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Thursday, August 11, 2011
How to Get A Great Electric Guitar Tone
Discovering great tones on your guitar is one of the biggest adventures every guitarist faces. The tone subtleties on the electric guitar are vast and can easily become an obsession of guitar players. I dug up some great advice for the guitar players' quest to define his or her tone. Here you will find detailed instruction on changing tones on different styles of guitars, how strings and pick ups effect tones, how guitar cables can make an impact on tone, and even tone secrets of some of the most influential guitarists in history.
Electric guitar tone knobs
The first and most obvious way to change guitar tones is on the guitar itself. Different styles of guitars can alter these tones in different ways, but I found two videos that offer stellar introductions to the Les Paul and Stratocaster styles of guitar. You can find the videos here at http://bluesguitarunleashed.com/getting-guitar-tones-start-with-the-guitar/.
One of the questions I get a lot as an electric guitar player is about how to achiever certain (good?) tones. What types of guitars, pedals, amp, cables, tubes, picks, strings… you name it, it all makes some contribution (for better or for worse) to the tone.
So in these 2 videos, I’ll basically go over the Les Paul and Strat style guitars.
I’ll talk about the knobs and switches and how they work. We’ll also get into what types of sounds different options can achieve.
Have you ever found yourself at a gig hearing an incredible sound coming from the guitars and wondered why you can’t get the same?
For many of you this may be the one topic that eludes you every time, I know it did with me for a lot of years. I’m talking about the Holy Grail for guitarists, the most sought after but rarely found thing called ‘tone’. You see, you can have the best gear in town, the most flashy set up, but still have it sound like mud without some core principles of great sound…which by the way is rarely taught unless you get into sound engineering and the like.
If you’re wondering how to get a great guitar tone then you’re in luck as there are quite a few things you can do to improve your sound instantly and at very little cost, and here is just one of them that will point you in the right direction.
Strings
Strings are something that guitarists are expected to know about but surprisingly a lot don’t, and they especially don’t know the effect it has on the tone and sound of your playing. There are 2 main things to think about when choosing strings – Flexibility and sound. If you plan to play solos (and my guess is you want to or you wouldn’t be reading this) then you’ll need to be able to bend the strings. The second part is the tone, and that comes from the thickness of the strong, the material and how it’s made.
As a general rule of thumb, the thicker the string the greater the tone.
Choose a set of strings that gives enough flexibility to bend while keeping that control over the note (no more), and gives a fat tone at the same time. If you tune down then you’ll also need to get a heavier gauge string to allow for the depth of sound and to give a little extra clarity. A heavier gauge for lower tunings also keeps the strings tighter, giving you more of a ‘crispness’ to your sound.
Have a close look at the different choices in strings and see what artists are using what (not just endorsing but actually using). You’ll find that there are so many different brands and a few different types, but there are one’s that will give you the edge you’re after for you’re style of music. Have a read of reviews online as well and see what people recommend, and then try them out for yourself!
Keep in mind that you don’t have to buy a standard set of strings in the packet…I get the guys in my local guitar shop to make up custom sets to get exactly what I want, why settle for what other people want to sell you? May as well get what you want:)
Guitar cable
Another suggestion for changing guitar tone is the type of cable used on your rig. Choosing different cables isn't a popular thought for most guitar players, but it is an important aspect of defining your guitar tone. Check out the information I found about guitar cables here at http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Get-Great-Guitar-Tone-With-Guitar-Cables&id=5578297.
Hello Friends, this subject of "guitar cables"may or may not be something you've given much thought to as a real influence on your core guitar sound...But truth is, guitar cables can profoundly affect the overall outcome of our guitar tone.
When it comes to creating the ultimate guitar tone, there are many factors that account for this carefully calculated recipe of tone. Yet, who's to say what the best guitar sound is?
This is completely subjective to the person being asked. However, there are common key elements that are present in most every great guitar tone, and a full spectrum of frequencies are indeed one of those key elements.
Today, we're going to look at guitar cables and examine what this simple little lifeline is (or isn't) doing for our core guitar tone... (Core Guitar Tone or CGT, is simply your guitar plugged directly into the front of the amp with absolutely nothing else in the signal chain anywhere.)
The first thing we must accept is that guitar cables do indeed affect the signal and the tone of your sound. One simple single guitar cable can be responsible for good or bad quality immediately. This is exactly why I recommend that you spend some time working with different guitar cables to pin point the one you like best. You'll only have to do this once, because after the initial time is spent narrowing down your choices and making a decision, you'll want to use that type of cable throughout your entire signal chain to maintain consistency.
So, talking from experience and knowing what helped me to quickly overcome this process of cable comparisons and eliminations, I simply spent a couple days rounding up and locating as many different types of cables as I possibly could. This includes cheap ones and expensive ones and everything in between. I was able to borrow tons of different brands of cables from a local music store I worked at. I also rounded up all the cables I personally owned and ones that my friends personally owned.
This may sound like a crazy thing to do, but it was one of the best things i ever did to educate myself on cables regarding signal loss and tone robbery. I would never have thought to even do something like this if it weren't for months and months of wondering why my guitar sound would change now and then, when I wasn't changing any components in the rig. I would notice gain loss, or presence loss and the worst of all saggy bass instead of tight focused bass. You can imagine how this can drive you crazy, when your trying to achieve Great Guitar Tone.
One day, I was swapping out a simple patch cord and noticed a difference immediately in my entire guitar sound. It then dawned on me that the patch cord was affecting my overall guitar tone. That's when I started experimenting with my cords and realized the huge amount of influence my cables had on my core guitar tone. Keep in mind, i was using all kinds of mixed matched cables at the time. This didn't help the scenario any.
This is why I spent the time going through tons of different cables to discover what worked best for me. As i mentioned, you'll only have to do this once if you spend the time gathering as many cables as possible, then do it all in one day.
I advise you to record your audio auditions of each cable and document the brand so when you can play them back, you be able to further analyze each cable. But... odds are you'll know when your playing through the cable right then and there if it sounds right, and feels right. Yes, you'll feel it in the guitar as well.
You'll notice differences in things like:
Frequency drops or frequency harshness
Loss of gain or enhanced gain
Loss of clarity or enhanced clarity
Saggy low-end or tightly focused low-end
Big roundness of frequencies or narrow nasal frequencies
Massive loss of sustain or increased sustain
Dull responsiveness from the guitar or making the guitar feel Alive
Non- transparent and cloudy or crystal clear with sheen
All of these things are what you'll notice when you're able to rapidly examine at least 20 different types of cables through the same guitar and amp rig in one simple setting.
The union of guitar and pickup first occurred in 1931, and – like peanut butter and chocolate or fish and chips – it’s been a great relationship. There has been lots of evolution along the way, marked by such stellar human signposts as Muddy Waters, Les Paul, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix, Thurston Moore, Wes Montgomery, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Zakk Wylde and the list goes on and on.
Nonetheless, as time has passed and OEM, aftermarket and even boutique pickup makers have come and gone, the basic operating principle of the device has remained essentially the same. The short version: a magnetic field disturbed by moving strings creates a resonance frequency that is transmitted electrically to an amplifier. But since the 1970s there has been an explosion of variations: in windings, sizes, magnet types, active and passive technology, emulation and materials. And guitarists have dived into the game by mixing and matching to achieve very specific tonal qualities, and even, in the case of prominent players like Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and ZZ Top’s Rev. William F. Gibbons, by getting involved in pickup design.
Starting in 1946, the Gibson Company has been at the forefront of pickup technology. In that year Gibson introduced one of the most durable tone generators, the P-90 single-coil pickup, to the world. The P-90, with its snappy top end and rich chocolaty mids and lows, remains a pillar of the sonic architecture of electric guitar. Just three of the important players in the P-90 spectrum are Wes Montgomery, who played P-90 equipped Gibson L-5s; Robby Krieger, whose dark, gorgeous tone with the Doors sprang from a Gibson SG with the tone pots rolled off; and the late Randy Rhoads, who pumped a Gibson Les Paul Custom with humbuckers through a raft of Marshalls to generate his wall of sound onstage with Ozzy Osbourne.
Gibson also invented the first humbucking pickup, made in 1955 by company engineer Seth Lover and given the nickname “P.A.F.” That tag didn’t happen just because “Lover Pickup” would have implied something entirely unrelated to guitars. P.A.F. stands for “Patent Applied For,” which appeared on a sticker on the bottom plates of every humbucker Gibson made until 1959, when said patent was finally issued.
The two-coil humbucker – named for its ability to cancel the hum generated by single-coil pickups – is ubiquitous in popular music, from Eric Clapton’s and Peter Green’s classic Gibson Les Paul Standard tones with the Bluesbreakers to Jimmy Page’s roaring solos to Duane Allman’s hot buttered slide to The Edge’s textural wailing. Today, this still robust 52-year-old remains synonymous with power and versatility.
The third essential Gibson pickup style is the mini-humbucker, which was invented by Gibson’s sister brand Epiphone. This model provides a nice bridge between the big, warm tones of the humbucker and the snappy, brighter tones of single-coil pickups like the P-90 and other single-bar- and multi-pole-magnet single coil pickups. Although their lineage goes back to earlier Epis like the Sheraton, these clear, crystalline pickups with just enough mad-dog bite became truly popular when the Gibson Firebird was introduced, boasting mini-humbuckers, in 1963 and the guitar was subsequently embraced by such luminaries as Johnny Winter and Steve Winwood, who rocked a Firebird during his tenure with Traffic and Blind Faith.
Typically, electric guitars come with one, two or three pickups, but players have customized their axes to embrace five or six pickups between the bridge and neck, and avant-gardists – most notably the great six-string innovator Fred Frith – have even attached pickups at the nut.
A bedrock example of a single-coil model Gibson guitar is the L-5 CES, which provided Wes Montgomery with his cool, breathy sound. Many other jazz and blues six-strings sport the same configuration.
For two pickups, think Les Pauls, SGs, Flying Vs, and the list goes on. Most new Les Paul models typically have two Gibson Classic ’57 Humbuckers. And some Les Paul Custom models sport three humbuckers.
PICKING REPLACEMENT PICKUPS
Regardless of which pickups a guitar comes with as standard equipment, the reality is pickup configurations are fluid. Unless one’s a purist who always insists on stock gear, pickups can be switched out, single-coils and humbuckers can be paired together, additional pickups can be installed via routing, wiring and soldering. The options, given the wide variety of pickups available, are, perhaps not endless but at least extremely intriguing for the tone conscious. And they all have a profound effect on the way guitars sound.
Want something that’s impossibly hot? Try pairing a Gibson 498T “Hot Alnico” Series in the neck position with a Gibson Dirty Fingers in the bridge. The bright, searing mids of the 498T and the loud bark of the Dirty Fingers are a formidable match-up, especially when chained to a high gain amp like a Marshall.
Want to turn back the clock to the classic tones of the ’60s? Replace a pair of humbuckers with P-90s, or keep one ’bucker in the bridge spot, for edge, and pop a P-90 in the neck position for smoother tones with just a little more darkness. And so on.
The rule of thumb is, to accent or downplay more biting tones, consider replacing the bridge pickup with something that gets you where you ultimately want your sound to go.
To enhance or trim the smooth, fluid mids, re-examine the pickup that’s in your guitar’s neck position – the warm spot. (This, by the way, is why most single-pickup jazz guitars have their little magnetic wonders installed in that locale.)
And don’t be afraid to take your instrument out of tonal character. One of my own workhorse six-strings is a bolt-on neck model made in Japan in the ’80s that I got for $185 bucks. I replaced its muddy, cheap, terrible OEM pickups with a pair of stock Gibson humbuckers from a late ’60s Les Paul Standard that met a sad fate in an auto accident (all humans fared well!) and now it sounds like a million bucks.
If you play your guitar without any vibrato at all, this is just like a plate of Mexican without any salsa. Vibrato is one of the most definitive techniques in defining your musical style, your own personal unique sound. No two players have the same vibrato sound. There are those who like to play it slow and wide, while others like to narrow things down and play fast, but it’s all up to the player when it comes to his/her vibrato technique of your choice. It’s like eating different salsa’s every time you go to your favorite taco stand. But this ain’t about basketball, for crying out loud – this is about vibrato, so read on.
Many people mistake vibrato for tremolo. Vibrato is, as the name implies, vibrating a string in such a way that the tone, and not the volume fluctuates. For example if you are playing the 7th fret on the 3rd string with your 3rd finger on your fret hand you can just push the note up slightly and them pull it down slightly. Center on a root note and repeat the motion above until your tone wobbles like so, in such a way that it vibrates. Use your hand, wrist, and arm to make the movements. This is more than just moving your finger up and down. Some guitarists use a bending technique where they pull the string towards the floor and let it bounce back up.
Try this in a variety of speeds and levels of bending during your vibrato. The trick is to be consistent and smooth with your motion. For instance, you may want to vary things depending on the genre you are playing – if you want to play a slow blues and add some feeling to that riff of yours, you can try playing slower in a circular motion, or if you want to play something like Iron Maiden or Avenged Sevenfold, a quick and narrow vibrato could put that needed exclamation point at the end of your run.
The third finger is usually the most common finger used in adding vibrato, though the first finger and others are also utilized. Using your first finger is a bit trickier. It is this finger, though, that works best in a fast, bluesy vibrato just like you’d hear on a B.B. King number. First thing to do would be to move the first finger far away from the fretboard, press down, then start vibrating the string as quickly as you could. Again, we must remember the root word of vibrato – “vibrate” – so you’ll want to make sure that the tone of your guitar does sound like it is vibrating.
Mixing vibrato with other techniques like advanced string bending, legato and harmonics can help you become a dynamite musician in no time flat. You don’t exactly have to imitate the likes of SRV, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck note-per-note – playing guitar is about developing your own style and exercising your creativity. Playing vibrato is one step closer to developing a style you could call your own. Remember to enjoy your guitar playing experience, and be patient when trying different styles of playing vibrato and other techniques.
There’s no questioning the greatness of the Irish guitar legend Gary Moore, who died on February 6 at age 58 while vacationing in Spain. What’s worth asking is why he wasn’t on the same pedestal as his fellow Gibson Les Paul demi-gods, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
After all, when it came to electric guitar firepower, Moore had it all: chops, compositional imagination and tone — a tone as big as anything Page plastered on Led Zeppelin’s early albums. Maybe Moore, nearly a decade younger than the members of the British Guitar Triumvirate, was just a little behind the curve of six-string immortality that swept them up. Or maybe, as the American sonic rock guitar wizard Reeves Gabrels, a huge Moore fan, suggests, Moore’s Belfast ancestry swept him into the long-running complexities between the English and the Irish.
At any rate, to quote an old English axiom, “the proof is in the pudding,” and Moore offered proof of his greatness at every turn of his career. The evidence of his undeniable genius is embedded in numbers like the steel-toed melodic jazz-rock masterwork “Parisienne Walkways,” the Celtic-flavored shred fest “Over the Hills and Far Away” and his other epic compositions.
Moore left behind more than 27 solo albums that range from blues to hard rock to metal to fusion and back to blues. He also made outstanding music with the rock and fusion bands Thin Lizzy, the original Skid Row and Colosseum II, and was a bandmate with two-thirds of Cream in BBM, with drummer Ginger Baker and Gibson EB3 bass giant Jack Bruce.
It’s said that a guitarist’s tone is his fingerprint — the ultimate signpost of his identity.
Moore’s tone was, at its foundation, a derivation of his British blues influences: Peter Green and Bluesbreakers-and-Cream-era Eric Clapton. But the most distinctive part of Moore’s character as a player was in his head and his hands. Moore’s picking speed and attack were ferocious, and his vibrato was equal to that of Green and Clapton — among the world’s finest.
Nonetheless, in purely mechanical terms, it’s possible to get close to Moore’s immense tone. The ideal tools are a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Marshall amp or its high-gain equivalent. Like Green and Clapton, Moore made his mark initially with a classic Sunburst. In fact, his primary guitar was the classic Sunburst: the so-called Holy Grail Les Paul that belonged to Green during the latter’s heyday with the original Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
Moore first saw Green in the Bluesbreakers when he was 14 and heard his calling in the distinctive throaty voice of Green’s 1959 ’Burst, a guitar with a singular and magical tone. There’s been a lot of speculation over the years on just how Green’s instrument achieved it’s super-warm trebly sound. Green says he reversed a magnet in the neck position humbucker while tinkering with the guitar. Another tale has a repairman accidentally re-winding the pickup in reverse.
Moore acquired the guitar in 1969, after Green became his mentor. That year “Greenie” quit Fleetwood Mac and began his long estrangement from the music business. Moore used the guitar throughout his musical evolution, which veered into hard rock with his first solo disc in 1973, then on to artier but no less heavy turf with bassist/singer Phil Lynott in Thin Lizzy, and to the fusion based Coliseum II. The guitar makes several prominent and extended appearances on Moore’s last DVD and CD releases, 2007’s Live At Montreux DVD — The Definitive Montreux Collection and 2009’s five-CD Essential Montreux.
After 37 years in Moore’s hands the guitar was auctioned in 2006 beginning with an asking price of $2-million and made its post-auction debut on display at the Dallas Guitar Show in 2007.
Lack of volume and absence of special features, are among some of the most frustrating problems many people are experiencing to enjoy are great tone in their respective guitars. However, a guitar amplifier can make a big difference. There are actually several components needs to be consider to make guitar amplification possible. Nowadays, many guitar amplifiers are made of effect processors boxes and speakers, so most of them are sold to many people as amplifiers.
In reality, an amplifier is just one part of the guitar amplifier, it is technically the part that enhances the signal from the guitar so people can hear it clearly. The remaining part of the box is the cabinet, where the rest of the components, effects processors, are modified to the incoming sound. It is also where the volume and buttons are controlled, to produce sound. However, not all amplifiers have the same sound quality system.
Most manufacturers produce guitar amplifiers for acoustic guitars, bass guitars, and electric guitars. To experiment with a new and unique sound, look for an amplifier that is compatible to the type of instrument that you want. Product guides and online stores in several websites can help which amplifiers are suitable for a particular type of instrument.
Today, amplifiers are usually made of high quality materials and can be bought in lower costs. This has been made possible by the technology that has been improved with the help of computer and transistors, producing sound effects can now be easily processed in a wide variety. Play-along percussion, built in tuner, echo, and even tone shift are the greatest features of modern amplifiers. It has many extensive power drive qualities, but some of the few good amplifiers do only slightly more than enhance the volume of the sound before you send it. However, their best asset is durability and high power. They have the capacity to produce loud volume with a clear sound.
On the other hand, when you go shopping for an amplifier, you will find different shapes and sizes. There are also available combination you can choose from in selecting the right amplifier, all in one combo system package. It has amplification, speakers, inputs, and special effects. Combo system package for amps has an extensive range of prices, but this is one of the best choices of amps, especially for beginners since it is an all-in-one package.
In addition, some manufacturers also market cabinets to match the appearance of their amplifier. By doing so, when the amplifier is put on a compatible cabinet, it will definitely appear like a set, which also provides a steady platform. One of the advantages it can offer is flexibility, where changing set up anytime won't be time consuming and difficult to do. Furthermore, a bass response is also present in these cabinets, though they can be less portable and more expensive, but the quality is really extravagant. However, there are tubes that can be used to help produce a great tone for your amplifier. They are affordable and fully capable of producing excellent quality sound for your system.
Defining guitar tones is a necessary quest for every guitar player. Tones are the best ways to express yourself and your playing whether it's at a small coffee shop or on stage at Madison Square Garden.
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