EDM Music

[superjam144]

I understand that EDM catches a lot of flack here.

I have been amazed and enchanted by an EDM artist by the name of Ramses B on sound cloud.









I am astounded at the sounds, power, and fullness of the music itself. I am kind of depressed that I cannot create this kind of music, as a guitar player with limited technological ability.

Can we make EDM music, or music like it with a simple guitar and amp? Perhaps a drum machine?

Sometimes I feel like I am covered in dust and stuck behind somewhere between Eric Clapton and SRV... Are we living in the past? Anyone know how to make this type of music? Can it be done with an electric guitar?

Thank you.

 

[SRHmusic]

You might consider a guitar synthesizer pickup, MIDI converter and rack or sw synth. Perhaps a drum machine and a looper.

There's a guitarist that performs around the Tampa, FL area (I think) that had a small drum pad, a keyboard and loopers to create backings on the fly. (He has some YT videos.) He didn't play EDM, but more pop/rock/jazz. The same ideas could work for a lot of styles, EDM is often loop based, more than most.

 

[edvard]

Think of the pallette of sounds possible with electric guitar and a few effects; fuzz can get you bit-crushed blippy noises, smooth compressed sine waves with a neck pickup and some EQ, chimey piano-like ambience with a compressor, treble boost and reverb. That and a Drum Machine and some bass samples should get you where you want to go.

Look up some EDM artists doing "making of" videos on YouTube. They are not exactly Classical Composers; they will usually start with a beat and the main motif, a simple bass line or "riff" if you will, then lay out the composition and pacing of the whole song based on variations of that, then they will come up with the sounds to fill it out. I like when they only use a certain cymbal sample once, or echo the main motif with a spaced-out version in a different sample that's in one bar panned to the left, little things that can be seen as analogues of the "lick" or "trill" that get used once or twice in your average rock song, but are instantly recognizable when you remember them.
Watch Stromae demonstrate how he came up with "Alors On Danse" and translate that to guitar noises (skip to 2:17):



Basically what I'm saying is your guitar should be seen as possibilities, not limitations, but limitations can force innovation. You'll need to get comfortable with a DAW and start thinking in terms of loops and samples and how to work into song changes by simply re-combining parts.

Here, watch what Les Paul did with his crazy looper box and tell me you can't think of how that'd work making EDM with a guitar. A DAW is just the big version of that, but you can turn different parts on and off, fade in and out, add crazy or subtle effects, etc.



Read this: https://www.theuntz.com/news/top-10-edm-guitarists/
Yep, that says EDM guitarists. They exist.

 

[Hey_you]

I understand that EDM catches a lot of flack here.

Sometimes I feel like I am covered in dust and stuck behind somewhere between Eric Clapton and SRV... Are we living in the past? Anyone know how to make this type of music? Can it be done with an electric guitar?

Thank you.

Try out VCV Rack, Euro Rack Simulator. It's like the real deal, except that it is FREE! 2388 Modualls atm. Some the better are for a fee, but not needed, really great tutorials are out there. And patches can be saved and shared!



https://vcvrack.com/

 

[Barbeque John]

Being old I don't really get EDM, but I saw a
Tiny Desk with Sylvan Esso. Cool, I've seen other
live performance videos, and I enjoy what they do.
I am normally a roots music guy, but I like looking
for music I've never heard before. Come to think about
it the singer in Sylvan Esso, Amelia Meath, also plays
in Mountain Man, an all female acoustic trio, where usually
only one person plays guitar.

 

[String Tree]

I understand that EDM catches a lot of flack here.

I have been amazed and enchanted by an EDM artist by the name of Ramses B on sound cloud.









I am astounded at the sounds, power, and fullness of the music itself. I am kind of depressed that I cannot create this kind of music, as a guitar player with limited technological ability.

Can we make EDM music, or music like it with a simple guitar and amp? Perhaps a drum machine?

Sometimes I feel like I am covered in dust and stuck behind somewhere between Eric Clapton and SRV... Are we living in the past? Anyone know how to make this type of music? Can it be done with an electric guitar?

Thank you.

Not my thing to like or, dislike.

If I were you and, felt the passion to go in that direction, I would jump full tilt in to Keboards and DAWs that specialize in Sequencing and Sampling.
Then, I would never look back.

I get the feeling that style of Musical Creation has a LOT of Happy Accidents!

Cheers
-ST

P.S.
Don't forget to bring yer Tele

 

[Blues Twanger]

Live performance is live performance and I often find that EDM/Electronic artists who come from a musician background are more interesting live than performers from DJ or producer backgrounds.

 

[blowtorch]

music that is guitar-focused will likely soon be relegated to the (as they say) dustbin of history.

That may have already relatively happened, as a matter of fact

 

[Blues Twanger]

music that is guitar-focused will likely soon be relegated to the (as they say) dustbin of history.

That may have already relatively happened, as a matter of fact

The 80s called they want their quote back.

 

[blowtorch]

The 80s called they want their quote back.

It's been happening since then, if you've been paying attention

I mean, yeah, we all know the beetles were famously rejected by a label because "guitar-focused music is dead"

They were wrong then.

You can't say the same thing, now

 

[Blues Twanger]

It's been happening since then, if you've been paying attention

I don't buy it. Cheers!

 

[blowtorch]

I don't buy it.

It doesn't matter.

The fact is, it's dinosaur music, mostly dusty museum stuff, period re-enactments.
Nothing new, nothing fresh, for a long time now.
It's dying.

 

[loopfinding]

not really EDM, more techno, but these women seem to have no problem with some pedals

 

[loopfinding]

also not edm, but squarepusher (in jungle tracks) has used electric bass his whole career. he's also an insanely good bass player. the first few records were just one drum machine/sampler, one synth, bass, in his bedroom. the later stuff is mostly just laptop and 6 string bass.

 

[superjam144]

I have played along to many of these Ramses B EDM/Chillstep songs, finding that MUSICALLY speaking, he isn't doing anything TOO crazy. He uses the same major and minor chords, and standard scales that we use.

What I find immensely different is the SPEED at which he composes, the driving basslines, and the delightful accent melodies which float over the tracks.

The additional movie quotes that he adds to the songs are also beautiful in many ways, and also inspirational.

I guess there is a mystery in this form of music that is certainly hidden from my view... There is so much subtlety within his tracks, the keyboards are sometimes quiet, driving the song in the background.

Any more thoughts on this type of music would be appreciated. I am grateful for one, that I can fingerpick, because it seems that arpeggios are an integral part of this type of music as well. Repeating melodies, accents, climbs, dives, breakdowns, etc...

 

[MAXXFIELD]

I love producing beats with Reason software. If you have a Mac garageband is a great free place to start.

That jamstick thing looks pretty cool as a midi controller. Back in the day I bought a rock band 2 controller that for some reason has a proper midi output also. I attached that to the computer didn't work flawless but for 30 bucks makes me think the future of products like jamstick could be cool for us guitarist.

There's just too many cool sounds in synths to not dabble. Even for purists.

 

[superjam144]

It doesn't matter.

The fact is, it's dinosaur music, mostly dusty museum stuff, period re-enactments.
Nothing new, nothing fresh, for a long time now.
It's dying.

I kind of agree... I view the evolution of guitar playing by the players I appreciate. I think the timeline went from Black Blues, Buddy Guy, Clapton, Hendrix, Trower, SRV, Eric Johnson, Frusciante, Buckethead. If there was a metaphysical torch to be passed on, it must have went out, because like you said, it seems a dying art.

I feel that EDM might have a future for guitar playing, if properly harnessed.

 

[srblue5]

I've been involved in an album project with a couple of bandmates that has EDM elements along with modern R&B/hip-hop. For reasons I explained in a couple of other threads, the project has been going south ego-wise, but in the early stages, we were combining EDM with guitars fairly effectively. There tends to be a lot of repetition/loops and modulation, so I've had to get creative with pedals/effects, which is a little outside my comfort zone of guitar --> amp. It can sound really interesting and different to standard blues and rock 'n' roll (which is more my cup of tea). Sometimes, my playing in that EDM setting has veered a bit towards Bill Frisell meets Andy Summers (only I don't have a 1/100th of either of those guys' skills).

I think guitars could figure into EDM with a little thinking-outside-of-the-box. I'd be curious about playing guitars over EDM in a live setting.

 

[superjam144]

I've been involved in an album project with a couple of bandmates that has EDM elements along with modern R&B/hip-hop. For reasons I explained in a couple of other threads, the project has been going south ego-wise, but in the early stages, we were combining EDM with guitars fairly effectively. There tends to be a lot of repetition/loops and modulation, so I've had to get creative with pedals/effects, which is a little outside my comfort zone of guitar --> amp. It can sound really interesting and different to standard blues and rock 'n' roll (which is more my cup of tea). Sometimes, my playing in that EDM setting has veered a bit towards Bill Frisell meets Andy Summers (only I don't have a 1/100th of either of those guys' skills).

I think guitars could figure into EDM with a little thinking-outside-of-the-box. I'd be curious about playing guitars over EDM in a live setting.

Guitar sounds surprisingly AMAZING played over EDM, or EDM-esque tracks...

 

[TomBrokaw]

Any more thoughts on this type of music would be appreciated. I am grateful for one, that I can fingerpick, because it seems that arpeggios are an integral part of this type of music as well. Repeating melodies, accents, climbs, dives, breakdowns, etc...

Some random thoughts on this:
In general, you'd want a DAW to make this kind of music. There are lots of discussions of hardware vs software, but the reality is, if you're on a PC, there are thousands of free softsynths available, many quite good. Synth1 and Surge are two that are both capable of great sounds, and have lots of free presets available.

Reaper is a full featured DAW, available for $60, and has a two month trial period without restrictions.

Caustic is a free electronic DAW-ish software; you can't record audio or import plugins, but it comes with a bunch of very capable synths and effects. Free on PC, $10 on mobile (to be able to save songs).

Jam Origin is a paid software that converts your guitar signal to MIDI in real time, with acceptable latency. I've played with it and decided my keyboard midi controller works better for me, but it's viable.

Matt Lange produces electronic music and apparently used to be primarily a guitar player; here's a good example of him including guitar in an electronic piece. Quite reminiscent of The Edge, IMO:


As far as guitar-based music being dead, that's only true as far as music itself is dead. Sure, guitar heroes will never get the stature or crossover appeal they had in the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s, but they're still there - Tobin Abasi comes to mind. But making music based on one instrument makes as much sense as building using one tool. Even Rameses-B uses more than just the Amen break...