Question For Guitarists!

Yes, that one and “Looking for Love” really should’ve been on the North American release, as they were on the European.

I didn't know those two songs existed - lol.  Really haven't listened to much Whitesnake since Slip of the Tongue came out, which was pretty disappointing considering the talent, but it's not bad with a few highlights like 'Wings of the Storm.'  So I didn't keep up with the band and their bonus tracks from yesteryear.

About half of SotT is really good, but it’s a step down from the previous two.

Back to the original question of this thread, where we were asked to post an unpopular opinion about guitar playing...

This week and last I watched Rick Beato's recent interviews with both Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert. Being that both of them are shredders known for their incredible speed, I was surprised to learn that both of them share the unpopular opinion that high action is better than low action. Paul Gilbert uses high action because he intermixes a fair amount of slide playing in his songs, and Yngwie does it for better sustain.

I'm going to experiment with this a bit. Being in a geographical area where there are not alot of music repair shops, I'm forced to attempt most of my instrument setups, and I've never been able to get the action as low as I'd like to. But if they can shred that fast with higher action (and actually they both use lighter guages as well) then maybe I can as well!

Sevenoneself wrote:I'm going to experiment with this a bit. Being in a geographical area where there are not alot of music repair shops, I'm forced to attempt most of my instrument setups, and I've never been able to get the action as low as I'd like to. But if they can shred that fast with higher action (and actually they both use lighter guages as well) then maybe I can as well!

Interesting...I always hated high action in a guitar.   High action is necessary for slide, but I do not play slide.   
Then I got a cheap Fender Squier Strat in an auction and fixed it up best as I could, but I was never able to get the action low to where I like it, it is pretty high.   So...I started to play it like that and...I got sort of used to it, it wasn't that bad for lead.  That said however, chording is harder to do when the action is high.  I am not a shredder and more a blues rock player, so it works to some extent but I definitely prefer the lower action of my Epiphone Les Paul, although the tones between that and the Strat are very different.

I've always hated high action as well. And I've always heard that if you want to shred you have to get your action as low as possible even to the point of putting up with [at least] some string buzz. But I've always hated string buzz. So I don't think I'm going to purposely put it up high, but I think I will quit trying to drop it to the point where I can't dig into a chord strum without buzzing.

Me make noise on gee-tar.

Sevenoneself wrote:I've always hated high action as well. And I've always heard that if you want to shred you have to get your action as low as possible even to the point of putting up with [at least] some string buzz. But I've always hated string buzz. So I don't think I'm going to purposely put it up high, but I think I will quit trying to drop it to the point where I can't dig into a chord strum without buzzing.

Would a noise gate help any?

I used to have one built in with a huge Zoom pedal I had years and years ago. 

Seemed to work for me in eliminating excess string noises.

One drawback about noise gates is that they can also dampen some of your sustain.  
They work great for scooped, thrash chord work but not so much to enhance lead playing.

Actually I looked it up and it was a Digitech RP-7 (1998 Model) that I had.

MagnusPrime wrote:

Sevenoneself wrote:I've always hated high action as well. And I've always heard that if you want to shred you have to get your action as low as possible even to the point of putting up with [at least] some string buzz. But I've always hated string buzz. So I don't think I'm going to purposely put it up high, but I think I will quit trying to drop it to the point where I can't dig into a chord strum without buzzing.

Would a noise gate help any?

I used to have one built in with a huge Zoom pedal I had years and years ago. 

Seemed to work for me in eliminating excess string noises.

Noise Gates only operate during rests and breaths in the music. If a string is buzzing during a verse of power chord riffing, it is basically impossible to remove that buzz.

I do use a noise gate. With high gain pedals like the Boss Metalzone that I have, it is a must to have a noise gate to keep the hum quiet in between playing.

Constantine wrote:One drawback about noise gates is that they can also dampen some of your sustain.  
They work great for scooped, thrash chord work but not so much to enhance lead playing.

Well I'm almost exclusively a rhythm player, so it worked great for what I do. 

I actually may end up getting another pedal like that eventually.

If I could go back and re-do my pedalboard, I'd be using a multi-fx pedal. But because I've invested so much already into single pedals, I use a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor. It works great, but I'm sure there's another 100 version from other companies that work just as great.

MagnusPrime wrote:

Constantine wrote:One drawback about noise gates is that they can also dampen some of your sustain.  
They work great for scooped, thrash chord work but not so much to enhance lead playing.

Well I'm almost exclusively a rhythm player, so it worked great for what I do. 

I actually may end up getting another pedal like that eventually.

Constantine, you're right about that. If I ever start making money with my pedalboard, I'd like to upgrade to the place where my rhythm playing could have it's own noise gate settings, and my soloing could have a separate setting. Right now the setting I use does dampen too much of my sustain while soloing.

MagnusPrime wrote:Actually I looked it up and it was a Digitech RP-7 (1998 Model) that I had.

Wow, that's an old one! It's gotta be one of the earliest digital multi-fx pedals! I only personally new one person at that time that had a multi-fx pedal, and I can't remember which brand it was. I'm pretty sure it didn't have an expression/volume pedal though. So it could have been a smaller model of from this series.

Right now all I'm using is a Sonicake Multi-Effects pedal into an MXR compressor, and one "wild card" pedal either in between or after the compressor.  It could be a drum machine, delay, reverb, octave pedal, phaser, etc.  Fairly simple set-up.

For the John Sykes fans!