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Re: Creative Alternative Tools for Guitar Looping



this is an excellent list of toys! as far as homemade gear goes, any 
bassist who has ever yearned for a pair of tony levin's funk fingers can 
approximate the effect with a couple of disposable cigar tubes (here in 
the states, i use garcia & vega english corona).  if you haven't a use for 
the cigar inside, most musicians will have a friend or two that will make 
use of it. for years i tried the ends of drum sticks with rubber tubing 
slipped on covering my fingers, but i found this a couple of years ago and 
never looked back.  they are not incredibly durable, but they are cheap 
enough that it doesn't matter.


time

--- On Fri, 4/1/11, Kevin Cheli-Colando <billowhead@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Kevin Cheli-Colando <billowhead@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Creative Alternative Tools for Guitar Looping
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Date: Friday, April 1, 2011, 1:17 PM
> Tom Carter of charalambides and
> others played lap steel with large
> pieces of sidewalk chalk, scraping them off on the strings
> as he went.
> 
> Also, Nels Cline kept a large metal coil spring in his back
> pocket for
> more string scrapes last time I saw him.
> 
> Just to add more to the list.
> 
> And don't forget alligator clips on the strings and
> chopstick in
> between them (for odd whammy bar effects are various
> intervals)
> 
> Kevin
> 
> On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 11:10 AM, Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Speaking of cool guitar tools, like the 'Harmonics
> Capo'
> > here's a few that that I really like and have used a
> lot.
> > (what are some others?)
> >
> >
> > _The 'Third Hand Capo'_
> > allows one to capo individual strings for interesting
> and quick 'altered
> > tunings'
> >
> > 
>_http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=third+hand+capo&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3425282320810705673&sa=X&ei=5QmWTdyzMazOiALF_OmcCQ&ved=0CE0Q8wIwAw#ps-sellers_
> >
> > Only $13........this is a device that you could use
> multiples of for
> > interesting tunings,  although, in the long run, I
> think
> > I prefer just rapidly retuning the guitar, manually.
> >
> >
> > _The 'Piranha Bow'_
> > allows a person's strumming hand to have the texture
> of a bow.    Fantastic
> > for rapid rhythmic work.
> >
> > _http://www.piranhaguitarbow.com/_
> >
> > At $40, there not cheap, but he used to have a deal
> where he'd give you
> > three if you bought two......don't know if he still
> honors
> > that deal (I bought them for $25 at the time) but it's
> cool to get three
> > people to go in on a buy and two of them
> > played at once on an open tuned or lap steel guitar
> produces some very hip
> > results
> >
> > _'Suzuki Method 16th scale Violin Bows'_
> >
> > 
>http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=1/16th+violin+bows&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10589079992227454761&sa=X&ei=DRCWTfCpEKXkiALdrJTgCA&ved=0CEcQ8wIwBA#ps-sellers
> >
> > At $19, these miniature bows are fantastic for playing
> electric guitar.
> > I've had a lot of interesting results by using an open
> tuning on a guitar
> > and then using
> > two of them, one in each hand.   You can bow
> rhythmically close to the
> > bridge with your right hand
> > and bow slowly over Barre Harmonics with the left hand
> to create really
> > beautiful textures.
> >
> > Because the electric guitar neck is flat , one has
> three different options
> > for playing
> > 1) bass lines  on the lowest string    2)
>  melodies on the highest string
> >   3) full chords by playing across the whole
> fretboard
> >
> > _'Vegetable Brushes'_
> > These come in various colors and various degrees of
> stiffness to provide
> > alternate strumming textures
> > (not unlike lightly brushing over the strings with the
> tips of one's
> > fingers)
> > My wife hipped me to this approach by using a ball
> point pen or a drum stick
> > to rake over the strings to provide
> > new 'rubato' textures for strumming.................it
> makes 'smears' of
> > sound instead of really articulate rhythms.
> >
> > _'This Rad Pick that my brother gave me years ago'_
> that has four gradiated
> > plastic picks on one side and three on the other so
> > that every time you pick the guitar,  it has the
> effect of a 'flam' of four
> > individual picked sounds together......
> > .......like an ersatz 48 string guitar effect.  
>  Not sure what it's called,
> > though.
> >
> > _'The Jellyfish Pick'_
> >
> > http://www.jellifish.com/techniques/videos/bow-4-qt.html
> >
> > At $12 a cool pick with multiple steel rods that
> allows for picking or mild
> > bowing techniques
> > _
> > 'Little Easter Island Tiki Head Blue Plastic Martini
> Stirrers'_
> > fantastically balanced to be able to play a prepared
> or open tuned lapsteel
> > guitar like a hammer dulcimer.
> > Awesome because they can be used as a tiny slide as
> well as a tiny hammers.
> >
> > _'Clitoral Vibrators or Egg Vibrators'_
> > especially if you can find the kind that have a short
> chord with a remote
> > speed control.
> > You just turn it on,  let it dangle on a lap steel or
> prepared guitar and
> > then fuck with the speed............very nice random
> stuff occurs.
> >
> > _"An Multiple Allen Wrench Plectrum"_
> > This was made famous by Thom Morello of Rage Against
> the Machine.......you
> > space the Allen wrenches out and use them as
> > a 'flamming' plectrum.
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Till now you seriously considered yourself to be the body
> and to have a
> form. That is the primal ignorance which is the root cause
> of all trouble.
> 
> - Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)
> 
> Sound and Vision:  http://www.minds-eye.org
> Video http://www.vimeo.com/user877640/videos
> 
>