[playingdead]

We fumbled our way through Pride of Cucamonga on Saturday night ... excuse all the mistakes and general roughness, it was the first time we've tried it.

But on a whim, I played violin-type lead lines instead of traditional guitar parts (not with a MIDI setup like Jerry's, though; it was just my PRS into the AxeFX). Kind of got it together in feel and tone at the end of the tune.

Back to electric guitar on this one, or is it a nice change of pace? Guitar really doesn't sound right, either, since the Mars Hotel version had a pedal steel (not with Garcia playing it, incidentally).

http://www.playingdead.net/071109cucamonga.mp3

[Pete B.]

If you use volume pedal swells along with the basic "Pedal Steel Licks for Guitar" lickage, you could do some pretty fun soloing in that Mars Hotel vain.
Warren took a pretty good shot at on the last Dead tour POC's.

[Tennessee Jedi]

How did you make the guitar sound like a fiddle ?

[strumminsix]

You guys are great, so this is probably viewed as nitpicky...

it just needs work

rocky intro - kinda felt rushed
that trailing "ha"in the chorus - seemed out of place
strong vocalist doing the Phil thing - impressive. he captures Phil as if Phil could sing! WOW!
violin via guitar - sounded great for the last few measures. seemed like it took ya a while to playing the guitar like a voilin vs. like a guitar with a violin patch. think of when JG did his clarinet patches and he played it like a clarinter (?!) would play.

All that said, I bet it was fucking mind blowing live! Seriously!!!

[maximinus]

Excellent version - especially the singing, it's like an upgraded Phil

Love to know how how you got that sound out of a guitar.

[Capt Rosebuddy]

Well I'd be lying if I ever said Pride of Cucamonga was a favorite of mine, but I think you guys do it justice and, yea, the violin lines need a little tightening up but all in all good show! I Imagine gear stuff aside it was a strange swap to start thinking in terms of violin lines rather than punchy Garcia phrases. and as far as the vocals go +1 it's like Phil on his best day ..in the studio! you guys should do more Phil songs Mark nails it. I vote for Tom Thumb do you guys do that one?

[playingdead]

There was a moment of shock and panic on the intro, especially when violin came out. I didn't warn anyone that I was going to do it.

Those "ha" sounds are right off Mars Hotel. How he gets his voice that far up there on pitch, I'll never understand.

It's really just playing the guitar straight into the AxeFX; essentially, this particular patch works like an octave divider in that it tracks the pitch of what you're playing, then feeds it into a block that creates whatever sort of waveform you are looking for, like a synthesizer would (in this case, it was two sawtooth waves). That's the basic sound; then the AxeFX is changing the envelope and attack of the notes themselves, which removes the pick attack from the equation and gives you that sort of bowed sound. However, it only handles one note at a time, so no chords. But it's very responsive to vibrato and pitch bends. I was doing some serious wrist and finger vibrato, especially toward the end there.

I could have easily mixed real guitar signal in with it, but if you run it with just the synth lines, it's more realistic. It tracks flawlessly. I never really was a fan of Jerry's MIDI sounds, especially when he would mix the horn sound in with the guitar sound. No interest in getting a MIDI setup happening with my guitar. This thing gets strange enough on its own.

(There is very little that this little unit can't do, I am coming to understand. I can't wait for the next space we do, as I have a little preset called "Poltergeist Pig" that is just really weird grunting sounds. LOL)

[RiverRat]

DUDE!!!!

[NashvilleMike]

Its a smash! Very very cool. Kudos to your playing as much as the axefx.

Is that the same patch that the guy on the fractal audio video section is using for his violin tune? I'm getting my money together to get on board with the axefx, have you found it easy to exchange patches with other users? It looked like that part of the website is still being upgraded.

[Chuckles]

I liked it a lot, especially the parts at the end when you seem really comfortable with it. Only thing I'd suggest is adding some sustain to it for some longer-held notes. And it would be cool to have some double-stops, but if it don't do it, it don't do it...

But the tone and timbre are fantastic.

[playingdead]

Thanks for the kind words. Time to work up "The Devil Went Down to Georgia!"

If it's the same patch I started with, I did some editing to it, but it's probably close. The exchange site has been down for a while, when it was up, it was great. I have all the old stuff archived. But it's a lot more fun to roll your own, so to speak.

If you haven't seen these videos by Bill Ruppert on creating a bunch of sounds with EH pedals, it's interesting stuff. He did a bunch ... whole string quartet, the intro to Baba O'Reilly, a blues harp, and
an incredible Dark Side of the Moon thing with just a guitar.

http://www.ehx.com/blog/effectology-cello-concerto

[Crazy 9.5 Fingers]

Nice fiddle there Jean Luc.

I would skip Devil Went down to Georgia and head right for Hurricane.

[Highballin']

Great Caesar's Ghost! I wouldn't change a thing! Just keep playing it.
"Pride" is one of my faves, and is one of those rare Dead tunes that singularly defines the Dead.
Way to pick out a Nugget, and run with it! Before that sample played I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't too hopeful, but whammo--you guys nailed it! Obviously you guys are a very skilled unit.

[jester536]

It appears as though you guys will never cease to amaze me. I think the violin sounded very cool. It sounds as if this is all very and I think you had it nailed by the end of the tune...the next will only get better.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate all that you share with this site.
Thanks.

[Pete B.]

fwiw, Vasser plays some nice V on Wake of the Floods Mississippi Halfstep.