MattCrunk
Joined: Apr 19, 2007
Posts: 92
Town Creek, Alabama
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Posted on Nov 11 2007 12:45 PM
I usually don't plug in when I'm trying out a guitar unless I think it's something I might actually want to buy. I always like to check out how they feel and sound acoustically first (which is sometimes kind of a hard to hear with the next up-n-coming shred king running through all his chops right next to me).
But if I finally do plug in, I'll usually try it clean first, going through some Lenny or Riviera Paradise, maybe some Chet-inspired jazz, or my own version of Setzer's take on Sleepwalk, especially if the axe I'm trying has a decent tremolo.
Dirty, I'll usually just run though a few blues licks that are not particular to any song. Or if I really want to be obnoxious (like when the salesperson pressures me to plug-in before I really want to) I'll crank it up and run through some Panama or Nugent's Stranglehold. That usually shuts 'em up.
I don't play Surf in guitar stores because, one: surf sounds kinda empty when played solo, and two: everyone looks at you really strange.
— Matt Crunk
Decatur, Alabama
Founder: North Alabama Surf Alliance (NASA)
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planish
Joined: Jan 09, 2008
Posts: 473
Sackville, New Brunswick
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Posted on Jan 24 2008 07:19 PM
Another greybeard here.
I'm new to playing surf, but I certainly remember hearing it on the radio the first time it came around. Suffice it to say I don't have much of a surf repertoire yet. In the past two weeks I've been looking in shops for a replacement for my '70s vintage El Degas SG (which isn't actually all that bad, for what it is), looking for a Strat-Shaped Object. I bring along my Line 6 Pocket Pod, headphones and cable when I know I'm going to be auditioning guitars. I can play it cranked up and not get stage fright. It will probably have cost me more than any guitar I end up buying.
First step - use the Pocket Pod's tuning feature, which passes the signal through with no effects or modelling. Play with the knobs and switches to hear any crackles or dropouts from dirty pots and such. Then I go through a number of the effects presets to play a few tunes:
- Pipeline - Find those poorly-finished fret ends right away on the opening glissando.
- A bit of Apache.
- Wicked Game beginning - something quiet.
- a clumsy third-cousin approximation of Clapton's Cream-era Crossroads
- switch in one of the really overdriven, distorted, fuzz setting for Blue Cheer's Out of Focus. That one alone should date me. Not surprisingly, it works better with humbuckers.
- slightly overdriven + compression and reverb for The Beatles' I Feel Fine.
Then I wander a bit further afield.
- a Celtic medly of Mna Na h-Ãireann (a slow air), An Ghé agus Grá Geal (moderate tempo, in 3/4 time), winding up with Old Hag You Have Killed Me (a jig, as performed by The Bothy Band.)
- a speedier and overdriven rendition of King George IV. A strathspey, I think, as played by Cape Breton fiddler Buddy McMaster.
- A bit of fingerpicking with The Maids Of Mitchelstown, a reel as played by The Bothy Band.
— I'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.
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Richard
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 1683
Georgia
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Posted on Jan 24 2008 07:36 PM
Geez, I usually just play a verse of "Happy Birthday To You"...
— The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31
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