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Retrosaurus Rex

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Posts posted by Retrosaurus Rex

    Best Solid State Amp Head For Metal

    in Performance

    Posted

    You can for sure get some good deals on used gear, but if you don't have a lot of experience it's good to have someone knowledgeable about amps, or at least electronics, take a look at your prospective purchase. It would suck to lay down good money for a head, then lay down another 30-50% for repairs a couple of months later...

    Best Solid State Amp Head For Metal

    in Performance

    Posted

    Hey, you mentioned in your other post (about Bugera amps) about lack of experience, which leads me to ask about that. Do you expect to be gigging soon with this amp, or mainly practicing? Will you be recording soon? I'm not an expert on all the gear that's out there at the moment, but these questions would help focus your thinking as to what you really need at this point.

    • Like 1

    What Is Going On?

    in Performance

    Posted

    great way to fry your electrics if you short it out with the foil! better to wrap in something non conductive first and then foil

    Good point... a better way would be to take ordinary electrical tape and tape that over the foil, so you have one side tape (no stickum) & one side foil, nest that in the cavity with no foil touching the metal components of the electronics and you should be fine...

    What Is Going On?

    in Performance

    Posted

    I guess there is nothing I can do about that, never did it before yerterday. strange" thanks John for commenting.

    Sometimes all it takes is to pull the "radio-active" component, either the electronics (usually just a printed circuit board) or the pick-up, and wrap it in aluminum foil...

    Conditioned Hearing; Fact Or Fiction?

    in Music Industry

    Posted

    Yes, but it does not really explain the phenomenon that something can sound 'good' or 'interesting' several hours into a session, while it sounds like utter crud on first relisten next day.

    In a roundabout way it might... during a long mixing session you lose perspective and start thinking: "need more bass", "need more air", "snare drum needs more 'verb", etc... each change sounds good at the time, but in the morning when you listen with fresh ears you realize it's a swirling vortex of shit.

    On the other hand, if you're listening to the same thing over and over and get tired of it, the next thing you listen to might seem good or interesting just due to the novelty of it, but again, with fresh ears you say "what was I thinking?"

    Blues Improvisation

    in Performance

    Posted

    Hey Retro! thank you so much for the reply.

    Yes,I've been doin that a lot,and when I say 'fluency',I mean not exactly the WAY I play(tho Im not sayin Im good at that either :)) but the authenticity of it. I mean to say that Im kinda stuck halfway and cant seem to express differently. Everything I play seems the same.

    I dig it. What you're sayin' and what you're playin', that is. Authenticity somewhat come with time. There was a killer blues band that I used to check out from time to time, and I remember one show where they got a new guitarist. The guy could really tear it up, but he was obviously a rock 'n' roll shredder, he wasn't playing the blues at all. About 3 months later I went to see them again... same guitarist... but by then he sho 'nuff had the blues. You can get there too.

    Suggestions... change up your amp tone. Different sounds will make you play differently.

    Try playing the same thing in different styles... classical, folk, funk, rock, you name it... even down to individual players... how would Jimi play this lick? or Brian May? or Jack White? Just throwing out names, pick your own...

    Blues Improvisation

    in Performance

    Posted

    Practice improvising. Sure, you've got the scales under your fingers, but what do you do with them when it's shit or bust? Record some vamps, alternating between two chords, or some simple 8-bar progressions. Then pick an appropriate scale and feel your way thru a solo. Listen back to what you've done and see what you like. At first you might play just a couple of notes per chord, or a simple sequence and try to move that thru the progression. After a while you'll find your "fluency", and better yet, it will be your own voice speaking, not repeating what a million other people have already done. Not that there's anything wrong with learning other peoples' solos, all the greats studied the greats, but ultimately you want to do your own thing.

    • Like 1

    Is There Some Way To Work Out Chord Progressions?

    in Performance

    Posted

    I think you're confusing the numbering system with the letter names, so I'll take a quick shot at the numbers and see if that help...

    Uppercase letters represent a Major triad, lowercase is minor...

    All Major keys have the following order of chords:

    I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-viidim

    With the vii triad being not actually minor, but diminished...

    The natural minor keys have the following order:

    i-iidim-III-iv-v-VI-VII

    You may appreciate an interesting symmetry as these scales share the same notes, but a different note is considered the root.

    So, are you now looking to figure out the letter name & spelling for each of these chords?

    • Like 1

    Chord Names

    in Songwriting

    Posted

    Eb Alt will use tones from E melodic minor.

    Busted! I was supposed to know that... must think more...

    Edit: OK, could you say it's a partial of Eb7#11? I think conventionally you would omit the 5 from this chord, especially in a guitar voicing, but sometimes that close interval rubbing on itself is just what you want... I know in the second chord you lose the Db, so you don't get the full effect of the dominant chord, but the ear might fill that in, having heard the preceding chord...

    Chord Names

    in Songwriting

    Posted

    In my song I have a sequence of peculiar chords... interested in the "proper" names for these chords.

    The sequence goes like this: Chord 1 -> Chord 2 -> Bb. Chord 1 and chord 2 are quick chords that resolve into Bb.

    Chord 1 uses the notes Db-Eb-F-G.

    Chord 2 uses the notes Eb–G-A-Bb.

    That's also the inversion they are played in, although a bass guitar plays the notes G and then A, which of course neatly resolves into the following Bb.

    So, any idea for a name for these chords?

    I'll have a bash at it because I like problems like this, and maybe detailing the approach could be helpful...

    You mention that the chords go by quick so I'm guessing that these are passing chords, and not necessarily present in the primary key of the song. I notice that both passing chords contain a tri-tone and you mention that they "resolve" to Bb, so it seems like they serve a dominant function.

    So, for the first chord it seems like you have Eb9, which would spell complete: Eb-G-Bb-Db-F... you could notate it Eb9/Db.

    The second chord I think is easiest to consider a variation of the first in this analysis. If you think of it as an Eb then you have both the 5 (Bb) and the flat-5 (A), so I would probably just call it Eb-alt...

    Seat of the pants analysis, based only on what was visible...

    Question About Making A 30 Sec Radio Ad

    in Music Industry

    Posted

    So - I'm making a 30 seconder radio ad for my latest album Testament.

    I should probably play clips of some songs:

    - how many, how long?

    I should probably say something:

    - what?

    I should probably tell them where they can buy the album:

    - I have a distributor in UK - should I say "quality music stores" or something? Should I mention CDBaby? Should I mention my webshop? Should I mention iTunes?

    Other stuff I should fill the 30 secs with?

    I'm no expert either, but I'll weigh in... I'm thinking clips of at least 2 songs, but 3 is probably already a stretch in 30 seconds. Obviously, these should be clips that are most likely to blow people away at the first listen, I'm sure you've gotten enough feedback by now to what to pick from... also, if you have an interesting instrumental passage (and I know you do... :whistle: )... you might be able to talk over that. The more music the better. Your music speaks for itself, and your audience won't be much influenced by hype anyway, so you say the minimum, some back ground and where to buy. Be sure to mention your name and the album title 3 times. Seriously.

    Having a distributor doesn't always guarantee you're in stores, YMMV... plus, I'm not sure how much distributors care about getting a plug... but retailers sure do, especially in this shitty economy... so if there are any major stores that you know you're in you might offer to mention them by name and see if they don't comp you with a counter-card or some premium rack space.

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