Bop Rock with Mike Stern
On a recent pit stop home between a date in Honduras and a tour of Japan, Stern squeezed in a private lesson exclusively for Guitar Edge, offering insight into some of his concepts for playing “out,” for playing horn lines on the guitar, for improvising with triads, and for developing monster chops.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Compressor for Funk Guitar
A compressor is a type of effect that has always had some controversy in the world of guitar players. Those who refuse to use a compressor fear it will rob them of their dynamics. I was one of them. Then I was pointed to this excellent demo, which does a great job of explaining how a compressor can be useful for funk guitar playing.
A tip posted to the discussion thread where I saw this video:
-First, set the Ratio to 2:1, ie: very moderate compression, and set the Knee to Soft.
-Set the Release according to the music, ie: funky rhythms - set it to a faster Release (shorter time), so it doesn't hold on to the notes very long and detract from the quick playing style.
-For long sustained soloing, set it slower (longer time) to hold on to the notes for more sustain.
-You can then adjust the Attack to taste, also according to the type of playing.
-Set the Attack to a medium level to start, ie: not too fast or slow, and adjust it as you're playing until it sounds right/good for the style.
-Then you can play with the Ratio again to hear how higer/lower settings affect what you're playing.
-After a few times doing this, it will be easy and fast to find the sweet spots for each setting.
A tip posted to the discussion thread where I saw this video:
-First, set the Ratio to 2:1, ie: very moderate compression, and set the Knee to Soft.
-Set the Release according to the music, ie: funky rhythms - set it to a faster Release (shorter time), so it doesn't hold on to the notes very long and detract from the quick playing style.
-For long sustained soloing, set it slower (longer time) to hold on to the notes for more sustain.
-You can then adjust the Attack to taste, also according to the type of playing.
-Set the Attack to a medium level to start, ie: not too fast or slow, and adjust it as you're playing until it sounds right/good for the style.
-Then you can play with the Ratio again to hear how higer/lower settings affect what you're playing.
-After a few times doing this, it will be easy and fast to find the sweet spots for each setting.
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