Playing the rhythm parts to 5150 is hard!

[SpiderWars]

It's one of my favorites and I'm struggling with it. And as I was looking for youtube assistance I notice Deraps had a video and even he doesn't really cover it that great either (no disrespect, the dude is awesome). Getting the right feel and all is eluding me, just sounds sloppy and doesn't flow. Once again, it seems many of my favorite players were great rhythm players.

Any EVH experts got any tips? Other than 'stop sucking at guitar'.

 

[Mailman1971]

That song is a bitch!! But one my all time faves as well
Good friend of mine nails it completely.
He is a great guitarist. And said he struggled with it.

 

[ChurchHill]

Sorry I don't have any tips for that song, but I will agree that most, if not all, of my favorite players are great rhythm players, too. I think being able to weave around the beat like good rhythm players do makes them better lead players. EVH is a great example of that, as is Vito Bratta, or for that matter Hendrix. Come to think of it, some of my favorite players ARE rhythm guitarists (Malcolm Young, Hetfield, etc.).

Love that song, BTW! Good luck working it out! I don't know it, but I can definitely see what you mean. Maybe I'll give it a shot, too. I could use a new challenge... last week was a long week.

 

[Jayy]

Yes, the rhythm sections of 5150 are all challenging as hell. Here is a video I did just trying to capture the tone I was getting slaving my project amp I built and running an Eventide H910 on the right side. I didn't do a very good job recording it or with mic placement. It's not great playing at all either, but it is probably the best I ever played it while recording myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVGsfrjiYcs&t=16s

 

[paulyc]

^^^ link no workee ^^^

 

[Jayy]

^^^ link no workee ^^^

It should work now. Hell, it ain't worth watching anyway really! LOL.

 

[SpiderWars]

That's sounds pretty good Jayy, way better than where I'm at. I just realized when listening to your clip that I was using my usual EJ Jazz III pick and for me, using a plain ole Fender Medium or Heavy always captures EVH better.

LOL, yeah that's the ticket. Change picks.

 

[Jayy]

That's sounds pretty good Jayy, way better than where I'm at. I just realized when listening to your clip that I was using my usual EJ Jazz III pick and for me, using a plain ole Fender Medium or Heavy always captures EVH better.

LOL, yeah that's the ticket. Change picks.

Thanks! That was a really rough recording job. I hear ya on the picks. I either use a Fender medium or a Dunlop Flow .88 all the time. I always had a hard time trying to use the Jazz picks I tried.

 

[ChurchHill]

Hey, Jayy, that sounds great!! That H910 is such a big part of that sound, too. That's a really cool thing to have at your disposal. I know exactly what you mean about those Jazz picks. I could never really gel with them, either.

 

[Jayy]

Hey, Jayy, that sounds great!! That H910 is such a big part of that sound, too. That's a really cool thing to have at your disposal. I know exactly what you mean about those Jazz picks. I could never really gel with them, either.

Thanks. It was rough, both playing and recording. I never could get the mic placement where it suited me and it never sounded as good as it did in the room. I have about given up on trying to learn microphone placement.

Yeah the H910 and H949 were a big part of Ed's sound, especially from Fair Warning through 0U812.

 

[MrDowntown]

That was awesome Jayy.
Tell me about that orange guitar....

 

[Jayy]

That was awesome Jayy.
Tell me about that orange guitar....

Thanks. The guitar is one I built from Warmoth parts. It is a birds eye maple neck and a maple body. I was originally going to use an opaque color nitro finish of some sort, but after getting the body and seeing the fine quilt and birds eye pattern it had I decided to use a tint nitro finish and let the interesting stuff in the grain shine through. It is hard to capture in pics, but it is more visible in person. The neck is a 12" to 16" compound radius and right now it has an EVH Frankenstein pickup in it. It also has a German Floyd Rose and R2 nut and medium jumbo stainless frets. It's a great playing guitar. I attached some pics I took of it while I was doing some final buffing on the finish and tried to capture some of the figuring in the wood.

 

[craftm1]

The guitar is Awesome! Nicely done and love the Orange

 

[Jayy]

The guitar is Awesome! Nicely done and love the Orange

Thank You! The orange one and my deep bluish/purplish one are my overall favorites that I have built. The blue/purple one I did with Musikraft parts and used a flamed maple neck and alder body. It has stainless frets and a compound radius neck. I coated the body with the same Behlen nitro lacquer but mixed up a neat deep blue opaque tint that looks blue in bright light but more deep purple in softer/dimmer light. I installed a Duncan Custom Shop RTM pickup in it and spent a lot of time working on setup on both of those guitars. They both took a lot of time, but both feel and sound great.

 

[Jayy]

It just dawned on my I never even tried to address SpiderWars original question. Man, I really don't have many tips for how to nail 5150 because I really can't get it nailed myself. It is a hard song and I'm not at all an expert player. All I can suggest is once you have learned all of the rhythm parts play along with the song and try to get the phrasing and attack down. It is hard!

 

[SpiderWars]

Both look awesome Jayy. Makes my old Warmoth look pedestrian although mine plays and sounds great.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[SpiderWars]

Warmoth on far right. Old Kramer Focus (I bought new in '87-ish) with Musikraft neck I finished with TruOil on far left.

 

[Jayy]

Warmoth on far right. Old Kramer Focus (I bought new in '87-ish) with Musikraft neck I finished with TruOil on far left.

Nice! What pickups do you favor in those things?

 

[SpiderWars]

Nice! What pickups do you favor in those things?

The Warmoth has a Duncan Custom 5 and 59n. The Kramer has a Duncan Pegasus/DiMarzio Chopper/DiMarzio Air Norton S. The Chubtone has Duncan Pegasus/Sentient. The D'Avanzo has DiMarzio Breeds. I'll probably swap the Pegasus in the Kramer for something a little hotter. I really like the tone of the Pegasus but sometimes want more. But the one in the Chubtone sounds right in that guitar (possibly because since the are double cream they are Custom Shop)...the Sentient is slightly overwound. The Breeds did not work in another 22 fret guitar but in the 24 fret D'Avanzo they sound awesome. That one might be the best sounding one.

 

[Jayy]

Nice! What pickups do you favor in those things?

The Warmoth has a Duncan Custom 5 and 59n. The Kramer has a Duncan Pegasus/DiMarzio Chopper/DiMarzio Air Norton S. The Chubtone has Duncan Pegasus/Sentient. The D'Avanzo has DiMarzio Breeds. I'll probably swap the Pegasus in the Kramer for something a little hotter. I really like the tone of the Pegasus but sometimes want more. But the one in the Chubtone sounds right in that guitar (possibly because since the are double cream they are Custom Shop)...the Sentient is slightly overwound. The Breeds did not work in another 22 fret guitar but in the 24 fret D'Avanzo they sound awesome. That one might be the best sounding one.

The only one of those pickups I've even tried is the Duncan Custom 5. it was cool, but I preferred the regular Custom with ceramic magnet. Pairing pickups with guitars is tedious. It's a lot of trial and error, for me anyway.