This might seem odd...beware practice? Practicing is a good, and you should practice as much as possible until you're so good you don't have to (Yngwie for example claims to not practice anymore after years and years of maniacal bedroom shredding). I'm certainly not that good yet, I'm still in the phase that, like Vito Bratta once said, "being a guitar player is like being a marathon runner...you have to be a guitar player to understand...you have to keep it every day or you start to lose it."
Then again, Vito allegedly practiced so much that he pretty much lost the use of a hand. Classical guitar or something. They say he practiced all day every day, even after a show.
As I think many guitar players, and just people in general, overlook, you have to constantly deconstruct your habits to make sure they're benefitting you. Bad practice can be worse than none at all. Again, I cite Vito. I would bet he injured himself by consistently doing something that hurt his hand. He probably tried to play through it, got used to doing it, and eventually exceeded the capability of physiology. Whether or not this is actually the truth for Vito, it most definitely can happen. Paul Gilbert says he deconstructed his picking technique because the way he was originally holding his pick was hurting his hand. For 18 months he slowed himself down (which for him means somewhere just shy of warp speed) and learned how to pick all over again, and all these years later he's still going strong. One damn fine guitar player, and educator, is PG.
Anyway, watching your practice carefully isn't just a way to avoid injury. Practice by it's nature is about repetition; you play something until you get it right. Start slow, build up to the tempo you want. Then do it again, a thousand times. You're not going to learn to play Presto by listening to it in the car.
So how's it apply to me?
Every single day, I practice at least four scales, and all their modes, up and down the neck, as a drill and warmup. For instance, today was Church, Harmonic minor, Melodic minor, and Pentatonic Mixolydian. Then I go through all drop 2 and drop 3 inversions of Major7, Minor7, Dom7, Min7b5, and Dim chords. Then I do the arpeggios of same with roots on three strings. I just use these as drills to warm up, and I get a lot of benefit out of it. I can rip up and down the entire neck in pretty much any scale and mode.
But recently, I caught myself doing something I didn't like; after running up and down a position, I found that when I got back to the root, or whatever tone I was targeting (it's often good to say, "I'll go up from the root to the third, then descend to the fifth"), I would vibrato the last note. Every single time. I didn't even realize I was doing it, it was just a way of concluding the run.
Vibrato is great; Steve Vai calls it "the soul of the note." You should practice vibrato entirely on it's own to really learn to control your timing and intonation. It's a lot harder to get right than it sounds.
But...you should be aware of it. ANYTHING that you do during practice that you don't even realize you're doing, means you're not really paying attention to what you're doing, and the sounds you're making. You're just going through the motions. You may as well just hold a baseball bat and twiddle your fingers on it, the exercise would be more or less the same.
Why is this alarming to me? Because I know that if I'm doing it in practice, it's probably working into my live performance. I practice WAY more than I gig (a sad truth). So without a doubt, my practice habits will show when I gig...even the bad, or unrealized, ones. So I know that, unless I deconstruct this habit, many of my runs will end with the same identical vibrato, unintentionally. Even if it sounds good, it should be intentional, not incidental; I should be listening and making sure that my resolutions make sense in the context of the music, not just to my fingers.
How am I working on it? I started by saying, "let me use no vibrato. I'll just sustain the note". Sound easy? Uh huh...try changing a simple picking pattern that you've done for so long that you don't even think about it anymore. You'll flub the run at any speed faster than your brain can keep up with, because your fingers and your brain take time to rewire habits.
Other things I'm doing; slide into the final note instead of picking it to work in some legato. Instead of landing on the note as usual, play the octave; work in some string skipping. These deliberate things force you think about what you're doing, and give you a greater instinctive arsenal; sometimes you'll find yourself sliding and sometimes sustaining without vibrato, and so forth, because you'll have more practiced options to satisfy your ear.
Anyway, that's where I'm at with this now, and so far, so good.
As always, thanks for visiting.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Dangers of the "Key Center"
You've heard it a million times: "find the key center".
If you're not familiar with the concept (and I'd find that hard to believe), it boils down to, "play in the key that best fits the chord progression you're soloing over." Almost every guitar player I know goes at improvisation this way. Teachers tell you to do it, books tell you to do it. But is it right?
I'd have to say, sometimes, but for the most part, it's a dumbed down version of the real deal.
Consider the following progression; "Blues in A". That's going to be a I IV V progression (forget things like quick change and such now, that's not what I'm talking about here). So, your typical guitar player leading it will say, "So it's A, D, E".
Ok...first, that's not enough info. Maj7? Min7? Dom7? Just use the 5ths (power chords)? There's all kinds of blues, the variety is endless (consider "The Thrill Is Gone"; that's pretty basic blues, but if you use Dom7 chords for everything, you're not playing the song correctly). Asking for this clarification seems to frustrate a lot of guitar players, but tough Toblerone, I want to know.
You get the condescending eye-roll and "dominant 7" reply (if the guy actually knows what a Dom7 chord is). So, A7, D7, E7. Right away, you say, "Ok, I'll use A to solo over it."
"A" what? If you know a little about modes and chords, you know a dominant chord is a major chord with a b7; so you're going to think Mixo (let's forget about subs, variations, and whatnot, keep it basic).
So, A mixo; A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G. I've got it, I know how the other modes connect to it up and down the neck, I'm ready to go, kick it over professor.
You're moving along nicely, got your major third and minor seventh going, you're a master of modal improv, flying all over the neck. But then the progression goes to the D7 (D, F#, A, C), and you hit the C# in your A mixo scale. You know it doesn't sound right (especially if the bass player is using the b7 from the root, which is very common), but you want to stick to your key center, so you fudge it, slide or bend or whatever. You're still alright, hey it's a "passing tone."
Now you go to the E7 (E, G#, B, D), and C# seems ok again, but you hit the G in A mixo. OMG something is wrong again, wtf is going on?
Then you do what most guitar players do when they're lost; you slide into the minor pentatonic scale. So you futz around with A pentatonic minor, bending liberally, and finally get out of your solo. Dang why don't I sound like all those great players, I was using the right mode...
...it's because you weren't using the right mode. Well, you were, but only over one of the chords. The key center concept failed you, because it's not enough.
Check it out:
A7 = A mixo = A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G
D7 = D mixo = D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
E7 = E mixo = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D
The scales aren't drastically different, true, But assuming that any one of them will fit over all three chords is simply a mistake. You have to be aware of what notes don't fit (or rather, just make sure you are playing notes that do). Many great players may not actually know the science behind it, but they definitely DO know that the same scale doesn't work over all the chords, so they make the adjustments in their head, frequently just be years of hearing what sounds right and wrong, they remember it, and use it as needed. Note that this sort of player frequently does have a homegrown system of some kind and they work VERY hard at recognizing and cataloging "good" sounds.
Academically though, the more advanced way to think of this is: FOLLOW THE HARMONY (harmony = chords). That's how your solo will sing, and sound right. Always know what chord is under you, and if you're totally lost, don't just start wanking in a minor pentatonic scale; try to use your ear, stick to the roots, ninths and fifths (a ninth and a fifth is a pretty safe bet unless you're playing altered chords, and if you're playing over that kind of harmony, you've probably already stopped reading), or, STOP PLAYING (an option frequently forgotten).
Note that a key center can work well under certain conditions. If all the chords come from the same key, then it's great. In terms of the progression we mentioned before, that would be Amaj7, Dmaj7, E7, over which you'd play (at a fundamental level) A Ionian, because all the chords are from the A major scale. If they're Amaj, Dmaj, E7, you're fine too, now you're just leaving out the sevenths (which actually gives you some additional flexibility; this is a very common rock characterstic, using Mixo over a straight Major chord, look at guys like Neil Schon for some real mastery of this). If you're just using power chords, then you can make just about anything work, because now you don't have any thirds or sevenths to worry about conflicting with (though you should still understand what sound you're trying to get...happy major, gritty rock/blues, etc.).
However...if the chords are Amaj, Dmaj, Emaj, you have the key center problem again; Emaj isn't diatonic to the A major scale (you're raising the 7th of the chord, from D to D#, and D# is not in A major). But, D# is the #4 of A major, which puts you in A Lydian. Ionian and Lydian, although very different in terms of modes, are commonly mixed freely, subbing one for the other. So the effect can be interesting and probably won't train wreck. But you need to be conscious of it to really make it effective.
The more I solo, the more I force myself to acknowledge the chord I'm playing over to ensure that I know where I am. I try not to take anything for granted, and when I catch myself thinking in key centers, or slipping into default minor pentatonic, I know I'm either being lazy or just don't know enough about the arrangement, so I start listening, trying to use things I know fit over certain sounds, stick to the safety notes, and try to wind up my lead in a reasonable spot so I can get out without breaking anything.
As always, thanks for visiting.
If you're not familiar with the concept (and I'd find that hard to believe), it boils down to, "play in the key that best fits the chord progression you're soloing over." Almost every guitar player I know goes at improvisation this way. Teachers tell you to do it, books tell you to do it. But is it right?
I'd have to say, sometimes, but for the most part, it's a dumbed down version of the real deal.
Consider the following progression; "Blues in A". That's going to be a I IV V progression (forget things like quick change and such now, that's not what I'm talking about here). So, your typical guitar player leading it will say, "So it's A, D, E".
Ok...first, that's not enough info. Maj7? Min7? Dom7? Just use the 5ths (power chords)? There's all kinds of blues, the variety is endless (consider "The Thrill Is Gone"; that's pretty basic blues, but if you use Dom7 chords for everything, you're not playing the song correctly). Asking for this clarification seems to frustrate a lot of guitar players, but tough Toblerone, I want to know.
You get the condescending eye-roll and "dominant 7" reply (if the guy actually knows what a Dom7 chord is). So, A7, D7, E7. Right away, you say, "Ok, I'll use A to solo over it."
"A" what? If you know a little about modes and chords, you know a dominant chord is a major chord with a b7; so you're going to think Mixo (let's forget about subs, variations, and whatnot, keep it basic).
So, A mixo; A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G. I've got it, I know how the other modes connect to it up and down the neck, I'm ready to go, kick it over professor.
You're moving along nicely, got your major third and minor seventh going, you're a master of modal improv, flying all over the neck. But then the progression goes to the D7 (D, F#, A, C), and you hit the C# in your A mixo scale. You know it doesn't sound right (especially if the bass player is using the b7 from the root, which is very common), but you want to stick to your key center, so you fudge it, slide or bend or whatever. You're still alright, hey it's a "passing tone."
Now you go to the E7 (E, G#, B, D), and C# seems ok again, but you hit the G in A mixo. OMG something is wrong again, wtf is going on?
Then you do what most guitar players do when they're lost; you slide into the minor pentatonic scale. So you futz around with A pentatonic minor, bending liberally, and finally get out of your solo. Dang why don't I sound like all those great players, I was using the right mode...
...it's because you weren't using the right mode. Well, you were, but only over one of the chords. The key center concept failed you, because it's not enough.
Check it out:
A7 = A mixo = A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G
D7 = D mixo = D, E, F#, G, A, B, C
E7 = E mixo = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D
The scales aren't drastically different, true, But assuming that any one of them will fit over all three chords is simply a mistake. You have to be aware of what notes don't fit (or rather, just make sure you are playing notes that do). Many great players may not actually know the science behind it, but they definitely DO know that the same scale doesn't work over all the chords, so they make the adjustments in their head, frequently just be years of hearing what sounds right and wrong, they remember it, and use it as needed. Note that this sort of player frequently does have a homegrown system of some kind and they work VERY hard at recognizing and cataloging "good" sounds.
Academically though, the more advanced way to think of this is: FOLLOW THE HARMONY (harmony = chords). That's how your solo will sing, and sound right. Always know what chord is under you, and if you're totally lost, don't just start wanking in a minor pentatonic scale; try to use your ear, stick to the roots, ninths and fifths (a ninth and a fifth is a pretty safe bet unless you're playing altered chords, and if you're playing over that kind of harmony, you've probably already stopped reading), or, STOP PLAYING (an option frequently forgotten).
Note that a key center can work well under certain conditions. If all the chords come from the same key, then it's great. In terms of the progression we mentioned before, that would be Amaj7, Dmaj7, E7, over which you'd play (at a fundamental level) A Ionian, because all the chords are from the A major scale. If they're Amaj, Dmaj, E7, you're fine too, now you're just leaving out the sevenths (which actually gives you some additional flexibility; this is a very common rock characterstic, using Mixo over a straight Major chord, look at guys like Neil Schon for some real mastery of this). If you're just using power chords, then you can make just about anything work, because now you don't have any thirds or sevenths to worry about conflicting with (though you should still understand what sound you're trying to get...happy major, gritty rock/blues, etc.).
However...if the chords are Amaj, Dmaj, Emaj, you have the key center problem again; Emaj isn't diatonic to the A major scale (you're raising the 7th of the chord, from D to D#, and D# is not in A major). But, D# is the #4 of A major, which puts you in A Lydian. Ionian and Lydian, although very different in terms of modes, are commonly mixed freely, subbing one for the other. So the effect can be interesting and probably won't train wreck. But you need to be conscious of it to really make it effective.
The more I solo, the more I force myself to acknowledge the chord I'm playing over to ensure that I know where I am. I try not to take anything for granted, and when I catch myself thinking in key centers, or slipping into default minor pentatonic, I know I'm either being lazy or just don't know enough about the arrangement, so I start listening, trying to use things I know fit over certain sounds, stick to the safety notes, and try to wind up my lead in a reasonable spot so I can get out without breaking anything.
As always, thanks for visiting.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Bounce Bounce Ouch, Why Can't I Play Faster?
As I continue to fine tune my picking, fingerstyle, and fretting technique, with the primary goal of developing articulation and tone, and the secondary (though equally important) goal of endurance and longevity, I've managed to isolate an issue that I haven't ever heard a teacher specifically point out to a student, and have never seen in any book, and I've got a PILE of them, classical, rock, fusion, eclectic, academic, you name it. I've often seen the general category the issue falls under referred to, but never this particular detail.
If your hands hurt when you play, assuming you don't have any other physical condition, or you're not managing to get the fluidity and speed you're looking for, you can have a combination of issues:
- You're not properly warmed up
- You're not relaxing your hands and arms when you play
- You're technique is causing you to repeatedly execute an unnatural motion.
I think it's the last one that gets most advancing guitar players. You're either going to learn to warm up and relax or you'll just always be in pain and you'll just stop moving forward. But when it comes to "unnatural motion", what specifically qualifies?
For me, one of the less obvious ones I found was "bouncing" with my right hand (my pick/fingerstyle hand). It applies to both my classical and electric playing.
By "bouncing", I mean, that you're not just moving your fingers, or the pick, when you fret. You're hand actually "bounces" away from the strings when you pluck, and/or, when moving your pick vertically from string to string, you "bounce" over one string to get to the next one.
"Bouncing" is insidious (as are most fine details of technique). It managed to make it's way into my playing even though I've focused carefully on both hands in my daily regimen for years. I believe this is because, when you're focusing on your hands and playing at a speed that allows your brain to lead your fingers entirely, you're conscious of unnecessary motion. We all know that conservation of motion is important, and we practice it when we focus. But when you "let 'er rip", the untrained elements of muscle motion take over.
Interestingly, it's not just guitar playing. I've seen this in all kinds of things. When I was a snowboard instructor, you'd get some hotshot guy that could rip down a hill all fancy. He gets back to the top all "check me out". Then you say, "carve four turns at these points along the hill, and nowhere else". They sneer and off they go. And they miss all of them; in fact, they go more or less the same way as the first time. They come back up the hill, usually saying, "alright I got it now," and try again. And fail again. They get angry and/or confused...is this some kind of trick? Nope. You just showed them that they're not in control of the board, the board is in control of them. And I see that a lot in guitar playing. Some guy in Guitar Center is ripping insane. But you say, "play 8th notes, and nothing else, without stopping", and they can't do it. They're not in control of their playing.
Anyway...
"Bouncing" causes a TREMENDOUS amount of tension in your hand, because of course, if you're playing fast, you have to get your fingers back to the strings. So your wrist goes rigid, which goes into your forearm; you start to stiffen up. Eventually you simply won't be able to play.
I wanted to validate this before writing about it, so for quite some time I've been watching other guitars players very carefully, and sure enough, I see it all over. Guys that are synonymous with technique, like Battio or Yngwie, are VERY in control of this sort of thing. Watch their videos; when they get down to the business of those unbelievable runs, their hands often don't even seem to really move.
As Philip Hii says in his essays on virtuosity (which every guitar player absolutely should read), a certain amount of sympathetic motion is to be expected and shouldn't be avoided (in favor of a completely unnatural stillness), and periodically, some inspired abandon is just fine. After all, your fingers are attached to your hand, and your hand is attached to your wrist. They're going to move. But having to stiffen your wrist and forearm to force your fingers to stay near the stings clearly isn't in your best interest. In fact, anything you do, like holding your elbow and shoulder high instead of letting them fall naturally while you play, is just bad news (but still you see so many classical guitar players do it for some reason).
I've analyzed and worked on this; I allow my fingers to do more of the work. I lightened up the pluck in fingerstyle, focusing on a clean strike with the nail and not a press/pluck (which is what I found was triggering the "bouncing"), and with a pick, I angle it a bit (thank you Paul Gilbert and Eric Johnson for verbalizing this), so that the pick can naturally slide over the string without an undue "lift and over" motion.
Without a doubt, it's allowed my speed to become more fluid. I've been able to play very fast runs for a long time, but since I've worked this, it's a hell of a lot less effort, and my overall attack just sounds more fluid. Naturally, this is opening up new possibilities for me since not only can I play cleaner, but I can play faster, and faster for longer, than ever. Discipline time; just because you can play fast doesn't mean you should. But that's a different conversation; I love to rip through phrases, and it's a damn powerful tool when used well.
So, if you're finding your hands hurt and you're struggling with speed, maybe look careful at "bouncing". It can be a major roadblock that makes it painful, or impossible, to get where you want to go.
As always thanks for visiting.
If your hands hurt when you play, assuming you don't have any other physical condition, or you're not managing to get the fluidity and speed you're looking for, you can have a combination of issues:
- You're not properly warmed up
- You're not relaxing your hands and arms when you play
- You're technique is causing you to repeatedly execute an unnatural motion.
I think it's the last one that gets most advancing guitar players. You're either going to learn to warm up and relax or you'll just always be in pain and you'll just stop moving forward. But when it comes to "unnatural motion", what specifically qualifies?
For me, one of the less obvious ones I found was "bouncing" with my right hand (my pick/fingerstyle hand). It applies to both my classical and electric playing.
By "bouncing", I mean, that you're not just moving your fingers, or the pick, when you fret. You're hand actually "bounces" away from the strings when you pluck, and/or, when moving your pick vertically from string to string, you "bounce" over one string to get to the next one.
"Bouncing" is insidious (as are most fine details of technique). It managed to make it's way into my playing even though I've focused carefully on both hands in my daily regimen for years. I believe this is because, when you're focusing on your hands and playing at a speed that allows your brain to lead your fingers entirely, you're conscious of unnecessary motion. We all know that conservation of motion is important, and we practice it when we focus. But when you "let 'er rip", the untrained elements of muscle motion take over.
Interestingly, it's not just guitar playing. I've seen this in all kinds of things. When I was a snowboard instructor, you'd get some hotshot guy that could rip down a hill all fancy. He gets back to the top all "check me out". Then you say, "carve four turns at these points along the hill, and nowhere else". They sneer and off they go. And they miss all of them; in fact, they go more or less the same way as the first time. They come back up the hill, usually saying, "alright I got it now," and try again. And fail again. They get angry and/or confused...is this some kind of trick? Nope. You just showed them that they're not in control of the board, the board is in control of them. And I see that a lot in guitar playing. Some guy in Guitar Center is ripping insane. But you say, "play 8th notes, and nothing else, without stopping", and they can't do it. They're not in control of their playing.
Anyway...
"Bouncing" causes a TREMENDOUS amount of tension in your hand, because of course, if you're playing fast, you have to get your fingers back to the strings. So your wrist goes rigid, which goes into your forearm; you start to stiffen up. Eventually you simply won't be able to play.
I wanted to validate this before writing about it, so for quite some time I've been watching other guitars players very carefully, and sure enough, I see it all over. Guys that are synonymous with technique, like Battio or Yngwie, are VERY in control of this sort of thing. Watch their videos; when they get down to the business of those unbelievable runs, their hands often don't even seem to really move.
As Philip Hii says in his essays on virtuosity (which every guitar player absolutely should read), a certain amount of sympathetic motion is to be expected and shouldn't be avoided (in favor of a completely unnatural stillness), and periodically, some inspired abandon is just fine. After all, your fingers are attached to your hand, and your hand is attached to your wrist. They're going to move. But having to stiffen your wrist and forearm to force your fingers to stay near the stings clearly isn't in your best interest. In fact, anything you do, like holding your elbow and shoulder high instead of letting them fall naturally while you play, is just bad news (but still you see so many classical guitar players do it for some reason).
I've analyzed and worked on this; I allow my fingers to do more of the work. I lightened up the pluck in fingerstyle, focusing on a clean strike with the nail and not a press/pluck (which is what I found was triggering the "bouncing"), and with a pick, I angle it a bit (thank you Paul Gilbert and Eric Johnson for verbalizing this), so that the pick can naturally slide over the string without an undue "lift and over" motion.
Without a doubt, it's allowed my speed to become more fluid. I've been able to play very fast runs for a long time, but since I've worked this, it's a hell of a lot less effort, and my overall attack just sounds more fluid. Naturally, this is opening up new possibilities for me since not only can I play cleaner, but I can play faster, and faster for longer, than ever. Discipline time; just because you can play fast doesn't mean you should. But that's a different conversation; I love to rip through phrases, and it's a damn powerful tool when used well.
So, if you're finding your hands hurt and you're struggling with speed, maybe look careful at "bouncing". It can be a major roadblock that makes it painful, or impossible, to get where you want to go.
As always thanks for visiting.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Strat/Seymour Duncan Pickup Replacement: Those mysterious inner wires.
Here's one for the pickup replacements folks, and it'll hopefully save somebody some anguish: after I put a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge position of my strat, which was fairly easy, I decided to finish the job, and got a Vintage Rails for the middle, and a Cool Rails for the neck. Versatility, all that. I followed the wiring diagrams provided, it wasn't that hard...BUT....
There are two more wires in the strat, in the body, itself, that no Seymour Duncan schematic addressed, and I looked hard. The two wires to the jack are documented; but, evidently, there can be two more wires in a given strat. One is a black wire seemingly coming from nowhere in the body (not the jack), the other is just screwed onto the inside body itself (the wire is held by a "ring" that you just screw onto the wood.
Fender evidently has gotten greedy with schematics; they don't share these things anymore as I understand it, you have to buy their wiring book. I refused, and just kept looking and looking, and guessing. So....the black wire that runs into the body had to be a ground (because it's black). But soldering it to the volume pot as a ground breaks the tone knobs. It turns out, and I don't know the logic, that this must be soldered onto the center pot (the middle knob, a tone knob). The other black wire, that screws onto the body, must be soldered onto the volume pot like any other ground wire.
More research showed; the first black wire that runs mysteriously into the body, is actually grounded to the base of the tremolo; this is the one that gets soldered to the middle (tone) pot. The second black wire has to do with the "paint shielding", and requires a ground to be attached to the body to "ground the paint" as it was explained to me. It has to do with a particular kind of paint used on the inside of the guitar. I don't fully understand this but that's the best explanation I got.
Also, the way Fender wired my guitar stock, did not match any of the schematics I could find anywhere. The way the pots were wired to the switch was different than their schematics. So in the end, I just removed every single wire from the guitar and started from scratch, followed the Seymour Duncan schematic, finished the job with the two "mystery wires" the way I had figured out, and lo and behold, a working strat now graces my arsenal again. Sheesh!
Home electronics, what fun.
There are two more wires in the strat, in the body, itself, that no Seymour Duncan schematic addressed, and I looked hard. The two wires to the jack are documented; but, evidently, there can be two more wires in a given strat. One is a black wire seemingly coming from nowhere in the body (not the jack), the other is just screwed onto the inside body itself (the wire is held by a "ring" that you just screw onto the wood.
Fender evidently has gotten greedy with schematics; they don't share these things anymore as I understand it, you have to buy their wiring book. I refused, and just kept looking and looking, and guessing. So....the black wire that runs into the body had to be a ground (because it's black). But soldering it to the volume pot as a ground breaks the tone knobs. It turns out, and I don't know the logic, that this must be soldered onto the center pot (the middle knob, a tone knob). The other black wire, that screws onto the body, must be soldered onto the volume pot like any other ground wire.
More research showed; the first black wire that runs mysteriously into the body, is actually grounded to the base of the tremolo; this is the one that gets soldered to the middle (tone) pot. The second black wire has to do with the "paint shielding", and requires a ground to be attached to the body to "ground the paint" as it was explained to me. It has to do with a particular kind of paint used on the inside of the guitar. I don't fully understand this but that's the best explanation I got.
Also, the way Fender wired my guitar stock, did not match any of the schematics I could find anywhere. The way the pots were wired to the switch was different than their schematics. So in the end, I just removed every single wire from the guitar and started from scratch, followed the Seymour Duncan schematic, finished the job with the two "mystery wires" the way I had figured out, and lo and behold, a working strat now graces my arsenal again. Sheesh!
Home electronics, what fun.
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