Metal_Boy16 Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Well my first band had its first gig on Friday night. One of my guitarist has a tendency to break strings easily. So we started the show off, and things were going well. Second song, he breaks his a string. So he grabs his second guitar to play the rest of the set with. Well on the third song, his guitar started squealing madly when he hits the distortion. So one of the guitarist from the headlining band lent him his guitar. And what does my guitarist do? He break yet another string on a guitar he doesn't even own! So he finishes our set with the second guitarist's guitar. Sorry for the rant! He plays with a hard pick and strums like crazy! Anything I can do to stop/fix this? ANY suggestions of thoughts are very appreciated. "If only I had HIS chops!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getz out Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 1: Take the guitars in for a professional set-up Simple and cost effective and can make even the most budget instrument play a whole lot better 2: Get him to stop using HAMMER strokes Much like playing bass, it's all about dynamics. If it's full-throttle all the time, you lose so much expression with your most expressive piece of gear; your hands. Tell him to turn up the gain/volume and lighten up on the right hand. 3: Get him a lighter pick I see a lot of "heavy" newbie guitarist using picks with gauges measured in yards. This is completely unnecessary, see point #2. 4: Use heavier strings (.10's or .11's) 9's let you fly, but unless you have a REALLY light touch (obviously not the case here), 10's are more appropriate. I usually think .11's are overkill, but that's just me. 5: If all else fails, get new bridge saddles and a new nut If it's a budget guitar, both of these items are usually suspect. Replacements are relatively cheap and easy to install. 6: If all of that fails, just get a new guitarist. Unlike drummers, singers, and bassists, guitarists are a dime a dozen, especially mediocre players. You can't thrown a rock in the desert without hitting one. Here's how to find a new guitarist made easy: STEP A: Hang out at Guitar Center or Sam Ash STEP B: Plug into a loud PA in the pro-audio section and announce you need a new, LOUD, lead guitarist that will take over your band. Tell them to meet at the effect-pedal section to audition STEP C: Walk straight past the effects section without stopping. Try to go unnoticed or they may eat you alive STEP D: Finally, walk to the guitar section. See if there is anyone left playing guitar. Assess their "Van-Halen-Factor" ("VHF"). If the the VHF seems low, offer them an audition. STEP E: Repeat as necessary. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dohhhhh6 Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Errrr.... play with a thinner pick? Use thicker strings? Sounds pretty bad if you ask me. In Skynyrd We Trust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornbread_medhotmail.com Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 It could be that he has bad technique to compensate for a small amp. I know that I played harder and broke more strings when I played an undersized amp. Now that I have a capable amp, I break strings less and have a better sound. The new amp may alleviate the squealing, as well. Granted, this is an expensive option, but, it may be the best option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyote Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Sounds like he needs to take a dozen guitars to the gig, and/or have a roadie who can do quick string swaps I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist. This ain't no track meet; this is football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Great idea from Maury! Find someone at your school that you like to hang out with. Tell them if they get a guitar, they can be in your band. As for the guitarist that you have already....put heavy gauge strings on his guitar. No backup guitars allowed. If he breaks a string, stop playing and make him change the string on the spot. Better yet, keep playing, take a long bass solo followed by a long drum solo while he changes the string. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40hertz Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 Originally posted by jeremyc: Better yet, keep playing, take a long bass solo followed by a long drum solo while he changes the string. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 I dunno... it seems that every time I see one of the newer bands playing in videos, the guitarists are going with a flashy, full-arm downstroke every time they hit the strings. I suspect that this particular guitarist may be attempting to emulate the visual effect. I remember, back in the '80s metal days, watching the guitarists 'strum' with mostly wrist action. None of this 'get the whole arm involved in the stroke' business. Most of the string breakage I saw with my guitar-playing friends was from excessive string bending. And when I was playing guitar, I emulated my favorites - Tipton & Downing from Judas Priest - and used just about the thinnest pick I could find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal_Boy16 Posted September 14, 2003 Author Share Posted September 14, 2003 The band is not getting a new guitarist. I know we can fix this problem. using thinner picks and thicker strings are good ideas. Him and my other guitarist play out of half-stacks, so volume is not an issue. It's all about the "stage-show". "It looks cool..." "If only I had HIS chops!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted September 14, 2003 Share Posted September 14, 2003 It is possible to look like you are flailing away out of control and actually have a very light touch. In terms of bass, Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller look like they are beating the bejesus out of their basses but actually both of them have very very light touches. I know "the Billie Joe of Greenday strum" is very popular these days, but you don't have to kill the guitar to do it. When I worked with a guitarist who broke strings constantly, I found out what gauge she used and bought a set one gauge higher and kept them in my case. Finally one night she broke a string and ran out of spares. I pulled out the package I had and said, "I've got a spare set here". "But they're not my gauge", she said. "Well you could finish the night with 5 strings or you could try them," I said. So she tried the string. And she didn't break any more strings after that. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Find a guitarist who's good enough to keep playing (and soloing) after they've broken a string...preferably the A or D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getz out Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Originally posted by jeremyc: Better yet, keep playing, take a long bass solo followed by a long drum solo while he changes the string.Wow, solid alternative, Jeremy. Even less work than finding a new guitarist! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Another thing. If you have a guitar with tremolo, it will go completely out of tune if you break a string. If you have a guitar with locking tremolo, not only will it go completely out of tune if you break a string, but you will need wrenches to change a string. Try a hard-tail guitar....no tremolo arm. Then you can keep playing if you break a string. We once had a guitarist break a string on New Year's Eve at 11:45 on a guitar with locking tremolo. He had to go to his car to get the wrenches and was finally ready to play again at 12:15. I asked him why didn't he have a backup guitar and he said, "I don't like the pickups on my other guitar." That was the last time he played with us....we never hired him again. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Why play a guitar with a Floyd Rose on a wedding? I've seen many club date guitarists do it, and they never seem to have a single advantage over the guys who use a Strat, Tele, or Les Paul. Are they using it just in case they have to play "Eruption" or something? The best tremolo I ever saw was the one made by Hipshot. It locks itself into a hardtail when you remove the tremolo arm. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcr Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 This has nothing to do with gear. It has EVERYTHING to do with technique. Your guitarist needs to decide whether he wants to play music, or just play around. It's that simple. There is no other solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcr Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 I've also noticed that (at least some) guitars can go out of tune when a string breaks, even if it has no tremolo. Let's face it, guitars by nature seem to go out of tune if you just look at them funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Well, since I'm always looking at the guitar player funny when they are soloing, now I understand what is going on. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 It's all about the "stage-show". "It looks cool..."Wow. I was right! That doesn't happen very often. Now I feel funny. I'll go sit down now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getz out Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Originally posted by BenLoy: Why play a guitar with a Floyd Rose on a wedding? I've seen many club date guitarists do it, and they never seem to have a single advantage over the guys who use a Strat, Tele, or Les Paul. Are they using it just in case they have to play "Eruption" or something? The best tremolo I ever saw was the one made by Hipshot. It locks itself into a hardtail when you remove the tremolo arm. Nice.Ha... I can't believe the Floyd Rose still sells! Those things are evil... I guess they need to keep them around for the guys still playing Poison or Whitesnake covers. Surprisingly, the Bigsby-ripoff on my Ibanez Artcore is a nice trem. It stays in tune even when I wail on it. I have a tendancy not to break strings, since I'm not a complete ape on the skinny-stringed beast, so I'm not sure how ugly it would get if I did break that little .10 string. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cup Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 One of the guitarists in my band had the same problem. He tried everything, different gauges, another guitar, he even tried changing his technique. Nothing worked, especially changing his technique. He researched a bit and found out about these bridges that were made for many guitars. I'm not sure of the company's name, but these new bridges (they only cost £8 or £9 and come in a variety of colours) really work. They're made of some carbon material, are easy to fit and have cut down his string breakage massively. Do a search, if you can't find the company p.m me and I'll find out for you. Cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bear Jew Posted September 15, 2003 Share Posted September 15, 2003 Quick note from the resident "guy who plays both guitar and bass." Using heavier strings will help reduce breakage, but they should be kept relatively fresh, or else they'll break just as often as light gauge strings. Metal fatigue is metal fatigue, ya know? Personally, I prefer to use .11s simply because they feel nice and chunky under my fingers. Just like your mama. \m/ Erik "To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." --Sun Tzu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted September 16, 2003 Share Posted September 16, 2003 Originally posted by jeremyc: If you have a guitar with locking tremolo, not only will it go completely out of tune if you break a string, but you will need wrenches to change a string. Try a hard-tail guitar....no tremolo arm. Then you can keep playing if you break a string. Actually, if you set a trem guitar so that the unit doesn't float when not used, then you can afford to break a string, locking trem or not. That means no routed cavity under the trem. Fender's American made Strat with a Floyd Rose is built this way. There's also an add-on from Schaller for Floyds that allows a user to park the trem arm on it to stabilize the trem when it's not being used, effectively hardtailing the guitar. I'm not sure if it's still made, though. I'd love to have one for my shreddy Ibanez. I agree with the folks that say the guitarist's technique needs to be refined. I used to play in thrash bands myself, and I found early on that it isn't necessary to pick too hard, as the distortion does some of the work for you. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman Irwin Posted September 16, 2003 Share Posted September 16, 2003 this i could definitely relate to... Better yet, keep playing, take a long bass solo followed by a long drum solo while he changes the string. i once had this gig with this veteran guitar guy who has the "VHF" with a little "CSS"(Carlos Santana Syndrome)and in the middle of our first song, basically an instrumental he broke his second string and because he uses a kahler system, his intonation was way below standard. i then soloed for a few seconds and by the time the drummer felt he was goin to be the next one to solo, mr guitar breaker got a guitar from the guitarist of the other band. oh well, so much for tremolos and hammer players... If Jaco's bass sound farts, please forgive me for doing it always! ONCE A LEVITE, ALWAYS A LEVITE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted September 16, 2003 Share Posted September 16, 2003 Originally posted by Iceman Irwin: i once had this gig with this veteran guitar guy who has the "VHF" with a little "CSS"(Carlos Santana Syndrome)and in the middle of our first song, basically an instrumental he broke his second string and because he uses a kahler system, his intonation was way below standard. i then soloed for a few seconds and by the time the drummer felt he was goin to be the next one to solo, mr guitar breaker got a guitar from the guitarist of the other band. oh well, so much for tremolos and hammer players...Might be the main reason that only Slayer uses Kahlers now. You really can't set them to be fixed when not in use like you can the Fender and Floyd type bridges. I could be wrong, though. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcr Posted September 16, 2003 Share Posted September 16, 2003 Taz, don't say I didn't warn you: http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=005824#000006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted September 16, 2003 Share Posted September 16, 2003 Ha. I dropped my avatar for now... because of my new sig. I like that beauty... screw her henchmen! sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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