisation

[wolbai]

Hi to all,

it's already some time ago since I have posted something here ...

As I currently do not play in a band, I tend to crab all backing tracks I can get and noodle along with them. And sometimes, the outcome is what I would call “musical”.

I am still in love with my Warmoth Built I have ordered end of 2013. It quickly became my main guitar for live performance, because this guitar has a great versatility in tone  (H-S-H). And at the end of the day: she is still a beauty  :icon_biggrin:

Last week I rediscovered a backing track form Joe Satriani. The song is called "Satch Dreams". To me, this backing has some mystical elements: Great sound coloration I love to cruise over.

The beat is  a 6/8 rhythm. Initially this was pretty hard for me to log into the groove. The backing itself is spherical and slow motion. The challenge is not to play a lot of notes and to let the backing breath. This requires a kind of mature playing discipline.

The main chord in the backing is B minor, and most of the other chords (Em7, Gmaj7, D, A) are taken from the B natural minor, or Aeolian, scale (B C# D E F# G A). The only exceptions are the F# and F#7 which you either ignore or apply the  B harmonic minor (B C# D E F# G A#). Apart from the B minor pentatonic scale, the chord progression itself invites to play modal forms of the D-major scale and arpeggios.

I recorded this in ONE Take, so not all phrases are really top. But I like the overall mood. And it is completely improvised (I bet: I never can play like that again). With the exception of the backing this improvisations has not that much in common with the original song.

My main gigging amp is a Marshall JVM410h. I use this amp also for home recordings with a Rivera RockCrusher and a Radial JDX DI Box. For this specific recording I have chosen the Crunch channel (Orange Mode). In this channel you still can hear differentiations from your picking style (fingers and guitar pic) or by switching the PU selector.
I consider this as a great channel for a dynamic playing style (and I am still discovering this channel for that purpose).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_QqXM7wFgU&feature=youtu.be


Let me know what you’re thinking about.

Rocking greetings - wolbai

 

[stratamania]

Good playing and sounded fine to me. I've not heard the original so nothing to compare it with.

Nice to see you on the forum again.

 

[wolbai]

Hi stratamania,

cool that you chime in and thanks for your appreciative feedback  :icon_thumright:

 

 

[Cagey]

Well done!

It's funny. One of my brothers had both of those amps at one time and couldn't get happy. Put 'em on Craig's List and the guy that bought them just made them wank and crank. Pissed him off that they didn't sound that great when he played them, but taught him that it's not all gear. A lot ot it is setup and playing.

 

[bagman67]

I'm sure that went over great, Kevin:


It's not the amp that sucks - it's YOU.

 

[Cagey]

It's cruelty in motion, but more often than not, that's the case. I know when I was just a puppy, the local living legend used to embarrass the hell out of me on my own guitar. I kept thinking I needed a different fiddle, but it wasn't a fiddle problem. It was a me problem.

 

[bagman67]

Oh, I get it.  My first amp was a 15-watt Peavey Backstage Plus back when I was a spotty kid of 19.  I made some god-awful nasty noises with that thing, and never found one that wasn't either dead-clean or disgusting.  I plugged into one a couple years ago and was able to coax some reasonably nice overdriven distortion out of it.  I think the intervening almost-30-years have been good to me, and taught me that MOAR GAIN is almost never the right answer.

 

[stratamania]

Hi stratamania,

cool that you chime in and thanks for your appreciative feedback  :icon_thumright:

You're welcome  :icon_thumright:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Great playing, all the way down to the subtle nuances that make Satch's playing so special, that a shredder can play with such emotion and taste.

Beautiful guitar, and great tone too.

That's my one and only Marshall amp that I would ever go out of my way to spend money on if I had it.

 

[wolbai]

Well done!

It's funny. One of my brothers had both of those amps at one time and couldn't get happy. Put 'em on Craig's List and the guy that bought them just made them wank and crank. Pissed him off that they didn't sound that great when he played them, but taught him that it's not all gear. A lot ot it is setup and playing.

Probably a lesson every guitar player has to go through: the more you play, the less relevance has gear. The only exception I can see for me personally: I need a guitar in my hand where I feel at home.

Having that said: for great guitar sounds, especially in a band gigging environment, it is a must to have a pretty good understanding how to setup and configure your guitar rig.

 

[wolbai]

Oh, I get it.  My first amp was a 15-watt Peavey Backstage Plus back when I was a spotty kid of 19.  I made some god-awful nasty noises with that thing, and never found one that wasn't either dead-clean or disgusting.  I plugged into one a couple years ago and was able to coax some reasonably nice overdriven distortion out of it.  I think the intervening almost-30-years have been good to me, and taught me that MOAR GAIN is almost never the right answer.

Well, well ... the thing with the Gain 

My best tone mod in the last year was NOT technical driven, but playing style driven: I worked, the best I can, on my vibrato technique  :icon_biggrin:

The funny thing: my gain level on my OD-channels have remarkably reduced: my vibrato is doing more and more now of the sustain.

 

[wolbai]

Great playing, all the way down to the subtle nuances that make Satch's playing so special, that a shredder can play with such emotion and taste.

Beautiful guitar, and great tone too.

That's my one and only Marshall amp that I would ever go out of my way to spend money on if I had it.

Hi and thanks for your great feedback!

I love details, when it comes to guitar playing :icon_thumright:
The Crunch channel is a very good in between position and I more and more discovers this channel for nuance playing, because with an OD channel (especially on a Marshall JVM with a grazy amount of gain) it is a bit hard to hear different pickups selections, fingerstyle vs. guitar pic playing. And OD channels have (by design) typically a more compressed tone and therefore less dynamic than Crunch channels.

The last 4 years I have played in a cover rock band (Beatles, CCR, Dire Straits, Eagles, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, ZZTop) which I had a huge necessity for a variety of tones. The JVM410h offers lots of sounds for every playing style I can imagine :headbang:
The only question is: is the guitar player capable to use them in a musical way? (Not that easy, I have to say).




 

 

[fdesalvo]

Nice work!

 

[DocNrock]

That was great! Your phrasing is very melodic and you managed to do a lot with dynamics.  It's even more impressive being improv.  If you told me it was composed, I would believe it. 

Great tone, also! 

:icon_thumright: :glasses9: :icon_thumright:

 

[wolbai]

Hi DocNrock,

your feedback means a lot to me   It is pretty much what my intension for the recording was  :icon_biggrin:

I always try to play guitar like a singer is singing a melody line. That is to me the key for a good guitar lead part or a guitar instrumental.
Doing so, needs some good understanding of the underlying chord progression and what notes to use from them for the meldodic part.

The dynamics part of music is honestly something I feel not at the end of what I try to develop for me personally:
I have chosen a crunch channel by intension, because that is tonal wise a good home base for dynamic playing. So there is a technical part of dynamic where dynamic guitar playing can be settled on. But dynamic is of course also part of the structure of any guitar lead part or guitar instrumental. And that is by far the most challenging part of dynamic and an art by itself to me.

I think there are lots of guitar music played with a reasonable playing technique like speed runs, bending, wide vibrato, and so on, but often with a lack of dynamics and a (what I would call) good "storyboard" where the listener is being captured by.

When I talked about that it is an improvised recording, I mean the following:
I have worked out before I started the improvisation a rough structure (story board) in my mind which consist of 3 to 4 anchor points.
One anchor point was the initial phrase to start with, which then was repeated one more time.  The second anchor point was the melody part in the chorus. And the third anchor point was the usage of a Tubescreamer to modify the tone into a more heavier sound with more sustain. The forth anchor was the idea to reduce the dynamics towards the end of the recording. And the final one: to force myself to make a good amount of breaks to let the backing breath. Everthing else I played was just how it flowed out of me in that specific moment.

 

[Slackjaw]

I worked, the best I can, on my vibrato technique  :icon_biggrin:

I don't know... I've always been of the mind that good vibrato is something you have to have a "feel" for, and it's not something that can really be "worked on". If you are putting any thought into it at all, you are already doing it wrong. With enough time and practice under your belt, it should already be there.

Players that don't have "it" sound like they are shaking a string just for the sake of shaking a string. Kirk Hammett comes to mind as such a player...

 

[stratamania]

With regard to vibrato. And both points of view so far I think are correct in their own way.

My two cents or insight for what it's worth to you.

A lot is to do with feel and so on.

But conversely it can be worked upon, narrow vibrato, wide vibrato, fast or slow, gradually speeding up, circular vibrato, classical vibrato. Bends without vibrato, bends with etc.

Of course if someone has no "feel" it will be difficult to work on the finer points of vibrato.

But if you have feel there's no reason it can't be worked on.

A large part of getting into a particular players style is going for the finer details of the players attack, legato, staccato, picking style, slides, vibrato types and feel.

Of course we aren't talking about working on something here as learning how,  but more finer details of refinement. So in this sense prior to working or refining you already know how.

So in a sense both points of view are correct, interpreting any music to make it sound musical requires sensitivity for the music or feel. But technical refinement and attention to detail can take it further.

 

[wolbai]

In the past, I played some kind of a Clapton style vibrato where the movement is coming mainly from the arm. It can be played even, but it is a narrow vibrato technique.
This was the kind of vibrato, when I started guitar playing.
What I have worked on, is the 80s rock vibrato which is wider and the movement is coming from the wrist. Different vibrato styles need some work and basic understanding how to do it. Most players are used to play one vibrato technique, few are capable to play more than one.

Having that said: a great vibrato is something which developes over time, I mean years.
It took me about 1 1/2 years from practicing a different vibrato style at home to perform it on gigs with my band at a decent level. And I still think that I am not completely there.

Vibrato is the mission in life for any guitar player IMO ...

 

[DocNrock]

Hi DocNrock,

your feedback means a lot to me   It is pretty much what my intension for the recording was  :icon_biggrin:

I always try to play guitar like a singer is singing a melody line. That is to me the key for a good guitar lead part or a guitar instrumental.
Doing so, needs some good understanding of the underlying chord progression and what notes to use from them for the meldodic part.

The dynamics part of music is honestly something I feel not at the end of what I try to develop for me personally:
I have chosen a crunch channel by intension, because that is tonal wise a good home base for dynamic playing. So there is a technical part of dynamic where dynamic guitar playing can be settled on. But dynamic is of course also part of the structure of any guitar lead part or guitar instrumental. And that is by far the most challenging part of dynamic and an art by itself to me.

I think there are lots of guitar music played with a reasonable playing technique like speed runs, bending, wide vibrato, and so on, but often with a lack of dynamics and a (what I would call) good "storyboard" where the listener is being captured by.

When I talked about that it is an improvised recording, I mean the following:
I have worked out before I started the improvisation a rough structure (story board) in my mind which consist of 3 to 4 anchor points.
One anchor point was the initial phrase to start with, which then was repeated one more time.  The second anchor point was the melody part in the chorus. And the third anchor point was the usage of a Tubescreamer to modify the tone into a more heavier sound with more sustain. The forth anchor was the idea to reduce the dynamics towards the end of the recording. And the final one: to force myself to make a good amount of breaks to let the backing breath. Everthing else I played was just how it flowed out of me in that specific moment.

It's almost uncanny to read what you wrote.  Only recently have I begun playing along with backing tracks (once I discovered how many of them there are on YouTube!).  What you wrote is identical to the thought process I have begun applying to my improvs over these.  The difference is that you are quite successful at it!  I'm making some strides, but recently I discovered something that I never knew in 30+ years of playing.  Bagman67 stated it:  MOAR GAIN is almost never the answer.  Recently I have dialed back the gain a lot!  Like from 10 to 5, and most recently to about 2-1/2.  It's like:  so there is where the dynamics were hiding...

Also, I couldn't agree more about vibrato.  Yes, it something you have a feel for starting out, and it comes somewhat out of nowhere.  But that does not mean it cannot be refined.  You develop the ability to think as you grow up, but that ability can be refined with education.  To me, it is the same thing.  Practice doesn't make vibrato, but it can improve it.  Education doesn't create intelligence, it simply refines it.

Thanks for your reply to my comment.  It helped to solidify what I have been learning recently, and gave me a few ideas to work on, as well.

Once again, nice job!  :icon_thumright: