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The following is a guest post by Dan Vuksanovich of WhyISuckAtGuitar.com. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

I’m a classically trained guitarist and a former information technology consultant, which makes me a guitar nerd with an insatiable craving for the latest and greatest technology. I also play in a local cover band, for which I need a tonally flexible rig which is easy to transport and doesn’t break the bank. The solution? You guessed it: amp and effects modeling.

My rig consists of a Line 6 HD500 with a QSC K8 powered PA speaker for stage volume. That’s it. All my gear combined, including my guitar, weighs less than fifty pounds. I used to drive a Mini Cooper and had room for all my gear with tons of room to spare. While our other guitarist and bassist are lugging in their tube half stacks, I’m at the bar having a beer.

Yup. I’m the weirdo on stage with nothing behind me but the wall, the “amateur” who hears the whispers and snickers of sound guys behind my back. All the whispering and snickering stops, though, during sound check. This past Saturday I literally had a sound guy insulting my rig to my face during load in. He was desperately searching for a way to not let me go direct into the house PA. I asked him, nicely, if we could just give it a try. He said OK. I played for about 10 seconds during sound check, paused, and then heard him say sheepishly, “Uh, that actually sounds pretty good.”

So how do I do it? How am I the one guitar player who can coax direct tones from his modeler that don’t feel like an ice pick in the ear? Here are some best practices for getting good live sound from a modeler:

Not all modelers are created equal – There are lots of wild claims out there about tone quality by companies that make amp modelers and multi-effects units. The problem is that tone quality is subjective, so the manufacturers can basically claim whatever they want. Now, I’m not going to tell you what you should and shouldn’t buy, but I will say that if you buy a $99 entry-level modeler, don’t expect it to sound like a $3,000 Axe-Fx. My POD HD 500 cost about $500, and for my purposes it gives me the best bang for the buck. It might not sound 100% as good as an Eleven Rack or an Axe-Fx, but let’s be honest here, I play at local bars and clubs, not Madison Square Garden.

Your home amplification method matters – The way you amplify your modeler when you’re not playing at a venue is a huge consideration. The goal here is to make your bedroom setup as much like a live setup as possible. Enter the QSC K8 powered PA speaker. Yes, it cost me $600. Yes, that’s more than the cost of the POD, but I need to be able to hear what my tone will sound like when I get to the venue, and what better way to do that than with my own personal PA? Let me state the inverse of this for total clarity. If you run your modeler through an amplifier, even if it’s directly into the effects loop, the amp will color the sound… a lot. Therefore, if you try to go direct into a house PA after you’ve tweaked your sound through your amp, you’re in for a shock because it will not sound even remotely like you remember it sounding at home. What you need is a full frequency, flat response (FRFR) powered PA speaker. This works out perfectly because at home the PA speaker will be your amp, and at the venue you can use it as a personal monitor for stage volume that you can control.

Be the opposite of a kid in a candy store – All those models! All those effects! I can make my guitar sound like an alien spacecraft if I want to! Time out. Listen, there might be 600 amp models and 4,000 effects to choose from, but all you really need is a few usable live sounds. I’ve got four: acoustic, clean, crunch and saturated. Instead of going crazy and filling up every available effects slot just because it’s there, spend some time researching a typical signal chain for the type of sound you want. For example, my saturated sound is the one I use most on stage, so I needed to make sure that it was just right. I started with the assumption that I would use one of the high gain amp models, noise gate, reverb, and potentially a distortion pedal to smooth out the gain. I’ve got a bunch of empty effects slots and one empty amp model slot (I could run amp models in parallel if I wanted to) but my sound is just the way I want it.

Listen… really listen – There are plenty of ways to dial in awful tone with a modeler. You’ve got to use your ears to find something that works, probably even more so than with a real amp. Being an 80′s metal guy, my initial assumption was that I would use the Marshall high gain amp model. No matter what I did, though, I couldn’t dial off the shrill high end on the Marshall. I tried the Mesa Dual Rectifier model instead, and it was perfect. It gave me exactly what I wanted: a sleazy, nasty tone at the lower frets for chugging and riffing, and a sweet singing tone at the higher frets for soloing. I experimented with a few distortion pedal models to smooth out the gain as much as possible, but couldn’t find one I liked, so I decided to try compression instead. Bingo! That was the one missing ingredient and it completed my saturated tone.

Some sound guys will help you – One night we had a sound guy who I thought was just interested in insulting my rig again, but it turned out he wanted to help me out with my sound. There’s a difference in volume between bedroom and stage can create some EQ problems. At bedroom volumes my sound was not quite powerful enough so I cranked up the bass, which sounded great. At stage volume, though, the bass simply too much and the sound guy told me as much. He used his equipment (and his ears) to help me EQ, and I’ve had those settings dialed in ever since. He also helped my fine tune the levels of my patches so that I could switch back and forth without forcing him to use the faders to bring the volume up or down.

Modeling isn’t perfect, and it isn’t for everyone. Does our other guitarist’s tube half-stack sound better than my POD? A little. Is it worth it to me to lug around over 100 pounds of gear in an SUV to make my tone a little better? Absolutely not.

Ultimately you’ll have to make your own decision, but I can assure you that quality live sound with a modeler is possible. You just have to avoid the pitfalls.

About the author: Dan Vuksanovich received his Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University in 1999. He currently teaches and blogs about how to get better at guitar via his website, www.whyisuckatguitar.com.

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So tonight I have a rock show. Second show with this new band. The first show was ‘okay’.. I talked about it here (Guitar Zen). I’m hoping to have a better performance. Definitely the songs are much more natural now with the time involved in practice since the first show.

I’m sitting here ‘working’ and thinking about tonight. What do you guys like to do to mentally prep for a show on gig day? Working isn’t the best, since it’s full of distractions. I need to re-string the guitars and I’d like to do a quick practice with the guitar trainer at some point.

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I would first like to say that I’m not the biggest John Frusciante fan out there, but I definitely respect his playing and his passion for guitar. Today, I came across an interesting video where he goes into various techniques, and discusses his philosophy about soloing. I particularly like what he said about soloing and the ’16th note jail’ a lot of us (and I would say for certain that I fit that mold) are in when it comes to solo.

Immediately after watching this video, I felt more aware and had a desire to explore my soloing a bit more. Trying to break out of my comfort zone (or habit zone) to see what’s out there. Anyway.. thought it was worth a look and wanted to pass it on:

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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

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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

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