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- čas přidán 14. 08. 2024
- My weekly chat over coffee. It's a good way to spend a Saturday morning, I promise.
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Listening to Otis in the morning, hearing him ask how my day is going or if I have had my coffee, always makes me smile.
The tone is, indeed, in the hands. But the groove, of course, is in the heart.....
Tone is in the hands…. Effects don’t make a better player. However If a great player with great hands can use effects tastefully you get Jeff Beck for example.
I think this is the best overall explanation that I've ever heard ... But I'm also 71
Or Knopfler.
@billtice5057, yep. When I read the title, Jeff instantly popped into my mind. Of course, Jeff pops into my mind at least once a day. God, I miss that guy.
One time, I was playing a big blues festival when I was in The Trevor Burton Band. Our set went down very well and we were well pleased as we headed backstage afterward. I had been playing my Mexican Telecaster which, for some reason has a very sweet almost Strat like tone on the neck pickup.
There was a party time atmosphere backstage with lots of people milling around, then a guy who I vaguely recognised came up to me and remarked on the sweet tone of my telecaster.
Now i admit that I'd had a couple of beers by then and was still on a high from the gig and I basically rockstarred this guy with a nonchalant "Well, you know, the tone really comes from your fingers" etc etc
Anyway he wandered off and one of my bandmates came up to me and said "Do you know who that was?" "No" I replied
" That was Jerry Donahue" - Yes - Mr Telecaster himself had complimented me on my guitar sound and I had rockstarred him.
If only the ground had opened up and swallowed me before I opened my big mouth!
Jerry Donahue was a tasteful player and a humble, nice guy the one time I got to meet him.
@@donyoung7874 Same here-I actually got to play his guitar with him there-that was nerve racking!
The Mexican Telecasters from Squire do have a unique sound, having heard a guy who plays on one of the Early 2000's models that can do this sound of a modern Telecaster when in single coil mode on Neck. The Mexican Squire or what would become Squire but was Fenders Cheap model, Stratocaster has more like an Ibanez Sound of the cheaper $400--$500 Stratocaster they make on open strum (flat fretboard) having heard one of those but is still a Stratocaster. The Squire Stratocaster above the Bullet from China That is $450--$500 that plays like a cheaper American Style with a slight chime to the pickups.
Hi Casey, thanks for your comment
Alas, that neck pickup died on me a couple of years ago. I got a local guitar tech to rewind it but it didn't sound nearly so sweet. I asked around and bought and fitted a replacement from a well known brand - still didn't have that sound. Finally, thinking outside the box, I reasoned that it was a cheap version of the US made guitar so it stood to reason that it would have been fitted with cheap pickups. I then bought the cheapest no name tele neck pickup I could find and voila! - the sound was back , maybe not quite 100%, but pretty close.
Makes you think eh? @@caseysmith544
Yes! Jerry Garcia's missing finger had a whole vibe of it's own
Jerry was king of tone 💓
In Guess the Year, an upstart Grateful Dead show, capable ears believe, as I do, that Jerry’s tone during his more overweight periods in ‘85 and ‘86 is unique. The heft of his fingers during that period made a difference. ✌🏻
@@Hhllbb2476 yes i do agree ...there is definitely a "heavier" tone with Jerry in those yesrs
Tone in the hands yes, im 63 so im in the old school group i started young with a small tube amp and a guitar, over the years i had modeling amps computer programs the whole sell now for my 10 or 12 gigs a year im back to a small tube amp fender princeton and a guitar, tone is in my hands or just dont want to fool with all the other stuff thank you Otis for the reminder
Me too, I’m 63 and have been through a lot of equipment over the years.
I feel like a salmon, that’s dying to get back to the creek or river. It was born in. I play a Mesa Fillmore 50, because it feels like an old, blackface/tweed , and prefer tube bass amps because it’s what I grew up listening to, and still sounds so sweet to me.
Someone told Chet Atkins, "Man, that guitar sure sounds good!"
Chet set the guitar down on a chair and asked him, "Ok, how does it sound now?"
Great video, Otis. Thank you.
Please come to England again.
Here's an anecdote for you. One of my best musician friends is Mack Vickery's son. Mack wrote a lot of songs for Jerry Lee Lewis. Several times my friend saw JLL playing a small casio keyboard in a hotel room. Guess who the killer sounds like on a cheap casio?
I learned this lesson the hard way. After dozens of expensive tube amps, dozens of teles and strats, lots of boutique pickups, I'm playing an Epiphone Sheraton (Chinese stock) through a Roland JC-40 (solid state and light). Damned if it don't sound just like me. 😂
Yes, tone is in your hands. Even with loads of pedals.
Lovely to see those dogs.
Short story when this topic comes up...
We have a local legend around here in the DFW area named Buddy Whittington who did a stent with John Mayall ...
about 30 years ago I took a chassis out of a fender amp and built it into a head with some plywood...
I really didn't like the sound 😂cuz to me it was too clean so I put it on consignment at a local store in Fort Worth....
As I was leaving the store Buddy came in and spotted the head I had on consignment and thought it looked really weird so he plugged in...My immediate thought was Now why couldn't I get that amp to sound like that? 😅
I’ll break it down a little more and no doubt start a new argument . I’ve heard pickers pass around an acoustic each player makes it sound different. It’s the little nuances that we might not be aware of that I think make the difference. We each find our own way of playing and we all apply our influences that we have picked up since we first got exposed to music. Sometimes we are conscious of these influences and sometimes not. You take all of that and apply it to electric and you get a whole new set of nuances. Every player has their own idea of what a good amp/guitar combo sounds like. So many rabbit holes!
Totally agree OG. Guitar is a hand held and played instrument. How can our hands not have an impact on tone?
It’s funny that this is your topic today,, I was just toying with this last night. I recorded myself and I what I noticed was the tone was missing so I thought I had better pay more attention to my hands to capture more feelings,,,, Have a good weekend!
Uncle Larry had a recent video playing in his hotel room. Sounded amazing and I asked about his practice amp. It was a cheap amp that someone had given him, but it sounded like the "special" tone that many of us chase for years. He could play through a shoebox and sound great!
Tone is definitely in the hands. I'm a finger picker. The fingernails on my picking hand are fairly long. If I break a nail it completely changes the tone of any string that finger picks.
Back in 2006 I went to a friend’s gig in a small club in Atlanta. Rick Richards sat in on three songs using the rig of the lead guitar player.(Blew me away. That night I understood what was meant by “tone is your the hands.Guitar plugged straight in.
Loving your work Otis - I've only recently found you - you're recording for people that don't even know they need you yet.. maybe tone exits the hands but comes from the heart. Say hi to Kenny ya bloody legends ! 👍
I love music but I am not a musician. I do not know musicians. Your topics are fascinating to listen to! Thank you!
Don't underestimate the pick! Having just gotten into bluegrass guitar, I've begun to notice what a massive difference in tone that makes on acoustics. I think the effect is still there on electrics, albeit somewhat less. Brian May famously uses a sixpence after all, which may partly explain why nobody sounded like him playing through his rig. I think Tom Bukovac also touches on Joe Walsh's pick and how that contributed to his sound in your interview with him.
Jerry Garcia even hid a pick under his middle finger
The hands link directly to “the Soul” !
In the hands for sure……..I’ve always played through low gain tube amps, and use my guitar vol and tone to change tones/gain/overdrive/clean…… it feels and sounds so organic, and with just my hands and the guitar I have all the control I need……….. 100% analog , great video. Thanks much Otis.
I'm still waiting for someone to make a video with 4-5 players playing the same simple riff, same exact guitar, amp etc at the same time place and recording gear. Maybe Jim Lill will take on the challenge LOL
Otis, I experienced this recently here in Indy, being forced to play through a "Floor Pedal Rig" against my wishes.
Tone is in your "Touch" and your "Amp Settings" tube or solid state... It's 100% Dynamics! 🎸🎸💙
Auto-Tone and Artificial Intelligence blinds the mind to how music is to be defined. Your comment concerning Keith Richards is my point of view.
Again Otis, thank you for your wonderful content ☮
Someone told Chet Atkins, "Man, that guitar sure sounds good!"
Chet set the guitar down on a chair and asked him, "Ok, how does it sound now?
Chet Atkins
I have been watching your videos for awhile and have enjoyed many of them but this discussion about tone being in the hands is an old argument that really was settled in my mind a long time ago. I feel tone is in the hands. Your anecdotes and examples here explained this phenomenon perfectly! Anyone could play through Eddie Van Halen’s rig and would NEVER sound like him. He had a swing to his rhythm playing that no one else had except maybe Stevie Ray. Great video done with the utmost respect to all players everywhere. Thanks Otis, love the dog video clip at the end. Dogs are the best pets!!!!
So funny you should bring up this topic because I was just discussing the same thing with a bandmate the other day. We had a friend who knew he'd be passing on soon and one day I went over to his house. He asked me to play his acoustic guitar and I was honored because I'd heard him play it over the years and he always sounded great. But when I played it, it was like trying to get music from a rock. The guitar was dead in my hands. Boom! Mind blown! I looked at him and apologized but Dave being Dave he just laughed and said, "that's just the way it works."
Then I always laugh at the CZcamss on "the best acoustic guitars". No doubt there's a big difference between a quality instrument and a cheap guitar but the way a player plays has a lot to do with what the guitar will produce. You gonna flat pick or finger pick? Finger pick with or without a thumb pick? With or without finger picks? With or without using your fingernails? Gonna palm mute? What's your string selection on chords? All? 5 out of 6? Only two? Do you use your fingernails to sweep the strings like a flamenco player sometimes? Different sounds. Does the guitar work for the style you play? I play a Guild. If I mess around with a Martin the sound is flat for my style. But if I was a country/bluegrass flat picking rhythm or lead player - give me a Martin.
So the styles a player plays, plus the techniques the player uses, plus the personality traits of the guitar, plus a players ability to connect to the instrument are what I think leads to a guitar sounding differently when it's played by different people.
Thanks for your wonderful thoughts on the subject and Best Wishes.
Back in the mid/late 70’s I played a 61 Fender Jaguar through a Twin Reverb. No pedals. My guitar partner lent me his Big Muff pedal. It was fun to a point. Never used it again. Still have the beast somewhere around the garage. I was somewhat jealous of my friends Carvin guitar and amp because of the sustain he could get but stuck with the jag and twin for many years. Have many tapes from those days and my rig sounds great and clean.
Never hurts to have a great player , playing a great guitar into a great amp! I was listening yesterday to Charlie Starr's playing on the live-to-disc Stoned record - dry, really inspired playing, and tone for days. One aspect of the "it's in the hands" discussion that I don't think gets enough attention is that players of a certain age probably spent half their early practice years on an acoustic guitar, and that might be a huge tone-shaper.
From an interview with Brian Setzer:
Q: I read that one time in Memphis, you played with Stevie Ray Vaughan. Is that true and what did you think about him?
A: Yes, that's true, I did play with him. First of all, Stevie Ray was magic. It's funny because people always want to know about his guitars and his amps but what I want to tell you is that it was in his fingers. It had nothing to do with his guitar and amp. I think he could have been playing a Silvertone guitar through a transistor radio. That night at "Mud Island" in Memphis I was watching him from the side and he called me up onstage. He handed me his guitar and he said, "Play!". I didn't know what to expect. I thought it would be really loud and just, you know, all over the stage. It wasn't though, it was about as loud as I set my guitars. It even kind of sounded like mine. I was so surprised. He stood there in front of the pedal board with his arms crossed just hitting different pedals. At that moment I realized...jeez, it's all about what's in this guy's fingers. What can I say? He was one of the truly great guitar players. We never played together at the same time, but I'll never forget that night.
Kieth Richard's was on the Tonight Show, and Jimmy Fallon handed him (I think it was a Martin) an acoustic, which I gather was Fallon's personal guitar. The moment Kieth struck a chord, Jimmy lit up with amazement. The look on Jimmy Falon's face said, how did he just do that? And Jimmy said, "How did you do that?!" Kieth said he didn't know. The sound Fallon reacted to was instantly recognizable as one thing, and only one thing; it was the sound of Kieth Richards. There is no stomp box or plug-in that'll give you that sound. The uniqueness of it is not a blend of signal and noise; it's the soul of that one man's tone, and the essence of that tone is definitely in his touch.
Yes, a lot comes from touch and the hands. I play a little piano and listen to a lot of classical music (among other things) and there is a real and definite difference between pianists, violinists, or cellists playing the same piece of music. Every note, tempo, phrasing, dynamics etc. is all written out on paper by the composer, yet recordings of two great pianists or violinists do not sound the same. Sometimes you can recognize a recording of one of the greats (e.g. Vladimir Horowitz or Jascha Heifetz) without being told or reading who it is. An individual’s touch, tone, technique, or whatever you call it is enough to identify them and set them apart from everyone else.
The hands are the first gain stage no matter what your rig is. I believe it because I’ve proven it to myself in my own playing. If beginners weren’t allowed to use a pedal the first 2-3 years they are playing electric, the difference in the quality of their tone would be night and day.
Many years ago, I used to subscribe to a guitar magazine. There was a regular column called something like 'the guitar doctors' where they solved readers' guitar related problems. One guy wrote in to say that he was obsessed by Hank Marvin. He'd bought a Strat from the same year as Marvin's, an amp exactly like Marvin's, exactly the same type of Italian tape echo from the early sixties and yet he didn't sound like him when he played. He couldn't understand why. The response? 'You are not Hank Marvin.'
I Agree 💯% Otis 🎸🎶🎶 Jeff Beck without a Pick was my favorite tone Master 🙌🏻
It's always in the hands. Pressure. Fingers. Bone density. Muting between both hands. So much happening in the dynamic envelope that starts in the hands and then gets amplified down the line
Also consider that Tony Rice recorded some of his best stuff not on his legendary D 28 but on an Ovation.
you do some great interviews Otis. It`s never to late I started singing at 70. Hope to see you and Todd in person one of these days. Could you ask Kenny if he ever went to The Family Dog my old hangout.Thanks- Horrible Neal
Tone is absolutely in the hands. I've been playing in '67, and play for at least an hour a day most days...these kids who swear otherwise about tone will figure it out eventually. (At least the ones who can really play will figure it out!)
TY as always...i forgot to thank Slaid Cleaves for being w/you for some chats
Heard him in VA...TY Both
Give me an old Treble Boost and I’m set on electric ⚡️ you have a great day Otis 🐿️😎🐿️
Tone is all in the hands. Even Billy Strings didn’t sound like Tony Rice when he played Tony’s D-28
The search for the illicit tone ,My guitar teacher has talked about it often he has said that if you do scales your tone will improve,
I believe he is right, also it has to do with how you feel, where you are at ,relaxed calm, I can not play if something is on my mind
it most defiantly comes from your hands ,also from within, keep up the good work I always look forward to your videos
Pease
i believe the true tone comes from the players hands. Also in terms of pedals, less or no pedals can show a really good tone and players abilities. i.e. Kenny Vaughn Marty Stuart Walter Trout so many others. another great sitdown with Otis! Thank you sir!
I would love to see you demonstrate some of these theories and maybe check out some vintage gear with you, I know there are lots of channels that do that but I think it would be very interesting coming from you and the way you approach these kind of things. Keep the stories coming Otis ,they are very laid back and relaxing while learning some pretty cool things.
Funny thing mentioning Brian May, I read an interview with Steve Vai and he tells of both he and Brian were at a function somewhere and had the chance to play through each other's rigs and said he didn't sound like Brian and Brian sounded like himself
Great musicians always play the Room , as well. I give “David Anderson” as my example.
Thanks, Otis. I could listen to you musing on grocery shopping and be engaged.
The Brian May anecdote really makes the point that gear doesn’t make the man. Even Mays guitar is made from the ground up to express his guitar sound.
Still, there’s all the micro stuff: finger pressure, phrasing, dynamics etc. that make the guitar the player.
I agree with what Otis is saying here. I have seen other musicians playing a similar bass or guitar that I own and I will say that I have that same model but I don’t make it sound at all like that.
I love this conversation I don't have it very often but I've heard Kenny Vaughn speak on it I know I've dealt with it firsthand and recordings and just playing in general and my not so humble opinion the tone is definitely in the hands that's includes drummers bass players horn players anything that a human is connecting to to they're settled or not so subtle techniques are going to come through got to love it long live rock and roll keep up the great work see you down the road
Gear is great. I’m old and I love pedals but ultimately, great tone is created by the hands of a great guitar player.
Thanks Otis. I agree w/you. The musician touching the machine/instrument (any instrument) is the biggest part of the sound and magic.
Tone comes from the mind - you need to hear a sound in your head, then teach your body to produce it.
It’s in the hands the body the ears and the vibe
Hands, indeed
This is one of the good/bad things in my opinion. Modern amps and pedals give beginning players a much better sound immediately. That can lead to staying with it more as the search for tone isn't as prolonged. But it may also hamper growth and personal style for some. I think it traps a lot of people in sounding like everyone else. But it has also made guitar more accessible. I mean a inexpensive modeling amp that a beginner might buy sounds decent. But I just like playing tube amps. A guitar plugged into a cranked amp just sounds so much better me. Plus I like the simplicity. Guitar, cord, amp and crank the volume. I think that fewer pedals also helps with learning dynamics. Instead of hitting a pedal for a solo, dig in a little harder and get that extra sound. It takes better technique as well. The harder you play, the better your touch has to be.
Thanks Otis...it's the fight in the dog not the dog in the fight...tone is in the fingers and soul of the player.
Need to make a distinction between sound and tone. Sound is what comes out of the speakers regardless of the type of guitar or the rest of the rig. Tone comes from what the guitarist puts into it. The style of playing. The emotion Etc. That's why as you said same guitar same setup different players and it sounded different. Then at the end you talked about Keith and the many different guitars he would use but in the end it was still his tone that came through. I tend to look at an instrument as an extension of the artist. Whether it is a saxophone player, steel guitarist, drummer, vocalist. Everybody can have the same paint the same paint brushes and the same canvas and the picture they create will be unique to themselves. Hope that makes sense. That's how I see it anyway. Thanks for the video Otis. Really enjoy them.
I don’t know if I sound like myself, I’m a middle grade player, but I had my 40 year old Marshall 4010 (a JCM 800 1 12” combo) gone through by a really good tech. I bonded with that amp immediately after that work, and that has made a difference in the sound I hear in my head. Of course, this is in an old guy cover band, but the straight in tone on this amp covers 80% of what need in said cover band. Side note, my other guitar player is a tone chaser, and sounds really good, too😎
You make perfect sense, sir - each generation advances the art for better or worse
I love the gear my son's buddies use, at least 4-5 pedals & more per guitar. It looks like guiatr playing while dancing a jig, I am juat amazed they can play, sing and work the pedals too.
Aside from a chorus pedal I have fun with at home, I play my acoustic straight into my Fishman. I'll play my Haggard, Denver, and Prime tunes - it sounds just "ok". Then with the same guitar, same pick, and amp another player (usually way better then me) does their 3 song set and WoW, the guitar sounds so different, the hands, the fingers, the player's touch (same 3 chords) sure stands out.
Love the post & topic.
So Otis, when do we get to pre-order whatever you are working on 😊
A good example is Robbie Robertson when he toured with Bob Dylan and too when he played with The Band.
Tone is in the hands but great effects open your ears to new possibilities. Lot of great players that use heavy effects.
Listening to Bill Frisell makes me believe both hands and gear matter when it comes to tone. A telecaster is going to sound different than an SG with the same player, but the player makes a huge difference in how each instrument sounds.
I freaking love this guy. I have to get the hell out of Long Island.
I agree Otis. The tone IS in the hands and fingers, of the player…I’ve listened to interviews about Joe Walsh- no matter what rig he’s playing, it sounds like Joe Walsh! It’s the human, not the rig.
I haven't been an electric player since my days in garage bands in the mid to late 1960's. All my playing since then has been acoustic, either steel or nylon strings. Over the past 20 years, I have been able to be in close proximity to several exceptional acoustic guitarist in pretty intimate surroundings (think high end repair/setup shop on Saturday mornings.) My personal (very subjective) observation is that no matter which guitar I hand them to play, they sound like themselves with coloration provided by the instrument. But all the nuance is in the hands and heart of the player and that is a very personal signature. To sit in front of someone like Roy Curry while he is flatpicking a variety of guitars is to hear Roy Curry with variations. And more in line with what Otis is saying, my heroes of the 1960's were certainly individual sounds even when playing on identical or the same instruments.
Gotta admit, I expected something on Shane MacGowen today. That one hit me harder than I thought it would
Let’s clarify
If you play clean
You can hear the difference
On how you press the fretboard
It will squgille off key
# or b
The tone will be pronounced
On how you press the fretboard
Uncle Larry plays lightly
Cris Buck plays hard
Both get certain results
Based on how hard/easy
Their pressure on the strings are
You can call that tone
Or certain sound
Like tonewood
It’s not pronounced
But if you’re a player
You know what l mean
Some of your personal sound
Is finger pressure
Hand positioning
Fingertip area contact
No one can duplicate
Exactly how you play
And sound
Yes, very, very true Otis
👍👍👍
Great morning thoughts☕️
(conceptionally speaking)
another way to word it, 20% of Tone is in the instrument & Rig…
but, where the rubber meets the road… 80% your voicing is all comes from your hands… 🎶
Not trying to split hairs. Just my personal thoughts as I sipp my coffee.
Thanks for your channel Otis!
Used to play with a guitar player who tried lots of pedals thinking he would have all these options. He would become agitated and say the boxes didn't work. Always sounded like himself, didn't try to dial it in. Just like drums the equipment doesn't make as much of your sound as one would think. But it's still good to try different approaches. ✌️
first gain stage is your picking hand..
Albert King!....One or two notes and you know that you're listening to the late great Albert King. I'm sure his choice of guitar (Flying V) and the fact that he played an un-restrung right-handed guitar left-handed (i.e., upside down) had some effect on his sound. I'm also sure he had his preferences when it came to amps. But I'm also quite sure that any guitar/amp combo he played with would sound like Albert King. His attack, phrasing and very distinctive bending style are all his own. He always had the "Albert King knob" turned up to 10 i.e., it was in his hands/heart/soul.
Saw an interview with Steve Lukather talking about hanging out with his buddy Eddie Van Halen. They were just jamming and playing stuff and decided to swap guitars and see how it sounded. Two totally different guitars but still running through ever how they had their rigs set up. Eddie still sounded like Eddie and Steve still sounded like Steve. Eddie even said in a different interview he was never good at copying anyone. Anything other than the original is ALWAYS going to be a copy and will never be exactly like the original.
Tone and techniques are great to have for tone, but just a little effects help also, combine them all and there you go...
You said the magic words. Phrasing and touch, pick or finger dynamics, hiw a guitar us held and moved slightly. etc. Im not a guitar into amp guy, I like delay and super cleans and also gain, depending on whats needed for th me song, and have never liked a complete dry tone.... Roy Nichols, Benson, Robin Trower, and Eric Johnson have been my main influence as well as others to lesser extent .
Really good point about each generation having its own sense of musical tone. I play acoustic guitar - tone is definitely in the hands. Different players, 1 guitar or 1 player, different guitars, players develop their own tones.
There’s “tone”…. And then again there’s style.
Ooo boy Otis..! You’ve opened up a BIG rabbit hole,. I love it..!! Lol
And ain’t nothin better than dogs…✌🏼❤️
I agree that part of the tone is in the hands of the player for parts, but the bigger part is in the whole setup they have with least bit in the exact pickups the guitar use at least in solid body electric provided they are not super cheap cutting corners and in acoustic depending on fact the piezo pickup is at minimum x quality due to feedback issues the beyond cheap sets get.
Yes. But I also remember when good tone was when you plugged your guitar into your amp and everything worked.
Wonderful post, though I didn't understand a lot of the tech stuff. You make sense.
The more I play guitar the more this comes true and the more volume and tone knobs matter. Thanks Otis. I would like to sit down together with you and play and discuss this fun.
James Burton … check please !!
Interesting to see you a video where Otis G. talks about gear like this. I found this channel through the artist interviews, and for the longest time just assumed he was kind of an acoustic strummer guy, but at some point I saw the video where he shows his old Mustang and was really surprised by how great a player he is.
Nuno Bettencourt tells a similar story about trying Eddie Van Halen’s rig. He was sorely disappointed to find that he sounded just like himself. I have found that no matter what guitar and amp I use, for better or worse I always sound like me.
These whippersnappers don’t even acknowledge the blues as the basis of Metal anymore. For real. It’s incredible.
If I didn’t have my pedals I would have to learn how to play my guitar 🎸 😅.
hands no doubt... Dolly's cousin taught me that when i asked him to help me set the tone on my bass amp one night...i handed him my bass and all of a sudden it sounded perfect...
I 100% agree with you but there's another side to that coin. I have a bunch of musician friends that play in cover bands. It's a way to make money and allows them to play music. The one thing technology can do if you're really good at using it, is allow you to play like you all the time but if you have the right tools you can change the sound to sound like somebody else. The best example of this is the Stevie Ray Vaughan pedal, because nobody really ever sounds like Stevie no matter how accurate you play to it because he just had his own sound. That dead guitar and those massive strings and then his ability to go from just beating the hell out of the guitar to just barely touching it. I don't think any technology will ever get you a 100% the way there but that pedal kind of blew my mind as to how close it can come
Unplugged with hands you can create muffled or Marshall
This is good stuff. For years I was obsessed with my pedal board. It was mostly how I defined my sound. Then a few years ago I made a record on which I realized that I, as the guitarist, was the weakest link in the chain and my main problem was time. The record sounded great but I knew. From there I decided perhaps I was hiding behind my pedal board, to disguise my issues with keeping good time. Delay is a great way to camouflage being a bit late, right? So I decided it was time to woodshed. The pedal board got swapped out for a metronome. My guitars got plugged directly into my amps (I’m lucky to have nice, responsive tube amps). It has done astonishing things for my timekeeping. So that was a success. But the other day I thought to myself, what about that pedal board? How much do I miss all those processors? So I dug it out and plugged it in. And it sounded totally artificial. I hated it.
When the guitars don’t sound like guitars anymore they have become something else. A hybrid instrument involving a guitar? And why not? But I have discovered that ain’t for me.
Perhaps the placement of the amp and the liveliness of the room made the difference with that pedal experiment Otis.
This is why many of us are on a never ending chase after gear.
Sure the gear is important, but the technique is what makes you sound like you.
This was a great video, very inspirational to me.
Otis,
As a guy who has played guitar for over 50 years, been a lead singer for nearly as long, and run sound boards for over 40, no matter what equipment a person uses, they will always sound like themselves.
Every experienced player has a signature sound, just like every singer.
The test is simple.
Play an acoustic guitar, record it, then play an electric clean, record that, and finally, play your preferred set-up and record that.
Go back and listen to all three versions and you will know exactly what I'm saying.
You are going to sound like you.😉
Everyone who tries to play Stairway to Heaven will never sound like the original even if they use all the original equipment set exactly as it was originally because we all express ourselves differently.
All the comments about picks, strings, pick-ups, amps, pedals, and every other thing only matter to the person playing, not anyone else.
Think about this...
As soon as you hear a recognizable song on the radio, right away that guitar player comes to your mind. It doesn't matter whether you have the best sound system in the world or a transistor radio, you know instantly who that player is.
Yes, all the different elements can influence a recording, but the signature sound is known immediately.
Eric Clapton, VanHalen, Keith Richards, Slash, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, John Mayer, or whoever you want to compare, you know instantly who it is because of their particular style of play.
I call it their signature sound because no matter how you mix them or whatever equipment they play through, they will always sound like themselves.
You interviewed Tom Bukovac recently and he gave the example of playing with Joe Walsh.
No matter what amp or guitar Joe played he sounded like Joe Walsh.
We all have a distinct style and certain way we play that eventually translates into our signature sound.
The reason I don't use the term tone is because tonal frequency can be changed to manipulate the pitch of sounds, but it doesn't influence the feel of how the instrument is played.
The interesting thing about it is...
Age has nothing to do with it.
Just listen to some of the hot young musicians tearing it up and compare them to us old farts.
When you are in the groove, you are in the groove.
The interesting thing is, I've never heard a cover band sound like the original, they might be really good, just not the same.
The closest sound alike to me would be Steve Perry and Arnel Pineda, pretty close, but not quite the same.
I know, not guitars, but the same idea.
Every person's timing, inflexion, attack, release, hold, bend, everything in between is different no matter how much we practice to be like someone else.
We are all uniquely different, which results in our own signature sound.🤙
You know what else is cool? That you can use the word anecdote, and not say antidote.
Omg I totally think the same way but I don’t play with a lot of gain or compression for that reason.
Young people are better than ever but I/we frequently allow players to sit in or sing ect. The eye opening when I explain the amp (Deluxe Revetb ) is almost full up and just to use the volume pedal, and they try it and it works , is really fun to watch. Granted I'm crazy and my Deluxe is tuned to perfection to my ears and hands.
A great musician just seems to touch their instrument and beautiful music comes out. To paraphrase T Bone Burnett. I think of Buddy Guy, Stanley Jorden, Bill Evans , SRV, Professor Longhair and so many others.That soul comes through their hands.
Peace
11:13 lol amen brother. but ya, i think we often equate tone with style or technique maybe. when you realise there is that great-ass player that sounds effing awesome no matter what the hell they happen to be playing on. is that `great tone, or they are just an awesome player. its the latter lol