Dynamic Duo

As you’ll no doubt have noticed, we’ve devoted this month’s cover feature to the meaty question of how to get better tone. All guitarists have mental templates for what great guitar tone is, usually gleaned from records. It might be, for example, the molten lead sound Leslie West got with a Les Paul Junior at Woodstock, or it might be Stevie Ray’s piano-like Strat sound on Little Wing.

But while we have all these mental snapshots of what good tone is, they’re completely static. In other words, they ignore, crucially, the dynamic elements of tone: how does a guitar and amp respond to your touch? Does the attack and the clarity of the tone in question really suit your playing style? We often talk in the Guitarist office about players who thrive on clarity and projection, such as Robben Ford. Their drive tones tend to be strong and clear – but unforgiving of anything less than really confident note choices and picking. Other guitarists prefer to ladle it on with greasy slathers of gain – just listen to how Billy Gibbons wrings every last harmonic squeal and grind from his Marshalls, drawling out notes and working bends hard, to make simple riffs into masterpieces of mojo. Both players produce great tone, because they’ve found gear that gels with the way they play. I guess the message is, as always, that the gear won’t do all the work for you – it takes two to dance that particular tango.

Just a quick note for readers who follow our Q&A column, but can’t find it this month: fear not, it hasn’t gone, we just devoted those pages to the cover feature – which is really a bumper edition of Q&A, if you like – and it returns next issue as usual. Until next time, hope you have great fun trying some of the tone tips in this month’s issue – and see you next month.