Explain compressors

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

I am trying pull off's but like you said it is not going to happen overnight. So instead of not playing the song at all, I am by passing pull off's for now as there are lot of other things I have to improve.

Moreover, I am not taking lessons from anyone. All these classes are a major rip off. They are asking $300 for 4 lessons in a month. They dont teach any fundamentals. They ask you to blindly learn some open chords. Just ridiculous. I said hell with them. I read many free web sites on music theory and built a good foundation on theory. I took the $20/month online class at guitartricks.com but didnt like it as they focus too much on playing open chords. I hate open chords. I like solo. But learning solo on my own is difficult. dont know where to start as pretty much everything free online starts with the chords. Hate the chords. Just cant play them without incorrectly muting the strings. also cant contort my fingers enough to play the damn G chord. Plus the annoying sympathetic vibrations. So I decided to mute all open strings and play something else.

There are web sites like justin guitar. Again chords chords chords, which I hate. I am now playing foreign classical music which does not involve chords at all. I only play the B , G and D strings as I can cover all notes/scales on those. But there is a lot of sliding involved and hence the need for longer sustain.

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

For example see how justin guitar teaches minor pentatonic scale blindly without teaching the fundamentals. Either the person who learns the A Minor Pentatonic scale from that site should already have some theory background or just play it blindly. If a person aleady has theory background, he/she already knows that scale. So anyone who goes there to learn that scale is doing it blindly. No thanks.

At least guitartricks.com teaches the fundamentals and I did learn some fundamentals there. But they teach it backwards. In guitar fundamentals I they blindly teach chords and in guitar fundamentals II they teach some theory. It should be the other way.

[Gtrjunior]

Explain compressors

So....somebody who can’t do pull offs or play open chords or mute strings suddenly knows music theory and has a better teaching system than everyone else that is actually teaching?
Can you even see how ridiculous you sound?
A guitar solo usually lasts about 15-20 seconds of a song. The rest of the time guess what you’ll be playing....yup!!! CHORDS

[Lovegun]

Re: Explain compressors

. In fact I have put a foam piece near the nut under all 6 strings to eliminate sympathetic vibrations. So I cant play open chords on my guitar anyway. Basically all 6 open strings are muted to eliminate sympathetic vibrations. I know you will say palm and finger muting. Well not there yet. I may never get there as I am not 11 now! So foam to my rescue..

Let me see if I got this right. You put a piece of foam on the fretboard near the nut to stop symphathetic vibrations? One is supposed to put it between the nut and the tuners. No gear will help if you put the foam on the fretboard. It kills the sustain of the strings.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Explain compressors

Let me see if I got this right. You put a piece of foam on the fretboard near the nut to stop symphathetic vibrations? One is supposed to put it between the nut and the tuners. No gear will help if you put the foam on the fretboard. It kills the sustain of the strings.

This guy just doesn’t get it.
He won’t put the actual work into learning how to properly play the instrument so he’s looking for other ways to “fix” his deficiencies.
There’s no helping somebody like this.

[Lovegun]

Re: Explain compressors

This guy just doesn’t get it.
He won’t put the actual work into learning how to properly play the instrument so he’s looking for other ways to “fix” his deficiencies.
There’s no helping somebody like this.

Propably not. But anyway great info from others explaining the compressor.

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

Let me see if I got this right. You put a piece of foam on the fretboard near the nut to stop symphathetic vibrations? One is supposed to put it between the nut and the tuners. No gear will help if you put the foam on the fretboard. It kills the sustain of the strings.

Exactly. It kills the sustain but only the sustain of an open string. For example if you play the G note on the B string, the open G will ring. This is the annoying sympethetic vibration. If the open G is muted by putting the foam under the string at the first fret all the way close to the nut then it kills this unwanted vibration. I can put it at the second or third fret also as I dont play down to second fret. Most of my playing is between the 5th and 15 th fret on B,D,G strings. But I put the foam under all 6 strings as any of the open string can vibrate when the corresponding note is played on a fretted string.

An expert will use palm/finger muting. I am not there yet. Of course now you cant play an open chord. Like I said I dont play open chords. So I care less if an open string is muted. I can still tune by fretting the 12th fret if the intonation is good. If you want to have a perfect tuning, just remove the foam, tune, fix intonation again if you want and put the foam back.

You can put a piece of foam or toilet paper. Does not matter. Something to mute the open strings. You can still play the 1st fret as the foam is close to the nut and the first fret is long enough to do this. I still can play all frets. Just that the open strings are muted. Many pros also use this so called cheating. A photo would eliminate all this back and forth typing. Will post an image later.

Guys my goal is not to become a pro guitar player and make a living playing guitar. I am playing guitar as a hobby. So I just want to be able to play and it doesnt matter if I am taking a short cut. I am not going to wait for 20-30 yrs to perfect all the techniques and play it the right way. I will be dead by then. LOL

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Explain compressors

Just so you know....just about everyone here does this as a hobby.

And if you aren’t willing to do it the right way, then why bother?
Maybe you should find another hobby that you actually want to put 100% into.

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

So....somebody who can’t do pull offs or play open chords or mute strings suddenly knows music theory and has a better teaching system than everyone else that is actually teaching?
Can you even see how ridiculous you sound?
A guitar solo usually lasts about 15-20 seconds of a song. The rest of the time guess what you’ll be playing....yup!!! CHORDS

Guitar is not limited to western music. I did not say I want to play western rock solo. There are many forms of music that involve playing just linearly on strings without chords of any kind and they are also termed "solo". I dont like open chords. I didnt say I hate power chords. The kind of solo I am playing does not reuire chords of any kind.

A pentatonic scale is not used only for playing rock or blues. It is the same scale that is used for foreign music also but it is played linearly on just 2 strings or at the most 3 strings instead of a grid pattern.

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

Just so you know....just about everyone here does this as a hobby.

And if you aren’t willing to do it the right way, then why bother?
Maybe you should find another hobby that you actually want to put 100% into.

I dont think there is anything like a right way or wrong way to play a long note. You want to keep the sustain longer using pull off's where as I want to keep it longer using a compressor. Thats all. I am taking the easy way and I can still enjoy the hobby. I dont have to do a hobby your way to enjoy it.

You can cut the grass using a manual mower or a walk behind mower. You still get the grass cut. I spend less energy in cutting when I use a wall behind mower. I still enjoy being outside. I dont have to cut the grass your way to enjoy being outside or to maintain my lawn.

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

Just so you know....just about everyone here does this as a hobby.

And if you aren’t willing to do it the right way, then why bother?
Maybe you should find another hobby that you actually want to put 100% into.

I dont think there is anything like a right way or wrong way to play a long note. You want to keep the sustain longer using pull off's where as I want to keep it longer using a compressor. Thats all. I am taking the easy way and I can still enjoy the hobby. I dont have to do a hobby your way to enjoy it.

You can cut the grass using a manual mower or a walk behind mower. You still get the grass cut. I spend less energy in cutting when I use a wall behind mower. I still enjoy being outside. I dont have to cut the grass your way to enjoy being outside or to maintain my lawn.

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

Another example. Consider the C minor scale. For rock or blues it is played like a grid pattern and this pattern is shifted across the neck. The same C minor scale is used to play songs in foreign music. They dont use the grid pattern. The notes in the C minor scale are played linearly on 2 strings or even on just 1 string but with a lof of sliding to connect the notes to embellish the sound. They need not be played in the same order as you dont have to play the grid style always in the same order. Just the notes are selected from that scale and several combinations of them form a phrase and they are always played linearly. Often a single strike covers as many as 12 notes i.e a long slide. I cant do this with pull off's yet and I dont want to wait for 20 yrs to do it. So I just use a compressor to increase the sustain. I dont really care if you think it is a wrong way to play a long note. David Gilmour didnt say that using a compressor to increase sustain is forbidden. Did he?

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

These are the foams I used. They can be squished flat, then slide it under the string and soon they will expand.
The 3 high strings are Elixir plains and the 3 low strings are D'Addario flat wounds. They are not rusted. They look like that due to the lighting.

I could learn to master palm/finger muting and play the right way after 20 yrs. I chose to go this way as I want to start playing something.

Like I said before, it doesn't matter what solution I find for my problem. As long it works for me, I am happy. Yes the open strings are muted now. Like I said before, I hate open chords. This does not prevent me from playing a fretted note on the guitar. Putting the foam anywhere behind the nut will not mute the open string as much as I want to prevent sympathetic vibrations. You can put the foam where ever you want if it solves your problem. This solves my problem.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Hearos/Ultimate-Softness-Series-Ear-Plugs-14-Pair-Free-Case.gc

[mupi]

Re: Explain compressors

This is where I got the idea from. He used a sock and I used a piece of foam. You could also use a rubber band and that may act like a capo. As long as you don't have to play any open string for the song you are playing, this is fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBz2y6DduTk

"In this guitar lesson quick tip I'll show you a pretty strange technique for muting unwanted string noise... using your sock!! No joke - it works and is really effective"

[Chistopher]

Re: Explain compressors

Wow, this is one of the biggest thread hijacks I've ever seen.