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Dinosaur David B
- Posts: 18623
- Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:21 pm
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3331
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Santiago
Molina (Tatosh Guitar)
Groupology
None worth mentioning
Jurassic
Famous for / Infamous for
Trying to become an 80s guitar god in the 90s, right when grunge was taking
over. Knowing everyone on the local rock scene but never playing in bands for
long periods of time. Being much disorganized in his learning of the instrument
and becoming a more proficient lead player than a rhythm player, thus not being
able to carry a tune for a long time. Being obsessed with guitar tone and amps
more than with actually practicing. Owning more guitars and amps that he
obviously needs and uses. Being a 70s and 80s hard rock and metal
encyclopedia (according to his friends, but just a newbie compared to people from
online forums). Lurking in Dinosaur Rock Guitar for over 10 years before
joining.
Influences
Obvious
Glenn
Tipton, KK Downing, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Mathias Jabs, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie
J Malmsteen , Walter Giardino, Chris De Garmo, Michael Wilton, Kai Hansen,
Michael Weikath, Roland Grapow, Wolf
Hoffman.
Santiago
came of age when bands like Metallica and Guns N Roses were at their highest
level of popularity, and that was his formal introduction to hard rock and
metal. A friend of his, a total metalhead, took pity of Santiagos lack of
formal education and introduced him to the likes of Priest, Maiden and
Scorpions, which lead to a lifelong obsession on the genre in general and metal
guitar in particular. Santiago sounds very british when riffing or playing
melodies, but goes for the 80s lead type of playing, both German and American
in flavor.
Not-So
Obvious
Ritchie
Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Gary Moore, John Sykes, Vivian
Campbell, Jake E Lee, Alex Skolnik, George Lynch and lately, Warren De Martini.
Also, Santiago likes non-dino players like Gilmour, Eric Johnson and Al
DiMeola. Santiago had never heard Rory Gallager until recently and found the
melodic sense and style reminiscent to what he would play left to his own
devices on a blues track, but maybe thats his ego talking.
Most of
these players were HUGE influences on Santiago, but his lack of technical
ability makes him unable to play with their level of skill and finesse. Also, people
will think he got his legato from Rhoads, but he got it mostly from Murray. The
right hand picking people think he got from Moore, but he got it from Hansen
and to a lesser degree, DiMeola. The tapping people think he got from Van
Halen, but he actually got it from Tiptons lead on Hell Bent for Leather. Also,
because thrash metal was huge when he was learning, Santiago will often riff in
a style reminiscent of Hetfield, Mustaine and the like, but this has more to do
with how he learned rather than his particular taste. Santiago has been told by
his friends that his playing reminds them of Kirk Hammett. He hasnt spoken to
these friends often since then.
Strengths
Melodic
sense. When soloing, Santiago has a very developed melodic ear and often plays
leads that can be hummable easily. He considers himself a natural lead player,
while the rhythm stuff came way later and is more of a learned skill.
Ear. Santiago
has a great ear and is unsure if he has perfect pitch, but if he doesnt hes
close, and can often tell when a someone is singing or playing out of pitch. He
can play melodies after listening to them once, and can often figure out songs
without visual guides or tablature. Santiago learned back when YouTube
tutorials werent even an idea, so he had to develop without such aid.
Acoustic
Playing. Because Santiago was born in Mexico, folk songs and ranchero music
were everywhere, and he was expected to be able to play that in parties and
sing traditional songs as soon as people heard he played. But instead of just
sticking to the traditional barre chords and fooling around with them, Santiago
learned some classical by himself and can actually finger pick the proper way.
In a place when most of his metal friends cant really make an acoustic sound
good, Santiago has received praise from his acoustic playing, but he cant do
the over the top classical or flamenco thing.
Weaknesses
Songwriting. Santiago has never written a song and would be lost if somebody
asked him to come up with lyrics. However, Hes very effective when creating
solos for songs once they are written.
Consistency.
Due to his lack of proper training his guitar skills are all over the place. He
only had like two weeks of guitar lessons when he was 16 and from then on left
to his own devices in an era when guitar magazines only focused on styles he
wasnt interested on, and before the internet explosion. He has trouble finding
time to practice, and as such, some days he will be able to play Carry on my
Wayward Son just fine, then the next day hell struggle with Paranoid.
Technique.
Santiago has always had trouble with noise when soloing and has yet to find a
way to mute the strings properly. As good as he sounds on an acoustic, where he
usually can make it work, on a distorted tone sometimes he gets it right, sometimes
he doesnt. Also, as much as he practices he never seems to gain more speed
when soloing. He seems stuck on the same gear regardless of the effort he
employs. Its like his fingers peaked at some speed and stayed there.
Hair.
Santiago always entertained the idea of having hair akin to the typical 80s
rock star. But genetics had another plan and hes losing hair at increasingly
speed as he approaches the big 40. If Santiago could move his hands as fast as
his head is losing hair he would die a happy man.
Tone
Santiago likes how the big amps of the 70s and 80s sounded and back then almost
everybody used Marshalls. So he usually tends to stick to the British flavor
when dialing his tone, even with pedals.
Santiago is
mostly a Super Strat player, but also owns Gibson flavored guitars. Since all
of his guitars have humbucker pickups on the bridge and a couple on the neck
position as well, his tone is reminiscent to the guitar tones caught on early
NWOBHM records, at least to him.
Santiago
owns vintage amps, but their size and sound levels make them unpractical for
home use. So he employs a Fender with el84s and a 12 speaker and gets all his
gain from pedals. Generally speaking he uses more gain than Moore, Blackmore or
Schenker, but not as much as Sykes and definitely not like the Thrash dudes he
grew up listening. For clean sounds, hell play a nylon string acoustic or an
electroacoustic more often than not and really doesnt use the clean channel on
his amps except when using pedals.
For
effects, Santiago has a Crybaby, an analog delay and a chorus, but he doesnt
really use them unless the particular song hes playing features the effect prominently.
Otherwise, he tends to run his signal pretty dry, except for overdrive pedals in
the British flavor.
Guitar Style
Rhythm Style
Santiago is
all over the place as a Rhythm player. He can play riffs in the thrash flavor,
with strong emphasis on low E and A string palm muting, but seldom does it, and
prefers to go for the vintage flavor of his favorite players. He favors power
chords like Priest, Maiden and Schenker, and 4ths like Blackmore. He knows the
open chords that AC/DC play, but he doesnt seem to have mastered that style in
more than 20 years. Santiago is a very HEAVY METAL type of player when playing
fast songs, but when jamming on his own he likes playing stuff like Aerosmith
or Toto to add some groove to his style. He tends to get bored easily with
repetitive riffing, so he adds an extra fill here and there when theres space.
Or to make that more clear, he will play (or try) a Sabbath song the way Rhoads
played those instead of Iommi. He uses heavy picks and cant really play with
the thin ones, so his attack is very percussive and resonating.
Lead Style
Santiago is
not a schooled player, and what he knows took years of trial and
experimentation on his own. He loves 70s hard rock and tries to go for that
approach when soloing, but he also knows a couple of tricks from the 80s, even
if not with the same finesse as the shred guys. He tends to be very melodic as
a soloist, and has trouble when the songs require a wild and messy lead. He
most often than not plays a strat due to Dave Murray and Yngwie, which were
huge to him back in the day, and like Blackmore and Malmsteen, he never uses
the middle pickup on a Strat. He sticks with the bridge pickup for aggressive leads
and the neck when playing a slow, soulful one.
Scale wise,
he is mostly a pentatonic player, but he adds Phrygian and harmonic minor flavors
very often. He knows one basic shape for sweeping, and cant really do the shrapnel
records thing, instead of going for the Maiden, Priest approach when soloing. He is not
a strong legato player, but can do a little here and there. He can alternate
pick and can play very fast sometimes but otherwise he tends to stick for the
same speed when soloing. He can tap the way Rhoads, EVH and the rest of the 80s
guy did, but he cant do the whole multi string tapping parts. He sometimes
uses tremolo picking and because he grew up listening to plenty of power metal,
can play harmonized leads, but he hasnt done that in a while. Because he
listened to the right guys, he has a very good idea of what sounds good and
what doesnt, so he will stick to what he is good at and forget the rest. He wishes he could add things in the Lee, Lynch, DeMartini style but he hasn't found the way to do so properly yet.
Vibrato
Fast, uneven and nervous. Inexistent in the old days. Santiago decided to work
on it once he listened to Moore, and liked to think that he had a good vibrato,
but one listen to a home recording quickly changed his mind. Hes back to the
drawing table right now, as he has never really forgotten the Hammett
comparisons and that keeps him up at night. Also, if he is playing a guitar
with a tremolo bar he will often use it to add flavor in subtle ways, but he
doesnt really do dive bombs and other extreme whammy gymnastics.
Recommended listening
unless you can catch him playing in his bedroom, theres nothing to hear.
Molina (Tatosh Guitar)
Groupology
None worth mentioning
Jurassic
Famous for / Infamous for
Trying to become an 80s guitar god in the 90s, right when grunge was taking
over. Knowing everyone on the local rock scene but never playing in bands for
long periods of time. Being much disorganized in his learning of the instrument
and becoming a more proficient lead player than a rhythm player, thus not being
able to carry a tune for a long time. Being obsessed with guitar tone and amps
more than with actually practicing. Owning more guitars and amps that he
obviously needs and uses. Being a 70s and 80s hard rock and metal
encyclopedia (according to his friends, but just a newbie compared to people from
online forums). Lurking in Dinosaur Rock Guitar for over 10 years before
joining.
Influences
Obvious
Glenn
Tipton, KK Downing, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Mathias Jabs, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie
J Malmsteen , Walter Giardino, Chris De Garmo, Michael Wilton, Kai Hansen,
Michael Weikath, Roland Grapow, Wolf
Hoffman.
Santiago
came of age when bands like Metallica and Guns N Roses were at their highest
level of popularity, and that was his formal introduction to hard rock and
metal. A friend of his, a total metalhead, took pity of Santiagos lack of
formal education and introduced him to the likes of Priest, Maiden and
Scorpions, which lead to a lifelong obsession on the genre in general and metal
guitar in particular. Santiago sounds very british when riffing or playing
melodies, but goes for the 80s lead type of playing, both German and American
in flavor.
Not-So
Obvious
Ritchie
Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Gary Moore, John Sykes, Vivian
Campbell, Jake E Lee, Alex Skolnik, George Lynch and lately, Warren De Martini.
Also, Santiago likes non-dino players like Gilmour, Eric Johnson and Al
DiMeola. Santiago had never heard Rory Gallager until recently and found the
melodic sense and style reminiscent to what he would play left to his own
devices on a blues track, but maybe thats his ego talking.
Most of
these players were HUGE influences on Santiago, but his lack of technical
ability makes him unable to play with their level of skill and finesse. Also, people
will think he got his legato from Rhoads, but he got it mostly from Murray. The
right hand picking people think he got from Moore, but he got it from Hansen
and to a lesser degree, DiMeola. The tapping people think he got from Van
Halen, but he actually got it from Tiptons lead on Hell Bent for Leather. Also,
because thrash metal was huge when he was learning, Santiago will often riff in
a style reminiscent of Hetfield, Mustaine and the like, but this has more to do
with how he learned rather than his particular taste. Santiago has been told by
his friends that his playing reminds them of Kirk Hammett. He hasnt spoken to
these friends often since then.
Strengths
Melodic
sense. When soloing, Santiago has a very developed melodic ear and often plays
leads that can be hummable easily. He considers himself a natural lead player,
while the rhythm stuff came way later and is more of a learned skill.
Ear. Santiago
has a great ear and is unsure if he has perfect pitch, but if he doesnt hes
close, and can often tell when a someone is singing or playing out of pitch. He
can play melodies after listening to them once, and can often figure out songs
without visual guides or tablature. Santiago learned back when YouTube
tutorials werent even an idea, so he had to develop without such aid.
Acoustic
Playing. Because Santiago was born in Mexico, folk songs and ranchero music
were everywhere, and he was expected to be able to play that in parties and
sing traditional songs as soon as people heard he played. But instead of just
sticking to the traditional barre chords and fooling around with them, Santiago
learned some classical by himself and can actually finger pick the proper way.
In a place when most of his metal friends cant really make an acoustic sound
good, Santiago has received praise from his acoustic playing, but he cant do
the over the top classical or flamenco thing.
Weaknesses
Songwriting. Santiago has never written a song and would be lost if somebody
asked him to come up with lyrics. However, Hes very effective when creating
solos for songs once they are written.
Consistency.
Due to his lack of proper training his guitar skills are all over the place. He
only had like two weeks of guitar lessons when he was 16 and from then on left
to his own devices in an era when guitar magazines only focused on styles he
wasnt interested on, and before the internet explosion. He has trouble finding
time to practice, and as such, some days he will be able to play Carry on my
Wayward Son just fine, then the next day hell struggle with Paranoid.
Technique.
Santiago has always had trouble with noise when soloing and has yet to find a
way to mute the strings properly. As good as he sounds on an acoustic, where he
usually can make it work, on a distorted tone sometimes he gets it right, sometimes
he doesnt. Also, as much as he practices he never seems to gain more speed
when soloing. He seems stuck on the same gear regardless of the effort he
employs. Its like his fingers peaked at some speed and stayed there.
Hair.
Santiago always entertained the idea of having hair akin to the typical 80s
rock star. But genetics had another plan and hes losing hair at increasingly
speed as he approaches the big 40. If Santiago could move his hands as fast as
his head is losing hair he would die a happy man.
Tone
Santiago likes how the big amps of the 70s and 80s sounded and back then almost
everybody used Marshalls. So he usually tends to stick to the British flavor
when dialing his tone, even with pedals.
Santiago is
mostly a Super Strat player, but also owns Gibson flavored guitars. Since all
of his guitars have humbucker pickups on the bridge and a couple on the neck
position as well, his tone is reminiscent to the guitar tones caught on early
NWOBHM records, at least to him.
Santiago
owns vintage amps, but their size and sound levels make them unpractical for
home use. So he employs a Fender with el84s and a 12 speaker and gets all his
gain from pedals. Generally speaking he uses more gain than Moore, Blackmore or
Schenker, but not as much as Sykes and definitely not like the Thrash dudes he
grew up listening. For clean sounds, hell play a nylon string acoustic or an
electroacoustic more often than not and really doesnt use the clean channel on
his amps except when using pedals.
For
effects, Santiago has a Crybaby, an analog delay and a chorus, but he doesnt
really use them unless the particular song hes playing features the effect prominently.
Otherwise, he tends to run his signal pretty dry, except for overdrive pedals in
the British flavor.
Guitar Style
Rhythm Style
Santiago is
all over the place as a Rhythm player. He can play riffs in the thrash flavor,
with strong emphasis on low E and A string palm muting, but seldom does it, and
prefers to go for the vintage flavor of his favorite players. He favors power
chords like Priest, Maiden and Schenker, and 4ths like Blackmore. He knows the
open chords that AC/DC play, but he doesnt seem to have mastered that style in
more than 20 years. Santiago is a very HEAVY METAL type of player when playing
fast songs, but when jamming on his own he likes playing stuff like Aerosmith
or Toto to add some groove to his style. He tends to get bored easily with
repetitive riffing, so he adds an extra fill here and there when theres space.
Or to make that more clear, he will play (or try) a Sabbath song the way Rhoads
played those instead of Iommi. He uses heavy picks and cant really play with
the thin ones, so his attack is very percussive and resonating.
Lead Style
Santiago is
not a schooled player, and what he knows took years of trial and
experimentation on his own. He loves 70s hard rock and tries to go for that
approach when soloing, but he also knows a couple of tricks from the 80s, even
if not with the same finesse as the shred guys. He tends to be very melodic as
a soloist, and has trouble when the songs require a wild and messy lead. He
most often than not plays a strat due to Dave Murray and Yngwie, which were
huge to him back in the day, and like Blackmore and Malmsteen, he never uses
the middle pickup on a Strat. He sticks with the bridge pickup for aggressive leads
and the neck when playing a slow, soulful one.
Scale wise,
he is mostly a pentatonic player, but he adds Phrygian and harmonic minor flavors
very often. He knows one basic shape for sweeping, and cant really do the shrapnel
records thing, instead of going for the Maiden, Priest approach when soloing. He is not
a strong legato player, but can do a little here and there. He can alternate
pick and can play very fast sometimes but otherwise he tends to stick for the
same speed when soloing. He can tap the way Rhoads, EVH and the rest of the 80s
guy did, but he cant do the whole multi string tapping parts. He sometimes
uses tremolo picking and because he grew up listening to plenty of power metal,
can play harmonized leads, but he hasnt done that in a while. Because he
listened to the right guys, he has a very good idea of what sounds good and
what doesnt, so he will stick to what he is good at and forget the rest. He wishes he could add things in the Lee, Lynch, DeMartini style but he hasn't found the way to do so properly yet.
Vibrato
Fast, uneven and nervous. Inexistent in the old days. Santiago decided to work
on it once he listened to Moore, and liked to think that he had a good vibrato,
but one listen to a home recording quickly changed his mind. Hes back to the
drawing table right now, as he has never really forgotten the Hammett
comparisons and that keeps him up at night. Also, if he is playing a guitar
with a tremolo bar he will often use it to add flavor in subtle ways, but he
doesnt really do dive bombs and other extreme whammy gymnastics.
Recommended listening
unless you can catch him playing in his bedroom, theres nothing to hear.
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3331
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Dave, could you add whatever dino icon you think I am? I couldn't figure out how to post it myself. 
-
Dinosaur David B
- Posts: 18623
- Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:21 pm
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Just guessing on the icon based on your description.
You look a little green in that photograph, mate!
You look a little green in that photograph, mate!
It's not a restring until I'm bleeding.
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3331
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Dinosaur David B said:
Just guessing on the icon based on your description.
You look a little green in that photograph, mate!
[/quote]
Thanks!! Hehe I know, A friend had some weird lightning in the garage we were playing that day. I could Photoshop it but I thought it might take something from it.
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3331
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Reading thru Amy's profile I took the chance to read thru mine again. I noticed a couple things: I am way faster and precise than i was when I wrote this. This is relevant because I had never really improved as a player in years, but I guess proper practicing works miracles. Some of the youtube videos posted here really helped, specially the cracking the code ones and some that Dave recommended. Also, looking at my picture I can see I don't exactly have as much hair as I did...
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Tatosh Guitar said:
Reading thru Amy's profile I took the chance to read thru mine again. I noticed a couple things: I am way faster and precise than i was when I wrote this. This is relevant because I had never really improved as a player in years, but I guess proper practicing works miracles. Some of the youtube videos posted here really helped, specially the cracking the code ones and some that Dave recommended. Also, looking at my picture I can see I don't exactly have as much hair as I did...
[/quote]Are you still green? =)
Official DRG Threadkiller
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
I should probably update mine.
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
I wasn't around when this happened the first time. If I can find some time this weekend I might try to write one for myself.
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3331
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Write an Alchemy profile on yourself!
Snoogans said:
Tatosh Guitar said:
Reading thru Amy's profile I took the chance to read thru mine again. I noticed a couple things: I am way faster and precise than i was when I wrote this. This is relevant because I had never really improved as a player in years, but I guess proper practicing works miracles. Some of the youtube videos posted here really helped, specially the cracking the code ones and some that Dave recommended. Also, looking at my picture I can see I don't exactly have as much hair as I did...
[/quote]Are you still green? =)
[/quote]
Maybe I should change that pic haha... an update to the profile would be in order as well, as Sancho said...