Well, the idea of a Great Guitar Thread is that it should be like a song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends, … ^C
Ahem.
Seriously, I see no reason for it to stop. The point of it being a Great Guitar Thread, rather than a Guitar Thread, is to maintain a living archive of whatever useful things there are about guitars.
Makes sense - I was more wondering if the mods might say “okay, open for long enough”…I have no idea if there are even rules for that…
kenobi 65 - cool; I will be interested to get your thoughts on his playing.
WordMan…even as someone who’s just learning what to listen for in guitar music, I can hear a lot of what you write about in Gallup’s playing. It’s clear to me that he understood music very well, and was able to use that knowledge to take what would have been a straightforward guitar solo in someone else’s hands, and make it into something more.
I can definitely hear the “brightness” which you reference. I also feel like his playing shows a sort of jazz influence, and I get a bit of a sense of Les Paul in there, as well, with the country/jazz feel, and the virtuosity.
Can’t wait to listen to the article when I get home. Hm. You find much pedal steel in funk? I think you get lap steel, but I don’t think it’s the same thing.
And the World of Warcraft thread is like 194 pages and two days shy of a year old, so I don’t think there’s an issue the mods have a problem with.
Cool - that’s good to hear; the whole point is to highlight stuff in the hopes that a reader can pick it out for themselves…and yeah, Cliff has some Les Paul-type technique in his playing…
E-Sabbath - you know, I don’t hear much lap steel in funk - I hear funky blues that has lap steel in it, and I have heard some great trip-hop with cool lap steel (ever heard Morcheeba’s Diggin a Watery Grave?) (youtube link…). And I love what Jack White does with slide guitar in the White Stripes; it has a bluesy/funky feel…
I just got around to reading your piece (its been that kind of week) – nice article! And, sadly, I’m also one of those guys who never heard of Cliff Gallup either. Your highlights of his technique were very informative. I really like that chromatic climb, my head 'sploded when I listened, what a talent. Anyway, top notch stuff, WordMan, thanks as always for the guitar enlightment.
Okay, funky blues rather than pure funk.
By the way, just rediscovered my man John Rogers has been doing Guitar Fridays on his blog for a bit.
Some interesting stuff there.
Thanks, sir - very nice of you. He’s one of those guys I kept coming across but hadn’t heard; when I finally took a minute his stuff was so cool that I dug in a bit. Guys like him and T-Bone Walker from the first *teemings *column are like treasures that have been buried in time…
E-Sabbath - who’s John Rogers? Whoever he is, I like the fact that he is plugging the Blues Jr. amp - that’s one I have recommended here a number of times. Great value and tone.
Just to bump the thread along…
The Performer is my favourite guitar* but it seems no-one else has ever even seen one. Well folks here it is.
youtube review of a Fender Performer which also demos quite nicely the sonic difference between single coils and humbuckers.
I had heard of Cliff Gallup, I think from an interview with Jeff Beck, what I haven’t done is heard his playing. I guess I saw the term Rockabilly and so ignored it :rolleyes: I’ll have to put that right now. Recently I read Eric Clapton saying how where his roots were in the blues, both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page came from a rockabilly background, which gave me a bit of an a-ha moment.
*don’t tell the Tele
Oh yeah - I know Performers - shred-a-licious! What can you tell us about the pickups? Actually, what can you tell us about your Performer - is it a sunburst?
I’ll be very interested in your thoughts on Mr. Gallup.
So, my amp died.
Some of you will recall that I’ve been playing for a little over a year now; I started out with an Epiphone Les Paul Special II “value pack” which my wife bought for me at Guitar Center. it came with the guitar and a little 10-watt amp.
The amp was never very good, and I eventually also got a Pocket Rockit headphone amp. But, I still liked to have the actual amp for some practice sessions. Suddenly, a week or so ago, the Epi amp simply went toes-up.
Last night, I had my weekly lesson at our local music school (which also is a pretty good music store), so I went early, to shop for a new amp. The clerk and I looked at a number of different ones, but I had fun with a Peavy Vypyr. It models a bunch of different Peavy amp models, as well as a number of different effects, and it sounded pretty sweet. The kicker was the price…between their normal discounted price, and the additional discount for being a student there, I was able to pick it up for $89.
After I got home from the lesson, I was up way too late fiddling with the thing. 
Writer: Blue Beetle comic, Global Frequency pilot, Jackie Chan Adventures (episodes), Leverage.
Also, The Core, and early treatments of Transformers and Catwoman.
Great guy, great DM. Technically, it’s a guest blogger on his blog. Nice article on tapping, did you read it?
Have you played one then? I’ve only ever seen two in the flesh, and I own one of them. I don’t (ahem) shred (much) any more but that is what I originally got it for 
Not a sunburst (mine’s sort of metallic mauve) the other one hanging in the window* was but I preferred the neck on the one I got. Whatever they did with the windings they got it spot on, neither the humbucker or single coil sounds like a compromise, it really transforms when you throw that little switch. The bit of the video I’ve watched makes it sound a little thin but the tone is fatter than a Strat. It can’t do a proper ‘neck pickup’ flutey tone but no guitar with 24 frets can, quite.
Something else, it has a tone control that really works. It has a central ‘notched’ neutral position. Turn it up and you get more top (sharpens up the humbucker tone nicely) turn it down and you get the usual top roll-off. It’s not active so there is definitely something clever going on there, maybe they worked out some resonances between the tone caps and the pickup coils? I’ve got time to catch the end of the video now, maybe he has something to say about that?
I’ll save comments for later on, I can’t think how to say what I think right now without sounding superficial.
*I literally saw two of 'em hanging in a shop window and had to have one, course I should taken both.
I played one or two back in the day - I was never a locking-trem kinda guy so it was just as a curiosity. Also the necks are more shred-ish than I like - but I totally know the burgundy mist (a Gibson name for the color) you have and have always loved the look of the guitar - very forward-looking for want of a better term.
No clue about the guts - but that neutral/boost/cut layout sounds intriguing. and the tones that guy was getting in the demo were really versatile. I could see how that becomes a home-base guitar, just like I have seen guys with EVH guitars - either the original Music Mans or the Wolfgangs - seem to use their guitars. It’s another path to a versatile guitar vs. a Telecaster, but seems just as valid.
**kenobi **- sorry to hear about your amp, but not really - better to die so you have an excuse to get something better 
I haven’t played a Vypyr, but other Dopers have said great things…
Oh and** E-Sabbath**? I didn’t read the one on tapping; I will have to
I don’t bother with the locking nut any more, the trem is like a fancy Strat unit - no locking parts - no allen keys required. The neck is chunkier than the ones on the “real” superstrats I’ve owned but I suppose that’s not saying much.
Yup, I finished watching the video and he demos the tone control at about 7:30 For a guitar with two switches and two knobs you can’t half get a lot out of it.
Passing shot (gotta get home to make curry :)) That guitar looks like it just came out of the factory. It is 25 years old. Mine’s all grubby and dinged up, how did he keep it so blinking shiny?
I’m sorry to have to bring a bad vibe to this thread but I need to put out a word of warning to you guys about Wordman. Your firewalls and anti-virus software are useless for the condition that he spreads.
Let me serve as a lesson to you -
A very short while back I brought up some guitar subjects on this message board and engaged Wordman in what I thought was harmless discourse.
Little did I know that he is a carrier of G A S (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome). Without realizing it I picked up an acute case of GAS from Mr. Wordman. So it’s 6 guitars, 2 amps later and I’m still fighting this disease. Nothing seems to totally remove the virus although frequent doses of P O W (Pissed Off Wife) has kept it somewhat in check since the 5th guitar / 2nd Amp acquisition.
So word to the wise. Wordman appears to be a friendly, even helpful, guy. But be very aware of the amount of damage his highly contagious condition can do to your surplus funds.
mwa…mwa…MWA-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!
;)
(that was my attempt at demonic laughter now that my dastardly scheme has been revealed…)
Yep - G.A.S. ain’t pretty. **BubbaDog **- I played a pre-war Martin dreadnaught a few weeks ago which was selling for as much as a decent car and it was amazing…everything they are legendarily supposed to be (they are held up as the acoustic equivalent of a 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul). And damn if I have not been looking for angles to go after that guitar, some of which I might be actually able to work out (yeah right)…if it weren’t for those meddling kids! (cue Scooby Doo theme)…
ETA: 6 guitars?! 2 amps?! I am so proud of you! What all have you scored??
I didn’t think the bass clef was ever used for guitar music.
Strictly speaking, you’re right. If someone asks “Can you read notation?”, they’re meaning ‘can you play a part written out in treble clef on the guitar, or should I write it out in tab/chord symbols/get someone else for this gig?’ In practice, however, it can be extremely useful to read bass clef as well.
In my limited experience playing in the pit (1 show for the National Ballet School, 8 cabarets for Tryptich productions.), we didn’t get charts, we got copies of the book that the pianist or musical director was playing from. Some of the pieces would be lead sheets, some of them would be piano music with chord boxes or chord names (not always correct!), and some of them would be the piano music, which the band would have to redistribute themselves. In these situations, my secret weapon is that I can read both bass and treble, and so I can say to the pianist “Why don’t I take those middle voice harmonies on 2 and 4 for this passage?”
Transcription from other instruments is a great skill to develop. The guitar parts in my audio clips in ‘Teemings’ this month are both my own transcriptions from the original piano, if you don’t mind a little plug…
If there’s time outside of rehearsal, I can write my own chart before the actual gig. If there isn’t time, the biggest disadvantage of the piano music is the page turns, which is the first thing I try to eliminate.
My reading ability makes up for my shortcomings as an actual player. So, if someone were to ask me my recommendations, I’d suggest getting fluent in treble clef notation and tab first, then adding bass clef once your treble clef is well established, but that is just my opinion, and there are players out there who can blow me out of the water who can only play by ear.
I agree; nothing to learn unless it’s rhythmic, tempo, or metric notations. OTOH, I find tab physically difficult to use, because it’s much easier to read a large roundish note-head on a staff, than to read a tiny fret number on the line representing a string. Most published guitar music, in standard notation, includes small numerals near the notes telling you which finger you should be fretting the note with; circled numbers indicate which string. You don’t see this on every note, of course, or even most notes, but only where the editor, arranger, or composer wants you to play the note in an “unexpected” way. For instance, if the score calls for a high E, the most typical way of playing it is the open first string. But depending on what’s coming next in the music, the fingering instructions might indicate you need to play it on the second string, fifth fret, or on the third string ninth fret. Once you can read and play fairly well, those occasional fingering or string instructions are all you need. Having every single note “fingered” isn’t necessary anymore. If you are playing the E on the third string, then usually the whole phrase is going to be played somewhere around there on the neck. An exception might be that later in the phrase you come back to E in a descending run; in such a case the fingering instructions will often tell you to play E on the open first string, which gives you time to move your hand down to the nut and continue the downward run. Again, once you’ve done that you don’t need further instructions. The next note, in this hypothetical scenario is probably D, which you obviously are going to play on the second string, third fret.
What I particularly dislike about tab is that when it is given parallel to the standard notation, then there are no fingering instructions at all on the standard notation. This makes the standard music harder to use, and I keep drifting over to the tab.