hi everybody

when i was younger i use to play (ok it's not the right term...) electric guitar in a hc punk band...just power chords in 3-chords-songs.

now friends give me a guitar just to play on my own...

i'm askin' if out there there's a manual or a method to play electric guitar in "our" way...rock guitar in a "garage punk" style...i don't want to loose any time in stupid and boring stuff...

thanx

Set your tone with a good amount of mid, some gain, and play hard. HAVE FUN.

Cheap guitar, fuzz, 4 chords, a few wild notes and there you go, GRGPNK.

Download some drum samples or loops off the net and have fun building beats. For garagey stuff, it don't take much! I've wasted more time waiting for drummers to show up than I care to admit. Steve's surf drum samples worked perfect for my type of sour mash garage tunes.

 

Your pal,

 

Frank

jailbird said:

On a similar note(and completely serious - disregard my joke above) - what are the best things to drum on for a home recording/bedroom 4 track setup that sound good and lo-fi(ala Jay Reatards bedroom recordings, etc)when you dont actually have drums and/or a drummer? Ive tried boxes and buckets, but if anyone knows of a better solution besides getting a drummer, lemme know. Thanx.

to the drumming question, a small cardboard box of old bolts and a suitcase sounds pretty cool with reverb!

They didn't use pedals, but a lot of garage bands used Reverb in the 60's..natural hall reverbs ( I know Link Wray recorded songs this way ) and Spring Reverb Units. I recently bought a Vibro Champ XD ( Tube Hybrid amp ) and I swear by it..I can get very decent overdriven tones on the tweed setting and the blackface clean settings are damn close..I've owned a Pro, Super and Twin Reverbs and it's %95 there. Most solid state/hybrid amps are rubbish, but I have found the Vox Pathfinder 15R & Vibro Champ XD to be solid amps for practise & recording basic demos.

Bamalama Records said:

I am not a believer in distortion pedals - too friggin' metal and rawk. Overdrive your amp - that's the only distortion you need. Or loosen a tube like Link Wray. Slash your speaker cone with a razor blade (that's how Dave Davies did it and I swear by it but I have several amps) and it's not that expensive to put in a new cone.  Get an amp with tremolo or, most importantly, REVERB! DON'T GET A REVERB PEDAL!! Nothing sounds worse... A tremolo unit is ok if you can't get an amp with both but reverb pedals are the seed of Stan's nutsack. Nobody in the 50s or 60s were using pedals and you don't need 'em. Get a fuzz for solos or single note riffs but distortion pedals - bleh. People rely WAY too much in pedals these days (that and fucking modeling amps - LOSER) and they don't sound organic - they sound fake and sterile and shitty (and not in the way you want it to sound shitty). Cheap guitars aren't really necessary but they will work well. My main guitar these days is a Kent Americana.

 

Listen to records you like and learn the songs and then STEAL THEM! You'll learn everything you need to know. Lessons, books, etc are overrated and a waste of money.

yeah! & here's our pedalboard setup:

I am not a believer in distortion pedals - too friggin' metal and rawk. Overdrive your amp - that's the only distortion you need. Or loosen a tube like Link Wray. Slash your speaker cone with a razor blade (that's how Dave Davies did it and I swear by it but I have several amps) and it's not that expensive to put in a new cone.  Get an amp with tremolo or, most importantly, REVERB! DON'T GET A REVERB PEDAL!! Nothing sounds worse... A tremolo unit is ok if you can't get an amp with both but reverb pedals are the seed of Stan's nutsack. Nobody in the 50s or 60s were using pedals and you don't need 'em. Get a fuzz for solos or single note riffs but distortion pedals - bleh. People rely WAY too much in pedals these days (that and fucking modeling amps - LOSER) and they don't sound organic - they sound fake and sterile and shitty (and not in the way you want it to sound shitty). Cheap guitars aren't really necessary but they will work well. My main guitar these days is a Kent Americana.

 

Listen to records you like and learn the songs and then STEAL THEM! You'll learn everything you need to know. Lessons, books, etc are overrated and a waste of money.

You don't need a manual or method.  Then everything would sound the same.  I think you are going about this the wrong way.  Play what you want to play.  The key is keeping with a raw and rock n roll sound.  It's up to you how to approach that. 

 

You can look around here and see the primitive more punk type bands, the more 60s sound inspired bands and everything inbetween.  Doesn't matter if you're into the Ramones, the Cramps, the Sonics, Billy Childish or whatever else.  Go with what you think is right, don't let others dictate your sound. 

 

haha right on.

Sara said:

In my humble opinion, the best thing to do is learn the 5-tone blues scale and listen to a lot of Billy Childish....

listen to lots of johnny thunders,ny dolls,ramones,dead boys,mc5,stooges,and the waldos...along with link wray,billy childish,the kinks,chuck berry, and also learn the pentatonic scale.

Garge Punk

Gear/Tone:
Cheap ass Strat Copy, Teisco etc. Fender/Vox/Silvertone/RottenTube amp slightly overdriven, touch or a bunch of reverb.
Fuzz pedals are a good idea...I think generally the raspier the better. Stay away from a fuzz face.

 

Full chords to me seem much more garage punk so play those. Add some shitty penatonic riffs in there to.
Listen to Billy Childish, The Troggs, The Reatards & any other band rocking out with shitty guitars and body odor.

 

ABSOLUTLY BRILLIANT ANSWER! Billy Childish - THE BEST!!!!! Sara said:

In my humble opinion, the best thing to do is learn the 5-tone blues scale and listen to a lot of Billy Childish....

Yep thats what everybody else does, otherwise it turns into jazz! ;-) Vagabonds said:

I need to play more slide.

Oh and I need some more rockabilly type licks. I swear to god I just keep using the same two over and over.

I need to play more slide.

Oh and I need some more rockabilly type licks. I swear to god I just keep using the same two over and over.

get yourself an alamo amp. or a gretsch bass amp, also a fender reverb unit & maybe some kind of tape echo like a copicat or echoplex.
get a harmony bobkat or silhouette guitar & your set

Only one disadvantage with having the pickups close to the strings is they can 'pull' the strings out of tune slightly due to the magnetic pull, but I dont seem to have had this problem yet......
What guitar do you use Joenzy? I find it works best on single coils, humbuckers get a bit 'heavy' but I guess it depends on the guitar, let me know what it sounds like...

i'm adjusting mah pickups right now... thanx for the tip! The Branded said:

yes thats a good point, 'hitting the strings hard' when you use a tube amp with a good overdrive pedal really effects the dynamics of the sound, gives a nice natural overdrive sound .Another cheap trick is to adjust your pickups to as near as you can to the strings, this will produce some good raw sounds too, then just hit an e chord and see what happens....... TWWWWAAAAAANNGGGGGG!!! he he

yes thats a good point, 'hitting the strings hard' when you use a tube amp with a good overdrive pedal really effects the dynamics of the sound, gives a nice natural overdrive sound .Another cheap trick is to adjust your pickups to as near as you can to the strings, this will produce some good raw sounds too, then just hit an e chord and see what happens....... TWWWWAAAAAANNGGGGGG!!! he he

nah, you ain't gots to study that. studying music theory is subjective for me personally. even the Beatles weren't the best guitar players. it's what they did with what they had. arrangements and so on. what matters more than technicalities is in the art of your soul. you can play just one chord - but it's the way you play that chord. I'd listen to a guitar player that has heart and rawness and a certain amount of wild abandon over somebody that had a real slick sound and knows all the triads and what have yous. it's all about personal taste. just play, man. get lost. lose your mind. and hit those strings as hard as you can... croatoa said:

so i have to study pentatonic major and minor???what do you think about this

http://all-guitar-chords.com/

??

so i have to study pentatonic major and minor???what do you think about this

http://all-guitar-chords.com/

??

I couldn't have said it better myself... oh wait ah minute - I kinda did. nah, just joshin' (joking for those that rock out elsewheres) no, right fucking on! uh, yeah i been ah drinkin'! Dave H said:

Jesse said:

For link wray i's say ' Commanche' and for the kinks ' You Really Got Me'

IMHO, Link's "Rumble" and the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night". For that matter, just learn it all. Play along to your records (you can cheat by grabbing some online tabs, but be forewarned, they all are usually wrong in some way or another). If you don't want to waste time playing "stupid and boring stuff" then don't play stupid and boring stuff. Truth is, the best players know their scales enough to forget them. Not all the scales, just the major and blues scales -- don't want to scare you ; )

Jesse said:

For link wray i's say ' Commanche' and for the kinks ' You Really Got Me'

IMHO, Link's "Rumble" and the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night". For that matter, just learn it all. Play along to your records (you can cheat by grabbing some online tabs, but be forewarned, they all are usually wrong in some way or another). If you don't want to waste time playing "stupid and boring stuff" then don't play stupid and boring stuff. Truth is, the best players know their scales enough to forget them. Not all the scales, just the major and blues scales -- don't want to scare you ; )

I've used a squire 15w a few times for a good punk sound, but those little tube fender champs sound way better, havent heard those little vox's, I tried a a small gretsch 5w tube the other day and it wasnt bad, its meant for blues but with my jag it was more punk, could be good for recording, but not loud enough with a brick handed drummer jailbird said:

I have two words for anyone who doubts the 5 watt amp - Vox DA5. This little bastard amp has kept my playing just fine for me- loud and clear, and when miked, it really lights shit up.
http://www.activemusician.com/store/product.asp?sku=EM.VOX-DA5&...

jailbird said:

I have two words for anyone who doubts the 5 watt amp - Vox DA5. This little bastard amp has kept my playing just fine for me- loud and clear, and when miked, it really lights shit up.
http://www.activemusician.com/store/product.asp?sku=EM.VOX-DA5&...

Or maybe one roughed up a bit for custom distortion?!