In need of Psychedelic/Acid Rock tips

[LegzMahoney]

So i play in a Psychedelic/Acid Rock band and im not very content with our music, and i wanted to see if i can get some feedback/tips on how to better improve our jams. Id also like to hear some of your bands if you play similar music.

This is our latest jam:


Thank ya!

 

[Michedelic]

not to be too snarky, but get another guitarist

 

[Michedelic]

To be fair, you and the drummer are doing great, seemed to be locked in. As much as I DO enjoy atonal screech guitar from Blue Cheer to Black Flag, this guy is just meandering. What about this situation do you not like?

 

[eukatheude]

Can't listen now, but I love these kind of projects. G'luck

 

[bluesblaster]

Get the compilation called "Nuggets" good stuff

 

[lfmn16]

You need to listen to some acid music and the guitar player needs to stop noodling and play some actual leads. It sounds like you all took a quick listen to an acid rock song or two and started jamming. I think you guys have a lot of potential, but time to do some hard work. There is no substitute for learning songs from the genre that you want to play.

 

[Michedelic]

Another thing, come up with or learn some actual songs that you can then go off on in the middle part, a little structure before the free-form. Learn to jam over chord progressions instead of grinding out the same riff over and over, nothing gets more boring and fatiguing faster, and I saw you shaking out your hand at one point. Set up some sort of groove if you do end up plodding away over one chord. Explore dynamics! Set up next to the drummer if possible. You can't have any eye-and-head nod communication if you're across the room.

 

[callofcthulhu]

It isn't so much a song, or even a jam really, as it is you playing a looped bassline and your guitarist soloing for 10 minutes.

Which is fine I guess. I prefer to be taken on a journey when I listen to this kind of music, and while the journey to the facemelting part of a guitar solo is definitely an awesome one, (especially when the guitarist knows how to get you there right) I wouldn't be interested in sitting through a whole set of that.

But I play in a stoner/psych band so I've had to sit through that set too many times. They all start sounding the same after a while.

 

[jj4001]

 

[jj4001]

Rubble and Peace Love Poetry are other great series of psych comps, too

 

[Flad]

Being a power trio means the guitar player has to play some rhythm. There has to be a bed to lay the solos on top of and the bass player (in most situations) should not be left to do this on his own. Where's the "hook"? Your listeners need something to look forward to, think tension and release. Two minuets of this was all I could take, so I'm not sure if the guitarist ever got around to actually trying to play a "song", it felt as if you pushed your listener into a corner and gave them a time out, the '"song" never goes anywhere. Think, intro, verse, chorus, outro. A song needs at a minimum a beginning, a middle and an end, this felt like just a beginning....where do we go from here? As someone else said, it should be a journey.

To me this kind of rock has always been about the hook, the very first riffs I learned on bass were all hooks. Smoke on the Water, Iron Man, Sunshine of Your Love, anything from Black Sabbath or Led Zepp... etc...etc...etc... All of these songs are based on the hook. All the "great" guitarist are considered "gods" not because they could wank away at 64th notes but because they could make awesome hooks that the listener wanted to hear again and again and were simple enough that a child could play, the fact that they got to solo in between playing the hook is just icing on the cake. No one bangs their head to the solo, they bang their head to the rhythm!

I hate to sound like I am hammering your guitarist to death here but unless he starts playing with the rhythm section, as a part of it, instead of "on top of" it as a soloist, you're not likely to progress very fast and you're most likely going to bore your listeners to death. You guys are a "power trio", the "power" comes from the "rhythm section", a song is the "rhythm section", you guys need to work together to become a "rhythm section". Your guitarist shouldn't even be worrying about the solos until AFTER the rhythms have been worked out. You guys should sit down and talk about the "philosophy" behind the music you're making and what "elements" your songs need to succeed, it's MHO that you're missing some fundamental elements. This was only 2/3 of a song...the guitar part is missing!

That's my two cents, I hope I did not come off too harsh, please take this as constructive criticism.

 

[jim nolte]

So i play in a Psychedelic/Acid Rock band and im not very content with our music, and i wanted to see if i can get some feedback/tips on how to better improve our jams. Id also like to hear some of your bands if you play similar music.

This is our latest jam:


Thank ya!

Maybe actually drop some acid on a regular basis like the "original" guys did. It worked for them!!

 

[LegzMahoney]

Being a power trio means the guitar player has to play some rhythm. There has to be a bed to lay the solos on top of and the bass player (in most situations) should not be left to do this on his own. Where's the "hook"? Your listeners need something to look forward to, think tension and release. Two minuets of this was all I could take, so I'm not sure if the guitarist ever got around to actually trying to play a "song", it felt as if you pushed your listener into a corner and gave them a time out, the '"song" never goes anywhere. Think, intro, verse, chorus, outro. A song needs at a minimum a beginning, a middle and an end, this felt like just a beginning....where do we go from here? As someone else said, it should be a journey.

To me this kind of rock has always been about the hook, the very first riffs I learned on bass were all hooks. Smoke on the Water, Iron Man, Sunshine of Your Love, anything from Black Sabbath or Led Zepp... etc...etc...etc... All of these songs are based on the hook. All the "great" guitarist are considered "gods" not because they could wank away at 64th notes but because they could make awesome hooks that the listener wanted to hear again and again and were simple enough that a child could play, the fact that they got to solo in between playing the hook is just icing on the cake. No one bangs their head to the solo, they bang their head to the rhythm!

I hate to sound like I am hammering your guitarist to death here but unless he starts playing with the rhythm section, as a part of it, instead of "on top of" it as a soloist, you're not likely to progress very fast and you're most likely going to bore your listeners to death. You guys are a "power trio", the "power" comes from the "rhythm section", a song is the "rhythm section", you guys need to work together to become a "rhythm section". Your guitarist shouldn't even be worrying about the solos until AFTER the rhythms have been worked out. You guys should sit down and talk about the "philosophy" behind the music you're making and what "elements" your songs need to succeed, it's MHO that you're missing some fundamental elements. This was only 2/3 of a song...the guitar part is missing!

That's my two cents, I hope I did not come off too harsh, please take this as constructive criticism.

Not harsh at all my friend! See our problem is, we used to literally have one riff and belt it out like 200 times and solos in between, so i think we really just need to find a balance with rhythm. Solid feedback tho, thanks man!

 

[cronker]

So, my friend, here is the challenge for your band.

Go back and re-record "Beer and Dazing In Lost Dazes". Try to do it as close as you can to the original as posted above.
If you can nail it as close to the original as possible, you have a song.
If it sounds completely different, what you have is a jam.

 

[TonyP-]

I would physically mover over closer to your drummer amp and all and ask other guitarists to learn the tune and sit in with them. You might find someone that fits so to speak better then his this one.

Also I'm not saying you are but just as a FYI (some might disagree) stay substance free @ rehearsal.

 

[callofcthulhu]

Not harsh at all my friend! See our problem is, we used to literally have one riff and belt it out like 200 times and solos in between, so i think we really just need to find a balance with rhythm. Solid feedback tho, thanks man!

Hey man, y'know what, I take back everything I said. Tell your guitar player to buy more pedals and hire a synth player to make crazy feedback noise.

Hipsters will eat that poopie up.

If necessary, move to San Francisco.

 

[OldDirtyBassist]

I think all three of you are about the same skill level. The guitarist has obviously been listening to Hendrix live stuff. He seems to just go "out there" naturally, so I'd recommend he study some off the wall scales and modes. It sounds like you guys are feeling each other out musically. Just keep jamming.

 

[vasilio]

Listen to Jimi Hendrix playing Voodoo Child.
Maybe walk it up a full step and resolve into a payoff.
Playing in the same key for a long song ( Jam ) tends to drone on - putting the listener to sleep.
You guys have the talent - It just needs to be put to better use.

 

[nukes_da_bass]

I keep seeing the thread title as
"In need of help with psychedelic acid rock TRIPS".

I knew a guy on Boston Common back in the 80s named "The Wizard" whom purportedly vended such things.

 

[bswag]

Not to be a downer, but I don't think you can GET the same kind of "acid" these days...

More to the point, all the "psychedelic" pioneers had already done a few zillion hours of playing BEFORE they pursued chemical enhancement. Even more to the point, most of those guys are long gone, many from chemical excess (compounded by managerial chicanery, endless touring, &c).

Your original Psych bands mostly took off from some combination of folk, blues, surf, & non-"Western" musics, a healthy dose of snotty attitude, and the sense of adventure required to work with all the toys which appeared during the 60's and 70's, ie all the effects, electronics, and recording stuff that's now simulated (poorly) in software.

At this stage, and at your ages, don't worry so much about A Career and all that crap, worry about (a) getting good with your instrument, (b) getting used to playing with each other, and (3), do you have something to say besides "Lookit us, wereina band!" If you listen to enough music of any kind, you'll notice that The Greats (in whatever genre) had something to say. What they had to say may not be trivial or obvious (try some Sun Ra!), but it's there. Even if your point turns out to be nothing more (or less) than "Gurls, we's here for ya!" (or Guys, or whatever), well, there's still better and worse-er ways to get that across. You can be Al Green, or, um, David Lee Roth.

Oh, and- see that shaggy fella to the left in OldDirtyBassist's avatar? Listen to as much of him as you can! (BIG EYEBROWS for the Thing-Fish pic, ODB!) That would be Frank Zappa, and he had a lot to say! And a cautionary note- while Frank abhorred drugs, he seems to have lived on a diet of cigarettes and coffee. Legal, sure, but (trust me) not the best thing for you.

Finally, ignore any and all advice offered on Internet forums by old tossers who look like Shuman The Human. (What?)