Gear & Technique

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darkcubus

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Over the last five or six years I've assembled a mini guitar gear room in the thought that I could some how attain the best possible guitar tone I can.

Though I already know gear is just one part of the equation and technique and skill are huge parts too, have any of you intentionally altered your own picking/playing technique for a different or better tone?

I've found some players anchor their pinky on the guitar body to have more control over the way the hand hovers over the strings to pick at a specific angle. I know Jesper Stromblad does this. Though I can't stand new In Flames, he constantly gets good tone. When I try this it sounds pretty good and have good pick angle control above all the strings.

Some seem to be able to just make a fist and grind the shit out of the strings like a blasphemic death harp or something and sometimes it sounds good sometimes it sounds like shit. The lead guitarist from Catamenia does this and all their stuff sounds awesome.

Is technique really specific to the tone no matter what gear or is just everything all part of the equation? Maybe both?
 
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A good guitarist can make still make a shit guitar sound good, technique really is everything IMO. The main technical elements of style are: the varying degrees of pinch harmonics (not just squeels but , vibratto, sliding to and from notes, picking at different positions between the bridge and neck and sparing use of the whammy bar. Picking notes without the style elements makes things sterile and boring in a hurry. The actual positioing of the plectrum etc is entirely down to the size and makeup of your hand - look some of the best guitarists out there and you will see they all hold their picking hands and plectrums differently.
THe next most important thing after the hands are the actual pickups on the guitar itself - I use three guitars regularly and each one makes my playing sounds very different. All depends on the sound you want to achieve.
The actual amp, stompbox or modeller is the last part in the equation, without the above it will still sound crap even through the largest rig on the planet. Combine it all and you will have a great sound!
 
All tone starts in your fingers. Amplified crap is still crap. Do not insult a good rig. Your guitar will forgive you if you apologise, Your amp will take it personally.

To work on the part of your tone that lives in your fingers:

Remove everything possible from your signal chain. Acoustic guitars are even better. Make sure that your guitar is adjusted and intonated correctly. Remember that it's really hard to get great tone out of really skinny strings. Don't crank your amp past clean.

Try out a variety of picks using the rounded edges as well as the tip. Choose one and stick with it for a while. You can go back to the others later.
If you can, Record what you're doing making notes so you remember what worked and what didn't. Play simple stuff while doing this. You're working on making sound you can use in your music not the music itself.

If something works, stay with it until you're comfortable before going for the next thing.

When you start sounding good through this setup, Put your signal chain back and wail a little. You'll understand.
 
darkcubus said:
Though I already know gear is just one part of the equation and technique and skill are huge parts too, have any of you intentionally altered your own picking/playing technique for a different or better tone?
Click to expand...

My picking technique is a little fucked up, I hold the pick between my thumb and my index and middle fingers. Being that it's fucked up, I decided to try and change to holding my pick normally. Then I realised I much prefer my tone the way I feel more natural playing, which is the fucked up way. I feel I have waaay more control over things this way. I know Steve Morse holds it this way and I've heard James Hetfield and Eddie Van Halen do the same but I'm not sure about that.

I wouldn't try to alter your pick grip though. You'll just confuse the crap out of your picking hand for little benefit. It's like relearning to play.
 
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Think of how many players you know that are so distinctive you recognize their sound after three notes... that's the HANDS, not the equipment. Picking technique (and fretting/vibrato technique) is INCREDIBLY important.

Try this... get your guitar. Don't plug it in (or use an acoustic). Set a metronome to a comfortable tempo. Start on the low E string, playing steady 8th notes with the metronome. DON'T TOUCH THE FRETS. Just play the open string. After two minutes, go to the A string (without taking a break) and do the same. Two more minutes, do the D string, and so on. Listen very closely to the sound of the pick striking the strings, and the sustain of the string afterward.

Twelve minutes of this, and you'll know a LOT more about how your picking sounds than you ever did before. I recommend doing this exercise every day for a while, if you have doubts about your picking.
 
Also, try not to be dogmatic about any aspect of your picking style. I find myself sometimes using my little finger as an anchor; other times I will rest the heel of my right hand on the bridge, just off the strings so that I can string mute rapidly. Other times my whole hand is off the guitar, particularly when chording.

Somtimes I will pick both with the pick, held between the thumb and index finger, and also use my middle and fourth finger along with the pick.

I do use a varying pick angle depending on the amount of attack I want. I use those small, teardrop-shaped jazz picks because they are great for pinch harmonics.

Just experiment. There is no right way or wrong way - just the way that works for you.
 
Great advice all, I'll try everything. I've got a pretty simple setup to keep everything as simple as possible.

Jackson Ke2 straight to a Marshall TSL122 with a Hotplate. I've tried a ton of different stuff and it just makes it sound different so I keep going back to the basics.

Gonna try some stuffs, thanks!
 
just wanted to add some thoughts on this topic.
technique is important, but it is also something that is developed over alot of time playing, just like pinching, and holding the plectrum...after years of playing you don't think about it, and its hard to re-train the hand set and the calouses, my thumb and two fore fingers are calloused, from my picking technique and I use three fingers on the plectrum, and always reach for the oldest most worn down of my picks.

also, there are players who play and think about what they are doing, then there are the players who play from the heart and don't think about what they are playing, what I mean about this is, just playing scales, riffs etc to make up a lead or playing melodies that come out of your soul, hope this makes sense.
 
If you want to improve your technique, I would recommend having a look at John Petrucci's 'Rock Discipline' DVD. I checked this out recently and found that his exercises helped a hell of a lot with my weak spots, and they are a little less tedious that some of the other exercises I have tried. When I started on those excercises I saw a noticeable improvement in a lot of areas. I tihnk the biggest problem I have always had is the independance of the middle and ring fingers on my fretting hand. But it had a pretty nifty exercise to deal with that and I have definitely improved massively after learning it.

It also doesn't hurt to learn some music theory if you haven't already.

That said, I often feel that technique from a technical perspective is a different kettle of fish to the feel you put into the guitar. And guitar has a lot of scope for feel being that your fingers are directly interacting with the strings. All in all, it's what you do with your guitar, rather than how you do it, that counts.
 
If you can't hear it you can't play it.

Technique and feeling(emotional content). Know your equipment and what it can and cannot do.

Practice.......

practice low to get proper technique and clean picking and fingering.

PRACTICE LOUD to find out how to make your gear come alive.

Don't you think guys like Hendrix, Clapton and Van Halen really learned how to play that way. They practiced their technique and then put the guitar through some Marshall Stacks and learned how to handle raw power.

But first get the technique down low, play clean and as precise as you can.
 
I think I figured it out, I found based on what angle I'm strumming at it sounds best. If I strum "down" like straight down the line of strings completely not at an angle it sounds shitty but if I hold the pick at like a 45° angle from the strings and strum and pick at that angle it comes alive for some reason. I don't know the physics of why it does that but it sounds awesome.
 
I did a little test recording. Link. Wish Sonar exported to mp3 but the damn mp3 demo ran out and I need to buy it. Does it sound okay?
 
Isn't this a catch 22 though. Say a guy gets a gorilla amp, and a $50 guitar when he's 15, and plays that for a year. Now back up to the begining and give the guy an American Tele, and a twin.

Then back up and give the same guy a Les Paul and a Marshall. If we could run 3 timelines, don't you think the guys style would be different?
 
My technique has changed around alot over the years but it's been pretty static for a while now. I changed the way I hold the pick out of necessity, but pretty much unconsciously. I used to hold the pick with my fingertips, between my index and thumb. Over the years, as I started to develop better picking technique, I was holding the pick more and more along the side of my index finger instead of with the tip. I sort of noticed all at once that I was holding the pick differently. I tried holding it with my fingertip again and my playing sounded terrible. I think that you just adapt as you go, at least I did.

You also have to analyze your own shortcomings. I can't tell you to hold the pick like me or anchor your finger or anything like that because it might make you sound worse.

I'm judging that you are a beginner. Just keep practicing and what works will come to you in time.

By the way, in that recording - is there a canary in the room with you? :p

Whatever sort of strange picking approach you're using is creating an absolutely ridiculous chirping sound. You might want to address that.
 
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