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My secret on getting a great guitar sound.
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For me the secret to a great guitar sound is in the way you set-up your guitar.
I remember the day I've bought my Luke.
I've had three Luke before this one.
I saw it in the guitar shop.i thought it was really wonderful.
I took it ,played it acoustically and wow,the sound was amazing.it was singing naturally.
The seller asked me if I wanted to plug it in.No thanks,I've said.If it sounds great without plugging it in,everything will be fine once plugged.
I play this guitar since thirteen or fourteen years.
I've refretted it once and the second refretting is on the way.I play my guitar a lot!i'm a real fret eater😉.
I set it up by myself and I can tell you that your guitar can sound dramatically different depending on the settings.From bad to absolute greatness.
Don't forget,it's the source of your sound (except you,for sure).
I don't believe to standard settings.Every guitar,even from the same brand,serial,is different and needs its own settings.
It also depends on your needs.I don't like low strings.I need a little more height because I like a little bit more resonance even if the playing is a little bit harder.
The way you set-up your tremolo is crucial.your guitar needs to breathe.
None amps or amp sims will ever sound good if your guitar is set-up badly.
For me,the two most important things for a good guitar sound are:guitar settings and cab and speaker choice.
To my ears,most amps sims sound relatively the same.
Plug all these different amp sims in the same cab,and I think their sounds will be almost the same.
Change the speaker,and wow they will sound radically different.
Sure,that's my point of view...
Voila,I hope it will help a little bit some of you.
Flo
Comments
Je t'en prie.
Avec grand plaisir!
Thanks @flo26
I’m a big fan of your sound and welcome all advice
Thanks a lot!
Much appreciated!
How does one go about learning to set up for oneself? Any recommendations?
Experiment 😉.
Joking aside,i’m not an expert but I know what set
-up belongs to my playing.
Nothing like a real luthier,but a lot of info can be found with a little help of google.
Flo
Thank you @flo26. Interesting. I would like my guitar to sound like John Mayer. What would you recommend if from the beginning I don’t have the same model as he has. Any chance to sound like him?
StewMac has some videos and pages about setup. I've found this one page, https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-ideas/online-resources/neck-building-and-repair-and-setup/how-the-stars-set-up-their-guitars/ to be pretty useful. It's just a bunch of measurements of various different guitar player's setups and some factory specs from various different manufacturers. It can be useful as a cross reference to setup starting points for different playing styles and guitar types.
The page that one is linked from has access to lots of their videos too. For their products, they often have videos linked on the tool pages. For example, their basic setup kit, https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/stewmac-tool-sets/basic-setup-kit/ has a couple of videos showing how to do some of the setup too.
To be fair,i rarely use delay,but if I do ,i’ll Usually set it to sound almost like a reverb.
I like less and less hearing delays on my guitar sound.
I mostly use a short plate reverb.i like adverb2 a lot.
Hope it helps a little bit.
@flo26 Great tips!
You've got good tone.
Just curious, which tone do you prefer - Delicate Sound of Thunder or Pulse?
I’m not a John Mayer specialist but you should try to analyse his playing a little bit.
Pick attack,the way he puts his hand on the neck,hammers,pull offs etc...
It’s a much more important factor than the gear he uses.
Pulse without a doubt.
Thank you @flo26 and @NeonSilicon
Interesting!
For me, it's Delicate Sound of Thunder, but I loved the sound of active EMGs through monster racks. Ultra-prcoessed.
Pulse was much rawer - passive pickups, less FX; old amps and cabs directly mic'd.
That's something I've tried... but John's hands are almost twice the size as mine ! 😂... Same "problem" when I've tried to mimic John Furciante's or Hendrix's playing style.
I had, in fine, to stay in Popa Chubby's style 🤣
I love the sound he has on pulse.
I’ve had tons of rack gear.Long time ago,I loved this sound.Chorus,delays,stereo and all these things.
Now,give me a good amp and a little bit of reverb and I’m a happy man.
youtube has builders who share lots of knowledge, maybe buy a beater guitar to practice on if your gun shy. but small turns on the truss rod, adjust intonation so the open note has the same pitch as the 12th fret note. thats where the big problem comes from- you tune the open strings and they sound fine but as you move up the fretboard the notes get out of tune.
That’s nice too 😉.
Yes it is 👍🏻.
About the guitar sound quality, I do the same as you. I have to feel the wood's vibrations and I really love playing my strat and my schecter unplugged.
You hear that lead on the Last Train Home ballad version? I took my first girlfriend to see Mayer cause she loved him and was impressed with him live, so I’ve always kept up with him despite not being a huge fan. And man, he truly is masterful when he lets go and isn’t smirking at how easy it is for him to bag women. That scratchy, drippy strat on that ballad version is awesome. Never heard him play that inspired, but he’s in absolute control when he wants to be. His technique on that ballad version is so controlled but tense and drippy during the main song before he rips the solo. He’s alternating digging in and loosening up like a pro.
Also really loved “Carry Me Away” from the last record. Now in my mid-30s, it’s the ultimate song I can relate to. That second verse is straight gold.
On the topic of “the hands, not the gear”, I went through a phase this past summer of listening to interviews with musicians I find interesting. Steve Vai told a story about how when he was very young and had first come to L.A. to work with Zappa (for whom he had been writing charts since he was 17 from across the country) he ran into Eddie Van Halen not long after Van Halen was released and told him that Zappa liked his playing would he want to meet Frank. Some weeks later Zappa calls Vai and says “you should come by and hangout with me and Eddie “. And he says that he was stupefied because Van Halen was playing some random guitar of Frank’s through an unfamiliar amp and had no effects and sounded like Van Halen.
Vai said that was when we realized that gear was a lot less important to a player’s sound than he realized and became more focused on all those things like pick attack and angle, blah blah blah.
Not long after that I heard an interview with Guthrie Govan. Someone asked him something about to play like Robben Ford (this was some guitar clinic someone recorded) and he said “let me tell you a story..” and it was similar to Vai’s. Ford was one of Govan’s idols and he ran into Ford somewhere (maybe a music convention or music store) and Ford picked up some guitar he had never played that was running through an unfamiliar amp. He said there is something really unique about how he adjusts how he plays (both hands) each note that is what makes his playing so distinctive and that the sound is more how he attacks and caresses the strings than one would normally imagine.
Not surprisingly, 100% correct. Guitar setup and speaker, 95% of the tone. I observe people fussing over pre-amps and tubes and whatnot—and I just shake my head. My son asked me for advice and I told him to buy a guitar that sounded alive without plugging it in, learn how to set it up, and invest in good speakers. That’s it.
Before anything, the most important key is your hands, what you do with your hands/fingers. You give any guitar to Hendrix [or insert any guitar hero here] and it will sound like Hendrix. Same goes for bass players. Maybe even more so for bass players. Then a good guitar setup, strings, pickups, etc, then a good guitar, then a good amp and effects..
Sure,the player is THE ONE!
Everything plays a role in the final result,but some more than others😉.
I agree with much of the above advice, but would add that we need to me more specific.
You can’t just say ‘good speakers’ or a ‘good set-up’ without defining ‘good for what’ first.
A guitar set up for SRV type blues is probably not going to play as well for jazz or metal.
In the same way, you can have the best Celestion Gold (or insert other highly regarded speaker of choice) but if it’s not properly suited to the amp you might wonder why the hell you just spent almost £200 on a speaker.
Every component in the chain matters (which includes playing technique).
And this may well include preamp tubes. Especially if you are playing through something like a tweed Fender where the first preamp tube makes a massive difference to the sound.
I agree with most of what you say.
English is not my first language,so it can be hard for me to develop further.
About tubes,people tend to think they act like an eq.That's wrong.You'll get more or less drive depending on the tube,but not much more.
I've had a ton of amps and spent tons of money on tubes form everywhere and every brand available.
I won't do that error anymore.Waste of money.
Sure,some amps are more sensible to this than others but all in all.....not a game changer.
Speakers are where the sound comes from.They are essential.They are the beEQS ever.
Yes,it is important to choose them carefully,depending,on what amp you own and what kind of tone you are looking for.
Everything matters,but some things more than other from my point of view.
Flo
:
Hands.
Equipment.
All play a role but the essential factor is how you use the time you spend on getting better.
How is more important than what, who or even why.
To accelerate your how use the time wisely... what wisely means is up to you.
Choosing good teachers and seeking information seems to be a good place to start but playing as much as you can and with as much concentration on acquiring skills as you can manage. Good players practice with focus and a specific intention. They don't just fire off the same patterns of notes and hope to get faster. They seek to get better at creating a mind map of essential skills that delight themselves and others as being different in a good way. They don't copy or envy... they seek to knock aside the barriers to being in the here and now. They take risks when they play and learn to accept a high degree of failure by
refusing to play it safe. Over time they fail less than the guy that drills scales and such
and sounds like a programmed human sequencer that has very limited contributions to
make to the history of their instrument.
Personally, I hit these plateaus and usually... change instruments or goals. But the act of learning seems to be enough for me. I just enjoy the early rapid progress phase and have no discipline for the hard climb to the summit. I do enjoy borrowing crumbs from the masters
but I'm not designed to join them. I prefer the buffet that is offered by the possible and
waste a tremendous amount of time. But I do have few regrets and had a hell of a ride
fucking around in a so many art adjacent arenas.
Robben Ford, Gutherie Govan, Steve Vai, Hendrix... all put in the time and used their time wisely.
Key aspects
1 must to know play little wing by Jimi with fingers
2. His slap thumb technique which he himself explains
3. Need a strat or Stratty sound , means you needs those single coils on your guitar for sure.
4. A Klon like pedal/eq plugin to bring those mids out
5. Subscribe to this Instagram
6. The most difficult part though is singing and playing the same time
Well said.
Another question may be:what being "good"means.
I know musicians who are not great technicians but really good musicians.
Playing is like talking.you don't have to use all the words,but you need to know what you are going to talk about,and how to say it.
Don't overthink.Don't overwork.
The pleasure,the fun,the joy are very important.
Playing Guitar is not sport.Playing guitar should not be a tour de force.
I assumed this as a given when I read the original post, but you astutely remind us not to overlook this assumption. I was once in a music store right next to a music venue and BB King walked in. I’m not a huge fan of Mr King but I’m familiar enough with his work. He walked in and his guitar tech started talking to the store clerk about something he needed for that night’s gig. Mr King wanders over to a rack of guitars and picks up a cheap, crappy pointy metal guitar and plugs it into the closest amp, which happens to be a small solid state practice amp of equally questionable quality. He pulls up a stool and sits down to start playing… and everything in the store comes to a halt as the first notes float into the air. The beautiful sound fills the room and everyone is transfixed. It sounded like, well, BB King and the equipment he was using was not a deterrent. Would it have sounded better on quality gear? Undoubtedly. But that’s not the point. That maestro stopped everyone in the store in their tracks with the first thing he picked up. So yes, fingers. And heart, soul, talent, passion, whatever you want to call it.