Tell Me About Pointy Guitars

[cooljuk]

It seems ...so ....wrong.



...yet so awesome!

[Skintaster]

Originally Posted by cooljuk

It seems ...so ....wrong.



...yet so awesome!

Nice!

[River]

Originally Posted by cooljuk

It seems ...so ....wrong.

...yet so awesome!

Awesome, perhaps.

Still wrong.

[cooljuk]

Originally Posted by River

Awesome, perhaps.

Still wrong.

Yep. Three things that should never intersect - Tele, Floyd, MIDI

Somewhere, a wormhole has opened.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by River

Valid points, Thumper.

The only Tele I've ever played (mine) has a 10-12 compound board.

Yeah, for my money, give me a 12" radius at the 12th fret and I'll fly. I don't often play fast, but a guitar like that will have me digging up my tapping licks.

I'm still learning the definition of "shredding", which apparently doesn't really exist. What I thought I understood it to be was not reliant on gain. But some shredding I've heard certainly was.

So, as always, vocabulary is important.

A fair point. In the context of this thread, though, referencing Vernon Reid (who, by the way, Roberteaux, is a huuuuuge influence and dear favorite of mine -- thanks for the thread!), high gain/rock chops/whammy-bar-era shred seemed to be, ahem, the point. Guys like Al DiMeola, Paco De Lucia, or even Wes Montgomery can certainly throw down, too. But they didn't play pointy guitars painted Day-Glo colors. They can't be shred.

[captain tightpants]

I like me some pointies.

[your idol]

i love the pointies...but not the typical pointy music

some of my faves

Page Hamilton's Magenta Horizon




J.Yuenger's Iceman



Stephen Carpenter's ESP Horizon





i love all of these guitars and would kill for em. great machines. im a big fan of ESPs

[MineGoesTo11]

Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus

referencing Vernon Reid [COLOR="Green"](who, by the way, Roberteaux, is a huuuuuge influence and dear favorite of mine -- thanks for the thread!)...

Funny, I was just thinking about Cult of Personality this morning..

..what a great song.. a weird riff, I tried to master once and didn't quite.. and a great hook.

[Malikon]

Originally Posted by River

I'm still learning the definition of "shredding", which apparently doesn't really exist. What I thought I understood it to be was not reliant on gain. But some shredding I've heard certainly was.

So, as always, vocabulary is important.

To be fair it seems to mean different things to different people. To me shred just means someone that can play quickly and accurately. This encompasses everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Yngwie to Al De Meola and Paco de Lucia. Those 4 couldn't be more different, but in my mind all of them could 'shred' on a guitar.

Others would disagree.

Originally Posted by cooljuk

Yep. Three things that should never intersect - Tele, Floyd, MIDI

Somewhere, a wormhole has opened.

[MineGoesTo11]

I've always liked Ibanez RG type guitars for metal on paper, but those wizard necks are waaaayyy too thin for me to play on.

[Roberteaux]

Lots of really wild pics in this thread... many of these instruments, I have never even seen before!

Didn't even know the names of most of 'em... I've been looking stuff up about most of them since the first few replies to this thread... really cool!

--R

@Thump-- yeah, I was listening to Mr. Reid all morning... really, really wild licks... just a totally crazy, very unique playing style. I can see where he would be inspirational! Incredibly flamboyant player, to say the least!

[benjammin420]

Reid has been touring with Jack Bruce for the past while, I missed their show last year in Seattle due to my passport being MIA, but I bet they put on a killer show together

[Hairless_Ape]

Originally Posted by MineGoesTo11

Ya bastard,, do you think I could find a natural burst SG when I bought mine? I don't know why it's not a regularly available finish.. I think it looks great.

If it makes you feel any better, it's actually VSB. You can see it better from this angle.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by MineGoesTo11

Funny, I was just thinking about Cult of Personality this morning..

..what a great song.. a weird riff, I tried to master once and didn't quite.. and a great hook.

His second solo in that song is one of my all-time favorites. It's one of the few uses of a Floyd that simply blows me away.

Originally Posted by Malikon

To be fair it seems to mean different things to different people. To me shred just means someone that can play quickly and accurately. This encompasses everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Yngwie to Al De Meola and Paco de Lucia. Those 4 couldn't be more different, but in my mind all of them could 'shred' on a guitar.

Others would disagree.

I see it as both an approach, as you get at in the quote above, and also as a genre.

As an approach, I'm cool with it: "Listen, I'm gonna play my ass off. You can like it, or check out." Guys who play beyond themselves just amaze me.

As a genre, I really dislike it: "Hey, guys, play this same rhythm for 48 bars so I can play my ass off. No, you can't add anything to it -- play each rep exactly the same." I want to hear everyone in the band getting their rocks off ... not just the guitar player.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by Roberteaux

@Thump-- yeah, I was listening to Mr. Reid all morning... really, really wild licks... just a totally crazy, very unique playing style. I can see where he would be inspirational! Incredibly flamboyant player, to say the least!

Being, myself, a fan of both jazz and Asian music as well as heavy rock, I love how I can find satisfaction for all those tastes in his playing. I had the idea in the 80s to fuse heavy metal and jazz -- that was one reason I took jazz lessons -- and when Vivid came out, it made perfect sense to me.

There was a lot of nonsense questioning his ability to play back then, simply because people did not know what to make of his style. But his playing has always resonated with me, enough so that it certainly informed my approach to the instrument.

[Malikon]

Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus

As a genre, I really dislike it: "Hey, guys, play this same rhythm for 48 bars so I can play my ass off. No, you can't add anything to it -- play each rep exactly the same." I want to hear everyone in the band getting their rocks off ... not just the guitar player.

That stuff makes me want to punch myself in the balls.

It hurts less.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by Malikon

That stuff makes me want to punch myself in the balls.

It hurts less.

It always made me think of those Doug Marks Metal Method® lessons with the backing tapes. I had friends who'd use those, or Guitar Grimoire tapes, who just couldn't solo unless the rhythm was a straight four-on-the-floor. They couldn't swing, they couldn't shuffle, and they definitely couldn't even fake the funk ... much less throw down the real deal.

They could only chug.

[Malikon]

It's funny you say that. I had a guy once tell me my timing was off (in a club after a gig, at the bar) and my drummer was like, "because he knows how to lay back or push the groove m*****f*****!"

It was sorta awesome.

The guy I'm playing with now tells me I think and play like a drummer, I just do it on guitar.

We've been working on a polyrhythm song where my index and middle finger are doing a 3/4 chug while the other 2 fingers are doing a 4/4 held note melody. It's sick.

Rhythm is where it's at.

Perfect playing leaves me a bit flat. I like a bit of rushing or dragging, a little bit of slop has soul. It's why a lot of modern music which is absolutely perfect to the tiniest fraction of a bit,...sounds just flat to me. Like it wasn't even done by people.

Give me Page or Iommi swinging and drifting through a riff any day.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Yep, it seems like the only way a lot of players think of tension and release is in terms of tonality, but tugging the rhythm is much more immediate. This is why I pay so much attention to the drummer in my bands. Even when I'm soloing, I want to place my notes on the right part of the beat to make the mood I want to get.

I haven't even tried two rhythms at one time, though. Sounds horrifically difficult.

[Malikon]

try clapping on your leg, that's what started it with me.

with your left hand and leg go: 1...2...3...4...

then for every 'beat' you're doing with your left hand, clap 123,123,123,123 with your right hand on your right leg.

You'll end up stacking

123, 123, 123, 123
1......2......3......4....

Then transpose the whole thing to your left hand. It helps if you hybrid pick because you can be doing one with the pick and the other with your middle finger.

It's...different. And I'm not expert, I'm just starting to experiment with it myself. Trying to advance the 'playing 2 things at once' classical/flamenco thinking, by altering the rhythms.

I can show you over SKYPE sometime if you want, just let me know.

This is the first idea I had with it, I've since altered it some (the top melody) but it can get you started if you're interested.

------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----let ring-----------let ring---------let ring----------let ring--- repeat
--4-------------------2------------------0-------------------2-------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
--320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320--

[Lysol]

I really like the ESP Max Cavalera Model:

ESP Max Cavalera

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by Malikon

try clapping on your leg, that's what started it with me.

with your left hand and leg go: 1...2...3...4...

then for every 'beat' you're doing with your left hand, clap 123,123,123,123 with your right hand on your right leg.

You'll end up stacking

123, 123, 123, 123
1......2......3......4....

Then transpose the whole thing to your left hand. It helps if you hybrid pick because you can be doing one with the pick and the other with your middle finger.

It's...different. And I'm not expert, I'm just starting to experiment with it myself. Trying to advance the 'playing 2 things at once' classical/flamenco thinking, by altering the rhythms.

I can show you over SKYPE sometime if you want, just let me know.

This is the first idea I had with it, I've since altered it some (the top melody) but it can get you started if you're interested.

------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----let ring-----------let ring---------let ring----------let ring--- repeat
--4-------------------2------------------0-------------------2-------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
--320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320 320--

Oh, Skype's not necessary, I get what you're saying here, now. I was thinking of it a little differently than how you explained it here, this is much simpler. I can conceive it like playing drums, but instead of independant limbs, independant fingers on my right hand.

Sweet, thanks for the idea. This will definitely see some trying tomorrow.

[12watt]

Originally Posted by TKOjams

Fender Katana. There's a cult following for the 12-15 they actually sold

My friend had one, it was a glued in neck, Gibson scale take on the Randy Rhoads and wasn't a bad guitar, he bought it in '86 as an end of line bargain. His got stolen and he replaced it with a Charvel model 5 (which I hated to play). Like rocking horse shit now.

I had one of these... Hohner EX Artist



I got it for £50 as it had a crack in the headstock, I glued it and clamped it overnight and that was that. I took the super cheesy spider web off and painted on the front of it. I eventually stripped it completely and it was beautiful underneath, 3 piece through neck with mahogany body wings. Sounded killer, shame it had a Kahler knockoff on it or I'd have never let it go.

[nick1962]

My Washburn A20 - it's a great guitar! Obviously not the sort of guitar one might take to a blues jam though!

[Rich]

Pointy is the shizzle! Like Skin, I like super Strats too - very versatile guitars. Here are two of my favorite pointies I own:

1986 Peavey Vandenberg:



Dean Flying V (needs a different set of pups):

[Joeydego]

because NOTHING is easier to play and sounds more fluid than a well made ibanez

[formula73]

I loves me some pointies. My first 'real' guitar was a Hondo LP so naturally, I gravitate towards LPs, but my first ultra badass guitar was a Hamer Vector, so I love Vs/Explorers/Dean MLs. The ML has all the standup comfort of a V and you can stand it in a corner but you can play it sitting without having to clamp it with your legs. IMHO, it's the most comfy pointy around. Here's a few that are knocking around the house:












Since a lot of you guys posted various superstrats claiming the hs makes it a pointy, I'll post this, though I prefer to differentiate 'pointies' from 'shredsticks'.


Most pointies, with the exception of BC Rich, seem based squarely in the Gibson realm in either looks or construction: setneck, 24 3/4 scale, hums, or in Jackson's case, V and Explorer interpretations. Shredsticks don't count, to me.

[TKOjams]

Originally Posted by 12watt

Fender Katana. There's a cult following for the 12-15 they actually sold

My friend had one, it was a glued in neck, Gibson scale take on the Randy Rhoads and wasn't a bad guitar, he bought it in '86 as an end of line bargain. His got stolen and he replaced it with a Charvel model 5 (which I hated to play). Like rocking horse shit now.

Yeah, I picked it up really cheap. Played for a couple years and got rid of it. I can't even remember what I did with it. They're pretty rare now, and bringing 10x what I payed for it. Who knew?

[SGMM]

1985 & 1984:





Great feel & tone....current Jackders cannot come close to the build quality!!


& btw....IIRC Vernon Reids "pointy" was an ESP not a Hamer!!

[Joeydego]

Originally Posted by SGMM

1985 & 1984:





Great feel & tone....current Jackders cannot come close to the build quality!!


& btw....IIRC Vernon Reids "pointy" was an ESP not a Hamer!!

I had an 83 lost in my divorce.