Ngd: Testing Strymon's Big Sky

Hey guys - I have been playing around with the presets for 20 minutes and I already feel the need to share ?

Some background: Having been a hardcore digital/Kemper guy for many years I am now drifting towards the opposite. It seems I cannot really stand playing digital and I'd rather just play unplugged. However this is a little problematic when doing livestreams etc so I have been thinking about a simple but still cool sounding and flexible setup.

One of the great things with Kemper were the reverbs/delays and how you could stack them - and when switching to analog I did not have any pedal that could even come near Kempers time based effects. So I finally decided to pull the trigger on the Big Sky.

In the quick audio sample I am just using two pedals directly into the computer, with Big Sky's cab sim engaged. This gives me zero latency, no amp hum and... I am totally blown away by the sound and dynamics. Again I have had almost no time to play around with it, I have just gone through some presets!!

Here is the audio, no post FX at all (and NO tubes, or attempts to simulate tubes) - just recorded to the computer with Apogee Duet using my telecaster.
 big_sky.mp3 ( 1.3MB ) Number of downloads: 23


Here is the rig (Big Sky + Fulltone OCD):

Recent Downtime

You might have noticed we had some downtime this (European) night.

We are making preparations to expand on our CDN (network of GMC servers). This should hopefully make the GMC experience better for everybody.

At this point we are not sure what has caused the downtime though.

The Gmc Name Calling Collab

Welcome to the...

As you guys might know I am a big fan of 'call & response' in music - and with this collab I felt like taking it a step further!

The idea is that I do some vocals around your name, and you answer me with some blues licks! ?

I took the liberty to call out some students & instructors - just to get the ball rolling. But anyone who wants to can join, just give me a shout and I will record something for you. Likewise if you don't want to/have the time to join you may of course opt out ?

This is just an audio collab, so feel free to share your "guitar only" (with no reverb or delay) audio file and audio file with backing.

There is no deadline, we will keep going for as long as this one is active.

The backing is taken from the Slow Blues Triads lesson and you can play C minor pentatonic. Tempo is 80 Bpm.

 GMC_name_calling_collab.mp3 ( 7.56MB ) Number of downloads: 379




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>>> LISTEN TO THE FINAL RESULT HERE <<<<


We can hear several different approaches: we have some super obvious examples of call-and-response where the guitar lead is paying 110% attention to the vocals. On the other side of the spectrum we have some full on shred playing - where the guitar lead is taking space above the vocals. And then we have everything in between ?

This allows us - as listeners - to form an opinion on what we prefer hearing. Then we can - as guitarists - try to adapt our playing accordingly.

Now, what do you think?

Me Learning Hot Country: Update5

The journey has started, here is Update 1:
(If you are new to this, here is how it started and here is the hot country solo lesson I am practicing.)





Update 2:


Update 3:


Update 4: (80% of original tempo)


Update 5: (90% of original tempo)

Which Lesson Should I Learn? (poll)

Here is a follow up to this topic.

The idea is that I choose something that is somewhat outside of my comfort zone, and also do a Vlog of my journey. Here are the lessons I am considering, please help me choose!

1 Diego Budicin's Drunk Blues Soloing

2 Chris Shofner's Hot Country Solo

3 Diego Budicin's Funk Fusion Phrasing

I would like to add that I have not sat down to learn anyone else's solo for over 10 years, and I am seriously nervous at this point ?I have not analysed these lessons in depth, I have just checked them so that I like the groove and that the techniques used are somewhat within my range.

I am probably most excited about the prospect of learning "Hot Country Solo" - because I have never played anything like that (as far as I can remember at least ? - @Monica ?). And if I could pull off a fancy country solo of this level I would be insanely proud of myself.

When we have got some votes I will start practicing and then hopefully start Vlogging about my progress. When done I would submit my playing as a REC take for other instructors to grade.

Also, if any other instructor wants to pick this up as well - we could either do a "Instructor Plays Instructor" kinda thing - or learn the same lesson and then compare our versions.