“Need for Leads – Part I”
Sound and technique advice for lead guitar by Walter Monsanto.
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Hello everybody!
Time seems to be passing by a little further on since last lesson for you ladies and gentlemen. So in this new month of the year I have some good things to show so you can have a glympse to maybe a different even helpful type of approach while playing Leads, the most exciting and let’s say popular side of the electric guitar.
So let’s start by putting it simple, by discussing only one single note dynamic first.
Sustain – Feeling it flow…
In minimal terms of discovering a wide range of resources on the guitar arm, let’s go ahead and press any single note with your left hand, like a hammer on. When the signal is free of distortion and effects, you can have a variety of sound duration of the note depending on the attack of your finger, followed by the gauge of your string passing into the pick-ups of the guitar (depending on what type) and finally pouring it out on the external speaker.
Let’s not forget about the wood of the instrument which is made of, since a lot of wood material vary in depth. So when it comes to getting a fully extended sound by pressing the fret or picking the string, it will depend on all mentioned before plus/or any ammount of sustain reinforcement like Gain, by using pedals or racks. If you are using a noise gate, it is oftenly recommended to avoid pushing it too much in your solos, but to open it accordingly. A good thing is to add either a wild or smooth vibrato to the sustained note for expression and mood.
Bending – Crontrol of the tension…
Another cool aspect on the guitar to remember is to not only move from note to note in a phrase diatonically but also by bending the string, which gives a lot of curve and dimension to the sound of the melody played.
It requires a lot of precision by actually practicing and using your ear to catch the exact tuning of your bent note. This may be hard sometimes if you are using a very thin string gauge (like 0.8) and that also may affect the physical ammount of the attack. But I would suggest you take a listen to the target note before practicing any type of string bending, be it a half step, full, full and a half step or even beyond that, like for example what I would call a ‘fourth-step’ bending like a Zeppelin type deal, in order to get the best tuning off the note.
Accuracy – Eloquency is the truth…
This topic you might find familiar since I couldn’t stress it enough from back on the previous article I did on waltermonsanto.com. There are sort of things that can be played slowly with a lot of intention and groove, however there also may be some tough parts of a song or a solo requiring so much focus on the technical side of the coin. So, remember please, to always practice slow through passages and gradually increment the ammount of speed until reaching the specific goal. When everything seems to get a little bit noisy and out of control, turn back and try again. Oh, I almost forgot to remind you to use your hands and your ‘head’ (not your hair!) to avoid unwanted string hiccups.
Playing onstage – Focused yet alive…
There was a time when I was running onstage while playing a long shred part of a song called “El Reinado Del Sol” (Kingdom Of The Sun) back in the day, and couldn´t play the entire thing without messing it up at least a couple of times or so. So I have come to a conclusion in terms of getting a good vibe onstage, but also balancing the emotions with the music, and it feels quite natural nowadays. There is an ammount of chemical energy flowing in your body when you have this live surrounding with gear and stuff, plus people or your parents watching you sweat. So calm down, do a nice soundcheck and a fair practice beforehand of your chops to get the most confident and efficient possible onstage.
Finally, please, please do not feel like a statue, just be focused yet a-live!
Tone – The use of your toys…
I have found that also when it comes to a very often discussed topic by guitarrists, the word ‘Tone’ comes easily, or instantly. Nevertheless, when I actually think of that part of the joy of playing, I can think of the nature of your body impulses and habilities to get the most quality sounding out of an intervention -even on an acoustic guitar-.
After realizing that, I figured out one thing that can also inflect directly to your personal sound. It’s your toys. I mean, from the hottest guitar pick to the most huge cabinet or speaker. The way you should get advantage of them? It will run from taste to taste but there is one important thing, which is how much you want your signal to be altered in that way. In occassions, I like using some small settings like distortion + delay + chorus, for instance, plugged right into a tube amplifier. With a good and satisfying EQ, you get a lot of great vintage sounds from that kind of setting. Now also it works for me to have a well-balanced chain of effects that can add creativity and fun to your environment. The more you plug in, the more ‘made up’ your sound is.
But remember to try to always stick to your own way of making things happen, before letting technology do it’s job for good.
Meet you somewhere in time very soon!
-WM ♫
–
Hello everybody, welcome again to this section! The new lesson is a video so please visit the Videos area in the main menú to watch it. Enjoy!
–
Hello! Welcome everyone to the first Guitar Lesson to be found in WM´s Official Website. This section will be updated from time to time so you can learn some tips, articles and tabs regarding improvisation, composition, technique, speed, warm-up exercises and much more!
The first Lesson is an article called “Loudness is silver…silence is gold”.
Stay online at waltermonsanto.com for more to come!
“Loudness is silver…Silence is gold”
by Walter Monsanto
Hey there everyone! In this first chapter we will discover from my point of view how much important is to keep the silence among the notes (even if we play very very loud!) and also some gear advices to keep the noises dead silent…
We all know that the electric guitar is a very sensitive instrument where sounds as much as ‘noises’ are coming out all the time while we play, and the clean aspect of our playing will feel more confortable and audible to the listeners if we get rid of such unwanted noises. So one thing you should understand each time you practice is to not only concentrate in the sounds that are coming from your fingers but in the other ones that also may appear from strumming chords, running scales, making wide vibrato action and such. Let´s get it straight right here:
- Position and angle of both hands is a matter of placing them both in a correct way so when they play, nothing interferes with the sound (this includes to avoid using to much lencery or a big watch for example).
- USE YOUR HANDS and fingers to mute the strings while you´re playing, they will eliminate unwanted string noises and this actually consists in mixing both your finger tips of your left hand and some palm mute in your other hand. Don´t use a rubber band in your guitar neck! Don´t get me wrong if you have been using it for a while, but it´s time to kick off the small wheels in your bycicle.
- Always take a listen to your legattos and bending notes, so when you make the hit you don´t go by another string!
- Finally, always keep in mind to practice your licks very slowly, I cannot stress this enough, so when you hit every single note you can listen and feel the way it sounds. After that, you can try to go up and increase more tempos and it will feel nice.
And also here are some useful tips about your live gear:
- An obvious approach is to turn the guitar´s volumen knob off anytime you are not playing. This is a manner that will keep the strings from ringing to the point of making feed back. You can also mute the strings by resting both hands over them for short periods of silence.
- Whenever you are making a practice session or running a live gig you need to make sure your guitar amp is turned down when you plug in the guitar cable and your pedalboard, in order to avoid static issues.
- Unless you have a wireless system, you need to be customed nowadays to deal with cables, so always check if the one that is connected to your guitar is secured in your guitar belt, because everyone will definetely walk around you, possibly step on your cable and it makes a lot of noise! This also may work with the Amp cable by placing it in the handler.
- Another great option is to definetely get a Noise Reductor! This is also called Noise Gate, and it prevents the signal to be interfered with hums or other issues like those.
- One last thing that may apply to both topics discussed above is this as a matter of professionalism: Don´t go wild in between your live songs, for this may hurt your fan´s ears and there will be enough time for the main action!
So you are ready now to turn up your amp volumen to the max and get those neighbors out of their head! Remember always to express yourself with a lot of freedom, but please remember that loudness is silver…but silence is gold!
WM♫
