EDIT: here’s the version that I ended up posting on youtube. Not perfect but at some point you gotta stop and move on - Tabs and technical notes will follow.
Hey All,
It’s been a while since I managed to record something nice! I have been practicing Curse of Castle Dragon by Paul Gilbert quite obsessively for the last two months, and in the past couple of days I stumbled upon a right hand position that seems to make Paul’s palm-muted shenanigans a bit easier for me. I think it also facilitates an almost-neutral pickslant, so it works well for the usual 3nps clichés.
It is similar to the Gambale position, with a closed fist except for the pinky that glides on the pickguard. Aesthetically I like it less than my default hand position but hey, it seems to do the job for this style. It is also quite comfortable for the downpicking sections of the song (and I usually hate downpicking, so this was a nice surprise).
With this position I managed to get a couple of decent takes of the song in the past two days (still featuring more or less obvious mistakes though).
You can see the new position in action in this practice recording which is almost all double tracked (except for the main solo). IIrc the videos are from the right channel.
I combined stuff from two different recording sessions, as it might be obvious
EDIT: DIs, bass/drums midis and reaper files can be found at Tommos Castle Dragon - Google Drive
Apart from what I described there’s no “cheating” so there’s a few warts here and there.
The tone is all done with VST plugins:
Nembrini Noise Gate → Mercuriall SS11X Lead Channel (all at noon) → TPA1 power amp (stock settings) > Pulse IR loader with one Ownhammer Vox Ac30 room mic IR panned left and a Fender cab panned right (also room mic) > Nembrini room reverb.
I will do some more tests with mixing the various takes I have recorded, to see if I can come up with a better version to publish publicly on YT.
In the meantime, let me know what you think and if you have any advice on tone or how to make the best of my takes at the mixing stage, and let us discuss this new hand position if anyone wants to try it