New Nuno B. Thread

[Tone2TheBone]

I was always puzzled by the fact that Nuno didn't hook up with another band, or form his own band following Extreme's dis-banding (maybe he did, and I just don't know about it.) What's your take on that? Jake E. Lee seems to have followed that same course a few years earlier when he was with Badlands (the band called it quits in '95 following vocalist Ray Gillen's death), and he's now just getting back into the swing of recording again. IMHO, there's way too much guitar talent there not to be active in the studio. I mean, look at Vai & Satriani - they're touring w/ G3 or as solo acts, and release a killer new guitar albums / DVDs every year or so.

Anyways, this is starting to seem like a thread that should gravitate over to the "Have You Heard" section of the forum . . . ? Your thoughts?

Nelski, Trem.....yo.

If I ever leave my imaginary band I'm definately going to pursue an imaginary solo career. I couldn't stand not playing ya know what I mean? Don't know what Nuno's been up to lately nor Jake. I could hook up with some of you guys and we'd start a small club gig in a couple of towns just for fun. Whaddya say guys?

 

[tremoloman]

Damn!

Damn... you beat me to the new thread!

Ok everyone... if you are even a casual Nuno fan, you must do yourself a favor and watch the "Guitar Wars" DVD (Japan-only release).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...bbs_null_1/104-2457244-3599136?v=glance&s=dvd
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?PID=6613419&style=music&frm=frooglemusic

I want to clarify for all those people who think Nuno was part of the "hair band" movement. Nuno has always been against posers and that glam image. Yes he's a little odd, but that's part of his charm. When I first heard him playing in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure", I was amazed.

Shortly after after 'Pornograffitti' had been released back in 1991, Nuno did a guitar clinic in Plymouth, MA at a music store called "My Music House". He came in on a Saturday morning and talked about the music industry, the new guitar he helped design, played some tunes, etc. It is very inspirational. This video is what it took me to get off my duff and learn how the hell to play the guitar. He's the biggest reason I'm self taught and always pushed myself to do better. If I hadn't ever met Nuno, I'd still be wishing I knew how to play and strumming air guitar like a poser.

I must have tried to figure out how he did that squeal in the main 'Decadance Dance' riff for a month before I finally figured out how to do it. When I asked Nuno how to do it in the video, he says "Put the record on dude. Learn it the hard way like I did." Then he would turn away from the camera to make us want to learn how to do it even more.

Later, he said to me "if you learn it youself, you will find it much more rewarding than reading some spoon-fed tab once you figure it out." 14 years later, I couldn't agree more.

Whenever I doubt myself, I just look at the headstock with his autograph on it and I go back and try even harder.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Wow. I think you about summed it all up. Chaulk one up for "experience!"

Nelski and I went into the very same topic one day in email. I guess we're 24/7 players if we discuss topics away from the board! Anyway we both agreed that a lot of players don't take the time to learn things on their own. To develop into their own sound...or their own playing ability. The internet is a useful place for sure, but some might try to seek the short route to success by trying to attain quick knowledge of stuff by shortcutting to questions about specific things...without spending quality time trying it on their own first. Hard knock school man...experience is your best teacher. Not trying to come across as a snob...but I completely agree with Nuno's philosophy. I would think if we'd learn things on our own we'd become complete musicians. I've asked for help many times on things I needed clarifying. But I see a lot of people all over the internet trying to get bits and pieces of "secrets" that took others years to invent or come up with. I understand where Nuno is coming from and upon hearing that from you, I'm all the more impressed with him.

 

[tremoloman]

I could encode the video and put it up somewhere as a torrent file if any of you are interested. Trust me, I know you would love it!

I've also got all his 'Young Guitar' magazines and DVDs from Japan. There's some great video clips of Nuno jammin' on his Stratocaster.

I could also rip those or scan some cool pictures if any of you want 'em.

 

[Nelskie]

Trem - Hey, thanks for pulling together some interesting info on this DVD. Like I said in my other post, there's a lot of people on this forum who dig his playing, and now, thanks to you, can be aware of this excellent DVD. HYH is all about that, bro'. Also very cool that his playing philospophies have influenced yours & Tone's - you both make some very valid points regarding "finding your own way".

I gotta' be honest in telling you I was one of those folks who thought they were hair metal pretty boys, too. That is, until I had a chance to digest Extreme's "Waiting For the Punchline" CD, the guitar sound of which totally blew my mind. Do you guys know what kind of rig he plays through? How about guitar(s)? Although Nuno's technical prowess is certainly impressive, his ability to weave funky, fluid riffs in between chunky rhythm lines is what zeroed me into his playing.

Are there any other of Nuno CD's, songs, or material that you guys would recommend for new listeners looking to get a good cross-section of his playing style / guitar sound?

 

[tremoloman]

I've got a bootleg of Population 1 my friend recorded from "The Lucky Dog" in Worcester, MA last fall if you would like to give it a listen. It was an awesome show and Gary Cherone came up for a few encores. I can be heard in the audience since I'm very vocal at shows, but you can just ignore the "wooooooo" guy.

I could post MP3s of the gig if you want me to.

Nuno's band Population 1 is now called "Dramagods". Their new album is due out very soon and sounds GREAT! This band is really killer!

You can hear one of the new songs here (Give it a few seconds to load):
http://www.dramagods.com/

If any of you want a copy of Guitar Wars, I'd make you a copy.

 

[Robert]

Nuno is a great player for sure! I remember transcribing a few licks off of "Pornograffiti" a long time ago. I learn that way too, by using my ears. There's no other way for me.

 

[tremoloman]

I truly believe figuring out songs yourself makes you a better player. I think you would love this video Robert... it's right up your alley.

 

[Tim]

The internet is a useful place for sure, but some might try to seek the short route to success by trying to attain quick knowledge of stuff by shortcutting to questions about specific things...without spending quality time trying it on their own first. Hard knock school man...experience is your best teacher........... But I see a lot of people all over the internet trying to get bits and pieces of "secrets" that took others years to invent or come up with. I understand where Nuno is coming from and upon hearing that from you, I'm all the more impressed with him.

Tone – I am one of those guys looking for “secrets” and gaining knowledge of playing the guitar. I am also “old school”. I do not expect people to just hand me the shortcuts to memorize.

The difficulty I am having is understanding how to develop a self study program(s) to improve my playing knowledge. I also agree that experience is the best teacher. What I need to learn is how to build a structured study agenda, but have not the foggiest idea on where to begin to structure one.

I will say one thing. In the last two months I have learned more on this forum than I have in the past 12 anywhere else. Yes, I am new to the guitar and lack skills and awareness of many of the old and new famous guitar players. But I do read each thread in order to gain just a little bit more insight of what the other members are discussing. When I am totally lost, I chime in with a question or some kind of reply to a particular thread. I am sure some of my questions seem muted, but I am just trying to digest another tidbit of knowledge.

So instead of asking for the secrets of playing “Stairway to Heaven”, can you explain to me how to brake down the song into individual steps or lessons and apply them to the fret board? Once I learn this process I can then apply to any song I want to learn.

This is an example of the “secrets” I need to know to move forward on the art of “playing guitar”.

Does this make any sense to you?

Thanks to you and the others for the information and patients you have already provided to me thus far.

Tim

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Tim,

Makes absolute sense to me. Your pursuit and thirst for knowledge is "underwhelmed" by your honesty and sincerity in becoming the best player you can be and I really mean this in a good way!

If I were to break a song down to learn...and this takes ear training and practice...would be to break down the song into tiny segments that your brain can process. The ear part comes in when you've got to differentiate who's playing what instrument and eliminate those parts that you don't want to hear in your mind and concentrate on only the guitar part or whatever.

Before CDs and CD players came out I'd learn solos and licks but taking my trusty cassette player and hit the play stop rewind play stop rewind button so much that I'm surprised my player didn't crap out. Doing that helped me to hear what the guitar parts were doing. I'd sing or hum them out loud and then transpose what I was hearing to my guitar. I'd do this with intros...choruses...background licks and chords...everything. I'd only read sections of the song and mechanically break them into parts. Tedious yeah but that was my way of approaching it and it worked. I think a lot of players did and still do this...only now we have CDs, DVDs and software that slows down music so that you can learn solos pitched correctly yet played slow enough for you to hear each lick. And some of us still can pick out the notes by ear and play them at will. Once you train your ear to hear things and see them in your mind's eye then it all falls into place and you will be happy.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Nelski,

There's some good stuff on Extreme's "Three Sides to Every Story". Really different. But his playing is still Nuno. There's a neat theme associated with the tracks that's quasi-religious but in context of the music it's great. I know he was a big Washburn endorser (his signature "N" series of guitars made by them) and he did use a lot of ADA preamps and power amps hence the nice gainy tones.

In one interview I read once he said that he'd record for the albums wherever he was. Usually in hotel rooms in the bathroom cause he'd get nice natural reverb in there. He'd record his solos in there running his ADAs through a 10 inch speaker cab. According to him he preferred the full sound and drive of a smaller speaker which seems to be kind of unconventional to some. But he did get killer killer lead tones. I also read that Joe Perry likes the sound of smaller speakers. Here's a quote from the Boss-USA website...

"Probably the loudest amp I use in the studio is a 45-watt with a 10- or 12-inch speaker. There’s got to be a really good reason to use anything with more wattage than that. Smaller amps are designed to be loud and sound good up close. I mean, if you have a 4x12 with a100-watt Marshall head, it might sound great if you’re trying to spread sound all over the room, but if you’re playing to a microphone that has a limited field, you have to think differently. So, for me at least, my theory is, the smaller the amp and the smaller the size of the speaker in the studio, the better. An 8-inch speaker, for example, is designed to develop its sound frequencies in a much smaller space, and that’s going to make it easier for a microphone to pick up all that sound. By using a ribbon mic that has [a high SPL] tolerance and a smaller amp, I can get a bigger sound with a lot more harmonic content than if I try to mic a 100-watt Marshall with a bunch of microphones spread all around the room." - Joe Perry

 

[tremoloman]

I consider that album almost Beatle-like in a way. I love the 3rd part of "Rise & Shine" into "Am I Ever Going To Change". Killer riff... killer tone! The lyrics are awesome too...

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Brother you said it...Beatles totally on that CD. Totally. The segue into "Am I ever gonna change" is amazing. Just works so perfectly. Sweet delay on the intro too. Did I mention I'm a Nuno fan?

 

[tremoloman]

I jam to "Am I Ever Going To Change" all the time. Nuno once said to me the fewer notes you use to convey an emotion, the more powerful it is. I have to agree.

I don't know why, but I love the bridge in "Pornograffitti". It may be just a few power chords, but they just do something to me.

I think anyone who wants to hear Nuno should get themselves a copy of "Extreme II: Pornograffitti". The album is a guitar clinic in itself. "Decadance Dance", "He-Man Woman Hater", "Hole Hearted", "Get The Funk Out", and "It's a Monster"... how can you NOT love this guy?