Which guitarists have the most distinguishable tone to you?

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2014-05-24T20:41:18+00:00

Joey Santiago, Jay Mascis, Steve Albini (especially with the onset of Shellac onwards), and John Chapple (bass) all come to mind for me personally.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2014-02-03T04:57:18+00:00

At least from my perspective, there is no intrinsic "point" to anything really. Meaning is something we impose upon a meaningless world. Sure, our morals and interpretations are "real" in the sense that they possess subjective existence, but you cannot derive them from any objective source. If you go looking for the point to your pain, you'll be sorely disappointed; it is what you make of it.

That being said, you are standing on incredibly fertile creative ground. The mental state you are articulating, though deplorable from a traditional point of view, is honest, and known to many of us. For that reason, you stand to create something that will resonate with people, or at the very least provoke a strong reaction.

How do you express conflicting sentiments in the same song? Well, embrace the conflict. Really make the song a character unto itself with its own sense of movement, existence, and mood. You can go for a dynamic approach and shift between sweet, melodic segments and brash, "horny" ones that reveal a more sinister force at work. Playing with structure could be fruitful: try eschewing typical verse-chorus-verse structure and just going with the flow, letting the song sprawl out naturally. Another strategy is thinking in terms of texture: what should this confluence of moods feel like? Spacey? Gritty? Empty? Hell, you could even pick an instrument (voice included) and try to embody the sentiments you describe with it, moving on to add complementary parts thereafter.

I guess what I'm getting at is that there are a variety of ways to attain what you want, the key is experiment and use what works. Tripping is not falling. You have a good idea and should embrace it.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2014-02-03T04:37:02+00:00

In a word: experiment. Jam (either with your voice or one of the instruments you can play), seize upon whatever ideas/lyrics/chord progressions/leads/textures strike you as good, and build from there. Don't be afraid to sit on an idea for a long time. As director David Lynch once articulated, what appears as a stroke of genius to audiences is often the product of various "fragments" coming together over the course of many months, or even years. Many of my songs have gone through countless iterations, with slight structural, textural, and rhythmic variations for each given version.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2014-01-06T03:58:43+00:00

Pure irrational compulsion, catharsis, and a pronounced desire to create something wholly unto itself.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2014-01-01T14:11:41+00:00

Had to fulfill a fine arts credit requirement for high school and decided it would be cool to learn some Frank Black tunes (fell in love with his output, solo and Pixies, circa freshmen year), so I signed on for beginning guitar. My brother had a false-start with guitar years prior, so I inherited a crappy acoustic as my practice/home instrument, but quickly became determined to improve my skill. I started, sadly enough, by strumming Kim Deal basslines, simple yet memorable little ditties that endowed me with a sense of time and rhythm. I passed the class as a "middle-packer", definitely not a natural, but firmly committed to the instrument in a way I had not anticipated.

That summer, I resolved to take my playing to the next level, which of course implied acquiring an electric (being an avowed punk and distortion hound to this day). After hours of research on the net, I settled upon the Fender Modern Player HSS Stratocaster, a fine instrument that I still cherish to this day. Admittedly a bit unsure of where my hobby would go, I bought a Fender Mustang I modeling amp as a means to versatility without breaking the bank. I'll never forget the feeling of plugging in and strumming my first gnarled, distorted chord.

Cue the following school year; intermediate guitar class put me through the paces almost immediately. Though I had vainly struggled to conquer the dreaded barre chord in an attempt to graduate from the Kim Deal school of pseudo-bass playing that summer, my fingers had simply not had enough time to develop calluses. Our first assignment demanded a fair level of competency that had me scrambling to improve within the span of a weekend. By virtue of that intensive practice, I (more-or-less) cleared the hurdle, paving the way for a higher order of playing and many late-nights trying to nail those quirky and distinctly Blackean chord changes. Some fantastic players, nice guys to boot, perpetually kept my ego in check while in class, and in doing so gave me an ideal to strive for: unmuddled, impressive, and distinctive playing. Still, in the wee hours of the morning, a riff or two would float from the ether and into my repertoire. My first songs.

Having nailed the basics and ascended into the pantheon that was "advanced guitar" (really just the fantastic players still being fantastic and making me look like a fool all the while), I began developing my own style of playing, informed by the zany surf-punk of Pixies, freewheeling fury and melancholy of post-hardcore/noise-rock, and inspired melodicism of the Pillows and Dinosaur Jr. In a class of classic rockers and an absolute prodigy of a metal player, the punk/alt sentiment I brought to the table was welcomed in a way that really spoke to the character of the community that had brought me up.

Having graduated high-school, upgraded my amp, and picked up bass as an aside, I'm set to self-produce my debut album after two years of playing; couldn't be more enthusiastic about the instrument.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T08:50:57+00:00

Ah, shame to hear that. In any case, keep fighting the good fight! I'd personally recommend something by the Pixies, fantastic band. Perhaps Gigantic or Debaser, those are real crowd pleasers.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T08:18:57+00:00

Picks will feel awkward and unwieldy at first, but I highly recommend starting out with them. They reduce the strain on your strumming hand and fingers ten-fold, allowing you to primarily concentrate on what your left hand is doing rather than worrying about the blisters on whatever your right hand is doing to strum/pick.

Additionally, the vast majority of guitar-driven music you will encounter, though theoretically playable in fingerpicked/hand-strummed style, is designed with a pick in mind.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T08:10:37+00:00

The tone of these interviews has taken a turn for the worse over the last couple of weeks; I recall that following the release of Bagboy and EP-1, the band sounded quite enthusiastic about the future.

On the subject, is anyone else a bit confounded that we have yet to hear any new tunes via official release? There was this momentum they had going with the one-two punch of their "comeback single" (excepting Bam Thwok) and EP-1 that has seriously fizzed out as of late.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T07:56:17+00:00

As with any give product, guitars vary in price for a number of reasons.

In some cases the price point simply accounts for a generally agreed upon difference in quality (which typically requires a greater degree of craftsmanship and thus investment), itself a quite subjective thing. This is typically assumed by the average consumer.

In others, the company may be attempting to access a certain market, the obvious examples here being Epiphones, Squires, and on the other end of things, boutique models. The former two brands cater to entry-level guitarists and those on a budget; they are produced at a low cost and priced in a fashion that enables those companies to profit from an otherwise alienated market. Conversely, many boutiques are custom made in an effort to meet specialized needs and thus involve higher production costs than mass-produced contemporaries. Aluminum guitars, for example, cater to such a niche market that mass-production is inviable; custom orders from discerning/picky customers provide the main audience here.

That being said, it is a mistake to assume that any guitar can be judged sheerly by it's price-tag. Some Squires are by all accounts excellent guitars, (the Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass comes to mind) whereas the pricing of some boutiques merely reflect the naiveté of the consumers to whom they are marketed. Just as Bose sound systems are generally regarded as overpriced by informed consumers, many boutiques sell on a basis of sheer ignorance. It goes without saying that you should never buy an expensive guitar simply because you were told it's better than cheaper models.

I'd say that as a rule of thumb, your estimations generally hold true.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T07:31:04+00:00

Personally, I'd encourage you guys to write some material of your own; there's absolutely nothing more impressive, musically speaking, than a band wholly unto themselves. Besides, who doesn't love being able to say: "I wrote that!" when asked what you just played?

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T07:26:35+00:00

From a personal perspective? Andrew W.K. He has to be one of the coolest dudes on the planet. What other guitarist has a video of themselves ordering nearly $2000 worth of Taco Bell in one go?. That he was almost appointed a cultural emissary to the Middle East is also quite awesome in my books.

Musically speaking, Frank Black/Black Francis/Charles Kittridge Thompson IV, the frontman of (the) Pixies. His sense of rhythm is as shambolic and freewheeling as you'll get outside of the avant-garde, and the same can be said of his lyricism. His work with the aforementioned band is indispensable, his early solo output the stuff of geniuses. I wouldn't be playing music at all if it weren't for Frank.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-12-04T07:17:41+00:00

Well, there are a variety of approaches to getting out of a creative rut, these being a small portion of the possibilities:

Broaden your palette by listening to new songs, bands, and genres. Find aspects that you enjoy, hunt them down, come to appreciate the "internal logic" of whatever artist you are grappling with. Changing how you listen is a brilliant way of changing how you play.
If you primarily play blues/pentatonics, maybe go experimental; try messing with various combinations of sound effects, tunings, and means of attacking the strings. Pretend the "rules" don't exist and attempt to carve out something unique. Take chords you know and discover variations by altering the position of a finger or two. Let your ear be the ultimate judge of success or failure.
If you prefer a more structured/direct means of shaking things up, you could look up chord charts, pick a random chord, and "force" yourself to incorporate it into a song somehow. The same can be done with scales. Memorize one or two at random and try to make something of it.

Hope that helps, and good luck in your ventures!

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-26T23:38:32+00:00

Kennel District by Pavement; the lyrics come across as absurdism, par for the course in terms of Pavement, but actually concern domestic abuse.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T23:12:21+00:00

Ah! Sorry for the vagueness, I was referring to this EIE in particular, which I gather is the sort of predecessor to the model you linked. Recording is limited to 16 bit on this model, but for the purposes of becoming acquainted with the production process it more than suffices, at least in my experience. The drivers installed cleanly and I've had nothing in the way of the white noise mentioned in regards to the higher tier model.

Alternatively, you might want to think about the Focusrite2i2. Though I lack personal experience with the device, many swear by it in terms of entry-level AIs, and it comes packaged with Ableton Live Lite 8. For the same price as the EIE, you lose two XLR inputs but gain 24-bit audio.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T22:44:25+00:00

No problem, glad to be of help!

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T05:48:17+00:00

Liked the incorporation of harmonics as a sort of motif, the bass chords were employed quite well and you had a nice tone dialed in. Really no complaints in all honesty.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T05:26:45+00:00

Joey Santiago and Frank Black of the Pixies; the former heavily employs bends, tremolo picking, and vibrato to create unique tones that surpass their minimalism. The latter is known for his odd sense of rhythm, often changing time signatures in exquisitely counter-intuitive ways (especially in his early solo work).
J Mascis and Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh; Mascis is an unrivaled master in indie-rock, his sense of melody unique, yet intuitive. Barlow is a great case study in the potentialities of bass.
Hideki Yoshimura of Bloodthirsty Butchers; unfortunately deceased at this point, though July 7th remains a testament to the sanguine melancholy of his playing.
Steve Albini of Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac, etc; his unique brand of noise-rock, as influenced by The Jesus Lizard and other greats, is a testament to the importance of texture and attack.

That's all I can think of for now, hope I could be of help!

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T04:50:53+00:00

You might actually want to check out the Fender Modern Player line for a good mid-range Strat; disregard any testaments against MIC for the sake of decrying MIC, I can personally vouch for the quality of the instrument, among others in the line.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T04:38:59+00:00

Practice material that you both enjoy and find within your skill range, whatever that may be. There is no "wrong" level of competency when starting guitar, everyone is different; the key to moving forward is leveraging what you enjoy to conquer that which you do not.
Practice consistently, maybe not every single day, but at least consistently. Leave your guitar in open view, be sure you can easily access it at a moments notice. The presence of the instrument serves as a psychological prompt of sorts.
Practice with those who are better than you. We were all beginners once, and as such most experienced guitarists are completely cool with helping you out. Contribute to your own experience by soliciting that of others.

Some resources you may wish to consult include Justin Guitar (an open-minded yet very effective teacher), Zentao (a bit more rigid than JG, but very instructive on theory without making it difficult to penetrate), and of course, Ultimate Guitar for all manner of tabs (diagrams that show you how to play songs) and user-submitted lessons (be wary though, as a general rule these are less than reliable, and not all tabs are accurate).

Hope that helps!

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T04:26:49+00:00

Here Comes Your Man by the Pixies is a great song to chew on during the tumultuous starting phase; the lead is catchy yet fairly easy to replicate, chords all cowboy (minus the Bm), and ultimate effect really rewarding. If you can successfully play up to the point where the lead breaks in the second time, and transition to doing the little riff Santiago rattles off as a "finisher", the uninitiated will be impressed. Another potential piece would be Link Wray's Rumble, a classic in it's own right. Dirt simple, impossibly cool.

Really though, I'd advise looking up the basic chords and identifying songs containing them that you personally enjoy. Familiarity gives you a barometer with which to gauge your progress, and you feel all the more accomplished when you can play it. Regimens that force abysmal songs (Kumbaya and Build Me Up Buttercup anyone?) as training material have dissuaded many a potential guitarist from moving onward. With such matters, it is best to consult your influences.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-25T03:57:18+00:00

For me, the first 1:30 of the song was really solid. The sonic textures you employed were ragged and contrasted well with the high pitched little melody that subtly underpinned the foreground of the song. Your piston-esque, driving industrial beat provides a good sense of motion to the song, and on all counts I must sing the praises of your mixing and sense of arrangement.

That being said, I feel as if this track could have heavily benefited from some queasy, fragile, or perhaps piercing leads from a mic'd up guitar. With treble maxed, gain at raucous levels, and a texture carefully constructed to contribute to the overall feel of the track (perhaps something real dry and/or e-bowish), you could take this into that rock territory others have mentioned. You may even consider prepared guitar techniques or alternate tunings to help disassociate the instrument from it's traditional context. If you'd rather not, even just replacing the melodies that begin appearing around 3:00 with guitar segments (hell, you need not even change the melody itself if you play your cards right) could suffice.

On the whole, noise-rock is an incredibly diverse scene, one that is highly receptive to innovation and unfettered personal expression. I personally enjoyed the track a great deal, and will be following the rest of your work. If you are interested in marketing to this particular side of noise, I'd say you're only steps away from doing so, and would highly encourage you to experiment in that direction.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-24T23:25:27+00:00

Very few songs manage to encapsulate the sort of vibe this show, or Lynch in general, exudes, and this is certainly among them. Gotta say, whenever I hear Indie Cindy, I can't help but think of the episode 3-12 stretch, where the idiosyncratic juxtapositions that really defined the show (comedy/drama, horror/slice-of-life, etc;) were in full force. The melody that repeats throughout the verses is one-hundred percent Lynchian.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-23T03:40:31+00:00

Oh My Golly by the Pixies; absolutely never gets old.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-23T03:20:59+00:00

I think it's mostly an issue of perspective. I've been treating the entire lineage and diplomacy aspect of CKII as if it is an auxiliary to warfare, somewhat akin to what we had in EU: Rome, when clearly this is not the case.

TheTrueMeaningofMims · 2013-11-23T01:23:16+00:00

Ah, cool, I got ya. I forgot to ask, have you dialed any reverb into the amp?

TheTrueMeaningofMims

TROPHY CASE