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  1. Originally posted by LikeASong:Stairway's solo was my first dream too!!! In fact, Stairway was the very first song I learned (just the picking, I didn't learn the solo until... months of practice hahaha!! but I learnt it pretty quickly, and soon could sing along while playing!!). The first song I learned to play with chords was You've Got To Hide Your Love Away by The Beatles.

    I understood you perfectly. You're just playing around, starting over, I know. I just wanted to say that you must NOT focus only on playing riffs and solos, because you're SURELY going to get stuck in somewhere. I don't know when or where, but you will; just because there are some things that you cannot play if you haven't a lot of practice hours behind you. You will get stuck, and then you might get desperate. I know the feeling: you're trying to play one of your favorite songs and you simply can't, the guitar is specially tough on that track. You try and you fail, you try and you fail... Infuriating. (it happened to me when I tried to learn Gone!)
    And then, it might be helpful if you start to learn some chords and scales, it's very useful really. Playing chords is easier. You don't even need an electric guitar to make them sound great (think of acoustic and spanish guitars!), and they're much great if you play to other people without electrical amplifying. Chords are easy and funny!
    Alex (the guy who posted below me) is a much more experienced guitar player and he agreed with me

    Playing solos and riffs is great, but you should't focus just on that. That's all, Lyndon


    Stairway was my 1st song too
  2. Originally posted by vanquish:I finally got my amp

    I a bit confused as to how to use it properly though, it has 7 knobs in addition to the 3 on my guitar. Got some mad floor shaking, distortion going though

    Once I get my M13 connected between the amp and guitar, should I use it for distortion or the amp?


    imo id use ur M13 if it has a pre amp function, i just leave amp alone and do everything on the effects pedal, but u might wana use ur amp's "drive' button for those chunky songs.


  3. Actually, one way to tell a good guitar is how chords sound on an unamplified electric. I play my strat without my amp all the time.

    Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

    Yes, that's basically what all the hard rockers do, just play a blues scale really quickly.
    [..]

    Only the crappy ones.



    If you listen closely, Edge almost always plays something live compared to how it sounds on the album. You shouldn't try to hard to emulate how someone else plays. Play to make your own music.

    Originally posted by vanquish:I finally got my amp

    I a bit confused as to how to use it properly though, it has 7 knobs in addition to the 3 on my guitar. Got some mad floor shaking, distortion going though

    Once I get my M13 connected between the amp and guitar, should I use it for distortion or the amp?



    You also need to slow down. You already have better equipment than 95% of guitar players out there, a top notch guitar, an effects rig that most people will wait many years of playing before they can really master it, and lord knows what amp.

    Try to read what the 3 knobs on your guitar do, it's pretty basic. The amplifier is pretty much the same way. Read what each knob does then play your heart out, it doesn't matter if your intonation if off a little, or if you're out of tune a little bit. Just have fun and don't try to hard to copy The Edge. Make your own music.

    And just FYI, if you can't play chords and are around other guitar players, that's not a good thing... Chords are the meat n' potatoes of playing the guitar. Learn chords, variations of chords, and then you will learn Edge stuff much easier.

    *don't forget. 50% of tone comes from your fingers.
  4. Anyone have any experience with the Texas Specials? I'm looking to be able to get a tone like Mayer's and a tone like Edge's with one pickup set (lol). The Texas Specials sound like they have wicked mids, and lows, but i'm always looking for a bit of twang and treble, like the 70's strats.
    Anyone know about the TS's?
  5. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Anyone have any experience with the Texas Specials? I'm looking to be able to get a tone like Mayer's and a tone like Edge's with one pickup set (lol). The Texas Specials sound like they have wicked mids, and lows, but i'm always looking for a bit of twang and treble, like the 70's strats.
    Anyone know about the TS's?


    I've used them. I really like them, and what you want doesn't sound too hard. Believe it or not, for the Mayerish tone, you don't need much but a nice tube amp... will get you pretty close. The pre-amp tubes matter more than the power tubes here as well. TS pickups If you use a..... I kid you not: A Berhinger DC9 Compressor.. using it as a cheap $30 treble booster instead of as the "compressor" it's supposed to be will really help with getting The Edge's shimmery jangley 2-4 potion Strat tones
  6. Originally posted by wyn525i:[..]

    Actually, one way to tell a good guitar is how chords sound on an unamplified electric. I play my strat without my amp all the time.


    Actually they sound good on my guitar, very clear, but nowhere near as full as my brother's acoustic.
    Though my intonation is a bit off apparently, according to the 12th fret test the fretted notes are not exactly identical to the unfretted ones (shipping it from the US to Australia is to blame)

    According to Google, it's pretty easy to correct though if you have a tune-o-matic bridge (which i do). I might do it on the weekend when I have time, the only thing i'm uncertain about is whether to postpone doing it until my strings are broken in. They already seem to be less likely to slip out of tune though.

    If you listen closely, Edge almost always plays something live compared to how it sounds on the album. You shouldn't try to hard to emulate how someone else plays. Play to make your own music.


    I shall, but I also want to play U2 and anyway it's pretty unlikely that i'm going to write anything better than the Edge
    And basically everyone emulates their guitar heroes very few guitarists I know actually try to make their own music, that's a bit advanced

    You also need to slow down. You already have better equipment than 95% of guitar players out there, a top notch guitar, an effects rig that most people will wait many years of playing before they can really master it, and lord knows what amp.


    No way my gear is that good.
    My guitar's only a Chinese made Epiphone, not a proper brand like a Fender, Gibson or Ibanez etc.
    And the M13 is a pretty middle of the road FX unit, its probably better than the Zoom gear, but it's not as good as the Boss units let alone the top shelf stuff like the Fractal Axe-Fx etc.

    Try to read what the 3 knobs on your guitar do, it's pretty basic. The amplifier is pretty much the same way. Read what each knob does then play your heart out, it doesn't matter if your intonation if off a little, or if you're out of tune a little bit. Just have fun and don't try to hard to copy The Edge. Make your own music.


    I figured them out two volume (one for each pickup) and one tone. The amp has reverb and tremolo controls which i'll probably leave turned off. And then it has gain, volume, treble and bass knobs and it'll take me ages to try the diff combinations of them (and my guitar pickups and tone knob) to find the right tone for each song.

    Should I send as clean a tone as possible to the M13? And also have the amp outputting as clean a tone as possible (and let the M13 handle all the tone colouration?)

    And just FYI, if you can't play chords and are around other guitar players, that's not a good thing... Chords are the meat n' potatoes of playing the guitar. Learn chords, variations of chords, and then you will learn Edge stuff much easier.

    I will definitely be learning chords, the first complete song I want to learn is Party Girl and it has chords.
  7. [..]
    I shall, but I also want to play U2 and anyway it's pretty unlikely that i'm going to write anything better than the Edge
    And basically everyone emulates their guitar heroes very few guitarists I know actually try to make their own music, that's a bit advanced
    [..]

    Ahh. I've been playing for about 3 years now, I did try my best to emulate Edge for the longest time, so you're right there. Eventually though, I started getting bored of playing someone elses music. I don't know how tribute guys do it, but I mean, take Edge's advice. I can't remember which article I read where he said this (i think it might've been the 10 ways to play like Edge), but the 10th way, or 1st, or whichever one came last, was DON'T play like Edge. Edge's entire message when it comes to gutiar playing is "go out and re-invent the instrument, don't do what someone else has done, create something new".
    After I read that article, or interview, or whatever, I really took time to think about where I stood as a guitar player. I could play U2, U2, and more U2. I literally pictured myself meeting Edge, and wondered what he'd say when all I could play was his songs. To be honest, he might be impressed by the dedication, but not by my creativity whatsoever. I couldn't play much of anything else. At the time I didn't feel like learning anyone elses music, I was still too interested in U2's, so I decided to start writing my own. It's no easy task, probably everyday i come up with a new melody or riff, or chord progression I think I can write a song of, (not to sound arrogant, but it's not hard) but they rarely become full songs. I've probably been writing my own music for about a year now, and I'm proud of about 10 songs I've written. Writing your own music makes you evolve as a guitar player. It makes you explore new techniques to enhance your writing, and it also lets you be more creative then say, playing only U2. I'm not saying start now, if you want to play U2 play U2, that's what I did, it helped me build my playing and my knowledge of the instrument, and my knowledge of music in general. But eventually, you will probably get bored of doing that. Either move on, or start writing, because you'll never evolve as a player if you only play U2.


  9. repost
  10. repost again, i think my browsers screwed
  11. Not Edge but U2 gear related... Adam MUST have won lotto!! He's had TONS of new gear this tour... after looking at the Brandenburg Gate footage... I can see he's gotten yet MORE.

    Warwick bass guitars are manufactured in Germany. Looks like Adam took delivery of some new toys!

    Check the bass that Adam is playing during Sunday Bloody Sunday. It is gold sparkle, like the Fender Precision and the Fender Jazz bass that he's been using (the Jazz first appearing at the We Are One show in DC before the album came out)... but I digress.

    If you look closely you will see that the bass in the Brandenburg version of Sunday Bloody Sunday, while gold sparkle, is neither the Precision or Jazz. Looks to be similar to the Warwick Streamer - Adam used a dark brown Streamer for live performances of "Electrical Storm" on the Euro leg of the tour.

    Possible it is a different model. Judging from the body style and headstock... that there ain't no Fender Precision or Jazz bass - and looks to be a Warwick of some model... (More information as I find it)



    SBS from Brandenburg Gates-

    YouTube - U2 & Jay-Z Sunday Bloody Sunday Berlin, Brandenburg Gate 2009-11-05

    Also, the Stryker bass used at Brandenburg is different.
    The one used most of the tour has 2 split pickups. Looks like 4 little black rectangles to the non-musician folks.





    The one used at Brandenburg? 1 split pickups.Looks like 2 little black rectangles to the non-musician folks.





  12. No i know man, i'm not trying to tell you what do do or anything I'm just saying, you made it seem like you'll never take a crack at writing, but that's where music becomes really fun and rewarding! Sorry if I seemed like I was telling you off for playing U2 (or others) or something like that, it wasn't what I was trying to do at all.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.