[Jenacen]

I was just wondering, does anyone know any unusual guitar tricks, or a really cool enhancement on any normal ones (which would include palm muting, harmonics of any kind, tapping, etc.)? Or do you just know any really cool combinations? I'm just looking for really awesomely cool stuff to try.

[dcunning30]

Originally Posted by Jenacen

I was just wondering, does anyone know any unusual guitar tricks, or a really cool enhancement on any normal ones (which would include palm muting, harmonics of any kind, tapping, etc.)? Or do you just know any really cool combinations? I'm just looking for really awesomely cool stuff to try.

What's your skill level?

[Jenacen]

Originally Posted by dcunning30

What's your skill level?

6 months experience right-handed, but I've gotten fairly good at lead.

[dcunning30]

Here's a really simple 3 finger tapping riff that'll make you sound like Buckethead:


Get a good distorted tone. Do this hammer-on on the B string:

10-13-10-13-10-13- 10-13.

This suggests the key of Ami.

Now, take your finger of your picking hand and randomly tap notes between frets 16 and 19 as you hammer the others. Make sure your tapping is random to make the effect work. If you keep your tapping limited to frets 16 -> 19, you'll be tapping out a diminshed arpeggio all the way to a Minor 6th arpeggio and anything in between. You can also add an ocassional fret 21 to add that ocassional "odd" sound. But don't become a slave to those frets, you can experiment. If you tap out other frets, don't sweat it.

Next, to finish it off, take your tapping finger and instead of tapping, place it on the 16th fret and swipe it up the frets, lift off, and repeat. You can do this to work your way up the frets until you get to the 22nd fret. Hold the 22nd fret, it's A.

This is really simple and sounds really cool.

[xstortionist]

I have a unique trick that i use that i've never seen anybody do. Basically its the same concept as sweep picking arpegios. But I'll sweep pick from fret 0 to Fret 12 start on the low E ending on the High E hitting Minors inbetween. go up and down its very hard It takes a long time to get it down. I've been doing it for about a year now, but I practice it every night.

[Kato]

Originally Posted by xstortionist

I have a unique trick that i use that i've never seen anybody do. Basically its the same concept as sweep picking arpegios. But I'll sweep pick from fret 0 to Fret 12 start on the low E ending on the High E hitting Minors inbetween. go up and down its very hard It takes a long time to get it down. I've been doing it for about a year now, but I practice it every night.

I do that as well. Except.. I've seen tons of people do it. lol

[gtrdave]

Originally Posted by xstortionist

I have a unique trick that i use that i've never seen anybody do. Basically its the same concept as sweep picking arpegios. But I'll sweep pick from fret 0 to Fret 12 start on the low E ending on the High E hitting Minors inbetween. go up and down its very hard It takes a long time to get it down. I've been doing it for about a year now, but I practice it every night.

Sounds like a diminished run to me.

Yngwie was doing it over 20 years ago.

[Rainer.]

I have a lot of odd things.

-Try to get your hands on a bow. Mess with that.
-Strum barre chords behind the bar.
-Play a solo using the side of your pick around the pickups. Probably need to use high distortion (a la Satch's "Mind Storm").
-Fret a note, and tap random spots above it on the same string to produce harmonics.
-You can apply vibrato to entire chords by using classical vibrato, moving your fingers forward and back.
-Smack your strings in all different sorts of manners.
-Play single notes by doing vibrato side to side.
-Stick a piece of felt right at the bridge under the strings.
-Use the bridge pickup, and push down on the strings between pickups. Push harder to prduce different tones
-Rub your pick on strings to make the notes
-Play chords by flicking all your fingers.
-Play above the nut or below the bridge.
-Play your acoustic guitar like a hand drum (not with sticks).
-Slap and pop like a bassist.
-Strum using a cloth or similar object.
-Fret chords while rhythmicly tapping the bottom of your guitar on the ground.

I don't now how many of these are actually useful, but they're unusual.

[SwitchfootRulz!]

Originally Posted by Rainer.

-Smack your strings in all different sorts of manners.

That's hilarious. And it sounds pretty awesome with a flanger and delay setup

[Mattlock]

What I do is I turn my Echo Park to reverse, turn the distortion up pretty high, feedback by tapping the back of the neck. Randomly fret notes and stuff, do scrape picks, and mess with the time of the repeats on the delay. It's... weird.

Is this what you were looking for?

[MJ_Avalanche]

This is not really a trick, but I got a lot of people to go like "what the heck were you doing?!" Basically I played a minor a form (I think I was on F# or G), and used my right hand to play a bassline on the 6th string. It was pretty cool, and I think I did on the day that our bass player was out, so it worked out nice.

[CheshireCat]

Yes, I am going to go there . . .

---

Originally Posted by Jenacen

I was just wondering, does anyone know any unusual guitar tricks, or a really cool enhancement on any normal ones (which would include palm muting, harmonics of any kind, tapping, etc.)? Or do you just know any really cool combinations? I'm just looking for really awesomely cool stuff to try.

The most unusual trick I've ever seen, and one that I don't often see, is to learn how to play clean.

So few guitarists are doing it these days.

[Jenacen]

My guitar teacher is HUGE on playing clean! That will probably be the greatest favor he's ever done me just because so few guitar players do it.

Yeah, I like the ideas that I'm seeing. The more unique the better

Btw I'll throw in a technique that I heard of Joe Satriani doing, and this kinda describes what I'm looking for. There's a trick called "down the lizard's throat," which is where you slide your finger up or down the fretboard, and use the tremolo bar to keep the note at exactly the same pitch on every fret.

So yeah, keep em comin', I like what I'm seein'!

[BlessedNinja]

I like to use my electric shaver to make dive bomber sounds, just turn your amp up to 11 (dunnit' ) and move the shaver around the strings.

[CheshireCat]

Originally Posted by BlessedNinja

I like to use my electric shaver to make dive bomber sounds, just turn your amp up to 11 (dunnit' ) and move the shaver around the strings.

Ah, but does your shaver go to 11?