Wow, guess who’s on a guitar kick?

When I first learned to play guitar — which would be roughly 20 years ago — the ways in which people learned to play guitar could be enumerated quite quickly.

1. Figure out songs by ear by listening to radio/tapes/LPs.
2. Pick up chord books and then figure out songs by ear by listening to radio/tapes/LPs.
3. Pay someone to teach you to play.
4. Buy guitar magazines that sparsely doled out a few songs a month to hasten figuring out songs.

That’s the gamut right there. I did all four to some extent or another over the years, taking lessons, buying books, reading magazines. But, to paraphrase codgers the world over who lament the ease with which younger generations accomplish things, kids sure do have it easy these days.

Added to the methods listed above we now have the Internet and all the resources within, including resources that I’m sure I have yet to even tap. Want to know how to play that latest John Mayer tune? 280,000 search results will likely lead you right to it. There’s literally hundred of online forums where like-minded guitarists can share insights and techniques, including sound samples. Let’s not forget about my new favorite toy, the GuitarPort which brings quality sound and easy recordability to every one and the online component which provides lessons and other valuable tools. It’s hard not to think back to my younger years and wonder where I’d be had these tools existed then.

Because standard tuning is so boring

That said, what is it with the music of today and the use of alternate tunings? Back in my day — I had to work that phrase into this post somehow — unless you were playing a couple of the more obscure Led Zeppelin songs, the wackiest tuning you’d find is a drop-D. Now I’m having a hard time finding any songs in which I’m interested in standard tuning. From Alterbridge to Nickelback, Sevendust to Dream Theater, every time I pull up a tab it’s in some wacky tuning. Open C, Open D, E-flat, Drop-C… what the hell’s so wrong with standard tuning?

Gah, as expected the RiffTracker has reverted back to demo mode asking for an activation key.

Watch the silly bald man as he negotiates the murky waters of tech support again!

Marvel at his inability to acquire functionality for which he’s already paid handsomely!

I’ve been belly-aching over not having the RiffTracker part of my GuitarPort software because the CD wasn’t in the box. The CD still isn’t in the box, nor is it anywhere else at this point. The retailer — which I shall now name since I have a functioning product: 8th Street Music — told me on two occasions that I could simply download the software off Line6’s website. I called batshit on it because I, being the studly software guy that I am, reasoned that if any yahoo could download the premium software for free, why would they pay a premium over the regular cost?

Yesterday, I found that you can download the complete RiffTracker software from the website. It had verbiage to the effect that it would run in demo mode meaning it wouldn’t record or mix down, but you could run it. I still felt secure in my assertion, since I’ll be dipped if I’m going to run a demo version for very long when I paid for the full version. That lasted until I downloaded the software. And realized that somehow it “knew” that my GuitarPort was a RiffTracker version or something. Because it ain’t running in demo mode — I can record just fine, thanks, and mix down with ease — and their license management tool tells me I’m authorized to have the software.

Well, don’t I feel like a dolt. It’s quite fun, but I only got to diddle with it a bit last night. Now I just have to resist the temptation to get an amp pack.

Here’s your soundbite: “GuitarPort is the perfect melding of the analog world of guitars and the digital world of computers.”

Up to this point, I love everything about it. The hardware is simple and effective. You plug one end into an available USB port on your computer — or on your monitor if you happen to have a monitor with a built-in USB hub like some people do, mwuahaha — and you plug your guitar into the other end. There’s a big volume dial on the thing that seems, frankly, like something to give it a bit of design flair more than any necessity. That’s it.

The GuitarPort software is a genuine joy to work with, a knob-twiddler’s dream come true. Without even considering how the combination sounds you can tell a lot of work went into the interface and how a guitarist wants to interact with the program. Each of the amplifier models has its own face, with a custom appearance and some special touches that give some of them extra flair. For instance, one of the heavier “shred heads” has skulls for knobs and the eyes glow brighter red as you turn them up. There’s a tube preamp model with visible tubes that glow with increased gain. Little things like that. Turning knobs is as simple as clicking on them on dragging up or down. Hell, even the tuner, a seemingly simple staple utility, is given a very usable and attractive interface, with a digital note indicator and an analog sweep needle for dialing into precise tune.

I didn’t know what to expect in terms of sound, but overall I’m very happy with the sound. It really does a credible job of modeling a diverse array of amp heads. I won’t say it has a sound to match every tone ever created — for instance my particular “holy grail” tone, John Petrucci’s super-saturated, Mesa tone found at one point in Dream Theater’s “A Change Of Seasons 1: The Crimson Sunrise” track — but there really is something there for everyone. Some of the higher gain models are a bit noisy and require hefty gating, but I think that’s true in real life as well (I don’t have a ton of experience with real heads). For a pure simulated environment it’s capable of some surprisingly warm tones. For practicing with my new “Modern Method for Guitar” book I load up a jazz tone that really captures the warm, rich, tube-like sound that tends to pull out good, clean playing.

Personally I think the GuitarPort Online feature is a lot of fun. There are lessons, professionally-recorded tracks that contain different types of mixes (full-mix, no lead guitar, no guitars at all, etc.) to play along with, and heaps of tones. I’ve been having a blast playing along with the well-recorded backing track rendition of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” and Joe Satriani’s “Always With Me, Always With You.” Talk about bringing back some old memories. One of the cooler things is that the software will act as your personal footswitch assistant and (optionally) automatically select the correct tone for the part of the song you’re on as well as switch pages for the sheet music if it’s available. Having a rotate-able, widescreen display is truly wonderful for these especially long windows .

If there’s one thing the GuitarPort has done for me it’s reintroduced the joy of playing. And that’s precisely what I bought it for. Now if only those chimps from the unnamed retailer would actually get me my software — yes, I’m still waiting for it — I can actually try out the RiffTracker software and see if it is as useful and polished as GuitarPort is.

What a difference a day makes. First, I got the tremolo blocked on the old Ibanez and I now have, for all intents and purposes, a fixed bridge. God, how easy is restringing a fixed bridge guitar? Once I got the floating tremolo blocked it took me literally 10 minutes to restring my guitar, including string stretching and tuning, and that’s with no string winder. The first time I tuned up my low E string and started unwinding the A string while the rest of them remained as I had them tuned was just joyous. I should have done that a long time ago. And I probably would have had I known how easy it would be. It took me about a half an hour total, mostly sanding down the larger of the blocks to fit the sloped tremolo block. I used a piece of Plexiglas as the block for the much narrower inner side. Once they were in that tremolo isn’t going flat or sharp any time soon. Yes!

I actually made noise come out of the GuitarPort and it didn’t involve smashing it against a wall. I realized that I can download the basic GuitarPort software right from the Line 6 site. It doesn’t have the drummer or recording abilities that the RiffTracker software that I paid for has, but I can hear the tones. I was pretty impressed. I’ll have to post some samples when I got a little more warmed up… coming off a 10 year hiatus doesn’t do much for skills.

I’ve determined that I need one of those widescreen flat-panel Dell monitors now in order to get rid of the hum that emanates from a CRT into the pickups. I simply can’t use any single-coil position on my guitar right now when I have the monitor on, the hum is insane. Turn the monitor off and it quiets right up. That sounds like justification enough for me. If I’m to pursue my artistic outlet fully I need a 20″ widescreen flat-panel Dell monitor. That’s obviously just basic sense.