Lee Flier Posted November 1, 2001 Share Posted November 1, 2001 Hey all, here's a fun question: what are your favorite strange noises to make on electric guitar and how do you do it? I'm not just talking about effects but voicings and finger techniques. For instance Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine is known for the bizarre sounds he can get from a guitar. I'm talking about psychedelic space noises, strange overtones, sliding notes, atonal contortions, whatever you like to do that's weird! Let's hear it! And if you've got an MP3 example to share, even better! --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted November 1, 2001 Share Posted November 1, 2001 Geez, Lee, that's easy. I just pick up a guitar and try to play it and it sounds strange. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrix Posted November 1, 2001 Share Posted November 1, 2001 Lee, I sometimes mike my thin Gretsch and record without any electric inputs. Sounds very lame by itself- but great in some mixes. Sometimes I apply extreme compression, play chords - but dont strum. I just lightly hit the stings with the side of my hand - or even just hit the guitar body to stimulate the strings. Sounds very Lanois - like. Sometimes I play thru my wah without pumping it. If set right it can give good tone. Sometimes I'll double key notes in a solo and push both channels thru one compressor. Sometimes I'll pan these seperately and compress with differnt release settings - this can give a kind of panning efect as the relative volumes change. Ive read, but not tried recording, re-playing thru monitors and re-recording the monitors using a distant mike. I read that Zappa used a small speaker on the floor and placed a mike on the ceiling directly above( or was it the other way around) In any case, this gave a very big sound (room dependent). Thats about as radical as i get. Too lazy to do more. Good topic - I'm interested to hear from others. Check out some tunes here: http://www.garageband.com/artist/KenFava Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve LeBlanc Posted November 1, 2001 Share Posted November 1, 2001 My nephew had an old MusicMan amp with a built in flanger...he would unplug his guitar and play the strings/pick-ups with the tip of the live chord while tweaking the knob for the flanger. Incredible sounds...on one of our old tunes he got a sound with this method that was like a huge bee flying around the room and many other fantastic (and musical) sounds. I like to crank my Rhodes through a Wah Pedal and Danelectro Delay to my Fender Twin. The fun starts when I tweak the delay knobs to create whammy bar or Underwater effects. I was able to get at least 3 totally different sounds out of my Rhodes without changing anything, check out an example of this if ya want: "State of Mind (short version)" (4.5mb) http://www.artistlaunch.com/jamfree [ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: Steve LeBlanc ] http://www.youtube.com/notesleb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHAN Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 Originally posted by Tedster: Geez, Lee, that's easy. I just pick up a guitar and try to play it and it sounds strange. Ted, you stole my answer. YOU BASTID!!! ----------------- For that intro fade to Foxy Lady, At the 9th or 10th fret (can't remember which), fret the G sting, bend it down so it's touching th B string. now that both strings are under one finger, vibrato the hell out of it and slowly fade in. Once you are at full volume, bring the guitar closer and closer to the speaker until you get some tasty feedback goin'.. OOH FOXY So Many Drummers. So Little Time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Wing Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 Originally posted by KHAN: Ted, you stole my answer. YOU BASTID!!! Me three for what Ted said! Weird music... There are two theories about arguing with a woman. Neither one works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat0124 Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 Actually my fave thing is just making all the harmonic things a la Billy Gibbons, also the way two amps driven hard will have all those harmonics jumpin till it almost sounds like a B3 on a sustained power chord. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted November 2, 2001 Author Share Posted November 2, 2001 Too cool, guys! I love Khan's "Foxy Lady" tip and Steve's thing with the live cord and the flanger. That's awesome. Keep 'em coming! --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip_dup1 Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 David Bowie`s guitarist (Reeves Gabrels, I think), has a cool idea that has a lot of possibilities-take almost any electrical device that buzzes, whirrs, etc. and hold it near the pickups-they`ll make a symapthetic buzz... I still think the most interesting effects are in your hands-I mean literally. There`s a recent song I like-a remake of the Smiths tune-can`t remember the title, but their best known one. The guitarist repeats this huge glissando, from a dominant note down two more of the same interval. Kinda hate to give this one away but you can hear it on some Steve Vai stuff-if you have a floating bridge, just rest your hand on it and you can get a `reverse whammy` effect, much better control than pulling up on the bar. I`ve never been good at controlled feedback-I suppose it`s done with a volume pedal but I dunno-love the effect though... [ 11-02-2001: Message edited by: skip ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 I really like Adrian Belew and his 'Elephant Talk' business. I've got some cool sounds chording with my left hand and tap tap tapping the strings with a small drum stick with right hand. Pick scraping on wound strings with loads of overdrive can be cool. -David http://www.garageband.com/artist/MichaelangelosMuse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profesrgeo Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 Hi All, We don't decorate our house for Halloween with ghosts, goblins and gravestones, we use sound to terrify unwitting young trick-or-treaters... Recipie #1 Tele w/humbucker in the neck, into boss flanger-chorus-octave pedals (all knobs cranked) into pod (brit claasic w delay; reverb and effects tweak knobs cranked into SWR workingmans 10 played with violin bow.. with octave off use tremolo bowing on high e above 10th fret using any simple repetitive 3 note pattern while said unwitting young trick-or-treaters approach (somewhat light touch) for eerie horror flick music sound... when they are about 10 feet from the door... stomp the octave pedal and dig in to the low strings with long bows articulating the change in direction with a quick snap of the wrist... the voice of satan booms forth from the trembling speaker scaring the livin beejesus ouit of the poor kids... Recipie #2 similar to above except substitute fender electric violin for tele and dump the boss pedals... play some simple children's song (twinkle twinkle works really well or even a Christmas carol if you want to be sublime) playing an occational note grossly out of pitch,(has that kind of Freddie Krueger effect with the heavy delay and reverb) as the victims approach ... when they get close enough, abruptly drop to the low g apply firm pressure and draw the bow slowly over the strings with wild glissando... the croaking voices of a thousand demons send the poor little ones (and not so little ones) scurrying... resume children's song as they gather their courage to attemp another approach for candy... this time let them get up to the door... as the reach for the bell my wife opens the door dressed in black trenchcoat hat and veil as I let wail another round of demonic sonic blast .. usually scatters them a second time... we reward them heavily with candy if/when they conjure the courage to return... I know, I know, we're evil.... but the kids have great stories to tell geo [ 11-02-2001: Message edited by: profesrgeo@earthlink.net ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RnR Posted November 3, 2001 Share Posted November 3, 2001 turn the guitar volume down and tap on the back of the headstock with the strings unmuted Bounce the guitar off the grounf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Poff Posted November 3, 2001 Share Posted November 3, 2001 Loosen the strings until you can easily pull them about an inch and a half off the fretboard. Place them in your left hand so that each string's tension can be changed with a small movement from each finger. (think puppeteer). Fingerpick with your right hand while palm muting, and think drums not guitar. It's kind of like an electric talking drum. Add effects and get weird. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve LeBlanc Posted November 3, 2001 Share Posted November 3, 2001 Cool idea Jason...I've done something similar before...I just bought some new strings, gotta try your idea tonight! http://www.youtube.com/notesleb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Poff Posted November 3, 2001 Share Posted November 3, 2001 Thanks Steve, Try it with a pitch shift set to an octave below to really get the groove goin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanner Posted November 4, 2001 Share Posted November 4, 2001 1st off let me say that the mostest strangest/beautifulest sound in the world to me is an electric guitar plugged into a great amp, period! and w/ that in mind i've had all kinds of strange sounds happen.in this moment of lucidity,one of my favs was turning the amp way up and just hammering the individual notes w/ yer left hand and moving the pick-up selector(this is a strat) back and forth rhythmically to create a pseudo wah wah-oh yeah, you have to turn the neck p/u all the way bassy for the true bass to treble sweep-it works and amazes people! AMPSSOUNDBETTERLOUDER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted November 4, 2001 Share Posted November 4, 2001 When I noticed Lee Flier had posted a thread titled, "Favorite techniques for making strange noises," I was sure I'd be reading something about her dates with a hot drummer! And I ain't talkin' 'bout his drumming on a gig! Seriously (Well.. not kidding around. How's that?), I've been having a ball tweaking my acoustic for weird noises. Nothing that hasn't been done, but cool none the less. 1. I like to hammer sympathetic harmonics with my right hand index finger while playing a chord, in the middle of a rhythm part. I try to use open strings and fretted notes in the middle of the neck to create strange combinations of harmonics at one fret, then quickly smack different harmonics with the same fingering. Best description I can give for this technique. I'll try to post something later. (Damn dial up connection! ) Harmonics only tunes. The Woody Woodpecker theme is pretty neat using harmonics on the E, A, and D strings, most of which are clustered near the 3rd to 5th fret on these strings. Like Michael Hedges, I often include percussion in the form of hits to the top and neck of the instrument. Never got into the "bowing a guitar" idea, and I've been less than stellar with the E-bow over the years. (On electric or acoustic.) Next batter.. It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted November 5, 2001 Author Share Posted November 5, 2001 Originally posted by fantasticsound: When I noticed Lee Flier had posted a thread titled, "Favorite techniques for making strange noises," I was sure I'd be reading something about her dates with a hot drummer! And I ain't talkin' 'bout his drumming on a gig! ROFL Neil!! Well as a matter of fact, I DID have a great date last night with a very hot drummer, but alas, it was just a gig. Some really cool noise ideas though! Love to hear more if you guys think of any! And yeah stanner I agree with ya that there's no more beautiful noise than a guitar plugged straight into a great amp. --Lee [ 11-05-2001: Message edited by: Lee Flier ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Olsson. Posted November 5, 2001 Share Posted November 5, 2001 1. Take any infrared remote control and (closely) point it towards your pickups and press some buttons - voilá: weird noises! Different remotes = different results. 2. Some of Lovetone's stomp-boxes are really "da bomb" for making utterly strange noises that is also 100% musically useful. They are on the expensive side, still worth every penny IMO. /Mats http://www.lexam.net/peter/carnut/man.gif What do we want? Procrastination! When do we want it? Later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_dup3 Posted November 6, 2001 Share Posted November 6, 2001 Try these three : 1- (just read this idea in GPlayer)--- plug into the out jack of a wahwah pedal & plug from the input to your amp. 2- (both this and the next idea work on both electric & acoustic)--- bend either E string around the side of the neck off the fretboard to the area where the binding is (or further)--- pseudo-fuzz & WIDE pitch bends. 3- shake some wide vibrato so that your fingernail bumps the neighboring string this can give you interesting harmonies with a weird "throttled" (as in choking)/tapping quality. Next ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog951 Posted November 6, 2001 Share Posted November 6, 2001 1) You just gotta play around with the strings on the "Runnin' With the Devil" side of the nut! Put lotsa reverb or slap-back delay on there and just wang around 'til your heart's content! You don't hafta just hit it once like EVH did...on the Radiohead song "Lucky" the poor bastard does it throuought the WHOLE tune. If he has to play that every night, I'm sure he'll kill himself eventually Also, if you've got a tune-o-matic bridge, don't forget about the little length of string between the bridge and tailpiece. That's even freakier than the wrong side of the nut... 2) Use a slide WAY up high on the neck or even over the pick-ups. Cool seagull/Free Bird sounds await. A nice long delay does wonders with this one. 3) Along the same line as the "scare the kids" tip from above...pick scrapes on the low wound strings are just pure evil. The slower you scrape, the more people (and animals) you will frighten. Delay makes this one freakier too. Also, try using different scraping impliments. Thin metal thingies sound especially wicked! 4) The remote-control thing is cool. Weird, but even different buttons on the remote cause different sounds to come out. Lean the pick-ups next to your computer if you want lotsa messy noises! Have fun!!!!! None more black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeon Posted November 6, 2001 Share Posted November 6, 2001 gently lay the guitar on its back dangle a small electromagnet from its wires such that it is suspended directly above the pickups and strings and has enough leeway to swing freely power the electromagnet with something rhythmic - this could be the autorun output of a modular synth via a CV jack or solar cell circuit interrupted via slow circular fan shading or speaker output of a badly-tuned pocket AM-radio pull back the electromagnet, let it go and allow it to swing take the output of the guitar and compress the living piss out of it send this to a Lexicon PCM-81 running the Mars Bars resonant alien string orchestra patch play the Mars Bars resonator frequencies with a MIDI keyboard or 2nd guitar send the output from the PCM-81 to a cranked VOX AC30TB smile, and occasionally give the electromagnet another push... Go tell someone you love that you love them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timrocker Posted November 7, 2001 Share Posted November 7, 2001 When I'm reading this forum and playing guitar at the same time, there is the most bratty, obnoxious, interference hum in there. If I don't play, it's just grating. That's because my monitor is only a few feet from (and on the same circuit with) my mixing board with direct boxes and racks and tons of other shit. The idea was to get the signal into my PC eventually and start tracking to hard drive. I haven't gotten that far yet. It's more fun to play guitar all night long and not have to think about learning stuff. Discipline, oh discipline, where are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansouth Posted November 7, 2001 Share Posted November 7, 2001 Four words: Voodoo Chile - Slight Return. I've always liked the quirky harmonic stuff in Jeff Baxter's 'My Old School' solos. Also when guys get the guitar to whistle like a cat call; I KNOW there's a song with that sound in it, but I can' think of it. Pete Townshend smashing guitars - THAT was an interest noise, but I recommend you refrain for the guitar's sake. Lee, stop by anytime. I'll have you making new and interesting noises in about a half an hour (for as long as you desire, of course!). Guitar is optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfjunkie Posted November 7, 2001 Share Posted November 7, 2001 oh dear lord! i checked out this thread a few days ago, but things are getting crazy now! aeon's tip is awesome, and the remote control thing really works!!! amazing! the craziest thing i've done (with a guitar) is put a slide in the palm of my picking hand and rest it as close to the bridge as possible. play normally, and gradually start twitching the slide. randomly changing the angle of the slide messes things up further, and of course delay helps too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted November 7, 2001 Share Posted November 7, 2001 Originally posted by popmusic: OK, how's this... I used a vibrator -- er, I mean muscle massager live i used to play slide with a vibrator. kinda hard since they're plastic these days. (if anyone knows where i can find a genuine metal "steely dan" dildo let me know)...anyway, besides slide, popmusic has it down, vibrators make all kinds of great noises with the motor on against the strings. i haven't replaced mine since some drunk biker girl grabbed it from me during a gig and kinda used it for it's intended purpose. (when she tried to give it back, i said 'thanks but why don't you just keep it'...) don't think it was mentioned earlier, but really easy is: take a guitar pick and put it in between the top 3 srtings by the bridge. i.e. just like when people leave a pick in the strings when they are done playing.. only at the bridge end of the strings. now grab another pick and play the guitar. you get a really cool stacatto, eastern, almost ring modulator type sound even without the guitsr plugged in. add an amp and it just gets better... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted November 8, 2001 Share Posted November 8, 2001 Geez...I forgot this one... Point your speaker cab at an electric fan. Vary the speed of the blade... Hhehehe...vibrators...hehehe... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted November 8, 2001 Author Share Posted November 8, 2001 ROFLMAO!!!! A vibrator, now I've heard everything! Ya know guys... I don't think that would work out for me. Everybody'd take one look at that and go, "Suuuuuure that's how you tried to save money on an E-Bow. Suuuuuure it is!" Especially people like my bandmates who know I already own an E-Bow. All the weird noise ideas are great!!! More, more!! And sorry Dan, no weird noises for you, you know I only like drummers... and my new, uhh, E-Bow. LOL!!! --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Submersible Posted November 8, 2001 Share Posted November 8, 2001 About 3 years ago, I made a pretty stooopid little guitar pedal site that I never bothered to update. The first and last clips on this page have some pretty cool noises... (you can skip the rest--blech!) http://www.sirius.com/~johndoe/The_Possibilities/the_possibilities.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricko Posted November 8, 2001 Share Posted November 8, 2001 The Waves Mechanics TDM bundle will do any or all of your desired trippy fx.. I sometimes use 'em with GRM Tools as well..jeez, I tell you, it doesn't sound remotely like a guitar! Cheers Rick rickwade.iuma.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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