How To Get A Long Sustain

hi,

people often talk about sustains as long as 1 or 2 min.
how can i get that without using any compressor?

thanks

 

hi nice to have some one of long sustain taste, theres various ways and techniques, first u should have good quality pick ups, secondly by emplying thi strings means to say strings of reasonable low gauge, and well finally having some good tecniques of prebends, bendsand vibrato u can get long sustain but not upto 2 min but upto reasonably good inteval

 

1. Increase the string tension
2. Do vibrato on the note u wish to sustain
3. Install a set of good quality strings - that have good magnetic permeability
4. Install hot pickups, they will generate signal for even weak string vibrations
5. Use compressor - compressor will try to keep the signal even, so even if your signal is dying out, it will increase the gain and make it seem strong - enhancing the sustain.
6. Use distortion - distortion compresses the signal as well as increase the gain, something similar to compressor but not the same.

 

I think the two minute sustain he's talking about is either controlled feedback through an overdriven amp or an E-bow or Fernandes Sustainer-type thing. For normal sustain alpha1 has pretty much said it all.

 

How can a prebend increase sustain. :think:

 

With a decent set up, when you play at loud volume, your sustain will naturally be high and you will get all nice feedbacks. Having a controlled feedback is an art 'cos at different angles you stand with respect to the amp, you get different feedbacks. You need to do a lot of experimentation for this. If you want a fretted note to go into a feedback, then it's simple. Just fret that note, keep doing vibratos and strongly mute the other strings otherwise it gets into a bad noise. You note will sustain for a while and then go into a nice feedback. Adding a touch of compressor helps it every more. But keeping a compressor for long sustain totally kills your tone. It just sounds plastic but can sustain for 2 hours too.
Another thing is when you get a grip on playing Electric, you will start finding out that sustain is never a issue. It just happens. Actually my Boss Blues Driver which is a medium gain pedal, and the gain kept at 75% can give enough sustain to do things like Legato, Tapping, etc... Even long sustained solos are easy to do. I just dont need too much gain or compressor to get that. Another thing I notices is, as you keep playing, your touch improves and with this your sustain increases too. So the conclusion is stop worrying about sustain.

 

thanks again ..

I use 9 gauge daddario strings and standard tuning.but sometimes i wished the note didnt end up so soon...therefore i put up the question....

umm..wat are "prebends","bendsand vibrato"..?

 

Guitar Sustainers

Has anyone over here tried of using a "Sustainer" on their guitars ?? I've read about em but never met anyone who uses / has used em .. Apparently you get a sustain uptill ur battery dries out !!!

 

As time goes, you will naturally get that sustain. Most of your loss in sustain should be because of the way you fret. There's no quick remedy but it will get better as you keep playing.

 

^^^could u give me some tips for that...or it comes only with time?

 

Practice. Play notes and keep vibrating the note for a minute..not constantly but in different ways..slowly, fast, large bends etc etc..keep picking whenever the note is dying. Use all four fingers to build up strength.
Prebends are when you bend the string up to a certai without picking it and then pick it and release back to the lower pitch.
About the Sustainer..yeah, it is made by two companies..Fernandes and Sustainiac/Maniac Music. It creates a strong magnetic field around the string so that it keeps vibrating. You can get either the note you have picked sustain or a higher harmonic ( which will sound like controlled feedback). Also the sound you will get will be of your bridge pickup..the neck pickup is the sustainer. If you want neck pickup tone you have to buy the Maniac Music one...you can install a mini-humbucker next to it. Steve Vai uses the Fernandes one.

 

i think vibrato and gain shud do it for u. Another thing i do to get sustain from my Givson Super Strat is I raise the height of the pups. On raising the height i get more sustain though i have heard that raising the height shud lower sustain.
So i guess u better work on ur vibrato
Try adding more gain
Try fiddling with ur pickups.

 

Use thicker strings.
Which will lead you to use higher tension.
Which in turn will help with the sutain.

 

but thicker string are too hard on my fingers (

 

Sissy boy


*hmmph*

 

cool info. thnx.
stage e ki kore feedback pabo arektu explain koro. i heard tht hand die pickups huard kore mrakleo feedback hoy.(mane ekta note bajie)

in any dist patch, try adding very lil amount of auto wah, gives sustain,:grin:

 

@dennis:yeah...raising the pickup did increase the suatain...even i thought it would decrease..

there is one more problem....the strings die out relatively earlier on the higher frets..is there any reason for it?

 

Is ROnnie Bong?
On stage your amps need to be reasonably loud for your pickups to feedback. Also you need to be in the right place and position to get them right. If you change position, the note feeding back will also change (listen to Flying in a Blue Dream).

 

For this you need to go into physics of why vibrations die out in strings.
For long sustaining physical vibration you need a long string, having high tension and having high linear density.
(Why? Dont ask me now, even I will have to go back to applied mechanics AM110 etc)

Higher frets mean less string length.

U can check with the other two factors too, play around with string tension.
For linear density, compare the low E string to high E string on acoustic.

 

No more Physics or Mathematics

Go visit www.ieee.org and enroll yourself there. I am sure you will find like minded guys.