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26/06/2005 5:23 pm
I'm trying to learn how to play psychedelically like the '60s psych bands like Jefferson Airplane (the intro solo to White Rabbit is a great example), Iron Butterfly, etc.
It seems that these guitarists used "eastern" scales, like the Phrygian and Dorian scales (or modes?). I've tried these scales, as well as the harmonic minor and double harmonic scales, which seem pretty trippy, but it is difficult to get a that "cool" vibe going. Is there certain techniques that I should use within these scales?
I've also heard that many '60s bands used "ragas." Now, if I'm thinking right, that means using scales called melas like those for sitar. The problem is, the scale website that I use has 72 different mela scales.
Can anyone give me any advice on how to play psychedelic guitar? I've heard that I should just play chromatically, but it seems much easier to play within a scale. I've also heard that these guitarists, especially Jorma from Jefferson Airplane, were fingerpickers who just played the minor pentatonic or blues scales (hence the bluesy undertones).
And, if anyone can think of any, can anyone post some cool psychedelic riffs similar to, say, the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidda riff?
Any help would be much appreciated.
"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"
26/06/2005 9:33 pm
briank
Wow, tough question. I've always loved psychedelic guitar myself. I can play it, but I don't know if I can tell YOU how to. I don't think of it in terms of any particular scales, more of technique. I usually just use the Minor Pentatonic scale, but I'll show you an exotic scale that is pretty cool.
For one thing, psychedelic guitar is usually played very slowly. So it is the complete opposite of Metal. You have long sustained notes. Very subtle bends are used also. This is probably the main thing. Sometimes you want to bend notes not quite being a "real" note. What I mean is you might bend an A note upward but not quite to being an A sharp, but somewhere in between. This will give a very Eastern feel and sound.
Reverb was used a lot in psychedelic music in the 60's. It is similar to surf tones. This will help you get that sound. But Fuzz was used a lot as well. This is not the modern distortion. You can pick up pedals that will simulate the Fuzz tones of the late 60's.
Another technique to get the Eastern or psychedelic sound is to play over one droning note or chord. If you listen to Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix, the solo is played over an A chord the whole time.
An old song I liked that had a very subtle Eastern sound to it was Listen to the Music by the Doobie Brothers. Now this song has more than one chord. But if you listen very carefully you will hear the keyboard plays one long constant E note throughout the whole song! :D That one long drone note gives the song a very subtle Eastern feel. So this is another way to get the psychedelic sound.
As far as a good psychedelic solo, I have always thought the solo on Mr. Soul played by Neil Young with Buffalo Springfield is one of the best. Just awesome. Sounds just like a sitar.
Here is a cool scale I learned as the "Gypsy Scale". I don't know what it is, but it has a very Middle Eastern feel (because it is). You might recognize this scale from the Offspring song Come Out and Play (Keep 'm Seperated)
This is in the key of A.
e----------------------------------------------
b----------------------------------------------
g----------------------------------------------
d---------------------------------6---7---8---
a-------------4---5----7---8------------------
e---5---6--------------------------------------
Just listen to lots of old 60's music! 8)
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Topic starter
27/06/2005 4:57 am
Thank you Wes for the information.
Ironically, though, that scale looks familiar- it's also called double harmonic :lol: .
It's tough to get the feeling of it down- I'm trying to work on the Doors song "The End." The guitar seems very simple, yet very tough to get perfect.
My goal is to be able to just sit down and improvise some slow, "dynamic" sitar- like tunes, and "The End" seems like a good place to start.
Any more advice?
"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"
27/06/2005 5:15 am
I'd probably just take some acid and maybe some shrooms then figure it out. :shock:
sorry ~ I really don't do drugs.
check out my website for good recording/playing info
Topic starter
28/06/2005 4:59 pm
I'd probably just take some acid and maybe some shrooms then figure it out.
Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of acid or shrooms.
Any more advice???
"All I see is draining me on my Plastic Fantastic Lover!"
28/06/2005 5:03 pm
A lot of that sound comes from effects that are a bit harder to find today.
Touch wah's and fuzz boxes in the effects loop, not a lot of compression or reverb, and a tube amp playing at full saturation will get a good deal of that sound.
The advice about bends is right on . . . quarter-step bends and heavy vibrato help alot.
Also a large number of those songs involved getting some pinch harmonics going as well.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
28/06/2005 7:10 pm
simplistic answer, but one that's true for many situations: listen to a lot of the style of music that you are trying to emulate.
29/06/2005 1:02 am
simplistic answer, but one that's true for many situations: listen to a lot of the style of music that you are trying to emulate.
That's pretty much it, I mean... there's no such thing as a "Funk scale" or a "Punk scale". Listening alot to the style and figuring out how to play some riffs and licks would be the best way to do it. I've started in my playing to stop working with scales shapes, but rather looking at those shapes and thinking about 'safe notes' (notes in the key) and 'unsafe notes' (notes outside of the key) and I think this is a good way to go about making music since you can tend to run into the same patterns by only thinking merely about scale patterns.
Steve-0