GMC Forum [Powered by Invision Power Board]

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 18 2011, 02:11 PM

In the spirit of new lesson posted - " http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Pink-Floyd-Influences/ " , I was wondering how you guitar players approach this topic :

As a bass player playing finger style, I like to control my tone by moving the picking hand position and attacking strings anywhere between bridge and neck.
It makes a huge impact on the sound.

How do you guitarists do it and utilize it in your playing? Where do you concentrate picking and for what type of sound?

Posted by: Ben Higgins May 18 2011, 04:56 PM

For heavy palm muting, I'll do it closer to the bridge.. too far towards the neck and it can sound woolly. For playing clean chords or semi distorted chords, I'll move around a bit.. close to the neck gives that nice, rounded tone.. and the bridge end gives you that twangy tone, perfect for when you play chords like the one at the beginning of this http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Whammy-Bar-Phrasing-II/

Posted by: thefireball May 18 2011, 05:33 PM

I always stay dead in the center for some reason.

Posted by: casinostrat May 18 2011, 06:54 PM

Depends on what I'm playing. Like Ben said, for palm muting I play much closer to the bridge, otherwise it just doesn't sound quite right. For chord melody or strumming chords I tend to stay in the middle. Which guitar I'm playing also seems to effect this. When playing the Strat I tend to play a little closer to the bridge to be near the whammy bar when I need it, whereas when playing the Les Paul I stay more to the middle.

Posted by: Sean_1234 May 18 2011, 07:07 PM

QUOTE (casinostrat @ May 18 2011, 07:54 PM)

Depends on what I'm playing. Like Ben said, for palm muting I play much closer to the bridge, otherwise it just doesn't sound quite right. For chord melody or strumming chords I tend to stay in the middle. Which guitar I'm playing also seems to effect this. When playing the Strat I tend to play a little closer to the bridge to be near the whammy bar when I need it, whereas when playing the Les Paul I stay more to the middle.

Some guitars are also more orientated to the bridge in the way they 'fit' themselves on your lap or hanging at your strap. With a Les Paul (e.g.) I often pick somewhere in the middle, but an SG or Firebird , I play much more towards the bridge. My hand's still at the same place, but these guitars have are located differently

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu May 18 2011, 07:20 PM

I like picking more toward the bridge when playing riffs because I feel the strings more tensioned and thus i feel like hitting them a bit harder otherwise, it really depends on the context - for instance when playing some percussive parts in solos I also tend to pick somewhere nearer to the bridge.

Otherwise, I like to control more delicate phrases with my fingers and my right hand nails - it gives me a lot more dynamic range than just the pick.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 18 2011, 08:33 PM

For bassier but more floppy tone, concentrating on the area towards neck pickup
For tighter, but more thin tone, concentrating towards bridge.

Printable Version of Topic

Click here to view this topic in its original format