New rock guitar tune needs feedback

Hey Brian,
Rough draft or not that's some killer tone!

I could hear that riff at 3:07 being down an octave, but I'm sure whatever you decide will be great anyway.

Hi, Brian,

Really Nice! Outstanding guitar tone, great playing and a clean, smooth mix. Keep up the good work!

Bob

Thank you Bob & Lhansen :) Well for all the skills I've spent 18 years developing, I have no full CD to show for it...so I wouldn't say I'm accomplished in that sense. That's exactly what I'm going to remedy now. I'm aiming to release an instrumental CD in the spring.

Thank you for the listen!

ORIGINAL: Heckxx

One thing I notice is that some of the guitar lead notes don't sustain out like I initially expected it to. Seems like they are cut off early, either purposely or because the guitar just doesn't sustain.

But yea, guitar tone is great. This song to me is really only just about the leads, the other instruments are all really basic and very background-y.

-Jeff

Yeah, I was getting a lot of noise from my guitar that day, so rather than record that noise, I cut off the notes...I plan on fixing that. I hope that I can at least make the drum track a little better before I'm done. But the pitch axis concept almost demands that my bassline stays on A throughout the main theme section unfortunately. Maybe in the bridge section I can do some more interesting basslines?

Not that there's anything wrong with every other instrument being background-y, assuming the melody is good enough

Thank you for the kind words Ben. Really, good mix already? I haven't really spent any time on it lol.

Josh,
Satch's concept is cool no doubt. A Joe Clone? You're accomplished technically as a shredder and expanding your knowledge with his concept is nothing but understandable but seems to me it would be easy for you to find "your" sound and complete the package.
Unfortunately for me when I heard this I just wanted to put Surfing With The Alien on. And that's to bad because you were creating some wonderful melody lines and they had great feel.

With the background on this I know you're practicing so that's why my comments are such and with good intentions.

Regards,
Michael

Thank you everyone. Yeah I know some licks I play, even though obviously not identical, can remind one of Joe Satriani or Vai techniques or songs. There isn't much avoiding that since I learned a whole lot of Satch songs when I first started playing. Strangely I haven't learned any Vai, but that still comes across somehow.

I think I am gradually coming into my own, but it may take an album or some more songs to separate myself as much as I'd like. I think there are at least a few licks in this newest song that are really "my own", and I'll keep expanding on that hopefully. All my songs do have some licks like that though, if you ask me.

Yes Pitch Axis stuff kinda sounds like Joe no matter what you do, but I wanted to try it out.

Brain - superb playing and great tone, yes it does sound like Joe Satriani, but hey that's a great tone to use, only wish I could capture it myself. Speaking of tone, what did you use to get it?

Great phasing, one thing you might consider is moving the lead outside of the tonic, maybe during a break, similar to what Joe does. I would mix it the drums a little more for variety. But these are just suggestions, because the song is excellent. Your 18 years of diligence has paid off.

Nice composition as well. It's really a pleasure to hear you play.

ORIGINAL: jamesyoyo

A good title: "Smurfing with the Alien".
Drums need some oomph. Keys are just there, really don't add anything. I like the harmonies at 2:15

You know, I get all excited because the song's done being written, and so I posted it haha...but I am still using the TTS-1 for drums. Tonight I'm re-recording all the guitars. Tomorrow I'm redoing the drums with EZ Drummer, EQing it and adding compression, lots of stuff. As I said, rought draft. Maybe it's a rough draft in a different way that you guys were thinking :)

Strangely I like the keys background part more than the actual pitch axis part, which is played on clean guitar.

Alkie, you are correct. I do need to see if I can get some more drum and bass fills in before I'm done.

Brain - Excellent feedback on what you used. I'm not sure if you need to re-record it, because it sounds great. I keep looking at the POD stuff that Line 6 puts out and I'm almost convinced to get one of them. I still like my Johnson J-Station, but they ain't no more. Aside from that, I can't say anything bad about the Line 6 stuff because I'm consistently hearing great tone from their products. Yep, that pickup you have will really help with your tone!

By the way, for a 'draft' song it's really great. Even though we have a lot of suggestions, I think they are nits that can add to the song. In fact, I listened to Joe S. stuff today and my comment

one thing you might consider is moving the lead outside of the tonic, maybe during a break, similar to what Joe does.

is a pretty stupid one. That's because Joe plays inside of the root scale (tonic) through most of his songs. During his breaks he drops a 3rd or modulates, but he still plays within the root (generally speaking).

Great playing, tone and song.

man that full shred pickup just spanks the heck out of that vetta.
very nicely written, i absolutely love this kinda stuff.
your playing is very very good and your tone is awesome and i listened to everything on your page, im on dialup at home so i grabbed my laptop and went into town to my nearest wifi coffee shop and had a good listen through my studio cans.
good stuff tim

Thank you nosrocks.

Yes the background is boring. The bassline is 2 different notes total, in the whole song lol. I will see what I can do.

Well I've recorded everything except for the bassline now. The drums are quite a bit more interesting. I haven't posted it yet though, wait til I do the bassline. I'll repost when it's ready.