Hasie
Hey,
I've been playing acoustic for a bit over a year now. I take lessons and practice enough. The thing is, I like metal and acquired myself a very nice 7 string electric recently and started playing. It seems like when playing acoustic, you can play more easily than on an electric with high gain. The high gain picks up every slightly misplaced finger and the slightest vibrations from the strings not being played/fretted. Maybe I'm wrong in saying this, but it seems like the technique of playing on high gain is a lot different from playing acoustic.
I found a few videos on the internet on how to play cleanly with high gain and I am practicing, but I think it's time to play with some people who play the same genre and preferably a 7-string. I am situated in Pretoria East and would like to practice with some other players. Just a heads up, I have very poor eyesight, so I might be a bit more effort to work with.
What I can contribute: I do music theory and know the notes of the different scales and where to find them on the fretboard, etc.
Anyone interested can PM me.
Thanks.
GuitarDoge
You need to know how to mute the strings you aren't playing when playing with high gain. There are some videos on YouTube that show this. You also need to limit the amount of gain you have. You need just enough for it to sound good, no more. Finally, when playing high gain lead you can use just a touch of reverb/delay to smoothen everything up.
V8
Plug the acoustic into a amp, turn the volume up and I reckon you'll find similar issues. Playing cleanly and with precision in any style takes some practice and adjustments to technique. For sure, there are specific techniques (E.g. palm muting) to playing in a high gain setup, but these (imho) do not replace a solid technical foundation - how to hold a plectrum, accurately fretting notes, using your fretting hand to control muting, getting both hands syncronized when playing.
When I first went for lessons, teacher took away all the FX, and there was no where to hide - The high gain setup had been masking a lot of sloppiness and laziness. Was further highlighted 20yrs later when a flamenco teacher comprehensively out-shredded me and sternly reminded me of the basics of the techniques I was shown many, many moons before.
Hasie
Thank you for the info. My tutor checks my technique every week to ensure that I do all the basics correctly.
I still want to play with other people, as it might help me progress quicker than playing alone all the time.
