Herdim picks are a little bit famous, and after a few days of playing with them I know why. Some of you might be thinking how can a pick be famous? Well, because they’re what Mr. The Edge from U2 uses. Now, I’m not really a huge U2 fan, but I will agree with the rest of the world that his tone is pretty top notch. So I figured I’d just see what these picks were about. Mr. The Edge actually turns the pick sideways which causes that textured stuff you can see to sort of pull against the string which results in more than the traditional amount of attack on the string. You can use the word “chime” if you want to but I won’t. I didn’t really buy these picks because that’s what I wanted to do or because I’m a devoted Mr. The Edge disciple (even though the riff on Sunday Bloody Sunday rules), but mainly because I just wanted to try something different.

And after a few days of using these picks, I don’t know if I’m going to use them anymore. Of course I experimented with the whole holding it sideways thing, and I have to admit that it’s pretty cool. I now agree with those people who say that these picks are more important to getting that “Mr. The Edge tone” than any of the guitars or amps or even the Deluxe Memory Man. And that’s kind of why I don’t know if I’m going to keep using these picks.

Here’s the problem: Mr. The Edge found and completely owned a technique that is so unique and cool that it’s pretty much pointless (in my opinion, anyway) for anyone else to do it better or more uniquely in any way. Furthermore, his gear and even the way he writes his riffs melds so completely well with his picking technique that they almost come as a package. You can’t use this pick without at least trying to play the Where The Streets Have No Name riff. And even then, it won’t sound nearly as good as when Mr. The Edge plays it. Furthermore, I feel like trying to incorporate this technique into a different style or context will just result in more comparisons to Mr. The Edge where it will quickly be determined that he rules and is still way better than you.

The other example of this that comes to my mind is Rage Against The Machine. Not just Tom Morello, but pretty much everything about the whole band. They were so innovative and unique that whenever I hear a band or guitarist who was obviously hugely influenced by them and wants to be the next RATM I feel a little embarrassed, because no one will ever be as good as them at what they did. It’s like they created their own genre of music and made it completely impossible to improve upon it in any way.

I’m not interested in being the next Mr. The Edge or Tom Morello. I’m going to keep playing with these picks for a little while, but if I feel like they’re just going to put me in a category where I have to compete with U2, then forget it. They win. Who am I kidding. I’ll be better off trying to find my own unique technique or style that I’ll completely rule.

PS. If you’re offended by my use of the phrase “Mr. The Edge”, then I’m sorry. But you have to admit that trying to use “The Edge” in normal conversation sometimes results in awkward phrasing. I find it funny.

I say all this because it kind of relates to another thing I’ve experienced in these past few weeks. As I mentioned in my previous post I pretty much disassembled my playing, mostly in terms of gear, and then put everything back together slowly. And that worked out pretty well. But the other thing I wanted to do was bring back more of purpose to my playing. I started to notice that when I sat down at a music store to try something else, I would kind of struggle to find something to play. And I think that came once again from not spending my time on the guitar well.

I used to learn new songs all the time. I would pick songs up by ear really quickly. I’m still pretty good at it, but I just don’t do it nearly as much as I used to. So I decided that I wanted to learn some songs. Once I started thinking about what songs I wanted to learn, I kind of just started going back to where everything began for me in terms of guitar playing. Not to the beginning, because then that would mean that I would be learning Van Halen solos again, but to the point where things clicked and I thought “that’s the kind of player I want to be. That’s how I want to sound.” And for me, that was this:

Mark Engles is my guitar hero. No band has so quickly changed what I wanted to play on my guitar more than Dredg. I won’t go into why right now, because that’s not the point I want to make (but it mainly has to do with stereo delay and playing a telecaster as hard as possible). I had learned a few of the songs off that album (Catch Without Arms) before but I was kind of intimidated by a lot of them. But I’m currently working through the whole album and have a majority of them learned. And I’m having more fun playing guitar than I have in a long time.

I was feeling pretty stale, and something needed to change in my playing. So in addition to rediscovering my gear, I went back and rediscovered why I was even playing guitar at all. Because I think I’d lost it a little bit. Now I remember that what I want to do with my guitar is make people feel the same way that I felt when I started listening to Dredg. So if you’re feeling a little stale in your playing like I was, take some time to think back to why you even started to play guitar. What was that album where you couldn’t stop having your mind blown by the guitar? Who was that guy with the magic fingers who just turned everything to gold? Maybe you should go back and get your mind re-blown and remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Also, just for fun. This is a live version of my favorite song of all time (The Canyon Behind Her) from my favorite album of all time (El Cielo) from my favorite band of all time (Dredg). Maybe you’ll hate it but I don’t even care.

And a fun fact too… you see those JCM900 heads behind Mark? At one point I had the exact same thing. Two JCM900s running stereo into a 1960A cab. I took the logos off too, just like he has them. It was cool, but at some point I just said “who am I kidding?” It’s stupid to try to be exactly like him. So they’re gone. But that setup rules so much.

But in all honesty my time playing wasn’t spent well. I would sit down in front of my pedalboard with too many pedals on it and really just make noise. It’s almost like you’re trying out your own gear at a store to see how it sounds and decide whether or not you want it. Some days your drives sound pretty good. Some days they sound terrible. Turn on some delay and see if that helps at all.

I didn’t really know what to do.

So I took everything apart. I took every pedal off my board, put them in their respective boxes and put them in the back of my closet. I unplugged every power cable and put the power supplies in a drawer. I put all my guitars and amps away too.

And everything just sat for about a week. Occasionally I would have the urge to play but didn’t feel like putting everything back together. Plus I still just had a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. But eventually I pulled a guitar and my Blues Jr. out, and for a few days that’s all it was. I found it to be really refreshing, I was relearning my guitar and my amp. I was paying attention to the way my pick was hitting the strings and the way the amp responded to different attacks. It was nice. It was fun.

I had to play at church the next weekend. So I pulled out my small pedalboard and brought back only the pedals I would need. I think it was only about eight or so. So then I did the same thing as before, I did my best to re-learn them. I felt like I’d regained control of my guitar and my amp, and now I could focus on the little boxes. I really tried to learn the characteristics of my overdrives. I tried settings I hadn’t tried before. I tried a different order. I focused on one delay and figured out how to get the most use of it.

So I played that weekend and I felt really good about it. I liked the way I played and the way I sounded. And even now I’m having more fun than I was before. I’m learning songs and playing along. I’m not frustrated anymore.

I admit, this all started out as a little bit of a tantrum. I was frustrated and I just said ‘well then forget it!’ But it turned out to be really good for me. I was able to section out the different pieces of my playing and get re-acquainted with them separately. I should have realized how necessary this was before giving up and putting everything into my closet, but that’s how it goes I guess.

I know that a lot of you really like pedals and amps and guitars and tubes and all that stuff. I do too. I feel like some of you might like that stuff more than the music you make with it. I just want to make music. That’s why I was frustrated; I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t able to create the things that I wanted to. The answer for me was to get rid of most of the gear for a while. I want to play music, not pedals. If that’s what you want too, maybe think about putting them away for a little while.

I will be posting short song previews periodically until Vivian is born. Her due date is September 1, and her album will be officially released the day she is born.

1. You have to email me at andy@lowercasenoises.com. No tweets, facebook comments, etc.
2. You have to give me a link to your already-existing blog/website, however big or small it is. I just want to make sure it’s legit.
3. I’ll give you one album at a time. If you’d like to write up reviews of everything I’ve done, that’s cool. But pick one to start with, and once that’s done I’ll give you a copy of another one to review.

So that’s it. Please email me if you’re interested in this. And like I said, I’m not trying to bribe anyone or anything. I appreciate honesty and criticism, so don’t feel like you have to say you ABSOLUTELY LOVED EVERY SINGLE THING about the album in return for getting it for free.

Thanks!