80s sounding Clean Chords & triads help
Comments
Following with interest.
Love that LA clean sound. I’ve been enjoying the vid a lot. I especially love the man in the mirror chords. https://youtu.be/XiCwR68Cp5I?si=pUlocTGSKdmubXvO
The boss dimension C Wazza helps too.
When it comes to that type of clean sound, the usual suspects are good but check out Michael Thompson gear vids/demos and you may pick up stuff from him
Love those sounds too.
I've begun putting together a poor man's version of the 80's rack rig using 'pieces that most players have never heard of'.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBEhkbuO__S/
For my fake version of this sort of playing: I've found that using recurring / common notes between chords really helps. Having the intervals spread quite wide too tends to give a more open / airier sound than using open chord or barre chord shapes. I also play a little bit of piano (which came after guitar) so when I'm improvising chordy stuff, I try to think more like the piano player in me.
I've begun putting together a poor man's version of the 80's rack rig using 'pieces that most players have never heard of'.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBEhkbuO__S/
For my fake version of this sort of playing: I've found that using recurring / common notes between chords really helps. Having the intervals spread quite wide too tends to give a more open / airier sound than using open chord or barre chord shapes. I also play a little bit of piano (which came after guitar) so when I'm improvising chordy stuff, I try to think more like the piano player in me.
There's a huge transcription book, called LA Session Guitarists, lovingly put together by Magnus Carlsson, which covers the work of Lukather, Landau, Dann Huff and Jay Graydon from the 80s. That has a section on Landau's 'Schmo' approach to rhythm guitar, as well as rhythm from all 4 players.
It's out there as a PDF and well worth getting.
It's out there as a PDF and well worth getting.
Thanks I’ll defo have a search for thatBowks said:There's a huge transcription book, called LA Session Guitarists, lovingly put together by Magnus Carlsson, which covers the work of Lukather, Landau, Dann Huff and Jay Graydon from the 80s. That has a section on Landau's 'Schmo' approach to rhythm guitar, as well as rhythm from all 4 players.
It's out there as a PDF and well worth getting.
Any tips for building chords that would sound good for this 6ths 13ths etc
Most of the videos on Huff Landau, Thompson , Graydon ,Lukather usually focus on the soloingKebabkid said:When it comes to that type of clean sound, the usual suspects are good but check out Michael Thompson gear vids/demos and you may pick up stuff from him
side of things . The only I’ve seen look at rhythm is Paul Jackson junior but even then he doesn’t give much away in chord construction more on his use of Ghost notes ,bubble picking
I've found the link, hidden in Youtube: https://bit.ly/LASessionGuitarists-August-11-2024
I’m no expert on this era of music but I’d suggest trying ‘open’ chord voicings where you take any inversion of a close-voiced triad and move the middle note up or down an octave:Adji said:Love those sounds too.
I've begun putting together a poor man's version of the 80's rack rig using 'pieces that most players have never heard of'.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBEhkbuO__S/
For my fake version of this sort of playing: I've found that using recurring / common notes between chords really helps. Having the intervals spread quite wide too tends to give a more open / airier sound than using open chord or barre chord shapes. I also play a little bit of piano (which came after guitar) so when I'm improvising chordy stuff, I try to think more like the piano player in me.
C triad closed xx555x
C triad open x35x5x or xx5x58
Thompson is more chordal stuff and try these :)hollywoodrox said:Most of the videos on Huff Landau, Thompson , Graydon ,Lukather usually focus on the soloingKebabkid said:When it comes to that type of clean sound, the usual suspects are good but check out Michael Thompson gear vids/demos and you may pick up stuff from him
side of things . The only I’ve seen look at rhythm is Paul Jackson junior but even then he doesn’t give much away in chord construction more on his use of Ghost notes ,bubble picking
- https://youtu.be/vBJRsWa_Jvc
- https://youtu.be/TOQWC3Bj2S0
- https://youtu.be/bZE0mdGHSwA
- https://youtu.be/146hwtCwyP4
Thanks so much for this , it’s sheer gold has got loads of chords listed too . I could only find the solos & schmo one by myself so this is great. Really appreciate itBowks said:
I can’t play the piano properly but use my midi keyboard & Logic with DX7 sounds to create bigAdji said:Love those sounds too.
I've begun putting together a poor man's version of the 80's rack rig using 'pieces that most players have never heard of'.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBEhkbuO__S/
For my fake version of this sort of playing: I've found that using recurring / common notes between chords really helps. Having the intervals spread quite wide too tends to give a more open / airier sound than using open chord or barre chord shapes. I also play a little bit of piano (which came after guitar) so when I'm improvising chordy stuff, I try to think more like the piano player in me.
inverted sus chords etc & all those lovely sounds
Thanks so much Michael Thompson is great , I’ve watched one video with him that vertex effects guy seems to do some good ones. Thanks for the videosKebabkid said:Thompson is more chordal stuff and try these :)hollywoodrox said:Most of the videos on Huff Landau, Thompson , Graydon ,Lukather usually focus on the soloingKebabkid said:When it comes to that type of clean sound, the usual suspects are good but check out Michael Thompson gear vids/demos and you may pick up stuff from him
side of things . The only I’ve seen look at rhythm is Paul Jackson junior but even then he doesn’t give much away in chord construction more on his use of Ghost notes ,bubble picking
- https://youtu.be/vBJRsWa_Jvc
- https://youtu.be/TOQWC3Bj2S0
- https://youtu.be/bZE0mdGHSwA
- https://youtu.be/146hwtCwyP4
Thanks so much to all the people who contributed to this thread . I’m going to go through it again a bit later . I’ve already been messing about with some sus & extended chords & found some nice sounds . Some sound more 80s than others .
One really good thing is I found Some drum loops on line & was able to load them into my Headrush MX 5 & it makes it even better to practice & come up with ideas . You can load any sort of wav or mp3 file into the looper folder so it’s ideal .
@hollywoodrox do you know Richard Watson on Youtube? He's done a few features on this style.
Yes he’s brilliantdigitalkettle said:@hollywoodrox do you know Richard Watson on Youtube? He's done a few features on this style.
Thanks! This looks excellent.Bowks said:
Dan Huff etc or what people use when demonstrating the sound .
Is there a secret to this sound I try and play a chord say G and leave in open strings (easily done on the guitar in this key ) or also play Sus 2 & 4 chords or add 9th & 11ths on the high sounding strings .
Keyboards always sound great with sus 2 & 4 and using inversions & having the third or 5th on the bass .
Perhaps too it’s the overall effect the layering , mixing those big chords with diads & triads
the single line rhythms with ghost notes (some call it bubble picking) plus differentiate with a heavy power chord lick in other parts .
I know my intervals & can construct chords , people demonstrating this tone seem to be able to pull them out of thin air so I guess I need to get learning just wondered which are best for this sort of
sound/feeling /ambience .
sometimes something so simple sounds bloody amazing though .
look at the first part of the riff/motif in Hysteria by def leppard
With a D F# & G which seem to fit in the key of D as I iii & IV intervals it sounds so amazing
anyway I’m rambling . Any tips or help appreciated
thanks for reading
edit PS most stuff on YouTube on these players usually focuses on these players solos or learning their songs which of course is a great idea but I did want to have an idea how to build them myself .
in the past I’ve looked at peoples keyboard lessons which seem to cover these but a lot of the ideas like sus 2 & 4 etc I’m already using .
cheers 80s forever Paul