Less is more: Yngwie, art, shred, drone, Orwell, gear...?

[goroth]

But he does own 40 rolexes.

I mostly started this thread to post the awesome clip of yngwie, and because the phrase "less is more" is fucking stupid, both grammatically and even more so when said as an absolute truth. For what it's worth I agree with the good doctor earlier in the thread in that no one should give a shit about how much or little gear someone rocks.

I don't particularly dig yngwie's guitar playing but he has a fantastic ear for melodies, if you're a bit of a cheesy power metal dude like me. His live album from the like 1995 with Mats Levén on vocals is rad - so many epic choruses, and the whole thing is a bit looser and more rocknroll cos it's live. So I strangely enough listen to his stuff for the vocals...

[rustywire]

Dumbass has all that shit and then a fucking Ovation acoustic.

At least it's going through a Dyna Comp instead of a CS-3.

I mostly play a $60 Duo-Sonic clone through approx. $2500 in vintage amp and pedals. Because dirty.
But any day now I'm picking up this dreamy feedback beast

I *only* keep about 8 or 9 pedals on my board...and I'll soon be transitioning to the business+pleasure 2 board vision conceived months ago.
Main dirt/delay/verb/phase on the biz. (Ge FuzzFace, HP, DMM, RRR, Street Sweeper)
Noise/synth/drone/ambient/alien stuff on the plesz. (Goodbye 24, Superego, Misty Cave, Spaceheater, Muff)
The Resonator is the only one I have no idea where it will wind up. Might have to get a second one

But in general, I dig the less=more theory.
Challenging oneself to do more with less can yield the most satisfying results...and provide some serious personal growth along the way.
IMO an extra effective method for honing technique.

[AxAxSxS]

I'm a fan of overkill. My board has way to much dirt on it and I could totally slim down, that said. I use a gt-10 for everything not dirt. It's hardly small, but when I think about how many individual boxes it replaces...... Also lets me do that one song effect just fine. It's not the best of everything, but it is everything and works just fine for live. any of the other brands multi boxes would probably work for live. I went with the boss one because it looked sturdy. For studio I'd like to have some better stuf on hand for each individual thing, but it's pretty great for live.

[rfurtkamp]

Nothing wrong with the GT-10, the effects from it are in the GR-55 and they're quite decent.

And sturdy is right, I have a couple 18ish year old Boss multis I still use on occasion.

[AxAxSxS]

I picked up a second one... Just in case. I am back up plan obsessive i think and yeah, there are a ton of good noises in there. If I start to obsess on a particular thing, then I look "outside the box" literally and figuratively, and see if it can be done better. but yeah man, love that thing. I had a digitech rp350, twice. failed both times when beer was spilled on it. boss has never failed. Why would you make a product for musicians that cant stand up to being drenched in beer! I mean.... really?

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, I end up with multiples of a lot of things I like.

I used to obsessively buy Digitech RDS 3.6 rack delays (they were dirt cheap and are still loads o' fun).

[MrNovember]

I *only* keep about 8 or 9 pedals on my board...and I'll soon be transitioning to the business+pleasure 2 board vision conceived months ago.
Main dirt/delay/verb/phase on the biz. (Ge FuzzFace, HP, DMM, RRR, Street Sweeper)
Noise/synth/drone/ambient/alien stuff on the plesz. (Goodbye 24, Superego, Misty Cave, Spaceheater, Muff)
The Resonator is the only one I have no idea where it will wind up. Might have to get a second one

But in general, I dig the less=more theory.
Challenging oneself to do more with less can yield the most satisfying results...and provide some serious personal growth along the way.
IMO an extra effective method for honing technique.

That business+pleasure set up is pretty much what I've started to do.
I built my main guitar board with reverb, fuzz, delay (Tuner, Ghost Echo, Lab Ratchet, F*ck, Superego, Dispatch Master, Ditto)
And I'm building a synth/drone/bass board with some stuff I'm buying in the coming months and a couple of my other pedals (AB-synth, Arpanoid, Pitch bay, Goodbye 24, Betty, TAFM, Operator, RR, Algal)

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

he's no michael angelo batio. thats for sure.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz3JhKXJDTM[/youtube]

[spacelordmother]

I'm not sure I don't even.

NSFW: show

[phantasmagorovich]

I still think it holds true that a good song will work on an acoustic as well as through a giant wall of dunwich amps. You might have to play it a little different, but in essence it should work even without the same sound. On the other hand I might play something unplugged and think this will sound really cool with lots of reverb and a ring modulator. So that's the way it will get played. Less is more is a great way to keep checking if your songwriting is cool and for practicing the essentials, chording cleanly, all that jazz.

On the other hand I have 10 fx on my band board, some of which are only used in one song. Actually one of them is relatively new and has this far only made it's way into jams and unfinished business. I would not want to miss any of them, I'm glad they all fit. It might seem gimmicky to have a GB24 only for two intros, but I don't give a shit. Those intros are awsome as fuck and fun to play. It's obviously enfuriating to haul that heavy ass guitar and board to the practice space and back home all the time. But when I play, I know why I'm breaking my back.

[Ghost Hip]

I got tired of having two rows of pedals, so now everything is one straight row. And, then I sold the rest for more amps.

This is how I do things, if anything is in the back row, it is an always on pedal for a certain song or a tuner.

[retinal orbita]

What is with the Yngwie hate... dude is a sick shredder......

[rustywire]

I still think it holds true that a good song will work on an acoustic as well as through a giant wall of dunwich amps. You might have to play it a little different, but in essence it should work even without the same sound. ...

Foo Fighters' Everlong comes to mind.

What is with the Yngwie hate... dude is a sick shredder......

"Sick shredders" are tough to endure for more than a song. Their "songs" are often nothing more than a showcase for showing off.
That's lame and makes me sardonically say BIG DEAL. In spite of the advanced technique and ability, it comes off as juvenilia.
I believe that playing should serve the song and restraint is an under appreciated virtue.
What you don't play can be as important as what you do play. Knowing when is key.

And that said, dude can play his ass off, and is even an entertaining character.
No hate, but I really have no desire to put all that empty posturing in my ears.
At this point it's become a caricature.

[MrNovember]

Definitely agree with rustywire
I can appreciate that Ygnwie, Vai, Van Halen, and shredders in general are talented but what they play just doesn't interest me
I don't want to listen to super fast, crazy technical solos for 6 minutes straight; it definitely just makes me think big deal
I'd rather listen to someone that can write a good song with some structure other than solos

[KaosCill8r]

Totally agree with the last 2 posts. Being able to play 20 notes a second is impressive to watch but to listen to is ridiculous. I would much rather " less is more " when it comes to a solo. 3 or 4 notes played tastefully and occasionally stopping and hanging on a note or 2. Shredding just leaves me cold. Though they do know their shit when it comes to modes and theory so I give them that.