Your comments are so true. Years ago I had Bohemian Rapsody tracks (24 wav files). Brian May's guitar soloed was unusually high freq sounding ... but with all the tracks brought in, there it was! A masterpiece.
Good info, I think it's especially crucial for people to understand that there's a pretty big difference between a tone dialed for a mix vs a tone dialed for practicing. A lot of comparison videos on the internet and a lot of presets are tones specifically adjusted to fit in a mix. They'll likely be drier and less gainer than you'd typically dial for playing on your own (for rhythm, these tones are intended to be double tracked, and double tracking just by itself affects how you perceive tone - it will sound different timbrally than a mono single track). There'd be way less bass (because in reality it's the bass guitar that gives that beefy sound to the mix, not the guitars), more mids, and probably the highs will be spikier (which will result in more ear fatigue when you're practicing). Really makes you wonder how many people have dismissed modeling solely because they didn't understand that they were exposed to a tone that was tweaked to be "mix ready" rather than dialed to sound akin to a cab in a room with the your real amp dialed for just solo playing and practicing. There's also a huge difference when playing through headphones vs playing through monitors. Headphones have zero crosstalk between the channels (i.e. the sound in the left earpiece does not interact acoustically at all with the sound in the right earpiece), and of course there's no natural room reverb, the sound is blasted directly into your ears. The end result is that the monophonic nature of the signal coming from a miced cab will stick out like a sore thumb and will feel very two dimensional. The best trick is to use a fair bit of reverb (more than you'd put when you're dialing the tone through speakers) at the end of the chain. Using a stereo reverb both simulates a room and adds different information to the right and left channels (which is the essence of stereo sound really), thus contributing to an artificial stereo image, making the sound feel much more natural and 3d-like. Make sure to play with different algorithms as well as mix, decay, and hi/lo cut parameters, through headphones in particular playing with different settings make a surprisingly big difference.
great advice. thanks. I am usually playing my Helix thru my Sony professional studio headphones but when my wife is not home I play thru my studio monitors :)
Great advice. Pick technique is huge. I find different pick materials really change my tone. Some of my picks are bright and some are warm. I have one guitar that is naturally warm sounding but with certain picks it sounds a little too muffled. Change picks and it’s almost like putting an eq on the signal.
Another great video, Jason. You covered all the important aspects of picking. I might add, as I'm sure you're aware: the pick you use makes a tremendous difference in not only the tone, but the ease/difficulty of playing. I use four or five different picks (and my fingers) for different parts and types of music, from an extremely thin, flexible copper one to a thick carved coconut shell. Some are better for speedy picking, some for softer jazz sounds, some for strumming. BTW, for anyone who doesn't know, playing near the bridge is indicated by the term 𝘴𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 (literally, near the bridge), near the neck by 𝘴𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰 (on the button - don't ask me why. 𝘛𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰 by itself translates to "edge." I'm only half Italian LOL).
The cool thing about the HX Stomp is I found I can reproduce any amplifier and effects. That’s 10%. The other 90% really is in your hands. This demonstration shows how your picking hand is extremely important. More so than your fretting. Thanks for reminding us and giving a great demonstration. I got something out of it.
I’m having such a hard time getting rid of all the mud from high gain amps. I’m playing an Ibanez AZ into a Mesa or 5150. Super flubby low end and throwing tube screamer in front doesn’t work like it does for a real amp. Any tips you’ve found along the way?
hey dude , spot on with the picking section,many years ago a much better player than myself told me basically the same advice. probably the best advice ever lol. while I got you here ,Ive had my helix lt little over a year and just delved into IRs,,,any thoughts on where to get some high quality ones...peace out, and love your vids been very helpful.....
LiveReady Sounds and Ownhammer and Sigma3 are the most popular but MANY out there try and try (down the rabbit hole of THOUSANDS of options) to find "THE" IRs to "fix" their sound issues and they give up and end up going back to stock cabs. Check this vid out: th-cam.com/video/I8Qrt-Q79U4/w-d-xo.html
Jason, just a reminder from the quarantine chat. Check out the song clap hands by Tom waits. Particularly the solo, very thin and gritty but perfect for the song.
IEMs LOL We use them in a venue with little if any mixer EQ on my Helix signal sent direct to the board. This varies with ear buds but with mine they seem to reproduce highs very well -- much better than the FOH speakers in a mix with an audience. So even though the tone may be fine in the house, I may think there's too much high end in my ears. Finally getting a pannable in-ear mix has made a big difference. I also have an amateurish ambient mic arrangement feeding some stage/room sound into my ears -- helps a little.
hey jason, can you let the question be displayed a little longer? In this case, if you come back later to a video you can scroll through the questions quickly in the preview. would be nice thx
Great tips and tricks here Jason. Keep putting these out. much appreciated. Nice ZoSo shirt ;) Love that tone and amazing solo playing here. As always stay safe and healthy!
Yes! Picking dynamics are so important to the personality of the player. I grew up (or chose to follow) the Trevor Rabin/ Vernon Reid school of thought that says each note needs to be picked to maintain a uniform tone. Then here comes Ty Tabor and he upset the applecart proper! I then noticed Brian May having a similar approach to Ty’s. Now I’m nowhere near any of these players’ level but applying the two approaches opened sounds up for me that I was definitely missing. Pick hand tension is another thing I struggle with. I have a heavy picking hand and it has an adverse affect on not just the feel of the notes but cripples my speed and makes legato playing sound like a bunch of silver ware dumped down the staircase. There are so many aspects of playing and tone that we take for granted and if we could only approach mastery of them we could create amazing art!
I always use my Line 6 wireless on my 2x10 combo and move around the room...sometimes even go to the next room...to get the huge variation in sound that of-axis and distance can give...put yourself where the listener is to know what they hear...seems obvious...love my wireless..I really dislike using cables to my amp :)
The mix: have you ever seen a music director, band leader ask the keys player to not use their left hand? Or at least move both hands higher up the keyboard? Obviously same thing goes for electric guitar when you have an acoustic playing down in the lower frets.
@Jason Sadites - I forgot to ask - did you print your own album covers and put them on foam core to display on your "Hall of Fame" music shelf or are those actual real albums? If you printed your own, what size are those? full 12" ? or smaller 8 or 5 inches? I want to print my "hall of fame" albums as well for my office/music room too so just wondering. Its easy to find images of album covers and as long as you use it for personal use it should be ok right?
Your comments are so true. Years ago I had Bohemian Rapsody tracks (24 wav files). Brian May's guitar soloed was unusually high freq sounding ... but with all the tracks brought in, there it was! A masterpiece.
Good info, I think it's especially crucial for people to understand that there's a pretty big difference between a tone dialed for a mix vs a tone dialed for practicing. A lot of comparison videos on the internet and a lot of presets are tones specifically adjusted to fit in a mix. They'll likely be drier and less gainer than you'd typically dial for playing on your own (for rhythm, these tones are intended to be double tracked, and double tracking just by itself affects how you perceive tone - it will sound different timbrally than a mono single track). There'd be way less bass (because in reality it's the bass guitar that gives that beefy sound to the mix, not the guitars), more mids, and probably the highs will be spikier (which will result in more ear fatigue when you're practicing). Really makes you wonder how many people have dismissed modeling solely because they didn't understand that they were exposed to a tone that was tweaked to be "mix ready" rather than dialed to sound akin to a cab in a room with the your real amp dialed for just solo playing and practicing.
There's also a huge difference when playing through headphones vs playing through monitors. Headphones have zero crosstalk between the channels (i.e. the sound in the left earpiece does not interact acoustically at all with the sound in the right earpiece), and of course there's no natural room reverb, the sound is blasted directly into your ears. The end result is that the monophonic nature of the signal coming from a miced cab will stick out like a sore thumb and will feel very two dimensional. The best trick is to use a fair bit of reverb (more than you'd put when you're dialing the tone through speakers) at the end of the chain. Using a stereo reverb both simulates a room and adds different information to the right and left channels (which is the essence of stereo sound really), thus contributing to an artificial stereo image, making the sound feel much more natural and 3d-like. Make sure to play with different algorithms as well as mix, decay, and hi/lo cut parameters, through headphones in particular playing with different settings make a surprisingly big difference.
great advice. thanks. I am usually playing my Helix thru my Sony professional studio headphones but when my wife is not home I play thru my studio monitors :)
Nice job on this one. You have a great way of teaching / sharing information. Keep it up!
Great advice. Pick technique is huge. I find different pick materials really change my tone. Some of my picks are bright and some are warm. I have one guitar that is naturally warm sounding but with certain picks it sounds a little too muffled. Change picks and it’s almost like putting an eq on the signal.
Another great video, Jason. You covered all the important aspects of picking. I might add, as I'm sure you're aware: the pick you use makes a tremendous difference in not only the tone, but the ease/difficulty of playing. I use four or five different picks (and my fingers) for different parts and types of music, from an extremely thin, flexible copper one to a thick carved coconut shell. Some are better for speedy picking, some for softer jazz sounds, some for strumming. BTW, for anyone who doesn't know, playing near the bridge is indicated by the term 𝘴𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 (literally, near the bridge), near the neck by 𝘴𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰 (on the button - don't ask me why. 𝘛𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰 by itself translates to "edge." I'm only half Italian LOL).
The cool thing about the HX Stomp is I found I can reproduce any amplifier and effects. That’s 10%. The other 90% really is in your hands. This demonstration shows how your picking hand is extremely important. More so than your fretting. Thanks for reminding us and giving a great demonstration. I got something out of it.
I’m having such a hard time getting rid of all the mud from high gain amps. I’m playing an Ibanez AZ into a Mesa or 5150. Super flubby low end and throwing tube screamer in front doesn’t work like it does for a real amp. Any tips you’ve found along the way?
Best demonstration of “tone is in the hands” I’ve seen. Thanks!
hey dude , spot on with the picking section,many years ago a much better player than myself told me basically the same advice. probably the best advice ever lol. while I got you here ,Ive had my helix lt little over a year and just delved into IRs,,,any thoughts on where to get some high quality ones...peace out, and love your vids been very helpful.....
LiveReady Sounds and Ownhammer and Sigma3 are the most popular but MANY out there try and try (down the rabbit hole of THOUSANDS of options) to find "THE" IRs to "fix" their sound issues and they give up and end up going back to stock cabs. Check this vid out: th-cam.com/video/I8Qrt-Q79U4/w-d-xo.html
10:50 sounded great to me, sometimes you just need to play like that.
hhahah yeah that was hilarious. ;p
Punk rock is mandatory.
13:14 that note was not what I was expecting... Very nice
Jason, just a reminder from the quarantine chat. Check out the song clap hands by Tom waits. Particularly the solo, very thin and gritty but perfect for the song.
IEMs LOL We use them in a venue with little if any mixer EQ on my Helix signal sent direct to the board. This varies with ear buds but with mine they seem to reproduce highs very well -- much better than the FOH speakers in a mix with an audience. So even though the tone may be fine in the house, I may think there's too much high end in my ears. Finally getting a pannable in-ear mix has made a big difference. I also have an amateurish ambient mic arrangement feeding some stage/room sound into my ears -- helps a little.
Great tips, Jason. Informative content.
hey jason, can you let the question be displayed a little longer? In this case, if you come back later to a video you can scroll through the questions quickly in the preview. would be nice thx
Great tips and tricks here Jason. Keep putting these out. much appreciated. Nice ZoSo shirt ;) Love that tone and amazing solo playing here. As always stay safe and healthy!
Yes! Picking dynamics are so important to the personality of the player. I grew up (or chose to follow) the Trevor Rabin/ Vernon Reid school of thought that says each note needs to be picked to maintain a uniform tone. Then here comes Ty Tabor and he upset the applecart proper! I then noticed Brian May having a similar approach to Ty’s. Now I’m nowhere near any of these players’ level but applying the two approaches opened sounds up for me that I was definitely missing.
Pick hand tension is another thing I struggle with. I have a heavy picking hand and it has an adverse affect on not just the feel of the notes but cripples my speed and makes legato playing sound like a bunch of silver ware dumped down the staircase.
There are so many aspects of playing and tone that we take for granted and if we could only approach mastery of them we could create amazing art!
I always use my Line 6 wireless on my 2x10 combo and move around the room...sometimes even go to the next room...to get the huge variation in sound that of-axis and distance can give...put yourself where the listener is to know what they hear...seems obvious...love my wireless..I really dislike using cables to my amp :)
Thank you. Been asking all over for help on cutting through the mix. #1 alone was a huge help, but your lick @ 15:54 seals the deal for us mortals.
The mix: have you ever seen a music director, band leader ask the keys player to not use their left hand? Or at least move both hands higher up the keyboard? Obviously same thing goes for electric guitar when you have an acoustic playing down in the lower frets.
So well explained about the darkness of the sound.
Great insight J!!
EVH's plexi
@Jason Sadites - I forgot to ask - did you print your own album covers and put them on foam core to display on your "Hall of Fame" music shelf or are those actual real albums? If you printed your own, what size are those? full 12" ? or smaller 8 or 5 inches? I want to print my "hall of fame" albums as well for my office/music room too so just wondering. Its easy to find images of album covers and as long as you use it for personal use it should be ok right?