Textures, Pt. 2

Last week I started writing about using textures to take your playing to a new level of musicality. For starters, we should always look for the inner voices in a piece of music, and then adjust tone and timbre through slight adjustments to our playing techniques.

That first part is very important because it's about using what you have before relying on effects or other equipment to manipulate your sound. For most of us, money is going to limit what kind of equipment we'll have, so we may never have exactly what we think we need to get a certain texture. But even for those with huge bankrolls, there will be plenty of instances where you can't bring along all your gear. Therefore, it's always important to learn how to find the simplest solutions first, and build from there.

Now that we all know how to use the Force for good, let's talk about some of the stuff money can buy.

I'm a guitarist; my people are known for our smoke and mirrors tactics usually associated with effects. But many guitarists' signature sound is due in part to their gear, so it's worth investigating. Let's review the basics:

Acoustic guitars are made from different tonewoods and come in different body types or shapes. Knowledgeable salespeople usually match a guitarists playing style to certain types of wood and body styles because it balances out their sound. But if you're a well balanced player that can manipulate the sound with your fingers or pick, it's usually worth shopping for guitars with different tonewoods and shapes that will expand your sonic possibilities.

Electric guitars capture sound with pickups. The two basic pickup options are single coil (found on Fender Stratocasters or Telecasters) and humbuckers (found on Gibson Les Pauls and SGs). Popular opinion describes single coil pickups as having a bright, clean tone while humbuckers have a fat, warm tone.

Secondary to the pickups, wood and body type can also change the sound of an electric guitar. Archtops and hollow bodied guitars allow the top to vibrate, similar to an acoustic guitar, but with humbucking pickups. These produce a woody, warmer tone usually used by jazz or blues guitarists. Different types of wood can affect sustain and ultimately tone.

Look at some pictures of classic rock bands like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones and you'll see a variety of guitars on stage. Before digital effects became widely popular, using different guitars created all the tonal textures they needed.

If you can't afford a new guitar, sometimes a cheap, used guitar that's been beat up a bit can give you a unique sound. I have a few in my collection, and while I don't use them live, they've been very handy in recording situations.

Next, you've got amplifiers. Most people are going to tell you tube amps are the way to go. Frankly, the only time you can argue against that is when a solid state amp can do well enough to save yourself the trouble of dragging a tube amp to the gig. I recently spent a good amount of money on a Class A tube amp, and while I don't understand all the technology behind it, I do understand the wide range of tones I can create. In general, I'd recommend a simple but well built tube amp over any digital amp simulator. Nothing tops the genuine tube sound, and if you put a decent EQ between your guitar and amp, you can mimic most classic amp sounds.

Everything other than your technique, guitar, and amp is just details. But textures are often created in the details.

I've always considered myself a guitar-to-amp guy, but I ended up with a decent collection of effects pedals. My favorite effect is the vibrato on my amp, not pictured below, but here's a rundown of what you see on my pedalboard: Jim Dunlop Crybaby Wah, Electro-Harmonix Mini QTron envelope filter, ProCo Turbo Rat distortion, Boss Giga-Delay (with an FS-5U pedal I use to tap tempos), Boss Flanger, Boss EQ, Ernie Ball Volume.
I can create more sounds than I'll ever use with this rig, and when I use it, I use it sparingly. In most live situations, I'll change my tone by switching channels on my amp, changing pickups, adjusting my tone and volume knobs, and picking closer to the bridge or neck. But with my trio, I often take it a step further using my pedal board. The wah-wah and envelope filter pedals allow me to quickly sweep a wider EQ range. The distortion and flanger color the tone. I usually only use the EQ pedal when I'm dealing with a house amp. The giga-delay lets me program four different pre-sets. I'll use some light delay during some solos, and then I've got some wacky settings for taking things out. Psychadelic jazz doesn't happen without some enablers.

The trick is to know when to use these options. Django Reinhardt made legendary music without any of these effects. Jimi Hendrix practically played effects like they were an instrument all their own. Yet if you took everything away from Hendrix, he still sounded like Hendrix. Jazz guitarists Pat Metheny and John Scofield both have very distinct tones on electric guitar. Yet both have recorded acoustic albums, and their playing is immediately recognizable. In fact, every great artist has at some point recorded or performed acoustically and maintained their unique sound.

The point is to use your textures to suplement musicality, not replace it all together. Learn how to manipulate your sound organically first, and then introduce some other effects to alter your tone even greater. Used tastefully and with a strong musical purpose, textures will add new depth to your songs.

Textures, Pt. 1

My latest kick in writing or playing music has been experimenting with textures. This actually isn't a new thing, but I'm spending more time at home, on my own, trying to figure out ways to play the same passage differently.

For starters, a song needs to be good. If your tune is lame in it's most naked form, it's going to be lame no matter what smoke and mirrors you apply. My yard stick is my wife. If I write a tune for my trio and have been honing the melody for a while, and then hear her humming it later that night, mission accomplished.

The next step is adding texture. How can I make the "A" section sound different from the "B" section? Do I need a bridge or vamp to add more interest? Who plays the melody? Is it doubled? Is everybody playing?

Since my trio is basically an electric jazz ensemble, many of our textures happen on the spot, but I try to write some of it into the music. I think one of the problems a lot of people have with jazz music is that it kind of sounds the same to them start to finish. The same instruments and sounds and feel basically the whole time. It's really easy for someone like me to forget about this perspective because my ear picks up on the other things happening. Specifically, what the soloist is doing.

When it comes to the other music I make, very specific textures play a larger role. Take, for example, a chord progression of G to D. Repeat. Ad nauseum. There are many great songs written with these exact two chords. Lyrics and melody definitely create interest, but what can you do to pull it away from the Kumbaya-fireside-I-learned-this-song-from-online-tabs sound?

A lot.

First, take stock of how the song is performed. Most of the time I'm playing with somebody else who can play guitar and sing. I can play a variety of instruments, sometimes at the same time. At least in theory, it's physically possible. I've got some practicing to do.

But I always start with what I do best, the guitar. I start with playing inner voices on the guitar. Then it's a matter of rhythm and attack. Fingers or pick? Strum or pluck simultaneously?

Next comes tone. Acoustic or electric guitar? There are many ways to change your tone before using various effects pedals, so I do whatever I can with a straight, clean tone (the fewer effects I use, the less I have to drag to the gig!). Right and left hand position make a huge difference here.

With your left hand (or whichever you use on the fretboard) the further up the neck you voice a chord, the shorter the string becomes. I call this choking up, like a baseball player. But if your other guitar player is playing in a lower position on the neck, choking up will create a distinctive tone and prevent the music from getting too muddy.

Your right hand has even more control. Pick close to the bridge and the tone gets "tinny" while the picking close to or even over the frets produces a "warmer" tone. You can also change your angle of attack by flat picking or using the edge of the pick for a smoother release. I try to maintain my fingernails on my right hand, which has come in handy many time. If I shape them right, it's like having five guitar picks. Each has it's own tonal character as well, just because they grow differently. This is where some classical chops come in handy, even though I rarely play classical music.

I'll expand further on effects and other instruments I've found helpful in future posts. For now, just playing with an acoustic guitar should keep you busy!

Home Recording Tips, Learned the Hard Way

1) Save often.

2) Make sure you're comfortably in front of the mic and can reach the mouse/keyboard. Slightly repositioning yourself to set up punch-ins can noticeably change your tone.

3) Tell your wife when you are about to hit record.

4) Take time to pet your cat before you start, so they don't come asking for attention mid-take.

5) Save often.

6) If patience is a virtue, be the Pope.

7) Give yourself some breaks, and try not to obsess.

8) At a certain point, it's not going to get better, you're only wasting time.

9) Play less.

10) When layering several guitars, find a distinct tone for each based on it's role in the song. The same tone on top of itself just gets muddy.

11) Save often.

12) Learn how to use your equipment, inside and out.

13) When all else fails, reboot.

14) Learn the part, then press record. Doesn't work as well the other way around.

15) Sometimes, it just doesn't sound good. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

16) Try to figure out what time your neighbors get home from work (if you live in an apartment).

17) Save often.

18) Getting the part right is always easier than editing pieces together.

19) Before you say, "I can fix that." and move on to the next part, make sure you can actually fix it.

20) Learn to use what you have. You'll never have the ideal equipment, but many times the best results come unexpectedly by not being able to do what you think you need to do.

The Heat is On

Remember that Glenn Frey song? It was the theme for the St. Louis Cardinals in the late '80s when I was growing up, so it's forever associated with Ozzie Smith and Willie Mcgee. Now that I live in New York City, the only time that song comes to mind is when it starts getting cool and my building turns on the heat. An event accompanied by a lot of hissing and some banging of metal pipes as the adjust to the steam running through them. If you haven't heard this before, it sounds like somebody banging wrenches against metal pipes in your bathroom at 5am. The heat, not the Glenn Frey song.

With heat comes dry air, which is the nemesis of wood instruments like guitars. The steam sucks the moisture out of your apartment while the cold outside sucks the moisture out of the as well. Here are a few tips I've picked up to help keep your guitar safe during the dry season.

-Keep the guitar away from the windows and radiators! These are usually in the same place, so that's easy enough.

-Room humidifier! Get something to throw moisture back into the air. Use distilled water if you're keeping it by your guitars, as the minerals in tap water can gradually seep into the wood or undo the glue.

-Instrument humidifiers! I have one for every guitar with a soundhole. There are several types, and they all work well, just make sure they stay moist but not too wet.

-Put it in the case. If you're not going to be playing it, or when you travel for the holidays, your case is a good barrier to humidity. The trick is to get some moisture inside. The poor man's humidifier is a wet sponge in a disposable tupperware type of container with a few holes punched in the top. A ziploc bag will actually work alright too. Lay this under the headstock in the case, and leave the case flat so there's no spilling.

-Pay attention. If your acoustic guitar is buzzing more than usual, or there's a noticable dip in the top around the bridge, it's drying up. Get some humidity on that baby to prevent any warping.

Basic set up for fretted instruments

Sometimes you end up with a cheap guitar that sounds pretty good but the intonation is rough on your ears and the action makes your fingers bleed. If it's not worth the cost of a set up, you might be able to make some adjustments yourself and make it a decent axe to keep around the house. I haven't done this on a guitar, but I've done work on my mandolin and ukulele, so if you average out the strings, it's the same basic principle. Before you get in over your head, do a little extra research, especially if you're inexperienced at adjusting the truss rod or handling small files or sharp blades.

1) Make sure the neck is straight. Put a capo on the first fret and push down the string on the last fret. There should be a tiny amount of space between the 8th fret and string. If there's nothing, loosen your truss rod. Too much, tighten it. Adjust it in quarter turns, and very slowly.

2) Adjust the bridge or saddle. In most cases, your bridge or saddle (the white piece on the bridge of an acoustic guitar), is going to be too high. There should be slightly more distance between the strings and frets as you move up the neck to allow for more vibration on the string, but too much will cause intonation problems. If it's an acoustic with one of those white plastic saddles, you can simply pop it out to file or sand the bottom side to lower it, or if it needs more height put something underneath it.

3) File out the slots on the nut. On almost every new instrument, especially cheap ones, the nut will need some work. Your strings should be very close to the first fret, otherwise you'll have intonation problems. The string vibration has a smaller amplitude here and is less likely the buzz. Professional guitar techs will have appropriate files for this job, but a set of these is almost as expensive as any instrument I'd have the nerve to work on so I use an exacto knife, nail file, and patience. Go very slowly and retest the string often. If you take out too much you'll need a new nut, or else figure out a way to carefully add a little glue in the slot.

4) Adjust the intonation. This can mean several things. Classical guitars, ukuleles, and many acoustics won't allow for much adjustment. But if your instrument has a movable bridge or individual adjustable saddles (as on most electrics), you can tweak the intonation. First put some fresh strings on and tune up. Then check the note at the 12th fret. It should be exactly in tune. If it's flat, move the saddle closer to the fretboard. If it's sharp, go the other way. Again, small movements do the trick.

If you have any problems, consult a professional before ruining your instrument. But if you have patience and enjoy doing this kind of work, I encourage you to try. I always smile when somebody picks up my $250 mandolin and comments on how nice it feels and I can tell them I set it up myself!

Shopping for your first guitar.

Buying your first guitar, or your child's first guitar, is a tricky process. You don't want to spend a lot of money, and you have no idea what you're looking for. But with guitars, you usually get what you pay for, and a cheap instrument can be a literal pain to play and sound awful. Those two things will take all the fun out of learning the guitar, and before long the instrument will end up in the attic. However, it is possible to find a good starter instrument without spending a lot of money, and there are things you can do to make it easier to play and have a better sound.

All of these tips rely on a guitar that's in tune. At any guitar store, a salesperson should be able to help get you started with a few instruments and should tune them all before handing them over. But in the real world, you have to ask. Don't be shy. Just because you're not buying a $4,000 instrument today doesn't mean you won't someday.

If you're unfamiliar with the different parts of the instrument, refer to the Wikipedia article on the guitar. Learn these basic parts: Headstock, neck, body, frets, fretboard/fingerboard, nut, bridge, and saddle.

Get a trusted brand. Yamaha, Epiphone, Fender, and a handful of others make good beginner guitars. Generally speaking, if you can find guitars with the same brand for $1000 or so, their inexpensive counterparts are usually made with very similar specs, just cheaper wood and labor.

Consider nylon strings. I put nylon strings on many of my beginner students guitars. They are easier on the fingers. Classical guitars will have nylon strings, but they also have a wider neck and flat fingerboard, which can be harder for little hands. Instead, when you find a guitar you like ask the salesperson if they can put a set of nylon strings on a guitar with steel strings. (The answer is "yes," and if they ask why your answer is "because it's for a beginner.")

Don't be too stingy. If you spend too little, which is $100-$300, the instrument is probably going to be a beast to play, which means you'll either give up or outgrow it and need a better one sooner than later. If money is really an issue, decide on a couple guitars you like and then look for some used instruments. It's always cheaper buying straight from a musician, just be sure to look over it closely for any damage such as warping.

Look for a straight neck. The neck has to be perfectly aligned if you want this thing to have a chance at playing well. When you hold the body of the guitar, point the headstock away from you and look down the edge of the neck. There should be a very, very slight concave curve. The frets should be level, and the strings should be parallel with the edges of the fretboard.

Check for buzzing. Play each fret on each string as well as each open string. If you're a novice player, get somebody at the store to do it for you. If you hear buzzing, the neck needs adjustments to play properly. That could cost more money.

Check the intonation. This is hard to do if you're not a guitar player, but here's what I do before I consider even playing a guitar in a store. Once the instrument is in tune, play a harmonic on the 12th fret. Then push the string down on the 12th fret and play it again. The pitch should match exactly. On cheap guitars, they'll never be exact, but you it should be very close.

Does it resonate? Guitars produce a lot of overtones, which is an important characteristic of a well balanced instrument. Play the 9th fret on the G string, or 3rd string (third highest in pitch, which is the third closest to the floor if it's on your lap properly). Let it ring for a couple seconds and then let up to deaden that string. You should still hear the note. These are overtones ringing on the bottom two and highest string. The stronger the overtones, the more resonant the guitar.

Take care of your new instrument. Once you get it home, be sure to treat it right. Wood instruments respond to temperature and humidity. Don't expose it to any extremes for long periods. If your home dries out during the winter, keep it by a humidifier or use an instrument humidifier. Change the strings when they get dirty to keep a healthy amount of tension on the neck and just so it sounds better when you play it.

Inexpensive instruments don't have to be pieces of junk. With a little knowledge, you can find a guitar that will promote good practice habits and get you on your way to making great music!

Reading Music for Guitar

Despite the fact everyone and their dad plays one, the guitar is not an easy instrument. Thanks to the Guitar Hero video game, there was a brief boom in the guitar lesson market. Yet once all those people realized steel strings hurt your fingers more than plastic buttons, and hitting the correct string or two is a lot harder than flicking a light switch, those of us that try to maintain a few students had to go back to drinking PBR instead of those delicious microbrews.

One of the biggest challenges for most guitarists is reading music. Many great guitarists don't read music. They just don't have to. Either they have great ears or play in the type of bands where it's not needed. There are also many that do read music, and exploit that skill to get a lot of work.

Learning to read music seems like a chore. There is tons of great music that can be played without reading a single note, and thanks to more intuitive notation methods like guitar tab, it can even appear cumbersome.

Even if you can read notes on a treble clef, you can play the same note on several strings. This gets confusing, especially if you're trying to articulate a passage properly. When a guitarist comes across an E in the top space on the staff, they can play the open top string or, working the way down the lower strings, get the same pitch on the 5th, 9th, 14th, and 19th frets. Each has a different sound and can influence your next move. It's confusing and causes a lot of guitarists to freeze up or get delayed when sight reading music.

My own excuse for being a poor sight reader is that I rarely see properly notated guitar music any more. Most people don't know how to write for guitar. The other night I played a gig where I had a few guitar charts, most with the notes written in the wrong octave (note to arrangers: the guitar sounds an octave lower than written, so if you want to hear middle C, write the C in the staff), and with a lot of cluster chords without a chord symbol notated above. Most of the time I was reading over the piano player's shoulder, looking at a bass line and then a few bars later back to my music stand trying to double the lead trumpet part. The next day I'll be working with somebody using a capo, and while they're telling me it's a C chord, in my head I'm transposing up a minor third to Eb to compensate for that capo on the third fret. When somebody finally puts actual guitar music in front of me I never know what I'm going to play.

However, I strongly encourage guitarists to learn to read. Being able to read and notate music properly is the best way to communicate with great musicians. There are more gigs for guitarists that can read. Even if you don't gig, there is a wealth of music to learn that been arranged and notated for guitar. Combined with a great ear, you'll find yourself not only being a better guitarist, but a much better musician.

Fingerstyle Guitar

There are many ways to play guitar if you don't have a pick. I've seen guys play with a pencil, drum stick, bow (saw part of The Song Remains the Same tonight), you name it. I happen to be talking about what you can do with your fingers.

You've got your flamenco players, classical guys, folk guitarists, hybrid pickers, Mississippi John Hurt disciples... you name it. There are many, many ways to play a guitar. I'm trying to figure out the finger style method that suits me best. As long as I've played, I've been a pick sort of guy, and early on I started using my ring finger and pinky to grab a string here or there to bring out the soprano voice in a chord. I've also studied classical guitar and done my share of etudes that build right hand strength. But I still trip up a little when I'm just playing through a progression and want to keep a pattern up, but the voicing looses a string (5 string pattern all of a sudden hits a 4 string chord voicing). Maybe it's my left hand that needs to make the adjustment? Regardless, I'm not there yet.

If you're a finger picker and have any tips, I'm all ears. I'm not looking for an explanation of somebody else's style, I can hear all of that, I'm just curious to see what goes through your mind when you're just kind of jamming along.

2008 Fender American Standard Telecaster

I just got this guitar yesterday. It's a great instrument, and from what I can tell so far, a pretty good deal even if you pay the retail price. I played the three American made versions: Highway 1, Standard, and Deluxe. The Highway 1 was a great instrument, but the Standard just felt more substantial, had a smoother feel in the volume and tone knobs, and was a bit more balanced across the strings. The Deluxe, while it felt great to play, just doesn't really sound like a Telecaster, so nevermind.

The only problem I really noticed after getting home, which would have been impossible to notice in the noisy store anyway, was a buzz on the open B and A strings. Turned out it was coming from the nut, and after a little research figured out it was a shallow angle of termination. To correct it, I took a very sharp razor blade and lightly etched out the back 2/3 of the nut, on the tuning peg side. I went in tiny, tiny increments and tuned back up several time until the problem was eliminated. I'll get this taken care of when the guitar gets set up, but for now, this is a decent fix.

You'll hear plenty of this guitar on some of my new tunes for my trio. You can really get down with this tone, and through my Bogner it's going to be dirrrtaaay.

Gear

My first band back in junior high spent more time keeping a binder that listed our gear and how to set it up than making any actual music. A couple years later I had a conversation with a neighbor that played viola in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and he said you've got to have a piece that you can play at the drop of a hat, on an acoustic guitar. To do that, it doesn't matter what kind of guitar you play, what kind of amp you've got, what kinds of strings, picks, or pedals you use, or anything other than how well you can actually play. Experience has shown me that most people that aren't very good, especially guitar players, usually try to cover it up with all those smoke and mirror effects, while the best players can take the cheapest piece of junk guitar and make it sound beautiful.

After a few years of just running my guitar straight to my amp with maybe just a volume pedal between the two, I started using some effects again with my trio. I'm also expanding my arsenal to give me greater flexibility for different types of gigs. The downside here is that I often have to carry close to 100 lbs. of gear to and from gigs on the subway!

Here's what I use:

Guitars:
Gibson ES-175 (vintage 1967)
Taylor 210ce
Fender American Standard Telecaster
Cordoba classical
ESP Eclipse (mid-'90s custom)

Amps:
Bogner Duende (15 watt, Class A)
Polytone Minibrute (12")

Pedals (routed in this order):
Crybaby
Turbo Rat
Mini Q-Tron
Boss Giga Delay
Boss Flanger
Boss EQ pedal
Ernie Ball Jr. Volume
+Vibrato effect built into Bogner amp

Misc:
Fender Mandolin
Ukulele (no brand)
Honer harmonicas