GuitarDreams

A sad bloggy farewell

2010-03-25T04:02:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I have decided to bring this blog to an end.

I admit that, in the middle of the initial excitement, I underestimated the efforts required to keep this blog alive. After some time, I can´t help but realize that I can´t find the time to make this blog any interesting. On top of that, I´d rather focus my time on recording my own music and on my IT career right now.

I really want to thank anybody who ever visited this blog: THANKS for your time and interest!

PS: If you are interested, I plan on keeping my Linux blog very much online and alive, so give it a VISIT

Song: The Eternal Night

2010-02-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Yes! I finished another song and I wanted to share a small portion with you. This one is considerably heavier and darker, thus its name.

For the most part, harmony is pretty straightforward, mostly in E minor (what can I say, too many years listening to Metallica, hehehe...).

The portion I am sharing here starts at the end of the bridge, which is mostly based on a synchopated F# Harmonic minor riff over an 11/8 time signature. Then it flows into the chorus, a double bass feast with lead harmonies (too hard for me!!) shifting from 16th to 16th note triplets, once again over a simple E minor progression. Then, the second verse comes in, with what I consider to be the solo for the song (did I say too hard for me!?). Finally, the bridge steps in again as the song fades out.

Click on the Play button below to listen to The Eternal Night

Hope you like it!

Let me know your thoughts!!

Technique: Alternate Picking Basics (I)

2010-02-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

Today I want to discuss about one of the most difficult techniques in guitar: Alternate picking.

The term alternate picking is pretty self explanatory, and refers to picking the string alternating the direction of the stroke. Therefore, this picking style alternates downstrokes and upstrokes. That is pretty much as far as the easy part goes!!

HOW TO HOLD THE PICK

There are probably as many different styles to holding the pick as guitar players. As usual, none of them is perfect, all of them have their weak spots. As a result, there is no such thing as a "correct" way of holding the pick. Just a quick example: A legend like Eddie Van Halen holds the pick between his middle and thumb fingers, which is kind of unusual, but nobody can deny it worked for him.

Therefore, first and foremost, do what works for you, but also be sure to incorporate the learnings of the greats as well, specially if they put some thought into this. A great example, and a big influence on me, is Paul Gilbert. As far as I am concerned, Paul is probably the best Rock-Metal picker ever, so I started to study his style, and some of it ended becoming mine eventually.

Paul holds the pick between the side of his index finger and his thumb, as depicted in the following picture:

This style allows for a comfortable and natural grip. It also makes it easy to change the angle of attack of the pick. This is very useful when trying to increase picking speed.

Another element about his style is that he only uses one anchoring point, the side of his palm. In my opinion, although it is hard initially, this helps when applying different dynamics. It also leads naturally to isolating the picking motion on the wrist, instead of the elbow.

For those reasons and many more, I recommend you use this picking style, but once again, do what feels natural.

DYNAMICS

A critical element in good picking in general, and one that is ignored by most guitarists, is the use of dynamics. Picking dynamics is essentially how hard or soft you pick, but it is a very deep and complicated technique to nail down.

I recommend that in order to pick harder, you simply lower the pick so that you are using more of pick to hit the string, rather than varying your picking motion to add more power. The effect is nearly the same, but you will surely add less tension to your tendons.

Practicing dynamics is boring, but very rewarding in the long run. As a starting point, simply alternate pick on an open string, and randomly change dynamics. Make sure you isolate changes to dynamic intensity, not speed. Once you start feeling comfortable with applying dynamic changes with your right hand, start playing with accents.

A simple exercise you can use involves using 16th notes (4 notes to the beat), and changing the accent on each bar. For example, you would play the first set of sixteen notes accentuating the first note of each subset of four notes (the ones on the downbeat). The next set of sixteen notes, you would accentuate the second note of each four note subset. You would continue changing the accentuated note until you cover all possibilities. This is not an easy exercise, as accentuating notes other than the downbeat will likely throw you off initially. Just concentrate and be patient!

If you are wondering what the benefit is in practicing dynamics, the answer is simple: Top picking control and less (if any) injuries. Musicians suffer from injuries that usually have to do with putting too much stress on tendons. If you control dynamics, you will not tense up during fast or complicated passages, nor use excessive strength when not required.

Believe me, dynamics are one of the best things to incorporate to your playing when you are starting up. It is also one of the most difficult things to incorporate to your playing once you have tons of bad habbits!

A FEW WARMING UP EXERCISES

I covered some practice basics on my previous installment, so why not putting them in action now? After you do your stretching exercises, it is time to start warming up with the instrument.

I think it is a good idea to isolate the warming up of both hands, so you can concentrate on each technique individually. Having said so, if you have limited time to practice, as I do, you may benefit from mixing up a bit, so you get a bit of a left hand workout even when you are working on your picking.

Exercise 1 (Get tab and notation HERE)uses the chromatic scale, which naturally fits in for using all 4 fingers in your left hand. Moreover, while the motion of your right hand should remain solid, playing 4 notes per beat (120 beats per minute suggested), your left hand is in for a bit of a coordination test.

You will be starting each seat of four notes with a different finger. Once you have completed the first bar, move your left hand one fret up and repeat the exercise. When your index finger reaches the 12th fret, start decending back to the first fret. I recommend you play this exercise on a different string every time you have a go at it.

Exercise 2 (Get tab and notation HERE) is essentially an inverted version of Exercise 1.

Exercise 3 (Get tab and notation HERE) reduces the left hand interaction, but incorporates the use of two strings. In this case, you should use your left index finger to fret the F on the E string, then your middle finger to fret the C# on the B string, your ring finger on the G, your pinky on the D#.

Exercise 4 (Get tab and notation HERE) is a variation on Exercise 3, only incorporating string skipping and a bit of stretching. Start the exercise on the 12th fret (or higher if the stretching feels excessive initially), then start descending one fret at a time.

You don't need to get all the way down to the first fret to begin with, just go as far as you can. The idea is that you start incorporating stretching in your exercises.

Be sure to stop if at any point you feel pain. These exercises are meant for warming up, to get blood flowing, so there is no need to use speed or anything that would put strain on your hands.

Hope these excercises help you!

Technique: Practice basics (I)

2010-02-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

"Practice makes perfect", they say. Unfortunately for some, it is true.

In my opinion, you can only convey feelings when playing your instrument if you have great control over it. That kind of control is what I call technique. It can be explicit, like a quick run, or less obvious, like good palm-muting, intonation or timing. In my opinion, all good guitar players have great technique, whether it comes in an explicit way or otherwise.

Long story short, I want to devote a section to technique. Today I will start with some basic yet important concepts about optimizing your practice time and getting some foundations down.

LET'S GET PHYSICAL

Make no mistake, there is a big physical element in playing an instrument. Strength, endurance, coordination, speed... Many concepts that are important in most sports are also important when playing an instrument.

In the same way, injuries are also part of this practice game, so you need to follow some warm up and cool down routines before and after you practice, just like athletes do. Here are some suggestions to avoid injuries.

- Take 5 to 10 minutes to do some stretching and give your self some hands and forearms massages. The idea is to get blood flowing. Keep in mind the tendons in your hands are small, so do not apply excessive strength when massaging or stretch for too long. A good rule of thumb is to count to ten slowly while stretching.

- When you begin your practice playing, start slow and do not attempt to play fast until you are ready to.

- Understand that strength is usually not required. A strong grip will surely lead to tension and stress of muscles and tendons.

- When you play fast, try to self analyze your position and how your tendons and muscles behave. It is likely that you will experience tension. Try to understand where it comes from so you can change that particular position or habit.

- Pain is not a good symptom. Although it is inevitable that you will experience pain during intense practice (just like a marathon runner would), it is important that you distinguish between pain caused by exhaustion (when it hurts because of a strong effort) and the pain caused by a bad practice habit. This distinction will come naturally with practice, but if you are starting up, I recommend you simply stop when feeling pain and give yourself a few minutes to rest.

- When you finish your practice session, take a few minutes to cool down. Once again, stretch and massage your fingers and hands.

USE A METRONOME

I very much recommend that you practice to a steady click, regardless of the source. If you are lucky enough to have a solid drummer in your band, that's probably the best scenario, but a drum machine, a sequencer or just a simple beep will do.

The idea is to make sure that you make it a habit to play in tempo. I also consider it important to "feel" the tempo. A good way to achieve this is to nod your head, tap your foot or rock your body. I believe you will develop solid playing if you get yourself used to doing so.

The metronome is one of the tools I use the most, and I will heavily rely on it for future installments of this section, when we actually get into exercises.

MAKE IT A HABIT

One hour of practice a day is more effective than a long practice session once a week, for example. Find yourself some time to concentrate on practicing everyday. If guitar playing is a hobby and you don't have much time, just get 30 minutes or an hour. The important thing is that it becomes a routine.

REDUCE VARIABLES

It is a good idea to try a bunch of different things when playing guitar, such as strap length, grip, pick style and size, hand position, etc. However, once you have decided what works for you, try to stick to it. Guitar is already a tough instrument to master, no need to add more difficulty!

PRACTICE PROGRAM

Get yourself some pen and paper and design a practice program. This program should include warm up, left and right hand specific exercises, and depending on your level, exercises concentrating on specific techniques you are trying to master. Each exercises should be played for about 5 minutes. I would also recommend to add some backing tracks to jam over, even if that sounds like a tough challenge. It is important to develop that "real life" playing as well, and the sooner you start, the better.

Whatever you choose for your program, make sure you include some challenges, but do not push it too hard or frustration will beat you. Remember, this is a long distance race.

CONTROL BEFORE SPEED

Make sure you favor control over speed. In other words, if you are playing a certain exercise at a specific tempo, do not increase the tempo until you master the exercise. This is difficult, but it will pay off in the long run.

PATIENCE IS KEY

So there you have it, lots of recommendations and best practices. I know it is difficult to stick to all of them, and you shouldn't be too strict either. After all, music and guitar playing should primarily be FUN.

Once again, remember that good guitar playing is a long term goal. You will face periods of time during which you are highly motivated and you seem close to overcoming a certain challenge. Only days later you will find yourself stuck, burnt and playing worse than you thought you did. I have been there myself many times, and the only reason I kept playing is because it was and is my passion.

So take it easy and enjoy the ride!!

GOOD LUCK!

Song: Driving South final mix!

2010-01-30T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I think time has come to call it a day with this song's mix and consider it complete. I still think there are things that could be improved, but I guess I will always think that is the case. It's time to move on and start recording new tracks, but before I do so, I wanted to share this final version of the song.

The main changes come from having re-recorded many tracks with my brand new Line6 POD X3. I mainly bought it for the bass tones, but I have recorded some guitars with it too. As a matter of fact, all the electric lead guitars in this song come from the POD, and I think they stand their ground in the mix. Other than that, I have been tweaking EQs, dynamics and panning like crazy! I think the final result is a much clearer mix, louder too.

Anyways, on to the song, you can listen to it by clicking the play icon below:

Please, share your thoughts by adding your comments!

The JEM close to hitting 77,777 units sold!!

2010-01-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

Wow, it is incredible how the JEM has evolved into one of the classic guitars in rock history! There's no denying of the deep impact Steve Vai made with this design back in the late 80's. What's even more surprising is that this design looks as modern and cutting edge as it did when it first came out!

Check this awesome (funny too) video and enter the contest to design the next JEM!

Good Luck!

Influences: Meet Guthrie Govan!

2010-01-23T15:32:00.000-08:00

I also want to keep running a section on influences. I feel there are lots of incredibly talented musicians out there that, because of their underground profile, may go unnoticed for many. Specifically, I want to use this influences section to talk about some guitar players whose playing or music made a big impact on mine.

I want to start with a player I found not so long ago: Guthrie Govan

This British player is a strange example of the guitar hero gone shy. It usually is easy to find a trend where your regular six string virtuoso has a considerably large ego. In some cases, that turns into endless soloing, and what is even worse, mindless music that just serves as a backing track for those unending guitar gymnastics. Guthrie Govan is probably one of the best examples of the opposite. He's a musician in all senses of the word, and a great one at that.

I believe that the most incredible thing about Guthrie's playing is his versatility. It takes about two seconds to realise he's a monster player, but when you see the conviction he plays literally almost every style with, it is simply incredible. Now, this is not your typical shredder who learns a bunch of country and jazz licks to gain some respect, Guthrie can play those styles just as well or better than your average country or jazz virtuoso.

For the time being, Guthrie's put out one album, entitled "Erotic Cakes". It is one of the best guitar albums I have heard in many years, and the first to really make an impact on me since the classics (you know, Steve Vai's "Passion & Warfare", Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the alien", etc)

I completely recommend checking Guthrie's music, and a good place to start is to watch some of HIS VIDEOS from the BluesJamTracks Youtube Channel.

Enjoy!

My Ardour home studio!!!

2010-01-17T04:41:00.000-08:00

Paul Davis, the main developer and creator of Ardour, suggested that we Ardour users shared pictures of our Studios. I wanted to share mine and so I did, but I thought it was a good idea to post it here as well.

So here it is, my (humble) Studio:

Basically, here's what I am using, following the signal chain:

The electric guitar sounds are recorded from an Atomic Amp (running a VOX ToneLab) via an SM57, which is amplified by an ART Tube preamp, which then goes into an M-Audio 1010LT card. The Soundcard is plugged into an HP workstation. Then I have a partition solely dedicated to Audio recording, running Ubuntu Studio 9.04, Ardour 2.8.2, Hydrogen 0.94, LADSPA FX, and JACK to connect the whole thing up.

If you also have a home studio, go ahead and share your pictures!

Software: Ardour manuals

2010-01-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

As I have already mentioned in some previous posts, I use open source software for all my recording. I will discuss my recording setup in full on another set of entries, but for now let me simply say that Ardour is an excellent application, and I am a proud contributor through a monthly donation.

I very much encourage you to try Ardour, which can be installed on Linux and Macintosh. If you decide to do so, I believe you will find the following manuals very handy.

First, try the more simple version, which you can get from the fabulous FLOSSMANUALS site, a terrific effort to develop Open source application manuals.

Second, you may want to try the full Ardour manual project, which is ongoing, but already includes lots of useful information. Please, visit THEIR SITE.

In addition, please visit the ARDOUR site, and more specifically, the FORUM SECTION if you have questions or doubts. There is a very knowledgeable and active community there that is willing to help. (They helped me lots, THANKS!)

Song: Driving South

2010-01-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

I want to share a song I completed recently. Goes by the name "Driving South", and it is the result of a latin vibe riff I came up with. I wanted to put together a song that had that kind of latin-jazzy feel to it, and here's the result!

Enjoy!

Driving South

This song has been legally registered. I am sharing it free, but please, ask for my permission should you want to use it for any purpose.

I also want to thank the JACK, Hydrogen and especially, the Ardour developers for the amazing software they put together. Obviously, I record with open source applications exclusively, and on top of Linux!! (what else??!) ;-)

Thanks!

Gear maniac: Picks!

2010-01-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

I have been hard at work lately recording more of my music! It's interesting when you actually have the time to spend a few hours working on a single activity, specially if it is such a creative and beloved one! Time flies and it is easy to lose track of how long it took you to record that one track or solo.

Anyways, eventually I want to run this "Gear maniac" section and discuss interesting pieces of gear I use or know. One that has got my attention as I was laying down tracks recently is the pick! I was amazed at how much the sound quality and overall tone can benefit from choosing the right pick for the job. Such diversity in sound also allows for a lot of experimentation, which was a lot of fun, and I realized the importance of having many picks to choose from.

So, let's start this Gear section with our little PLECTRUM FRIENDS.

To begin with, like I was just saying, I would recommend to keep a good assortment of picks around. If you are a professional or semi-professional player, you most likely do that already, but for starters, it's easy to get lost among the many different types of picks and think that any will do the job.

Now, don't get wrong, finding the right pick will not turn a $200 rig into a $5000 one by any means, but it may do more for your playing and tone than you think.

Basically, certain guitar passages benefit from different types of picks. It also has a lot to do with personal taste, so please try yourself and use your ear to find what you are looking for. For me, it goes as follows:

Main pick: The one I use for the most part, specially when playing live. This is kind of a wild card type of pick, and I guess my criteria for using it had to do with comfort and its capability to be used for different styles of music. The chosen one for the last few years has been the Ibanez Paul Gilbert signature pick (I believe the one I use is an old edition, though). You can see it in different colors and with different Paul signatures in the pictures.

YES! It is important to keep many picks of this standard model, as you will likely use it extensively, and picks do get worn out. I probably have about 50 of these picks, and about 12 I use on a day to day basis.

Alternate picking: My experience tells me that if you want to alternate pick really fast, you are better off with pointy, small and thick picks. In that regard, my favorite is the Dunlop Jazz 3 (the black one at the top of the picture). This type of pick is great for alternate picking and speed for a number of reasons. When trying to push the envelope speed wise, as we will discuss in one of the technique articles later down the line, it is very important to concentrate on many small variables. A light grip and attack, as well as economy of motion are required if you want to fly. Under those circumstances, the pointy edge and thickness of this pick really helps to bring notes to life.

Chord arpeggios: During my recording sessions, I have come to appreciate bigger picks for this task. When you are playing chord arpeggios (not sweeping, but rather rhythm chords with a clean tone), I find that a standard shiny pick with 1mm thickness or slightly less is best. It provides more of the pick to dig in and play those notes louder and clearer. Because of its shiny nature, notes sound brighter too. In this case, I love Steve Vai's Ibanez signature picks (left in the picture).

Strumming chords: In this case, it really depends, and I think this is probably where you will get the most of trying yourself and following your ear. I think a soft pick (.60 - .70 mm, the yellow and orange fender picks from the picture) does best when it comes to strumming chords in my acoustic guitar. However, strumming some funky chords may benefit from a harder pick. In any case, when it comes to strumming, I don't recommend one of the small picks we discussed about on the alternate picking section.

Bass playing: I am no bass player, just got myself a bass for recording my own tracks, but still I feel much more comfortable when playing a very thick and big pick. I use a shiny Dunlop standard 2mm pick (on the right end in the picture), which adds some brightness and is hard enough to cope with the thick bass strings. In addition, bass strings bounce a lot, specially when playing strong, so it is best to have a standard pick that will keep the fingers of your right hand out of the way.

There you have it, just get yourself a few picks and try them out. Even if you find some useless to start with, don't worry, you will put them to good use eventually, believe me.

See ya next time!

Welcome to the land of guitar dreams!

2010-01-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

Why GuitarDreams?

Hmmm... Well, not really sure, but it's a "word" I have been thinking of using for many years now. Originally, it was meant to be the title of my guitar instrumental album, which by the way, is ALWAYS in the works. The idea I wanted to convey was coming from the millions of hours spent dreaming about becoming a good player, about making it into the limelight and rocking my way through life. As you can understand, those dreams remain as such, but my passion remains, and I can play good enough to record my own tunes.

For now, let's just say I want to use this space to discuss my love for my great 6 and 7 string friends, the art of playing, shredding, engineering, recording, mixing and mastering...

I also want to use this space to talk about one of my all time favorite applications, one that I consider the best DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) out there: ARDOUR. I want to talk about some of its "secrets", specially for people coming from other software packages, who may not have the experience or the Linux know-how.

Finally, I will also be posting pictures of my guitars, my small home studio, and eventually some of my tunes, as well as videos discussing techniques and various other aspects I may consider interesting.

So if you love guitar, digital recording, or just want to start your way into this amazing world, step up, you are very welcome in!