Added: 3 years ago
From: riffguy
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  • Best guitar I every had came from a pawn shop for a whopping $50.00. Some no name thing that looked like death warmed over, but it played and sounded excellent. Don't get hung up on name brands..if so you really miss out.

  • so what is the miking technique?

  • I Got an Ibanez GIO RG for 5 bucks at a yard sale so Cheap Guitar r always fun.

  • Haha hes got a fulstack behind him... and he went with the little practice amp and cheapo guitar. Atta boy ;)

  • No se si hables español pero con tu video le puedo demostrar a muchos que se preocupan por tener una guitarra carisima por que creen que van a tocar mejor, que es el guitarrista el creativo y la guitarra solo el instrumento de expresion de su virtuosismo.el que tenga yo una gibson no me hara tocar como clapton ni en sueños en fin me da gusto ver todos tus videos saludos y gracias por el tiempo que te tomas en enseñara a tanta gente.

  • I'm getting a really cheap guitar... The only problem I will have with it... only one pickup -_-

  • riff guy i think you are the second Angus Young.

  • you the man!

  • And it doesn't sound terrible because of the awesome playing. If you didn't tell me i would have assumed he was playing through really nice gear.

  • you know...when I see people playing blues...I assume that's all they can do...but when I see them shred it looks like they can do everything

  • Hey riffguy! Nice playing :p how does it sounds in on of the old Mahrshall in the background? :p

  • Its all about the player, not the guitar.

  • I can't stop looking at the Gibson LP in the background...

  • My guitar right now is a 3/4 harmony student acoustic = value of $20.  Stored in a barn, bought at a yard sale.The action is high + couple of frets buzz... I actually superglued the bridge to keep it from prying up...

    I think folks get caught up in the "the more fancy/more expensive guitar the better" fever.

    When I chose to make no excuses for my playing by blaming the guitar + focus on what it "could" do rather than couldn't was the day it made some nice music, somehow if by magic!

  • @TheBluesBeggar A lot of people started out playing on junk because they just didn't have a choice, it was all they could afford. If the music is important enough, you'll use whatever you can get your hands on and learn how to make it sing.

  • @riffguy

    There are loads of brands that are impossible to get to sound decent though.

    I work in a music store, and we tried out a brand named "J&D"(Swedish brand.), and it was by far the worst guitars ive ever seen.

    The inlays wherent leveled with the fretboard, so the strings actually hit them some times when doing vibratos or bends.

    Some frets kept popping out of the fretboard etc.. so i cant agree with you to 100% there, although the hype over brands is just dumb.. its all about "mojo".

  • @notuern Back when I worked in a guitar shop, I saw my share of brand new, cheap junk instruments that had twisted necks, horrible fretwork, fretboards with humps, loose frets, etc. Sometimes I'd have to do a complete fret level and dress, just to compensate for the fretboard irregularities. To me, part of learning how to play guitar is to understand how the guitar works and figure out how to make whatever guitar you have, play better.

    I agree with you about the brands though.

  • @riffguy

    Yeah, thats true.. its a bit of needing to completely different skills really:

    Adjusting your playing to irregularities on the guitar, and being able to adjust the irregularities of the guitar to your playing.

    My first guitar was an Aria Pro II RS Knight Warrior, and my dad showed me how to change the strings, fix string height and intonation before i got to learn how to play. :)

    Its an important part in getting to know your instrument really, its a shame so few understand that.

  • @TheBluesBeggar I wanted to play, could not afford a guitar. I had an old oboe I bought at a garage sale for .50 so I traded it and 25$ for a fender acoustic. Its what I have right now. I went to Guitar Center last night and played a 99$ Fender Strat. Sounded nice. But I dont have 99$ I'm happy with what I have.

  • great vid

  • It is the guitarist that makes the sound good not the cost of the equipment, I read somewhere someone saying that hand David Gilmore a ukelee and he makes it sound like a stratovarius. So true. BTW very cool blues chops, nice playing.

  • Wow man you're insane. Whats up with the cd's in the back? :D

  • Thanks for the blues sample.. I guess I can turn my guitar into a coffee table???

  • hey what do think of the star caster? the kind you would by at like best buy ..have u ever tried 1?

  • @LaPriest With a proper setup, any guitar can sound good. The real key is to try every different guitar you can get your hands on and find what YOU think sounds good. Then practice, practice, practice ad infinitum. I go to the music store several times a week and just pick up whatever guitar strikes my fancy and play some chords and licks on them. Typically 20 or more during a single visit. You'll never know what you like until you play it, and nobody else can tell you what YOU like.

  • I watched one of your videos, something called "one hand playing & more" and thought yeah, that's not music. and then saw this on related videos and I loved it. very soulful blues with your own style. I guess you just like many genres and I first watched the wrong video for me.

    I wish I could get my stuff coming out that fluently. I used to play spontaneously, but don't know what happened. Now mainly just few licks over and over again and don't feel it. can you give me some advice on this?

  • @gbsnp123 When people see one of my shred videos, they assume it's all I can do. The fact that I can play fast, doesn't mean I can't play slow. When I play, I don't think about what musical style it is, I just play according to how I feel.

    It sounds like you're just in a rut. Maybe try listening to some different types of music which could open your mind in terms of phrasing. I personally don't listen to shred guitar very much, I listen to a lot of jazz & classical when I'm not playing.

  • @riffguy yeah, that's what I assumed too. You really can play well slow. Everyone can't.

    I don't like jazz. I like blues & rock style music more. I think I just found my spontaneous style again because I played with my friends really loud couple hours ago. But thanks for answering my question. you're awesome

  • @riffguy Musicians are inspired by everything they listen to. Any musician that claims differently is lying. You can get something from anything you listen to, even if it's "don't do that." I try to listen to everything without prejudice. It could be the emptiest pop recording, but if I hear a lick or riff I think I can use, who cares where it came from?

    Try listening to everything you can: rock, blues, jazz, country, pop, hip hop, classical, anything. It'll come back to you. Play to have fun.

  • I own one of these as my first guitar, did you change the action and such? I remember it being really high, and the strings were all really flat, making it hard to bend strings.

  • @AGenericAccount All I did was give it a complete set-up.....which is something I'd even do to a brand new Gibson.

  • can i play blues on schecter omen 6 extrime guitar using roland cube 30x

  • @thegibson92

    You can play anything on any guitar. It's just on a terrible guitar like a Schecter or an Ibanez it will sound terrible regardless of wether the player is good or not.

  • @figaz555 i have heard many MANY GREAT schecher blues players....and alot more Ibanaz great blues players...please check your facts a good player makes ANYTHING sound good

  • @arcainjust

    Send me a link to a schecter blues player who is fairly good and I may gain half a lick of respect for you.

  • can i play blues on schecter omen 6 extrime guitar using roland cube 30x

  • This video is a great inspiration for me,I have a lot of friends who are just starting to play the guitar and they think that the instrument is what makes a guitarist sound good,whenever they say that i show thid vid to them.

    Cheers riffguy, I salute you.

  • lol i get great sounds out of my predator but it garbles distortion at times any tips on tweeking it out its all singlecoil

  • Most anyone can learn to play and sound just like RIFFGUY, all you need to do is to put in at the very least two to three hours everyday of meaningful practice, learn and practice different styles and techniques, develop you ear by learning songs by ear - you can never be good unless you learn to differenciate the subtle nuances - that means no tabs. In so many years you will become good, problem is most people don't have that kind of dedication. The label on your guitar "don't mean a thing".

  • nice man!!even though the guitar is cheap you can play very well.:)) BLUES IS THE BEST!

  • OK, sounds good, but, you gotta admit, mahogany sounds better than basswood, no?

  • bulls**t.... that guitar does NOT cost $200 bucks.... my guitar cost like $1000 and It don't sound like that

  • @thejakeludwig Actually, it cost more like $50 because it was returned to the store by the original purchaser who said it was "defective".

  • @riffguy I don't believe that, because what a guitar cost and what a guitar is worth is differant. For example I can have a 1000 dollar strat and sell it to you for 50 dollars, of course I wouldn't do that. My point is that the guitar is really an expensive guitar or it wouldn't sound like that.

  • @thejakeludwig All I can say is that Zellers is pumping out these guitars for under $200 and anyone who knows how to play guitar shouldn't have any problems making it sound good. Then again, I've seen lots of guys with expensive gear who sound like crap.

  • @riffguy really? I have thousands of bucks in my stuff and ppl say I don't sound good and shit, but f**k them. Maybe it is the player not the equipment though.... I play the good guitars and I just buy cheap guitars to smash. =))

  • @thejakeludwig In my opinion, the instrument just makes noise....it's the player that has to shape the noise into tone.

  • @riffguy You're right, back when I was a beginner i had a squier strat and a small fender practice amp, i predicatably sounded awful and blamed bad equipment, my brother who has over a decade of playing experience came along and plugged it in, tweaked it a little and began playing some amazing Slashy type stuff that sounded great to me :) I changed the amp for a bigger Marshall, but I still have the same guitar as my only one 2 years later.

    Great video riffguy!!

  • hey, man, what mic do you use for recording stuff like this? Thanks alot!

  • @GuitarFox200 I use a Shure SM57.

  • awesome sound man,the only thing missing from it is a little more sustain,other than that it sounds tough as hell man.sweet

  • hey paul, where do you get your drum backing tracks?

  • These are just pre-recorded drum loops that came with my Cubase AI4 software.

  • Hahahaha! Once again it goes to prove, it's not the car it's the driver.

  • that is such a good sound for such a cheap package.. is that what it actually sounds like to you or did you do anything to this post-recording?

  • I added a bit of reverb, but that's all.

  • @riffguy then that is the best sounding cheap package i have ever heard.. haha. i thoroughly enjoy the tone.

  • riffguy is just a genius when it comes to tone :D

  • this guy reminds me of Yngwie Malmsteen ;)

    He looks similiar ;)

  • thanks, and one thing more ^^ what does actually do the mhycrophone that its in front of the amp? (excusme for my ignorance -.-)

  • The microphone in front of the amp is to record the sound coming directly from the amp's speaker.

  • @riffguy

    So basically, you record it to your computer?

  • Exactly.

  • @riffguy

    THANKS FOR REPLYING!

    You are such a nice guy :-D

  • is the guitar directly plugged into the amp?

  • Yes.

  • riffguy, AWSOME!

  • Great as usual! Happy Holidays!!!

  • lol you look a bit like yngwie malmsteen, thought u play better

  • @CrissCoverdrive Are you a fucking IMBECILE? You think he plays better than Yngwie? You're either the biggest turnip on the planet or you WANT to be it.

  • eerm, yngwie malmsteen is ,... speed, repetitive riffs and no ORIGINAL OR INNOVATING ideas...... he just plays arpeggios of hell as fast as he can to leave jerks impresed but actually i he is the worst composer EVAR

  • @CrissCoverdrive Well...you've just said 1000 words there with these two alone, "eeRERM" and "EvAR". Enough said. You get 20 secs out of me tops.

  • @PinkyWontWork ? i actually didnt undestand your comment sorry :P

  • @CrissCoverdrive well all i hear is..bla bla bla bla bla

  • is always the guitarrist, not the guitar

  • riff guy allways sounds killer on whatever ,, he has the ,,touch,, some folks just jealous though,,no matter what,,sounds great..

  • Malmsteen cloned himself?

  • this proves the real tone sits i the fingers that must mean that you riffguy gotta hace giant fingers :D Just kiddin Awesome!!

  • Sounds great, I hope that you wear ear protection. You could be deaf by 50 with that big amp in the back.

  • you're cheating hahaha the microphone is conected to other amp in the back that's why it sounds better your playing is awesome

  • awsome guitar playing.... wish i could play like that but i just started......

  • This is one of those guys that probably could have had pop versions culture of "making it" but never did. The man loves music and guitar and you know he'll be grinding til' the day he dies, teaching, gigging, and wowing the world on youtube. A real musician's musician.

  • Loved it -- Charles

  • Hey Paul you need is a Pair of Cheap Sunglsses

  • Just goes to show when you have talent doesnt matter what u play. People are so hung up on price but when your good, you can play anything well Nice job!!!!!

  • but it surely feels better on expensive gears.i mean the "touch"

  • just goes to show u dnt need fkin gibson / ibanez/ Epi/ Fender to be good, the guitarist makes the guitar , not the other way around

  • true, i just hate it when people buy some very expensive guitar and they just start, yet some dont even know if they are going to like playing

  • omg i bought a 4500 $ gutair dam

  • i hope you are not a begginer for fucks sake

  • is this a pacifica ?

  • Is this done with the Ashbury strings that come in the package as well?

  • Yes, the strings are stock.

  • He looks like he's cumming while he plays, HA!

  • Someone ever told you you look like Cliff Williams ? XD

  • haha i have that guitar lmao

  • Ha ha ha that's high dollar $199 !!!

    Check out my $10 Ibanez I bought at a Shell gas station from some guy needing gas money !!!

  • God forgive me for saying this but her it goes...tabs?

  • You've got ears- The best fucking tool there is. Plus the video here too.

  • I beg to differ. I don't have the time to look at every position of his quick fingers all day to learn this. plus I'm nowhere near this capable of playing it by ear.

  • Then become capable. There's only one way to do that.

  • everyone starts incapable

  • ill buy that guitar for 500 lol

  • this guy makes cheap guitars sound expensive

  • I Hate you, in a good way XD

  • Word.

  • i know.

  • u know how awesome u play ?

    really great playing guitar

    i prefer call it soul guitar

  • Cheap guitars can sound good , it's what you put into them counts. With a good guitar you can make anything sound good. With cheap guitar you have to be creative and skilled to make it sound good

  • "With a good guitar you can make anything sound good"

    That's not true, just because you have a good guitar doesn't mean it's going to sound good. Tone is in the fingers

  • Comment removed

  • well its easier to make a good guitar sound good than a cheap guitar.

  • @darkragnarok21 tone is in the pots dummy lol expression is in the mind

  • @stringbreaker6 Just to be pedantic, the tone is altered by the capacitor attached to the pot; but a good player can manually affect the tone through hand position, fingering technique, and picking style.

  • @JebusGrist perhaps shallow and pedantic:)

  • nice, but what would it sound like through the stack in the background? maybe play some Hendrix, drop some acid, set it on fire you know "old school rock an roll"

  • yeah. that edgy sharp treble sound is a bit off. nice playin btw bro

  • i hate it that u have that gigantic marshall full stack in the background just makes me sick that i have a little peavey bandit 112.... good playing btw!

  • he has 3 of those stacks haha

  • i know how you feel haha i have one of those little peavey solo preamp things i blew the shit out if with the ole sg

  • Inexperienced guitar players who generally have cheapo guitars generally do not have the skill produce that kind of sound..

  • I have a Caraya lol

  • woooooow great blues man 5/5

  • Cute sound, I guess that it's Ashton, Cruiser by Crafter or Berhinger...maybe Tenson but it doesn't matter. You've just rocked this thing and showed what it can do.

  • YOU SHOW EMOTHION!!! PRAISE GOD!!!

  • which guıtar ????????

    this gitar ???

    is it fender stratocaster :S:S:S:S:S:S

    ı dont understand :S:S:S:S

  • Comment removed

  • Ashbury.

  • mine was way cheaper :(

  • dude ur a god i have watched all ur vids

  • nice sound!

    just awesome!

    Is this a ibanez amp?

  • High end gear does not make a better player.

    Ive seen an ESP guitar collector on utube, a hetfield fanboy. He has all of James Hetfield's signature models aswell as high end high gain amps, but yet his playing is lifeless, weak and sub-mediocre with little creativeness.

    BOTTOM LINE: people like him do not deserve that gear. Only the REAL Guitarists who dedicated themselves to the instrument and practiced hard truly deserve that gear.

  • Your playing is really great! I LOVE cheap guitars, mainly because I could never drop an arm and leg for a Real Gibson or Fender. I have a guitar that is about the equivalent of what you have there and love it. LONG LIVE THE CHEAP GUITAR AND KEEP THAT THING SMOKIN"!!!!

  • your bends just send me back to my childhood man,growing up with my dad who was big into the blues,so i gotta thank you kinda for this!

  • MAKE MORE BLUES VIDSS!!!!

  • Tone is in the fingers ;)

  • everyone always says that, but i disagree.

    Your playing is in your fingers.

    It's all about how your phrase and vibrato things.

    If eddie van halen and i both played a D chord with the same equipment, it would sound the exact same.

    However, if we both played a solo lick it would be way different, becuase eddie's little nunuances are how he plays, and i play differently.

    you know what i'm saying?

  • agreed

  • Badass man.

  • Sick video by the way. Some of the blues phrasing is just so catchy. Just when I thought I'd heard all blues "licks", you post a video with really nice, fresh blues ideas. I would love to play like you.

  • Riffguy, right on about the generation of instant gratification. Too many young people buy $1500 strats and $1500 Fender amps expecting to sound like SRV, only to sell the geat 2 years later after having merely fiddled around with it a few times. It's sad, because some of these people who give up early could have it in them, but they just don't know. It takes many many years to develop touch and technique, and LOTS of effort. And then there's the elite like yourself, only few in the world!

  • Heh! I love it when kids do that! Then I go to the pawn shop and get kickin gear for CHEAP!!

  • Ye 30 quid guitars from cash converters,the snobs turn up their noses and then you blow em away!!!Top...

  • Love it.

    Hereby i'dd like to challenge you to a battle of blues guitarbattle, get back to me if you'dd like to accept it :)

  • sexy

  • This is proof that most of the mojo of a guitarist's tone comes from the actual performance itself, not the gear.

  • that is one thing that can not be said ENOUGH! Totally agree.. If you've got chops, it just comes through - but it definetly just takes time, practice and determination..

    btw - Riffguy - just great as always. I really dig listening to you just jam out.

  • Sounds awesome! Can you put up some more videos of your Traynor amp that thing sounds incredible.

  • Fucking Sweet man that guitar is being torn apart amazing playing!!!!

  • Haha, goes to show you its not always quality that counts.

    What is it? one of those first act strats?

    Dosn't sound to bad the way you can play it man.

  • That's intense guitar...and some sweet Marshall amps

  • The endings to all of your videos are epic, and the beginnings, sometimes. Lol. I love your playing so much. So bluesy, my dad likes it, too. He's a huge black crowes fan, btw. Yeah, I just love your stuff, man. I don't know why. It just ROCKS! \m/

  • I'm feel'n it!

  • ...in the right hands man!!

  • Paul,

    Whats the stats on the contest....have they already declared you the winner?

    if not... they need to.

  • From what I understand, they are accepting entries until the end of January, then taking the best 50 of those. The final winner won't be selected until sometime in March. Who knows what will happen between now & then. I'd love to win, if only for the opportunity to make some connections. I guess only time will tell.

  • thats cool. I'm pullin for ya!

    Cheers!

  • Thanks, I appreciate the support!

  • It's all about the fingers. Anybody that thinks it is about gear is an idiot. I know because I have bought expensive gear and there is a difference but not enough to determine your sound.

  • High end gear is great and I'll be the first to admit it. I just think that when you start out on an economy instrument, you end up learning valuable playing techniques to make it sound better. Later on, when you apply these techniques to a higher quality instrument, you get some very impressive results.

    We live in a society that expects instant results with minimal effort and that's not what playing guitar is about.

  • But playing on crappy shit doesnt stimulate to play. You dont have to be the best, but good stuff helps.

  • Yes, quality equipment is preferred, and yes shitty equipment can be detrimental in many ways. But learning how to play the best you can with the least amount of frills will make you infinitely better in the long run, just by knowing what not to do and how to make something bad sound good.

  • that's deep man ..... lol

  • That's why they invented guitar hero.

  • for real me too.

  • Sweet man Awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • That's awesome dude !

  • Wow! Now that's an Atomic Meltdown!