Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi!
I'm Bartek, it's Thursday.
Let's start the blog.
Nr1: I will show You how to warm up properly.
Nr2: Review of - Trivium - In Waves
Nr3: Guitar test - Richwood Artist Series RE-129
Warm Up!
Most overlooked element in guitar playing.
Some say: "It's better to have a drink than warm up..."
It's not another "1-2-3-4,1-2-3-4" exercise. Let's go!
What was it ? Why not just another "1-2-3-4,1-2-3-4" walk around the neck ?
The most popular "1-2-3-4" walk.
Is going to warm up Your fingers only to a small degree.
In reality, You need to get whole arm warmed up. You need to get Your blood flowing!
Moving fingers only will not let you increase your blood flow.
The example You've just seen...
Pushes You...
To grab a whole chord and tense Your muscles. That is a guaranteed warm up.
Ex. nr 2 for Your left hand.
We use legato technique.
Third fret of the G string.
Why You need to use legato ?
Because You need to attack the string without a pick. This will force your muscles and get the blood going. Muscle tension=more blood=better warm up.
OK, now how about the right hand ?
In this case, it's good to now John Petruccis "Rock Discipline".
Exercise I use the most to warm my right hand up is...
You should see an example down there.
What really this exercise does ?
It forces you to skip strings.
It makes your wrist move back and forth
Stimulates blood flow and warms You up.
Of course it's best to exercise with a metronom and practice Your rhythm aswell.
Last thing to do is the hardest one.
Licks used in heavy metal.
I call it "modern gallop".
OK, since the hard work is done
it's time for something more pleasant, a bit of music.
Behind me, You should be able to se the cover and a wallpaper from their newest album Trivium - In Waves
Why did I choose that album ?
I think this is one of the best metal albums till date.
and in my opinion... It's actually best Trivium album.
What's good about it ?
It's a really clear sounding CD
Lots of You could learn and benefit from this on how to make Your album sound good.
Also there are no Hit singles...
For me it's a sign of work well done. They sat down, work they way through and made a good album.
Songs are very diverse.
For example, third song "Dusk Dismantled" is a very heavy, sharp, screaming song 4 all You die hards...
On the other hand nr5 "Watch The World Burn" shows more rock approach with singing vocals and an average rock listener would enjoy it.
What's bad about it?
Trivium parted ways with their drummer Travis, he was replaced by Nick Augusto.
It's just fine because Nick is a better drummer than Travis BUT Travis was a lot more recongizable.
When Travis played on previous CDs You just knew it's Trivium, You knew it's Travis.
Drums on "In Waves" sound just like any other metal record...
Hint about guitars on that album...
You can find on the web "Trivium in Chapman Studios".
They play live, maybe a radio audition and the very first thing I noticed...
Guitars sound just like on the record.
That's rare... I got suspicious.
Most guitar player sounds different from the record because they use completely different amps or settings.
I started to look more carefully...
After going through a couple of clips from the video I noticed there are no mics in there, there are no cabinets, so basically they use Digital unit.
What kind of unit ?
Look closely and You'll see LEDs jumping up and down behind players back.
Which unit has those LEDs ?
Simply, AXE FX.
What does it mean in real life ?
Digital units are good enough to make a world class record. You can use'em live and it will even enhance Your live playing because You will sound like on the record.
To sum it all up.
I recommend You that CD.
Go to Your local store, buy it and that's it!
For dessert... a guitar reminding of a Les Paul Custom.
Now, how much truth is in this. How much alike are those guitars ?
I have to say... Quite much.
First of all it is heavy. You may be surprised 'cause it's heavier than my Gibson.
I had a chance to take this guitar aparat... I'll show it to You how it looks inside (later).
I scratched some paint off and it is really mahogany body.
I am not going to scratch the paint off the neck, can't werify what's in there.
Guitar hardware...
This get's really bad. It's all cheap, metal won't last, paint will come off.
Tuners... I tuned this guitar and they are BAD.
You need to sacrifice some time to make it stay in tune but You can't be confident of playing a whole gig with it.
As You can see the switch is already broken.
How it sounds ? It's going through Suhre SM57 to let You really hear it.
I'm using my Laney GH50L and Marshall 1936 with Celestions G12-75ts
Can't go crazy with it... The owner put 13's or even 14's gauge strings on it... G string is wound. He doesn't bend ;)
Don't know if You could hear it... Guitar is not very well built. I mean the neck bends under pressure even though it's set perfectly.
When You hit it hard... (hear for yourself) It goes out of tune.
Something less interesting for me... Let's hear how it sounds on clean... (neck PU)
Clean will barely make it throughout the gig. Neck PU sucks anyway...
Don't expect to play reggea or Clapton or Pink Floyd... rock ballad will do if You have to play it with this axe...
Few more words about the neck.
The neck itself has a good profile BUT it will not compensate for low quality frets.
You have to spend lots of time to make this thing intonate properly.
Frets wear out quickly aswell, in 2 or 3 months this guitar will need a fret job or even a complet replacement of them.
That's all for today!
That axe will be featured in one of my video clips, You will be able to hear it in a mix with other instruments... See You next time!
OK, I promised to show You the inside... Let's unscrew the cover.
What do We have here ? Not Much to be honest ...
Let's zoom on the wood. Here You can see it's mahogany.
Cables are a mess... Pots are the cheapest chinese stuff You can get... Later !