October 6, 2020

Gotta take a moment to acknowledge the passing of a legioned, Van Halen. I am super thankful for the innovations and techniques he shared with the world. RIP.

Quick Lesson From Van Halen

At 25 minutes into this cool interview he shares and demonstrates how he came up with the idea for finger tapping.

@ 25:00 - how he came up with finger tapping

@ 25:48 - demonstration

Here's the full video: https://youtu.be/yb26D8bBZB8

Behind Van Halen’s Tone

Check out the “behind the tone” report on Van Halen at InfoRiffs.com. Click here.

Guitarist I Just Learned About

I came across this player on IG the other day, Jared James Nichols. If you haven’t already, you gottacheck him out.

Guitar Tips & Tricks From Danny Gatton:

Last week I showed you how to get lessons for free from John Mayer. This week I want to share a great lesson from the late Danny Gatton.

This dude was one hell of a guitar player. Unfortunately he isn’t as well known as he should be.

My favorite parts of the video are his sliding with an empty bottle of booze and how to get a slap-like-delay without a pedal.

Time stamps:

@ 2:16 how to properly put your strings on
@ 2:55 tuning guitars before cell phones
@ 3:50 don’t pass the pitch
@ 4:14 fender’s thins vs tiny jazz picks
@ 5:20 cigarette ash for slippery picks
@ 5:56 “forward roll” picking technique
@ 6:53 “backward roll” technique
@ 8:12 shows how to do a dope riff
@ 9:58 slap-back-delay without pedals*
@ 11:15 Merle Travis style picking
@ 13:50 another Merle Travis technique
@ 16:27 forward and backward roll combo
@ 19:00 Banjo Licks for the Guitar
@ 23:56 freestyle country blues licks
@ 28:47 chicken picking technique
@ 32:07 piano and boogie woogie style pickin
@ 38:11 single note runs for up & down picking
@ 45:10 Les Paul licks (his hero as a kid)@ 47:40 volume knob steel-guitar-like trick*
@ 48:14 one knob Wha trick with a tele*
@ 49:30 more volume knob tricks
@ 50:23 steel lick*@ 51:20 string bending
@ 52:18 dope blues jam*
@ 54:14 bottle slide trick*

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/rqqbFmgOFHs<

Attenuators

Attenuators are supposed to allow you to get the tones from a cranked tube amp at a lower volume.

I live in an apartment, in a high-rise with my girlfriend and my daughter. Therefore I can’t crank my Fender Deluxe Reverb or Vox AC15 the way I’d like to (full blast).

I’ve always wondered if a good Attenuator can keep an uncolored cranked tone at low volumes.

So, I ended up “investing” in the Universal Audio OX to find out. My research showed there to be “better” options for straight attenuation but the recording aspect of the OX seemed pretty powerful.

I’ve only played with it for a few days now but I’m loving it. I don’t have much to compare the Attenuator to other than a cheap $50 one off eBay but needless to say the difference night and day. The headphone, and recording aspect to this thing is awesome too.

I’ll do a review soon but in the meantime I’m gonna be digging deeper into this thing.

Favorite performance of the week:

You gotta check out Prince's peformance on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", a tribue to George Harrison. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this. First off, it’s one of my favorite songs ever. Secondly, I find Prince’s performance at the end to be in-fucking-credible.

https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y

That's it for this week. Until next week! In the meantime, watch your freaking tone!

Journal 3