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Topic: Distortion as a Blocking Practice Tool |
MIchael Bean
From:
North Of Boston
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Posted 31 Jul 2014 6:34 pm |
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I realized tonight as I was playing with through a distortion pedal that anytime I played two notes together, it would create some ugly overtones. I decided to use this as I practiced my blocking.
When the single notes where clean, they would be sweet and flutey sounding. Anytime that the blocking was not clean enough, the overtones would ring out like a game show buzzer screaming "wrong!". It really forced me to play cleanly. |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 31 Jul 2014 8:13 pm
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| That's a good idea, actually, unless there's some kind of magic to be found in the brief slurring of 'normal' sounding notes...which obviously there is for specific effect...but this should sharpen up the crisp clean and articulate portion of the program. |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 1 Aug 2014 12:50 am
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Brilliant. Mad as hell I didn't think of it! So the drive channel on my Fender really does have a use after all 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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James Leaman
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 1 Aug 2014 9:21 am
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| I have noticed the same thing with any distortion. mutiple strings sound horrible. Really good practice for single note runs. |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 1 Aug 2014 10:11 am
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Absolutely. If you have a fuzz box, so much the better. If you listen to a really good high-gain rock shredder guitarist you can hear how well they articulate---both left & right hand technique, to get skeins of individual notes---synthesizer-like---rather than an earful of dirt (unless that's what they're shooting for).
It is a great practice tool. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 2 Aug 2014 5:08 pm
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I think using and devising practice habits with boxes - things you're unlikely to do on stage or in a "real" arrangement - is a fantastic tool. When my guitar students ask me "what box(es) do I NEED - at which I often sniff out a "MOM! My teacher's said I HAVE to get one!" - the very first one I advocate is a decent, DEAD CLEAN, digital delay, the longer the better. Practically, this usually means a Digitech 150, 250, 155 etc. because of the 5-second delay. (There's one for sale on the board for $50). There is almost NO tool better for learning the neck than learning to play on top of your own licks, duplicating them exactly using all sorts of different string combinations. And even though that's deeply-masochistic for my self on steel guitar, we-eell... everybody knows that giving each note value the proper amount of time evenly within a lick is the key to real speed, the kind of speed where learning one fast lick can positively affect your other playing - if you have a collection of "fast" licks, but they all speed up and slow down within themselves, any attempt to apply that speed to a different position or lick with a different start point just goes disastrous - you don't "have" speed, you've just got a lick. Hello delay, I hate you.... And playing 4's over 3's and vice-versa, it's right there in front of you, really. Harmonizing....
Envelope filters, and as you say really pick-sensitive distortion/fuzz settings are great for blocking or as most people say, "muting" - and they're also great for evening out picking attack, most people are all over the place on this. Another oddity I think every musician should buckle down, buy it, learn it - then closet it - is a graphic equalizer, preferably the 2/3 octave per 15-slider or even the 30-slider-type rack units. You can Ebay a Behringer or Alpha or ADA for $40, $60... and you will no longer sound like an flowering idiot when talking about frequency ranges and usage. The bar at this website is set way higher than most; it's scary how many electric musicians seriously think that "midrange" is, like, between the 8th and 15th frets on their gee-tar. SERIOUSLY....  A parametric EQ is probably a better tool down the road, but there's really NO better substitute for pushing all them sliders up and down and up and down. And/or/but, one test I periodically inflict on myself (steel) AND students is ye olde, dead-clean solid-state no-NOTHING (maybe a hint of reverb) sound - like what you do just before you fix it up. And with that tone alone, play something MUSICAL. Not just technical, but play music.
"Oh no, man, I gotta have my _____"
Just say no.  |
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