Electric Guitar: Part II- Cody Perrin
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I. Introduction:
Finding your tone: A. Gear 1. Amp-‐All tube amp. Try to stay away from the solid-‐state amps. a. Vox-‐Anything before 1990 b. Fender-‐Sound great with Fenders 2. Guitar-‐ What type of sound do you want? a. Pickups-‐ Singlecoil, humbuckers, Hiltertrons 3. Pedals-‐ Learn a scale with every new pedal a. Pedals are enhancers not substitutes. Don’t try to get a bad sounding amp/guitar to sound better with a pedal B. Player 1. Listen to different styles of music 2. Play as much as you can 3. Play with people better than yourself 4. THEORY!
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II. Theory- Always needed
Theory will make you feel more and more comfortable in every situation. Without theory, you become a player that is very limited. Two speciHic means of enhancing your theory: A. Nashville Number System-‐Changes notes in any key to numbers Advantages: 1. Ear training-‐ The NNS helps you hear progressions based off of intervals rather than chords. 2. Versatility-‐ The NNS allows a musician to hear, chart and play pretty much any song in any key. 3. Transposing-‐ The NNS makes transposing chords in a key very easy. Disadvantages: 1. You have to memorize what notes are in every key. This is absolutely KEY to the numbers system. B. The CAGED method-‐ Uses common open chord shapes to Hind any note on the neck of the guitar and provides easy access to modes and scale degrees. Advantages: 1. The CAGED system uses easy, common shapes all over the neck 2. The CAGED system allows one to Hind notes on a guitar easily 3. The CAGED system provides a visual way to play scale modes 4. The CAGED system makes transposing riffs or solos easy Disadvantages: 1. You have to memorize every note on the neck of the guitar Hirst 2. Does not help with ear training
III. Chords-‐ The foundation of the electric guitar.
A. Major and minor is determined by the 3rd of the chord. A major third is 4 half steps (2 whole steps) up from the root. A minor third is 3 half steps (1 ½ whole steps) up from the root. Triad: A triad is a three-‐note chord that is made up of a root, a 3rd & a 5th Major: Made up of a major third followed by a minor third Minor: Made up of a minor third followed by a major third
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B. Inversions: An inversion is a chord that has the order of notes shifted. This provides different voicing’s and allows the electric guitar player to play many chords in roughly the same area on the neck. Regular triad: 1-‐3-‐5 1. 1st inversion: Places the third on top-‐ 3-‐5-‐1 or 3-‐1-‐5 2. 2nd inversion: Places the Hifth on top 5-‐1-‐3 or 5-‐3-‐1
IV. Tone- The character of an electric guitar
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A. Setting up a live tone: 1. Start on the bridge pickup-‐up with all tone knobs on the amp at about noon. 2. Then adjust the EQ knobs: a. Bass-‐ Adds low end. I like to keep the bass at little bit past halfway. Once you dial it in on the bridge, check the neck pick-‐ up to make sure it is not too bassy b. Mids-‐If you want a sound that is more punchy (such as Eric Clapton) Turn the mids up. This controls the medium end of the sound spectrum. c. Treble-‐ This affects any high ends. Make sure you adjust your treble when you are on the bridge pick-‐up. You DO NOT want the treble too high because you will sound much to bright. I dial mine in just a hair too bright and then I can use the tone knob on my guitar to adjust if needed. 3. Volume: Place the volume at a range where your tone is able to sparkle. For worship, the amp should be right at break-‐up. Where it is clean if you play lightly, but slightly dirty when you dig into the strings. 4. When all this is done, dial in the pedals B. Rhythm tone: To get a good rhythm tone play either on the middle or the bridge pick-‐up position 1. Add overdrive and a slight quarter note delay
C. Lead tone: A lead tone can be played on all bridge positions. For more bass, play on the neck pickup position and for a more treble sound, play on the bridge position. V. Effects-‐ the icing on the cake
Effects enhance the electric guitar sound. However, most of the one comes from the player or the equipment.
Guitar>Filters>Compression>Overdrive>
Distortion>Modulation>Delay>Reverbs>Amp
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1. Filters-‐ Effects such as wah and fuzz a. These should go Hirst in the chain because the effect signal the most i. Used in moderation in the worship setting 1. Dunlop 535 or 535q or Buddah budwah, Fuzz face or Big muff 2. Compression a. Compression is an effect that takes the signal and rounds off any peaks in the high and the lows to give you an overall smoother sound. This is great for picking so that the higher notes sound in the same volume range as the lower notes. Compression is also used for sustain and sometimes for a clean boost. I ALWAYS use compression for subtle picking parts or for any slide parts i. MXR Dyna Comp, Diamond Compressor, Keeley Compressor 3. Overdrive-‐Tubescreamers, bluesbreakers a. Overdrive is an effect that causes your signal to increase in gain in order to provide a distorted/driven sound. There are two types of overdrives, those that push your tubes in your amp to become overdriven (tone thus becomes limited to the sound of your amp being overdriven); and those that replicate an amp being overdriven (this provides some different tonal possibilities). Overdrives a much more versatile than distortion. They also are often termed “transparent” meaning that you can still hear the notes that you play and the tone of your rig fairly clearly compared to distortion. i. Ibanez TS9, Timmy, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Fulltone OCD
4. Distortion-‐Gain to the max a. Distortion is a much heavier type of effect compared to overdrive. Many styles of music use distortion instead of overdrive. The advantages over overdrive are that you can get much more gain. MUCH MORE. The disadvantages are you loose a lot of the tone and the versatility of a overdrive. These are used in worship to either allow the electric guitar player to stand out on solos. They are a luxury, however, not a must on any pedalboard. i. Proco RAT (preferably keeley modded), JHS All American 5. Modulation-‐Tremolo, Octave pedals, Phasers, Chorus, Flange a. Worship primarily uses three main types of modulation. Again, these are luxury effects. They are not needed, however, they provide many sound enhancing options. The three main types are: i. Tremolo-‐Affects the volume. Great for swelling in or adding a little bit of texture 1. Cusack Tap-‐a-‐Whirl, Diamond Tremolo, Strymon Flint ii. Octave pedals-‐ Adds an octave to whatever you are playing. Great for parts in which you need to stand out over the band or for atmospheric pads or swells sounds. 1. Digitech Whammy IV, Electro Harmonix Micro Pog, POG2 iii. Chorus pedals-‐ provides some nice layers 1. All chorus pedals sound decent. They are not used very heavily in worship settings. I don’t have a chorus pedal on my board because I would never use it. 6. Delay-‐ Repeats of your signal a. Delay is one of the most used effects in the music industry. This can add much needed texture to anything that you are playing. It can be extremely subtle and yet still add a lot to what you are doing. I use
delay probably about 99.9% of any worship set. There are two things to look at in delays: i. The type of delay: Analogue vs. Digital 1. Analogue delays are generally much warmer. As the delay repeats, your signal starts to become “darker” 2. Digital are an exact replica as your signal ii. The note value: Quarter, Eigth, Dotted Eigth, Triplet b. Things to look at in delay: i. Feedback-‐How much your signal repeats back to you. Turn this down for rhythm sounds and turn it up to 50% or 60% for lead sounds. ii. Effect level or Mix level-‐ The amount of guitar signal compared to delay signal. If the mix is all the way up, your delay will be much louder than the initial attack on the note. Generally keep this at 50% so that the delay you hear is around the same volume as the initial attack. c. Delays on the market: i. Boss DD20, Line 6 DL4, Electro Harmonix Memory Man, Boss DD-‐5, Strymon Timeline, Eventide Timefactor, Strymon El Capistan, Strymon Brigadier 7. Reverbs-‐ The “HOLY SPIRIT” of the electric guitar word a. Reverb is used in pretty much any music scene. It enhances your sound to make you sound larger and to add sustain to your sound. For worship, reverb is turned up a lot for swell sounds and turned lower for rhythm and lead sounds. I leave my reverb on all the time. If you have an amp that has reverb, you might not need to get a pedal even though the reverb pedals on the market sound better than any amp reverb. i. Boss RV5 (BEST), Strymon Blue Sky, WET Reverb (ALSO BEST)
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If you have any questions about anything concerning the electric guitar/pedals/ amps. I also have a blog that covers pedalboards/effects that I use and that other people involved in the worship scene use. Feel free to contact me at:
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Email:
[email protected]. Website: codyperrin.wordpress.com
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Resources: 1. Guitar books: a. Jeffrey Kunde-‐Music Theory for the Music Business i. This is a short and cheap book that provides an intro into music theory. This is a great introduction and also a great basis for getting into the Nashville Number System. Jeffrey is a dear friend and a killer guitar player. He plays at Bethel Church in Redding and tours with Jesus Culture. b. The Advancing Guitarist-‐ Mick Goodrick i. This book is one of the best that I have ever bought. Maybe the best book ever for the guitar. It covers way more than you ever need, but it leaves you constantly learning. I wouldn’t recommend this for beginners. More for the intermediate and advanced players that Hind themselves in a rut to advance in their playing. c. The Art of Guitar-‐the CAGED System-‐ Marc Cooper i. This is probably the most complex guitar book out. Marc has toured with many high end musicians and has been involved in the music scene for many years. This is good for beginners and the most advanced guitarist. You can’t buy this in the store. It is available as a PDF download for ten bucks. Pretty good price and more than you will ever need. Let me know if you want a copy of it and I can get Mark to email it to you. 2. Websites/BLOGs a. Codyperrin.wordpress.com-‐ For anything I am using or for anything that the high end musicians in the Christian music industry are playing, visit my blog at b. Nathanwright.org-‐ Nathan is a dear friend that plays at Chris Tomlin’s church. His blog is Hilled with advice/gear/spiritual concepts. This is one of my favorite blogs to read. c. Guitarforworship.com-‐ This website is probably the best for everything in regards to electric guitar playing the worship scene. Karl
is very funny and wise in this area. He updates almost everyday and has MANY MANY topics that he covers. Check it out.