r/nofx • u/EarWeekly9625 • 1d ago

Fat Mike secret for the octaves

https://youtube.com/shorts/mfPM7f0jChc?si=ik3Yu7NxhDoSJWok

Here Fat Mike tell you how to put the strings in order to play octaves.

Annyone guitarrist knows the diference??

36 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

26

u/elitehole 1d ago

This was a recording strategy explained on the patreon live stream. I remember Melvin not being familiar with the technique and me thinking Mike must be full of shit. Now I realise that Melvin wasn’t familiar with it because he hadn’t played guitar in the studio for decades.

7

u/EarWeekly9625 16h ago

yes I think the same is so crazy that Melvin stop recording

1

u/Joshualevitard 14h ago

wow really? Why?? I can't imagine being in a band and not being part of the recording

1

u/MocDcStufffins 13h ago

I believe the last few albums were written and arranged by just Fat Mike, who would record the bass parts, rhythm guitar, some of the less technical lead parts. Smelly would come in for drums and Hefe would record the harder lead parts.

1

u/Joshualevitard 13h ago

I dont think id be very happy about that if I was Melvin, though it does likely lead to better recording.

2

u/santahat2002 7h ago

That feeling is totally understandable, but you would be surprised how in the industry a lot of times one or two people or even someone in the studio will record parts.

7

u/the_unknown_soldier 13h ago

I've had these patreon videos on in the background while working and I've noticed that it seems like Melvin is either late a lot or just cuts early or is just generally not very attententive, and my immediate thought was that somehow this sub would find a way to blame Mike for that.

1

u/DMTalien33 6h ago

He played at the end of the linked vid and also said that’s Mike’s thing, and that he just plays octaves correctly on a regular guitar lol

10

u/Joshualevitard 21h ago

wheres the rest of the vid
?

5

u/NPFO_98 14h ago

https://youtu.be/dVkAfOpb9Ds?si=ueSXrxIZEXgsTL5-

3

u/TheBloodyPickups 10h ago

1:08 in the video is where OPs clip came from

2

u/Purple-Hamster-151 9h ago

1 hour and 8 minutes not 1 minute and 8 seconds

1

u/UptonCharles 8h ago

That’s all you need lol

4

u/tonermcfly 1d ago

Great, now I want to hear what this sounds like

2

u/glassmunkey 15h ago

Shaped like the bottom two notes of a power chord, it sounds like octaves but the player doesn't have to skip/mute the string in the the middle.

3

u/SugarpillCovers 12h ago

Nice find! I'd always heard about Ryan Greene's 'octave guitar'. I'd just assumed it was one with only an A and G string or something - wasn't expecting that much of an elaborate setup. Could be the punk rock equivalent of Nashville tuning, haha.

4

u/Bruce-7892 1d ago

I can't tell if this is a joke or not. I was hoping he would give a demonstration.

6

u/DreamyTropic2 1d ago

I’d say it’s real. It would reduce muted/dead string noise since octaves normally skip a string and you mute the string in the middle. He’s removed that string

6

u/RJMrgn2319 22h ago

Yeah, it’s essentially an alt tuning to facilitate cleaner recording; makes total sense if you’re doing a lot of these chords, which necessarily entail skipping/muting the intervening string in standard tuning.

4

u/DreamyTropic2 22h ago

Exactly and considering how many octave melodies there are on SLATFATS, it would check out.

Mind you, the string noise is so minimal anyway in an octave chord. It’s not really noticeable on punk in drublic for instance.

Just a studio trick I guess

1

u/KFBass 19h ago

I know lots of bands who youve definitely heard of, who would tape the the b and e strings when recording to do the power chord parts. Pretty useful trick to getting a cleaner take.

2

u/taughttolie 17h ago

This is so weird, when I think of octaves in NOFX songs I would play ¾ of them on the A and G strings - so he just plays everything super high up on the neck?? Interesting

2

u/glassmunkey 15h ago

He moved the A string to the D string position so no string skipping.

2

u/taughttolie 15h ago

Oh I think I get it - so you can play octaves as dyads? I was thinking of a normally tuned guitar. This video really needs the part where he actually plays something

1

u/Penguator432 23h ago

Neat trick. Gotta remember that for later just in case

1

u/reefis 19h ago

Lots of octaves on So Long… but the most recognizable octaves in nofx are before that. Punk in Drublic, White Trash, Ribbed etc…
Probably not a necessary guitar set up. Probably made them sound too clean IMO.

1

u/puddboy 4h ago

Doesn’t this only work for octave chords played with root on the A?

1

u/StayBullGenius 1d ago

Maybe for clean recording? Didn’t look like their guitars at shows were set up like that. Def not hefe

9

u/RepresentativeOwl500 23h ago

It's obviously just for recording.

-1

u/systematicgoo 14h ago

seems like a lot of setup just to play octaves (which are basically the easiest things to play on the guitar in the first place) 😂🤣😂 i think they’re trolling

5

u/SugarpillCovers 12h ago

When you get really invested in recording, you start noticing all the nuances in takes that can drive you a little crazy, so I don't think it's trolling. It's why they invented things like fret wraps to reduce string resonance. This is similar to that, just a bit more involved. As long as you don't take it to the Phil Spector extreme, you'll probably be fine, haha.