So i finally got new strings attached after coming back from the gaming exhibition in lanka (fun fun fun xD). I had the action set just high enough for the all the frets to work. It feels great! O_O. And after that nearly week long break from guitar playing (i tore of the old ones so i cud focus on gaming instead of kinki :P ) my hands seems to have gotten even stronger. I had the inclination to tune up to an even tighter Eb tuning on the gauge 10 string set. Yep, they no longer felt hard to budge.
Speaking of strings the music shop didn't have the correct gauges for me to set up my own string set. Sad but kinda expected there is absolutely nothing that is readily available in this country. Not really a prob anymore anyways Ive finally gotten used to the gauge 10 set. Which is a good thing since even the gauge 9 sets are no longer available when i went to buy.
On the note of progress. I can play three string arpeggios to an acceptable proficiency xD. Very very pleased and soon gonna move up to 5 and 6 string sets.. But before that gonna learn harder 3 stringers just to get the feel of it.
The hard thing about arpeggios are that i have to worry about more than just picking and moving my left hand fingers into the right position. At the same time i have to make sure my palm is placed right to mute the strings not being played and make sure not to mute the one being played. Not exactly a picnic at any rate. Luckily the technique has completely blended into my picking technique now. So it doesn't take much thought to execute now. After i had crossed that barrier the sweep motion was the next difficulty. Arpeggios should be treated as chords with each note played individually, and naturally rather fast to get the intended sound out. As such the right hand technique should be the same as when u play a rhythm riff only even more refined.Also sweeping across the thinners strings are actually harder compared to the the coiled strings since the pick has a habit of accidentally getting stuck on a particular string for a split second. That is quite irritating when your playing at least 2 notes or 3 notes per second. You have to adjust the angle and height at which the pick touches the strings to be able to glide smoothly to the next string without yanking the current one. For me I had to record myself and listen to realize that my final hurdle was to equalize my up and down stroke speed. I was going down far too fast and i didn't even figure that was the problem until i took a listen.
So spent yesterday and today slowing down again and really pass each string when going up and down. The results are very pleasing. To me personally it sounds cleaner and more articulate compared to the video that was demonstrating it.
So time to bring on the next challenge really. No songs, just scale runs, up and down left and right runs. Arpeggios and faster riff sequences. These three things are what i will be working on for the next few weeks until i reach a suitable level.
On other things guitar rig is getting under my thumb as well, albeit stubbornly.The main effects setup i use have been tweaked to something that finally sounds pleasing when played for long and I figured out how to use the pitch shifter to get out any tuning i wanted without turning a single peg on the guitar. Very very useful since i like the string tension that kinki has right now. Any more or less would just be annoying. It doesn't sound odd or weird or anything as long as i put the pedal in the right position on the effects rack (it tends to make auto wah wah like sounds when on the top of the chain and odd distortion volume changing when at the very bottom).
I noticed how my instrument has a slight weakness in the third and fourth string. They are not bright or got any attack whatsoever. They sound different and dull in comparison to the other strings on the sides. Ive read that mahogany does have problems with the mid range. However it might just be the really crappy pickups that my guitar has. Its not just me, Ive been told by far better players that my setup has little sensitivity making pull off and hammer ons really hard. Honestly speaking i can make the pull off sounds come without anything plugged, it might be me just used to my setup or they have a point and getting better gear would improve my playing.
I'm not gonna pass judgment on my guitar's apparent mid range weakness until i have a pair of blackouts installed.If the problem persists then its time to move to a maple/mahogany combo guitar. Cant help it mahogany always makes the best distortion sound :P. Also not to mention kinki's bridge has wobbly pivots D:, its god's grace the sustain is as good as it is right now. The bridge needs to go at the soonest opportunity. Who knows maybe that is the reason for the dullness of the thicker strings.
Next thing on my mind. I notice that each person who plays my guitar sounds..different. I don't let anyone change my settings on the amp or guitar rig. But each single person, the way the sound comes from even one single note is different and unique O_O. My brother and older cousin sounds sharper and harsher. Younger cousin sounds smoother but less sustain. My dad plays distortion riffs that like it was clean on a higher volume O_O, so damn smooth. A friend of ours came along (a rather good player) , and he sounded more like he was playing with jabs rather than placing his fingers behind the frets. Kinda cool how everyone sounds unique on the guitar. I guess its part of the charm, how u can sound like yourself on the instrument :D
Enough talk, back to practice
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