Lars68 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 I have an electric guitar and an amp that don't get much playing time these days. I can't seem to figure out what to do to make them suit what I do. My playing style is very limited. I can basically only play two ways. I either fingerpick very basic patterns, or I strum with cowboy chords, with palm muting and some pull offs/hammer ons here and there. Occasionally I do some basic transitional runs or single note lines, but not often. I have no idea of how to play solos or anything particularly fancy rythm wise. However, I like writing songs and that is where my main focus is. I would like to play the electric to support my voice. To do that I would like to find a vocal mic to hook up to my amp, along with the guitar. The amp has a seperate mic input. Does anyone know of a good vocal mic, that is not too expensive, that will work straight into the amp without any other equipment, such as mic amp or phantom power. I want to keep it simple. One amp, one guitar, one mic. Nothing else. I only want to play at bedroom volume levels and plan to record voice and guitar, out of the amp, by placing my iPad with the Apogee mic infront of it. Second questions. I have a 1945 Levin archtop, that also does not sound very good with my rudimentary playing styles. It sounds thin and harsh when I play it. I have heard others play it, and it sounded great in their hands. I just can't play the way this guitar needs to be played. It sounds like crap when palm muting I am now thinking I can change its character by putting a pickup on it. Any suggestions for a pickup to put on an old acoustic archtop. It is all original, and I don't want to mess too much with it. So the less invasive the operation, the better... Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Lars, it may be that part of the problem with your archtop is the way you are hearing it. F-hole archtops are really designed to project, and they don't always seem to give good tonal feedback to the player. It may not just be your playing here. The guitar may well sound better from in front of it than it does sitting behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 Lars, it may be that part of the problem with your archtop is the way you are hearing it. F-hole archtops are really designed to project, and they don't always seem to give good tonal feedback to the player. It may not just be your playing here. The guitar may well sound better from in front of it than it does sitting behind it. Yes, that is probably true, but I think my style also is to blame. I have recorded myself on it, and it sounded bad. However, when my brother-in-law played it, it sounded great. He did more single string, semi solo kind of things, and some jazzier chords. I just can't play like that... Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 You can never go wrong with a Shure SM58 microphone. I also enjoy using these Cobalt mic's. And this is a great price! http://www.guitarcenter.com/Electro-Voice/Cobalt-Co7-Premium-Vocal-Mic-Buy-1-Get-1-Free.gc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Yes, that is probably true, but I think my style also is to blame. I have recorded myself on it, and it sounded bad. However, when my brother-in-law played it, it sounded great. He did more single string, semi solo kind of things, and some jazzier chords. I just can't play like that... Lars Maybe so. I had a Gibson L-7 acoustic archtop for several years, and it did not respond particularly well to gentle playing. It demanded to be thrashed to sound really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 You can never go wrong with a Shure SM58 microphone. I also enjoy using these Cobalt mic's. And this is a great price! http://www.guitarcenter.com/Electro-Voice/Cobalt-Co7-Premium-Vocal-Mic-Buy-1-Get-1-Free.gc Thanks for the tips! I might be able to get a used SM57 very cheap. Do you think that would be decent enough? Would any of these mics need phantom power or a preamp to work at bedroom levels? Lars By the way, here is a link to what I believe is a fellow Swede playing an identical Levin archtop. Sounds great when he plays it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatbaroque Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Lars, you said you "can't play solos".Something I'd recommend is to learn the pentatonic "blues" scales. There are half a dozen patterns to learn which work in all keys.These don't just work in "blues" songs but anything really.Once you learn these patterns you'll find you'll be able to incorporate more little "licks" into your writing ( as well as "solos". You already find some of these notes by trial and error no doubt. Probably get a cheap Mel Bay book and look online.Well within your capabilities and will add a string to the bow. Just start by learning the first position pentatonic scale in say key of G...and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 What FB said.......Once you've learned these scales, a lot of things will be automatic. Try it and you'll find they really are pretty easy and straight-forward. Repetition, over and over. After a while you'll find yourself playing 4-5 notes of the scale instead of playing the usual chord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hall Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Hey, Lars. Curious, hope you don't mind. What amp do you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Kudos for the desire to increase your playing options! I find that to be personally inspirational as the winter doldrums sink more deeply into my psyche. ☺ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Thanks for the tips! I might be able to get a used SM57 very cheap. Do you think that would be decent enough? Would any of these mics need phantom power or a preamp to work at bedroom levels? The Shure SM57 is a great microphone. It's good for vocals, though a little hot and loud for that purpose. It's REALLY good for mic'ing your amp into the PA or recorder....... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share Posted December 19, 2016 What FB said.......Once you've learned these scales, a lot of things will be automatic. Try it and you'll find they really are pretty easy and straight-forward. Repetition, over and over. After a while you'll find yourself playing 4-5 notes of the scale instead of playing the usual chord. Yes, the pentatonic scale is on my list of things to learn. I did work with it a couple of years back, but it didn't get automatic, but at least I don't have to start from complete scratch. My main focus right now is to improve my singing pitch. If I can manage that, scales are next. Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share Posted December 19, 2016 Hey, Lars. Curious, hope you don't mind. What amp do you use? It's kind of like a Fender tweed deluxe. Low power, 15W, with four inputs - two guitar, and two mic. It is all tubes and sounds wonderful. Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 I sometimes thing gear is even more personal than guitars. EVERYBODY (almost) will admit a Hummingbird, or a J-45 is a good guitar. But acoustic amps, tube amps, types of tubes, types of speakers, picks, mics, heck the geeks even argue types of instrument cords. Eric Johnson would argue what brand of rubber band to wrap your battery (which he would argue about.....) to hold it from rattling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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