ITT Bill answers your Musical Questions

[Ellendesu]

Those of you who do not live under a virtual rock know that I am a musician.

I have a site here on hyperguy.net (Which is down right now but being revamped), and I don't know if anyone plays an instrument here or anything but I'd be more than willing to act as your "Sally of Sound" your "Maury of Music" your "Hiraldo of Tempo" and your other talk hosts things.

That said, let the asking begin.

EDIT: Updated with a Book Excerpt, also I am stickying this thread because it is my babay.

[Hyperguy]

This was your plan from the start, wasn't it?

Okay, I have a question.

When you lose to Boss I-No in Guilty Gear X2 and you're playing as Johnny, I-No says something along the lines of "You're using your body to play a tremolo? That's impressive!"

So my question is, Mr. Music guy...

Just what is it a tremolo, and how would you use your body to play it?

P.S. What's a serenade?

[Ellendesu]

A Tremolo is the system used on electric guitars in which the strings are fed into the guitar and up to the headstock in order to maintain tuning stability, tremolos use "saddles" which give better stability and ease of tuning, as opposed to "bridges" on guitars, which don't have saddles.

That said, Tremolo's also usually have bars (Whammy Bars, as most commonly known)

Tremolo also refers to a picking technique popular in classical guitar, in which the player keeps a constant rhythm with his other fingers while 1 or 2 fingers pick the highest note of the measure at a excessive speed opposite of the one being played on the lower registers.

NOTE: Johnny is loosely based off of the guitar player "Esteban" who is a fantastic tremolo picker. This may be a connection.

A serenade is a song you are singing to someone in particular. You would "serenade your girlfriend" for instance, by playing a love song on your guitar and singing to her.

That's all for now!

[Hyperguy]

Oh man, that was wicked tight.  I had no idea you knew so much about the technical side of music.

[Bgrmystr2]

Hey, Bill!

Lemmee see...
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Damn...
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Oh, yeah!

I play the Alto saxophone, right? I can also play the piano/keyboard but I'm not that good.
And I'm quite excelled at transferring notes from one to the other in seconds, and even playing any song somewhat good just by hearing it. I play by ear extremely well, and if you want proof; I Learned to play Inuyasha's My Will on the sax really well in maybe four days. (a few hours of practice a day) The first three to get down the notes, and the last to make 'em come together.

That's good right? 

My question is: If I want to play types of music that don't have a sax in it, (like the Love Hina DDR remix or even Linkin Park's Numb) And I was to transfer the music from the piano to the sax, How well would I be able to make it sound correct? I mean I know that sax doesn't have all the notes in the world... (that sucks! ^_^;)

I ask this because I have yet to learn SakuraSaku and the DDR remix is even faster and the notes are very widely mixed. Should I just stop?
I haven't played Numb yet, but if I can successfully play In The End on the sax (which has barely any notes to play, in which those I learned in a few minutes), I think I can play Numb...

[Ellendesu]

Hey!

I arrange saxophone music for guitar quite a bit, so I feel you. Essentially if you are rearranging a piece it's important to remember that no matter WHAT instrument you play, you are barred in a sense, to that instrument. Therefore you should not try to 100% transfer the notes from one arrangement to the other.

A Piano has 88 keys, a sax does not.

A guitar has 24 frets (At least mine do), with 24 notes on a series of 6 strings (7 in my case)

6x24 = 144, I have 144 potential notes I can play on a guitar with 6 strings, 168 with a 7 String guitar, that's a LOT to think about. Which is why saxophone is such a GREAT instrument.

Use your limitation to your advantage, don't view it as a problem! Write out the notes on paper, and then try to play them best you can with your horn, you don't have to play along with the song to play the song, revamp it a bit to make the notes easier on you to play while still maintaining the melody.

You want to rearrange it for the instrument as according to the limitations and capabilities of the instrument in question, not the instrument it's based off of. If you do that, you lose the feeling. You seem like you would have no problem rearranging the song, so just go for it. If it is a problem, yes you should stop. Stop and rethink it, and try doing it another way, that's how I did my Kenny G arrangement, and my Variable Geo arrangement, and my Aeris arrangement, you have to compensate according to what you do best.

So just go for it, and let me know how it turns out!

[ROMate]

NOTE: Johnny is loosely based off of the guitar player "Esteban" who is a fantastic tremolo picker. This may be a connection.

Hey wow. I never noticed before, but you're right.

[Ellendesu]

Hey, the site is back yay!

So if you guys want more musical advice just post in here! I'll also be putting up some lessons on the actual site.

PEACE

[Mattrello]

Hey Bill, got a guitar question for you.

I'm trying to do battery, and I just keep ending up with a scratchy mess of sound. If I try to hold my pick different, I just wind up tripping on it. Any tips?

[Ellendesu]

Battery by Metallica?

If your getting a "scratchy mess of sound" it probably translates to "I'm not holding the plectrum right"

You've seen me live, and you watch me very closely, so notice how when I'm going through a fast passage I switch the way I hold the
pick. Ever so slightly.

About 60 degree angle works best, and make sure when you're playing stuff like battery you keep your palm mutes constant. In Battery's main riff, the 32nd notes being played on the low E string are all Palm muted, with the 8th and 16th notes being played more open.

Keep your left hand in position for the chord shapes for those 8th notes while you strike the low E, don't palm mute too hard though! Or you'll dampen the sound too much, or make the notes go sharp.

Just practice. Time. Patience. Sophistication. That's what it's all about, it doesn't matter how fast or thrashy you are, just keep a calm mindset about it and play, read the sheet music carefully and also watch the way James Hetfield or Kirk Hammett play the song!

Also, remember to get alternate picking down, that will be crucial to playing in that style.

Best of luck!

[pt]

hey! I have two accoustic guitars and I can not play them...at all

you should give me lessons ^.^

[Ellendesu]

hey! I have two accoustic guitars and I can not play them...at all

you should give me lessons ^.^

I do lessons over the internet and by mail, for a very reasonable fee.

I also do lessons in private sessions, one on one with varying difficulty levels.

-Beginner
-Intermediate
-Advanced
-Intermediate Electric
-Advanced Electric
-EX Lessons (These are where I teach you things from my actual songs, complicated picking techniques, REALLY advanced moves, and how to tweak amp and effect settings for the best sound for your style

We can work out a deal on something, if you really want lessons, I'll cut you a deal. Anything for you PT

[Ellendesu]

I notice a lot of people interested in music on the forum, and that's good, as a little early Christmas present for all of you, here's about 1/4 of the first chapter of my upcoming book "Fretboard Metaphysics" (Lansir Books), I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One
Mental Musical Masochisms and other Stories…

   At the beginning of my guitar-playing career, I found myself trying to follow everything other people said to me. “Learn how to play this song! Learn this chord, etc…” Now don’t get me wrong, theory and proper technique is very important in guitar playing, it makes a big difference when you know what you’re doing and when you don’t, just because all the other people are playing three-chord power pop crap doesn’t mean you have to. Personal identity is a big aspect in guitar, developing ones own techniques is a great way to form your own “Style”. I at first tried to emulate metal guitar heroes such as Kirk Hammett (Pre Load of course), Dave Mustaine, etc. But as I progressed as a player and learned all the “basics” so to speak (in other words just playing cover songs and not trying to write anything of my own), I decided to buy a chord book and a scale book…I learned every chord in that damn chord book, and from that scale book I began to manipulate and change the way the scales were “meant” to be played, I turned a “B minor” scale into “Holy crap what the hell is that” scale.

   You’ll drive yourself nuts trying to copy everyone else, its good to have heroes in guitar playing and its good to draw technique and inspiration from them, but its also important to realize that YOU ARE YOU, and thus your style should reflect who you are.

   You can make plenty of songs just by knowing some basic power chords and pounding the living hell out of them, and if by God if that’s what you want then by all means do it, but is it really musical? I found myself bored with playing heavy metal and hard rock music and thus went forward in my solo career, I realized that perhaps this was the way to go, I’m my own boss, I play the instruments and write what I want to, I’m not restricted to a label like “Death Metal” or “Power Rock” or whatever the hell else you want to call it.

   Listening to all kinds of music is vital to developing an open minded style, jazz, rock, flamenco, opera, foreign bands, classical, swing…take something from them and modify it, make it your own, and then run with it. Yngwie J. Malmsteen fused heavy metal music and classical in the early 80’s, and basically was the top of the shred game for a long time, other bands I’ve heard lately even fuse Opera and metal, you could fuse death metal and polka and probably get something going with that if you wanted to.

   Mel Bay sells a lot of books on chords and such, and they’re all pretty good, those guitar chord posters work too, sit and look at a book or a poster for a while with your guitar and learn 2-3 new chords a night, then practice composing with those new chords…develop new melodies and such, don’t worry if it sounds “lame” or something, it’s helping you to hone your music skills, and that’s step one to becoming your own guitarist.

   As for scales, a lot of modern bands tend to shun soloing and complex guitar playing, because it’s too “old school” or it’s “boring”. When in fact it’s just obvious that the guitar has become nothing but a toy to back up some cheesy ass singer, I’m not saying that all bands have to rip on a solo each song and overshadow the singer/etc. But at least put some freaking effort into it.

   As with the chords and such, just learn 2-3 a night, set aside 1-2 hours an evening to sit and practice your guitar, turn off the TV, shut off that internet, hey! NO E-BAY FOR YOU TONIGHT! Its guitar time!

   Start with basic pentatonic scales; learn them inside and out, backwards and forwards, my instructional CD goes through a lot of basic things you can use to create your own style using scales and chords, and then twisting them to your own preference.

   Music theory is just that: A theory! A theory can be prove wrong or developed differently and thus turned into something totally different!

   A good example of excellent guitar players…look to some of these jazz players around the world, amazing players…sure they’re not on MTV but there’s a reason for that which I think is very obvious.

[R-9]

Q:

It it true that lots of starting guitar players try to do the intro to "Stairway to Heaven"? If so, why, besides the fact that it's a popular song?

[Ellendesu]

R-9, sorry I didn't answer your question sooner.

Yes a lot of new guitarists try to learn Stairway, because it's an introduction into playing acoustic guitar fingerstyle, or maybe just because it sounds good and people will be able to recognise it.

Nowadays though, kids don't play anything like that. It's not "cool" enough, I learned Stairway to Heaven when I was in Junior High and I was the only one who actually took the time to play it right! And I can sing it while playing it too. So yeah.

The real reason why people want to play Stairway to Heaven is because it's easily recognised and people will think you're very good if you do it right. However, no one really takes the time to learn to play it right...so yeah...

[tetsaru arigashi]

Hey Will, just curious what you thought about the Youtube videos I posted of the college marching band I'm in (check the Youtube thread if you haven't seen 'em yet).  I know the recording probably wasn't all that great, but I just wanted some insight from a fellow musician.  =3

Btw, I'm starting to learn some drumset in my percussion lessons class.  I know you're not a drummer (at least, you've been talking about guitar stuff all this time), but I was wondering if you had any suggestions for a novice like me?

[Ellendesu]

Tetsaru,

Actually, I do play drums. As well as Piano and Guitar, so it's nothing new to me.

Playing drumset is much harder than playing a bass drum or something in marching band, because you have to use ALL of your body parts for the most part, both arms, and legs.

Really, the best thing to do, at least it worked for me, is to study rhythms and times first, and then try to apply basic ideas to an actual drumkit.

[tetsaru arigashi]

I hear ya, Will - I've been having a lot of trouble trying to get my hands and feet coordinated.  My hands will often times involuntarily play whatever rhythm I'm trying to do on the bass drum, and playing double-strokes on a foot pedal is really tough (though I have been trying some basic rudiments between one hand and my bass drum foot to help improve this).  That, and I have a tendency to want to stretch my right leg out a lot to either pop my knee or my ankle joints...  guess I have Restless Leg Syndrome or something, but it gets uncomfortable after a while unless I have my leg fairly stretched out to begin with.  =/

And you play piano too?  That's cool.  I've always wanted to learn how...  I've done some mallet percussion (which I kinda suck at, btw - I'm not used to reading multiple notes and key signatures, lol) and I've actually been able to figure out how to play various things just by figuring out certain pitches, but again, I lack the coordination to utilize both my hands and my feet to play, let alone how to move across the keys with just ONE hand.

As far as other intruments go...  I guess it'd be cool to learn a string instument like a violin (or a guitar =3).  And if I hadn't chosen to play percussion in junior high when I first started band under my dad (he was a band director at my school at that time), I probably would've played saxophone.  I believe my reasoning for choosing percussion at the time was, "I was afraid I'd run out of breath playing a wind instrument," lol, though back in the day I DID suffer from asthma as a kid, plus to this day I have horrible nasal allergies...  >_<;

[Shane]

Just out of curiosity, find out what a shift slide is yet?

[MMX]

That's what Japanese cars do unless you're uncool then you just drive into a wall and DIE.