Suns hine Of Your Love
Man, I feel like a woman tone
Player Eric Clapton album Fresh Cream (1966)
If you’re a guitarist and you have ears, we’re assuming you must have heard the term ‘woman tone’ by now. But what does it actually mean? It means Clapton, and it’s good news for anyone looking for a lesson in using the tonal potential of their guitar.
When Slowhand hooked up with bassist / vocalist Jack Bruce and maverick drummer Ginger Baker he was already a guitarist who had been described as a ‘god’, but rather than resting on his holy laurels he sought to evolve his playing further in this new trio. And right away on their first recorded song together with Ifeel Free their ambitions for a new psychedelic slant on the blues rock were made clear. And Clapton was crafting a new sound for it at his fingertips; ‘woman tone’.
He was using his Les Paul at first but his handpainted 1964 ‘Fool’ SG Standard would become synonymous with the band’s sonic tendencies on follow-up album Disraeligears. Key song Sunshine Ofyourlove’s harder edge approach was directly influenced by the riff’s architect bassist / vocalist Bruce seeing Hendrix live in the UK. The woman tone was in full force, especially on the solo here – with a cheeky nod to Blue Moon’s melody before blending the minor and major pentatonic. The tone uses the four control layout that applies to the LP and SG. And who better to explain than the man himself? Over to you, Eric: “The woman tone is produced by using either the bass [neck] pickup or the lead [bridge] pickup but with all the bass [tone] off,” he explained in a 1968 television interview. “And, in fact, if you use both pickups you should take all the bass off on the tone control. Turn it down to 1 or 0 on the tone control, and then turn the volume full up.”
Set your amp’s gain control to taste or experiment with an overdrive pedal to get closer to the tone. Max out the tone controls and, if your neighbours are out, crank your volume too.