Originally posted by: SirChadwick
I just now caught this thread and wow... you've done some great stuff!
I'm picking up on acoustic right now just to see how well I can do, but I'd really like to record my own songs in the not-so-distant future.
What type of programs and equipment do you use to mix all of this? I'm pretty lost there.
Any advice would be appreciated - links too.
Keep on rockin! It's inspiring! Thanks dude.
😎 Thanks!
Here's a few invaluable online resources to help with guitar and recording;
Home recording bbs is an excellent site with a great forum for home recording with members like NL5 who actually know what they're doing
😉 very helpfull and informative.
Home Recording
Ultimate guitar has a great forum with active membership. Great for critique and contests with fellow guitarists, gear discussion. Good resources with reviews, tabs and even video tutorials.
Ultimate Guitar
GuitarBT is a nice source of backing tracks. Backing tracks provide you with a band to jam with and you can import them into your recording software and mix your own tracks together with. I used some in my songs in this thread (I've noted them in the performance notes in the OP)
GuitarBT
For my gear;
Guitars;
Electric: Schecter 006 Deluxe
Acoustic: Ovation 1861 Standard Balladeer
Bass: Fernandes Tremor
Amps;
Johnson JT50 Mirage w/J8 Foot controller
Fender 1976 Silverface Champ
Interface; (you need an interface to record your gear into a PC)
Mackie Onyx Satellite w/
Sennnheiser e609 cab microphone
Johnson J-Station
Software;
Cakewalk Sonar6
EZdrummer
My guitars are cheap ~ $1000 for the 3, my amps are cheap ~ $150 for the Johnson, the Champ I've had for decades, but its really still in "project" status, I've not used it in any of the recordings.
I just picked up the Mackie firewire interface <$300 with the Microphone, the J-Station is a modeling interface which provides amp/cabinet models and effects. Currently, I use the JT50 modeling amp with the Mackie interface to record my electric guitar and my Bass direct into the Mackie. My acoustic has onboard electronics, so it goes direct-in to the Mackie, or mic'd into the Mackie. The acoustic on the recordings so far have been direct-in, but I'll be mic'ing it as well now with my new interface. (The Mackie provides the mic preamps you'll need, my previous modeling interface had no preamps, so I used no mics at all)
The software was a couple of upgrades from the original Cakewalk Guitar tracks which I got bundled with my modeler a few years ago. Its something ~ $500 all together, the drum software with the DKFH add-on ~ $170.
So my complete setup is ~ $2200 with a few patch cords thrown in. I have a few misc items like a
Glass slide (I prefer a heavy glass slide to a metal slide. I wear it on my right hand ring finger) and a
Capo. The capo is to change the open string key higher.
I generally use a standard E tuning or dropped down to Eb, and I also use a Dropped D tuning quite a lot (Low E string tuned down to D)
Originally, I had some formal instruction which I recommend, but certainly not required with todays access to the web. It's really important to develop a practice regimine however. You'll need to build finger strength and learn the fretboard. I can't really read music, but I can read Tabulature and Chord charts. As long as you can read those, you can take advantage of the vast majority of available music for the guitar.
Try to start with simple songs that use simple major chords in the open position like A, C, D and G and practice the major scales associated with them up and down the neck. There are a suprising number of songs using 3 simple chords. Start out by getting a good simple strum pattern down and then eventually work your way up to more complex strums and then on to finger picking techniques.
Play along with a backing track. You can use an mp3 backing track of a song you like on your PC. Find the tabulature to that song so you know what notes to use, and play along to get the speed and proper rhythm down. Start with simple songs and work your way to more difficult songs.
For recording, many times a decent software will be bundled with the interface you buy. I use Sonar because its what I'm used to. There a freely available softwares (sorry, no advice there) but Guitar tracks pro is ~ $50, and comes bundled with some hardwares, The Mackie came with Traction (haven't used it)
There is quite a learning curve involved. The software needs to have MIDI editing support so you can add drums (and Bass) if you don't have a kit to record. Drum and Bass programming can be pretty daunting, but importing backing tracks whch already include drums and Bass allows you to skip that right away
😉 . Using backing tracks will allow you to mix your tracks into an already almost complete song, which makes for an easy start.
Having fun is important in order to improve, Its basically scaling plateau after plateau. Something will click...you'll get stoked...you'll get hung up...something will click....on and on. The more you play...the better you get. Its also very important to play through mistakes and not try to get hung up on perfection..you'll be your own toughest critic, but also your biggest fan.
I seriously cringe quite alot when I listen to my posted tunes 😀 I hear all my mistakes, but I have the "required" thick skin and just move on to the next project.
Remember also that no matter how long you play or practice, no matter how good you get, some smartass kid who just picked the instrument up last year will humiliate you with their superior shredding....don't sweat it
😉
Any Q's...ask away:thumbsup:
