Thanks to Thorsten, there now is... VIDEO

[EricV]

Hi guys,

Thorsten came over to my place today, we watched some vids, jammed some, it was a blast. We also exchanged X-mas-presents, and he gave me a small webcam !!!
So, now I can easily take pics for articles, and also do videos occasionally, which should be quite helpful.
I am still in the process of figuring all this out and stuff, but I hope I´ll have everythign wrking soon. Now, don´t expect a videoclip for every little lick, I´ll try to not put too much stuff into the FTP, but for stuff that needs visuals, I can do a video.
Here´s one example... lots of people have asked for a video showing the "catpurr" technique, a whammy bar-trick Steve Vai often uses... here´s a clip...

AND THANKS TO THORSTEN ! YOU RULE !
Eric

http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/...o/catpurr2.avi
( Divx 5.04, Codec required )

[chris]

Thanks Eric. This is one of Steve's tricks that I really enjoy. I've heard a couple other lesser known guys who utilize this well also. I wasn't able to really see what you were doing on the video. Were you using a legato approach with your left hand to ring the notes and just sliding your pinky finger off the tremelo bar? I've found it impossible to pick and do this trick at the same time.

What kind of beautiful guitar were you playing on this vid?

[EricV]

Chris, thanks. Yeah, the quality is pretty bad still...
I´ll do another one soon.
I am playing the melody with my left hand, while "slapping" and sliding off the wang bar. That makes the wang bar vibrate ( purr ) really quickly.

The guitar is my newest one, I got it from my good friend Henning... it´s some rare limited edition Ibanez RG... stock pickups in there, will replace them with DiMarzios soon
Eric

[EricV]

Just did another short clip... I am fiddling with the quality settings in order to keep the file sizes small... for people with slower connections and stuff.
Anyway, in this one, video and audio are not completely sychronized, but it might be easier to see what I am doing here... slapping the wang bar and sliding off to get it to vibrate like that.
You can also see my left hand in this one...
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/...ideo/purr3.avi

[chris]

Hey Yeah, I can see what your doing now. That's the way I thought it was supposed to be done but I've never seen anyone demonstrate it before.. thanks for being the first. I also play RG guitars.. thought it looked familiar.

I think your have to do both a high quality shot and a low quality (for those with slow internet connection).

[EricV]

Cool glad the second vid was more helpful.

LOL, both hi and lo quality ? OMG, Guni´s gonna freak out when I suggest that to him... "Hey Guni, working on that new article... it´s gonna have vids... I need about 80 MBs of filespace for the vids..."
Seriously, I started working on the tapping article again, I guess now that I can make videos I should really get it done... after all, the vids will be really helpful in this case.
Should be done soon ( Hope no one minds if I work on the Workshop, Pt.III article a bit later... )
Eric

[EricV]

And two shots of the guitar... it´s weird, on the picture it looks blue, but actually it´s dark green...
Eric

[LarryJ]

How do you get your tremelo bar/arm to stay in place like that? My esp is free swinging, and I even played on Jems, and those bars were free floating as well. I was told this is how it is supposed to be, even though I thought they were supposed to lock in like that...

[EricV]

Well, most modern FR-style trems have some way of fixing the bar in a certain positions... on the old Kahler trems ( Spyder and 6200 ), there was this little allen screw that you could tighten to hold the bar in a certain place.
On this RG, there´s a ring around the whammy bar... I can tighten it with a monkey wrench to hold the bar in place. Every once in a while it gets too loose, so I have to re-tighten it.
Some FRs have an adjustment-option like that on the bottom ( you have to remove the cover of the spring-cavity )
And, unfortunately, some have none at all. The one in the RG is an Ibanez Lo-TRS.
Works great.
Eric

[chris]

Here's how I got mine to do it (RG 570):
http://www.jemsite.com/tech/t_3other.htm#tremarmholder

Hey Eric, I've heard from Ibanez junkies that the TRS bridge doesn't stay in tune. How is yours? You sure it's not an Edge?

[EricV]

Nope, Lo TRS. But it stays in tune perfectly, better than most others I have tried. Stuff like extreme divebombs and the cat purr etc. are a good test to see whether the trem will stay in tune.
This one holds up perfectly, and the guitar has been used for a while now.
I know that most people talk badly of the TRS, which sure must have a reason, but at the same time... I highly doubt that Ibanez would keep putting it into guitars if it was THAT crappy. It´s not as expensive as the Edge or LoPro AFAIK, but it´s still a good system, compared to some others I have seen. A few years ago, I had some other Ibanez with a LoTrs, and that one never ever gave me a problem, even though I used it for years and went pretty crazy with the whammy bar antics. Some might be faulty, or not as well produced, but to me, it´s fine the way it is, and works perfectly. Just my opinion, though.
Anyway, I am loving it. And I know that there is no trem that´ll function perfectly forever... you have to do some maintenance, and after a few years, you might need to get a replacement, or use tools like a blackbox / tremsetter.
My Peavey Vandies have been in use for about 14-15 years now, and the trems really don´t work that well anymore... the knifeedges are all eaten up, the screws, too, and even the locking nut doesn´t work that well anymore. ( BTW, a lot of people LOVED those Kahler trems back then )
The trem on the stripped one is blocked, locking nut in used.
Parts of the locking nut of the red one have been custom made for me by a student of mine, who´s a toolmaker. And it has a tremsetter installed in the back.
The whammy bar works again, and holds the tuning very well.

I have used a JEM7BSB, which was pretty expensive, and has a LoPro-trem installed ( not Lo TRS ) which is supposed to be better... guess what, it´s not staying in tune very well anymore either, needto do some maintenance on it, too...
Am I getting off topic ? Sorry

Eric

[Koala]

VIDEOS! Thats gonna rock eric, (although i dloaded the first one and it didnt look right ( iguess my codecs are messed up).

Congrats on the webcam, and thanks to thorsten! Thats like a present for all of us!

[EricV]

Yes, it is. Thorsten definitely rocks !!!
Hmmm... I´ll try to use a different codec next time. It´ll take some time until I figured out the best way to make a video that lets you see what´s important without exceeding a certain filesize...
So I guess you people will be beta-testers
Thanks
Eric

[Ricky Garcia]

cool vids bro!!

tschuuuu

[chris]

Originally posted by EricV

So I guess you people will be beta-testers
Thanks
Eric

I'll definately be a beta tester

How about letting me beta test some pick slides... I've never been able to pull that off even though I think I know how to do it.

It's really cool to be able to see you guys and hear you speak. I enjoyed the interview with Steve Morse and was very suprised how well you German guys spoke english with American accents