I've paused from guitar playing for one year caused by some jobs I've done. Then my fingers were really slow but now, one year later, I'm playing faster than ever. I don't understand why I'm suddenly able to play so fast now but I feel alright with it. I wished I could have played in this way 20 years ago...


Hehe...I really understand what you mean. The most time when I'm playing skales at warp speed I'm also thinking "what a crap of music" but in a few moments there really IS the part for making light speed solos. They only have to have a sense in it and then they sound wonderful...

Normally I'm playing not sooo fast but sometimes when I'm changing from one part to another I'm playing fast crossovers but not at all. Flying tunes are also good for changing parts...


From where do we have our light speed solos? From Bach and Paganini!!!

I've played clean elec guitar in some songs. Haha...I remember a story from my most hopefully band in earlier days. We had a rehearsal room in the cellar of a small youth club here in Frankfurt. Heribert, the headman of the club, was a very christian man. He allowed us to use the rehearsal room 3 times a week (each day 3.5 hours) for free.
Once a day I performed a new song with my band which started with a clean guitar picking through a chorus effect. The volume level was '0' at first then I striked the whole chord in H moll (I think it's B moll in american writing). And then I raised the volume level to maximum. So, the guitar seemed to sound like an organ.
Suddenly the door of our rehearsal room opened. Heribert came from his office one floor above down to us and he was apparently surprised because he asked "Hey, where is the keyboard player in here?". I showed him the source of this tunes and we all felt together in laughing out loud...


Bad, bad boy, ED!!!
Dirty, holy, foul and beseeching - the haunting dog of the underdocks - the phenix from the ashes. Happiness and sadness at the same time - those feelings are bursting my chest, they smash me onto the wall, they let me cry out my pain deep inside...and many more...

If you like dramatic blues themes then the last song of my actual album Tytan should be a little gem for you. In this song you may could hear my greatest idol on frets out of my playing - David Gilmour (Pink Floyd).


To be true I've to say that I don't know anything about EBow or Glissando. I can't really find any translations in the dictionary...
But I would really like to hear those sounds...

Country western style is a really good stuff for accoustic guitars. For those tunes I have my Yamaha 6 string western guitar with phosphor bronze strings (based on E 1st = .010 inch). I think that the phosphor bronze sounds slightly warmer than true steel strings.
But I don't play country style as a profession because it would bite the rock music I'm always playing (it's a question of image and outfit). So, I'm playing those styles mostly in sessions (Western-Jam?)...


I remember that I was interested in guitar synths over 15 years ago. At this time I didn't play together with a synth. Since I'm playing with a synth I totally forgot my interests for guitar synths. So, I landed with the POD by Line6 and it was a great ride, yet! [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/smile.gif[/img]
I would really like to hear some guitar tunes swallowed by the guitar synth... [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/wink.gif[/img]


[img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/biggrin.gif[/img] ...I'll be glad to sell two or three CDs...no hope for thousands of bucks... [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/wink.gif[/img]

Well, this production has already a contract with a studio which will make the end mix and the professional recording. After this I could need one (or more) distributor(s) for bringing the album to all music stores over the world... [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/wink.gif[/img]

I have contracts from GEMA here that I have to fill out in the near future when the recording will be finished. I'm still thinking about why the papers came so early...


Well, then let's have some fun!!! Why not???
Music has to be fun at all - be it composing, be it playing, be it producing or anything else. I have so much more ideas in the back of my mind that I could do much more albums in future...and it's not only metal... [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/wink.gif[/img]

Hi Sheriff,
I am a bit surprised that you have not had an opportunity to check out or try EBow or play glissando guitar.
Ebow is actually pretty mainstream stuff. It has been used by almost everyone starting with brave experimentalists like NEU and ending with pop electro bands like Depeche Mode and even rock bands like R.E.M.
Here’s a website for EBow: www.ebow.com

The demo sound clips are pretty lo-fi and old but they will give you the general idea of what an EBow sounds like.


Glissando is a different story. Easy to try, all you need is a steel rod and a delay line to play to. Used by many. Known by a few. Glissando Guitar was even used for some of the Apocalypse Now soundtrack. For the life of me I cannot recall which track exactly but right in the end there is this long track with what I call “A Star Trek heart beat bassline” and some weird pads. Very cool!
Anyway, the voice-like metallic sweeps in the background are done with glissando guitar.

Simply run your guitar through a good delay line with lots of feedback and bow the strings (either one or one of the first three) using a steel rod (a long screwdriver will do). Crank up the gain so the signal is not distorted and yet there is enough gain to get a decent “signal to noise”. It should be played very slowly and you have to kind of let the sound build up. Using delay is a must.
If you do everything right then you will end up with a very organic (non synthetic) and yet deep and somewhat metallic voice like texture. Almost like a lazy lead with slow
portamento rate. Impossible to emulate with a synth..
Even though a synth kind of has all of the components needed to get the glissando guitar sound right it is stil impossible due to the nature of the way the sound is controlled on a synth and the way the real guitar string responds.

Try it man, with your deep take on synthesis, sampling and writing this will be yet another thing to explore. A very lo-fi and yet rewarding sound source.


-ED-

Okay, as far as I can see the EBow is an artifact which will be pressed on the strings but not at all together (only 3 strings at one time, I think). Pressing anything on my strings would mean that I stop the strings sounding. On the other hand I would kick the EBow away with my right hand because it fits exactly on that place where I need to lay down my hitting hand for playing guitar mutes.

Maybe I would use a bottle neck but also for this tool it's not usual to me for handling. And sometimes the strings really flatters with a bottle neck. I think I can't play it anymore...maybe modern lighters don't have the same material...

Otherwise the EBow seems to be like a random effect. I don't like random effects in music. All I play has to be repeatable. This is IMHO the way to show real potential on instruments.

Hey, at first I've thought you meant an electric violin or a saw played with a bow...

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 05-24-2005).]

Glissando!!! Hmm, your explanation reminds me on some experimentals in earlier days. I took a drum stick and 'drummed' my strings. This was very heavy and rhythmic at the same time. On the other hand it killed my strings earlier than awaited...

Well, today I don't experiment with my instruments any longer because I would prefer playing them. I've noticed sometimes ago that playing the instrument will get so much more out of my talent than experimenting with noises and tunes of instruments. I don't even use a tremolo/vibrato system for my guitar because I play it with my left fingers. It's only a kind of playing...

Today I won't use an instrument in another way as that what it was made for. I'm a kind of a modern classical composer, I'm afraid!!!

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 05-24-2005).]

Are you by any chance attemting to insult my tastes in music and preferences of techniques used to express my ideas?

I do have classical traning you know. I respect music as much as anyone else who plays it.

Neither glissando nor EBow sound laughable. They are quite musical and have a very noticeable presence in the mix of other sounds.
Neither sound like a vocoded chainsaw or a reversed sample of a hairbrush banged on a mirror. We’re talking music here not experimental noise used as sound FX for cartoons.


I’m not even sure if it is fare to refer to Glissando and EBow as experimental considering the amount of times they have been successfully used and their popularity among musicians of the 20th and 21st century. THe results are only as random as you want them to be since everything you do is hundred percent repeatable.
All depends on one's ability to use those tools.


-ED-







[This message has been edited by 3351 (edited 05-24-2005).]

No, I'm not insulting - I'm too old to learn new technics on my guitar. I'm glad that I've reached the ability I'm actually having. I don't also learn keys anymore (okay, maybe a little bit but not as I'm playing guitar). The only guitar effects that I'm using are made for foot controlling or simply in a static setting. I don't like to play with effects while playing guitar. I do only like fast switchings between two effects if necessary.

BTW: I'm using just only ONE effect setting for my guitar through the tracks of Engines Of Glory and Planet Outpost.

If you are able to play EBow or Glissando than again you're welcome to make a track for my album...

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 05-24-2005).]

Alright.
I was also going to question the use of term “Modern Classical Composer” since it can actually mean a lot of different things.
After all there are plenty of talented and successful modern classical composers who do not consider using unconventional techniques (be it playing or writing) experimental or distasteful.
Simply because as we all know and realize there is no such thing as truly conventional or experimental.
Those are simply the terms that define a temporary stage of any self evolving process and development.
Whatever is conventional today was once unorthodox and experimental and so on.
This even applies to instruments and their development that often leads to birth of new instruments that are made to work with specific styles of playing best.

I just hope one day Gibson or PRS or even Fender come up with a fretless instrument with pick ups and sensors specifically designed to work with Glissando technique.
There have been several atemts…
In the world of today where software and computer manufacturers put their resources into development of a ****ing toilet seat with built-in internet browser anything is possible LOL.

-ED-

Hey, ED!

Send me your email adress to #sheriff#@#rmrost.de# (remove the sharps!) then I will send you two links to different recordings of one part of my actual working - the one with my solo and the other without it. You can decide which version sounds better to you...

...and you're right. Then it was experimental and now it is normal. In earlier days I experimented with my instruments and nowadays I want to use what I've learned. I'm still learning new technics but not all anymore. Nowadays I tend to invite someone to play with me if he plays something interesting...

A modern classical composer...or a classical modern composer...or a modern composer for classical arts...I don't know. Words are made for spinning around...

...HEY,Sheriff... I would like to hear some of your songs.... ....very much....

sLOWER