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Fil "SoloDallas" Olivieri photo with Marshall Amps
Well, Welcome Back!
Welcome back y'all! That's the first thing I (we) want to say. Do you remember when I used to say, "when I'm silent I'm working on something"? Well well.
30 June, 2015 / 14 Comments
Guitar Mantainance: keeping your fretboard clean
Guitars are supposed to be played - that is a given - but it also means that they will suffer quite a bit of wear and tear, no matter how careful or gentle you are. The frets and the board itself are the parts which take most of the beating. Obviously, the frets are under constant friction from the strings. All that grinding can leave the frets in pretty rough shape after a while, especially with a lot of bending and vibrato. You may start feeling like there is sand or something under the strings, making playing very uncomfortable. You can solve that by polishing the frets with a very fine steel wool. It's a good idea to protect the board with tape before starting.
27 July, 2014 / 5 Comments
Angus Young’s Guitar Style: It’s PHYSICAL
I remember telling myself (and everyone I talk to about this, been years) how I always though Angus' guitar style was physical. This struck me as an evident truth when I got better at it. It still strikes me when I have to play lead (try to) like his lead solo on "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" posted the other day. If you look at the beginning of the solo, there is a major (in terms of, intense) bend there, done on the D string. I am sure that that is how he did it on the album. It's a freaking tough job and it's completely physical.
09 February, 2012 / 106 Comments
Introducing The Art of Vibrato (By SD/JP)
Guitar Vibrato Vibrato: a very difficult yet overlooked skill. You all probably know the importance of this technique while playing lead. A sustained note without vibrato can often sound bland and tasteless. On the other hand, a poorly executed vibrato can sound harsh and sloppy. There are many styles of vibrato, each of them reflecting the personality of the player. Slow, fast, wide, narrow...
15 November, 2011 / 20 Comments
The Very “Secrets” of Equalizing a Recorded Guitar
After months and months of time spent with my Sonnox Oxford Equalizer, I just bumped into this terrific, super short write up done by Scott Smith at Legendary Tones. I'm reposting here just the very core of it, worth studying by memory. This means, practically, that everyone one of you, every single one of you recording their guitars - no matter with what and how - should at least read it 10 times and maybe, print it out and stick it on your monitor. I have :D
05 May, 2011 / 22 Comments
AC/DC’s “Back in Black”: THE Tutorial (Rhythm)
Back in Black tutorial from SoloDallas on Vimeo. Okay, so the moment has come. One of the reasons I did this blog thing, was for this: tutorials. Let's concentrate from now on and for a good while, on AC/DC (tutorials-wise, I mean), "heroes" of Rock and Roll for many of us here. Will also do some other bands as time goes by. As it was for my very first tutorial I did on YouTube, "Back in Black" was first, and I wanted to replicate this also here.
19 March, 2011 / 110 Comments
How To Bias Your Amp Yourself
Do you know what the bias setting on your amp is? If your tubes burned out, would you know how to get the same sound back as you had before? The amps bias makes a critical difference and you really should know all of the bias settings for each amp you own and what the voltage number of the tubes that are in them, especially if you like how your amps sound. You can check the number of the tubes by looking on the tube box (you did save the tube boxes, right?) it will be written on the end.
08 March, 2011 / 54 Comments
The Infamous “50’s Wiring” (D.I.Y Tutorial)
So, I've noticed alot of you have been asking Fil the same question that I had been for a while. " What is the 50's wiring you've been talking about?" Well here I'll not only show you what it is, I'll show you how to do it!!! In my research I found that there are more than one 50's wiring styles. This one, however, is the most common and simple. This will be sort of a two part thing. I'll show, in the simplest fashion, how to switch your existing wiring to the 50's style. For me, this wasn't enough. (I think we've learned I can't leave things "stock" by now :-) ) Next I'll show how to do a complete "vintage" style rewire.
04 March, 2011 / 84 Comments
Making Your Amp YOURS (D.I.Y Part 2)
So here is the second part for the Di-It-Yourselfers here. As with the first this will be a basics tutorial. Also, as with the first, I'm trying my best, since alot of my "as I was doing it" pics were destroyed along with the flash drive. :-( The good thing here is the fact that ANYONE can do this to their newly built box or they can replace their existing tolex on a factory box. This allows people to have something other than the "stock" look. You don't need any special skills or tools to do this. Just MAJOR PATIENCE. ;-) Be sure if you're working on a new box to have all of your drilling, sanding, ect... before you begin covering.
28 February, 2011 / 58 Comments
Making Your Amp YOURS (D.I.Y. Part 1)
So if some of you out there are anything like me you customize or fix things to make them YOURS. Here I'll attempt to show you how to build your own amp/speaker cabinet.  This will be part 1 of 2. The second part will deal with the covering (tolex) of the box. Keep in mind, also, that this is just my way of doing things. It's not the only way. This will be a to the basics article.
28 February, 2011 / 35 Comments
Guitar Player’s “99 Ways To Play (and Sound) Better”
From: Guitar Player If you’re locked away in a basement for eight hours a day with a metronome and a torturous practice book that is equal parts Mel Bay/GuantanAmo Bay, you’re still not assured of transcendent 6-string skills. Sure, you may get stenographer-like dexterity and harmonic book-smarts up the f-hole, but playing soul-shaking music often requires a more diverse skill set.
10 February, 2011 / 10 Comments
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