Overpowering chords...

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Right, so the songs my band are writing at the moment require me to play alot of chords where I have yo play single notes on one string and play the open string above it at the same time. The problem is that most of the time (when playing clean) the open strings over power the single notes below them (when I say overpower I mean that they are way too bassy and make everything sound terrible...)

Anyway, I have played around with my amp settings to get something, but I have had little or no success.

I was just wondering if anybody on the boards had any suggestion to what I could do?

My set up is:

Burns Cobra
Marshall AVT combo 1 speaker




Sorry this post is so shit and confusing, it's just I'm getting really frustrated by it....

[Bacchus]

Hmmm.

This isn't the solution you're looking for, but it might get you a similar effect: try alternating between the strings you are picking, so instead of picking both at the same time, pick one, then the other, then the first again and so on. It might give you better definition and allow the two notes to be heard better.

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Hmmm.

This isn't the solution you're looking for, but it might get you a similar effect: try alternating between the strings you are picking, so instead of picking both at the same time, pick one, then the other, then the first again and so on. It might give you better definition and allow the two notes to be heard better.

Yeah, I see what you mean... I usually do that for intros though and my band has alot of big kick-in's and I don't think that alternate picking on these parts would work too well...

Thanks anyway man

I suppose i could try and the boost the trebles but it's hard to find the verge between: Massively bassy and Tinny as fuck...

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Oh by the way I use ernie ball regular slinky strings...

[kim]

i like to play this sort of stuff too keeping the string above on the same note and playing melodies on the string below. you could try cutting bass and boosting the mids or you could work on technique and play the bassy string more lightly than the string where you play the melodic stuff on so that comes out louder and more defined. as you strum start out gentle and put more force on it as you get to the string below. the problem sounds familiar. on my stang i find that it's better when i used the bridge pickup for this and adjust my force of attack on the upper and the string below.
is it a problem when you're playing distorted/fuzzed or clean or is it a problem both ways ?

[Empires]

Do an Octave

[Jahsoul]

Don't know if it's what you're thinking, but pups might help. I have had this problem and bought a Fralin and that pup doesn't have the issue. EQs might help as well. The AVT is a "tinny" sounding amp from all my encounter with it, clean or distorted.

[Freddy V-C]

Do an Octave

If this means what I think it means, I've found that it works very well. We've used it before in my band for riffs like this. So just as an example:

E -
B -
G -
D -
A 7
E 0

would become:

E -
B -
G 9
D #
A 7
E 0

[Doog]

Try angling your pickups away from the bass strings/towards the treble strings.

Also, a compressor pedal will help level out any peaks, and see if it improves with a new set of strings- dead strings generally sound worst when they're being fretted.

[Empires]

Do an Octave

If this means what I think it means...

Bang on sir.

Love 'em. Probably too much.

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Try angling your pickups away from the bass strings/towards the treble strings.

Also, a compressor pedal will help level out any peaks, and see if it improves with a new set of strings- dead strings generally sound worst when they're being fretted.

Yeah, I do need to change my strings I'm currently in the process of putting new tuners and bridge screws on, so after I'm done with that I'll get a nice fresh set on...

[jbruin]

I usually try to do more upstrokes than downstrokes (or put relatively more force in the upwards movement) to alleviate the problem you're describing. Maybe slightly palm muting the open string so it doesn't ring out?

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

i like to play this sort of stuff too keeping the string above on the same note and playing melodies on the string below. you could try cutting bass and boosting the mids or you could work on technique and play the bassy string more lightly than the string where you play the melodic stuff on so that comes out louder and more defined. as you strum start out gentle and put more force on it as you get to the string below. the problem sounds familiar. on my stang i find that it's better when i used the bridge pickup for this and adjust my force of attack on the upper and the string below.
is it a problem when you're playing distorted/fuzzed or clean or is it a problem both ways ?

Yeah it's the same when I 'fuzz it' but it's less of a problem because usually in our songs we use fuzz because we want things to sound huge, so the bassyness (?) doesn't bother us too much. It's just annoying when you want to be playing some nice clean stuff in an intro or breakdown and you just can't here any definition in the chords...

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

I usually try to do more upstrokes than downstrokes (or put relatively more force in the upwards movement) to alleviate the problem you're describing. Maybe slightly palm muting the open string so it doesn't ring out?

I shall try this!

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Thanks for all the help everyone, when I posted this I just thought I was gonna get called a noob with a confusing post...

[Will]

Less bass, more mids on the amp. I always let the bass player handle the low-end, and concentrate on staying out of their way.

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Less bass, more mids on the amp. I always let the bass player handle the low-end

I shall do this as well, I guess i'm still finding it hard to let go of the low end after being a bassist for so long...

[johnnyseven]

From your description I think what you are trying to do is something I do quite a lot in the songs I write and play with my band. I think more than being a guitar or amp problem it may be something you need to work on in your playing technique. If i'm picking the strings when playing a riff I would play the lower string and then mute that string with my thumb on my picking hand in order to stop it ringing when I play the higher strings. If it is a riff where i'm strumming the low string together with the higher strings then I would hit the low strings with less force and apply more force when hitting the higher strings. It's something that with a fair amount of practice becomes quite easy. Alternatively you could play upstrokes therefore hitting the higher strings first and hitting the lower strings second, hopefully with less force.

The recordings I did with my band at the weekend include examples of both of these techniques but as they are not quite finished yet they're not yet on myspace so I can't direct you to them to have listen to how I do it.

[robroe]

i was going to say what doog said.

real simple just get a screwdriver and elevate the trebble side of your pickups and lower the bass side

[Mages]

yeah, everything doog said. angle pickups, use a compressor.