Goddamn! I just got done reading every one of the over 500 letters you’ve sent to my “Feedback Sack.” Thanks for all the cool things you’ve said about the column.
Over the past 19 issues, we’ve covered a hell of a lot of techniques, ideas, riffs and licks. Now, because a bunch of your letters included some really good questions, I’m gonna spend the next few columns answering some of them.
The most common one of all was about my gear and how I get my tone, so let’s kick off with that bad boy.
I really dig your column; it’s got megs gonads! How about some advice on getting ripping sound like yours? I’d also like to know exactly what pickups, strings, amps, pedals and rack gear you use. Thanx for all the killer lessons. Walk! – Matt Loene, Syracuse, NY
I’m more than happy to let everybody know exactly what I’ve got going on in my rig, but I’m not gonna tell you how I’ve got it all wired up! The order in which you put your shit definitely makes a big difference, and that’s something you should dick around with for yourself. For example, if you run your wah before all your forms of gain, it’ll sound different than if you place it after a distortion or EQ pedal.
It won’t sound as ferocious or effective. It also makes a big difference if you put certain units in front of your amp instead of in its FX loop and vice-versa.
For example, my bud Kirk Windstein from Crowbar uses basically the exact same rig as I do, but he wires it up in a completely different way, and he’s got an awesome sound that’s way different to mine! So I suggest that you take some time and try to wire up your shit in all the ways you can think of until you get the tone you dig best.
Another thing I recommend you dick with is using different forms of gain. There are very few amps that you can get as distorted as you want by themselves, so you’ve usually got to heat them up a little bit with a pedal of some kind.
Anyway, even if your amp has all the gain you need right out of the box, if you put another form of gain in front of it then you’ll get a completely different type of crunch or distortion. It doesn’t have to be a distortion unit either; anything that can give you more gain cool – like a clean boost or EQ pedal.
I use a little blue MXR 6-band EQ pedal I got from a pawn shop for some of my gain. The cool thing about using a graphic EQ is you can decide what frequencies you want to add crunch to by pushing those particular EQ bands up more. With a distortion or overdrive box though, the overall tone tends to get distorted. That’s why I like to use gain units rather than distortion pedals.
Altogether I run three types of gain before I even hit the amp – a hot pickup (a Bill Lawrence XL500L lead humbucker), my MXR graphic EQ and a Furman PQ-4, which I use for EQ and gain. Because I’ve got all this gain going on, my Rocktron Guitar Silencer is very important to me. I’ve got to have something that’ll shut my shit down or there’s too much hiss and uncontrollable feedback – kinda like my Feedback Sack!
Anyways, in addition to the stuff I’ve already mentioned, here’s what I use: modified Dean ML guitars; Randall Century 200 125-watt solid-state heads; Randall 412JB straight 4×12” cabinets loaded with 80-watt Jaguar speakers, for my dirty sound; and Randall 412CB straight 4×12” cabs loaded with 70-watt Celestion speakers for my clean sounds; DR strings (.009-.046 for regular and drop-D tunings; .009, .011, .016, .028, .038, .050 for guitars tuned down a whole step); an MXR Flanger/Doubler rack unit; two Digitech Whammy pedals – one on stage, one backstage – see next question); and a Vox wah. I also use a Yamaha SPX90, and a Korg G3 for my clean shit.
Just so you know, even if you get all the gear I use and wire it up the same way I do, it won’t be my sound exactly. Having said that, the rig’s there, and it’s definitely doing something! The bottom line is this: try to emulate your favorite player’s sound only as a basis to find your own tone.
The trick is to have a bad-assed tech like Grady Champion and let him work the Whammy pedal
“And don’t be afraid to experiment with different amps, pickups, effects, wirings, axes, etc. Try anything and everything – give it all a chance. Most important, get your rig set up the way you want it to sound. (Editor’s Note: The date of Dime’s answer to the above question was November 1994.)
I thought you used a pedal to get that high squeal during the main riff of Becoming, but when I saw you playing the song live you weren’t stepping on anything. What’s the trick there, bro?! – Ken “Z Man” Zemanek, Chicago, IL
The trick is to have a bad-assed tech like Grady Champion and let him work the Whammy pedal back there for you, so that you can dance and jam to the groove, instead of being strapped to a pedal.
That riff smokes, man, and there’s no way I could just stand still on stage in one place and play it. Grady, if you’re reading this, you @#$in’ rule 88 bud! Jimmy Johnson plus DDS pushing 12 with your name on it. Right back at ya!
I’m completely blown away by your sound and technique, and, like any guitarist, I wish I could do more on the fretboard than I can. Like you, I’m a spazzer who can’t sit down for shit and teach myself scales and things. I just like to jam! Are there any tricks of the trade you know that could give me some new lead ideas? – Wayne “Farm Boy” Farmer, Coppers Cove, TX
One word, Farm Boy – chromatics! I think a lot of people are really intrigued by all those different modes and shit, whereas I’m kinda more inclined to take a lick and then try and move it up or down the neck chromatically, one fret at a time. It’s the simplest thing in the world to do, and it can sound killer!
Try it, man – sit there and burn on a lick like the simple A minor one shown in the first bar of Figure 1. Then, start moving it chromatically up the fretboard, toward the bridge, like in bars 2 and 3.
Although I take this lick up an entire octave (12 frets) here, you don’t have to do that; you can start and stop wherever you like ’cause, for the millionth time in Riffer Madness, there are no rules!
I mean, you could just stop at the 10th fret, like in Figure 2. Moving a lick chromatically down the neck works really well too. Check it out. Figure 3 is just me flipping the previous lick around on its head.
Moving a riff chromatically can also be a good way of adding tension to a song. I do this sometimes, like in the middle of Shedding Skin (Far Beyond Driven), for example.
How did you make the cool-sounding chirping noise that ends your solo in Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks (Far Beyond Driven)? – Tom Gillis, Seattle, WA
What I’m doing there is bending the G note on the high E string’s 15th fret and then tapping the same string at the 22nd fret with the edge of my pick, while gradually releasing the bend. I start off making a straight up and down ‘chopping’ motion with my pick that gets smaller as the ‘chirp’ gets faster.
Then, once I’m ‘chopping’ as fast as I can, I start going back and forth with my pick, kinda like I’m sawing the string. If your pick is beat up a bit and has some small grooves in it, that’ll help too. To make the trill jump out a little more on the album, I overdubbed a harmony part to it.
I think it’s great how you use part of your songs to make points in your column lessons. After listening to This Love (Vulgar Display of Power), I’m curious how you control such wide bends. I tried to figure it out but was unsuccessful. Help! – Jake Kouns, Centerville, VA
To be accurate when you’re doing big-assed bends like the ones in This Love, you’ve gotta use your ears, man – it’s all a matter of pitch and control. Another thing that will help give you more control over your bending is using more than one finger to do the bend.
For example, when I bend a note with my little finger, I help it out with my other three fingers. The guys at Guitar World tell me that the correct term for this is reinforced bend fingering.
Do you use your pinkie a lot? I haven’t been playing long, and whenever I use mine, the tip of it hurts like hell. I’ll work on it though, if you think it’ll make me play better. Thanx, man, lata! – Scott Scholze, Silvedale, LA
I’d definitely advise you to use your pinkie, bro. I use mine all the time! On wide-stretch ideas, you’ve gotta have it there, and it comes in real handy when you’re jamming on a riff on the low E and A strings too. If you don’t use it much, try throwing it in there ’cause you might come up with something cool that you’ve never done before.
I mean, the A minor blues lick in Figure 4 would be pretty tough to play if you don’t use your pinkie. Using your little finger definitely opens up the neck more, so why limit yourself? Don’t be one of those people that goes: ‘Oh, my pinkie’s weak; I ain’t gonna use it.’ It’s there, so why not use the #$%*er?
My all-time favorite Pantera cut is Use My Third Arm (Far Beyond Driven). It totally crushes! I’ve managed to figure out how to play all of it except for one single *#$in’ chord, and it’s driving me crazy! What’s the shape you use during the intro and verse? I’ve tried everything, and nothing sounds right. Please help me before they lock me in a padded cell and throw away the key! – Wayne Stevens, Phoenix, AZ
That’s a real *#$$ed up chord and, to be honest I don’t even know what it’s called. For that song, my guitar is tuned to D standard (low to high: D G C F A D), so everything sounds a whole step lower.
The chord shape you’re talking about is shown here in Figure 5 (below). I guess it’s an inverted Eb power chord with an F, the 2nd, on the low E string, if there is such a chord! Remember, there are no rules! If something sounds good, run with it, bro!
If you have any tips on getting a record deal or anything else to do with making it in the business, I’d be grateful if you shared them. Thank you, from an aspiring guitarist. – Jason Tousignant, Corinth, NY
Two words, man – time and perseverance. That’s what it takes to get anywhere in this business. My bandmates and I were jamming together for eight or nine years before we got signed.
“So hang tough, and give your shit to as many people as you can! The main thing is to have your own style, and that kinda thing doesn’t happen overnight. Hell, it took us nearly eight years to find ourselves and get our Cowboys from Hell identity together. It is possible to get a deal though, I swear – I’m living proof!
I’ve been playing for just over two years now and can wail on pretty fast riffs, like the ones in Cowboys from Hell. But I have trouble nailing some of your slower, simpler-to-play power grooves. I don’t understand this, man! Slow riffs should surely be easier to play than faster ones, right? – Terry Herrington, Sydney, Australia
That’s a good question, bro. Some people think that playing fast takes a whole lot of talent, but I’ll tell ya: playing real slow and being able to keep in the groove while not rushing the beat is the shit too!
My buds in Crowbar jam on some really slow, heavy riffs, and they definitely ain’t as easy to play as they may seem. You gotta pay real close attention to the groove and resist the tendency to rush. Hang loose, hold back and let your ears decide when you should hit the next note, not your fingers!
Could you please explain how you do that cool “cross-handed sliding trick” in the second half of your epic solo in Walk (Vulgar Display of Power)? – Tommy Himes, Angola, IN
A bunch of you have written in, asking about the fake echo technique I use about two-thirds of the way through my Walk solo, so here goes.
It’s real simple, actually: all I’m doing is repeatedly sliding up the G string from the 2nd fret to around the 14th fret, alternating hands. Figure 6 is an A minor lick similar to the one in Walk that incorporates this fake echo technique. Here’s how it goes:
- While you’re doing the bend at the beginning, reach over with your right (pick) hand and “capo” (barre) the G string at the 2nd fret with your middle finger (see PHOTO A), before you do a pull-off with your left (fret) hand.
- As soon as you pull-off your LH, start sliding your RH middle finger up the G string towards the bridge.
- While your RH is sliding, fret the G string at the 2nd fret with your LH index finger.
- When your RH slide gets to around the 14th fret, pull-off your RH finger off the string and then start sliding your LH finger up the neck.
- While your LH is sliding, fret the G string at the 2nd fret with your RH middle finger.
- Pull-off your LH finger when it reaches around the 14th fret and start sliding your RH finger up the G string.
- While your RH is sliding, fret the G string at the 2nd fret with your LH index finger.
- When your RH slide gets to around the 14th fret, pull-off your RH finger off the string and start sliding your LH finger up the neck.
- Stop your LH slide at the 14th fret and add some vibrato.
Got it? If you don’t, check out the Walk video ’cause there’s a close-up of me doing it during the solo. And remember, there are no rules, so dick with shit, experiment and let’s get it out here. Lata!
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