'Turbine Blossoms' Fingerstyle Guitar Improvisation

[Vihar]

This one involves flanging and overdrive.

[DawgBone]

I liked this one quite a bit, probably my favorite of your postings I've seen so far. Are you just free improvising or are you sitting down and working these out in advance?

I preferred the clean section the most which sounded to me somewhere between a soul tune and a classical piece. Tastefully done flanging, what pedal did you use? I just sold a Strymon Orbit flanger which was a really nice, versatile flanger but effects aren't really for me. Iit was more of a fun toy for messing around and I wasn't using it much. My bread and butter is guitar-amp so I been selling all my pedals except a Meris Mercury 7 reverb which is too nice to let go.

[Vihar]

I liked this one quite a bit, probably my favorite of your postings I've seen so far. Are you just free improvising or are you sitting down and working these out in advance?

I preferred the clean section the most which sounded to me somewhere between a soul tune and a classical piece. Tastefully done flanging, what pedal did you use? I just sold a Strymon Orbit flanger which was a really nice, versatile flanger but effects aren't really for me. Iit was more of a fun toy for messing around and I wasn't using it much. My bread and butter is guitar-amp so I been selling all my pedals except a Meris Mercury 7 reverb which is too nice to let go.

Thank you very much, DawgBone. It is completely improvised, no parts of these are composed.

The flanger comes directly from the Roland Cube 30 amp. I hear ya, most of the time an effect is already too much, unless it really becomes part of your tone, and then it turns into a crutch as well. But to change it up a bit, they are nice every now and then. Do you use reverb as an always on kind of effect?

[DawgBone]

Thank you very much, DawgBone. It is completely improvised, no parts of these are composed.

The flanger comes directly from the Roland Cube 30 amp. I hear ya, most of the time an effect is already too much, unless it really becomes part of your tone, and then it turns into a crutch as well. But to change it up a bit, they are nice every now and then. Do you use reverb as an always on kind of effect?

For gigs I never use any reverb or other effects except an OD for some light drive when I play small rooms. Lately in large venues I use it set neutral for a warming/preamping effect on top of a cranked amp, using the guitar's volume to set the gain level. The room usually provides enough reverb for my taste anyhow. The Meris is just an incredibly cool effect I couldn't let go, lol.

I meant to ask you also, is that a thumb pick you are using? I couldn't tell but I thought I saw one there. I use banjo picks, thumb and a national finger pick for a more traditional blues approach so I thought I'd ask. Anyhow, just got a new guitar delivered and I gotta get ready for a drive to a gig a couple hours from here and to top it off one of my pipes blew in the freeze so I will hopefully catch you later tonight or tomorrow on Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas to you and your family brother!

[Vihar]

I meant to ask you also, is that a thumb pick you are using? I couldn't tell but I thought I saw one there. I use banjo picks, thumb and a national finger pick for a more traditional blues approach so I thought I'd ask.

That must be awesome, the raw energy of it. Yes, these are Dunlops, I'm using the metal thumbpick and the .025" fingerpicks, they give a nice clear tone and don't wear.

Anyhow, just got a new guitar delivered and I gotta get ready for a drive to a gig a couple hours from here and to top it off one of my pipes blew in the freeze so I will hopefully catch you later tonight or tomorrow on Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas to you and your family brother!

Congrats on your new guitar and break a leg! Sorry about the pipe, it must be really cold there! Thank you DawgBone, Merry Christmas to you & your family too! ?

[DawgBone]

That must be awesome, the raw energy of it. Yes, these are Dunlops, I'm using the metal thumbpick and the .025" fingerpicks, they give a nice clear tone and don't wear.



Congrats on your new guitar and break a leg! Sorry about the pipe, it must be really cold there! Thank you DawgBone, Merry Christmas to you & your family too! ?

I've never tried a metal thumbpick. My picking hand has never been my strength and I thought the metal thumbpick would show mistakes more easily? Not sure if there is any substance to my thought there. I use a GP-8 Golden Gate thumb which I discovered while living in Nashville because every music store sells banjo picks and I was working up my fingerstyle acoustic blues. Many of the pickers there can demonstrate that Mississippi John Hurt style firsthand so it made learning easier. Eventually when I got a semi-hollow electric I transitioned to using them on that (cause it's semi acoustic right?) and now I play acoustic with my fingers bare mostly. The National NP-2 seemed to fit my finger better than the similar Dunlop so I use those for my index. I've worn one of the Nationals out where the edge was rolled enough where it wasn't doing the job very well. That took about 6 years and hundreds of gigs, rehearsals, and many hours of playing at home, lol. They are durable!

[Vihar]

I've never tried a metal thumbpick. My picking hand has never been my strength and I thought the metal thumbpick would show mistakes more easily? Not sure if there is any substance to my thought there. I use a GP-8 Golden Gate thumb which I discovered while living in Nashville because every music store sells banjo picks and I was working up my fingerstyle acoustic blues. Many of the pickers there can demonstrate that Mississippi John Hurt style firsthand so it made learning easier. Eventually when I got a semi-hollow electric I transitioned to using them on that (cause it's semi acoustic right?) and now I play acoustic with my fingers bare mostly. The National NP-2 seemed to fit my finger better than the similar Dunlop so I use those for my index. I've worn one of the Nationals out where the edge was rolled enough where it wasn't doing the job very well. That took about 6 years and hundreds of gigs, rehearsals, and many hours of playing at home, lol. They are durable!

I also constantly fight my picking hand, I have what they call cross-dominance, but my left hand is swifter but I learned to play right handed, so that's that. The metal thumbpick doesn't cause too many problems, if the vibrating string is stopped quickly enough, so it doesn't buzz against the pick for too long. And the tone is the same as with the fingerpicks. I played with bare fingers for more than a decade, then plastic (celluloid) fingerpicks for a decade, and they were loud on the acoustic and mellower than the metal ones, but I couldn't play as accurately with them as with the metal picks, because the tip of the plastic one doesn't curve against the fingertip the same way. And I couldn't re-shape it in hot water to make it look exactly like the metal ones. I love the GP-8, I have Japanese Hosco clones of it (exactly the same pick, without the bridge emblem), if I still played with the plastic fingerpicks, I would use them. They last a long time indeed. I recently tried the Ibanez ULTEM ULT1, that is even louder and is very hard to wear down.