I found Frudua's setup video many years ago. Much like you I was skeptical at first but took the time to follow it and was convinced it really works exactly as promised, time and time again. This is the first video I've found on RU-vid where someone gives a demo of how amazing this setup really is. I'd love to see you do another video on it with more examples.
Thanks my man. I have always set up my Strat One half step when pulling up on bar. But I did not realize what that ends up doing. The most I got out of it was two single trick band that I did exactly like you do. I hit one string, slide up to step pull the bar up, I have, slide string back to half steps while releasing the bar. Sounded like a bee bender. But this will give me something that I can work on, just finding all the cords that sound cool when bent up. I don’t know the neck as well as you. But I can hear:) sincerely, thank you
I've had my guitars set-up this way for years and yes, I got it from Frudua's videos. People don't realise how good the old vibrato always was on Strat's.
I believe that Mr. Beck's people will be coming for you now!! Haha. You are right in saying there are so many possibilities. And if it happens there are a few more people that sound a little like Jeff Beck in this world that ain't a bad thing .
Well... on that specific track that Malmsteen criticized there are a few false notes. Now, you may like that or not, but Yngwie has a point there (he could not believe it was Jeff Beck either)
The way your having fun with your Strat, you'd have a blast with the last vibrato system that Leo Fender designed and put on his G&L guitars. They're made to float. Bend up, bend down, it's all good stuff!
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I have an older MIK (Made In Korea) Tribute Legacy. I really like the PTB system (Passive Treble & Bass) that Leo put on them. It's nice to be able to shape the tone of all three pickups. I bought it used to see if I'd like the PTB and vibrato systems, and I've become extremely fond of them both. The vibrato stays in tune very well.
That PTB system looks interesting. The schematic is really easy, I may try it. As for strings, I have everything form 9 to 11 on my guitars, and I haven't found tuning instabilities.
Neat! Naia Izumi uses a lot of creative tremolo tricks like this. He's on YT and Instagram... There's an entire army of Neo Soul players coming up with new techniques every day. Melanie Faye is another great one.
(1) "Tremolo bar" is a misnomer ... It should be "vibrato bar." (2) This is something that you could probably program with some digital guitar synthesizers. I have a Roland that allows you to change the pitch on each string (so you don't have to retune), but I'm not sure whether you could (say) use the foot pedal to change that difference while you're playing. (3) What about harmonics? It seems like you can do artificial harmonics of notes close to G, B, and E by playing a natural harmonic for that string and bending up. (4) You should be able to get some neat possibilities with microtones by only bending up part way. (As a physicst, you might be asking now: Is this a linear relationship, or exponential, or what? 8-) ) (5) What about other models of guitar? [EDIT: a few other ideas I had forgotten about] (6) Play the D# on the B string along with the open E, then bend up to create a unison (F). Similarly, play Bb on the G string and the open B, bend up to create a unison. (7) What if you retune your Strat, for example to EADGCF; does this still work?
1. Yup. But the misnomer is more popular. I have already several "heretical" ideas in this channel, I'm picking my battles. 3. Yes harmonics totally work. 4. Linear as far as I can tell 6. Yes :) 7. No idea. Someone wants to try?
Thanks! for covering the musical aspect of the tremolo, not seen many videos on that. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but you only talked about bending up. What about bending down. I thought the tremolo arm always landed at a central point from where you can go up or down.
Staying in tune. Probably something to do with the diamater /tension of the string. A different gauge will give different results. I think. Super idea anyhow 😀
Wow first time (certainly last time as well) that I don’t learn something from your video 😜. Kidding of course because to setup it up is one thing (which I actually did years ago, big thanks to Frudua’s video) but your creative approach of musical possibilities around it is cool. It’s all about music right? 😉
The pitch deviation when pulled depends on the strings. A set of 9s will usually provide the combination of semitone, tone and minor third seen here but a heavier set or one with a wound G would behave differently.
What about tremolo behavior when you make your pitch lower? I have a hard time to make it return back to original pitch. Every 10-15 minutes with several bends and guitar have to be tuned again.
There are a few tricks to make the tremolo come back in tune. I think Frudua has a couple of them in his channel (see the video I linked in the description)
@@christopherheckman7957 Unwound strings are less likely to get hung up on the nut. If the nut was cut bad enough for the plane strings to "ping" and grab in the slots, they wouldn't act the same
A reasonable hypothesis, but this is not the case - it seems to happen even if the strings are not binding. I think the height of the string at the bridge is more likely the reason why the lower 3 strings reach different pitches. The relative height of the first 3 strings seems fairly constant between guitars/players, but the relative height of the low 3 does not. I might be wrong on this point of course.
Is that possible because the position of the bridge can be individually adjusted for each string? The tone produced by the vibration of the string depends on its length and tension, while the tone variation per unit torque from the tremolo bar depends on the length of the string (individually adjustable on the bridge for each string). Hope you are doing well Tommaso! Greetings from San Francisco :)
Hey Nicola, long time no see :) My guess is that the lever arm for each string is slightly different, since strings are not all at the same length respect to the fulcrum. And there is also the matter that the linear density of the strings is different (but I haven't run the equations yet, so I don't know if this matters). What are you doing in San Francisco?
oh that's right you're a physicist! physics/intonation questions: should the fret board not be elliptical (foci at nut and bridge) so fretting any note stretches the string the same amount? are the string lengths above the nut decreasing string stiffness by the wrong amounts to give correct intonation?
I don't think there's an appreciable difference just by fretting, but if you use the tremolo arm, or bend strings, they end up being off by a significant amount because of elasticity, and I guess string length behind the fret by some degree. There's a company that sells string sets that alleviate that. I personally think it's part of the guitar sound and it doesn't bother me.
It's (at least) a second-order effect. And the practical difference between constant-curvature fretboard and elliptical fretboard (in the direction you mean it) would be minimal. The error in placement of the frets and variation in pressure on the string/fret from a player are bigger effects. (WARNING: this on a back-of-the-envelope calculation. If someone solves the equations properly and finds something different I'd be curious to know)
The fretboard actually is curved, the curvature is controllable by the truss rod, and you want a little bit of relief in the neck because of the elliptical nature of the string's movement. As for the equal string height to the fret across the fretboard - that's exactly why you can't have that. You'll get extra fret buzz.
@@5naxalotl you haven’t understood his answer. If you have asked something else, you should quit music. Intonation is the task of the musician, not the instrument. It is easily achievable since the orchestral strings have been doing it for centuries. Frets allow bends and a pick while sustaining the note. Not perfect intonation.
Hello i have a problem. Once the guitar is in tune when using the tremolo, the tone of the first string is raised and after the band returns to the tone. The guitar is a Malmstein fender. Can anyone help?
It does cover a lot of ground. I was on the solid state/ information theory / dynamical systems side, with a thesis on biological population dynamics. You?
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar Well that sounds like fun. Lotka-Volterra and so on? I've always found dynamical systems theory interesting and thought it unfortunate that chaos/catastrophe theory got so overhyped because there really are some useful tools in there. I myself was modeling star formation and ended up doing so much computer work that I went into that instead.
@@artiefischel2579 That stuff, only with stochastic equations + spatially explicit, so you get all the interesting 'critical dimensions' thing. (like: this works in 2D, but it's impossible in 3D). And yes, lots of computer simulations too, but lots of analytical work to balance it. Interesting detail: I did my PhD at Sissa/Isas in Triest, Italy, in front of the bay that Mr. Volterra took his data from ;-) and (less fun) few Kms from Duino, where Boltzmann killed himself.
As long as the intervals between the notes you have tuned each string to are consistent, you can use all of the same patterns. Basically if each string is raised or lowered the same it will work. Example, if you down tune each string a half step the notes are E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, B flat, E flat. If you the play what would be an E major chord shape on a standard tuned guitar, the resulting sound will be an E flat major chord. The alphabet remains the same but each note is moved up one fret (half step) since you lowered each open string a half step.
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar i know that feeling. Same thing with my Ibanez prestige frozen ocean. It played amazingly and Once I set the intonation and truss rod it played perfectly.
I'm not so sure. Once you know how far the tremolo (technically, vibrato) bar bends up on its full range, you can then look for the "halfway point"; i.e., where does an E on the 2nd string become an F. You can also do quartertones as well.
Find me any strat trem player that has used a minor third bend ever on the top two strings with the bar. Floyd’s have been around forever because strats don’t do enough. This is a great compromise.
It’s not new, in fact if you set up to exact Fender 1950s instructions you get the intervals, this assumes you are using recommended string gauge. I am an engineer and your fascination makes me doubt you are a physicist especially when you said it was magic, it’s simply mechanics.
It is not obvious to me from the string equation I know that the top 3 strings would bend exactly (or even approximately) at the right pitches. If it's obvious to you, more power to you.
