Pullman Green: BackTracker

so now it's gonna be back trackin' that's my thing.  Unless I get really good -- not likely -- I can at best achieve decent mediocrity.  Hey, most of us are average, by definition!  So, what can an average gitar playin dude to make himself sound better?  backing tracks......

I downloaded a bunch more blues tracks.  Now I've got almost 30 -- way more than I need right now.

the plan: for each track, develop the lead guitar part.  Specific themes, riffs, etc. to improv with.  Make it structured.  Also, I'm gonna use all the sounds from my vg strat.  Gonna choose a tone for each song. I'll write this all down and prepare a set list.  then I'll have the product I"ve been yearning for -- the ability to perform for an audience.

ear trouble?

well, it's close.  i notice my ear ringing is slightly increase with today's playing.  neck pup?  probably!  i cut the gain a little, and that might help, but it also cuts the bell like tone.  leaves it more flat.  maybe i should just go back to bridge/middle combo.  it's safe and effective.

yeah, just a/b 'ed the two, and bridge/middle wins, as usual.  neck pup is bellish -- those are the frequencies that ring my ear.

likin' the neck pickup

yeah, since I've had the strat (sept. 10) I used the bridge/middle pickups.  Yesterday while messing around I tried the neck pu and with the right amp settings I finally found a great tone that doesn't ring my ears.  This is the strat lead tone that so many like to use.  rich, full, bell-like.  In the past when I've tried for it my ears couldn't take it.  I think the trick is to have the amp in "jazz" mode which tones everything down, and to have the gain set very low.  Tone is at 5 or 6 on the amp.  A little reverb is there too. 

just when i'm thinkin' about jazz, the blues comes back! 

jumping from box to box

one thing I started doing is to jump from box to box, skipping a few.  so, if i start in box one of the pentatonic, i jump with a slide to the fourth or fifth box.  looks and sounds dramatic.  then i have two points to slide back and forth from.  start at 1 and slide to 4, solo a little,then slide back to 1, solo, etc.  Just need two boxes in a solo, far apart, and the sound really improves.

just did a nice blues improv

yeah, just did a nice blues improv.... somehow different from what I usually do.  a little more loose, a little more wild, a little more all over the fretboard.  Gettin' me interested in blues soloing again.


Another thing I changed is to play in major pentatonic, with a switch to minor in the IV chord.  It changes up the mood of the piece.  So, playing major pent and getting a little bolder on the neck..... seems to give good results!

gonna do this some more.  Gotta a get a little more physical, more unrestrained.  play that dang gitar!

a little of both

so I'm thinking of pursuing two tracks at once.  I'd like to stick with my delta blues lessons for this semester, and next semester.  I still like to play them, and fingerstyle playing is valuable.  For now I'll start studying some jazz theory on my own, and improvise at home starting with the major and minor scales (ionian and aeolian).  I'll teach myself some more scales, too.  I think that if I learn a scale, even in only one pattern that covers part of the fretboard, that will be enough to get started.  I don't need to know a scale for the whole fretboard to move forward.

I'm back to thinking of the backing track as the basis for my playing.  I'm not an incredible talent, so a little help from a track makes sense.  Me soloing over tracks, both jazz and blues, will create a sound that is achievable and sounds good.  plus i'll throw in a little delta blues instrumentals!

This is the best site I've found for self teaching:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/

bitten by the jazz bug again!

oh jazz, just leave me alone!
so, in my thoughts about a post-blues study, i've been searching for an instrumental solo guitar destination.  Well, it's not strictly solo, but with backing tracks.....jazz.  tonight I put on a II V I backing track on the computer and improvised with the major scale -- now that I know that scale.  Man, it sounded good to my ears.  Much fuller than using the pentatonic scale.  More notes... jazzier.

So it this the place I'm going?  I envision myself improvising to jazz backing tracks in an upscale restaurant somewhere.  Just me and a guitar, an amp, and backing tracks.  Throw in a little instrumental blues now and then.... no singing required!

OK, i will learn more scales.... no problem.  I'm eager to study the bebop scale, and the other modes.  I enjoy practicing the major scales.  I know them in two positions, that cover about half the fretboard in the first octave.  And yes, more theory.... well, it can't be helped!

Tom is teaching me to sight read, so that will help.

Anyhoo, I"m not a sweaty emotional bellowing blues guy staying up late at night.  I've watched a lot of blues bands on youtube -- it's not really me.  But a smooth jazz guy, or cool jazz guy -- less sweaty, and non-bellowing... that's more like my temperment.

And now I've got more confidence that I can, with enough time, learn jazz.  And, truth be told, I"m getting a little tired of the I IV V blues structure, and the pentatonic scales.  I want do more.  I won't give up the blues, heck I know it moderately and will still play... but I want to expand.  jazz.

And my 339 is a perfect jazz guitar, so no new stuff needed!

more than the blues?

well, here's the deal.  Even if i study delta blues -- it's not a complete product of guitar music.  there's that danged singing.  maybe what i want is pure  instrumental solo guitar -- in whatever genre.  i'm not a singer by nature.  I started this thing to play guitar.

so, maybe i need instrumental pieces.  think chet atkins, but not so complicated!

Spike Driver Blues: got it

so, Tom said I got it down.  Not perfect, but I have the syncopation in the right place, right time.  Gotta refine it more and work on the nuances, but it can be checked off.

Now working on "Make Me a Pallet."

Also working on sight reading exercises!  Gonna break my addiction to tabs!

the rick, not the sg

so i'm back to the rick for my  next gittar, maybe around the end of 2012 or spring 2013.  Either a 620 or a 350.  It's just more different from my 339 and strat than an sg would be.  I'd have a guitar from the big 3, in a collector's sense.  Anyhoo, I"m in no rush.

still working out the syncopation of spike driver blues.  and working on the next piece, Make Me  A Pallet, another Misssissippi John Hurt piece.

the stuffed 339 is working great and is my main axe now.  The strat is taking a break.

Make Me a Pallet

that's the next song I'm working on.  Another Mississippi John Hurt piece.  Still ironing out the kinks in Spike Driver blues.  And, trying to sing and play at the same time!  Hold on to yer hats, people!

So, I'm back to favoring solid body guitars.  My 339, when I'm playing fingerstyle, gets loud enough at the right frequency to get my one ear ringing.  Well, I mostly solved that by stuffing the top f-hole with a hankerchief.  I was playing my strat more, but with the Spike Driver piece the stretch with the fender scale length got in the way.  So now my mind is thinking of an ideal guitar for me would be a solid body with Gibson scale length.  A Les Paul or an SG.  I'm favoring the SG -- it's solid, lighter, not chambered or otherwise overly resonant, and has double cutaway.  So my next gitar might be an SG -- maybe a white 60s tribute with p-90s.  That would be at the end of the school year, in 2012.

For now my modded 339 (just did the hankerchief thing today) seems to be working well -- ear not ringing beyond the usual.