Europa - Santana by adi_mrok

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
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Thank you Stuart. To further elaborate - I use my amp Boss Katana 100 with built in effects to create tones. Katana has hundreds of various options in terms of effects available which can be crossed over with other effects in thousands of various combinations. That’s what I meant emulating sound in Katana. The sustain which keeps the note for so long is a separate pedal as per OP.

Each channel is switched over with a footswitch that is part of Boss Katana amp, as per picture below. Each channel had been set up prior playing the song, so during the song all I do is I switch channels and I don’t have to set up anything while playing. Hope this makes sense?

image

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Your pratice time paid off as this is a really great performance :slight_smile: You can be proud of it !

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Really well done…that’s impressive. It’s on my list to attempt someday…one of my all time favorite tunes.

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Well done on the Europa piece, very nice. :slight_smile:
R.

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Absolutely superb Adi I can imagine the time you’ve put into this and it must be hours and hours to get this at the level you’ve got it. Some superb solo/lead work…as Toby says remembering this is a real feat in itself. Great use of the Katana and effects as well really shows off what you can do with the amp. You really should find a way to show case your stuff in a live environment.

That FB pedal is a really unusual one and I’ve never heard it before. Good on you for getting it at a reasonable price.

Agree with you on the guitar front. I can really tell the difference between my cheaper guitars and the PRS. Seriously considering an EPI LP but torn between the Classic and Standard. Ideally I need to find somewhere local that I can try both but it really isn’t that easy to nowadays to find a local shop. PMT in Bristol has all of three Epi in stock (and not a classic or std to try). I might have to resort to ordering two and returning one. Price wise they are actually quite a bit cheaper than my PRS.

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Adi, that was good. Really good.

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Thanks Jason! I think at some point when you play it over and over again you don’t use your brain anymore in a concious way to remember what comes next, a muscle memory kicks in and it sort of flows naturally.

Lately my life had been crazy busy with new job and refurbs going on, but once the second bit settles I should have some more time in my hands.

Yes go for it! I am a strat guy and was terrified about changing to LP but was well worth it! Not as scary as I thought and playability is really top notch. Hopefully we get to see your purchase soon in AVOYP :grinning: All the best Jason and again many thanks for encouragement!

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I thought your playing was really excellent. I like Carlos Santana a lot. The amount of effort you must have put in really shows, and I thought the tone was great, Susan.

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Adi, I spent quite a few hours thinking how to phrase my feedback on this. Especially because I extremely rarely turn on the computer these days → barely comment on anything on here.

So I decided to split this comment into two parts with the addition disclaimer in the beginning :smiley:.

Disclaimer:
All feedback below comes from someone who is currently so stuck and rusty with guitar playing that could not deliver a 10% of what you’ve done here. But also keep in mind it comes from the heart and I really have the best intentions (+ after Clint recently pointed out someone’s comment as potentially soul crushing, I try to make sure there’s no misunderstandings).

PART 1 (technique):
You nailed it. It’s very clear you put loads of practice into this. Yes, as you said there was a few hiccups but they didn’t take away the greatness of your playing. I can definitely believe you tried to record this a million times and always make a mistake at a different point in the song! Also, I was not aware you can reach feedback with a pedal, so thank you for doing some research on the topic. Your amp + pedal settings are phenomenal. The tone is pretty much a Santana tone. Well done! 9/10 because you are a bit of a perfectionist so there’s always space to improve :wink: .

PART 2 (delivery):
Okay, let’s go. Here comes the harsh part…
Where are the emotions my friend? It’s a boring recording. Yes, the excution is perfect but does it make me feel anything deeper? Not really. There is no dynamic in the playing, no raw emotion. It’s mechanical. I understand, you’re playing to a backing track. You can’t interact with it and you can’t feed off of each other.

Fair, that’s very good you don’t think what is coming next. But do you “think” what it makes you feel? Are you trying to convey whatever you’re feeling in the moment or are you just focused on “please be good enough for the forum post”? When you listen to the original, how does it make you feel? And how would you express this in your playing?

Okay, that’s it. I said it now. Do not misunderstand this comment please. I think your playing is phenomenal and I admire your dedication for the craft of guitar playing, especially since you are also in a new job + refurbishing the house. So well done!

PS:
A bonus story since it’s on topic with your guitar choice. Everyone that ever played in a band with Slash says that the guy is obsessed with practice. He gets the Conspirators in the room before the tour and they rehearse 8 hours a day for about 4 weeks and only then go on the road. Apparently because this allows him to not worry about the notes/fingerings/technical delivery on stage but just focus on channeling the emotions through the playing. A bit esoteric and wishy-washy for some people, but I can believe that. But again, I am quite an emotional person by default.

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Adi! :star_struck: Your playing is impeccable, Sir! The tone and sustain you’ve dialed in is MASSIVE! :metal: :astonished: I was blown away that you played this in the live stream, immensely impressive to tackle something so challenging in that one-take environment so my hat is off to you for that! :smiley: But I also really appreciate that you have given us this more polished rendition as well. I was especially focused on your bends as that is something I am working on myself at the moment, and really struggling. I need to analyse your technique in more detail as you’ve clearly spent much time on getting it nailed. Thanks also for adding in the extra detail, found it a fascinating read and very helpful! Well done again! :sunglasses: :+1:

@glpguitar great to hear from you! Really enjoyed reading your comments and you make some excellent points that I am sure Adi will take on board in the spirit they are intended :slightly_smiling_face: I agree that it is a valid consideration :+1: and a challenge to instill in one’s playing. I find myself very focused on just hitting the right notes/chords and forgetting to think about the emotional aspect of playing. @skeletor83’s live stream performance springs to mind as a recent example of someone putting their heart and soul in to it. Things to strive for! Thanks again and hope all’s well with you :hugs:

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Dude! This is lit. You are playing some mean licks down the fretboard that require loads of polish and practice, without error in difficult moves to make. It’s impressive, and I hope I can make it there someday.

I’d love to hear what your long term goals are, and how you plan to encapsulate the talent you have. I’d also like to work on a project song if you were ever interested. I’m gathering you are pretty far ahead of me in most things guitar, but my motto is 4 chords and the truth! Haha. Keep rocking!

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… ah, but when you do, it is inevitably steeped in sincerity

I’ll not get into the discussion on how much ‘feeling’ Adi is playing with. Tbh, the level is simply beyond me, but I appreciate that it is far more difficult to offer constructive, positive criticism than pats on the back and platitudes (nice as that can be).
Adi is a sound, humble and gifted guy
Vibes to both of you :sunglasses:

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Luka first of all many thanks for a constructive feedback, I always appreciate any criticism regardless if it’s technique related or not. Obviously no offence is taken, I would only take offence if you felt the same way you do now and haven’t been truthful in your review.

I agree this recording pretty much lacks emotions, it is very mechanic and the only explanation for it is the fact that recording the song was so stressful! Maybe stress is a wrong word, but definitely I was so focused to make sure I won’t make any mistakes that I never had a room in my head to think about what makes people emotional about music.

Really great story and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was actually true. As you know the problem is time and I think that’s what I missed out on in here, as in if I spent perhaps a few extra months or more hours a day in last few months practicing the technique I could had not worry about mistake and could throw myself into emotions. As with my day schedule I am pretty much not able to squeeze out any extra minute out of my day to practice more. Solution could be to dwell on a song for another X amount of time and perhaps then I would feel more confident playing it. The only problem is that I am a patient man, but probably not that patient :laughing:

You pretty much reassured me that this song requires revisiting. Once I feel I want to play it again it should be easier to pick up where I left off and to perhaps improve further… at least that’s what I hope for!

Again appreciate your constructive criticism and will try to make sure to put more emotions into my playing. Maybe I will hold off from making faces, after all what kind of a poker player would I be otherwise? :laughing:

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Hi Jeff many thanks for your feedback, seems everyone is preaching for the tone I achieved which makes me very happy as quite often I just try my luck and not necessarily have a ready made solution in my head how to achieve a particular tone. :grinning:

As for the technique my encyclopedia were Justin’s lessons. Honestly just follow the course, spend some time on practicing bends (especially bends with vibrato as those will give you strength in your wrist for regular bends), 10 mins a day for a while + practicing in songs will get you sorted!

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Hey thanks Trevor, shoot me a DM if you ever have any ideas and I am always eager to collaborate with Community fellow members :grinning: long term goals? I am not sure, trying to just take it day by day and not to dwell too much about the future :grinning: lurking at local ads every now and then if anyone looks for a band member but rarely get any hits in my neighbourhood. What also doesn’t help is lately a busy schedule, but towards the end of the year I hope things will settle down. Stay tuned! :grinning:

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That was great! I’ve always loved this song. Thanks for sharing.

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Hey,
Not a big fan of Carlos, but this is good stuff. Nicely done mate!

LB

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Stunning performance Adi, that was a real pleasure to watch and listen to. Fantastic sound from your guitar as well.

Also, thanks for the breakdown on how you achieved your sound. That pedal looks pretty cool and is that you rocking a Cuban heel in the picture?

Bravo! :clap: :clap:

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Hi Adi…what a tune this one is :heart_eyes::star_struck: Great playing, I enjoyed it throughly :blush: Bravo, it seems anything but easy :exploding_head: I tried to read some of the technical info you gave but could understand…ooops…exactly nothing, as my knowledge of all this kind of gear is quite poor.

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Simply incredible Adrian! Nothing more to add than that. I am in awe of your skills!

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