Surf guitar technique?

[MondoMarcus]

I like to play surf music along the lines of Dick Dale, the Ventures, and the Eliminaters.
I write some of my own songs too, and am looking to record some of them.
I use a lot of techniques: reverb, whammy bars, excessive tremelo picking, and tremelo dives. But I was wondering if there are some other cool things I can do when writing for surf guitar? Scales (i know of the spanish phryigian is very surf related)?
Thanks in advance for all your support. I really appreciate it, and you guys were very helpful in my last thread.

[Schmaus]

bump, for him!

I dunno heh.

[Los Boleros]

Fretboard dives. you know, when you fret the low E string up near the 12th fret and go chuga chuga chuga etc. as you slide your finger down the fretboard. Also Chord embelishments. Like when you are in A minor chord, play the e note and embelish it from the Eb back up the the E. Do same with A and Ab, Do same with C and B. You got to have holes in your jeans too.:cool:

[Los Boleros]

Where in California? Near the Mavaricks?

[MondoMarcus]

I surf in Huntington Beach... some good waves today actually.
What do you mean embellishments? I don't quite understand. I'm kind of basic as far as theory goes.

[TheJeffinator]

An embellisment in general is any thing used to accent or adorn something. In this case, one could slide up or down into and out of notes, whack the whammy, fool around with the volume knob, et cetera. I don't care much for surf music myself, but I will say that turning the arm of a floating tremolo around and whacking the rear end of the guitar, creating the 'warbling' effect but looking a bit cooler on stage. For those unfamiliar with tremolo tricks, the vibration of the bar causes a rapid yet small fluctuation in pitch - I don't know about surf guitar examples, but near the end of JP's Under A Glass Moon solo (sorry to bring other music into this, only example i can think of) when the notes sound like they're getting punched in the nuts, that's a bar flutter. Good luck.

Rock On,
The Jeffinator

[Schmaus]

another example is the end of Steve Vais song Blue powder at 4:10 about... it sounds like a cat screaming underwater.

[Los Boleros]

Fretboard dives. you know, when you fret the low E string up near the 12th fret and go chuga chuga chuga etc. as you slide your finger down the fretboard. Also Chord embelishments. Like when you are in A minor chord, play the e note and embelish it from the Eb back up the the E. Do same with A and Ab, Do same with C and B. You got to have holes in your jeans too.:cool:What I mean by Embelishment in this example is merely slur up to the note of the chord by playing the note 1/2 step below it very quickly and finishing on the right note of the chord. Embelishments are a very generick term and mean that you tweak something for flavor.:p

[Schmaus]

The sentinals are a pretty good surf band too if you never heard them. (which you probably have :cool: )

[MondoMarcus]

An embellisment in general is any thing used to accent or adorn something. In this case, one could slide up or down into and out of notes, whack the whammy, fool around with the volume knob, et cetera. I don't care much for surf music myself, but I will say that turning the arm of a floating tremolo around and whacking the rear end of the guitar, creating the 'warbling' effect but looking a bit cooler on stage. For those unfamiliar with tremolo tricks, the vibration of the bar causes a rapid yet small fluctuation in pitch - I don't know about surf guitar examples, but near the end of JP's Under A Glass Moon solo (sorry to bring other music into this, only example i can think of) when the notes sound like they're getting punched in the nuts, that's a bar flutter. Good luck.

Rock On,
The JeffinatorI'll have to try some of those techniques. They sound cool.
I'm trying to find out how to make the whale noises that Zack Wylde does. That would be sweet for a surf band.
You don't listen to surf music? That's cool... I'm mostly inspired by other genres myself.
Also... I don't quite understand what you mean by that "warbling" effect.
Thanks for all your help so far though guys... i appreciate it.

[Schmaus]

the warpling effect is a very rapid pitch change going up and down. think about if you smacked a huge spring against the wall and let it vibrate fast. Now think about that applied to a guitar string with the vibrato bar. It sounds cool.

[MondoMarcus]

the warpling effect is a very rapid pitch change going up and down. think about if you smacked a huge spring against the wall and let it vibrate fast. Now think about that applied to a guitar string with the vibrato bar. It sounds cool.so I just spin the tremelo bar around hit the back of the body with my hand?
I can't wait to learn this...

[Schmaus]

Nooo heh. I described it mabye a little weird, here is a quote from demon sorcerer:

"
Ok, dude, i'll explain the theory and then i'll go to the method...

Basically what you do is shake the the bar, making the bridge vibrate at a really fast speed, getting a kinda rrrrrrrrr-y sound of the note...pretty trembling, shaky, almost purring kind of sound...Vai uses it a lot, an there are several songs where he uses that technique...Bad Horsie, Blue Powder (in the ending part, he purrs some notes, i think at 4:03- as Eric said), The Riddle (3:44 approx.)...

How to do it?? let's try an easy one (i'm assuming that you have a Floyd Rose or similar double locking system on your guitar): We'll go REAAAAALLY SLOWLY so you won't miss anything...rotate your bar and make it face away from the tremolo, in a way that when you press down on the bar, it will raise the pitches...pluck the open g string and place your index finger on the very tip of the tremolo bar...push down on the bar and raise the open G to an A (push till you get a whole step bend)...as the A is still sounding, LET THE BAR SLIP OFF OF YOUR INDEX FINGER...this will cause the bridge return to the Zero point pretty harshly and abruptly, and will be vibrating and shaking on its feet for a split second...:P the note will be 'purring as long as the bridge is shaking from the abrupt release of the tremolo bar...

So now do it quickly and if it anything goes wrong, just post a reply and we'll figure it out together, eh??

David"