Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Kempee Jun 13 2007, 01:46 PM

do i need to practice with distortion? i practice scales, slurs, and alternate picking. i never use distortion i prefer a clean sound. can i learn from practicing with distortion?

Posted by: Guitarman700 Jun 13 2007, 02:25 PM

you can if you want BUT, in my opinion distortion covers up some of your mistakes so you wont realize them. if you like clean, go for it!

Posted by: Pavel Jun 13 2007, 03:21 PM

Practicing CLEAN is good BUT it's also BAD because than you don't have to mute the strings. Later when you turn your distortion on you have problems with overall noise because you didn't practice muting which is very important for playing.

For example practicing sweeps is best with distortion cranked up all the way because than you'll learn how to properly mute the strings.

So the best would be to combine both!


P.S. playing with distortion doesn't cover mistakes unless you are stone deaf and can't hear them. Same goes for delay. People say DELAY covers the mistakes. Hell it does! It only doubles or triples them!!!

Posted by: Wallimann Jun 13 2007, 03:30 PM

I agree here.
I recomment practicing in clean, and distortion.
Both sounds require a different technique and it's important to be comfortable in both situations...

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 13 2007, 03:58 PM

I definetely agree with Pavel and Walliman.

Posted by: fkalich Jun 13 2007, 06:13 PM

agree up to the p.s. that is an over generalization, for example, if one considers not being able to play a melody with sustained notes smoothly a mistake, as a good violinist would, it covers that type of mistake. that is just one example, there are others. same thing with distortion, there are aspects of playing that i would define as a mistake that it will cover up. i define mistake more broadly, more in terms of "something is wrong here", even when it may be hard to put one's finger on exactly what it is that is wrong. some styles of guitar music just need distortion as an essential ingredient. but for other things, if you can't play it clean and sound good, something is wrong.

edit: typo's

Posted by: Pavel Jun 13 2007, 06:15 PM

That's why i said - practice both!

Posted by: JVM Jun 13 2007, 07:54 PM

I think basically, as a general rule, if you want to do it, practice it. Therefore, you wanna play with distortion? Practice it And of course even if you don't want to do it there's other things you should practice. So yeah, what they said pretty much.

Posted by: FretDancer69 Jun 13 2007, 08:26 PM

i never practice with clean sohnd , unless i dont have my guitar plugged.

Posted by: JCJXXL Jun 13 2007, 08:56 PM

I agree with Gabriel

Posted by: Marraboy Jun 13 2007, 09:25 PM

I practice almost exclusively with no amp. This is basically because I have a three year old son in bed!!!

I find when I play with the amp on - full tilt giving it big style distortion p*ss the neighbours off - I sometimes get open strings that haven't been muted in the background, it isn't a maor problem for me as it isn't all the time but when it happens it sounds awfull so I would use the distortion a lot more if I could.

This seems to be more of a problem when playing slower - when playing faster I don't seem to get dodgy string noises!!!

Most of my practice is without an amp so it is hard for me!

JT

Posted by: FretDancer69 Jun 13 2007, 10:01 PM

yea i cant practice with amp sometimes cuz of the neighbours!!! . But thats why i got some headphones. Marraboy you should consider getting some if u wanna practice with amp without bothering other people.

Posted by: Marraboy Jun 13 2007, 10:05 PM

Hehe

You know I never even thought of that! duh! how stooooooopid of me! I might just buy some - that's a great idea dude!

How did I not think of that?

Thanks

JT

Man I am stupid!

Posted by: FretDancer69 Jun 13 2007, 10:16 PM

im glad i helped , sometimes i stay past midnight for hours practicing with my headphones! and nobody listens but me!. Have fun practicing!