Originally Posted By: Mac
Pitchbends on a MIDI keyboard?

The Master:

Ray was one of the all time greats. When I was a kid I had almost all his stuff on the ABC Paramont label. I've seen him live a couple of times and he did great shows. The world is better for the fact that he passed this way.

I read that Edgar Winter fooled Rolling Stone magazine with his synth solo in Frankenstein. Rolling Stone awarded it one of the 100 top rock guitar solos. I didn't read the Rolling Stone article, so that could be urban legend.

And my own contribution (although it's done with a MIDI wind controller instead of a keyboard):

http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_oldtimeguitar.mp3

It was recorded live on a gig on an old pre-iPod Archos Juke Box's internal mic so the fidelity isn't the best. The background is BiaB using one of my styles with synth horn lines added near the end of the clip.

The MIDI controller is a Yamaha WX5 and the synth is a Yamaha VL70m using the Guitar Hero patch (tweaked by me). I mapped the pitch bend to the reed and used the reed as I would a joystick or wheel on a keyboard synth for both string bend and whammy bar effects. And if you listen, you can even hear where my thumb slipped off the octave key button and then recovered. I am proud to make mistakes on every gig, and equally as proud to cover them up so that most people don't hear them but me.

I posted this one in a guitar forum, not telling them I did this on a synth. I got plenty of great compliments, nobody said it sounded like a synth, one person even said it sounded Jeff-Beck-Ish (to me a high praise). After dozens of supportive comments, I came clean, told them I did it on a synth and got even more great comments. Only then did one person come up and say he though something sounded a little funny but he couldn't tell what. Fooling guitarists on a guitar patch is the ultimate test that it can be done.

This next one was done on a friend's CD. My friend is an excellent guitarist, but he wanted guitar synth on this cut and asked me if I would play it. It's a first and only take. I wanted it to sound guitar-ish but since he asked for synth guitar I wanted it to sound a bit "synthy" too. Again using the WX5 and VL70m combo but with an aftermarket Les Paul patch that I tweaked a bit.

http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_personalchoice.mp3

That's me playing synth guitar (for better or worse).

Insights and incites by Notes

Last edited by Notes Norton; 02/20/14 10:20 AM.
Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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