The importance of hitting hard

[Smash]

Its a little monster to be sure, and that's not even close to being opened up. We have two guitars in the band, but you're only hearing my rig right there. I just posted some other live clips of it in the Wizard sub forum here but its apparent how much more the Wizard cuts through everything vs other guys rig.....

re: hitting it hard, this amp will chug with the best of them and hits way above its weight class, especially with a strong right hand. But, it will also go crystal clear clean with a light touch from right where its running in that video

It has a really good sound. Mine is a really angry bitch. Yours has a very cool gain profile. I hear one chord ringing in there, and it is pleasant. I always hear good things about the 25, but i turn my nose up at anything under 100 watts. Probably a mistake, lol. but the way yours sounds makes me need to rush my departure down south to hang with @mhenson42 to play his mcII, and of course mtl. Though i feel that mcII will be more my speed.

 

[DanTravis62]

It has a really good sound. Mine is a really angry bitch. Yours has a very cool gain profile. I hear one chord ringing in there, and it is pleasant. I always hear good things about the 25, but i turn my nose up at anything under 100 watts. Probably a mistake, lol. but the way yours sounds makes me need to rush my departure down south to hang with @mhenson42 to play his mcII, and of course mtl. Though i feel that mcII will be more my speed.

Wizards are great amps, especially live in a band. Shit, if I lived anywhere near henson I would be ON it bruh.

 

[fearhk213]

playing unplugged is something that a lot of us that play metal don't do. If you let that low "e" ring, most of the time, unplugged it will rattle in a way that it unfavorable. When amplified, it doesn't amplify because it is too subtle. But I am heavy handed when playing music that dictates it, which is most of the music i play. I could probably get away with a higher action on electric, but I don't fret buzz amplified. On acoustic, my action is a bit higher than normal, because my volume comes from that strum. Playing soft and technical has it's place, but if you aren't pushing your amp with your picking hand, it is pretty disgusting if you are playing high gain, imo.

I predominantly play metal as well. For me it's more of a woodshed tool, mainly for lead playing. If someone is prone to picking weak, it'll be really obvious so it can encourage them to dig in more for the notes to come out. On the other end of the spectrum, if someone is digging in too hard and slopping up as a result they can focus on the notes connecting more clearly.

 

[DanTravis62]

I predominantly play metal as well. For me it's more of a woodshed tool, mainly for lead playing. If someone is prone to picking weak, it'll be really obvious so it can encourage them to dig in more for the notes to come out. On the other end of the spectrum, if someone is digging in too hard and slopping up as a result they can focus on the notes connecting more clearly.

I think this is good advice, especially for woodshedding, but I want to add a caveat;

If you are going to be playing a gig with a tube amp, live, with a band? Practice at full on band volume, and get used to how your amp (and especially YOU) react to it. You'll need far less gain at that volume, and you need to get used to that feel difference, as well as taming noise and whatever routine for fx - tap dancing, midi, whatever. Yes, I'm serious. Play the whole set, by yourself, at full on band volume.

No one ever gave me this advice, and when I started doing it, it became so much easier to prepare for a gig.

 

[RedB4Black]

It has a really good sound. Mine is a really angry bitch. Yours has a very cool gain profile. I hear one chord ringing in there, and it is pleasant. I always hear good things about the 25, but i turn my nose up at anything under 100 watts. Probably a mistake, lol. but the way yours sounds makes me need to rush my departure down south to hang with @mhenson42 to play his mcII, and of course mtl. Though i feel that mcII will be more my speed.

MTL’s’

 

[* velcro-fly *]

I think this is good advice, especially for woodshedding, but I want to add a caveat;

If you are going to be playing a gig with a tube amp, live, with a band? Practice at full on band volume, and get used to how your amp (and especially YOU) react to it. You'll need far less gain at that volume, and you need to get used to that feel difference, as well as taming noise and whatever routine for fx - tap dancing, midi, whatever. Yes, I'm serious. Play the whole set, by yourself, at full on band volume.

No one ever gave me this advice, and when I started doing it, it became so much easier to prepare for a gig.

Yep, all true. We rehearse at stage volume, I play much louder than stage volume at home regularly. I know exactly what that amp Is going to do across its entire range. I never hit the front end of the amp with a boost and rarely use the onboard boost function, gain sits at about 2:00 on the dial, past that it just gets thick, not any dirtier. I do use an MXR 10 band eq in the loop but it’s set flat w zero gain addition and is only there for a slight volume bump for solos to get above the band....it’s insane how big that amp sounds when it’s all palm muted down strokes, just lazer tight

 

[DanTravis62]

Yep, all true. We rehearse at stage volume, I play much louder than stage volume at home regularly. I know exactly what that amp Is going to do across its entire range. I never hit the front end of the amp with a boost and rarely use the onboard boost function, gain sits at about 2:00 on the dial, past that it just gets thick, not any dirtier. I do use an MXR 10 band eq in the loop but it’s set flat w zero gain addition and is only there for a slight volume bump for solos to get above the band....it’s insane how big that amp sounds when it’s all palm muted down strokes, just lazer tight

I'm the same way, I use no gain pedals live. I have a CAE line driver, but its actually in the fx loop of the power station I use to power my wet cab, with my delays - simply for a volume boost for certain parts. Especially when at legitimate band volume, you need far less gain than most people would use at a saner "home" volume.

Obviously what I do is overkill, but practicing with the same rig you play at the gig, at the same volume or higher, is the best way to improve as a live player.

 

[fearhk213]

I think this is good advice, especially for woodshedding, but I want to add a caveat;

If you are going to be playing a gig with a tube amp, live, with a band? Practice at full on band volume, and get used to how your amp (and especially YOU) react to it. You'll need far less gain at that volume, and you need to get used to that feel difference, as well as taming noise and whatever routine for fx - tap dancing, midi, whatever. Yes, I'm serious. Play the whole set, by yourself, at full on band volume.

No one ever gave me this advice, and when I started doing it, it became so much easier to prepare for a gig.

For sure. What I mentioned is simply a tool in the tool box. It doesn’t negate the need to fully know one’s rig and the skill set necessary to play live and put on a good performance.

 

[Orvillain]

Sorta depends on the part I think.



For example in this... Parts of it I'm hitting hard, and parts I'm softer and more dynamic.

 

[SpiderWars]

One thing that I've noticed that improves my overall dynamics and control is practicing unplugged.

I sometimes practice in silence and focus on the click of the pick, alternating between loud and soft. I think it helps dynamics and it also helps me get a more consistent click. My upstroke is way weaker than my downstroke and its difficult to get them both exactly the same once you get going.

 

[Bardagh]

It also really depends on your picking grip. I've always held my pick weird, kind of like Steve Morse does (I think Hetfield holds it kind of similarly too, with both index and middle fingers). This grip uses the outer side of the hand for muting and kind of by default makes your hand hover above the strings so "anchoring" or resting was never a thing for me.

I've had to work on developing different picking grips for different things because I ain't no Steve Morse and holding my pick that way helps with some things and hinders others. Holding the pick more "traditionally" between just thumb and index finger I do find it more difficult to play "hard" and my palm mutes always sound "soft" compared to my normal weirdo picking grip. This grip uses a different part of the hand for muting more down towards the bottom of the wrist/meaty drumstick looking part of the thumb and at least for me I can't seem to get the same kind of muting pressure or coverage out of it.

 

[Smash]

I predominantly play metal as well. For me it's more of a woodshed tool, mainly for lead playing. If someone is prone to picking weak, it'll be really obvious so it can encourage them to dig in more for the notes to come out. On the other end of the spectrum, if someone is digging in too hard and slopping up as a result they can focus on the notes connecting more clearly.

yeah. I don't think of lead too much, but i definitely do play single notes a lot unplugged, but when i try to switch back to rhythm, It always pisses me off and i think trains you wrong, because you always try to avoid fret buzz, so playing rhythm unplugged trains you to run through it softly

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Relative to the Adam Jones vid posted at the start of this thread I thinks it’s interesting that Jones posted that with that title given how all over the place his playing is in Tool, that’s an ultra dynamic band and one of the things that makes them great...he’s not always going 100%. I think especially with newer players the concept of how hard you DONT have to play gets lost, I like that middle ground where you can go in either direction if needed. For sure it’s dependent on the song and style of music played, and like Dan mentioned the louder it gets less drive is required but dang that percussive factor goes way up. The other big thing is pick direction - chunky downstroke only rhythms sound way different than the same part played with alternating strokes..... Ramones, Social Distortion, Pennywise, Descendents, all rapid fire downstroke stuff that doesn’t sound or feel right played any other way, and yeah those guys all play pretty aggressively albeit more punk influenced

 

[panhead]

Like playing a plexi on 10, you got to learn how to do it.

 

[RaceU4her]

Has anyone honestly listened to a guitar part and said “wow that guy really hits hard!!”? I can’t say I have.

 

[Smash]

Has anyone honestly listened to a guitar part and said “wow that guy really hits hard!!”? I can’t say I have.

I don't think it is a contest. I think you moreso notice when someone is barely picking the palm mutes cuz it sounds impotent.

 

[Filter500]

Relative to the Adam Jones vid posted at the start of this thread I thinks it’s interesting that Jones posted that with that title given how all over the place his playing is in Tool, that’s an ultra dynamic band and one of the things that makes them great...he’s not always going 100%. I think especially with newer players the concept of how hard you DONT have to play gets lost, I like that middle ground where you can go in either direction if needed. For sure it’s dependent on the song and style of music played, and like Dan mentioned the louder it gets less drive is required but dang that percussive factor goes way up. The other big thing is pick direction - chunky downstroke only rhythms sound way different than the same part played with alternating strokes..... Ramones, Social Distortion, Pennywise, Descendents, all rapid fire downstroke stuff that doesn’t sound or feel right played any other way, and yeah those guys all play pretty aggressively albeit more punk influenced

It's not Adam Jones playing in that video, just a fan, which makes this thread feel misleading although there are good points. I agree with you.

 

[panhead]

Has anyone honestly listened to a guitar part and said “wow that guy really hits hard!!”? I can’t say I have.

Anyone who plays a plexi as in Eddie Schenker Angus etc. Bitch picker couldnt make it happen

 

[DanTravis62]

Anyone who plays a plexi as in Eddie Schenker Angus etc. Bitch picker couldnt make it happen

100%. This is an inarguable fact, to anyone that's actually spent time playing cranked plexis or other super dynamic amps.

If you can't play aggressively with control, you simply cannot cop those tones.

It's the same with a ton of "heavy" sounding rhythm guitar recordings that DONT even use a plexi. Adam Jones from Tool, for a relevant example, uses much less gain than you would assume - his technique is just so solid, and he corrals his aggressive pickstrokes and makes them consistent. Same with hundreds of other great sounding guitar recordings/records.

ESPECIALLY the guys that are hailed as rhythm playing gods, in metal. Ever wonder why Slayer, Iced Earth, Fear Factory, etc use those huge triangle bass picks with powerline-esque strings? Even though they aren't tuned down a ton? It's because they are hitting the absolute shit out of their guitars to get those sounds - it's the evolution of the schenker/EVH/Angus technique, used to get super clarity on heavy ass rhythm tones.

@RaceU4her , its certainly possible that you listen to styles of music which don't require this tonal balance, but I kind of doubt it? Many, many seminal heavy metal rhythm guitarists do this to get their signature sounds.

it's definitely true that most of the "shredder" types DO NOT do this - but tbh im way less impressed with Paul Gilbert's TONE than his PLAYING. Same with Michael Romeo, Impelliteri, Tommy T Baron, etc.

If you aspire to be like those guys, as a player, I totally get it - but at least as far as TONES go, those players aren't the guys who have the tones people aspire to IMO

 

[Metalhex]

I always say, tone is in the technique!

But yeah like someone mentioned before, everyone always says that more distortion hides how sloppy you are....which is partially true. However, if you are a sloppy player with weak picking hand to begin with, having alot of distortion will also make you sound very sloppy and scratchy!