This place is becoming boring than ever...

Discussion in 'The ChitChat Lounge' started by rickkkyrich, Sep 5, 2010.

  1. ultrabot90

    ultrabot90 Like fishes need bicycles

    ^I wrote this in my previous post, but I removed it on a whim. Good thing I wrote it down somewhere, 'cause now's the perfect time to post it. (Am I a forum-chess-player or what, saw one post ahead :p)
    You see, the problem is, as mentioned here in this thread, it's like a keyboard, and somewhat less like a guitar. No tonal variations for individual notes. I hope the wah will alleviate that to an extent (I want to use it like Satriani does...discreetly yet powerfully).

    I sat at it for a few days, and thought it through. Here's what.
    Touchstyle -
    +Can potentially hold down 10 notes at once.
    Better than guitar, same as piano/organ.
    +(I THINK) Lets each hand hold down bigger intervals than each hand can on a keyboard.
    Better than piano/organ, same as a guitar.
    +Can repeat the same notes.
    Better than piano, same as guitar/organ.

    -Cannot control tone for each note.
    Worse than a guitar, same as piano/organ.
    +Can control overall tone.
    Better than piano, same as guitar/organ.
    +Can control volume for each note.
    Better than organ, same as piano/guitar.
    +Can control overall volume.
    Better than piano, same as guitar/organ.

    +CAN BEND AND VIBRATO NOTES >:D Unfair advantage.
    Better than piano/organ, same as guitar.
    -Cannot sustain notes after you leave them, so you have to hold everything down. Very important. This in particular makes it more like an organ. (that's why I was researching organists' fingerings.)
    Worse than piano, same as organ/guitar.

    +Be taken practically anywhere. More portable.
    Better than a (traditional, not MIDI) keyboard, same as guitar (more or less, depends whether how many guitars you use :p).

    Conclusion - Touchstyle is not a handicapped piano**, it's an organ on steroids. It's not a 'neither here nor there', it's pretty much a boosted-up organ. (Think of the electric guitar's inherent expandability, and the distortion it was made for too...ha.)

    *I'm comparing touchstyle guitar to classical fingerstyle technique, and assuming both the guitars here have equal (10) strings. And the player is capable of using all ten fingers. How? You can use the thumb of the left like a cellist for WIDE barred stretches; extended technique.
    And using the RH pinky is settling in well, even in CG circles, quite popular.
    So in all the instruments compared here, the player is using all 10 fingers, has 10 strings. An equal premise.
    **because I was comparing it to piano earlier - the comparison seems apparent at first glance (as proved by the popularity of the term 'piano guitar' or 'piano tapping' for this style) but is untrue - it was frustrating because it's simply not the same, and mostly because of the 2nd last point.

    @flood - If only. Only day before, playing a piece (this one) made me realize I'd have to forget the guitar position and hold it something like a cello, the neck on my shoulder, to prevent it swinging around. You got some way to put a cello pin at the guitar endpin? o_O
     
  2. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    Ultrabot: "..here's my instrument..."

    As far as i know you've got just an ibanez and a yamaha... when do you plan to buy ur 6,7,8,9... string guitar or bass or watever you call it..

    you not only think a post ahead .. you think years ahead..

    But i hope someday you'll put it to practice...
     
  3. ultrabot90

    ultrabot90 Like fishes need bicycles

    ^Heh, mate, basically it's the same thing.

    I can hardly muster the money for an amplifier yet, so another guitar is clearly out of the question. :RollLol:
    So I'm building up my 'solo guitar touchstyle' chops. I'll upgrade to 2, then more guitars...e-ven-tua-lly, through...the...years...

    (because '5 guitars' also means '5 amps', and there's no point going for anything but custom-built-all-tube when you're buying that many ;))
     
  4. thehundredthone

    thehundredthone Well-Known Member

    Here's my car: It will be able to travel on all terrains including quicksand at upto 300kph with good steering, work as a hydrofoil, dive down to 6 km below sea level, go into orbit if required, and give me 5 light years per mL of fuel. Oh and it will be so pimped out even Xzibit won't be able to say anything about it.
     
  5. ultrabot90

    ultrabot90 Like fishes need bicycles

    ^ROFLMAO! :RollLol:
     
  6. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    i conclude that Ultrabot was kidding all these days and is a day-dreamer.. :p
     
  7. ultrabot90

    ultrabot90 Like fishes need bicycles

    ^And that was why I didn't write it there in the post in the first place -.-'

    Someday, I'll play a catchy groovy bass line, and improvise over that...phun phun phun.

    Btw...the thing I described above (psst, suggest me a name for it), it doesn't really need 5 guitars. That's just for pure-tonal-independence-overkill, and some people (who are show offs) may want it to 'compensate' XD

    I personally prefer a light setup, and one 8 string is fairly versatile in itself for all clean stuff. (down tune a low F# by 3 (4 if you play touchstyle) semitones, buy a string of appropriate gauge, and you have the exact low range of a standard upright/electric bass)
    Dissers, please see -
    Good demonstration IMO of how bass-ish a 8 string sounds (and how complete it is in itself if you do clean-and-no-effects stuff.)

    Two guitars are needed when you want to
    -apply different effects on both of them, and/or
    -distort one of them, and/or
    -want different a tone/voicing from each.
    This is REALLY versatile, even a tiny bit overkill, but very nice and balanced overall. Two 8 strings are like two keyboards...okay, not 88 key keyboards, but good enough for almost everything.
    Dissers, please see -
    Rounder's cover of Jimmy Smith's 'Bucket' (very groovy too) and
    Rounder's cover of Henry Mancini's 'Baby Elephant Walk' (beautiful bassline!!)
    (or any other organ/Hammond organ video, and notice the difference in the sounds between the upper and lower manual (keyboard))

    You need the third (bass) only when you want to distort the 2nd guitar as well, that too if you really want to do bass parts...you can always play 2 guitars and let someone else enjoy playing the bass parts :p
    Dissers, please see - the best composition ever played on the king of instruments (frigging awesome piece too; it's not as outlandish now, is it? It's bin here since CENTURIES, aka F*** YOU bwahahaha ...jk ;))

    Shred in peace. (flood's saying comes to mind. "Wrong forum" :p)
     
  8. flood

    flood New Member

    dude, jokes aside... i hate to say this, but you're well on your way to becoming that guy. the bohemian-at-all-costs who ends up restricting things to forums.

    don't dig yourself into that hole - your "instrument" scares me, not because it's so pwnage but it seems you're creating some sort of... i dunno. the level of thought you've taken it to is a bit disturbing too.

    it reminds me of the days i'd fantasize about polyphonic setups and having a stage setup so badass that it would kill everything in a wash of noise. i couldn't play green day right.

    it's a shit road and doesn't end well, and i think you might be idealising something completely... i dunno, impractical and pointless. forget about your badass setup for now. and honestly, just one real piece of advice - before you spend any money on ANY instrument or amp, be it an AER or a BE3, save up and take a flight abroad. perhaps to the musikmesse in frankfurt, although it's not a great platform for touchstyle instruments. make a list of luthiers you want to visit and TRY out all these ideas of yours. it might give you a better idea of what you need. that trip will be cheaper than any of the things on that list of yours.

    i really don't want to step on anyone's egos, so i'm not going to drag this discussion out any further. i just mean it well.
     
  9. rickkkyrich

    rickkkyrich Guest

    ^ +1000000000000000 to that...
     
  10. thehundredthone

    thehundredthone Well-Known Member

    There you go disillusioning yet another aspiring guitar(?)-ist. Forums are a good outlet for pipe-dreams which sometimes materialise into something tangible (and perhaps more practical), so let him have his fun.

    All this just because you can't guys play touchstyle GreenDay, tch tch.

    I get the feeling that I may be getting a little lost in this thread.
     
  11. ultrabot90

    ultrabot90 Like fishes need bicycles

    Who said this place is becoming boring [sic] than ever? ^^

    @flood - Dude, didn't I just say that the 'full-out T Rex 5 guitars' thing is the pure overkill? If you gave it to me now I wouldn't have much use for it :p 1-2 guitars, it may be all I'll ever use. (Relative) compactness, freedom, range, possibility for distortion and effects...good for almost everything I could ever want from an instrument...what I want from my playing is another matter entirely (See thread 'I want to start playing jazz' xD) We all know a setup doesn't play itself, and even after that, good technique is not always = good music.

    What you say is true, though...I can't play much on it right now. I'm teaching myself and it's like an experimental thing - because there are no standards, I've to set them for myself. A few days back I decided to change my playing position, now I've to relearn what little I learned over a month or so = at the moment, I know nothing, reset, rewipe, reformat. Headache much. -.-'

    Your advice, I'll definitely do it.

    @thehundredthone - Green Day in touchstyle is hard. Serious. (No, really, you've to hit them chords very rapidly, much more easily done in regular style. Fack, I can't play 'Roobaroo' from RDB in touchstyle, strumming is the only way sometimes. xD)

    If you guys would like a recording, I have an audio that is recorded from a stock RG7321 through an MG15 using a MP3 player's mic (it was just for my own reference, and as a challenge of sorts), playing Sor's Op 60 No 1. I can only do more of these kind of recordings for now, I'm 'fraid. :p
     

Share This Page