GonzoBass

Another thought on this one:

You might want to do a search at [url="http://www.activebass.com"]ActiveBass.com[/url] by clicking on "lessons" and entering "Fur Elise".
There are a few versions posted there with the cool option of hearing the midi track played back with various speeds and tones.
(You can search for your other classical pieces there too!)

Keep in mind that these are user posts.
So the level of accuracy miiiiight vary.



I hope this helps!

With some practice, a pick will give a real nice, consistant level.
(Especially nice for recording)

You might want to try resting the fat part of your hand
(under the little finger)
on the bridge to provide a constant point where the pick meets the strings.

This keeps the "point of attack" from moving around while your playing
(closer to the bridge p/up or closer to the neck p/up)
which will cause your tone to vary.

This also makes it easy to add a little palm mute too
by rolling your hand up onto the strings just a bit.
...works great for pounding eighth note lines.

You might also want to try a medium soft (bendable) nylon.
I found that takes out most of the "click" you'll get from a heavier (guitar) pick
and the "scrape" you'll get if you're using roundwounds.

I hope this helps!





PS- Please, let's not have this thread degenerate into another fingers vs pick debate...

You might try singing (or humming) the line to yourself
based on the premise that "if you can say it, you can play it"
or try humming an elusive pitch outloud and then sliding up to it on your fretboard.

I hope this helps!

Is there a specific line you're working on?

This is one of my favorite Beethoven pieces.

Here's one the author refers to as "straight forward",
which will work with standard tuning,
but he's not catching nearly all the chordal possibilities.

[url="http://www.accentonmusic.com/tabs/FurElise.pdf"]http://www.accentonmusic.com/tabs/FurElise.pdf[/url]

You'll get further by using the standard notation
and eliminating some of the octaves.

Here's a few sources for that:
[url="http://www.mfiles.co.uk/scores/Fur-Elise.pdf"]http://www.mfiles.co.uk/scores/Fur-Elise.pdf[/url]
[url="http://www.harmonytalk.com/download/FurElise.pdf"]http://www.harmonytalk.com/download/FurElise.pdf[/url]
[url="http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/beethoven/FurElise-WoO59.pdf"]http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/bee...Elise-WoO59.pdf[/url]


Can you catch the 4th octave of the A minor arpeggio movement on your 7?
It can't be done on a 4...
(I've been faking it for years)



If you look around on the web,
you can find tabs for Stu Hamm's version of "Moonlight Sonata".

You might want to look up King's X or Cheap Trick.

Although they're both using a 12er,
both dUg and Tom have that octave 'twang' you're looking for,
usually with a bit of distortion.

However, I prefer my Dean Rhapsody 8 more with a bit of chorus:





What have you got?



PS- ...or if you want to really stretch out a bit?
Look up Charlie Hunter.

Still running OS 9.2(.2) on my Graphite iMac and using ProTools.
I've got MicroLogic also,
but the learning curve was way steeper than ProTools.

Been running the USB direct out from a Bass Pod XT Live
and getting a great sound with no latency issues at all.

I do have a Dell POS laptop which hates me,
but it's cool because I hate it right back...

Very nice indeed!

I needed the tapping toward the end of the solo.

Thanks Dave!!!