Guitar Gear Forum

Hey folks, I apologize ahead of time if I posted this in the wrong section.

I just recently decided to start a "basement blog" about my progress and "journey" towards improving as a musician, something every guitarist works at. Nothing fancy, just the occasional post, photo/video about the work behind writing songs, creating an album, recording techniques, how a band jams/rehearses/practices and what works, what doesnt.

I'm a 22 year old guitarist and songwriter focused on recording songs in the genres of classic rock, hard rock, alternative, psychedelic and .etc. Like many guys on here can relate, started out around my teenage years and fell in love with the roaring sounds of 60s/70s classic rock as well as mid 90s stuff.

I've been on a binge to bring my ideas to life- guitar riffs, solos, songs and the whole nine yards. It's been an interesting path as I've been trying to make a formal band lineup for 2 years now- fortunately finding a talented singer but still working out a drummer. In the meantime though, I've been learning how to play drums and bass as well.

With all that being said, I decided it was time to start a blog. I feel like the best way to keep track of ones progress is to right it down, in order to objectively look at the work one accomplishes over a timeline.

BLOG LINK: http://www.sensoryoverloadband.tumblr.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sensoryoverloadband

In addition to my own perspective, I've always enjoyed reading blogs myself- as there is rarely insight into how a guitarist or musician got a particular sound- how many takes it took- and the unconventional ways they practiced or rehearsed leading up to it. I get mesmerized by stories of famous bands and artists as well as modern ones and what they were doing in their off-time. If anybody here has a Tumblr, let me know so I can follow you as well.- as I just joined and have no idea what I'm doing haha.


I feel like this is also a great opportunity for people to give feedback and help me with speedbumps along the way, as well as post cool photos or information I find for those who actually decide to read my stuff!

I'll be updating this with future posts, and look forward to hearing suggestions from you guys- as well as checking out your blogs if you share them with me! Cheers

That's awesome man I can totally relate! Hope it all works out for you and yeah pop in here to update us along the way.

As for me, I've gone from complete noob to much less noob, like little to no noob remaining, very quickly. How did that happen? Look at my post count. Maintaining a persistent presence here on GAB has taken me far my friend. I recommend you hang out with us more often, post some clips, and enter contests/raffles and battle of the rigs. You may not be taking full advantage of your GAB membership. Terrible thing to waste.

Rock on hommie.

M.Mike LX-R wrote:That's awesome man I can totally relate! Hope it all works out for you and yeah pop in here to update us along the way.

As for me, I've gone from complete noob to much less noob, like little to no noob remaining, very quickly. How did that happen? Look at my post count. Maintaining a persistent presence here on GAB has taken me far my friend. I recommend you hang out with us more often, post some clips, and enter contests/raffles and battle of the rigs. You may not be taking full advantage of your GAB membership. Terrible thing to waste.

Rock on hommie.

Haha hey thanks buddy glad you know what I mean. I'm one of those guys that always has like 10+ tabs open, varying from documentaries, wiki pages, but mostly made up of random posts from 2011 about "how did Jimi Hendrix get this sound on this track?" or "Cant you hear me knockin tone??" .etc. Forums like this are a goldmine for tonechasers like me who try to research what guitar/amp/effect/microphone combo can recreate certain sounds as well as improving playing

Cool beans dude!

As far as advancing your skills and career potential, my only advice is:
1) Write and record as many songs as you can and keep refining them.
2) As soon as a band member expresses any disinterest in the project, replace them. Don't try to talk them into staying.
3) Keep writing and recording as many songs as you can and keep refining them.
4) As soon as a band member expresses any disinterest in the project, replace them. Don't try to talk them into staying.
5) Keep writing and recording as many songs as you can and keep refining them.

Good luck!!!

ajaxlepinski wrote:Cool beans dude!

As far as advancing your skills and career potential, my only advice is:
1) Write and record as many songs as you can and keep refining them.
2) As soon as a band member expresses any disinterest in the project, replace them. Don't try to talk them into staying.
3) Keep writing and recording as many songs as you can and keep refining them.
4) As soon as a band member expresses any disinterest in the project, replace them. Don't try to talk them into staying.
5) Keep writing and recording as many songs as you can and keep refining them.

Good luck!!!

Thanks my dude I've been following those steps for the most part haha

Friday
Literally spent about 4 or 5 hours playing guitar and drums to a metronome. For those unfamiliar, a metronome or “clicktrack” is basically a method of measure how many beats are in a minute, and that the tempo or pace you are following is accurate.

It’s quite hard to do for such a traditionally sloppy guy as my self, but the hours invested in it is what makes “perfect” guitar takes or recordings. Drums are actually coming along nicely as well, been taking YouTube lessons and playing along to videos for shits and gigs.

I recently recorded the guitar for about 12 songs using my new microphone set-up into an iMac via the Focusrite Clarett 4Pre. However, after going back and listening to them after a week or so, there were definitely some inconsistencies in the timing. It’s crazy that being off-beat just for 5-10 seconds 3 minutes deep into a song can actually throw off the whole thing.

Sometimes if I catch it while recording I can punch-in at that point and re-do it.. but if its something I don’t notice til after, basically makes it impossible to nail the identical tone again so it becomes obvious when a different-sounding guitar tone comes out of nowhere.

With that being said, I got the practice recordings out of the way, and with the practicing and fine combing of playing to a metronome, my takes should significantly improve over time. Still sloppy though



Post 2 - 14 Hour Days


My goodness, is it ever hard to find motivation to get anything done when you come home from work absolutely pooched. Setting up a date with my local guitar tech to get my acoustic intonation issues repaired this week as I mess around on my Yamaha SA800 I recently got fixed.
It’s a semi-hollowbody electric that sounds surprisingly crisp for being unplugged and practicing. Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age famously used his unplugged electric to record the guitar bit on “ This Lullaby”- however this is not the best sounding method traditionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh_waGlEgpk

Experimented recently with DI (Direct Input) and several amplifier simulators, which is the popular method of recording bass and guitar nowadays. I prefer mic’ing my guitar cab but some of these tones are quite tasty, and give a nice contrast to live amplifiers.

With that being said, the small window of leisure time today went to practicing guitar and sketching out amp presets