Studio producer Chris Tsangaredes (rip) in an interview on UA-cam had a great little story. He had a guitarist in his studio who wanted Chris to get him an Eddie Van Halen guitar tone. Chris said back to the guitarist "your not Eddie Van Halen, you doughnut." The guitarist went "huh?, what if I had what he uses?" Then Chris says "Eddie would sound like Eddie no matter what gear he uses. "You will only sound like you end of". I thought that story was great as it teaches you that the player has to get their own sound.
wELL I FOR ONE AGREE 100% Having also been lucky enough at times to see some top rate guys just pick up a laying around instrument and they sound like they sound As the guy said it's in the way you play not what you play through Though there are a few players who can actually emulate a certain player. I sat in a studio once doing a demo and wanted a lead on it Now the producer and own of the local studio was a real hot shot player so i convinced him to do me a lead He sits there says what type do u want Eric Clapton, and he starts playing, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Vai George Harrison i just sat there gobsmacked But he had his own style and way to. By all means get some decent amp if your electric Rock riffs through a 10 watt beginners amp not quite the same effect lol but plenty of good software options some even free But as the man say Don't waste your money on expensive gear thinking it will make you Nuno Bettencourt lol
That's a good point of view, but i want to share my own experience Recently i had a concert. There were good amps, monitoring, nice mic and... all went superb. We played so good and everybody liked it, i never felt so awesome And it was all about good sound, nailing the tone and actually hearing each other. We never played so smooth while training and i never could get that tone just because i had cheap amp and no monitoring. That stuff costs money, but totally worth it
Thanks for the comment man. I wasn't trying to say don't buy expensive gear, more like don't spend a fortune trying to sound like your favourite guitar player if you can't play like them. Man I'm the last person who should be lecturing about spending too much money on gear lol
I saw the jam years ago play Eaton rifles, and when we're young and Paul weller played his rickies thru a peavey backstage amp, sounded awesome. I have the Same amp, not cos I want to sound like Paul Weller, it was the only amp I could afford. I still sound awful thru it.
I guess I go along with this to some extent; Slash still sounds like Slash even on an acoustic guitar; but would he still sound like Slash on a Rickenbacker? Some guitars and amps have a very distinct and different sound/tone all of their own so tone definitely isn’t just in the fingers. As you know, I use digital modelling amps which are so good nowadays, especially with the patches and other software, I think you can sound like anyone without buying their gear. I think I’ve done a couple of close approximations of Jerry Cantrell’s sound using a guitar I made myself and just my Line 6 Spider amp, as well as using a Katana patch and I think they’re both close enough that I don’t need to get a G&L rampage and a Bognor amp. I do agree with your other point though, about trying to do your own thing and be unique rather than copying someone else. I kind of see my guitar heroes as my teachers - I can’t copy them really anyway, I’m not good enough! But by trying to learn their techniques, I’m learning how to play better and one day I’ll be able to put it all together and come up with something of my own. Which will sound like 90s grunge but not as good 😅
I spent years learning to play other peoples stuff. It's a good way to learn because you know what it should sound like. But I got bored and wanted to find my own way so that's where I'm at now. I still haven't found the perfect sound yet tho......
I have been saying this for the longest time especially for players attempting to emulate the SRV/Sayce & Mayer camp. If these players are already known for having extreme finesse and a specific physical touch, wouldn't getting their gear actually make it much harder for the average player to cop a similar tone? Ironically the gear actually does matter. High-headroom and dynamically responsive amps, transparent ODs or mid-forward ODs. These would all emphasise right and left hand technique. But hey if paying for all that gear makes you practice more to get those sounds then all the power to you.
If you can afford it and it makes you happy then you aren't "wasting your money". Everybody has different goals and desires as guitar goes. If somebody wants to pursue the tone of a particular guitar great then good luck to them and getting gear that is at the very least in the ballpark of what your guitar hero used or uses makes some degree of sense even though obviously you need the skills to start with.
I have a left-handed Dave Mustaine Dean VMNT. I bought it not necessarily to sound like Dave, but I feel Dave knows more about guitar than I do to determine what makes a guitar the most playable for thrash metal.
I totally agree I have been down that rabbit hole. And spent a ton of money on gear.. amps, custom shop guitars. Ect including vintage rack gear. Trying to get that sound And still sound like crap. Lol
Age old debate that refuses to die gracefully. Same old arguments ”try getting black album tone with tweed Princeton and acoustic with piezo pickup” vs. ”it’s all in the hands”. Lets take David Gilmour as an example, he had long career and always wanted to reinvent himself. Can you honestly say his tone did not change obscured vs dark side vs animals vs delicate vs division bell vs pulse? Could he have achieved delicate sound of thunder- tone using the gear he used on obscured by clouds? So obviously it’s not the fingers. Zappa said to Vai tone is in your head or something like that. That’s the most accurate of what I’ve heard. It’s in your head and how can you realize is on you. You need to have it in your head, just by hooking up period correct gear wont cut it. How you approach the guitar goes a long way (’it’s all in the fingers’), but I still find it arrogant to say it’a only the fingers that matter. Also, soundguys tend to be very pragmatic, while a fan may appreciate more those minute details which in all honesty in many cases get lost in live presentation. Oh, and one more. Go listen how Joe Baresi or Andy Wallace layer guitars. It’s not like they would be layer same tone coming from different amps..
It's all practice. I literally play modified Epiphone Les Paul guitars (Seymour Duncan) and a Vox Valvetronix 100 (I got it used for $171 US on a super sale). They're close enough to that classic British sound I like. I think I can get decent sounds out of them. The more I play them the better they (or I) sound. It's all in the hands and all in the soul man. You have to pour emotion into it to sound good. Boring people make boring music. In the words of the great Liam Gallagher it's what's in the tin of beans that matters.
My hero was Ritchie Blackmore when I was a kid. I taught myself to play guitar starting at the age of 6 and have developed my own style. Never said it was good.
Gear can take you to a new level of inspiration and lead to more practice hours. But. As stated, simply replicating the gear of a favorite artist, will never make one sound or play like said artist.
"Don't waste money on gear trying to sound like your hero - unless you can play like them." .. I couldn't possibly agree with you more. And if you could/can play/sound like hero? Why in hell would you want to??
Shhh. Dude, MARKETING CAN HEAR YOU! :D Yea, how would they sell all of that gear if they couldn't make THAT claim, then? Tone chasers are usually tone chasers because they aren't at the level of talented that their own tone is meaningful. And that thing that always kills me is **which tone**, from the album? Sure, add a desk and all the outboard gear from the studio to that tone. Live? Right, with what backline? Yea, you can duplicate a lot of it with a deep wallet, but as you say, if you can't mimic the talent, it doesn't matter.
Never liked Beck, listening to blow by blow was like having an angry woman pull the hairs from my nether region. Like a few songs by Van Halen, that is it, Eddie played on the songs. My gear is old, mix of Crate and H&K amps. One old ass wah pedal no name. A few guitars I have altered to fit my needs. Works for me, and no one else seems to mind I don't look or want to act like some other guitar player.
Gear - the wallet way
Skill - the hands way
Tone - the Steinway
loves me some guitar tho
Steinway ? Okay.. But I heard that Moby plays a Baldwin.. Or Bald one? uh never mind
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Studio producer Chris Tsangaredes (rip) in an interview on UA-cam had a great little story. He had a guitarist in his studio who wanted Chris to get him an Eddie Van Halen guitar tone. Chris said back to the guitarist "your not Eddie Van Halen, you doughnut." The guitarist went "huh?, what if I had what he uses?" Then Chris says "Eddie would sound like Eddie no matter what gear he uses. "You will only sound like you end of". I thought that story was great as it teaches you that the player has to get their own sound.
wELL I FOR ONE AGREE 100% Having also been lucky enough at times to see some top rate guys just pick up a laying around instrument and they sound like they sound As the guy said it's in the way you play not what you play through Though there are a few players who can actually emulate a certain player. I sat in a studio once doing a demo and wanted a lead on it Now the producer and own of the local studio was a real hot shot player so i convinced him to do me a lead He sits there says what type do u want Eric Clapton, and he starts playing, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Vai George Harrison i just sat there gobsmacked But he had his own style and way to. By all means get some decent amp if your electric Rock riffs through a 10 watt beginners amp not quite the same effect lol but plenty of good software options some even free But as the man say Don't waste your money on expensive gear thinking it will make you Nuno Bettencourt lol
That's a good point of view, but i want to share my own experience
Recently i had a concert. There were good amps, monitoring, nice mic and... all went superb. We played so good and everybody liked it, i never felt so awesome
And it was all about good sound, nailing the tone and actually hearing each other. We never played so smooth while training and i never could get that tone just because i had cheap amp and no monitoring. That stuff costs money, but totally worth it
Thanks for the comment man. I wasn't trying to say don't buy expensive gear, more like don't spend a fortune trying to sound like your favourite guitar player if you can't play like them. Man I'm the last person who should be lecturing about spending too much money on gear lol
I saw the jam years ago play Eaton rifles, and when we're young and Paul weller played his rickies thru a peavey backstage amp, sounded awesome. I have the Same amp, not cos I want to sound like Paul Weller, it was the only amp I could afford. I still sound awful thru it.
I guess I go along with this to some extent; Slash still sounds like Slash even on an acoustic guitar; but would he still sound like Slash on a Rickenbacker? Some guitars and amps have a very distinct and different sound/tone all of their own so tone definitely isn’t just in the fingers.
As you know, I use digital modelling amps which are so good nowadays, especially with the patches and other software, I think you can sound like anyone without buying their gear. I think I’ve done a couple of close approximations of Jerry Cantrell’s sound using a guitar I made myself and just my Line 6 Spider amp, as well as using a Katana patch and I think they’re both close enough that I don’t need to get a G&L rampage and a Bognor amp.
I do agree with your other point though, about trying to do your own thing and be unique rather than copying someone else. I kind of see my guitar heroes as my teachers - I can’t copy them really anyway, I’m not good enough! But by trying to learn their techniques, I’m learning how to play better and one day I’ll be able to put it all together and come up with something of my own. Which will sound like 90s grunge but not as good 😅
I spent years learning to play other peoples stuff. It's a good way to learn because you know what it should sound like. But I got bored and wanted to find my own way so that's where I'm at now. I still haven't found the perfect sound yet tho......
I have been saying this for the longest time especially for players attempting to emulate the SRV/Sayce & Mayer camp. If these players are already known for having extreme finesse and a specific physical touch, wouldn't getting their gear actually make it much harder for the average player to cop a similar tone? Ironically the gear actually does matter. High-headroom and dynamically responsive amps, transparent ODs or mid-forward ODs. These would all emphasise right and left hand technique. But hey if paying for all that gear makes you practice more to get those sounds then all the power to you.
If you can afford it and it makes you happy then you aren't "wasting your money".
Everybody has different goals and desires as guitar goes.
If somebody wants to pursue the tone of a particular guitar great then good luck to them and getting gear that is at the very least in the ballpark of what your guitar hero used or uses makes some degree of sense even though obviously you need the skills to start with.
I have a left-handed Dave Mustaine Dean VMNT. I bought it not necessarily to sound like Dave, but I feel Dave knows more about guitar than I do to determine what makes a guitar the most playable for thrash metal.
I've never played one. I do get your meaning tho. I have a few Jacksons - I'm a Scott Ian fan
Great video - from title down. Please address the collectors one day. Guitars should be played!
I totally agree I have been down that rabbit hole. And spent a ton of money on gear.. amps, custom shop guitars. Ect including vintage rack gear. Trying to get that sound And still sound like crap. Lol
Age old debate that refuses to die gracefully. Same old arguments ”try getting black album tone with tweed Princeton and acoustic with piezo pickup” vs. ”it’s all in the hands”.
Lets take David Gilmour as an example, he had long career and always wanted to reinvent himself. Can you honestly say his tone did not change obscured vs dark side vs animals vs delicate vs division bell vs pulse? Could he have achieved delicate sound of thunder- tone using the gear he used on obscured by clouds?
So obviously it’s not the fingers. Zappa said to Vai tone is in your head or something like that. That’s the most accurate of what I’ve heard. It’s in your head and how can you realize is on you. You need to have it in your head, just by hooking up period correct gear wont cut it. How you approach the guitar goes a long way (’it’s all in the fingers’), but I still find it arrogant to say it’a only the fingers that matter.
Also, soundguys tend to be very pragmatic, while a fan may appreciate more those minute details which in all honesty in many cases get lost in live presentation.
Oh, and one more. Go listen how Joe Baresi or Andy Wallace layer guitars. It’s not like they would be layer same tone coming from different amps..
It's all practice. I literally play modified Epiphone Les Paul guitars (Seymour Duncan) and a Vox Valvetronix 100 (I got it used for $171 US on a super sale). They're close enough to that classic British sound I like. I think I can get decent sounds out of them. The more I play them the better they (or I) sound. It's all in the hands and all in the soul man. You have to pour emotion into it to sound good. Boring people make boring music. In the words of the great Liam Gallagher it's what's in the tin of beans that matters.
My hero was Ritchie Blackmore when I was a kid. I taught myself to play guitar starting at the age of 6 and have developed my own style. Never said it was good.
It was Ritchie that made me want to play as well!!!!!
Gear can take you to a new level of inspiration and lead to more practice hours. But. As stated, simply replicating the gear of a favorite artist, will never make one sound or play like said artist.
People just don't want to hear real talk or good advice in my experience. They especially don't want to practice.
Im gunna keep buying gear until i sound like Taylor Swift #8🤣🤣🤣
"Don't waste money on gear trying to sound like your hero - unless you can play like them." ..
I couldn't possibly agree with you more.
And if you could/can play/sound like hero?
Why in hell would you want to??
Shhh. Dude, MARKETING CAN HEAR YOU! :D Yea, how would they sell all of that gear if they couldn't make THAT claim, then? Tone chasers are usually tone chasers because they aren't at the level of talented that their own tone is meaningful. And that thing that always kills me is **which tone**, from the album? Sure, add a desk and all the outboard gear from the studio to that tone. Live? Right, with what backline? Yea, you can duplicate a lot of it with a deep wallet, but as you say, if you can't mimic the talent, it doesn't matter.
Never liked Beck, listening to blow by blow was like having an angry woman pull the hairs from my nether region. Like a few songs by Van Halen, that is it, Eddie played on the songs.
My gear is old, mix of Crate and H&K amps. One old ass wah pedal no name. A few guitars I have altered to fit my needs. Works for me, and no one else seems to mind I don't look or want to act like some other guitar player.
If you aren’t tracking done the kinds of socks and shorts they were wearing in the studio, you’re just a poser. Tone is in the underwear