Monday, January 14, 2008

Free - All Right Now + TAB

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Watch the video and play along its a nice simple one to learn and helps perfect the old vibrato
loads of attitude is the only way to play this classic so give it some beans


The main riff to this song is best played with two guitarists
to give that slightly 'out of sync' sound. It is best played with
a bridge pickup (preferably humbucking), and a mild
overdrive to give some 'bite'.




Main Riff:
~~~~~~~~~~

---------------|------------|--------------------------|----|-----------------
-2-----------3-|--2---------|-3-3--0--3-----3-3-3-3----|-2--|-----------------
-2-----------2-|--2---------|-0-0--0--0-----2-2-2-2----|-2--|-----------------
-2-----------4-|--2--------2|-4-4--0--4-----4-4-4-4----|-2--|-----------------
-0--------0----|--0--------0|------------0--0-----0--0-|-0--|-----------------
---------------|------------|--------------------------|----|-----------------
This section changes slightly, but only by
a note or two and you can't tell much.

Chorus:
~~~~~~~

------------------|----|----------------|-|-----------------|--|-----------|
------------------|----|----------------|-|-----------------|--|-----------|
--9---9---9-----7-|----|--7---7-------9-|-|-9---9---9-----7-|--|--7--7---2-|
--7---7---7-----5-|----|--4---4-------7-|-|-7---7---7-----5-|--|--4--4---2-|
--0---0---0-9-7-0-|----|--5---5-------0-|-|-0---0---0-9-7-0-|--|--5--5---0-|
------------------|----|----------------|-|-----------------|--|-----------|
All right now.. ..all right now


Solo
~~~~

--------|----------|----------|---------------|-|--------0-----------|--------
--------|----------|----------|---------------|-|--3/5-----/7---7/5--|--------
-0h2vvv-|--/4--2/4-|-4/2--vvv-|--2/4---4/2vvv-|-|--------------------|--------
--------|----------|----------|---------------|-|--------------------|--------
--------|----------|----------|---------------|-|--------------------|--------
--------|----------|----------|---------------|-|--------------------|--------


------0------------|-|------5--------------|-|-------|--|---------------------
-5------/7----7/5--|-|---------------------|-|-8/10--|--|---------------------
-------------------|-|-2h4-----4b5r4--2vvv-|-|-------|--|---------------------
-------------------|-|---------------------|-|-------|--|---------------------
-------------------|-|---------------------|-|-------|--|---------------------
-------------------|-|---------------------|-|-------|--|---------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-10----10----10----10----10--12b14vvv-----------------------------------------
---9h11--9h11--9h11--9h11-----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
x2

---------------------------|-|----0--------------|-|---0-------------------||-
-13b14--r12--10------10vvv-|-|-12b14r12-10----10-|-|-12-b14-r12-10----10vv-||-
------------------11-------|-|--------------11---|-|----------------11-----||-
---------------------------|-|-------------------|-|-----------------------||-
---------------------------|-|-------------------|-|-----------------------||-
---------------------------|-|-------------------|-|-----------------------||-
rp12

------17-----17-----17-----17-----17-|-----------17---20b22|-r20p17-20--------
-17h20--17h20--17h20--17h20--17h20---|-20b22vvv-----17-----|------------------
-------------------------------------|---------------------|------------------
-------------------------------------|---------------------|------------------
-------------------------------------|---------------------|------------------
-------------------------------------|---------------------|------------------


---------17---------|-|-17-----17-----17-----17-----17-----17-|---------------
-20b22vv---20b22vv--|-|---17h20--17h20--17h20--17h20--17h20---|---------------
--------------------|-|---------------------------------------|---------------
--------------------|-|---------------------------------------|---------------
--------------------|-|---------------------------------------|---------------
--------------------|-|---------------------------------------|---------------
Wide

------------17----|-20b22-r20-22----r20p17-|-20-----------17-|----------------
-20b22--22-----17-|------------------------|----20b22vvv-----|----------------
------------------|------------------------|-----------------|----------------
------------------|------------------------|-----------------|----------------
------------------|------------------------|-----------------|----------------
------------------|------------------------|-----------------|----------------
rp prebend

------------------------|---|--------|----------------------------------------
-20--22-r-20--19-17vvvvv|vvv|vv------|----------------------------------------
------------------------|---|--------|----------------------------------------
------------------------|---|--------|----------------------------------------
------------------------|---|--------|----------------------------------------
------------------------|---|--------|----------------------------------------
pb

SOLOS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT IN THE VIDEO BECAUSE IT WAS LIVE THIS IS THE VERSION FROM THERE ALBUM

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN/p>

GUITAR ELECTRICS - WANT TO SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO CHANGE YOUR PICKUPS???

Its easy to change your own pickups you don't need to know what everything does or how it works its a simple quick job that anyone who can solder and replace wires like for like can do.

All you have to do is work methodically, there are usually two wires on pickups one is your hot the other is your ground so the the ground go's to the ground point ( back of the pot's ) on your guitar, the hot goes to whichever tab on the pot that you removed the wire from.

If you have four conductor wiring on your pickups then consult the wiring diagram that came with them, find out which wire is which the two extra wires will be for coil tapping, if you are not useing the coil taps then tape the ends and leave the wires in the cavity and wire them up same as before. If you are using them you will need a wiring diagram for coil tapping, phase switching etc and should follow that but lets just stick to a straight swap for now.

Here's a video showing just how simple it is.

GUITAR ELECTRICS - SHEILDING AND GROUNDING - WHY DO I CARE?????



Ever been irritated by the fact that when you go near fluorescent lights, or TVs, or PC monitors in the studio you get followed around by that buzz. well maybe its time to sort it out, I'm not saying it will completely cure it but i know full well that by properly shielding your guitar you can make it a lot quieter, allowing you to crank your amp up that extra couple of notches before it even kicks in.

Whats the point in spending all that money on pickups,capacitors,potentiometer's etc if your sound is always going to be drowned out or coloured by the buzz.

This is one of the many areas that is constantly overlooked when fine tuning your guitar and shielding and grounding schemes go hand in hand , and fortunately its a cheap and easy fix.

People who do these modifications are split into two groups

1- Those who don't do it properly or have poor instructions and whinge when it does not work.

2 - Those that do it correctly following good instructions and reap the rewards.


Whats the difference between the two usually the grounding scheme if the shielding isn't grounded it will not work anywhere near as well.

The point is sadly very few manufacturers place any shielding in the cavities , and rely heavily on shielded cables as there only defence which just isn't enough.

So here's the best set of instructions i have ever come across explaining how to apply shielding to your guitar as well as a couple of guides for installing better grounding schemes.


Soon you could be hearing the quieter more dynamic tone that you've been chasing.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

GUITAR ELECTRICS – POTENTIONMETERS ( POTS ) – WHY DO I CARE?



Well as with any of the electrical components inside your guitar, the pots could be the final overlooked stumbling block in finding the tone of your dreams as they are in essence in control of shaping your sound.

Using the wrong value, type, or just poor quality pots could be ruining all the other upgrades you may have done so far, and the good news is they are a cheap and easy fix.

So what do they do?

That’s a long answer but pots are basically a variable resistor, which can be wired in several different ways for different jobs within the guitar and amp, there are also several different types and values so lets start with the types.

Types of Potentionmeterss

There are two types of pot used inside guitars, Audio Taper and Linear Taper both do the same job but in very different ways.













Linear Taper Pots are quite self-explanatory when you turn the knob half way you have half of the resistance. These tend to be used by most for their tone controls as you have an even, logical response across the range, although this is as always a matter of personal preference.

Audio Taper pots on the other hand where specifically designed to react in a completely different way. Our ears respond to sound on an exponential scale. A sound has to be 10 times as powerful for us to hear it as twice as loud. For a 4× increase in volume, it must be 100 times as powerful. This kind of increase gives a curve like the one above, audio taper pots have been designed with this in mind and tend to be used by most as volume controls as they give a more natural increase in volume.


Values of Potentionmeters


There are many values available but the ones most commonly used are 250k-ohm, 500k-ohm, and 1 Meg ohm. There are some general rules of thumb surrounding which pots to use with which pickups but none of these are set in stone. So feel free to experiment.

Medium impedance pickups (i.e. high output single coils & low output humbuckers) generally sound best with 250k - 330k ohm pots. With some, you may be able to justify 500k-ohm pots, but again… Depending on your pickups and taste, you might find that too brittle.

Higher impedance pickups (i.e. modern humbuckers) can scrape by with 300k ohm pots if you like the dark tone, but you’ll get much more clarity at 500k ohms. This is especially the case with modern pickups that are designed to be “hotter” versions of Gibson’s “Patent Applied For” humbuckers of the late 1950s.

Very high impedance pickups (i.e. modern metal passive humbuckers) generally behave well with 500k-ohm pots, but you might find that 1,000,000-ohm (1M ohm) pots work for you.


One other thing of note is that due to the manufacturing tolerances of plus or minus 20-30% percent a 500k pot could measure anywhere between 350K-600K this is where the buying quality parts comes in. You can buy calibrated sets, which can be expensive, but there are several modifications that can be done to bring them up to value. Go to the Les Paul Forum for more information on that one.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

GUITAR ELECTRICS - WHY SHOULD I LEARN TO SOLDER?


When i first started playing guitar i didn't even think about opening the covers on the back of my guitar, its not my business, i don't know what it is what it does, wouldn't know what to do with it .

After spending nearly £100 getting a tech to sort out all my wiring, two scratchy pots and a jack upgrade i finally realised how much it cost me for being lazy so i decided to learn to solder.

This opened up a whole new world for me , scratchy pot ten minutes with the iron sorted, pickup change no problem , haven't looked back since so here's what i found out before having a go it just takes a little practise and you'll get it.

THE BASIC TOOLS

One half decent soldering iron 30-45w
Rosin core solder
Sponge
needle-nose pliers
wire cutters
wire strippers
solder sucker

I managed to get all my gear for around £30 and this lot will keep me going for a couple of years!!

THE BASIC TECHNIQUE

1- PLUG SOLDERING IRON IN WAIT 2-5 MINUTES TO HEAT UP
2- "TIN" THE END OF YOUR IRON ( MELT SOLDER ONTO TIP )
3- WIPES TIP IN THE DAMP SPONGE
4- "TIN" THE END OF THE CABLE OR THE LUG OF POT OR JACK
5- HOLD THE WIRE ON THE COMPONENT
6- APPLY HEAT AND SOLDER TO THE JOINT
7- REMOVE IRON AND ALLOW TO COOL
8- TEST JOINT

THERE ARE PLENTY OF ONLINE ARTICLES COVERING SOLDERING I SUGGEST READING THEM ALL AND WITH A BIT OF PRACTISE YOU'LL NOW REPAIR YOUR CABLES ,REWIRE YOUR GUITAR AND CHANGE YOUR PICKUPS. OH AND SAVE MONEY TO SPEND ON MORE GEAR HAPPY DAYS

Thursday, January 3, 2008

GUITAR ELECTRICS - CAPACITORS - WHY DO I CARE??




If you've opened up the back of a guitar before no doubt you have noticed those little tubes/discs attached to the back of your tone pots these little beauties do next to nothing when your tone controls are set at ten but as soon as you turn the tone knobs down your bringing them into play.

So what are they doing?
?

Well there's no need to get into high pass filters etc the basic principal is a capacitor bleeds off the higher frequencies (treble) from the signal to ground so the more you turn the tone knob down the more treble is bleed from the signal .

Well lets say your happy with your pickups overall but the neck/bridge is a bit bright?


This is where capacitors come into there own by changing the value of your capacitors you can fine tune the pickups to your liking neck pickup a bit bright well increase the value of the capacitor, want to add abit more definition to your mids, decrease the capacitor. simple


Common Capacitor Values
.005 mf Treble and bright flow though easily
.033 mf Cuts out a small amount of brights, has good mid range,
.047 mf Beefier sounding, lots of mids and bass , most electric guitars don't exceed this value
.100 mf Bass sounding, almost all brights are gone, used mostly in electric bass and active pickups


The above is just an example there are loads more values available

Capacitors are measured in both microfarad's and voltage both effect the tone and both react in different ways
traditionally the voltages have been between 200-400 volts though

If you're fealing brave, desolder the excisting capacitors and then use jumper leads attached to a new capacitor you can have a play and see what your ear likes as a dry run to find what you like they can be quite a cheap experiment often with surprising results you might hate it but you can put them back with relative ease

I found it useful buying a few cheap capacitors to experiment with as it helped narrow the field abit .
There are loads to choose from and everyone's got there favorite but this way you know the value (mf) that you want rather than going and buying some vintage originals only to be dissapointed because they were the wrong value.

For some reason they also can sound slightly different when they are switched end to end so have a play because its all about what you like!!!

WARNING

Being an idiot with a soldering iron inside a guitar can break things so when i say relative ease i mean it
its not rocket science just read up and get everything you need if you dont fancy it take it to a guitar tech