Pick Slides

Hi everyone. Good to meet you all.

I'm really keen on guitar tricks and effects - theres just a couple of things that I can t figure out how to do... which are really REALLY annoying me! Any help would be perfect.

Ok. Firstly - if you listen to "Summer Song" by Joe Satriani, there's a piece in the music where he does a series of pick-slides, but the tone of each one is different?!! How does he do that??

And secondly - I've been told this is feedback, but I cant seem to get it. If you strike a not on high gain, how do you make it rise as though you';ve performed a tap-harmonic, half way through the note???

Cheers every1.

Paddy.

i dont remmeber that part in the song..and dont own that one either :(
...
but, i've seen some people
(i cant do it.) but it's pretty cool...
i've seen them slide their fretting hand up the neck
while their picking hand crosses over top and
starts sliding up from the nut back up to the bridge..

like a slide after a slide?
i think they use their pick, but thier fingers work
just as well?

i hope someone knows what im talkin about
and can explain it better
-G

When you do pick-slides, does it work better coming up towards the pickups, or going down away from them? I've always been going away, because I saw Van Halen doing it like that in a vid... but you mentioned coming UP the fret??

Here are some tricks you can try with pick slides. Think about this, the E,A,and D strings are all different guages. Therefore, the winding on the strings is either smaller or larger, kinda like different coarseness of a file. With that in mind, try your pick sliding on these different strings. Each will produce a very different sound. You can also get a type of slide sound on the first three strings. This will take some practice to get used to. You can also use your hands in an up and down crossover pattern that sounds really cool. Also bear in mind that the speed at which you drag the pick down the strings alters the sound as well.

As for you other question. I'm not quite sure about what you mean there, but try this. First pick the note and then lightly touch the string of the picked note at an interval of an octave. You'll get a good harmonic out of there. You can also fret the note and find alternate harmonics as if you were using a capo.

Give those a try and have some fun with it.
Good luck.

JAM

Ok - I'll try that! Thanks a lot. If you know any Joe Satriani, try listening to the beginning of the LIVE version of Summer Song... (if you don't have it, it's an absoloute MUST if you're a guitarist.) Anyway - after the natural harmonics in fifth and fourth and bass guitar bit, JUST before it goes into heavy chords, there's the pick slides that I'm talking about. You HAVE to listen to it if you haven't heard it, because it's the best music I've ever heard in my life.

Thanks for the advice dude. Take it easy.

PADS.

I know exactly the part your talking about. As a huge Satch fan myself, not only do I have the Live in SF but the G3 video as well (w/Eric Johnson and Vai). They play that tune on the vid so you can almost see what he is doing there. That part is just a bunch of fast pick slides on the A and D strings (at least that's how I play it - sounds pretty close) that go along with the kick drum and Stu popping the A string. That's just before it goes into the main riff and melody.

The pick slide starts off real fast and slows down towards the end of slide. It's all about technique so you gotta kinda feel the way Joe does when he plays. But do it your way. Not only will you feel more comfortable with it, it'll be you playing -- not Joe.

Later Man

JAM