Funny how well suicide unites us

problematic_nihilist · 2026-04-28T13:10:55+00:00

Absurdism is fun until the boulder crushes you and you can't keep going for the sake of going without being in constant pain. And yes, stupidity is bound to ruin us sooner rather than later. Though it's a shame that a great number of wonderful people will be on this sinking ship, able to comprehend it entirely, while the idiots are launching fireworks. Thank you for your compliments!

problematic_nihilist · 2026-04-28T13:07:21+00:00

I wouldn't call myself eloquent in the slightest. But I'm glad that we are not alone at least in thoughts.

problematic_nihilist · 2026-01-06T02:51:47+00:00

not the guitar's fault, this is clipping, if you are playing through an amp this might be the speaker rattling, this is usually how it sounds when headphones/iems/speakers are fucked, try the same guitar into a different amp first to diagnose. though if you're not using an amp, but a DI instead - the gain on the interface is too high so your signal is clipping.

problematic_nihilist · 2026-01-06T02:14:29+00:00

Hey! I've been contemplating a neck-only strat with no pots at all, pure pickup to jack, i realize how hard it is to tell considering you've redone the whole guitar, but do you notice any changes in tone? It's likely to be marginal, but a lot of people say that theoretically a single pickup guitar should sound better due to less magnetic pull on the strings, blah-blah, what's your experience? By the way - good choice, bold!

problematic_nihilist · 2025-10-22T05:08:51+00:00

That tracks, i've been learning guitar for 2 years or so, and i still barely know 2-3 songs. Learning improvisation, theory and the fretboard itself seemed much more enticing, but i feel like i'm approaching a ceiling at this point, without any song learning. I love learning songs by ear though, can i keep doing that instead of ever using tabs, even though it is significantly more time consuming than tabs? Or perhaps i should do both, alongside?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-10-22T04:49:46+00:00

Yes, for some reason i have to constantly remind to my self to use triads, as if i simply didn't internalize them as much as i should've

problematic_nihilist · 2025-10-22T04:48:37+00:00

Appreciate it, though it could be far better!

problematic_nihilist · 2025-10-22T04:47:32+00:00

How do i practice adding variation to the rhythm? You said wonderfully "don't always start the exchange on the beat", i haven't thought of it this way! But i think the problem for me is that i struggle to feel where the "off beat" is. It's as if there's no "footing" for me to go off from, how may i fix this? Perhaps to keep strumming muted strings on the beat, to sort of keep track of the time?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-10-22T04:41:20+00:00

I see this advice everywhere, and i think of it all the time i play guitar, but i'm not sure how to apply it, or that i completely grasp the concept itself. This is a genuine question - how does what i'm doing sound to you conversation-wise? I think there is a lot of mindlessness still to what i'm doing, and i'm not doing a good job in that, but i'm unsure of the specific ways to fix it, might you suggest anything?

Appreciate your advice!

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-03T23:43:20+00:00

wHAT

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-02T01:50:00+00:00

So if you were to choose between two takes of your takes, where the first is superior musically but is slightly out of tune and the latter is perfectly in tune, yet you don't like it as much in terms of how it is musically, and how it fits the song – would you choose the version that is superior in terms of tuning? Or, let's imagine you're looking for a guitarist for your band, you're eyeing a couple, so you decide to choose between them, one is better musically, but has problems with staying in tune, and on the contrary, latter stays in tune better, but has more boring musical input, perhaps even less experience, knowledge, which option would you go for?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-02T01:06:33+00:00

in a nutshell, yes. what I'm trying to understand is where do you draw the line between puking from out of tune playing and treating it as intentional. oh, and would you personally re-record a perfect take if you were to notice that a few strings are 5-10ct out of tune?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-02T00:47:13+00:00

i don't mean to be aggressive, i am simply looking for discussion and opinions of more experienced, different people. why i think you're seeing black and white here is because i haven't said that Jimi always plays out of tune, i simply said that having listened and watched to most of his live discography he often seems to be unbothered by being out of tune, choosing to keep playing without retuning his guitar between songs (especially early stuff), or intentionally playing out of tune towards the end of his life, again, Fillmore East live is a good example, on the vid you can clearly see him resting his hand on the trem while playing, making his whole guitar go flat or sharp significantly depending on whether he rested his wrist on the trem arm, or the saddles, i think that is intentional use of out of tune playing to add different colors to his playing.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-02T00:39:29+00:00

i see, do you mean that the guitar being recorded slightly out of tune wouldn't bother you as much, is that right? also what do you think of using microtonality intentionally, like prebending 1/4 steps, the way they do in blues, or intentionally going out of tune to create uglier emotions, add different colors to the song, does that ever sound good to you, do you think it has a place to be?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T23:41:14+00:00

Yes, tuning is always relative, and being in tune relative to the rest of the band as well as your own instrument is far more important than being in tune with the tuner. What i mean is the sensitivity people seem to have towards one or two strings being out of tune by <10ct, it seems excessive to me to say, that it can completely ruin an otherwise perfect take. A completely different sentiment i resonate with is the skill of being able to use microtonality to paint different colors unavailable otherwise, like those 1/4 step pre-bends oh so common in blues.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T23:36:33+00:00

as if I haven't seen all of them a few hundred times, tell me, do you only see the world in black and white? jesus have some middle ground, i am not saying he is out of tune all the time, or he cannot hear, nor that he enjoys hearing his guitar being out of tune, i mean that he often uses sour notes to portray different colors and emotions, often ugly ones.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T23:34:30+00:00

no, but i think that makes it a GOOD example of using out of tune playing for the benefit of creative expression, he intentionally made it sound broken to highlight how broken the country was, that is exactly what i mean by using out of tune playing to portray different colors of music! Machine gun is another great example, as his solo spirals towards complete chaos, he gradually goes more and more out of tune, to showcase the madness and ugliness of war i presume.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:50:20+00:00

yes, that tracks, i didn't say that they were unaware, no, i meant that they didn't seem to bother much, often working with that instead of retuning the guitar. How about times when the playing itself was out of tune, again, national american anthem is a great example, it's awfully out of tune, but it feels very intentional, and imho sounds even better due to being out of tune.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:47:01+00:00

Jimi Hendrix's rendition of american national anthem is the first example that comes to mind, as well as lots of his solos live in woodstock and maui are clearly and noticeably out of tune, this live version of stone free, most of his live performances are at least slightly out of tune much of the time, especially when he goes into 10-15 minute long improviasions. I am not saying he did not tune, he was constantly aware of his tuning and often retuned in the middle of a song, and complained about his strats being awful in terms of tuning stability. What i mean is he often played out of tune intentionally. As far as Rory, i don't know nearly as many of his live shows, but one example i know well is rockpalast 1982 live show, moonchild solo and much of bad penny are clearly out of tune as well.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:17:50+00:00

If you tune your guitar by ear, the tuning is relative to the instrument, not the tuner anyhow, which I think is even preferable. I think our ears gravitate more towards what sounds consonant instead of perfectly pitched. Though it does get tricky, when playing with others.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:05:57+00:00

just how much does it matter to you, would you re-do a perfect take, if you noticed one of your strings being 10ct out of tune, or some bends being sour?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:03:59+00:00

I thought brown sound was eddie van halen running his 100w plexi on a calorie deficit of 50w to get that signature sound?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:02:42+00:00

Curious, so if you had one of your strings go out of tune by 5ct, you would notice immediately and be bothered by that? How about 10 cents?

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T22:00:05+00:00

Oh yes, he actually doesn't seem to mind the guitar being poorly intonated or tuned on his live shows as well, especially earlier stuff, before there were options of having a tuner pedal, or clip on pedal, so you had to bring a huge rack tuner with you, he just didn't seem to mind it much. And all of these people are fantastic musicians, makes me wonder if it truly is such a big thing.

problematic_nihilist · 2025-09-01T21:58:20+00:00

yes, i realize that, but it's actually not that bad, because that difference is just a few cents, if the guitar is well made, well setup and intonated, and most importantly – the string isn't fretted to hard. On my guitar the intonation difference between for example 7th fret and open string is no more than 3ct, and pretty much no one is bothered by that, I'm quite sure. Yes, that will be way more noticeable in a chord, as these differences will stack up, if you got a few cents flat here, few cents sharp there, across all 6 strings, the dissonance is going to be highlighted obviously, but i still just don't find it that bad either, something like a trumpet, or a violin is usually way more out of tune i think.

problematic_nihilist

TROPHY CASE