Goreng Sampai Hangit Bersama Bean View RSS

Long Overdue Updates 28 Jan 2012 7:20 PM (13 years ago)

So, it’s been a very long time since the last time aku update korang. Well, I’ve been busy. Why? Unless korang follow aku kat facebook, you probably wouldn’t know what’s going on.

Let’s see. Last summer, lepas vacation, aku start belajar main softball. Masuk team company.

Pastu company beli meja ping pon plak. So aku pon start main ping pong. :D

Fall semester pulak, aku masuk class piano kat community college. And my instructor thought that I should skip the most beginning level. So dia masukkan aku ke class yang atas sket. So I had to work extra hard to keep up with the syllabus. I did very well in the class.

Here’s me playing part of the Moonlight Sonata. Tapi ni bukan syllabus class la. Saje gatal. This song is way above my level. But not bad kot, baru bape bulan main. :D

 

Pastu, I got engaged. So, some time in 2012, aku akan balik Malaysia for good to settle down. Because of that aku pon busy shopping. What have I been buying? Let’s see.

That’s Limited Run Gibson Flying V 7-String. I was surprised that it only costs around $1300. Lepas discount dapat dalam $1100. I thought why not? It’s limited production. Pastu feature dia aku blom ada, such as 7-string, EMG pickups, and fixed bridge. Pretty good guitar for the money. I preordered one in July, got it in October kot. Gibson is slow.

After that aku start beli rackmounted gears, like Pod HD Pro, Presonus Studio Channel tube mic preamp etc.

In September I bought a bass, 5-string Spector Legend Classic. I got it for like $500 bucks, and it’s regularly like $750 kot. Not bad for the money.

Late November pulak was Thanksgiving, so the discount would be good. Aku memang plan nak  angkut Gibson Les Paul Standard satu. But then aku jadi tamak. So I went for this Gibson Les Paul Supreme.

Couldn’t help it. This baby is gorgeous. AAAA carved flame maple top, and unlike other Les Pauls, the back is also AAAA carved flame maple. The headstock has some nice inlays too. Interestingly, I bought it on a rainy day in November, so November Rain was the first song that I jam with this baby. :D

As if that’s not enough, the week after that I bought two tube amps: Fender Deluxe Reverb and Line6 DT25 to go with my POD HD, along with a couple of Shure SM57 and Behringer FCB1010 midi pedal. Yup, that was a very costly November.

So yeah, in 2012, I bought 4 guitars, one bass, and a whole bunch of gears. And I’m not done yet. This is my chance to get all the toys that I can get. Still planning to get a few more guitars, an electric drum and other gears.

To save money, in December aku pindah ke area ghetto. :( That way I can save about $400 bucks per month. Moving was very time consuming too.

And then a few weeks ago aku start buat rack case, since I couldn’t find what I want in the market. Check out this album.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100576789306435.2743752.3407023&type=3&l=616bf76869

Except for the tuner, everything in the rack was bought after July 2011. I still got space for more. :D

 

Future Plans

So yeah, I’ve been very busy learning many different things, buying the toys that I want. And I’m not done yet with those. I haven’t really been playing guitar to be honest.

Skrg aku amik satu lagi class piano, and it seems even harder than before. So I’ll have to focus on that. Tak lama lagi (maybe even this next week) aku akan dapatkan Electronic Drum set. So I’m gonna be learning that too. Not sure if I’ll take a lesson yet.

And then of course aku kena plan my wedding. Kinda hard since I’m here in the US still. Thankfully I have a very understanding fiancé. And we don’t plan to have a big fancy wedding too. The wedding will actually take place about one month after aku sampai kat Malaysia.

So yeah, other things have to be prioritized. Taun lepas aku released dua video jek. Taun ni, maybe tak kot. Paling banyak pon satu jek, probably not until the end of the year kalau sempat. I’ll try to write a few articles, maybe update some pages of the website. But video and TAB take too much time.

So rasanya 2013 baru aku back to full speed. Hopefully as productive as 2010.

Add me on Facebook if you want. You’ll see what I'm up to better.

 

Fender

Oh, sebelum lupa. Actually last year aku beli satu buku pasal history Fender Stratocaster. As an engineer, I was impressed with the innovation that Leo did. The Stratocaster has revolutionized electric guitars as we know it. Think about it. Ibanez JEM and many other great guitars are all variants of stratocaster, which is why they’re called “superstrats”.

And I’ve also become more and more interested in blues. When I get the time later, I’ll spend some time studying it. And aku tak pernah ade influence. But now I think I want to be influenced by Eric Clapton.

I’ve become more and more in love with Strats.

Last year kan aku pegi melawat kilang Taylor. I’ve always complained why Fender tak bukak kilang dia untuk public tours. Rumah aku pulak dalam setengah jam jek dari kilang dorang kat Corona.

Guess what? They posted on facebook that they’re opening it for the public. So I took a few hours off from work to go to the first ever Fender factory public tour. Check out this album.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100420800394465.2714017.3407023&type=3&l=daab72a3ab

That was so much fun. :D I was so lucky, sikit lagi nak balik Malaysia pastu dorang kasi visit pulak. Cantek.

I’ve been there like 3 times so far. Next week nak gi skali lagi bawak kawan. Maybe a few more times after that sebelum balik Malaysia. :D

Here’s my second visit.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100420800394465.2714017.3407023&type=3&l=daab72a3ab

and yeah, I saw the legendary Abigail Ybarra at Fender Custom Shop. That lady has been with Fender since the 50’s kot. Even Jimi Hendrix owned some of her pickups.

Yup, I own 2 Ibanez, 2 Gibsons, but I’m a Fender fanboy. I still don’t have a Fender guitar though.

____________________________________

Tambahan.

I strongly urge you to join this facebook group, Guitarist Nusantara. Bagus group ni, banyak otai-otai bertukar-tukar pendapat. Noobs jangan segan, dorang welcome soalan. Just don’t ask them something too general and obvious like “macam mana nak terer main gitar”, since the answer is of course “practice a lot”. Ya la aku suka gak nak jawap soalan korang, but like I said, I’m very busy now. And I’m sure kat sana lagi ramai yang boleh jawap dengan lebih bagus. Ada jugak kat sana yang dah bertaraf artis professional. So take advantage of that.

Update 24 Aug 2011 10:19 AM (13 years ago)

Vacation

So aritu aku cakap aku akan pegi vacation. Almost right after aku released the last video, I went on a 3-week vacation around Southern California. Here are some pictures and video that you might be interested in.

Lawatan ke Kubur Randy Rhoads

Gambar: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100354981965125.2691492.3407023&l=6ac9bb4301&type=1
Video:

Lawatan ke Kilang Taylor Guitars

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100385479672475.2703403.3407023&l=3e65cd43e4&type=1

Kalau Nak Add Aku

Kalau nak add aku dalam FB boleh. But bila add tu, please tulis "GSHBB" dalam comment box. That way I know who you are. Otherwise I may reject the application. See, I have quite a lot of people adding me. So usually sebelum accept aku akan check profile orang tu, tengok ade tak gambar gitar ke, atau under "interests" ade berkaitan dengan gitar. Kalau takde, I might not accept, unless I know the person. I don't indiscriminately add people anymore. So please, tulis something that can help me identify you. I'm trying to avoid from adding people who have no business adding me (even if you're a hot girl). It annoys me that some people just browse through their friend's friends list and randomly add people.

And please, jangan tag aku dalam gambar product yang korang nak jual. And absolutely no tagging me in pictures of money. I know what pyramid scheme is, and I'm not broke.

Lagi satu, I tend to be outspoken. Yeah, I like music. But I like philosophy and critical thinking more. I may comment on current issues and criticize stupidity. You're free to challenge my views, I welcome ideas, even if I don't agree with them as long as they have intellectual values. You may find what I write to be offensive. But I don't just say things blindly. I was the best student in Critical Thinking class for a reason. ;)
So, you've been warned. Add me if you accept the conditions. :D

Next Project

For the past few weeks aku dah buat mental preparation untuk next video. The next video bukan untuk TAB, so aku takkan main lagu. Instead, aku plan untuk buat lesson. The subject I'm guessing most players dah tau. But it's really intended for beginners, who may not know it yet. And I'll try to make it informative enough that even orang yang dah tau teknik tu pon might find it interesting. It's gonna be long, and it's gonna be unlike the lessons on that subject that you can find anywhere else.

And at the same time I'm also trying to learn piano. Honestly, since last video aku tak main pon gitar. I've been playing piano a lot, and recently aku baru masuk class. And class ni pon aku signed up as total beginner. But instructor aku dengar aku main dia persuade aku masuk class level atas sket. I donno if I should, but I'm practicing intensively to see if I should. Right now the video project is on hold. Tak tau la bila nak sambung. :(

Update: TAB – Aku Hanya Serangga (BPR) & Lesson - “Plucking” 13 Jun 2011 5:00 PM (13 years ago)

Unless you haven’t noticed yet, aku dah upload video terbaru. That was a lot of work. Sampai pagi tadi right before start keje on Monday baru siap. Well I’ll be on vacation soon. :D

http://www.gshbb.com/GSHBBMaterials/BPR-AkuHanyaSerangga/AkuHanyaSerangga.htm

Update: Tgh buat video baru 6 Jun 2011 5:52 PM (13 years ago)

So recording is mostly done… except for vocal melody (on EWI). Dah record sekali, but I’m gonna redo it. Sama la macam bass, dah siap aritu buat balik semula. Well, EWI ngan bass ni bukan primary instrument aku. So I need to do so many takes just to get acceptable performance quality.

Deadline aku ialah weekend ni. I have to get it done by the weekend, no other choice. :( Hmm, not sure how I can get everything done. But most likely part lesson aku akan record in just one session. Maybe friday night or hopefully earlier. And then kena edit video (using Sony Vegas, yang aku tak pernah pakai sebelum ni).

Hmm.. we’ll see if it will be any good. I promise to get it done, but due to time constraint, I suppose I can’t promise a quality work. >_<

Update 16 May 2011 5:56 PM (13 years ago)

 

TAB & Video & Lesson Baru

Sorry la kalau aku senyap jek. I’ve been very busy (as always). For one thing, I’m one of the lead engineers for one of the projects for my company. So by the end of the day, aku usually penat, malas nak pikir benda lain. And there’s a lot of pressure too since the economy is still bad, so we have to do the best we can for whatever project we get.

Last month aku released lesson barre chords tu. I’m telling you, each time I do something, it’s a lot of work, because I put a lot of effort in it. And by the time I’m done, I’ll be exhausted. Mesti aku malas nak pikir pasal benda tu for a bit. So yeah, every time aku siapkan satu material, I need to take a break.

Anyway, malam ni plak final exam untuk class yang aku tgh amik. I’ve been practicing on that.

Other than that, TAB baru dah pretty much siap. Tinggal nak polish sket, which I’ll do after releasing the video. I can’t wait to do the video. Pikir-pikir balik, last time aku release full song punya TAB and video was about a year ago. That’s too long.

So besok aku akan start process recording. It’ll take some time, since as always I wanna do it better than before. Aku nak try a few recording and mixing techniques yang aku dah discover or think of.

This time aku nak buat recording approach yang lain sket. First, aku akan record draft dulu. Very rough draft. That way bila aku record any part, I’ll have a more realistic backing track to play with. And then from there aku akan decide on recording order, which instrument should be recorded first.

For each instrument, aku plan nak spend satu malam (after keje and before masak) cari recording setting yang aku suka untuk instrument tu. Practice, and besok baru record. The next day repeat the process for another instrument. And this time aku akan try pakai mic untuk record acoustic guitar gak, not just relying on the pickup. I’ll mix the sound from the pickup and mic.

It’ll take over a week just to record. Pastu aku akan spend a few days mixing the sound.

Lepas tu aku ingat nak record a short lesson jugak, sebagai suppliment untuk video tu. So after the video of me playing the song, I’ll give a short lesson on one aspect of it, tailored for beginners.

And then put everything together and release the video. Pastu baru polish TAB and release it. I hope i’ll get it done in a month or so (since after that aku nak amik vacation).

I’m telling you, I can’t wait. I’ve been listening to this song intensively for the past couple of months. Beribu-ribu kali aku ulang. Bila aku take a break at work untuk isap rokok, mesti aku pasang lagu ni, and think about how the video should be.

Oh, this video will feature two of my new guitars. :P I’m crazy. In April I bought two guitars. And I want more. :(

 

Pasal Requests

I hate to say this, but aku memang takde masa nak tunaikan requests. As you can see from above, it takes time for me to finish anything. And for your information, since the last time aku released a TAB, aku dah buat TAB for a few songs. But I ended up abandoning the projects, at least for the time being. Tu la, aku selalu camtu. Dah focus betul-betul, sometimes aku ilang minat kat lagu tu. Sometimes it’s just too hard and very tiring, sometimes I just lost interest. So it’s important untuk aku buat apa yang aku betul-betul minat, and aku rasa within kebolehan aku.

Your requests are good, I won’t deny it. But aku rasa for the time being aku patut focus on the songs that are already in my list for a long time.

I may do it some time in the future. But yang paling penting ialah korang belajar something, even from the song that you may not like. And don’t forget to check http://discuss.gshbb.com Baca archive discussion kat situ pasal cammana aku buat TAB.

Untuk Dijual: Taylor 114CE Grand Auditorium (Used) 30 Apr 2011 12:13 AM (14 years ago)

UPDATE: SOLD-SOLD-SOLD-SOLD

Mari-mari tengok iklan gitar aku.
http://www.gshbb.com/About/ForSale/114CE.htm
Harga: RM2,200 (non-negotiable) SOLD

Shipping: Free from US to Malaysia, but kena ambil dari PJ sendiri
Tarikh Tutup: 27 June 2011. Email aku di atau kat Facebook. First come first served. But keutamaan diberi kepada yang sanggup bayar cash paling awal dari tarikh gitar ni sampai Malaysia. Aku akan buat wait-list (remember since nothing is final until the prospective buyer is satisfied with the condition and makes payment). Actually tarikh tutup ni hanya untuk aku decide samada nak ship to Malaysia or sell it in the US. You can still buy it if it's already in Malaysia and not sold yet.
Untuk bayaran ansuran: Bawa salinan IC untuk rekod aku, bawa original IC, bayar RM1,200 (masuk bank since ada record), sign agreement untuk bayar baki RM1,000 dalam masa setahun.

Update: Lesson Baru 4 Apr 2011 6:02 AM (14 years ago)

 

Ok, setelah spending a few nights shooting, a whole day of editing, waiting 9 hours for the computer to finish encoding it, waiting another 5 hours to finish uploading it, lesson baru akhirnya dipublished. Video ni almost 50 minutes long. And this time it’s more on practical than theory.

Lesson ni pasal Barre Chords. It’s It’s a really useful thing to master. It’s something unique to the guitar. I don’t think any other instrument can claim that you can use just one shape and play all chords of the same type. So learn it. Penat aku ajar. :P

Lesson ni listed kat ruangan “Lesson” tu.

Lesson Barre Chords.

Update: 21 Mar 2011 7:32 PM (14 years ago)

 

Since last time aku buat short TAB, I’ve been doing several TABs. But satu pon tak siap. As usual, buat separuh jalan, lost interest. Switch to something else. And it goes on and on. And recently, aku decided to do one song, that I really love. Buat lagu yang aku betul-betul suka penting untuk maintain focus.

But buat separuh jalan, gitar RG aku tali putus plak. And I’m taking the opportunity to do some rewiring on it. After that kena hantar ke Guitar Tech untuk setup. Not sure how long that will take. But I prefer to use that guitar to do transcribing work, since stand dia kat sebelah meja aku jek. JS dalam case.

And earlier this month, aku pegi beli satu digital piano. I’ve been wanting to learn the instrument for a long time. Finally decided on one. And this thing is pretty addictive. After spending a total of around 24 hours playing it, I made this short arrangement last week.

And at the same time I’m also trying to study Classical guitar some more. Nasib baik aku drop class Jazz, kalo tak lagi takde masa.

I think I should work on my next basic guitar lesson first. It’s been too long.

Update: ruangan Lesson 19 Feb 2011 11:55 PM (14 years ago)

Ok, ruangan lesson aku dah update. Macam aku sebut sebelum ni, aku nak tulis balik artikel-artikel dari blog aku pasal teori. So aku start balik dengan artikel pasal “notes”. Even if you already know a little bit about notes, aku suggest ko baca jugak sekali lalu. You may find something you don’t know before. And it’s very important to understand that before learning other stuff.

And section lesson tu aku bahagikan kepada dua. Satu pasal teori, satu pasal practice. I think I’ll spend more time writing about theory, since I think most people still lack that knowledge, and maybe tak banyak lesson pasal tu dalam BM. And aku akan try tulis dalam BM sebanyak yang boleh.

Lagi satu aku nak share kat sini ialah aku dah start buat open discussion pasal macam mana nak tulis TAB atau backing track sendiri. I get a lot of requests, and I don’t have the time to do them all. But aku rasa lagi berguna kalau aku ajar teknik-teknik buat TAB/backing track aku. Discussion ni open to everyone. Sapa nak menyampuk boleh jek. And tak yah register pon takpe. Discussion tu ade kat sini: http://discuss.gshbb.com.

And for the time being at least aku tak bukak forum tu untuk topic baru. Tak larat aku nak jaga. So for the time being, it’s only for one discussion.

Update: Download section dah siap 8 Feb 2011 7:15 PM (14 years ago)

 

Yeah, I took so much time doing that. But it’s done. Now laju sket nak load page tu, since aku guna method yang baru aku belajar untuk track download statistics. And aku dah siap transfer semua artikel yang aku tulis untuk setiap TAB dari blog aku tu.

The next section that I will work on is the Lesson section. Yang ni aku tak plan on just copy and paste ape yang aku dah tulis sebelum ni. Instead, I’m going to write everything from scratch. The bad thing is that it’ll take time. The good thing is that it’s gonna be more thorough, more complete, and easier to follow untuk orang yang takde langsung background pasal music theory. And aku plan nak divide section Lesson tu into two. Satu pasal theory muzik, satu lagi pasal practical knowledge untuk gitar.

I’m glad that I’m doing it now, instead of later. Aku rasa banyak gak aku dah tulis dalam masa setaun. It’s already getting disorganized. Kalau aku tunggu lagi baru nak buat, I don’t think I’ll ever have the will to do it.

At this time a year ago, seinggat aku aku dah released a few TABs. Yup, skrg dah February, aku tak release apa-apa TAB pon lagi. One of the reasons is that I took a vacation. Pastu I took too much time to decide which song to work on first. And then I got sick a little bit. Pastu nak buat website ni lagi. So many reason, valid reasons.

But this year, I think you shouldn’t expect too many TABs from me. Focus aku taun ni aku rasa aku nak educate more, instead of spoon feeding y’all with the TABs. That won’t make me very popular, since aku rasa kebanyakan orang nak belajar main lagu jek. But that would be such a loss. Sebabnya kalau sekadar belajar lagu jek, you’ll learn the song, but you won’t really learn music. And aku banyak terima request. I appreciate that. In fact, I feel honored. But I’m just one guy, doing this part time. But if you learn music, instead of just songs, you’ll be more equipped to learn any song you want in the future, on your own. That’s a lot more valuable. That’s a better impact that I can make.

So yeah, taun ni aku akan still buat TAB. But aku akan focus lebih sket on educating people, particularly newbies.

Update: Hosting Baru 29 Jan 2011 6:07 PM (14 years ago)

Ok, macam yang aku cakap semalam, hosting tu pegi ban traffic from Malaysia. So, takde choice. Aku terpaksa move again. So I just spent $75 for a 3-year hosting plan. >_< it’s all for the sake of public service.

Now, kalo korang pegi http://www.gshbb.com, you’ll see the same home page, it’s just that it’s stored somewhere else. Links dalam page tu blom boleh pakai lagi. But, aku nak mintak tolong sesape kat sini yang tak boleh masuk langsung website tu, tolong comment kat bawah. I need to know, so that I can decide if I should get my money back and move elsewhere.

Hmm, baru sebulan pindah ke website baru dah kena pindah lagi. Well what can I do? So yeah, there’s a lot of work to be done. I have to work on the website, I have to work on a new TAB, I have to study Jazz and Classical music, bla bla bla. I’m extremely busy, and I’m feeling a little sick for the lack of rest. So hopefully korang faham la ye.

Update: Sebab korang tak leh gi website baru aku 29 Jan 2011 1:48 AM (14 years ago)

Aku contact support for the hosting. Dia kata

yes, we had to block several IP ranges from Brazil and Malaysia due to severe hacking attempts on users sites and all servers in our network

GREAT!! Menyusahkan aku jek. Them hacker wannabes need to find real jobs and stop fucking with others! Yes I am angry.  So yeah, for the time being my website (gshbb.com) is down for you guys in Malaysia.

Update: Download Problem 28 Jan 2011 6:17 PM (14 years ago)

Sorry, aku tak perasan yang download link semua broken. I’ll have to fix it. I’ll figure out how, hopefully soon.

Adeh, memacam kena buat.

Update: 23 Jan 2011 10:14 PM (14 years ago)

 

The server seems to be ok now. Aku dah boleh update the site. The work will resume soon.

Lagi satu aku dah start buat TAB baru. It took me a few weeks to decide which one from my list to work on first. But finally aku decided on lagu yang tak technical sangat, partly because aku jarang main gitar lately. But I love the song, and I’m doing it because I’m fascinated by the key modulation yang aku dengar. We’ll see what it is. Hopefully I’ll get it done in a few weeks.

Site Update: Update Tergendala 14 Jan 2011 10:37 PM (14 years ago)

 

Haram tol la. Hosting server down. Aku tak leh nak update ape-ape page. (FYI, post ni ditulis kat blog and automatically reflected by my new home page).

Here’s what the server says:

The VistaPanel is undergoing maintenance for the next 5 - 7 days.
Sorry the the inconvenience.
- Last updated Thursday 13 Jan.

Gile lama. Apparently it’s undergoing an emergency maintenance. >_<

Anyway, I have a new domain name. It’s simply:

GSHBB.com

:D

It’s only $8 per year, so I don’t mind paying for that. But hosting still free punya la, since I’m not making any money out of this, and I don’t want to annoy you with advertisements. 

Site Update: Ruang Soal Jawab 8 Jan 2011 4:26 AM (14 years ago)

Ruangan Soal Jawab kat site tu dah siap.

Site Baru – GSHBB.COM

I’m back 4 Jan 2011 9:54 PM (14 years ago)

Baru last week aku balik dari Las Vegas for a short vacation. Alright, aku ingat nak start buat TAB baru. Tapi pikir-pikir balik there’s one thing that I really have to do: Work on the new website.

Cam aku cakap sebelum ni, I’m sick of relying on blog layout. One of the reasons is that orang selalu tanye aku soklan yang jawapan dia aku dah cover kat sini. I don’t blame them. Pada aku blog layout tends to bury old stuff that are still relevant. Usually aku akan try jawap gak, but I get questions daily so lambat la aku reply. And aku sendiri pon makin susah nak keep track on ape yang aku dah ajar. I really feel like a regular website layout will allow me to list all the lessons, all the answered questions, and everything else properly. Senang untuk aku, senang untuk korang. The most important thing to me is for you guys to learn something. So how I present everything must be helpful. Kalau aku tak buat skrg makin bercelaru la. Baru setaun aku rasa dah berterabur materials aku.

So aku baru a few days try belajar benda-benda ni. Last time I really tried to learn how to create a webpage was over 10 years ago. Back then simple sket dari skrg. Mase tu Dreamweaver pon still under Macromedia, bukan Adobe. Mase tu Microsoft ade program FrontPage. Skrg memacam benda aku kena belajar. RSS la, CSS la and memacam benda yang memeningkan kepala otak, but important.

After working on it for a few days, here’s what I’ve come out with so far.

http://gshbb.com

Buat masa ni baru siap sket front page dengan download page. I still have to reorganize everything I’ve written, and fine tune the formatting. I may have to rewrite certain things to suit website layout. Aku akan arrange lesson sume ikut order yang aku rasa sesuai. That way aku boleh keep track on what to cover later.

So that’s where everything will be. Lepas ni blog ni aku pakai untuk inform pasal update jek. Takde letak artikel pepanjang. Artikel sume letak kat website. This blog will be fed to the home page of that website. So korang tak yah gi blog ni lagi, just use the above address.

Give me a couple of weeks. Makan masa ni. Ye la balik keja baru ade mase nak belajar & buat benda ni. Pastu kol 10 malam baru nak masak. Adeh. It’s ok, anything that keeps my brain working can’t be too bad, especially if I enjoy it.

Busy busy busy… 4 Dec 2010 10:22 PM (14 years ago)

Well, kalo korang Facebook friend aku, you’ll probably know why I’m busy right now. Actually, aku dah agak aku akan busy la aku mengelabah buat last video aku tu. That’s gonna be the last one for the year.

So, right now aku busy dengan visitors. Tak penah penah orang kampung datang sebelum ni. I’ll also be busy settlekan ape-ape yang patut sebelum hujung taun (like using dental insurance etc).

Actually aku estimate aku akan busy until January, but then aku tak dapat nak register class gitar yang aku tgh amik ni next semester. The only open class is Jazz Band. Nak masuk class tu kena audition sume. And I don’t know anything about Jazz. So I’ll be busy preparing for that, although I really doubt that I’ll pass the audition.

And kalau pass pon, I’ll have to be working more on learning Jazz, since I’m really not familiar with the intricacies of the style (I just know that it’s really hard and has heavy emphasis on music theory knowledge).

So skrg aku tak tau la bile lagi aku akan realease a new material. We’ll see. But just know that I’ll have to shift my focus on other stuff for a little bit. But I’ll still answer questions if I have the time, and if I know the answer.

And like I’ve been saying, aku nak move from blog tu website. Tah bile-bile la nak siap. But I have to do it. This is getting disorganized.

TAB: Nurnilam Sari (Solo) - Request 14 Nov 2010 7:02 PM (14 years ago)

 

TAB dia aku blom upload lagi. I’ll do that tomorrow.

Setelah ramai yang mitak, sejak aku first post video aku testing camera ngan sound card aku tu about two years ago, akhirnya aku buat pon solo lagu ni.

Video ni aku letak bonus content sket. Aku kasi a few tips untuk beginners or anybody who’s interested.

Like I said, so many people out there can play better than me. It’s amazing what they can do. But I’m not trying to compete with anybody. Of course it’s always good to learn from great players if you get the chance. But toksah dismiss what I say just because aku tak terer lagi. A lot of the things yang aku cakap dalam video ni, dalam artikel pasal rhythm ni are the things that I really need to work on myself. I may not be good at putting the hours practicing what I preach, but that doesn’t mean what I preach is wrong. But I’m not always right either.

Pasal gambar dalam video ni, tell me if I look orange in it. Tah la, aku tengok pakai dua monitor computer aku, cam ok jek. But bile aku tengok kat plasma tv aku, cam orange gile. Well, I really don’t have much time to examine that.

And video ni actually features the best audio mixing yang aku dah buat so far. Thanks to Ery for his tips on reverb. The guy is really good. He plays well, he composes well, and he sure knows how to mix. Check him out. I still have plenty to learn. Yeah, video ni walaupon pendek, I spent a lot of time mixing, since aku try benda-benda baru.

Pasal TAB ni, there’s not much to discuss dah. Mostly aku dah cakap dalam video tu. One of the reasons aku malas nak buat TAB ni ialah sebab mix original recording ni cam susah sket nak dengar gitar dia. I had to guess a lot of things. Like I said, beginning and ending of this solo memang aku haram tak dengar sangat. So TAB ni memang banyak aku punya personal touch, to fill in the blanks. But it’s a good thing I suppose. It forces me to compose a little, something that I have no talent in.

Since aku letak 4 alternate ending untuk solo ni, kalao korang nak dengar other endings, just mute and unmute appropriate tracks. Yang aku main dalam video ni yang first kind. This one is similar to the third kind of ending. Third kind susah sket, but pattern dia consistent throughout the measure. Both 1st and 3rd ending ni susah sket nak count. Not just because aku letak triplets. It’s also because aku design rhythm pattern tu supaya jadi macam some kind of “polyrhythm”. For the first ending, the pattern repeats 4 times in 3 beats. I won’t go into detail on that.

Actually dalam video ni originally aku suggest gak untuk end the solo on Bb or D notes. But aku tepaksa cut since YouTube limits 15 minutes jek satu video. So yeah, you can do whatever you want on that last two measures. At other places pon, it’s up to you. If it sounds good, it’s good.

And if you look really really closely, ade a few notes yang aku main kat different position dari ape yang aku tulis dalam TAB. I do that sometimes. Yang dalam TAB, kalau aku boleh dengar ape yang dia main, aku akan transcribe based on what I believe the guitarist did. But I may play it at a different position, slightly differently.

For the record, I have no idea what this song really means. But I’ll appreciate getting haunted by a hot ghost. :D I just don’t wanna know how she really looks like. :P

 

I do not own the copyright of the original recording nor the music itself. The tablature that I transcribe and the backing track that I make are for educational purposes only. 

Lesson: Rentak (Rhythm) 13 Nov 2010 7:41 PM (14 years ago)

 

It’s been a very busy few weeks. Actually aku plan nak take a break for a couple of months, we’ll tell y’all later. And before that aku plan nak teach a bunch of things. Aku plan nak release satu short TAB soon, and a short lesson on it. But before that, kena belajar pasal rhythm dulu.

So, ni aku nak aja sket pasal rhythm kepada sesape yang tak tau lagi. Please read it. I spent so many hours developing it. I had to, I think it’s is really important. Dengan artikel ni aku letak dua video. Salah satu video tu aku tunjuk cammana nak practice dengan metronome.

http://gshbb.xtreemhost.com/TunjukAjar/Rhythm/Rentak.php

Untuk yang tanya pasal asal-usul chords, sorry I haven’t got the time to finish it yet. Baru siap half way jek.

Q’n’A: Advice Pasal Equipment Untuk Beginners (Part 4 of 4) 23 Oct 2010 4:35 PM (14 years ago)

 

The most basic setup yg diperlukan ialah gitar sambung terus ke amp. If you like the sound of your amp, tak yah letak effect in between pon takpe. But aku nak depart from that conventional wisdom sket.

 

Effects

Most players usually letak something between amp dengan gitar untuk kasi lagi sedap tone dia. There are many kind of effects you can use, in many different shapes.

 

Jenis Effects

Jenis effect terbahagi kepada beberapa group. Kalo tengok website Boss, ade Distortion/Overdrive, Reverb/Delay, Modulation, EQ/Tonality, Pitch Shift, etc.

I’m not gonna go too deep into that, I’m not an expert in it anyway. But basically, Distortion/Overdrive ni effect yg kasi bunyi tu ganas sket, heavy, berbanding clean tone.

Reverb pulak effect yg kasi dengar macam kat dalam dewan ke, cathedral ke, room ke. Delay pon is closely related to that. Delay ni macam echo la.

Modulation pulak, well, this is modulation sound effect. Bukan key modulation yg aku discuss sebelum ni. Chorus (or ensamble) contohnya effect yang buat macam stereo sket, macam dua orang main the same thing. Flanger buat kasi bunyi macam jet pejuang sket.

Equalization is tone shaping. So ko boleh kuatkan certain frequency, and rendahkan frequency yg lain. Wah ni buat sound macam goreng lagu Enter Sandman tu.

Pitch shifter boleh ubah pitch note yg ko main tu. Harmonist boleh buat sound macam dua orang main benda yg sama, but the other sound is in harmony. Maknanya katakanlah ko main satu lick, the other sound main the same lick, at lower or higher pitch, and stay within the key.

Compressor pulak is like an automatic volume control. Compressor boleh ubah “dynamic range” sound ko.

 

Package Effects

Memacam rupa bentuk effect ade dipasaran.

Yg jenis ni dipanggil “stompbox” punya pedal. This is a very common form of effects. The good thing pasal effect camni ialah nak mix and match senang sket. Katakan la ko suka distortion brand Boss, delay Behringer, whammy Digitech etc, just connect them to each other. Pretty easy. Nak ubah susunan effect tu pon senang. Lagi satu pedal camni memang kebal gak la. They last forever. Sebejik pedal camni tak berapa mahal sangat. But kalau nak macam-macam effect, this may not be very cost effective lah. Especially kalau ko belum tau banyak pasal effects, buying these may not be the best idea kot. I’m speaking from experience. Dulu aku pakai gak effect camni. Kalau mase aku start dulu aku ade choice macam skrg, aku takkan beli effect camni.

And aku tak sure la kat kedai gitar kat Malaysia ade benda cam gambar kat bawah ni. Kat US ni, kalau aku gi Guitar Center, dia ade station yg letak memacam effect Boss yg dah siap disambung to each other and an amp. Just pick any guitar you like, cucuk cable, and you can learn what each effect does sebelum beli.

 

 

Effect camni pulak dipanggil multi-effects. Ade yg kecik, ade yang besar, ade yg murah, ade yg mahal. And you can always check the list of available effects for each unit. GT-10 for example ada memacam effect. You can just google for a list of effects it has. And some units, macam GT-10 ni aku rasa boleh cucuk terus kat USB computer, boleh jadi macam sound card. Boleh pakai headphone jek, boleh cucuk kat amp, atau PA system. Siap ade amplifier modeling skali. Effect camni kalo nak combine dengan pedal lain boleh gak, although it’s not too straightforward. And the bad thing about this thing is that you may not like all effects dia. Although harga dia nampak macam mahal, this is actually more cost effective daripada individual stompboxes. Oh, nak pakai benda ni kena baca manual la.

 

 

Ha, kalau loaded, buat camni. Those are rackmount punya effects. Aku memang takde experience pakai rack punya effects. But I’m guessing that each one of those are high quality stuff, stok orang pakai dalam studio or touring rock stars. And setau aku dorang sambung semua effect ke programmable pedal. So if you’re a beginner, this is something to dream of, but don’t get them.

Hmm, actually, aku bercadang nak angkut satu rackmount unit. Camni.

Heh heh, just a Behringer tuner. Just about $60 jek. Actually I wanna have a tuner on my desk, but I don’t wanna spend $200 on this Peterson.

 

Amps

Pada aku it’s more important to have a good amp daripada effects. Effect best-best tapi last last bunyi kuar kat amp cabok tak guna gak. Amp pon ade memacam jenis. Let’s see how they’re packaged.

 

Amp camni dipanggil Combo Amp. Combo sebab amplification unit dengan speaker dia combine skali. This particular model ade footswitch, untuk turn on or off some effects. Most amps memang ade overdrive effect, reverb etc.

 

Yang ni half stack (left), and full stack (right) amps. That’s your ultimate kind of amp. But they’re not cheap. Besar and berat plak tu. Amp camni amplifier unit dia (amp head) yg belah atas tu, and yg bawah tu speakers cabinet dia. If you’re a rock star doing a live show, consider something like this. If you have a studio and you wanna do recording, this isn’t a bad idea too. Kalau beginner main kat rumah jek, toksah la.

 

Tu common amp configuration. Amplification dia pon ade macam-macam gak. Ade yang tube, ade yang solid state, ade yg modelling. I won’t go into that. Google jek. Read stuff like this or something.

 

 

Recommendation Untuk Beginners

Kalau ko masih beginners main sesorang kat dalam bilik, aku tak recommend satu pon produk yg tunjuk kat atas. Because it’s 2010, and pada aku korang ade better option for your money.

 

Line 6 TonePort UX1 (~RM580)

Kalau ade computer, ni yg aku akan recommend untuk beginners. Yup, just a sound card. Why? It’s relatively cheap, and you’ll get access to a lot of kinds of effects. Aku discover product camni like 2 years ago. At that time aku ade Boss GT-6, and a small Marshall combo. Since aku beli Line6 TonePort UX2 aku, jarang gile aku pakai GT-6 ngan amp tu. And I’ve learned a lot about effects.

Audio Interface ni ade banyak manufacturer dia. Look for something with low latency. Latency ni delay dari time ko petik tali sampai dengar bunyi dia. Masa aku angkut UX2 aku, I was so impressed by the extremely low latency it has. Well, time has changed. Computers are much faster. Gambar kat atas ni UX1. It’s good enough for most applications. Aku pakai UX2 ade dua mic input, ade phantom power kalau nak pakai dengan condenser mic etc. I really have to admit that I absolutely love it. It is by far the best thing about guitars that I’ve purchased. I’ve learned so much since I own it.

Lagi satu kelebihan benda ni nak record pon senang. Ye la, bukan semua orang ade studio, ade amp yg best, ade mic yg mahal utk record sound yg dahsyat. This allows you to connect directly to the computer, and amp modeling ngan effect sume dalam computer.

And since aku tinggal kat apartment, this makes a lot of sense, since aku boleh main sambil dengar pakai headphone. Tak kacau neighbor. And if you’re a beginner, nobody really wanna hear you play anyway. So keep it to yourself for the time being until you get better. :P

Pakai audio interface camni boleh pakai dengan beberapa jenis program untuk model effect ngan amp.

Ni Line6 GearBox. Boleh pakai dengan Line6 punya product jek. It comes free with Line 6 TonePort. Video aku mostly pakai software ni untuk effects.

 

Yang ni Line 6 Pod Farm. Yg ni aku tak sure kalau sound card lain boleh pakai ke tak. But it comes with TonePort.

 

Amplitube. Soundcard brand ape-ape pon boleh pakai.

 

Ni pulak Guitar Rig.

 

Those are among the most popular la. Benda camni la yg I wish I had mase memula main gitar dulu. You can learn so much, get good sounds without spending a fortune. Zaman skrg ni almost everybody has a computer. Ada electric gutiar, ade good audio interface, pakai pro audio punya headphone ke, you’re good to go.

 

Audio Interface + Computer ni I’d say it’s good untuk practice sesorang. Well, that’s what I do anyway. But kalau nak main dengan kengkawan, that’s not gonna be enough. You’ll need an actual amp for that.

Don’t be thinking about a full stack amp yet. Remember, as a beginner, you won’t be performing in a big arena yet.

Untuk jamming dengan kengkawan, atau kalau ko tak minat pakai computer punya effects and nak practice dengan actual amp, I’d suggest a combo modeling amp.

Modeling amp ni bukan macam traditional amps. Modeling amp ni kat dalam dia ade digital circuitry yg boleh imititate other amps. See, kalau ko beli satu traditional Marshall amp for instance, you get Marshall sound. But if you buy a modeling amp, you can get Marshall sound, MesaBoogie sound etc. Of course lah, modeling amp ni takde la sehebat orginal amp yg dia tiru. But it’s pretty good. And modeling amp ni biasanya ade banyak effects. So, macam ade multi effects plus multiple amps in one package.

 

 

If you’re in the market for a small modeling amp, I’d suggest a Roland Micro Cube. This little amp, is very little. But looks can be deceiving. This little thing is impressive. Aku try kat kedai, I was like, “how the hell did they do that”? Aku rasa harga dia kalau kat Malaysia kurang dari RM400 kot. This thing is pretty loud for the size, and it sounds good. If you have the chance, try it. Nak practice sesorang pon ok. Nak practice dengan kawan pon maybe loud enough kot. It’s small enough bole run pakai battery jek. Boleh letak strap gitar gak. That way kalau nak pegi camping, you can play an electric guitar in front of the campfire. Tak yah pakai gitar kapok. :D

And Roland is not the only one yg buat modeling amp kecik camni. There are other brands too.

 

Kalau nak yang besar sket and more features, there are a lot to choose from. Yang aku familiar sket Line 6 dengan Fender la. But I’m sure there are a lot more out there.

Macam gambar yg kat atas ni, it comes with LCD display. Ade memacam effects, ade metronome, ade backing tracks lagi. I heard this one siap boleh connect kat computer lagi, jadi audio interface. Boleh cucuk MP3 player, SD card. Kalau tanak buat bising, cucuk jek headphone. I don’t have one yet, I don’t really need it, but I think I wanna have one.

In any case, aku advise korang toksah tamak nak amp besar sangat. I’m not just talking about half and full stacks. Combo amps get big too. Toksah la angkut amp yg besar, yg high wattage. I think amp yg besar ni, kalau tak main cukup kuat, it won’t sound very good. So if your venue is a small room or a garage, get something of appropriate size. Bile aku gi kedai gitar, I saw those big Marshall stack or MesaBoogie Rectifier stack, they look nice. Tapi aku tak teringin pon. I know I’ll never need them.

And recommendation aku ni is mostly for practice. It’s not for live performance. Kalau live performance, you’ll probably need some sort of pedal nak tukar-tukar effects. Good luck.

Q’n’A: Soalan follow up pasal Pickups &amp; Tremolo 22 Oct 2010 12:15 AM (14 years ago)

Q: -maksud kau bro, gitar H-S-H atau H-S ni guna system active and passive ke? atau separuh pickups je guna act n pass ni?
-kenapa kena ada 2 humbuckers(bridge ngan neck)? and guitar H-S-H ni biasanya ada 5 way switcher. kalau
position switch aku kat channel 2 atau 4, maknanya kita guna combination antara salah satu humb dgn s coil kan? ni ke yang bro maksudkan dengan active single coil, passive single coil, active humbucker, passive humbucker tu?

A: H ngan S tu short for Humbucker and Single Coil jek. Kalau gitar ko punya system passive, semua pickup passive. Kalau gitar tu pakai system active, sume active. Aku tak penah denga yg campur. Like I said in the Pickup post, output level lain betul. Tak make sense kalo campur.

Pasal switch pulak, katakan la gitar ni ade H-S-H, and 5-way switch. Katakan position 4 ni yg paling dekat dengan bridge. What happens is humbucker kat bridge tu dia guna setengah jek (coil tap), and then combine dengan middle pickup. It’s just to get a different tone.

Tak semestinya kena ade dua humbuckers. Ade gak gitar yg H-S-S. Humbucker kat bridge biasanya.

 

Q: bridge question.(floyd rose) according to u, bila kita tukar tuning ke alternate tuning, we have to readjust the springs. adakah bermakna kalau kita tak adjust springs kat belakang body guitar, bridge akan jadi tak parallel atau terjongket ke?

Q: gauge tali cmna lak...tol ke flyod rose xleh pkai 0.10...ibanez sy ada prob bila tuka 0.10. ska lri tune. tremolo terangkat

 

Ha, untuk soalan-soalan ni jawapan dia special sket. I’m guessing that a lot of people new to locking tremolo system tak faham pasal ni. So I spent hours writing the following article, baca sampai abis ye. :D

http://gshbb.xtreemhost.com/SoalJawab/Trem.htm

Q&amp;A: Advice Pasal Equipment Untuk Beginners (Part 3.5 of 4) 19 Oct 2010 6:39 PM (14 years ago)

 

Opps, sorry. Tak abis lagi pasal Floyd Rose (locking tremolo).

Satu lagi problem dengan trem ni berbanding ngan fixed bridge is that kalau bend satu tali, tali lain semua go out of tune sampai ko release bend tu. It’s fine kalo nak main satu note. Kalo nak bend dua tali skali gus, it’s gonna sound bad. Tak pon kalo bend satu tali, main satu note, and nak capai note lain kat tali lain before releasing the bend, it’s not gonna sound perfectly in tune too.

Which is why we have Tremol-No. Aku baru tau actually, just a few minutes ago. :P So untuk soalan pasal EVH D-Tuna tu, if you use it with Tremol-No, it’s probably effective sebab device ni boleh block bridge tu, jadi macam fixed bridge. I haven’t tried any of those products actually. I might try Tremol-No later.

 

And I may be wrong that non-locking tremolo macam Strat punya tu cuma one-way jek. Some tremolo design boleh tarik sket. Kena tanye orang yg ade Strat la. See, the problem ngan kedai gitar kegemaran aku ni dorang tak pasang tremolo bar kat gitar on display. So aku jarang la try.

Q&amp;A: Advice Pasal Equipment Untuk Beginners (Part 3 of 4) 19 Oct 2010 5:59 PM (14 years ago)

 

Sorry for taking too much time since the last post in this series.

 

Electric Guitar

Basically ade dua jenis electric guitar: solid body and hollow body.

               Solid Body                                                                Hollow Body

 

Well, aku takde experience sangat pasal hollow body ni. Yg aku tau cuma body dia hollow la. Of course la kan. Pastu dia usually ade “f-holes” macam violin. I think this type of guitar is favored by jazz or blues guitarists. Usually aku tengok orang main gitar ni sound dia clean, tak pon crunsh sket. Nothing heavy.

All I can talk about is solid body, since I know a little bit about that. And most of you are probably interested in that anyway.

Bile nak pilih electric guitar ni, ade beberapa benda penting yg kena consider. Antara soklan yg aku selalu terima ialah pasal bridge.

 

Bridge

Basically ade 3 jenis bridge: fixed, non-locking tremolo and locking tremolo.

Fixed ni yg macam kat Les Paul atau Telecaster. Kalo tak penah tengok, fixed bridge ni usually look very simple. And gitar yg bridge camni takde tremolo bar (but just because tak nampak tremolo bar doesn’t mean it’s fixed, since orang tu mungkin tak pasang tremolo bar dia). So gitar fixed bridge ni tak leh la nak buat effect “dive bomb” ke. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I heard that fixed bridge ni transfer vibration tali tu ke body gitar tu dengan baik, since from the string to the body is completely rigid. And bridge jenis ni tak yah pikir pasal bridge springs, that you have to worry about in other types of bridge.

Fixed Bridge

 

 

Non-locking tremolo ni macam kat gambar Strat kat bawah ni. Dia dipanggil non-locking sebab nut dia tu tak dikunci. Bridge camni cuma boleh tekan jek, tak boleh tarik. So it’s one way. Maknanya bile main satu note, boleh tekan tremolo bar tu kasi pitch tu direndahkan and release bar tu kasi return to the original pitch, but tak boleh tarik tremolo bar kasi naik pitch. And since gitar camni nut dia tak dikunci, so kalo pakai tremolo bar tu, tuning akan lari sket sebab tension tali ni dari bridge sampailah ke machine head berubah. But bridge jenis ni offers tremolo capability, and better sound transfer berbanding dengan locking tremolo. Lagi satu spring dia senang sket nak manage, because tension spring tu mesti lebih tinggi dari jumlah tension tali gitar ni.

 

Non-Locking Tremolo System

 

Locking tremolo, atau Floyd Rose is something else. Since aku selalu dapat soklan pasal bridge ni, and aku more experienced dengan bridge jenis ni, I’ll talk more about it.

 

Locking Tremolo System

As you can see, nut dia lepas tuning kena lock pakai allen key. This ensures that bile pakai tremolo tu, tali punya tension hanya akan berubah dari bridge sampai ke nut jek. From the nut to the machine head tak berubah. That way, the tuning will be more consistent. So kalo pakai tremolo tu extreme gile pon the tuning will be ok. This kind of bridge is favored by aggressive players I think.

Bridge dia pulak, as you can see, is more complicated than fixed bridge or non-locking tremolo system. Bridge camni dikira floating, sebab boleh tekan and boleh tarik. So, when you play a note, you can change the pitch up or down by using the tremolo bar. And bridge camni, since contact point dengan body gitar kurang dari jenis bridge yg lain, sound transfer to the body isn’t so good. Sustain dia pon kurang sket since the bridge is not rigid.

But that’s the least of the problem with this kind of bridge. Kalo nak bridge camni, beginners kena amik masa untuk belajar and biasakan dengan complications that comes with it. When all the strings are in tune, bridge ni mesti parallel dengan body guitar ni. That way you have clearance to push and pull it. So, nak kasi bridge ni parallel, spring kat belakang gitar ni mesti diadjust kasi tension dia sama dengan jumlah tension semua tali ni. Because of that, bile ko tukar gauge tali, ataupon nak guna alternate tuning ke, you have to readjust the springs. So gitar camni tak praktikal kalo nak buat main macam-macam tuning. Pick a tuning and string gauge, and stick with it. I don’t find it so hard to adjust the springs because I’ve had this kind of guitar forever. But still, it’s not worth the effort to play drop-D tuning or something. Kalo ade banyak guitar that’s fine. But dulu aku ade satu gitar jek, for like 10 years.

Well, somebody recently brought up pasal device yg membolehkan kita tukar to drop D quickly. The thing about it is that kalo kat floating tremolo ni, first kena block dulu tremolo tu. That way tak boleh tarik, it becomes a one-way tremolo. And then only buleh engage the device to lower the 6th string tension to make it a D instead of E. Kalau tak block dulu tremolo ni, the tension of the springs will be higher than the collective tension of the strings. That’ll mess up the tuning of other strings.

Lagi satu pasal gitar camni ialah bile tukar tali, kalo tak perlu cabut semua tali skali gus, DON’T. Baik cabut satu tali, pasang tali baru, tune it. And then repeat for other strings. Let’s say ko cabut semua tali tu, pastu tukar semua tali, tune the 6th String. Pastu tune the first string, pastu second string etc. By the time keenam-enam tali dah tune, the 6th string will be way too flat. You’ll have to do it so many times until they converge, meaning that the tuning stays the same. Any kind of guitar pon kena buat camtu. But it’s much harder dengan floating bridge ni.

Intonation pon leceh sket. Nak adjust intonation, kena longgarkan dulu satu tali tu, baru boleh access screw untuk tali tu. I don’t wanna go too deep into this. Let’s just say that it’s not as easy as it is on a Strat.

The last thing pasal locking tremolo ni, kalau beli gitar yg murah tapi ade tremolo jenis ni, expect problems. The thing is tremolo camni complicated sket. You can’t expect cheap guitars to be equipped with high quality bridge.

 

So, takde satu pon jenis bridge that offers everything. Kalo ade dua gitar yg sama, satu non-locking satu lagi locking tremolo, the locking one will cost more, just because it’s more complicated to make. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best for you. Kalo aku nak beli satu lagi gitar, it’s gonna be a fixed bridge, because I wanna have one like that. Actually sebelum aku angkut JS tu aku memang plan nak angkut fixed bridged guitar. But because I love the JS so much I just had to get that one instead.

 

Pickup

Satu lagi soklan yg orang selalu tanye ialah pasal pickup. Generally ade dua jenis: Single coil dengan humbucking pickups. Single coil ni macam kat Strat dalam gambar kat atas. Humbucker ni macam dalam gambar locking tremolo tu.

Gitar Strat traditionally ade 3 single-coil pickups. Gitar jenis “super Strat” pulak, macam Ibanez RG sometimes ade dua humbucker jek, atau dua humbucker plus one single coil in the middle.

Which one is better? It’s a matter of need and taste. Single coil ni tone dia tend to be brighter and thinner. Kalo main clean or crunch, aku memang suka single coil. Humbucker pulak tone dia fat and heavy. That’s my choice kalo main heavy rhythm or solo. Sometimes aku pakai single coil untuk sound heavy yg “hollow” sket, macam dalam video Seribu Tahun Takkan Mungkin tu. Dalam post aku sebelum ni pasal Pickups ade ade demo sket beza sound dia.

Oh, one thing about single coil is that it tends to be noisier than humbucker. Without going too deep into the physics, humbucker ni kedua-dua row magnet dia menyebabkan hum tu dicancel. That’s actually why dorang invent “fake” single coil macam DiMarzio Area ‘58 aku tu. That way you get the low noise quality of a humbucker, and get the tone of a single coil.

Single coil ngan humbucker ni configuration pickup tu. There are also active and passive pickup systems. So basically, ko boleh dapat passive single coil, passive humbucker, active single coil, active humbucker. Nak tau pasal active and passive pegi tengok post Pickups tu.

So bila beli gitar, ko kena decide nak pickups yg cammana. Maksud aku, nak yg S-S-S ke, H-H ke, H-S-H ke etc. The thing is, lepas beli gitar tu, nak upgrade single-coil to a better single-coil, or upgrade humbucker dengan humbucker yg lain senang gak. But nak tukar single-coil to humbucker, or vice versa is a little more work.

 

Recommendation

Gitar ape yg aku recommend? Well, macam yg aku sebut kat atas, it depends on your needs lah. Kalau minat main style blues ke, maybe a Strat is a good idea. Strats are versatile enough that main rock pon sesuai. Kalau nak main metal ke, shred ke, it’s probably better to find a guitar that’s designed for that, yg ade humbuckers.

If you’re looking for a Strat, aku suggest cari Squire. Squire is the cheaper version of Fender, owned by Fender. Of course Fender knows how to make good Strats, they invented it.

But kalo nak main rock, I think I’d suggest an Ibanez. Ye la, aku ade 3 Ibanez, I may be biased. But Ibanez is known to give you more value for your money. Ibanez takde legendary status macam Fender or Gibson, but they make quality guitars for reasonable price.

But the best suggestion I can give you is to try them. Survey gitar-gitar yg within your budget, try them. Aku memang pentingkan comfort. You have to feel comfortable playing the guitar. And you want to find something that makes you wanna keep playing. Sebab aku try la aku found out that Gibson Les Paul isn’t for me. Everybody loves that guitar. But bile aku try sendiri, I like something else better. Maybe someday I’ll buy it for the sake of luxury, but it’s not what I need right now. Macam yg aku sebut sebelum ni, it’s not about what other people like. You have to like it. Consider la orang lain punya review, but remember that not every opinion is applicable to you. Selera lain lain.

Bab harga pulak, try spend more than RM1000. Kalau ko absolute beginner, tak reti langsung main, you probably shouldn’t spend that much. But kalo dah reti gak, please spend more than RM1000. It’s really not much. Aku ulang balik ape aku sebut dalam first post in this series. Think about what you spend on other stuff. Ko ade BlackBerry or iPhone or other smartphones? How much are those? In 5 years are you still gonna use the same phone? Confirm tak. Sebulan bape ringgit abis kat bill? And phone mahal-mahal, bill tinggi sume, if you spend a lot of time with your phone, will you be a better, more charismatic speaker? I doubt it. But if you spend a lot of time on a good guitar, it is very likely that you’ll be a better guitarist. Aku bukan nak masuk campur hal kewangan korang. Just pointing out something worth considering.

And aku bukan nak cakap jangan beli iPhone or something. If you like those stuff and you have the money, go ahead. You know your priorities. Nak tau aku pakai phone ape? Bertaun-taun aku pakai Samsung cabok yg dapat free with phone plan. Stok buat baling anjing punya (please don’t abuse animals). Pastu taun lepas baru tukar Nokia 5310, tu pon dapat free gak. Can I afford the latest iPhone? Yes. Can I afford to switch from one cool phone to another every 6 months? Yes. But that’s not my priority. I don’t need to watch a movie on my phone, that’s what my TV is for. I don’t need internet everywhere I go, I’m at home a lot. I’d rather spend my money on good guitars. You don’t have to follow me, follow your priorities. ;)

 

Bersambung…

Takde Tajuk 11 Oct 2010 8:27 PM (14 years ago)

 

Still got two more stuff to write about:

• Asal usul chords
• Abiskan advice pasal equipment