Post by 4real on Aug 26, 2008 14:58:33 GMT -5
;D
;D...
Somewhat true....however...
The audience member listening most closely is not the fellow guitarists watching cross armed and noting every pickup change...it is ourselves...
Also true...a guitar with one great sound is great, simple...and if that gives our sound it is most likely "best".
Also somewhat true...however...
Where would guitar playing be if Mark Knophler didn't blast out the punk era in '79 with that signature "inbetween sound" with 'Sultans of Swing'...conversely, how much was Brian Mays unique sound influenced by his DIY guitar with series wiring and OoP switching...
True, a lot of it is in the phrasing and note choices and overall "style" of such players and many others, and quite credible and reasonable interpretations can be done if you can mimic these attributes without these selections...but I do wonder if such artists would have been so inspired to develop such "styles" or personal "sound" if they couldn't access such selections.
If a new sound inspires a different approach to playing, if it is an aid to creating things which we can make our own or contribute to our own sonic "identity", then it is worth pursuing. If that means we need to explore exotic wiring to get there, then that is a road worthy of travel.
Guitars history is strewn with people trying to make their guitars do what their designers didn't intend...Link Ray razorblading his speakers made the two chord "Rumble" something of an anthem, EC's Beano sound of a Les Paul into a marshall on full blast influence countless players with this combination...just to mention a couple more.
So...what you say about audiences in general may be true (although maybe underestimating what "pks" their ears in subtle ways) but what may influence us as players may be quite different.
This may well be very true and I think EVH showed how much can be done with a single pickup guitar and a volume control.
........
Leaving that for the moment...an interesting thing was pointed out to me a few years ago. We associate the neck pickup as "warmer" because it is located more towards the middle of the string but if you consider that the higher up the neck you play, the shorter the distance to the pickup gets so that at the highest frets you characteristic becomes more like that of the bridge pickup close to the bridge...perhaps another reason to consider the middle pickup...perhaps a piece of useless trivia.
....
With all these advocates of series sounds, I am looking forward to hearing them on my nightmare uber switching strat
....
Interesting wide ranging thread...I imagine it also inspires the converse, what are the worst combinations of all time!
pete
I realise that to us guitarists the infinite variations in tone are part of both the beauty of playing and the optimum delivery of the song, but to what extent would you say that the general public are able to distinguish anything beyond the following?
1. ooooooo
2. eeeeeee
3. twang
4. brrraaaangg
5. metal
1. ooooooo
2. eeeeeee
3. twang
4. brrraaaangg
5. metal
;D...
Somewhat true....however...
The audience member listening most closely is not the fellow guitarists watching cross armed and noting every pickup change...it is ourselves...
I think we need to do enough to make our chosen sounds as close as possible to (a) what will sound good to our intended audience (b) what will best express the music we are trying to make and (c) what will allow us to develop something recognisable as our own. I tend to think that all three are best served by few rather than many sounds.
Also true...a guitar with one great sound is great, simple...and if that gives our sound it is most likely "best".
I think I prefer the series combinations to the parallel ones. TBH, the familiar parallel N+M and M+B did weren't originally designed in to the strat, with players taking advantage of the shorting characteristic of the original switches, giving parallel sounds.
Also somewhat true...however...
Where would guitar playing be if Mark Knophler didn't blast out the punk era in '79 with that signature "inbetween sound" with 'Sultans of Swing'...conversely, how much was Brian Mays unique sound influenced by his DIY guitar with series wiring and OoP switching...
True, a lot of it is in the phrasing and note choices and overall "style" of such players and many others, and quite credible and reasonable interpretations can be done if you can mimic these attributes without these selections...but I do wonder if such artists would have been so inspired to develop such "styles" or personal "sound" if they couldn't access such selections.
If a new sound inspires a different approach to playing, if it is an aid to creating things which we can make our own or contribute to our own sonic "identity", then it is worth pursuing. If that means we need to explore exotic wiring to get there, then that is a road worthy of travel.
Guitars history is strewn with people trying to make their guitars do what their designers didn't intend...Link Ray razorblading his speakers made the two chord "Rumble" something of an anthem, EC's Beano sound of a Les Paul into a marshall on full blast influence countless players with this combination...just to mention a couple more.
So...what you say about audiences in general may be true (although maybe underestimating what "pks" their ears in subtle ways) but what may influence us as players may be quite different.
....I tend to think that all three are best served by few rather than many sounds.
This may well be very true and I think EVH showed how much can be done with a single pickup guitar and a volume control.
........
Leaving that for the moment...an interesting thing was pointed out to me a few years ago. We associate the neck pickup as "warmer" because it is located more towards the middle of the string but if you consider that the higher up the neck you play, the shorter the distance to the pickup gets so that at the highest frets you characteristic becomes more like that of the bridge pickup close to the bridge...perhaps another reason to consider the middle pickup...perhaps a piece of useless trivia.
....
With all these advocates of series sounds, I am looking forward to hearing them on my nightmare uber switching strat
....
Interesting wide ranging thread...I imagine it also inspires the converse, what are the worst combinations of all time!
pete