General Music Chat

In the end you have to cater somewhat to your singer, I can remember being younger and pushing singers way past thier limits and then getting mad at them cause they screwed something up.

These days. I try to think of our singer when I jump into a song, and ussually if its something he stretchs on I will ask up front do you want to do this, if he says yes then its fair game. I have to give him a high 5 for what he does, hes very mobile moving around the room getting the audience involved, sometimes Im playing and look up and hear him and dont even know where he is, I feel blessed cause he can do a decent job of covering a lot of different material, and if hes ok doing something then I just go with it.

I figure hes a lot like me and his own worst critic, so he wont say do something unless hes comfortable doing it, does it always come off great? Hell no. Capt you will find this funny but I sometimes stumble around with the first chords of Highway To Hell of all things, i mean really trying to make them ring right! LOL!

But hey Im just a hack, and I know it and accept it.

In the end you have to cater somewhat to your singer, I can remember being younger and pushing singers way past thier limits and then getting mad at them cause they screwed something up.

These days. I try to think of our singer when I jump into a song, and ussually if its something he stretchs on I will ask up front do you want to do this, if he says yes then its fair game. I have to give him a high 5 for what he does, hes very mobile moving around the room getting the audience involved, sometimes Im playing and look up and hear him and dont even know where he is, I feel blessed cause he can do a decent job of covering a lot of different material, and if hes ok doing something then I just go with it.

I figure hes a lot like me and his own worst critic, so he wont say do something unless hes comfortable doing it, does it always come off great? Hell no. Capt you will find this funny but I sometimes stumble around with the first chords of Highway To Hell of all things, i mean really trying to make them ring right! LOL!

But hey Im just a hack, and I know it and accept it.

John, you are such a humble person and have a steady personallity. I admire that and just for the record YOU AIN'T NO HACK!

Thanks Haley, believe it or not I have my crazy moments.

But I do like to think of myself as a hack, cause honestly Im not really adding anything new to what I do, my band we just try to take people in our age ranges back to thier teen years, thier first concerts, and get them involved. A lot like I see your bands doing, reliving the glory years!

But thanks I do appreciate it.

My latest thing is going thru all my guitars and getting the necks straight, so pray for me, that I dont break a truss rod!

Thanks Haley, believe it or not I have my crazy moments.

But I do like to think of myself as a hack, cause honestly Im not really adding anything new to what I do, my band we just try to take people in our age ranges back to thier teen years, thier first concerts, and get them involved. A lot like I see your bands doing, reliving the glory years!

But thanks I do appreciate it.

My latest thing is going thru all my guitars and getting the necks straight, so pray for me, that I dont break a truss rod!

John, be careful with those truss rods Billy touched on this in a thread a while back you barely need to turn them to adjust them.
That amp I am using is the Carvin V3M (micro head) thru a Mesa 2"x12" rectifier cab loaded with vintage 30's. I really dig that sound with that PRS going thru it.

Haley years ago I broke a truss rod on a cheap guitar, and Ive been gunshy every since, but last week a guy I know brought this Epi Les Paul to me and wanted me to check it out, he left it and the neck was a mess, so I experimented, it only takes a fraction of a turn to move them one way or the other, so I played with it, and got it straight and then set the intonation and man that guitar plays like a whole different world now.

Last friday I bought a Gibson Les Paul studio and a Carvin amp from a friend who needed some money. I noticed the neck on it was out of whack, so I slowly went thru it and have it playing like butter now, low action, just feels like a whole different guitar, so Im planning on going thru all my guitars.

Haley years ago I broke a truss rod on a cheap guitar, and Ive been gunshy every since, but last week a guy I know brought this Epi Les Paul to me and wanted me to check it out, he left it and the neck was a mess, so I experimented, it only takes a fraction of a turn to move them one way or the other, so I played with it, and got it straight and then set the intonation and man that guitar plays like a whole different world now.

Last friday I bought a Gibson Les Paul studio and a Carvin amp from a friend who needed some money. I noticed the neck on it was out of whack, so I slowly went thru it and have it playing like butter now, low action, just feels like a whole different guitar, so Im planning on going thru all my guitars.

Your a better man than I Gunga Din . . .

I am terrified of screwing up an expensive guitar.

George its actually a lot easier than you think, but that truss rod, just move it a bit at a time if you mess with it, it doesnt take much to move the neck, and one thing I say, is if it feels too tight take it to a professional. Ive always set up my guitars, as far as intonation, string height, pickup height. Its a lot of trial and error, but I find it relaxing and to me its a great feeling when I take a guitar that played like crap and then it plays like butter.

And George if you didnt notice I did acquire an older Carvin combo, that thing sounds great after I fiddled with it a little bit. I like the distortion sounds my my Mesa better, but the clean sound on the Carvin is better, I almost want to go to a two amp setup! Hey thats an idea!

interesting....i'm doing some tweaking on my JBASS...like just about every other J Bass neck, it's a twisty and pesky devil, arrrrrr!

i just removed all relief and i'm getting ready to "start over" at finding how flat i can go.

w my fretless Mexican J Bass neck (one of the top THREE necks i've ever played on) i can put the strings pretty much flat on the stinkin' fingerboard and it'll still play like no one's bidness.

but the one i'm working on...a fretted FENDER japanese 70's style neck from the early 80's is a pesky lass.

I will sum it up.

"You can tuna a guitar, but you cant tuna singer"

ha, yea.

In defense of singers.....

We always tried to do songs by our favorite artists that I could pull off. Trying to sound like Plant, I ended up sounding more like Jon Waite.

But Plant can't really sing the songs that I couldn't sing either. Some of it was slowing down tape, while others were doubled-falsetto recordings beyond his actual ability.

But there were some good Zep songs that he did in a (mostly) lower register like Good Times Bad Times or Communication Breakdown or a couple more. We could also play in a different key if it worked for the guitarist but often it didn't.

My drummer hated me for having default veto power on a song, but we didn't have time for changing tunings and you can't tuna singer. And who cares what a drummer thinks anyway? Drummer thinking....is that an oxy moron?



Jeff, I'm sitting in a Chicago Stabucks with a lot of old people so I played your video turned way down. The singer is entertaining to watch and usually that's more important than how they sing, since that can be adjusted.

Looks like you guys had fun...and the crowd feeds off that.

LOL Yod I wasnt bashing singers, its just a reality that the voice is different than guitar, bass drums.

I firmly believe in our singer vetoing a song on the spot, he has to sing it, if he doesnt believe he can do it then its just a trainwreck from the git go.

I think a lot of this just comes with age, and having a huge songlist! LOL!

LOL Yod I wasnt bashing singers, its just a reality that the voice is different than guitar, bass drums.

I firmly believe in our singer vetoing a song on the spot, he has to sing it, if he doesnt believe he can do it then its just a trainwreck from the git go.

I think a lot of this just comes with age, and having a huge songlist! LOL!

Yes, I realized that and appreciate it! That is PRACTICAL common sense. Trying to get a baritone to sing Rush is a bad idea.



I was agreeing and reposted your comments

John, you are such a humble person and have a steady personallity. I admire that and just for the record YOU AIN'T NO HACK!

YES!

Guitar sounds great Jeff! Singer is struggling. But as you you said he's sick.
I can't sing too much Perry. You know I can hit some highs but man Journey and Boston are tough.

John, you are such a humble person and have a steady personallity. I admire that and just for the record YOU AIN'T NO HACK!

YES!

Guitar sounds great Jeff! Singer is struggling. But as you you said he's sick.
I can't sing too much Perry. You know I can hit some highs but man Journey and Boston are tough.

Paul, you and Ted (Yod) are my two favorite singers on this site. Also you guys are very similar in tonal quality. If ya'll get a chance to meet, talk and hang out for a couple of hrs. that would be COOL!