Developing the right touch

[suspend_thought]

I didn'tt pay much attention to how I fret and pick, but after experimenting a bit to sharpen my playing I'm starting to feel that I play slightly tighter now, by paying attention to the strength I use on my left hand fingers to minimize unwanted noise after letting go, using the sharp edge of the pick for a faster, crisper sound and inclining my wrist more for sweep picking and stuff like that.

so, what do you guys think? Anything useful to share in improving your touch, etc.

 

[ShredCow]

Play with less gain and use pedals/amps that have more expressive gain.

And turn up the volume somewhat.

Drop the mids. They only give you mud, loss of clarity, after a certain point.

You want a list of "expressive" pedals?

 

[ShredCow]

for touch-wise... I find it an exercise in futility if you don't do some of the above (at least) to give yourself more dynamic headroom.

When you get yourself more dynamic headroom... then your touch will/should automatically try to improve as you pay more attention to detail.

 

[Gr3y]

well to me as long as my both hand synchronize its music to my ear! :lol: provided i'm not playin nonsense la..

Well paul gilbert did showed how much pick is used will produce different accent in e stroke. The more pick used, the louder and accented.

Also different pick gives different sound.If you are using a thick pick like stubby n such, you'll problly get a very thick round sound.But if you want rock n roll den you should got for something more regular,like a 1.0mm pick~

The right touch may also be refering to muting the open strings correctly with either your left or right hand.Muting the strings seems to be the most important and yet hardest to perfect for me. But if you are doing stuff like Blink182.. their style of palm muting is just child's play.

Hmz the right touch, maybe the best touch is when you touch ur guitar it turns 18k gold? :twisted: Or is tt how gold tops are made? :twisted:

 

[jon__]

practice clean or on an acoustic guitar. it makes all the mistakes in your playing really stand out. practice with a metronome (if you have one). i never practiced with a metronome and now i'm having a lot of trouble correcting my picking so that it's in time with my fretting. also, when you do just fool around, try to play everything in time. the whole three-notes-per-string shape that appears in scales has a tendency to make me (and probably you) rush very slightly if it's hammered..which translates to rushing when you're picking too.

 

[suspend_thought]

Unfortunately I don't have a mids control on my SansAmp GT-2(it's lined in to my comp). My gain's at 12 o clock (center, hot wired, british), is that too high? It's around where I start getting this edgy tone that I like, though the lack of a proper amp kills. What are "expressive" pedals, anyway?

As for muting, the only palm muting I've been doing is for metallica songs.

How does one mute with the left hand? Is it like, when you play a riff or something, you relax the finger to remove all strength on it to mute the note before letting go, when you're moving to another string?

I use an online metronome but stopped because it was pretty irritating; my guitar comes out of my speakers along with the metronome so either it was 1) pounding into my head or 2) couldn't be heard past my guitar, :x

 

[Gr3y]

well i started off with classical guitar.. thus i learnt a few stuff using left hand muting.. ehz.. kinda hard 2 explain..its something like doing natural harmonics with a little added strength..the strings is in a position like split seconds before you fret it.. ehz.. got e idea?

 

[jon__]

relax your fingers but keep them on the strings..maintain enough pressure to prevent a harmonic from coming out, but don't press so hard that you actually fret the notes. it's pretty easy once you get the idea.

 

[hay88]

touch more ***** i garantee ur playing will improve

 

[killinghall]

Hi suspend_thought,

One of the things I've constantly been working over the years is to learn to create dynamic sounding, colorful notes as you play. It's got very little to do with your gear or effects. More like a personal touch that makes a string come to life at the command of your fingertips.

Basically what happens is that the two same notes played at the same position at different times can sound very different when you strike the string. It not exactly like playing that usual note and then transforming it later to a pinch harmonic. It could be for e.g. a full note in itself but with a slight hint of harmonics, etc.

It's hard to describe, but essentially there're more than one ways to make a note different. It all borders on playing with a lot of feel and what you want that note to convey when you play it. So as you learn and play, spend some time working on this, and remember that notes don't always have to sound them same.

This is one of the aspects that certainly make guitar playing a hell lot more interesting.

 

[ShredCow]

Unfortunately I don't have a mids control on my SansAmp GT-2(it's lined in to my comp). My gain's at 12 o clock (center, hot wired, british), is that too high? It's around where I start getting this edgy tone that I like, though the lack of a proper amp kills. What are "expressive" pedals, anyway?

hot wired eh. Thats the most scooped tone but with the most gain on the GT2. Try hi gain.

I find more dynamics present on the GT when using classic miking.

The Gain @ 12 oclock is fine for hard rock stuff.

Expressive pedals are pedals that allow more dynamics thru, less compression. I don't think a Bad Monkey is "expressive", its compressed. Neither are (usually) higher gained fuzz pedals.

 

[hub37]

How does one mute with the left hand? Is it like, when you play a riff or something, you relax the finger to remove all strength on it to mute the note before letting go, when you're moving to another string?

hi suspend_thought,

Lifting up fingers gently is one part. The other part is when you press for eg. 2nd string, ur finger lightly touches the 1st. So it's like press one string, mute the other with the flatter part of ur finger.

The other muting comes from the right hand. When u play the thin strings, palm mute thick strings. When u play the thick strings, use your last 2 fingers to mute the thin strings. When u play the middle strings, mute simultaneously the thin and thick strings with fingers and palm respectively.

As on improving touch, I feel that things like picking angle, your right thumb touch, picking strength all play a part. As what a very good guitarist taught me, the guitarist picking hand is what makes the difference.

 

[shreddedsweeper]

muting with left hand, possible when shredding? It seems insane for me. Is it a nessary to mute every single note? I dont know cause I always do palm mute

 

[fade2b14ck]

Well paul gilbert did showed how much pick is used will produce different accent in e stroke. The more pick used, the louder and accented.

:twisted:

interesting, i hear of it b4 but nv did find out how does it work. do u hav a link 2 e vid or sumwhere where i can watch it?

about left handed palm muting, i guess its juz laying yr fingers over e strings whenever possible to do so, if not possible den leave it 2 yr rite hand. i don think its necessary 2 pay much attention 2 it while playing, 4 me it was a matter of getting used to it. after that it all comes naturally.

 

[tany]

play clean! that way u can control ur dynamics well also! and dont put too much gain!

 

[Santa]

sorry to bump this but i think this shld be stickied

its quite important!!

also, how do you stop the other strings from ringing out after you bend?

 

[Crawldaddy]

Hmm.

^^ when you bend (depending on how many fingers you use for your bending technique) you can always use the flesh on your remaining fingers which are not in contact with any string to subtly mute the ringing ones.

I personally use two fingers to bend a string if I'm playing something fast. But if I want to sustain and vibrato a note, i'll use three fingers, bend the note and give it the wicketest vibrato I've got in my system.

Sometimes, to mute the offending string (which would be adjacent to the string I'm bending) I would either use my right hand to mute it or use the edge of my palm on my left hand to mute it.

 

[Paulo]

he twisted the blues, took it out of the box, touch of gold from his fingers. even Vai swears by his licks. a good role model to pursue that touch.

 

[Phil]

Well paul gilbert did showed how much pick is used will produce different accent in e stroke. The more pick used, the louder and accented.

:twisted:

interesting, i hear of it b4 but nv did find out how does it work. do u hav a link 2 e vid or sumwhere where i can watch it?

To quote Gr3y, "how much pick is used", that's the main thing.
Gilbert's just saying that you can vary the position your pick strikes the string.
Use a bit of the pick, just the tip, gets you one sound.
Use more, use more or half to strike the string, and you get another sound.

I've seen that video too, you can probably just search 'Paul Gilbert' on Youtube and scroll through the dozens of vids. :wink:

 

[Santa]

interesting... thanks guys

been practicing.. my excess sound has been reduced quite a bit... now to get that pinky and bending right