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Topic: Screetching: What you play & How you play |
Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 8 Mar 2018 9:40 pm |
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I've been struggling for years trying to eliminate screetching when playing high up the neck on E9. What I'm specifically talking about is playing the 3d and 4th strings from about the 12th fret and up.
Often the steel sounds thin, like I'm running too much treble on the amp. But if I turn down the treble the middle and lower strings sound mushy and dull. I don't have this issue at all if I play lower strings up high. The third string is the primary culprit.
I've concluded the problem is what I've been playing and how I've been playing. The problem is NOT the amp setting, or the amp, or the steel, or the pickup, or the strings, or the bar, or the finger picks. It's not an equipment problem. I don't need to buy any more equipment.
First, one should not play for long periods of time on strings 3 and 4 when in the upper registers. To do so is just inviting trouble. It's too much high frequency content of closely spaced intervals for the ears when played for long passages. Strings 3 & 5 played together sound fuller and more musical to me. That's where I now try to do the bulk of my high end work. So vary the mix. Just use strings 3 and 4 together for dramatic effect. Don't dwell on them.
But even when following this guideline I've still found times when I almost hated to play the 3rd, or 3rd and 4th strings up high.
So my second epiphany is; pick harder, especially when playing up high. Just recently I started consciously trying to pick those strings much harder when going high. That necessitates compensating with the volume pedal, but it seems to make a big difference. Basically you can't get timid in the upper registers. Really dig in and pick hard. It's amazing how much better tone you get when you do so.
If you want to do some sort of soft, haunting passage, it's better to use lower strings. Strings 5 and 6 sound really good for those sort of things in the upper octave. The third and fourth strings are for making bold musical statements, so be bold and pick extra hard, when the music calls for it. And back down on the volume pedal.
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It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. |
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Bill C. Buntin
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Posted 9 Mar 2018 5:27 am
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Well stated Paul.
I think a lot of players feel or experience that same thin-ness you talk about. I know when I was aware of it and I remember who taught me how to correct it. Bob Rains. When he was rebuilding the Emmons SKH Legrande I played for so long. We had a Push Pull sitting there, and maybe a LL II Emmons and kept experimenting with this thin-ness you speak of. Bob would play and it wouldn't sound thin, then I would play and it would sound thin and he finally convinced me what was causing it. I believe it is just nearly exactly as you describe. BTW We were using, of course, John Hughey stuff to prove this out. Lost in Feeling and Look at US. That one day, Bob Rains corrected my "thin playing".
A good example, watch the youtube of Dave Thornhill and Bob Hempker playing Lost in the Feeling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnVnHqHucRA
Bill |
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Todd Blair
From:
Richmond Virginia, USA
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Posted 9 Mar 2018 9:11 pm
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Thanks for the information! I ran into this issue during practice today and tried rectifying it by playing further from the pickup (and closer to the bar). It helped a bit, but also started sounding pretty off. In my brain, I thought maybe going equidistant from the changer and the bar would help, but I haven't sat back down to try out that theory. When I do sit down again, I'll definitely dig harder and see if that solves the issue. It does make good sense, though.
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Sho~Bud Pro III Custom,Rickenbacker 330, G&L ASAT Special. |
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