Guitar Tone - Who would have ever imagined?

[wta]

I refuse to compromise my musical and artistic standards to make a quick buck. If someone likes how I play, great. And it's happening more and more BECAUSE I hold to my standards. If you give up your standards as a musician, you give up your soul. And that is not something I will ever do.

Ern

Man, THIS is the soul of an artist... mmm, deep...

Ern this statement has redeemed the thread and summed everything I could have ever wanted to say... imo.

[gongchime]

In the distant past, it was common knowledge that the best picks were made out of turtle shell. Turtle shell is illegal just about everywhere now. Some companies such as Tortex supply synthetic picks which are excellent. There are other companies as well. I've always hated normal plastic picks. Motorcyclists say if you wear a .25 cent helmet then you have a .25 cent head. I think the same is true of guitar picks.

[mojobone]

If I'm at a show and the guitar player sounds great jes' tuning up, I know I'm in for a treat. There aren't many guys around these days that know how to do what Hendrix and Page used to do- sound badass even when their guitars were out of tune....

And @ Gongchime: If Jeff Beck doesn't use a pick, does it mean his hands are worthless or priceless?

[ernstinen]

If I'm at a show and the guitar player sounds great jes' tuning up, I know I'm in for a treat. There aren't many guys around these days that know how to do what Hendrix and Page used to do- sound badass even when their guitars were out of tune....

I'm old enough! Some of my favorite Hendrix live recordings are from his west coast swing in spring/summer of '69, especially San Diego and the L.A. Forum. He finally had his sound nailed, and even tuning up he sounded great!

My oboe teacher back in high school said that he got accepted to the U. of Michigan music school just by playing "long tones." No fancy runs, no having to read difficult music. Just his "tone" got him accepted into one of the best music schools in the country. Another vote for tone!

And @ Gongchime: If Jeff Beck doesn't use a pick, does it mean his hands are worthless or priceless?

I recently recorded a HD concert of Jeff Beck's latest band, and was totally amazed that he fingerpicks all his stuff! I know a few other rock guys (Mark Knopfler, Lindsey Buckingham) that fingerpick, but Jeff Beck!? Never woulda thunk it!

Ern

[mojobone]

Wasn't always the case; he was still using a plectrum for Blow By Blow and, I think, Wired.

[wta]

My pedalboard got aweful small over the last year so I had to move up to a bigger model. My last model was made by Boss and was cool if you 've got 6 or less pedals which for a rhythm guitarist is cool but my only issue was that at certain places the dirty power would add artifacts to my signal unless I brought a rack with my Furman power condition SOOOO I got a Furman pedalboard to solve the problem. It's cleaned my signal AND has room for all my groovy tone bending/blending/syrupizing pedals... I do a lot in stereo so here is the new pedalboard which I totally recommend!

http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?id=SPB-8

It doesn't have a hardshell BUT it does have a gig bag...

[rnrmachine]

I stopped using a pick years ago. That "clicky" sound when I ran it up and down the keys drove the other band members crazy. And I threw my back out carrying around that piano capo, but that's another story.

ROFLMAO

Seriously, when I was younger, I used to put pennies on the railroad tracks, let em get squashed then grind/shape them into pick shapes. Chewed my strings up something fierce and it only sounded good with distortion imho.

Joining in on the side thread that formed in here... I remember a few years back a dude making a song with a chainsaw that I heard over and over again.. I thought it was pretty cool. I am tempted to be a smart ass and ask... anyone know what amp he played that through? but I won't. HAHA

Seriously, we'd all love to have the best gear for any given situation. Who wouldn't? But in the end, whatever you have that sounds the best for the given situation is what you need to go with... and what determines that? Our ears...

An example is... I have a song that I felt demanded a certain acoustic sound, you guys may end up hearing it soon in peer to peer, when I get a chance to go back and finish it up. But I bought a $700 acoustic guitar, recorded it through a $1200 (listed at $1800) microphone and what would equate to $750 worth of preamp (going by the mixer channel and the comp EQ I inserted into it) and ended up replacing that with a $100 acoustic guitar and a Shure 58 mic, no 57 was available so I just took the screen off, and direct into the preamps on my mixer. Mainly because I wanted a "Toy-ish" sound. So far everyone that I played both for LOVED the toy-ish sound for the song WAY better then the BIG bucks (big bucks for me) version.

I really dug that piano story too... It does tell one that, the reason that gentlman is able to choose whatever he wants in the studio is because of how well he plays. Piano players are not as bad as us guitarist in the "dime a dozen" market but having a talented touch/style that can be picked out no matter what piano/guitar you are on is pricless.

Rob