Better tone and ideas
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- MattH
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Better tone and ideas
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
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
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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- AiRdAd
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Re: Better tone and ideas
The answer is staring you in the face..... Quit your job!
you'll have more time for the guitar.
you'll have more time for the guitar.
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- handsoffmatt
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Re: Better tone and ideas
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.
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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- Bg
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Re: Better tone and ideas
yeah I've quite often used 9's. Have dabbled with 8's. Depends on the guitar for me
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- JHorner
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Re: Better tone and ideas
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!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.
- crowbgood1
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Re: Better tone and ideas
Gibson use softer strings.MattH wrote:I find that just switching from a Gibson to a Fender is probably enough to make it harder!
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- Bg
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Re: Better tone and ideas
yes, I have to say it was bloody difficult holding back from commenting. Dunno where JB is.MattH wrote:Did I actually type that out loud?
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- Bg
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Re: Better tone and ideas
11's are still girls strings though. Put manly 13's on and just do the 7 minute workout.JHorner wrote: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!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.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- JHorner
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Re: Better tone and ideas
Bg wrote:11's are still girls strings though. Put manly 13's on and just do the 7 minute workout.JHorner wrote: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!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.
- Bg
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Re: Better tone and ideas
I was thinking 13's on a shit old acoustic then you could do 5 min abs.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
- Slowy
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Re: Better tone and ideas
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.Bg wrote:I was thinking 13's on a shit old acoustic then you could do 5 min abs.
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- danmunners
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Re: Better tone and ideas
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.