Max Cavalera from Soulfly only uses 4 strings!!

[mobprop667]

I just read briefly in a guitar mag that max cavalera, formerly of sepultura and later with soulfly, only uses the lower 4 strings on his guitars, and doesnt even bother stringing up the other 2. his top end sig guitars even ship that way.

 

[05jrock]

yep

He is a brilliant song writer.

 

[jo07]

haha,he don't do solo's and don't give a shit about it

 

[mobprop667]

i love the stuff that he can do without those 2 strings in the way.

 

[SludgeBurns]

Reminds me of The Presidents of the United States of America

 

[SlaytanicDude]

Scott Ian from Anthrax has an old 80's Jackson Soloist he's using again now that has only 12 frets-he only plays rhythm anyway, so the rest aren't needed. Can't find a pic right now for some reason.

 

[Jason]

Were the other 2 in the way or something? I don't see the advantage.

 

[djwilbanks]

I've been playing my Tele without the Low E string since the tuner was botched. It actually sounds pretty nice.

 

[Leumas]

That's odd, but worth a try. Any time I alter a set up it inspires me to do something different. I used to keep a guitar strung lefty just to keep me on my toes.

 

[brianugly]

The guys from "The Presidents of the United States of America" do the same thing
Eff I see someone beat me to it!!!

 

[SludgeBurns]

I used to keep a guitar strung lefty just to keep me on my toes.

I've always wanted to try that. I wondered if any natural ability would bleed through or if it would be like picking up a guitar for the first time again.

 

[Leumas]

I've always wanted to try that. I wondered if any natural ability would bleed through or if it would be like picking up a guitar for the first time again.

Somewhere in between the two. It forces you to think about everything, rather than relying on muscle memory. I find it to be great practice to noodle on a lefty a couple times a month.

 

[Bubbletonic]

the story is when the upper strings broke he never replaced them because he never used them.

Only problem with max is, I've seen him a few times now and sometimes I don't even think he's playing. If you watch he often just stabs at the open strings roughly in time but then goes back to holding the mic stand a bit, and you can't tell when he's playing or not. I don't know whether he's real low down in the mix or had technical problems or something, but I saw him with Cavalera Conspiracy and when ever Marc (lead guitar) went for the solo parts all the guitar sempt to drop out as if max wasn't actually plugged in.

Marc is always really high in the mix though as he plays the main driving riffs etc but I'd still expect to notice whether max was playing or not.

When I saw Soulfly after, we were right against the barrier and I spent alot of the night trying to listen out for Max's playing, but he only played guitar for a few songs in general that night - he didn't have a guitar full stop.

Not to dig at Max, I love both CC and Soulfly...which is why I keep paying to go back ^^

 

[Endless Pain]

the story is when the upper strings broke he never replaced them because he never used them.

Only problem with max is, I've seen him a few times now and sometimes I don't even think he's playing. If you watch he often just stabs at the open strings roughly in time but then goes back to holding the mic stand a bit, and you can't tell when he's playing or not. I don't know whether he's real low down in the mix or had technical problems or something, but I saw him with Cavalera Conspiracy and when ever Marc (lead guitar) went for the solo parts all the guitar sempt to drop out as if max wasn't actually plugged in.

Marc is always really high in the mix though as he plays the main driving riffs etc but I'd still expect to notice whether max was playing or not.

When I saw Soulfly after, we were right against the barrier and I spent alot of the night trying to listen out for Max's playing, but he only played guitar for a few songs in general that night - he didn't have a guitar full stop.

Not to dig at Max, I love both CC and Soulfly...which is why I keep paying to go back ^^

He's getting older, fatter and unhealthier or just degrading from years of what touring abuse does to the body. I'm guessing he is fairly low in the mix because he focuses on being a front man/delivering the best vocals he can more so.

 

[Rich]

Reminds me of The Presidents of the United States of America

Yeah, and those dude play with only two strings. Andrew Weiss (Rollins Band, Ween, Regressive Aid) does the same thing.

And, let's not forget that Keef has been playing with only 5 strings on his Tele since the 60's.

 

[Phil47uk]

Now of course someone could be really original and just leave one string on their guitar, or for that matter take them off altogether.

 

[Cookie-boy]

 

[SKATTERBRANE]

Were the other 2 in the way or something? I don't see the advantage.

He must be a former bass player.

 

[monkeyboy]

Now of course someone could be really original and just leave one string on their guitar, or for that matter take them off altogether.

One String?...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMf-em-56Mc]YouTube - Seasick Steve - Save me - 1 string diddley bo'[/ame]