Work in Progress

[Dave Pickering]

Here’s the first part of something I’ve been working on. It’s currently in two parts. The chord progression for the first part started out as a very Robin Trower inspired riff in the key of C# minor. The eerie sounding stuff was done with an E-Bow. I’m still working on the second part but I’ve included a “rough draft” here–I wore my Jeff Beck influence on my sleeve in this part.

I’m planning on adding a third part that will be significantly more “metal”.

At the moment it’s posted as “Untitled Number One” but the tentative title is “NSFW (Not Sane for Work)”.

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[Will Flaherty]

Very nice, great tones, too! Keep us updated!

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[Top Gun]

You got some pretty cool sounds going on there Dave very classic rock sounding. Whenever you add to this be sure and pop in here so we can get a listen.

[Falcon]

Sound’s really good Dave. Look forward to hearing the third part.

[cappuccinojj]

I enjoyed that. Well played and with feeling. Made me think of James Bond nearish to the end. Looking forward to part 3.

Hammerfall - In Memoriam

[Doug Marks]

Great job Dave. I really liked the Trower influence. You’ve got it right down to his tone. One thought, instead of making the piece 3 parts, why not make it 3 different pieces. It’s really difficult to tie 3 different melodic themes together.

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[Dave Pickering]

Great job Dave. I really liked the Trower influence. You’ve got it right down to his tone. One thought, instead of making the piece 3 parts, why not make it 3 different pieces. It’s really difficult to tie 3 different melodic themes together.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice Doug, I really appreciate it.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Robin Trower recently and I’ve also learned “Daydream” (now if I only had James Dewar’s voice so I could sing it!). I played the rhythm on my Jeff Beck Signature Strat though the Pod Farm “Plexi Lead 100” amp model. I added a Visual Sound Comp 66 compressor, a Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble (which does a fairly good job of mimicking the Uni-Vibe sound–much better IMO than the Pod Farm Uni-Vibe), and a Seymour Duncan Vapor Trails analog delay.

I realize I’m being too ambitious about writing music in multiple parts. I’ve been listening to MAB’s “Intermezzo” a lot and one of my favorite cuts is a piece called “Oceans of Time” which starts out as a prog-metal piece and then changes genres a number of times–including a nice Bach-influenced section and a section that’s almost straight-ahead jazz. That piece was one of the inspirations for what I was trying to do. However I lack anything approaching MAB’s abilities as either guitarist or composer.

What I’m planning now is to lengthen the opening and write a main theme where I currently have the E-Bow guitar part. I still want to keep that first solo since, quite frankly, I like it (for one thing, it’s the first time I’ve been able to record a clean sounding sweep-picking lick). I played it on my Les Paul Studio guitar using a Pod Farm tone I created using the “Brit-800” amp model (Marshall JCM-800) and then put my Ibanez Tube Screamer in the signal chain. I switched the strings on the Les Paul from 0.09 to 0.10 and just love how long I was able to sustain that opening bend.

I’m going to add a bridge section and end it with that weird harmonized lick that comes in at about the 1:25 mark. I still want to use that lick as a segue into a 16-bar solo and then return to the main theme.

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[Dave Pickering]

First two verses with theme added.

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[Will Flaherty]

Very nice, Dave! Well done!

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[Jezzy Micheals]

I really like that lead part that comes in at around 55 seconds Dave! The tone is toasty man!

I have a counter offer, I'll go nowhere and talk to no-one.

[Axe]

Nice work Dave!!

[Dave Pickering]

Here’s a rough mix of the final result.  It ended up being significantly different from where I started, though the first part is roughly the same as “Untitled Number Two”.  There are a few rough spots I need to re-record and I still need to do the final mix but for the most part it’s done.

Guitars: Jeff Beck Signature Strat and Les Paul Studio

Bass: Guild JB-S

Effects:

E-Bow
Visual Sound Comp 66 Compressor
Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble
Seymour Duncan Vapor Trails Analog Delay
Visual Sound VX-XO Overdrive
Electro Harmonix Ravish Sitar
Dunlop 535Q Cry Baby
Digitech Whammy DT

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[metalj]

Sorry i didn’t comment sooner i assumed i did. Sounds great! I followed you on soundcloud. I am really into this song.

Jay aka the letter J

[Top Gun]

I really like that Dave it’s got that classic rock vibe to it. On the second part around the 1:55 mark the effect you’re using made me think of The Who around the Who’s Next era.

[Dave Pickering]

I really like that Dave it’s got that classic rock vibe to it. On the second part around the 1:55 mark the effect you’re using made me think of The Who around the Who’s Next era.

Thanks.  That effect is an E-Bow.  I used it with my Les Paul Studio on the neck pick-up.  After reading your comment I realized it does sound like the synth Pete Townsend plays on “Going Mobile”.

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[Byron]

Very cool. Kind of Jazz-fusion-ish.

You’re pretty brave. I’m scared to show off anything I don’t think is complete yet.

[Dave Pickering]

Here’s the final mix.  I’ve deleted the earlier “roughs” from my Soundcloud account.

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[Sarah Spisak]

Hi Dave,

I just listened to your final mix and really enjoyed the variety of tonal and harmonic textures.  🙂

Would you care to tell us more about what you used in terms of DAW, drums, etc.?  You mentioned Pod Farm…

🙂 Sarah

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[Dave Pickering]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the comments. For a DAW, I used Cakewalk Home Studio 7 (I still like it better than the newer Cakewalk recording software). I used Line6 Pod Farm 2 amp modeling software and a Line6 UX-2 interface. However all of the effects used–except for reverb–were stomp boxes rather than the Line6 models (I’ll list those in a bit).

The drum parts were all created using Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0.

For the bass parts, I played an early 70’s Guild JS-2 bass that my wife’s son had when he was a kid which had been stashed in a closet for over 10 years. My wife found it and I cleaned it up, put a new set of strings on it and adjusted the setup and it plays like a dream. I used an amp model based on the old Ampeg SVT bass amp (one of my all-time favorite bass amps).

The rhythm guitar part was recorded using my Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster with the pick-up selector set to the “2” position. The rhythm pattern started out as a Robin Trower inspired piece–I slowed down the tempo and changed the timing a bit so it had a more “Latin” feel–though I did keep in C# minor (they key for a number of classic Trower tunes such as “Day of the Eagle” and “Daydream”). The amp model was a parallel model I created using “Plexi Lead 100” and “Brit Plexi Lead 200” amp models (take a wild guess as to what brand of amp they’re supposed to emulate 😉 ). The chorus was G#min-A-B-G#m followed by a riff based on the opening to “Day of the Eagle” by Trower and then D#7#9. The signal chain went from my guitar to a Boss TU-3 tuner (which I like better than the built-in Line6 tuner–plus I can tune up without having to switch off any effects I’m using). Next in line was a Visual Sound Visual Comp 66 compressor, Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble set at preset “I” which does a nice emulation of the old Uni-Vibe, and then to a Seymour Duncan Vapor Trails analog delay.

The “melody” guitar part was also played on the JB Strat using the neck pick-up. I used the same amp model and signal chain from the rhythm part except without the Boss Rotary Ensemble. The first lead (at 0:55) was played on my Les Paul Studio. The amp setup for this lead was again a parallel amp setup–this time using two “Brit J-800” amp models. In the signal chain I added an Ibanez TS-9, Visual Sound Liquid Chorus, and (again) Seymour Duncan Vapor Trails analog delay. The odd little segue at 1:25 was something I came up with–believe it or not–while I was walking my dog. I had this very Frank Zappa inspired chromatic lick in my head and tried to duplicate it on guitar once I got back. I then added a second harmony part and split them between the right and left channels in the final mix. Both parts were played on the JB Strat using yet another parallel amp model I created in Pod Farm using two “Solo 100” amps (based on the Soldano SLO 100).

Most of the stuff I write tends to be driven by a riff or chord pattern played on guitar so I wanted to include a very bass-driven section. I created a fairly simple but effective (IMO) bass pattern in E min. The chords that start at approx. 1:38 were played on the JB Strat using an Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar pedal played through the same clean amp model setup as the opening rhythm guitar. The chord pattern was Em7-Em6-Am7-Em played on the top 4 strings so you get a descending chromatic on the B string (D-C#-C-B). The a chorus was just G and A (I added a B right before the second solo). The eerie-sounding part that starts at the 2:00 minute mark is my Les Paul played with an E-Bow using the neck pickup.

The solo at 2:24 was played on the JB Strat using the “Solo 100” amp setup and the same signal chain as the opening rhythm guitar part. At the end of the solo I threw in the E Minor Pentatonic lick at 2:45 with the little solo breaks. I doubled the Pentatonic lick on the bass. The first break was played on the Les Paul through a Dunlop 535Q Wah. The second break was the Les Paul again with my Digitech Whammy Pedal. The third solo break was played on the bass–the inspiration was John Entwhistle’s bass solo on “My Generation” but the amp model I used was one I found on the Line6 forum that was based on Bill Sheehan’s Talas-era bass tone.

I was stuck at this point for a while because I wanted to go back to the original C# minor pattern but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. What I ended up doing was playing a the doubled E minor pentatonic lick twice followed by a variation that ended on an Eb note. I then played the same chord pattern from the second section up a full step (F#m7-F#m6-Bmin7-F#min) the chorus was A-B7-G#Aug7-G#7 and then back to the opening C# minor chord pattern.

My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

[Axe]

Good job Dave! I liked it

 

And good on ya for posting early versions.. A lot of people get scared off early and quit because their projects aren’t perfect after the first take.. And it just doesn’t work that way.. I call it “Chipping Away”

I have raw concepts on my DAW that have yet to be developed and y’all would probably blow what ever you’re drinking out of your nose if you heard them 😉

 

Again, Good job Dave!!

[Steve Dunlap]

Outstanding work Dave! Very professional and wonderful, cleanly played guitar work all around. I really admire you for this composition. You can be very proud!

[Sarah Spisak]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the detailed reply!  Very interesting, and I’m sure it will be helpful for a lot of our visitors and members.  🙂

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