Rafael Trujillo

My Current Practice Routine

Hey everyone!

I want to share a little insight into what my current practice routine looks like. Right now, I’m deep in preparation mode for some upcoming shows with Obsidious and Panzerballett w/ special guest Virgil Donati.

My main focus is on getting everything tight and ready for the stage. So that’s my schedule right now:

• As a warm-up, I go through difficult parts very slowly to work on accuracy and control.

<...
2025-04-26 21:39:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Tour Setup with plugins only

We just came back from our European tour with Daath. We made it! And our guitar rig was 100% plugins.

Rhythm: Bogren Digital Rev C

Leads and cleans: lots of bypass automation and preset switching between Neural DSP Petrucci, Henson, and Abasi.

And that’s it besides wireless systems and an active DI box for Eyal's guitar.

It worked close to flawlessly. And the only flaw was easily fixed.

In the end this turned out to be my signal path:

guitar -> wireles...

How to practice on tour

Hello everyone,

I want to give you a little update and the reason why I haven’t been able to post a lot yet.

But first I’ll give an insight about how we manage to practice a little bit on tour. In reality there is not really a lot of time to practice because the schedule is pretty packed. So what we try to do is, getting together for half an hour before soundcheck to practice difficult parts of the set together. We use a MacBook with the Scarlett interface by Focusrite, plug ...

First few days on tour …

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a little behind-the-scenes insights and how stressful the first few days on tour can be.

It’s always exciting to finally hit the road after months of preparation, but those first days can feel like pure survival mode. There’s a constant mental overload because everything happens at once:

• Learning the daily schedule (when to wake up, when to eat, when to soundcheck, when to play, when to leave)

• Getting familiar with the crew...

Setup and practice routine for the upcoming Daath Tour

As you know I’m preparing everything right now for the upcoming tour, and I’m using Reaper for the very first time!

It’s one of the most stable DAWs I’ve heard. We will play with plugins live, so there are a lot of automations to program. It took a while to set up this session but it’s running now. I just have to make some adjustments on some of my sounds. We are using several Neural DSP plugins as well as a Bogren Digital plugin for the guitar tones.

My practice routin...

Rehearsal

Unfortunately today is no livestream because we are rehearsing for the Panzerballett mini-tour.

I’m using the same setup as for Obsidious shows.

And I’m controlling the scene from my Quad Cortex switches with the MIDI Controller Boss ES-5.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rafael

How our rehearsals look like

Hey everyone, I wanted to share the setup and how we prepare for our shows with Obsidious.

You’ve probably seen my setup before and here is a quick overview.

As you might know, I’m on tour with Obsidious & Alkaloid and because of that I’m not able to do the livestream today.

🤘🏻

I wrote another string skipping challenge

It’s still in the arranging and production/recording process so it’s not the final version but if this is going to be on the actual recording it’s one of the hardest string skipping parts I ever wrote. It goes up till the 24th fret a few times and has some jumps over 5 strings.

It’s part of an actual cover we are doing with my other band Daath.

Recording Signal Path

Hey everyone, I wanted to share my setup for my recordings.

It’s pretty simple:

Guitar - DI Box - (Amp Modeler) - Interface - Computer

You can even make it simpler if you don’t track DRY and WET signal simultaneously.

(“Dry” means completely dry and unprocessed guitar signal and “wet” means processed guitar sound with amp simulation and effects)

Guitar - Interface (instrument or Hi-Z input) - Computer (and do the rest with plugi...

Is the Nano Cortex by Neural DSP useful for some people?

Let me know your thoughts. Have you tried it yet?

FREE 1-Hour Practice Routine Example

Hey everyone,

I’ve received a lot of messages asking for another practice plan, specifically how I would structure it for only one hour. I’m excited to share an example of how to practice efficiently in that time. A lot of people don’t have endless hours to dedicate to practice, but the good news is, it’s not about the quantity—it’s about the quality. With just one hour, you can make significant progress and I’ll show you how!

The link for accessing the sheet is down...

Obsidious Rehearsal

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give you a little insight into our rehearsal near Salzburg, Austria. This is where we usually rehearse with Obsidious. As I mentioned during the livestream, we played a festival show earlier this month in Italy.

Before any show or tour, we typically have just one day of rehearsal. In the video, you’re hearing only the room audio because we use in-ear monitors during our rehearsals. While you can mostly hear the drums and a bit of vocals, it still gives ...

New Track and writing/recording process

Hey everyone,

I want to share one of my new tracks with you I'm currently working on. I'll also try to show you stuff from the writing process with my bands Obsidious and Daath but since there are a lot of other people involved it's not easy to get the permission to show everything.

This specific song is played with my semi-acoustic guitar and it's just the demo. So, programmed drums, synths and bass. Next thing we are doing is recording the bass and finishing the arrangement. Aft...

Which guitar pick is the best?

Hey everyone,

just because I’m getting so many questions about which pick I use.

Quick answer: Dunlop Jazz III Ultex, 2.0mm

Long answer:

When I first started playing the electric guitar as a kid, I didn't know which pick to choose, so I simply picked one that felt comfortable in my hand. It happened to be a larger pick. I don’t remember exactly which brand it was but it was one of those you get when you buy a starter set in the local music store.

FREE Practice Planner

Hey everyone,

I want to welcome all the new members who have joined our community in the past few days and weeks.

I'm excited to share a fantastic practice planner with you all!

I've always been using this system myself, and I've finally put it into a Google Docs sheet for easy access. You can find it through the link below.

Remember to update your schedule every week, or at least every second week. I've included an example plan in the sheet to help you get started. 2024-04-02 13:59:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Daath - Behind the scenes - video shoot

I want to share a moment from my latest music video shoot. As you guys probably know, there is a new video out from my other band Daath.
It was an amazing experience meeting the whole team in person after all the work we've done together.
I feel really thankful to be part of such an amazing project.

It feels like a supergroup. Sean is one of the greatest singers I've ever worked with. Eyal is an amazing composer and guitarist and co-founder of the platforms Riffhard and URM acade...

Why I think sight-reading is important

I think most guitarists don't really read music. Reading music is important if we want to understand the theory behind it. Of course you can be creative and a good musician without being able to read but still, it will limit you in some ways.

I want to point out some of the benefits of practicing sight-reading

• for Flexibility - I think it is an amazing skill being able to pick up any sheet of music and just play it.
• Reading is also about understanding the language o...
  2024-03-19 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

My first 8-String

This is the first 8-string guitar for me ever.

I really wanted it to fit the vibe we have with the band Daath colorwise and it turned out great! It is a mix of gold, grey and black.

It’s a Kiesel Osiris. Here are the specs. You can also check the Kiesel guitar builder and see it there

• Burl Maple Top
• Swamp Ashe body
• Fade black
• Black sides w/ black burst back
• Clear satin matte finish
• 5-piece walnut w/ purple...
  2024-03-13 19:33:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Writing out tabs

This is the song called Actual Proof and it’s originally composed by Herbie Hancock. I interpreted it in a completely new way on my EP.

I’m done with transcribing the whole thing finally. So I’ll add it to the rest of the tabs here on Patreon later this week. Most of my solos are improvised when I record them. I do a lot of takes lol, to make sure I get the best possibly result. So a lot of times, an improvised solo or section becomes part of a written out solo. So when I play tha...

Namm 2024

1. Picture: We were talking to Lars from Richter Straps and had a great time as you can see.

Fun fact; that was the first day I met Eyal (co-founder of Riffhard and URM) in person who brought me into Daath.

2. Picture: that’s all I had with me. One guitar in the flight case (Scott Dixon case, which I can totally recommend if you are looking for such a case) and one with me on the plane (the Kiesel headless + the gig bag fit perfectly in the overhead bin, even on smaller planes)....

2024

Hey everyone, I want to update you on everything that's planned for this year beside me being as active as possible on social media. Obviously there will be a lot more but those are the most important dates and facts.

Obsidious

17.08.2024 IT - Frantic Festival
Some German/Austrian show dates in December with Alkaloid
Working on new Album

Daath

1. Single Release March 19
2. Single Release April 9
Full Album Release ...

My "Tone King Imperial MK II" Presets (Neural DSP)

This one is great for clean and crunch tones too. In my opinion it is more of a "vintage" kind of sound. 

I like to use it for practicing and getting inspired by jamin' around :)

Gear Protection

I'd like to emphasize that every post I share here reflects my genuine honesty. My Patreon content is free from any endorsement partners or paid collaborations.

A few months ago, I discovered "knk shields" in a random YouTube video. This Polish company provides protection for various guitar and bass devices. I ordered their product for my Quad Cortex and I really love it. The design allows access to the touchscreen area while keeping everything clean.

That type of gea...

Update

Hey guys, unfortunately I’m not able to do the livestreams at the moment because I’m still in LA for the NAMM Show and video shootings for my band Daath.

I’ll do more livestreams when I’m back and I’ll give you some stories from behind the scenes over here.

Thank you all for your support!

My "Archetype Cory Wong" Presets (Neural DSP)

Hey guys,

this time I'm sharing my main presets I use with the Archetype Cory Wong plugin. Most of my first EP "In the Loop" is recorded with this plugin. It has a great variety of clean and crunch tones and I really love it for Fusion Leads. I use this for everything that's not really heavy metal stuff.

As always, presets might sound different depending on the instrument and pickups but if you look for some inspiration it makes totally sense to start with these.

Have fun! 2024-01-23 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

My "Archetype Tim Henson" Presets (Neural DSP)

This is very special because this plugin is very different compared to the other ones.

It features the multivoicer which is pretty much a harmonizer. But an amazing one!

Here are some presets I'm using with this plugin.

My "Archetype Nolly" Presets (Neural DSP)

Hey guys,

as I already mentioned, I'm sharing my presets for all the plugins I use occasionally. The choice of plugin depends on the musical context.

I primarily use the Archetype Nolly for tech metal stuff, especially the rhythm sound. The crunch tone I mainly use for arpeggiating chords.

Have fun with it!

HOW to get into Jazz - 1235

Another concept I like to use is the 1-2-3-5 pattern. This pattern gained popularity through John Coltrane, and it essentially involves playing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale. For instance, if a Cmaj7 chord is played, the corresponding notes would be C, D, E, and G. In the case of a Cm7 chord, the notes would be C, D, Eb, G. There are numerous ways to execute this pattern across the fretboards, I personally really like tapping it. It can be played in the following variations: 2024-01-04 23:07:27 +0000 UTC View Post

Practice Livestream today

Unfortunately I have to go live later than usual, because of my gig in the theater. They changed the soundcheck times…I’ll will go live around 11pm CET! :)

No Exceptions (Official Playthrough Video)

Hey guys, my new song is finally out! You can download the transcription through this post. GP file, backing tracks and click track will be available for Premium and Platin Memberships.

Thanks for you support and enjoy :)