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What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
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Author:  Thomas_Powers [ Mon Feb 29, 2016 8:05 pm ]
Post subject:  What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
So I'm a total Noob to the stick...really only about 4 weeks in working with Steve A (which I highly recommend). But making good progress IMHO.

A conversation I had today during lesson was "What kind of sound are you looking for?"

That's a great question for the collective Stick Hive I figured.

So....in watching a lot of videos, I see a lot you playing of New Age, David Bowie type stuff for stick. I see some progressive music. Some classical. A little bit of harder rock sound. None of it is bad (much of it is quite good actually)...just not my vibe.

What's YOUR sound? What do you want this instrument to be?

Personally, I'm shooting for the blues guitar meets jazz piano type sound meets the Ray Charles type feel. Since I normally sing over the instruments I play, the Stick's first job for me is to make BIG, full sounding chords, to sing over. Voicings bigger than the guitar....more majestic, without being an effects hound.

One thing I learned from 20+ years of guitar is that 95 percent of your tone is at the end of your fingertips. If you're not practicing, working at your craft, and you don't like your tone...all the gear in the world won't help. Gear is cool...don't get me wrong...I got 6 figures of gear laying around the house! But my goal is to harvest MY sound from the instrument first. That's why I practice totally dry and without FX. I want to hear where my tone sucks and to get the sustain and color of the sound from HOW I play rather than what I am playing through. I find that a certain angle of the fingers hitting the strings gives a thicker tone, and a different angle creates a thinner tone. Inversions of chords especially have proven interesting. But...as I work out my hand positions to get the sound I want...it will come in time.

So...granted that I have no real STICK basis to talk from compared to you all....I would be interested to hear what you all are shooting for and how you practice to get there.

Thanks

TP
Author:  greg [ Mon Feb 29, 2016 9:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
As far as my sound goes, not sure how to describe it but "legato". I go for smoothness in the bass and melody. Hand energy as opposed to up-and-down typing finger movements gives each not the chance to sound like all the others, This baseline of consistency is important, as it allows you to control the dynamics and articulations, rather than having the sound be dictated by the individual fingers.

Also, hand energy improves the fundamental to overtone ratio. Make sure you play just behind the fret as often as possible, not between the frets (buzzy). And having your thumb under the instrument in support of the notes also makes them sound better (more fundamental frequency)

A big sounds starts with big-sounding notes.
Author:  Karma [ Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
First off, you and Greg are spot on. It all starts with good fundamental technique and how you play the instrument before it's ever plugged in. Make it sound good acoustically.

Moving on from that, the next thing I think about is voicing. For my music, I tend to play left hand chords with a wide range, most often anchoring the chord on the two lowest bass strings with other notes mostly played in the next 2 octaves. To me this opens up the mids for the right hand. Obviously sometimes notes played in the right hand will already be voiced in the left, but for the most part they aren't with this approach.

Tone wise, I tend to eq the left hand with a scooped-mid sound that has enough low end and high end to have a solid foundation with clarity. Think a modern active electric bass sound. Right hand is rounder, darker and more like the tones of a good jazz guitar (think Herb Ellis) with a little more high end. The two sit really well together. Effects are some plate reverb in the right hand and some room reverb in the left. That's it.
Author:  Lee Vatip [ Tue Mar 01, 2016 6:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
A very introspective and wise question Tom.
Comfort is first. Obviously if s passage or chord progression isn't totally solid in your head/heart, the fingers won't be expressive. The sound will be anxious.
And work on the techniques we chatted about....vibrsto, bends, pulloffs, slides. Each has many variables that we can explore together in future lessons.
And as I instruct all my students, strive to find the integrity of th he style of the song. Whether it's Led Zep or Pat Metheny, Stevie Wonder or Megadeth, try to simulate what they present. Listen to the flavor and step into the studio with them in your imagination.
No substitute for practice and patience. If you keep this inner search for musical values the evolution will progress.
Keep thinking and asking questions. It's a great way to learn.

Steve A
Author:  Stickrad [ Tue Mar 01, 2016 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
Nothing to add there, all comments have summed it up really.

I would just reinforce that having a strong intention to play musically will bring you closer to the structural things that make it work.
Author:  earthgene [ Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
All of this is great reinforcement.

STICKRAD - I would just reinforce that having a strong intention to play musically will bring you closer to the structural things that make it work.

STEVE - If a passage or chord progression isn't totally solid in your head/heart, the fingers won't be expressive. The sound will be anxious.

GREG - Make sure you play just behind the fret as often as possible, not between the frets (buzzy). And having your thumb under the instrument in support of the notes also makes them sound better (more fundamental frequency).

These points all touch on ways of approaching it. Mental, physical and psychologically. All relevant. Ask yourself, the last time you successfully approached a project (assembling IKEA bed, raising children, putting out a fire, etc.) and you were successful - what was it in your mind specifically that allowed you to be successful? People here can give the details, the specifics and lots of personal learning lessons, but until you have your hands on an instrument - it won't mean as much.

Play everyday. Love what you play and allow yourself the opportunity to be creative. It will be frustrating at first, but very rewarding if you are able to stay the course until you have some familiarity with the instrument.

I am also a fan of "The sound is in my hands"
Author:  shady [ Wed Mar 02, 2016 7:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
Thanks Gene and everbody! Great stuff
Author:  Alain [ Wed Mar 02, 2016 7:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
earthgene wrote:
I am also a fan of "The sound is in my hands"

It's so right. I noticed (whatever the instrument I play) that after an hour or two my hands give me the sound, the tone, the subtilities of what I want to play. I don't really need effects anymore, everything is coming from the expression of my hands. It's simply magic.
Author:  earthgene [ Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
Alain, I can feel that in your playing. I really enjoy the stories your music tells.

I have a similar experience with immersion, it takes at least 30 - 60 to summon that kind of inspiration. It's so sweet looking down at your hands and wondering, wow, I wonder what they're going to do next?!
Author:  Sominus [ Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's YOUR sound...and how do you get it?
Speaking purely as an acoustic guitarist, I was asked the question of "how I got *that sound*" once. Imagine a 50 year old silver-haired geezer in a praise and worship setting making the "kids" look like ... well... kids whalin' away on a guitar. This is the mastery of a sound over the execution of music on a page.

So if I had to give SOME of the components that I can address in "my sound":

The first rule I give to anyone: When I play for a group, you hear "me" -- my brain, my heart, my flesh -- it all comes together with hours and hours (decades!) of practice. Without this, I probably wouldn't even bother to tune up.

1) I primarily play a 30 year old custom made Martin. It has amplification gear in it that isn't even made anymore. I could probably find something in the market today to do the same thing, but I can't help think that this is a piece of the puzzle. It also has brass bridge pins which give just a tiny little edge to the sound produced by the strings. The action is so low that I can get fret noise "on demand", and my hammer-on/pull-off style is really accentuated.

2) My 'attack' of the strings produces different tones -- this is by muscle memory built up over years. I couldn't begin to describe the dozens of tiny muscle movements, adjustment of angles, etc that go into this. Its how you can tell when two people play the exact same song -- its different, but the same.

3) Rhythmic complexity -- I have a very percussive style of playing when using a pick. While I'm also an accomplished finger style player, I've got a rhythmic complexity that is not often seen on acoustic guitar. I grew up accompanying myself, so my guitar became a sort of drum as well. I

4) Voicing -- I developed a technique that I used to call "playing inside the chords". As I'm switching from one chord to another, I'll often "not quite" voice the G, or "not quite" voice the D, rather I have elements of both in a transition.

4a) Sometimes I'll play in DADGAD while everyone else plays in standard (its fun to watch someone play off your fretboard as you play chords differently, too!). Even still, I'll throw a capo on and play something transposed so it fills out the chords (a handy trick when I play 12-string -- it really works nicely!). Combine DADGAD with a Capo/transposition and sit back and listen to what happens -- it transforms a song from standard I-IV-V to something the ear can't quite figure out without a musical education.

5) and lastly and least-important is the gear. This was the LAST thing that was "my sound" and is also the one that I can change the most with the least impact on the end result. I've gone through several iterations where I had pedal boards, pre-amps, amplifier-based effects, etc to a far more simple setup: A Rane AP-13 with an Alesis Midiverb IV into a decent acoustic amp. That's been "my rig" for a decade now. I want to change my amp to something lighter/simpler soon, probably a Fishman or Bose L1.

6) "everything else" -- Interpretation of the music, dynamics, meter, string choice, mood, humidity, stellar alignment...
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