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When playing power chords or lead lines, how do you achieve (manually, without the help of effects) a tighter sound?

I'm not referring to palm muting, but more subtle techniques such as hitting harder or changing the angle of the pick.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks =)

Double track your stuff a bunch, it'll help you become a tighter player overall.

Other than that, try to have a loose feeling... it's hard to explain, but everything should just flow. Or are you meaning a nice tight percussive like fast run like Vai and Petrucci do all the time? Or just tightening up the lead playing overall, getting rid of excess string noise, playing notes clearly and in perfect time, etc?

Thanks for the dbl track tip Jeff.

I'm looking for all those you covered. Give me some pointers.

For the real tight, percussive fast runs, nothing but practice can help you with that. I'd highly recommend recording your progressive to review every 3 months or so, and slow it down to really analyze every hit, and re-record until you get it right.

For getting rid of excess noise, and clearness of notes, that's also alot of practice, but also technique. Mute the strings with both your left and right hands. When I'm doing legato lines, it's gotten to the point where my right hand is muting almost every string but the one being played on. That also comes into play on the faster, picked runs, too.

Come to think of it; just to show how I mute those top strings when I'm doing leads: When I'm really getting into it, often the round bit of my palm near my thumb is pushing the low E so it's actually in contact with the top edge of the bridge pickup.

Perhaps try some different picks

Consciously angling the pick to not hit the string as squarely also helps quot;definequot; the tone a bit, at a loss of some quot;fatquot;

Always practice to a drum machine, and you'll notice your timing and phrasing improve drastically. It'll keep you from writing riffs or licks that aren't phrased right.

After that, the finger technique will kinda fall into place, because it'll be forced to stay in time.

Can you define what you're looking for, Bee? The word quot;tightnessquot; can have a ton of different meanings. Is it a matter of timing, of tone, of technique, etc., or do you know?

Ahh... tight percussive riffs... I think that would equate to tight technique, at least tight chord technique.

Cheers for the tips, d00ds.

Ok, one more question to clarify things for me, if you will. When you say quot;power chordsquot;, I'm assuming that you mean a two-note chord with a root and a fifth. Is that right?

Yep, that's what I'm referring to.

Is a power chord also one that consists of three notes, two roots and a fifth?
Also, give me some tips on how to finger chords and make all the individual notes ring out. Sometimes I find that difficult.


Originally Posted by RainmakerYep, that's what I'm referring to.

Is a power chord also one that consists of three notes, two roots and a fifth?
Also, give me some tips on how to finger chords and make all the individual notes ring out. Sometimes I find that difficult.

Thanks. Now I understand what you're asking, I think.

Yeah, a power chord can consist of a root, a fifth, and a root, I guess. For me, I try to define the quot;power chordquot; more clearly by moving it into the next higher octave or by including roots and fifths that are in the next octave up.

I'm a theory retard, so give me a little latitude. I wish that I could just show you this instead of trying to write it, but I guess that's the value of actually being able to read music for guitar. Instead of playing an A as 6th string/5th fret and 5th string/7th fret, I'll play 4th string/2nd fret, 3rd string/2nd fret, 2nd string/5th fret, or 4th string/7th fret, 3rd string/9th fret, and 2nd string/10th fret. Eric Johnson is a master of using these various chord voicings to achieve the sound he desires.

As far as the other interpretations, I think that Jonesy gave you some good advice when he suggested that you use a metronome or drum machine to help with timing.

I'm taking out the guitar right now. Cheersies.

Yep, they are more percussive, defined and less flabby! I already knew the section voicing... but the first one is a new one. For the second voicing, the root is on the middle string. Cheers!