Effects Bay

The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian Common. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Greetings! In this second installment, I’ll talk about drones and interesting ways to use them in constructing guitar parts. I will also include some tips, tricks, and quick fixes when it comes to improving your tone.

The concept of using drones–also known as pedal tones–involves using one note and building chords around it. This is a common method of composition, particularly in Art Music (what is generally referred to as Classical Music) and songwriters who use pianos. The possibility of ten fingers on a keyboard offer a great amount of lush chords with complex harmonies. Guitarists who exercise a little savvy can achieve the same thing.

The easiest way to build a pedal tone would involve an open string.

We’ll take the lowest string, E. I’ll give you some basic chord charts, then I’ll examine further to show you how the chords work off each other.

From low to high: E A D G B E

Em (ver 1): 0 7 5 X X X     (ver 2): 0 10 9 X X X

These are two versions of Em. Version 1 has The root (E) and 3rd (G). Version 2 has the full harmony with the 5th (B)

Em7: 0 14 12 X X X

The minor 7th (D) makes this chord a minor 7th. There is no 3rd, but you can leave the G string open if you wish. I think it sounds great as-is.

F#m7: 0 9 7 X X X

The minor 7th (E) makes this F#m7.

Am: 0 12 10 X X X

This is a full Am chord with the 5th (E) in the lowest register.

C: 0 15 14 X X X

This is a full C chord with the 3rd (E) in the lowest register.

Dsus2: 0 5 4 X X X

This is D major with the suspended 2nd (E) in the lowest register. You COULD make the argument that it is an Em7add9–root (E) minor 7th (D) 9th (F#), but for the sake of this installment, we’ll take the D name.

Now, take these shapes and perhaps play them in this order:

Em (ver 1) – Dsus2 – F#m7 – Em (ver 2) – C – Em7 – Am – Em (ver 2)

Notice how interesting that sounds? You get a low E droning the entire progression, but you still have a sense of movement in terms of harmony.

To build upon it (those of you with multiple guitars, a bassist, or multi-track capabilities), try this:

1) Take the original progression:

Em (ver 1) – Dsus2 – F#m7 – Em (ver 2) – C – Em7 – Am – Em (ver 2)

2) Now, have a bass play the following notes (changing in the same order as the above progression):

E – D – F# – G – C – B – A – G

The bass follows the progression of the notes you play on the A string. You’ll get interesting harmonies when the notes stray from the droning E.

3) Have a second guitar play these open position chords (once again in the same order as the original progression):

Em – D – F#m – G – C – C/B ( X 2 0 0 1 0) – Am – G

Or, to spice things up, you could do this instead

Emadd9 – Dsus4 – D – G – Cadd9 – Bm – Am – Am7

By keep certain chords static over other moving harmonies, you create a sense of independence between instruments, making it even more interesting.

Moving on, I wanted to talk a little bit about tone. The quest for tone is about as on-going as life itself and also a huge headache as it is totally subjective. Everyone has their own idea of what “ideal tone” is all about. This is merely a set of observations I’ve made in my time in live and local music scenes. Whether or not you decide to try or keep these tips is ultimately up to you. But, like I’ve said before, this column is meant to encourage experimentation. Have fun with it

Most of these tips are either free or inexpensive.

1) Use your neck pickup.

Obviously this one is impossible if you ONLY have a bridge pickup, but take a break and flip it to the neck pickup. Notice how full and well-rounded your tone sounds already? If anything, use combined pickups if you MUST use the bridge pickup (most strats have 5 way switching which offer great tonal possibilities, and even two-pickup models have a both-pickup position).

2) Scoop your mids if you just, but use restraint.

Ever been to a local show where a metal band is playing? How about listening to them do a sound check and remembering the wonderful crunch of their tone? What happens next? Generally what happens is… once the drums kick-in, you lose the guitars. Even Kirk Hammet has preached the glories of the mids Use just a little, and you will go a long way.

3) Roll off the gain.

Rolling off a little gain yields two very important things: 1) A distortion that reacts better to your picking technique, style, dynamics, etc and 2) Gives you way more definition. Great riffs are one thing… being able to hear each note clearly without a wall of gain behind it makes it far more enjoyable.

Granted, there are elements of shoegaze, hard rock, metal and noise that benefit from tons of gain. I kick on extra gain–sometimes I run ALL THREE of my distortions at once!–at times, but more often than not, I use little to mild distortion as my one-size-fits-all starter tone.

4) Use heavier strings.

Most guitarists I know use 9′s. Try 10′s, or even 9.5′s. You will notice a difference, especially in your clean tones. Heavier strings = heavier tone. I used to use 8′s until I tried out a guitar that was strung with 11′s. It sounded massive, and I never looked back. All of my guitars are set-up and strung with 11′s.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

I’m hoping to make this a regular column, so if anyone has suggestions for future columns, please feel free to comment me or contact me. I have some ideas, but who knows what ideas you may have for me!

- Kevin Ian Common

thecommonmenmusicgmailcom

Kevin Ian Common is a multi-instrumentalist who has been involved with live music for a little over a decade. He studied music theory and composition at a local university. He has played guitar, bass, and drums for various bands. He is currently the vocalist/guitarist for The Common Men, a post-punk band from Northern California. You can check them out on Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter. Their main page is on Myspace: www.myspace.com/thecommonmen

Popularity: 20%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• drone guitar
• guitar drone
• guitar drones
• drone guitar tone
• drone guitar sound
• how to drone guitar
• guitar gear for drone
• droning guitar sound
• how to play drone guitar
• how to create guitar drones

The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian Common. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Growing up a guitar player was tough in the early years. I picked up a guitar a few years later than many of my friends, so when I tried out for bands, most of my friends in bands already had guitarists. This prompted me to think differently about playing guitar and how to play the guitar.

While most of these techniques are tried, true, and probably printed in many magazines before me, chances are you might have a small flash of inspiration. Maybe I will mention something you’ve never thought about. It’s also come to my attention–being in various bands in various cities for the past 10 years–that many bands have guitarists who simply strum power chords or basic open-position chords. Even the simplest variation can make a two-guitar texture sound full, or even a single guitar part sound distinctive.

Hopefully I will be able to continue this series which will include techniques, tricks, tips, and even ideas concerning effects pedals.

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

We’ll start with chords. Chords are the building blocks of any great song. Let’s take a simple progression:

A     D     E     A

You already have the building blocks of a great song. A typical guitarist would simply strum open position chords and call it a day. Let’s look at some alternative ways to play these three chords.

The following charts will be from left to right: E A D G B E

A:

X 0 2 2 2 5     X 0 7 6 5 0     X 0 11 9 10 0     X 0 7 9 10 0     X X X 9 10 9

D:

X 0 0 2 3 5     X 0 0 7 7 5      X X 0 11 10 X     X 0 7 7 10 X     X X 7 7 7 10

E:

0 2 2 4 5 X     X X 6 4 5 0     X X 9 9 12 X      0 7 9 9 0 0     X X X 9 9 7

If you have two guitarists, try having one play the open chord positions and have another play one of these alternatives. You notice that the sound is fuller because different positions/octaves now have a voice in the overall texture. Also, if you are a single guitarist, 9 times out of 10 you have a bassist in the band, why not play an alternate voicing of chords and let the bass form the foundation? Even if the bassist is walking, you will create interesting harmonic movement while keeping everything simple.

Also, try these:

Another easy way to thicken a double-guitar texture is adding a capo to the proceedings. With a capo at the 2nd fret, A D E becomes G C D. At the 7th fret, A D E becomes D G A.

Try playing A D E octaves while letting the high B and E strings ring.

Have one guitarist isolate the third of each chord (A D E is C# F# G#) and play them in octaves. This is a popular technique in modern rock music, but that is because it’s very effective at achieving fuller sounds.

Better yet, for more linear harmonic motion, have a guitarist play E F# E over A D E ( the 5th of A, 3rd of D, Root of E) or C# D B over A D E (the 3rd of A, root of D, 5th of E) for even more interesting results.

Have one guitar distorted and one clean. Japanese rock band Luna Sea used this technique to great effect. You can find various videos on YouTube.

I hope you have found this interesting!

- Kevin Ian Common

The Common Men
www.myspace.com/thecommonmen

Popularity: 11%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• guitar efex luna sea
• luna sea guitar effect

I haven’t had a chance to practice with my band for a few weeks. The holiday season is always a rough time to schedule practice. Seems like one of is always out of town, etc. That’s fine though, I set up my rig in the basement, start laying pedals and guitars out and the basement quickly changes to man-rock-cave. God awful tones, horrible licks and general ruckus happens shortly after. I like this time, it’s a way to work on some new licks for leads, maybe a new riff for a new song, truly a time of free experimentation.

I wanted to write this post, because I’m always surprised and worried/concerned when I work on new sounds/pedals in the basement. I always say “it sounds awesome in the basement, but how will it sound in reality”.  When I play in the basement, I always seem to gravitate to more low end in my tone, less mids. I’m by myself, no drums, no second guitar, no bass, and those factors need to be considered when playing ‘solo’.

As a few of you may notice, I just recently picked up the Analog Man Beano Boost, and I’ve also been playing with a new Creation Audio Labs  Holy Fire pedal and in the basement, these have been kicking my ass, but in reality, I have some pretty serious issues with the Beano Boost. I normally play with a Travis Bean guitar which are pretty responsive in the high end frequency, and the Beano Boost is generally a bright pedal (treble boost). Too much of a good thing?  Not sure, but the point of it working in the basement doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to work  higher volumes, additional instruments, etc. It’s always a crap shoot when it’s time to introduce the sound to the band, which can be exciting when it works, but a bummer when it doesn’t.

Curious.. do you have similar experiences? If so, or if not.. please comment below!

Popularity: 2%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• analog man sun lion
• analogman beano boost volume
• super hard on schematic
• analog beano for sale
• schematic boost bright pedal
• sho beano boost
• sho vs beano
• sunileeon bulkjar
• superhardon schematic
• schematic boost

So on November 10th (sorry about the lag there), I asked the following question on Twitter and on the Facebook page – “Ok. Question time. Seems like a lot of a peeps have a few guitars in their line up. What’s your #1 guitar? The guitar you’d run into a burning building to save.” I remember Twitter seemed a bit slow, so thought I’d get some community interaction going.

Below are the responses:

via Twitter

JohnnydelFuego @effectsbay 71 Telecaster with Rosewood fretboard.
rrevenge @effectsbay so far my Shecter Avenger Jagermeister edition. my frankenstein is gonna be better tho. i got my Gotoh floyd in the mail!
HomesickFrank @effectsbay 1995 American Standard Strat with colored headstock. Custom Shop design – limited production.
RandallMBrown @effectsbay My “burning-building guitar”: The black Fender Flame: http://www.masterseriesguit….
Merrw @effectsbay Mine is an Eastwood GP – goldtop
lloydtones @effectsbay Mine’s a 1st year Ibanez Jetking II. I love that guitar like I love little else. Too bad Ibanez messed up the later models.
collateraldmge @effectsbay Gibson Les Paul Custom Slash Edition
Petroguy @effectsbay McCarty Soapbar is getting saved. Then I would go back for the wife.
drewstreetmary @effectsbay 52 RI Telecaster for me!

via Facebook

Trey Bliss Although I’m usually playing my Les Paul, I have a 1955 Gretsch Duo Jet I don’t like to take out to gigs. Amazing guitar thats great for the studio. I would run in to save it.
Justin Vigeant What a cruel question… hmmm, I would say the Tele just barely edges out the SG, but both are pretty light, so hopefully I could get both in time!
Owen Vickers That’s a really hard question, but if I had to choose one, it would be my bitsa guitar put together from a Realtone Strat shaped body, Ibanez RG140 neck and Rio Grande pickups. And then my Malmsteen Strat, if I was fast enough
Patricio Morales Tought question… for personal reasons, my most beloved guitar is a ’93 AM. ST. Strat that my late dad bought me. It stands next to my bed and I no longer tour with it. In fact, when I die I wish to be cremated with it (unless my daughter wants it really bad).
Of the guitars I do gig with (and which are at my rehearsal space) I wouldn’t hesitate … Read Morein saving my Duesenberg Starplayer TV… although it would break my heart to see my Jap. Jazzmaster with K. Novak pups burn to a crisp. Can I save both?
Kevin Kelsey My Jazzmaster…but my Toronado is a very close second.

Please feel free to continue the discussion below by commenting!

Popularity: 9%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• Eastwood GP Goldtop
• owen vickers guitar

I was initially going to ‘rate’ or ‘review’ this movie, but frankly I want to go deeper than that. The movie is great. Everyone should have gone to see it, and if it plays in more cities and more theaters everyone should go see it.

After watching the movie, I had many things going through my head, and for days (I saw the movie on Saturday) I’ve been thinking about why that movie has got me thinking so much. I think one of the biggest points, is viewing this movie as musician. I’ve never seen a documentary about music or musician’s that show the ‘human’ side of ‘superstars’. I’ve never seen a documentary about musicians that shows simple creativity and drive to produce music. You normally see the ‘rock’, the ‘fame’, the glory, but not the simple drive to make some cool with a guitar… when you’re all by yourself. I was blown away by the different levels of passion of music. The desire to play an instrument. The desire to master their own voice with the guitar.

Also, coming from a musician’s point of view, I was really able to see why I’m not successful with a guitar. Sure, I love to play. I love music and playing with my band, but there was a inherent drive to be fully committed to the music. This is really hard for me to describe, and I’m sure some of you know what I’m talking about, while others don’t. I tried to explain this to my wife, and the example I used… if they were playing the world’s shittiest song, they would play that song with a rock star attitude and own that song. Doesn’t matter if they’re on stage or at a campfire with a crappy acoustic. I’m not sure if I have that drive or commitment. I also felt there was a level of honesty to be able to open one’s self up to a song or performance. Not sure if other guitarists out there are working on new tunes and suddenly get that self-conscious  feeling. “Is this song retarded?” “Is this riff weak?”. I feel when one gets to a certain level those insecurities fade away once you’ve determined your voice with the guitar and it becomes fluent.. but then again that leads to being stale.. crap, I’m going on a tangent now.

The musician that most surprised me was Jack White. His desire to play, and to play from the heart was easily visible. I thought it was so in your face, that it was fake, but then it started to settle in.. he truly loves music. I loved watching Jack and Jimmy Page play the records and be wrapped up in the songs that influenced them throughout the years. To me, this movie was about musicians, and their passion to play. But it was presented in a ‘real’ way. In a way that I could relate to the Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White. I feel those things. I like those things, but it’s clear that they take it to the next level. That’s why I’m writing about this on my blog vs. playing in U2.

I tip my hat off to Davis Guggenheim for putting together a great film. I loved how he brought you to their roots, brought you to the stage of their successes and then finishes up with them together. I also enjoyed that they played each others songs. Jimmy Page learning a U2 song, and the Edge picking up a White Stripes tune. It breaks down to the ‘normal’ level. 3 chords and a dream and sitting around playing guitar. I absolutely loved that movie, but I think I almost enjoyed the analysis afterwards more. I can’t wait to pick this video up on DVD.

It Might Get Loud will be released on DVD (I highly recommend everyone that plays guitar to pick this up or at least watch it somewhere) on Dec 22, 2009. You can currently pre-order and lock the price at Amazon.

Popularity: 2%