mystixboi
Well-known member
So I had my lesson with Reb this past Friday. It was pretty excellent. It was an hour long. We spent time first just talking a bit. He talked about Winger and Whitesnake… he even told me the new Winger cd is almost done and played me some of it.
Once we started actual lesson, I just started firing questions at him and he answered every single one. The amp he was using was the same Marshall that was used on the first Winger cd as well as Warrant’s Cherry Pie. At some point, the amp blew and he had John Suhr fix it. Now it sounds like a Suhr… such a killer sounding amp.
As far as what we worked on, of course I asked him about tapping. He was actually shocked/impressed when I showed him how fast I was able to move my pick from picking position to being held with my middle finger as I tap with my index finger. He taps with his middle finger using his ring finger to pluck the string he plans to go to. That’s going to take time for me to get down. We also worked on a few other things, but one thing I really liked was he took basic double stops and blues style riffs and added his own spin. So it was like the blues on steroids.
I asked him what he does to warm up before a show - is it just random, improvised licks and riffing, or does he have a short ‘routine’ to get the blood flowing and the right and left hands in sync?
Answer: He just noodles starting an hour or so before showtime. Nothing in particular, just random noodling. He said that Joel Hoekstra always has a guitar in hand and is always practicing. Joel actually plays each show twice before showtime because he hates making mistakes. Reb actually only seems to play when he “has” to.
I asked him why he prefers the Suhr Standard over the Modern and he said that he doesn’t get along with 24 frets. He doesn’t feel comfortable with 24 frets. I also asked what he likes about EMG’s in his guitars. He said that they are “his” tone. The are consistent and help him get the sound he hears in his head.
We talked about his rhythm playing and how he had 40 songs ready to go for a new Winger album. When he showed them to Kip Winger, Kip thought they sounded too dated. He then brought those songs to Black Swan. The rest is history.
Ironically, we have a very similar style. We both do use legato in our playing. I was shocked that we play that similarly. The main difference is that I use my pinky to get to notes where he taps. At one point, I showed him a tapping run that I came across one of his youtube guitar lessons. When I showed him what I had gotten so far, he made a comment that I was already tapping pretty well. At this point, it would be if I wanted to change my technique to do what he does or continue to do what I've been doing. I'm going to have to figure that out.
All in all, he was incredibly gracious and I’d like to do it again, but I have to get some of these techniques down. He has some killer Suhr guitars.
Once we started actual lesson, I just started firing questions at him and he answered every single one. The amp he was using was the same Marshall that was used on the first Winger cd as well as Warrant’s Cherry Pie. At some point, the amp blew and he had John Suhr fix it. Now it sounds like a Suhr… such a killer sounding amp.
As far as what we worked on, of course I asked him about tapping. He was actually shocked/impressed when I showed him how fast I was able to move my pick from picking position to being held with my middle finger as I tap with my index finger. He taps with his middle finger using his ring finger to pluck the string he plans to go to. That’s going to take time for me to get down. We also worked on a few other things, but one thing I really liked was he took basic double stops and blues style riffs and added his own spin. So it was like the blues on steroids.
I asked him what he does to warm up before a show - is it just random, improvised licks and riffing, or does he have a short ‘routine’ to get the blood flowing and the right and left hands in sync?
Answer: He just noodles starting an hour or so before showtime. Nothing in particular, just random noodling. He said that Joel Hoekstra always has a guitar in hand and is always practicing. Joel actually plays each show twice before showtime because he hates making mistakes. Reb actually only seems to play when he “has” to.
I asked him why he prefers the Suhr Standard over the Modern and he said that he doesn’t get along with 24 frets. He doesn’t feel comfortable with 24 frets. I also asked what he likes about EMG’s in his guitars. He said that they are “his” tone. The are consistent and help him get the sound he hears in his head.
We talked about his rhythm playing and how he had 40 songs ready to go for a new Winger album. When he showed them to Kip Winger, Kip thought they sounded too dated. He then brought those songs to Black Swan. The rest is history.
Ironically, we have a very similar style. We both do use legato in our playing. I was shocked that we play that similarly. The main difference is that I use my pinky to get to notes where he taps. At one point, I showed him a tapping run that I came across one of his youtube guitar lessons. When I showed him what I had gotten so far, he made a comment that I was already tapping pretty well. At this point, it would be if I wanted to change my technique to do what he does or continue to do what I've been doing. I'm going to have to figure that out.
All in all, he was incredibly gracious and I’d like to do it again, but I have to get some of these techniques down. He has some killer Suhr guitars.
