Better tone and ideas

Its all in the fingers, or is it?

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Better tone and ideas

Post by MattH »

I play live so often these days, which is great, but with a couple of kids and a full time job, I actually find it hard to practice, which is not so great, 'cos I'm getting stale.

Anyway, point is, every now and then I have to unplug everything and just plug my guitar straight into the amp and just try and improve my tone that way.

BB King is a constant source of tone and ideas, but I love these Keith Wyatt vids I've found online. Anyone else found any decent videos out there for good ideas?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWUFQMnk-qI
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by Delayman »

I mucked around a lot with pickup height for a while as I really liked the unplugged tone of my tele but it never translated that well. I read somewhere that lowering the pickups and backing off the volume pot was the way to get closer to that tone. Not sure that's 100% correct but It's interesting to hear/feel the difference, and playing with the volume knob slightly backed off definitely affects more than volume.
They keep telling me tone is in the fingers, but I have yet to see a "look at my fingers" thread.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by AiRdAd »

The answer is staring you in the face..... Quit your job! :-)

you'll have more time for the guitar.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by handsoffmatt »

I love the story about Billy Gibbons meeting BB King for the first time and asking to play Lucille. Upon picking up BB's guitar he was astounded by the light gauge strings (reportedly .008's) that were on there. Rev Billy expresses surprise....he himself was using .011's at the time under the impression that thicker strings = better tone.

BB asked him "Boy, why you workin' so hard? Let the amp do the work." Billy G has been using 008's (or 007's) ever since.

My point here is that trying out lighter strings than you are used to can make playing a LOT easier and can broaden your ability to pull off ideas on the guitar that you have in your head.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by Bg »

yeah I've quite often used 9's. Have dabbled with 8's. Depends on the guitar for me :)

I'm not working at present so in theory, I'm getting awesome!
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by JHorner »

handsoffmatt wrote:My point here is that trying out lighter strings than you are used to can make playing a LOT easier and can broaden your ability to pull off ideas on the guitar that you have in your head.
Conversely, putting 11's on one guitar and practicing on that one means that you get a lot of strength training out of a small amount of practice!

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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by MattH »

I find that just switching from a Gibson to a Fender is probably enough to make it harder!
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by MattH »

Did I actually type that out loud?
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by crowbgood1 »

MattH wrote:I find that just switching from a Gibson to a Fender is probably enough to make it harder!
Gibson use softer strings.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by Bg »

MattH wrote:Did I actually type that out loud?
yes, I have to say it was bloody difficult holding back from commenting. Dunno where JB is.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by Bg »

JHorner wrote:
handsoffmatt wrote:My point here is that trying out lighter strings than you are used to can make playing a LOT easier and can broaden your ability to pull off ideas on the guitar that you have in your head.
Conversely, putting 11's on one guitar and practicing on that one means that you get a lot of strength training out of a small amount of practice!
11's are still girls strings though. Put manly 13's on and just do the 7 minute workout.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by JHorner »

Bg wrote:
JHorner wrote:
handsoffmatt wrote:My point here is that trying out lighter strings than you are used to can make playing a LOT easier and can broaden your ability to pull off ideas on the guitar that you have in your head.
Conversely, putting 11's on one guitar and practicing on that one means that you get a lot of strength training out of a small amount of practice!
11's are still girls strings though. Put manly 13's on and just do the 7 minute workout.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by Bg »

I was thinking 13's on a shit old acoustic then you could do 5 min abs.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by Slowy »

Bg wrote:I was thinking 13's on a shit old acoustic then you could do 5 min abs.
For years I ran 13-56's on my D-28. This is how I know I'm not the man I used to be.
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Re: Better tone and ideas

Post by danmunners »

After playing acoustics with high action for 20 years, 10's on an electric are like running my fingers through soft butter. 8's would probably be uncontrollable.

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