I’m primarily a guitar player and have been going back to my axes more and more recently.
Got a Line6 Helix and the plug-in version too. Guitars: Steinberger ss2f custom (in my profile pic), late 80s HM Strat and a Variax 700. Plus Ibanez acoustic and Fender Jazz bass.
Andy Summers is probably my biggest influence - especially his solo material.
Steve Hillage with System 7 and Mirror System is kind-of my model for fitting guitar with electronics, but I was heading down that route since before I’d come across him working in that mode. I also ended up working with Sys7 and have jammed with them on synths at gigs.
So in the last few years I had been playing guitar less and less. Mostly because I moved to a place that requires wayy too much driving just to go to an open mic to jam.
So I got into electronic music.
This thread made me go search for CAB Simulator VSTs and iOS apps…holy crap they are pretty good.
Might start using a thru track on the OT if the latency isn’t so bad.
Unfortunately I am far away for all of my guitars for a while. Haha oh well
Thankfully this made me discover:
Hopefully some of y’all can integrate guitar back into your studio
Tell me more! Make me want a MnM again after successfully managing to bury my GAS back in the ground. What can it do aside from filtering etc? People used to say A4 was good for guitar processing but I hated it haha.
I’ve used a few FX for more synthy guitar sounds in the past. Moogerfoogers and EHX mainly. Do not, I repeat not, ever fall for the Moog MF-107 FreqBox, unless you want your guitar to sound like an angry duck
The only EHX stuff worth it (ignore the synth ones, as it just sounds like squarewave distortion to me) is the HOG/POG range imo. Very playable and great for added extra harmonics that can be sent through distortion effects for the dirtiest, fat tones. I once got a round of applause from other bands during a soundcheck just because I was playing six-string chords through a HOG with near enough all of the octaves added in various degrees and into an EHX English Muffin. Fucking massive wall of noise.
In other thoughts, I recently tried to integrate a Fishman TriplePlay midi pickup into my setup but as someone already pointed out, it felt like triggering notes rather than playing - you have to be robotically good and not even accidentally buzz another string or slide between notes/chords unless you want glitches. What it did extremely well, however, was sticking crazy fast arps on a synth of your choice and getting chiptune madness out of it.
Guitar (and bass) is where I can be my most expressive/have the most skills and techniques. When I first started playing I was really into metal, but my first hugely inspirational moments came from listening to At the Drive In as well as a lot of sample heavy stuff around the same time (DJ Shadow, The Avalanches, etc.). At this point I became aware of the possibilities beyond heavy distortion and pinch harmonics. The only group that still interested me in that field was Pantera and Rage Against the Machine, because Dimebag and Tom both really warped their sound through creative use of effects and whammy bar manipulation.
Fast forward to now, these as well as many other influences have creeped into my subconscious of sonic adventuring, and most of my listening has expanded into non-guitar oriented fields (ambient, electronic, sampling, classical, etc.). In turn I have more interest in using the guitar as a divining rod for textural exploration rather than playing songs/chord progressions or any more typical uses. This also has expanded my joy of finding effects that really allow nuanced performance. My pedalboard is full of them now.
I definitely still appreciate some good guitar playing, and went down quite a wormhole of videos of Allan Holdsworth and Kurt Rosenwinkle. Also major shout out to George Benson and his ability to sing his solos as well as using octaves for full solo runs. That blew my mind growing up and heavily influenced how i play today. In one of my previous bands, I used this concept but played keyboard along with tapping on the guitar to double up parts.
I’m completely useless when it comes to playing guitar, but it does not mean that I don’t enjoy doing it. As a teenager I learned to play my favourite metal riffs from Guitar Player/World -magazines and I’m still on that same level of playing. I never bothered to teach myself how to get the chords or notes that I need with a guitar. It’s always somewhat random playing by ear with no musical theory involved.
I have the Boss SY-300 guitar synth which makes my crappy playing somewhat more bearable. Mostly I program some rhythm/bass part on my synths and play long notes on top of that. It makes me happy, but I really wish I had the patience to finally learn to play properly.
The filter and Sample rate reduction are awesome, but the digital distortion was my favorite feature. I don’t think I have ever heard a distortion quite like it. I also really liked the chorus.
Surprised no one has mentioned Tom Morello yet. Maybe too obvious, but he gets crazy synth/turntable sounds with very few pedals. Though he does abuse the pitchshifting of the Whammy pedal a lot. One of my favourite guitarists of all time has to be Adrian Utley from Portishead. That man knows exactly what to play, when to play it and, more importantly, when to shut the fuck up. I also have a thing for the minimal guitar parts of Depeche Mode too
I’m a guitar player with about 12 years experience on and off, but found my love for sampling, drum programming and sequencing after researching the Akai MPC series. Fell in love with all things synth soon afterwards, and the rest is history.
I spent a small fortune on guitar pedals before selling them all for hardware. I loved the EHX POG 2 for polyphonic pitch shifting, as well as the Neunaber WET for gorgeous reverb. I have a much smaller setup now than I used to - it’s mainly a couple of drive pedals, an EHX Memory Boy and a Chinese knock-off spring reverb, and the Yamaha THR-10 amplifier for super nice drive and distortion modelling.
I often pick up my guitars (Fender MIM Strat '98 and a Seagull Entourage Rustic acoustic) but it’s not often these days. Still love learning music by ear. I also enjoy sampling chords and running them through Ableton Live and a gamut of third party VSTs to make truly unique timbres. Guitars rule.
I took a pretty serious side track into guitar in my twenties and early thirties. At the end of the day, I’m a synthesist/composer, but a day is better if it has some intense guitar work in it.
Found a way to make 'em work together a while back
Super cool thread<3 Show us your fancy guitars and amps people! I personally play a mexican Stratocaster, the Classic Player 60 from Fender. I changed the pick-ups to some Kinman AVn-69 (super lovely noiseless Strat pick-ups). I don’t have a pic but you can see it in action right there :
I’m not the greatest player and should practice way moreeee. I’ve been slowly transitioning from pick to finger playing as well, love the smoothness. I’m still fairly new to the synth world so I’m not too drawn to the guitar/synth mutation thing but I’m getting more and more into weird effects. This man is one of the main reason for that :
I am absolutely floored by their record “Third”. It is an absolute masterclass in sound design, emotional nuance, and like you said “knowing when to shut the fuck up”. It is one of those records that continues to be a lighthouse for me musically.
I play a Fender Jazzmaster American Vintage. Actually it´s my 2nd one, because the 1st one got stolen 4 years ago with all my other equipment as someone cracked our rehearsal room Horrible story. Anyway.
I used to play amps and all, also have a pedalboard, but for the sake of simplicity I now just use a helix stomp together with her in my liveset. Sometimes I bow her with a cello bow. Recently made livestream on instagram with my love. Cheers Andre.
@AldoVino love your videos for looping, live drumming and overall sound skills!
I’m new in the synths’ world, this is my first post haha
I’ve just picked up a second hand A4 mk2 recently, and having a total blast with it. This is my first synth, the possibilities are insane and the learning curve is alright! I actually discovered synths thanks to the Beach Boys - surf’s up and that terrific bass sound in the last part of the song. Incredible
Back to the guitar, I’m a guitarist, and according to me, James Williamson is one the guitarists that has an immeasurable influence (from hard, to punk, to metal, …). That aggresivity, the raw sound, oh my god
There are plenty of guitarists that inflence me : Johnny Thunders, Jamie Hince (he’s finger playing as well, and has been playing with lots of MPCs in his band The Kills), Albert Hammond Jr/Nick Valensi/Beardo (all playing with Julian Casablancas in the Strokes or The Voidz), The Legendary Tigerman, Frank Black, Joshua Hayward (The horrors), Josh Homme, Roland S Howard, … the list is sooooooooooo long
I like the way each one has his/her own personnality
I think today there are still new way to play guitar, listen to King Gizzard, they were exploring microtonal tunes
Horrible story. Anyway.
