Muso School

[Frinky]

Hello...

If there's one thing that the Post Your Tunes Thread has showed me, is that there's a hell of a lot of talented music-doing-people on here, and I would like to learn from you. The idea of this thread is basically little tutorials on various music-esque thingies - from playing methods and styles, explanations on tunings, mixing and recording tricks, buyers guides (of sorts). And that's just guitar. I know there's a ton of Electronica artists here, and I bet they could be a help to loads of people. Maybe a sticky?

I've had a bunch o'PMs about playing with bows, so I thought this might be of help...

Playing with Bows



For a start, it's not as gimmicky as you'd think.

Page wasn't the first one to think of it - and that was as far back as '69 - loads of artists have done it since, the most major, "new" one probably being Sigur Ros. It's a fairly common studio trick (I'm fairly sure some appears on new Ash track Vampire Love).

But, using those two examples, it shows how surprisingly versatile a method it is. Page used a Violin Bow as a lead part of Dazed and Confused as well as How Many More Times - plugged through a Wah and occasionally a chorus pedal (as well as a Roadie Controlled tape echo unit), it produced a fairly scary wall of sound, the climax of which was his famed "slap attack", whacking the bow against the strings playing a series of 5th chords.

Sigur Ros' guitarist uses a different bow - a Cello bow - to create backing chords - rhythm, for want of a better word, and occasional lead. The chords are played slowly, frequently with volume swells. Part of the Ros sound is several different reverb units, giving a fairly epic, large sound to the guitar. This is pretty stunning live.

Things to know:

This only really works well on Gibson style guitars - namely, the Les Paul or one of the ES archtops (ES-335T [Dot], ES-333T, ES-345T, etc - just ones which aren't jazz guitars). The reason for this is twofold - the bridge sits very high on the body compared to a flat-top guitar, giving much better clearance and angle adjustment to the bow - important, as a bow sounds inherently bad on a guitar, you need to find the sweet spot. Also, Gibson use the Tune-O-Matic bridge, meaning you can angle your strings into a Pyramid form. This is important. I've had a modicum of success on a Telecaster - anything else I'd not bother with. You won't get anywhere with a Strat or an SG, really. The Jaguar I believe has a Gibson-esque bridge, but the body is still a hampering factor. Humbuckers are the best kind of pickups for this sort of thing - they're far more responsive, having higher outputs, and will give you a more consistent sound.

Bow Types:

The two ones mainly used are Violin and Cello bows. If you're just starting at this, I'd suggest a Violin. They're harder to get to grips with, but far more versatile. My bow was £10 new on eBay. You can pay up to £2,000 for a bow, but this will do just fine. More expensive bows do sound a little better, but bear in mind this is not their intended purpose, and I'm currently on my third bow now. For experimentation, one of these will do fine. A good, cheap, Cello bow can be had for about £30/40.

Violin bows produce higher, scratchier tones. However, they are lighter and longer, which makes them easier to use for up and down and side to side vibrato effects, and "fiddling" along the high E. The Page "Slap" is also much easier. Due to them being lighter, they're a bit easier to pull harmonics off with. Tension varies in different places on this bow.

Cello bows are heavier and shorter - the density produces thicker, heavier resonation on the strings. There is less tension on the bow strings as a whole, meaning you can press harder against the guitar strings, and so you can play full chords with greater ease than using a V.Bow. Tension is mostly uniform throughout.

Playing:

All bows need to be covered in a Resin called Rosin (dunno). This comes as block which you then rub against your bow strings. Experience will tell you how much you need to use, but you use more than you would with a violin. Put lots and lots on there, until you can literally blow it off the strings. When Page "slaps" - you see clouds off the stuff coming off. Rosin is less than £5 per block. Yes, this will knacker up your strings unless you clean them lots, and it will come off on your guitar's finish - don't let it harden overnight! Always clean it off.

Experiment with open strings - top and bottom E, for a while.  You'll notice that at some angles you hardly get any sounds, at others, horrible squeals and scratches. Eventually you fill find "Sweet spots" where the sound feels right - you'll know when you get them. I find it's best to hold the bow tilted about 20 degrees clockwise (or anti) - there's a good amount of solid string interaction that way. Again, how you do it will be entirely up to you and how you get a feel for it. You'll see why you need an archtop guitar for it, though. Once you're good with that, you can start trying to fret it. This will probably yield you yet more horrible noises. The key to fretting is in two things:

1) Use a guitar with high frets, preferably thinner, vintage types. This gives a sharper string break which is better for the sound.

2) Place your finger right at the very end of the fret (see pic) - the downward force needs to be much harder than normal picking. This will also probably mean some adjustment to your vibrato method.


(Note that the frets on my LP are very, very low - this makes it a lot harder than need be. However, it's the one I'm using for the demonstration, so, ner.)

One-string riffs are a lot of fun. Here's a few Page ones for you, taken from the new DVD (these are by my shit ear, so there will be mistakes).

s=slide ssss= slow slide v=vibrato p=pull off

E: 3ssss0---5ssss0----7sss5---7ssss12----------

E: 4p3p0--4p3p0--5-6-8v---4p3p0----------------

E: 12-----12-14-15-17-15-14-12-14-12ssss6-7v---

(see pickup notes for this riff)

Open chords, such as A, G, D, E and C work quite well on Cello bows. Violin bows are prone to sounding discordant when doing these. Barre chords sound good with a Cello bow up until about the 7th fret - the guitar strings then become too tense and start to squeal. Still, see where you get with it. Playing the first two bass strings with a V.Bow of the chords works fairly well. For the Page "slap" on Barres and 5ths, aim the very tip of the bow towards the strings and flick the wrist down. This will take practice and it's hard to explain, but once again, you'll know when you're doing it right. Its important that you use the most tense part of the bow, for two reasons - one, it gives the cleanest pull off, so you get a clearer sound, two, it gives you natural bounce for continued slapping. Lots of fun.

Harmonics are the best thing about playing with a bow. Rest your finger directly over the 17th, 12th, 9th, 5th or 3rd fret, take a long bow and as you pull the bow off, quickly remove your fretting finger - you'll get a perfect harmonic whoosh that gets louder and bigger as you take your hands off the guitar, that will reverberate for ages (and shake the guitar like you wouldn't believe). If you have a Bigsby or Trem unit like I do, you'll find that slightly altering the pitch creates an unbelievable sound. Bending behind the nut is also good for this. On the high E string, you can create "fake feedback" by doing these harmonics. I used this on the song "Helen" that I posted a while back.



On a 22-fret Gibson guitar, the 24th fret harmonics are right over the neck pickup. Place your hand over the strings (see photo) in that roundabout area to find these harmonics. You can run your fingers atop the strings right up to the bridge to get ungodly squeals and moans (run your hand back down the strings to the headstock, muted as you go, while raking the strings with the bow.  Very interesting noise). A trebly Wah will help you make the most of these sounds.



Pickup notes:

As I said, humbuckers with their higher outputs are good for this. The hotter the pickups, the better, really (the Gibson Les Paul Classic with it's hotter, open cover ceramic pickups and [obviously] Les Paul shape is the best bow guitar on the market, if you ask me) - it means you don't have to ramp the gain up too much. For 70% of bow playing, your best bet is to use the bridge pickup. However, and, as I noted with that third riff, sometime the neck is capable of picking up that which the bridge wont. The above riff is deep and clean on the neck pickup, thin and scratchy on the bridge. In short - if it sounds bad, flip over to another pickup, you might find a whole new sound. It's different on every guitar, so again, it's all about getting a feel for the way your setup plays. I'm currently having an old Les Paul Standard modified to fit three pickups, just for the bow work.

Others:

The TOM bridge will need to be modified as shown below if you really, really, to get the most out of your bowing. This pyramid shape separates the bass and treble strings, allowing you to make different shapes on each to produce more varied sounds. You can still bow chords, just over the neck pickup - this staggered effect evens out after a few centimetres. You can get a Gibson TOM for your guitar for about £20 - buy a spare and mod it rather than attack the guitar you use the most. I found it worth it - I wasn't just limited to riffing on the high and low E strings and basic chords. Using an archtop with a pyramid bridge opens up a whole new area to play in.



Thin string gauges (Page) produce, wait for it, thinner sounds than thicker string gauges. Worth bearing in mind when you're trying to work out what sound you want.

Effects:

I recommend a lot of reverb, no matter what kind of sound you're going for - it does a great deal to cover up all the nasty little squeals you'll inevitably get.

Delay is good - for a more "epic" (I hate that word) sound, use a short time with long repeat - to give a more natural tail-off and overlap to your sounds.

Wah: Using a Wah in the treble position helps the sound come through better (or at least amplifies to trebly sounds coming through - which you get most with a V.Bow). More transparent Wahs are better for this, rather than the thicker, "funk" wahs.

Chorus/Flange/etc - again, try to use as transparent a unit as you can - otherwise you tend to get a wall of synthesised sound - a slow-timed, transparent flange can produce a throbbing, throaty roar - very cool.

Careful with your amp - you can produce *very, very* scary amounts of bass with a bow, especially a Cello one. Bear in mind that a good, LP-type guitars have a lot of natural bottom end to them anyway.

And that should be it, more or less. Good luck! Hopefully other people can post tutorials that will be of some actual use to people...

Someone please teach me how to play guitar properly.

Edit: fixed pictures and re-did tab, stupid lazy hands.

[Gazeuse]

That's very interesting stuff Frinky!!!

I was sorely tempted by an Ebow which I saw in a shop window in Charing Cross Road for about 80 quid. I resisted temptation though, but you've just reminded me of it.

A quick Google threw up www.ebow.com which is full of info.

I tried a real bow once, but didn't get much past the screechy stage.

And finally...I must mention Nigel Tufnell's special technique whete he bows his guitar with a violin.

[Morrisfan82]

Breakbeats: if you are using breakbeats in your music, ensure that they are represented in the mix with sufficient amounts of treble. Because your breakbeat has probably come off of an old slab of vinyl many moons ago, and probably been through god-knows-how-many samplers before it got to you, it's possible that it may be a little out-of-shape in the EQ department.

A muffled break loses all of its energy, in which case you may as well not bother.

Using synthesised instruments/multisampled patches which are designed to replicate certain instruments: This probably doesn't need to be said, but as a steadfast rule, NEVER ever employ the following in your music: synthesised/multisampled brass instruments, or synthesised electric guitar. They sound like utterly embarrassing tripe, no matter what.

Also, if you are intending to replicate a live drumtrack using a drum machine, don't bother. It too will sound rubbish. By all means sample some individual drum hits (if they sound good enough, or better still record your own) & sequence them - it is possible to get a fairly decent-sounding drumtrack like this - but don't think your Alesis or Boss will sound like a convincing drumkit because it won't, no matter how much you process it.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Actually, I'd have to say that for strings and brass, Edirol Orchestral produces a pretty close replication of the real thing, handy if you don't happen to have a real orchestra lying around ;-)

Also, Steinberg Groove Agent can be used to create very realistic sounding drums.

I have to agree on the synth guitar thing though, I've tried several of the top of the range softwares and they're all utterly terrible. Plus, I think the idea of playing guitar on a computer is just...wrong.

My own tip: when recording vocals, if you have a weak voice (like mine) record the same thing three times, give it a bit of reverb and maybe a touch of delay. Gives it a much needed boost. (you may also want to do some harmonies too, they can really help out a flat vocal)

[Frinky]

Well, I thought it was a good idea, anyway. ;)

I was sorely tempted by an Ebow which I saw in a shop window in Charing Cross Road for about 80 quid. I resisted temptation though, but you've just reminded me of it.

Ebows are very cool, but entirely different to Voilin bows - that said, they're a lot, lot better to work with becuase they give predictable and controlable sounds - and you don't look like a cunt when you're using one. If you're into yer soundscapes, you can't go wrong with an Ebow. It does give you the advantage of getting to strings and notes that are nigh on impossible to reach normally.

If they make a 6-string Ebow for chords, I'll be all over that!

[Almost Yearly]

Recording real drums? Kick mic too much of an outlay?



Use a PZM, but take out the weedy 1.5v AA (R6) battery you're meant to use and wire a 9v PP3 (6F22) across the terminals instead. You get a vastly increased performance, and the mic doesn''t get damaged at all. Just sling it in the kick drum on top of your pillow or whatever. Marvellous. Very little bleed from the rest of the kit. Boost your click afterwards with a nice narrow peak at around the 3k mark and maybe another at the very top if you like Metallica.

[Neil]

Thought this was worth a bump, I am currently trying to get good at pinch harmonics, and listening to guitar virtuoso stuff like Joe Satriani to motivate myself to travel up the frets and get more into lead/solo playing.

[Des Nilsen]

I am currently trying to get good at pinch harmonics, and listening to guitar virtuoso stuff like Joe Satriani to motivate myself to travel up the frets and get more into lead/solo playing.

I don't think there's any better advice on PH's than just doing them precisely again and again until you do them without too much effort. That's not too helpful of me, mind.
I'm sure you know full well how to do them, but I'll tell for those who've never gotten round to them.

Hold the pick so that the tip of your thumb is visable (also works easier with your index finger), so you've got the pick edge and then your fleshy thumb pad hitting the string. Picked around the middle pickup area of a guitar gets the best results.
(Ach, I haven't done them in ages though. Not intentionally; I get pinch harmonics with my index finger because of the way I cut the nail, so I can get compression-like pops when I need them. Or with my thumb).  

I'll post later on this thread about artificial harmonics, for the sake of adding something technical. They're grrrrrreat.

Oh... how about an effect trick? Ok...

If you've got a delay pedal (I've got a boss DD3) you can do a close approximation of the 'space ship' sound from Hendrix's 'Electric Ladyland'. You mess with the feedback control until you're getting continuous repeats, then you just hit the strings hard and twist the delay time knob which gives a nice pitchshifting effect too.
It sounds like a space ship flying about. Now, if only I had a stereo amp setup...

-

[Sam]

Pinched harmonic technique is really hard to describe in words. I think you just have to experiment. Get someone who's better than you to show you and also remember to use lots of distortion and make sure the volume knob on the guitar is way up.

I recorded this meedley-meee type solo over a year ago when I was still in my shred phase, and I hit some nice harmonics at the end.

http://www.flatface.net/~blueice/vids/Random%20Shred.mpg

[Neil]

I'm sure you know full well how to do them, but I'll tell for those who've never gotten round to them.

Glad you did, saved me the bother :)
Any chance of uploading that Helen track again Frinky?  Can't find it on me puter.  Nice shredding, Sam!  Now let me ask you chaps this, how beneficial are drills?!  I always presumed they were a bit of a waste of time, and you could get as much benefit from spending your time learning to play a tricky solo or whatever.  However, over the last week or two I've been doing a few drills while watching the telly...a couple of string-skipping ones, and the old chromatic runs.  At times I've been doing chromatic runs on just one string for a good while before swapping to another, and I think I'm starting to see benefits from them, like increased accuracy and speed.  Are they really worth spending the time on?!

[Frinky]

Will do soon. My bandwidth has been a bit raped recently (may have to PM you about that as soon as I check some figures), so I'm tiptoeing around my webspace for the time being. I'll let you know tonight.