The other blog of Miguel Pereira » Musical Instruments

Why is following a tempo so darn hard?

Miguel Pereira — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:59:44 +0000

So, I figured I’d play a couple of excercises to help me coordinate my left hand with my picking, jump between strings and most importantly, help me program and lock in on a tempo. I started out easy and simply messing around with some pentatonic / blues scales at a relatively slow tempo -plugged in my Alesis drum machine and set it up @ 75bpm. I slowly warmed up as I picked up the pace to 100, 125 & finally 150bpm. I figured why not try excercise, while playing something with some degree of musicallity…you know, that’s what I am trying to get to here!

I kept playing around a little bit more until I finally came up with a little pattern that’s closely related to the 2nd position of the B Major scale -if memory serves me well.

E|——————————————————–10–12–13–
B|——————————————–10–12–13————–
G|———————————9–10–12————————–
D|———————-9–10–12————————————-
A|————–10–12————————————————
E|–10–12–13——————————————————–

OK! So were do you go from here? I don’t know about YOU, but this is what I did:

E|——————————————————————–
B|——————————————————————–
G|——————————————————————–
D|——————————————————————–
A|———————————–0–10–12–0–10–12–0–10–12–
E|–0–10–12–0–10–12–0–10–12———————————–

E|—————————————————————–
B|—————————————————————–
G|——————————–0–10–12–0–10–12–0–10–12–
D|–0–9–10–0–9–10–0–9–10———————————–
A|—————————————————————–
E|—————————————————————–

E|—————————————————————–
B|—————————————————————–
G|—————————————————————–
D|–0–10–12–0–10–12–0–10–12–0–9–10–0–9–10–0–9–10–
A|—————————————————————–
E|—————————————————————–

E|————————————————————-
B|————————————————————-
G|————————————————————-
D|————————————————————-
A|–0–10–12–0–10–12–0–10–12—————————-
E|———————————–0–10–12–0–10–12–13–

Forgive the bad formatting on this post, but the essential things to understand here are:

Use alternate picking -up stroke / down stroke- and continue on exactly the same pattern while changing strings.
Even though some notes might seem super-imposed and played simultaneously on the above figures, they are played consecutively, and there is always a series of 3 repetitions per string minimum.

I kept doing this for about an hour until my wrist started to hurt -bad technique on my part. But not before I was able to record one of the last attempts done @ 195bps and me trying to follow it. You don’t have to pay a lot of attention to pick up where I lost it -and I did several times. But I am a man on a mission now: getting my tempo & alternate picking down -and I think I know where some of them might be.

Oh yeah, sorry…here is the sound clip: altpicking-195bps

Share on Facebook

Pickup / Guitar sound samples

Miguel Pereira — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:55:21 +0000

Just for the sake of having these samples on live and available whenever I might need to use them. Here they are. These were all recorded at the same input volume, using the exact same Line6 POD 2.0 to Mixer to US-144 to Reaper configuration, cables, and effects. Click on the text description to download an MP3 sample of the pickup as it is on its respective guitar. You can also pickup an excellent deal from Musician’s Friend on any of these pickups by following any of the image-links below. Trust me, Musician Friend is yet to mess up on any of my orders. And to makes matters even better, if you have a Guitar Center nearby, you can test-drive most of their items in person (GC & MF are one and the same company if I am not mistaken).

You can see a good gallery of these guitars & pickups on this post.

DiMarzio Mo’Joe @ bridge on Ibanez S470

The Mo’Joe has a lot of everything: output, clarity, and…yes, BALLS! This guy will scream with just a little gain. There is not subtelty to this humbucker. Very bright sounding. If you are looking for power, this is it. If you want better polyphonic definition, go for an Air Norton humbucker, still lots of power but much much clearer at high gains.

DiMarzio Air Norton (Single) @ middle on Ibanez S470

This is the jewel on my Ibanez. Very warm, very mellow, lot’s of soul on this one.

DiMarzio PAF-Joe @ neck on Ibanez S470

DiMarzio Air Norton (red) @ bridge on Peavey Raptor EXP Plus

This was my first venture with DiMarzio: the Air Norton. Everyone seems to favor this pickup on the neck position for rythm and chording (it’s got a lot of clarity of tone, which helps with high-gain polyphonic action), but I really dig it on the bridge. It’s got a terriffic voice, translates harmonics beatifully and is very articulate.

DiMarzio True Velvet (middle) on Peavey Raptor EXP Plus

DiMarzio True Velvet (neck) on Peavey Raptor EXP Plus

Both True Velvets are rather sweet sounding and low output. In the middle, it can sound rather thin and twangy. In the neck it’s perfect for rythm work and sounds a bit warmer than on the neck. DiMarzio says they customize the mag-poles to their position…I have no way to confirm or disprove that.

EMG-85 @ bridge on Michael Kelly Valor Limited

You should be able to tell the difference between the EMG-81 & 85 rather easily. The 85 is way more vocal and brighter than the EMG-81. And it seems to capture harmonics a lot better than the 81 on the neck. The EMG-81 has a very dark character on the neck, and it might be more suitable for really heavy, muffed rythm sections. There is one thing for certain, both of these puppies will blow your passive pickup volume settings away in a blink. The first time around I hooked these babies up to my mixer, I had to wind down on the channel trim a LOT.

EMG-81 @ neck on Michael Kelly Valor Limited

Share on Facebook

New Gear – Michael Kelly Valor Limited

Miguel Pereira — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:42:23 +0000

Michael Kelly Valor Limited

“For a twist, we gave the already superior Valor Custom an extra dose of “Michael Kelly Magic” to create the “Valor Limited”. The Valor Limited features figured exotic wood tops in distinctive spalted Maple and also burled Bubinga. Stunning would be an understatement when describing their unique custom appearances.

With all of the obvious visual appeal, it’s important to remember that Michael Kelly guitars are first and foremost, “Built on Sound”, and the Valor Limited is certainly true to Michael Kelly’s mantra. The tone screams out in crisp growling heaps – in part thanks to the new Rockfield SWC pickups. The Rockfield SWCs are constructed with USA magnets and wire commonly found in the best known pickups for versatile tone ranging from full and biting twang when in split-coil mode to clean gnarly and grungy grind in full “bucker” mode – (both pickups are also coil tapped). Other features include an adjustable Tune-O-Matic bridge with string-through the body feature, which gives the Limited a slightly darker tone than its Valor Custom brother.

The all-new Michael Kelly Valor Limited is sure to please the ears and the eyes of even the most discriminating player and rival many instruments costing a fair chunk more.“

And this is pretty much the guitar that’s on its way for me. Given that my birthday is coming, and I have been resisting my GAS urges as much as I could. But then I found this baby, albeit with EMG passive buckers instead on eBay. After a little grudge-match with a fellow auction-troll, I managed to pick an example just like this one for close to half its retail price. Funny fact is, I haven’t seen any of the Limited or Custom versions at any store -online or otherwise. I even paid a visit to a local dealer in Denton (TX) and all they had were Kelly Patriots -which though I like, I much rather stick to my LP for single cutaway business. And I don’t really like the Valor X w/bolt-on neck. It’s got a 24 fret neck, but that’s overkill for my playing.

Spalted Maple Valor Limited

I’ll give those EMG pickups a try. I am seriously looking for that crunchy solid-body, 70′s sound that is so characteristic of rock & hard rock of yore. I hope they are not too hot. I’ve also heard a few demos of the Rockfield SWCs that should be stock on this model, and they sound sweet. They have the exact tone that I am looking for. I don’t really know which EMGs pickups they are. It should be here on Monday. Can’t wait!

via Valor Limited

Specifications
CONSTRUCTION: Set-thru-neck
BODY: Mahogany
TOP: Spalted Maple or Bubinga
NECK: Mahogany
FRETBOARD: Ebony
FRETS: 22 medium jumbo
SCALE: 24-3/4”
BINDING: wood
INLAY: abalone oval
BRIDGE: Tune-o-matic
TUNERS: Grover
PICKUPS: Rockfield SWC – direct mounted
ELECTRONICS: 1 tone, 1 volume, 1 three-way toggle, coil tapped
STRINGS: D’ Addario
HARDWARE: Chrome w/custom aged Celtic Cross control knobs

Share on Facebook

For sale: Peavey Raptor EXP Plus (BLUE)

Miguel Pereira — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:40:46 +0000

I just listed a beatiful Trans Blue Peavey Raptor EXP+ on Craigslist for sale. This is one well taken care of soid body electric guitar for beginner & intermediate players. The Raptor is a Fender Stratocaster look-a-like -a “Fat-Strat” to be more precise, with it’s bridge humbucker. You can see the listing on Craiglist here:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/msg/1127348983.html

This guitar has been properly setup and has brand new strings on it. Not a scratch mark on it. Serious buyers, leave your comment or head out to Craigslist. If you live in the DFW area, this guitar can be yours for only $90.00 OBO and I am including a hard case for transport and storage.

Here are some photos:

Share on Facebook