GuitarMaestro

Very true. I remember when I first heard Steve Morse playing, who does alot of pinch harmonics. I know he is not associated with them like let's say Zakk Wylde, but he still uses them in very cool places. Anway....after hearing him play I practised pinch harmonics like a maniac for month and swapped gear, etc. to achieve them perfectly. Know that I can pull them off easily I realized that gear plays only a minor role in achieving them.

I guess you meant that only half-serious. Still I want to stress that if you really have mastered pinch harmonics you can play them even on an acoustic. I can play them clean and with most every guitar. Granted though they only sound impressive with a massive amount of gain.

@Clavin: Another question: The pearl material you have from masecraft.....how does it react to sanding/cutting? I coudl imagine that this stuff looses its look completely when sanding or that it melts easily? Do you simply sand and then polish it like mop?

I am able to draw in CAD, but I have no time at the moment(due to university tests ). But if you want a good cad drawing of that guitar you would have to give the person drawing it a way more detailed drawing(with measurements). With the drawing you provided there is most everything unclear. And the lines are not clean enough to simply take them as a reference and scale it to correct size later.

Thanks for the pointers!!!! I just sent perry a mail and masecraft as well. Let's they what they come pu with. If you have other ideas let me know! Thanks, Marcel!

Wow that sounds very good clavin! Thanks! I found their website via google. It is very uninformative and they don't even write how to buy from them. I contacted them and ordered a catalogue.....but I doubt they'll send me one to Germany. Do you know how to buy from them? Is it a local shop or mailorder? How did you buy from them? Thanks, Marcel!

Thanks for the answer. Your link was wrong though. It is http://www.smallwonder-music.co.uk and not ".com". I imagine cutting stone quite difficult and especially in sharkfin shape what I need. I would prefer a synthetic material.

If xebryusguitars did not buy them I would like to buy the lady set.

For my next project I want red sharkfin inlays. I wonder if there is some material like synthetic pearl in red? Only idea I came up with is to use red pearl pickguard material. The problem with that is that it is multilayered and I don't know how it looks after sanding the fringerboard radius. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance, Marcel!

Depends on what you want to record. For recording your ideas and making demos for you & bandmates the pod/v-amp sounds good enough. If you want to do a serious high quality recording you need the real thing. I usually play all tube heads with cabs, but for a coverband job I use a POD to cover all the needed sounds. I have to admit it sounds quite okay, but a real amp is just a different thing. To me the simulators always sound sterile and somehow artificial. Not only that but a real amp reacts way different to your playing and subtle differences in your picking. Through a POD on high gain most guitars sound nearly the same and it has a smaller impact on the sound how hard you pick and where you hit the string. The best thing to do in my opinion: If you have a good amp just buy a decent speaker simulator and a dummy load. This should be way cheaper then a vamp or pod and gives you YOUR real amp sound at bedroom levels or as a line signal for recording.

Can't you record all mics on different tracks? That would make it WAY easier. Otherwise you have to get the mix right before recording and thats quite close to impossible especially for someone who has not much expirience. If you record all mics to different tracks you can do all mixing afterwards and take your time to..

I just listened to the newer version. While it sounds way better, you added to much bass/lower mids. The palm muted tones have to much bass now. It's not terrible on good monitors but I know from expierence that on a car stereo or anything with much bass response they would be too loud and cover anything else. You recorded drums? I guess you wanted to say you hacked them into your midi sequenzer? At least someone who agrees with me on Hammet!

Okay I listened to the recording here in my studio on my studio monitors. Several things: 1. Your playing is very pro and especially TIGHT. Way above demo quality. Respect! 2. The guitar sound is fat and powerful. It still sounds a little "fake/sterile" to my ears, as every vamp and most other digital recording preamps sound. It's immideately noticable that it was not played with a real amp + mics. This will only be noticed by picky guitarists though I guess and it is a taste thing as well. For using a vamp I think you got the best possible result. If you get a good drum sound and good vocals this will be quite pro sounding. There is just one thing I consider wrong about your recording process. I would never record guitar/bass first and then drums. Usually you get a more natural sounding and groovier sounding recording if you first record the drums and then record bass/guitars to the drums and follow the little timing differences your drummer does. And why don't you play your own solo? The one on the original sounds quite uninspired anyway.... And what I heard from your playing so far you can easily outdo the lame original solo. P.s.: Post clips with the real drums later....i am REALLY interested how it turns out.

For the music you want do play DON'T(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) buy that guitar it will frustrate you. A hollowbody will never sound like a strat let alone most electric guitars. And that's just one side of the coin. Playing a real electric is way easier if you want to play technically more involved stuff like Hendrix + Gilmour(both are not really good in terms of technique, but from reading your post I suspect you are just starting).

Do you want a reverb pedal or a delay pedal? Reverb pedals are quite uncommon and I doubt there are really good ones, as a good reverb chews up alot of processing power(therefore usually a rack unit) expcept for a spring reverb which cannot be included in a pedal.

If done right this is the standard method and should work perfectly. Important is to hit the string with the flesh of your thumb at a place where a overtone is located and that you barely touch it. But to pull off pinch harmonics reliable takes quite some practive. When I started playing I was so fascinated by pinch harmonics that I practised them for weeks until I was able to even get to the most obscure ones. Another important factor is the pickup you use and your sound. You need to use the bridge PU and quite some distortion. On many guitars the neck pickup does not pick up the pinch harmonics and general overtones at all. Especially on a Fender Strat where the neck pickup sits under a harmonic node.

Look here to see a discussion on the subject where I calculated the difference in neck weight and proved that it should have a neglectible effect on "neck-heaviness".

Ok I understand where you are coming from. However my natural ear was not that good either. At Munich Guitar Institute where I studied guitar, everyone had to take several ear training courses. In the beginning the teacher plays something and you have to write what he played on paper. Later I had to transribe solos from records on paper without the aid of a guitar. Now I have a quite well trained ear. I am convinced that everybody can learn that with the right exercises and a strict practice routine. Start with learning the intervals in one octave. Play and sing them and try to get a good feel for them. Then after that step record 30 or more intervals on tape. Always play the bottom note first and then the top note. Then the next day you listen to the casette and write the interval names on paper WITHOUT using a guitar and sing it. And then you can check how many you got right. I was soon able to to always get about 95% of them correct. If you are confident in hearing intervals you can start to record short melodies in one key and play them on tape and some days later write them down as sheet music WITHOUT using a guitar. There are several great ear training programs on the web that make the whole task way easier. Look here for example....

I was not talking about the ear as an organ, but the mental ability to hear intervals, scales, chords and knowing what they are, how they relate to each other etc. I bet Beethoven did have a great ability here and as he was deaf he could still hear the notes & intervals in his head because he has trained his note hearing ability so well. Otherwise he would not have been able to write anymore.

Concerning the taxes: That's insane. The tax on income in Germany is considered too high already, but I pay about 20-25%. Just because you think so? lol The production is excellent, the playing is excellent, the singer is better then most yngwie singers so far, the drummer is a master of his instrument. I only miss keyboard solos. If you don't like the album fine. But it is definately one of his best albums and I have most of them. The worst album is War To End All Wars in my opinion. Because you think a good guitar player does not need a good ear?

Look here for a very cool Jackson/Charvel guitar design tool. Have fun, MK!

Wow....thats alot of money. Is it just the tax on the income or all taxes added together? Like the tax on buying goods(whats the word in english?), etc.?

On My Songbook there are several songs of the attack album tabbed perfectly. But I think it's always better to learn songs by ear instead of using tabs, as developing a good ear is crucial. The tab for Baroque & Roll they have is flawless and the ship of fools tab is excellent as well.

Are the taxes that high in the USA?

Hmm....that I don't know. I think at the time it was possible to be citizen of two states? Anyway, his wife and son are US citizens so it is no wonder he feels attached to America. Other question: Did you already learn some songs of the album? Just curious.... I studied some older songs like krakatau, but Baroque & Roll would be a great exercise I think....