Members twanguero Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 ^ killer drummer is essential in surf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twanguero Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 That Hal Leonard play along surf book is a great starting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lerxst1031 Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 Dick Dale = King of Surf Guitar. Listen Lots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vixo Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 16p18p20p38w48w58w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpectralJulian Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 I'd love to have a guitar strung like that. The guitar I want to do it to has no truss rod though & I'm pretty sure those strings would destroy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members iamthearm Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 Start learning some of your favourite surf songs by ear. They Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A.P. Ryder Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 Dick Dale uses heavy-ass strings (is that his gauge up there?^^). He said the neck of his guitar is warped beyond belief and he is the only one who can play it. I'm not surprised, as I have the Dick Dale custom shop strat, and it has one of the thinnest necks of any guitar I've played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vixo Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 I'd love to have a guitar strung like that. The guitar I want to do it to has no truss rod though & I'm pretty sure those strings would destroy it. yeah, you'll love it. I re-stringed my strato with 0.14, 18, 18, 28, 38, 58 in standard tuning after an article i read about dick dale some years ago. i had f#f#ggaa tuning before on that guitar with heavy strings also and all the five spring mounted inside. this gave me an ok set-up when i switched to the dale's gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 Dick Dale uses heavy-ass strings (is that his gauge up there?^^). He said the neck of his guitar is warped beyond belief and he is the only one who can play it. I'm not surprised, as I have the Dick Dale custom shop strat, and it has one of the thinnest necks of any guitar I've played. Guitar World last month they interview Billy Gibbons. He said that he was sharing a dressing room with B.B. King early in their career. B.B. asked Billy why he was using such heavy gauge strings and Billy replied that he was trying to get that tone from the old days. B.B. replied that that's all they had back then, you're doing too much work son. I kinda agree. I've had some tree trunks on some guitars in the past and honestly I think it's all in your hands. Meaning that I sound pretty much the same with whatever gauge strings I slap on with the exception that the ability to bend strings really has me working for it like B.B. says. I think if you're looking to deter yourself from bending like say for jazz go for it because the thicker you go the less likely you'll want to bend. Billy has a new set of strings in .007 gauge, the guy still sounds the same all these years later go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A.P. Ryder Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 Guitar World last month they interview Billy Gibbons. He said that he was sharing a dressing room with B.B. King early in their career. B.B. asked Billy why he was using such heavy gauge strings and Billy replied that he was trying to get that tone from the old days. B.B. replied that that's all they had back then, you're doing too much work son. I kinda agree. I've had some tree trunks on some guitars in the past and honestly I think it's all in your hands. Meaning that I sound pretty much the same with whatever gauge strings I slap on with the exception that the ability to bend strings really has me working for it like B.B. says. I think if you're looking to deter yourself from bending like say for jazz go for it because the thicker you go the less likely you'll want to bend. Billy has a new set of strings in .007 gauge, the guy still sounds the same all these years later go figure. Apparently, Dick Dale has STRONG hands. Anything less and he breaks strings right and left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 Apparently, Dick Dale has STRONG hands. Anything less and he breaks strings right and left.I imagine he does after working those strings for 60 something years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric.chambers Posted January 9, 2012 Members Share Posted January 9, 2012 I think the best way to learn about any type of music is to listen to people who do it well. Here's a few good ones.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xymVxcLQVT8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUk8dE5ZoY [video=youtube;HS28fwJ2-Gw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS28fwJ2-Gw&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 But what about the "western" part of the op? All the surf stuff is great. Surf guitars for western? I'd say a strat would kill on both fronts. Here's some of the Western stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Wwyoy3oUs&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric.chambers Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 But what about the "western" part of the op? All the surf stuff is great. Surf guitars for western? I'd say a strat would kill on both fronts. Here's some of the Western stuff. I think a Grestch would also work great for both. Check out Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet for proof of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 I think a Grestch would also work great for both. Check out Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet for proof of this. The Gretsch with Dynasonics for sure, but a hollow body might look a little too Western unless you're thinking of a something like a Duo Jet. That would totally rock both worlds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slushpup96 Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 Reverb till it just starts sounding like wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric.chambers Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 The Gretsch with Dynasonics for sure, but a hollow body might look a little too Western unless you're thinking of a something like a Duo Jet. That would totally rock both worlds. I wasn't really talking about how they look. I just think that twangy Gretsch thing would work great for both types of genres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 I wasn't really talking about how they look. I just think that twangy Gretsch thing would work great for both types of genres. In the studio for sure. At a rowdy beach bar I'll leave the hollow body at home both on the looks and the destruction end of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric.chambers Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 In the studio for sure. At a rowdy beach bar I'll leave the hollow body at home both on the looks and the destruction end of it. Damn! What kind of {censored}-holes are you playing in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 Damn! What kind of {censored}-holes are you playing in? The kind where there's no stage and everybody thinks it's cool to slam dance the musicians. I should have added that when I posted that above. I mean looks do factor in but who really cares except the roots rock weirdos? But I do like to have a solid body at those kinds of gigs and one that's known not to have the neck snap right off. This is the song I get that from, it's the only video I could find but listen to the lyrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric.chambers Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 That song was great! Don't get me wrong, I love rockabilly & surf music, but a lot of those greaser types are just Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SnorkelMonkey Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 That song was great! Don't get me wrong, I love rockabilly & surf music, but a lot of those greaser types are just I throw that on shuffle once in a while. lulz Brian Setzer has a song from a few years back that has a very similar content that I heard stemmed from these roots rock weirdos getting in his face around town telling him he ain't "rockabilly". Can you imagine that {censored}? Like Brian Setzer ain't rockabilly, lulz WTF??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angry Tele Posted January 10, 2012 Members Share Posted January 10, 2012 theres 2 scales: the Dick Dale scale and chromatic scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Kind of interesting the various ways people recommend to learn music: 1) Buy gear 2) Listen to cool players and play like them 3) Learn music theory 4) Just figure it out song by song 5) Follow tabs etc. Probably depends on the OPs background, experience, and goals. Being something of an inept, theory-deficient beginner/intermediate, I personally find 1 and 5 the easiest, 3 and 4 difficult, and 2 just about impossible. I've always been more oriented towards 2 and 4 than the other approaches, but I think all of them are valid. Try to learn as much as you can via each of them. Different people learn in different ways. Some are more verbal learners, others prefer to watch or to learn while doing, while others want diagrams, notes, theory, or expect the gear alone to carry the day. Believe me, I'm probably more aware than most in terms of the difference really good gear can make, but without some effort from the musician, it's worthless. It may make you "sound better and / or more authentic", and that's important to a genre like surf with its close association with specific gear and effects - single coil pickups, various Fenders and Mosrites, lots of reverb and vibrato bar... but you need to have the musical aspects happening too. I DO suggest listening to records - for me, that's always been the key. If I can hear something, I can generally get it a lot better than if you just write it out via notation (which I do read) or describe it verbally, and since music is an auditory art, I think that's always a great place to start!Gear wise, you can add in a fuzz, and maybe a bit of tremolo (different than vibrato - Fender labels them assbackwards), but it's not all that hard to get a decent sounding surf rig together.To get the vibe, to get the attitude, I really think you have to surf. There's power in a 10' wave that, until one has thrown you over the top and slammed you down and under and round and round until you thought your lungs might burst, you really can't quite understand. There's some of that same sense of balance, grace - and power that is a big part of surf music IMHO. Too esoteric? Okay. Who235 is right IMO - the way the drums and the guitar accent together and interact is a important part of surf. Again, listen to some of those clips (above) with that in mind, and pay attention to how the drums drive surf, and the guitars carry the melody and accent with the drums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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