Blues in C

[noelG]

Hi guys,
here some blues i recorded with a strat straight into soundcard.
http://download.yousendit.com/2A49081565D71585

appreciate any comments or suggestions
cheers =)

 

[ob]

Power lah NoelG..!!!

thats just super sweet straight out blues..... tired of any more shredding open mic threads....

IMHO you should add more vibrato to it or make it more pronounced. I think I only heard 2 vibratos in the track... blues just gotta have that wicked vibrato lah... like BB King, sustain only one note with vibrato and take over the whole world !

Enjoyed it !

 

[ShredCow]

Actually, i thought it was an average take.

Some bends were out of tune (which isn't a big deal yet) and the overall vibe lacked soul (now this is a big deal).

The part where you bend the note while picking away at it, nice idea but you need to practice it more - I didn't get the sense of urgency such a lick usually implies.

Basically, I can't really feel you. There are sections where the blues speaks a little to me, but overall, I struggle to find the musical words you are trying to say.

A suggestion with regards to your recorded tone, a compressor could make your thinner strings sound more robust. Or use thicker strings.

 

[bboy2388]

on the contrary i felt the expression was not too bad but sounds a little careful. And to give him some credit it's difficult to sound good over blues anyway in my opinion. One chord lasts so long you'd kind of run out of ideas to play over it without getting too technical. That's why i hate jamming over blues, can't hide anywhere haha.

 

[RoRK]

My opinion is that the player is relatively new and perhaps it's one of his early blues stuff. Lots of potential in there.

But gotta keep working on it. Blues can be easy and it can be difficult - it's like a language. Lots of nuances and ambiguities if one isn't too careful.

Cheers
RoRK

 

[noelG]

First off, like to say thanks to ob, shredcow, bboy2388, RoRK for taking time to comment and critic.

RoRK, you're right bro I've been learning blues with a teacher for just over 1 year, after messing around with alternative rock for a couple of years. So I thought it would be a good time to get feedback from softies on my playing and see how I can bring up my blues playing up a notch.

Shredcow, I'm actually using .10s strings, maybe my thinnish tone on the recording is due to plugging my guitar in straight to the sound card.

 

[Crawldaddy]

Hmm.

Well, I can feel some of your playing, but the weird picking-while-bending, just made me feel uncomfortable. But see, that's the thing about the blues, because it doesn't need to be 100% perfect.

In fact, one of my old friends who has been playing the blues for 40 years now told me that when you bend, it's when you give a suggestion that you wanna reach that note, that's where the mojo really lies.

 

[Mobius]

Nice to see ya post here, bro...
Here goes the comments
Gotta work on the vibrato, lack variation in ur picking, therefore sounds abit straight. But like ur choice of notes though. Tone wise sounds pretty ok to me and pretty clean. Listen to David Gilmour, has one of the best feel and vibratos

 

[noelG]

Hey Crawldaddy, the weird picking while over-bending thingy was my feeble attempt at replicating one of Buddy Guy's trademark trick...still very far off hehe

Incidentally I just came across a cool lesson on Gilmour's technique at Guitar World's website: http://www.guitarworld.com/article/soloing_strategies_david_gilmour

and Mobius..Cya for jamming next week

 

[ShredCow]

Shredcow, I'm actually using .10s strings, maybe my thinnish tone on the recording is due to plugging my guitar in straight to the sound card.

You could try 11s or 12s. I know some people who swear by > .10 guages. Granted, players who use .08 or .09 can still sound phemoninal --> its all in the gear, the instrument setup and fingers.

Consider compression too, just a touch to up the weaker sounding thin strings...

 

[gsonique]

play it in F next time ... :lol:

 

[snuffleupagus]

ok heard it, here's my comments.

Very easy to tell that you're quite new at the blues, as there is a lack of attack and some of the notes (vibrato) were out of tune.

Your phrasing seems to have lots of potential there, so thats good, just need to concentrate on the feel of the music.I agree that you sound a bit careful, try playing it again over and over with your eyes closed...it will teach you to feel your scales...

Here's a trick you could use, record your guitar solo with as little volume as you can hear, say maybe using half of your headphones when recording....,Sometimes when you can hear yourself whilst recording a track too clearly or too loudly, you become a little bit more cautious.

all in all, its a good effort, listen to more blues greats and try to incorporate their phrasing and attack into your work.

And yes, you're gonna hate me for this cliche, but you need to have more feel brudder, imagine yourself expressing a message with your solo, where words fail and only the guitar can speak of whats in ur heart.

 

[gsonique]

and listen more to blues records 8)

 

[RoRK]

One very important to note is that it is important to build-up your solos - especially so with blues and more so with the actual backing track you were playing over. A more experienced blues player would not have jumped into the song the way you did. This is integral to soloing in general and more so with blues. Do it and it will make you a much better player.

Randy Rhoads used to tell his students that soloing is like you talking to someone. You do not talk in mono-syllable words or short sentences - you do it with complete sentences and at times entire paragraphs. For blues, such a notion would be crazy but if you truly understood what Randy Rhoads tried to teach then it is to look at the solo as a form on its own. Not only does it take the song onto another level but it should communicate something on its own. It should have a start, a mid-section and an ending. A good start (even a killer single note), a decent middle and a great end is always the epitome of a great solo.

Hope I made some sense.
Cheers
RoRK