How DO they do that?

[Wilcology]

If I'm making a lot of "noise" with my guitar in hand then I usually turn my disortion gain all the way up, add a lot of reverb, use wah, and just be really spasmodic with the way I play.

 

I know that Jeff and Nels use a lot of effects for their guitars including multiple volume pedals which is something I really want to try.

[Theobscureart]

I strongly agree with whomever recomended getting sounds out of the guitar itself before going to boxes and knobs. Don't get me wrong- those things are cool as hell, but you can get a TON of sounds with your guitar and a few other fun things. Check out what nels does with electric toothbrushes and the like. Check out this book: Guitar FX Cookbook. It even comes with a companion CD. It's pretty elementary in its explanations but its a very good starting point. It contains tips and tricks for getting all kinds of musical and non-musical sounds out of your guitar with and without stompboxes. One of my personal favorites envolves placing 2 heavy picks between the strings and bridge saddles to effectively deaden the attack slightly. You may have to play with the placement to get it to sound just right, but it sounds like a Japanese instrument called a Koto (you'll recognize the sound when you hear it.) and its almost reminiscent of steel drums. I think this technique has been on every recording I've made since I discovered it 5 years ago. There are a million of 'em, so experiment! Just my 1.5 cents.

[BigWheeledWagon]

Musician's friend sells one that like $60, Artisan or something, Ive got it.....works fine

 

I have one as well, but have been less than happy with it. I mean, for the money, it's not bad, but the tone quality is not great.

[jhc]

I have one as well, but have been less than happy with it. I mean, for the money, it's not bad, but the tone quality is not great.

 

The problem is the next step up seems to be several hundred dollars - a bit much unless you're really serious about it.

 

I find that with a crapload of reverb into a decent tube amp (realizing that most steel players these days use high powered solid state amps but I prefer tube) I think it sounds pretty decent. It's my playing that I'm less than happy about.

 

One recommendation I got (actually he's on VC) is to use a heavy bullet bar for better tone.

[BigWheeledWagon]

The problem is the next step up seems to be several hundred dollars - a bit much unless you're really serious about it.

 

I find that with a crapload of reverb into a decent tube amp (realizing that most steel players these days use high powered solid state amps but I prefer tube) I think it sounds pretty decent. It's my playing that I'm less than happy about.

 

One recommendation I got (actually he's on VC) is to use a heavy bullet bar for better tone.

 

Yeah, I've been using a heavy bullet bar, and I run the guitar through a tube amp and reverb it up pretty good -- it still sounds, I don't know, thin maybe? Like you, I suspect my playing may be what I'm less than happy about. You know, I can play almost any stringed instrument pretty well (guitar, bass, mandolin, even banjo) but when you introduce a slide/steel bar into the mix (or a bow -- forget about it) things get messy for me.

[a.miller]

I agree with the slide playing probems mentioned in previous posts. I doesn't look that hard, but boy is it. If I could get over the learing curve of slide, it seems like a lot of doors would be opened.

[ZeroCharlie]

Now that I think of it, I was playing with a friend of mine and he made a call on his cell phone and held it up to his pickups. Sounded pretty Sweet. Just saying if you forget the remote, most people have a cell phone on them. No guarantees, I just saw it once and thought I'd mention it. Good luck! (goes off to try it)

[Ghost of Electricity]

For an nterview with Jim O'Rourke talking about some of the strange YHF sounds click here

[Ghost of Electricity]

also check out IATTBYH- i seem to remember a bit with Jay taking an electric screwdriver or egg beater or milk foamer to the guitar strings at one point.

[mfwahl]

also check out IATTBYH- i seem to remember a bit with Jay taking an electric screwdriver or egg beater or milk foamer to the guitar strings at one point.

I grifted that for a song I did. I tuned the bottom string of an acoustic to F (the key of the song) and held an electric razor up to it at the right spot to so that it would continually buzz.

 

A lot of things will make good sounds if you put a little effect on it and combine them. When my band was working on an album, I had some time alone with all of the equipment and added effects to some of the songs. My best one was when I tried to imitate the sound of an airplane taking off. I didn't use a sample because I wanted it to sound organic and I didn't want it to sound exactly like an airplane.

 

First I took a lap steel and plugged it through every overdrive and distortion I could find, then into this little gritty amp that had a real dirty sound when you turned the gain all the way up. I put it on the floor, and when I turned the amp on it was literally shaking and kind of bouncing, it was just on the verge of some really bad feedback. I recorded the sound of taking a slide and running it slowly from the bottom of the neck all the way to the top. This gave a loud slowly rising pitch.

 

For a rumbling sound a took a little cheap practice amp with spring reverb, and turned the reverb all the way up. I aimed a mic at the floor and threw the amp to the ground to get this loud rumbling sound.

 

Next a took the electric razor again and rubbed it against an empty bottle of Labatt Blue. It made this fast clicking noise. I ran that through a phaser.

 

The final piece was an acoustice guitar. The part in the song this was in was over a D7 chord so I tuned the guitar to an open D7 and gave it one loud strum. I processed this by having it play back backwards.

 

If I can find a recording of this I'll post it. It's one of my finer moments.

[Ghost of Electricity]

A lot of things will make good sounds if you put a little effect on it and combine them. When my band was working on an album, I had some time alone with all of the equipment and added effects to some of the songs. My best one was when I tried to imitate the sound of an airplane taking off. I didn't use a sample because I wanted it to sound organic and I didn't want it to sound exactly like an airplane.

 

First I took a lap steel and plugged it through every overdrive and distortion I could find, then into this little gritty amp that had a real dirty sound when you turned the gain all the way up. I put it on the floor, and when I turned the amp on it was literally shaking and kind of bouncing, it was just on the verge of some really bad feedback. I recorded the sound of taking a slide and running it slowly from the bottom of the neck all the way to the top. This gave a loud slowly rising pitch.

 

For a rumbling sound a took a little cheap practice amp with spring reverb, and turned the reverb all the way up. I aimed a mic at the floor and threw the amp to the ground to get this loud rumbling sound.

 

Next a took the electric razor again and rubbed it against an empty bottle of Labatt Blue. It made this fast clicking noise. I ran that through a phaser.

 

The final piece was an acoustice guitar. The part in the song this was in was over a D7 chord so I tuned the guitar to an open D7 and gave it one loud strum. I processed this by having it play back backwards.

 

Atta boy, mfwahl! I think you've got it about right- not imitating but mucking about and finding your own way. I'd love to hear a clip of that.

[a.miller]

If I can find a recording of this I'll post it. It's one of my finer moments.

Oh man, would I love to hear that. Those moments are so special.

 

I sometimes feel like odd sounds are the most absolutely perfect representations of emotions. I really feel this way about chaos and ambient noise. This is a lot of my draw to Wilco -- fairly simple songs with all sorts of crazy stuff occurring in the background (YHF). Kind of like a representation of leading a normal life with some odd thoughts going on in your head, if that makes sense.

[MattZ]

If I can find a recording of this I'll post it. It's one of my finer moments.

 

Kin A! post it.

[Golden Smoghead]

Hahaha. I have that exact same Artisan console lap steel mention above. It's a motherfucker to tune, but I think it sounds pretty great with the right mix of reverb, compression, etc. It's still $60 nowadays, too. Usually stays in tune for a few hours, don't get me wrong, but I'm really thinking about swapping out the tuners so I don't have to waste 20 minutes tuning every time I sit down to play.

[mfwahl]

I was able to track down that song down but it's the master wav (all 12 songs on one file). I'll have to cut it up but I'll post it soon.

[Moss]

Hahaha. I have that exact same Artisan console lap steel mention above. It's a motherfucker to tune, but I think it sounds pretty great with the right mix of reverb, compression, etc. It's still $60 nowadays, too. Usually stays in tune for a few hours, don't get me wrong, but I'm really thinking about swapping out the tuners so I don't have to waste 20 minutes tuning every time I sit down to play.

 

That was my main concern about it. I can't stand an out of tune guitar so that would drive me nuts. Cheap guitars are just tough to deal with. Not only staying in tune but the intonation is usually so bad. Still tempted though, $60 dollars is cheap!

 

I have a G&L Rampage with the Kahler locking tremolo and can't keep it in tune. I think I need a mechanical engineer degree to figure out how to set it up.