How would you define a tonal aspiration? Let it out!

[plexified]

Its been a while since I remember a thread that asks , what do you want to sound like or aspire to define your sound ? I kick this out their for anyone to chime in and talk about the artists that you may want to define tone wise or phrasing wise to sound like . Not saying your trying to clone a sound , but we all have bits and pieces that we find to be just killer . Its a thread to tell of the nuances you strive to capture in your playing now or are working on down the road. I guess I will try to start this off in a abstract way .
I will even use paragraphs ! So to just even try to start I'll give it a go .


First I try to fly entirely by the seat of my pants these days . I say that because I found so many times you do not know what your walking into playing wise with others and myself personally the best performances I have heard or have been inspired by are very spontaneous. Or they are an ingrained 'it' factor a player has .

Now I can start with Ed , He had a depth and range of colors he painted with that was inspiring . His tool box was massive and so was his tone . I liked he sounded organic and completely on fire and totally unbridaled. It showed up live every time and the fire burned with different woods so to speak and it is still glorious .
So skillset with swing , timing , attack and unique phrasing immediately inspired . I can reference The palm muting and picking shred along with the dynamics and harmonic versatility just squeazing out so much tonescape . Using every part of the guitar to achieve tone and massive layers of soundscape . His feel is so vast and he wrote entire chapters of new style and breathe into the pallet we paint with.
So for me its a gut wrenching feel I try to find. I often play for some close frineds when they ask and I actually tell them , I don't know whats going to come out , its like an exorcism. And I find myself within a vibe and it takes you away and by flying by the seat of your pants its what I learned from Hendrix and the greats that you channel the vibe and it comes through you. Your skillset sets the limits and its up to you to feel it and push it .
In that spirit the blues greats moved me , with the gut wrenching emotions and vast techniques that culminated in Hendrix with a weapon. He pushed and pushed and passed it to guys like Uli Jon Roth and Ed , through Steve Vai and Satriani and shifted gears with technologies that opened up even more doors. So we have tone for days now and tools that are insane to think of and even apply . I find guys like Schon , and Gilmore extract this depth as well as roots like SRV and modern monsters like John Hammond Junior. I love George Lynch a lot so I love to find his key notes and phrasings and the Classical beauty of Malmsteen and Michael Schenker are just 'more' . Sonny Landreth and even players like Sonny Osbourne who owns the banjo and even Mandolin players shake me up . So its a start , but dig deep and put out some insight on what shakes your bones and what you hope to find. A thread to dream a bit and visit some pit stops of inspiration like BB King and the Thrill is Gone . So simple yet earth shaking inspiration . Any takers ?

[plexified]

Kinda of hard to even complete that thought for sure , but , I figure I would be the guinnea pig and bang on it . Even using paragraphs!
When I was a kid I used to wonder early on how these guys playing for 30 years got so good . How did they do it man ? I soon realized it was time . You could put that time in an hour a week for thirty years or just plow through with ten hours a week and do it in three years. But , not so fast . I became a chameleon excercising this idea. I could play anyone elses music but really had none of my own. So I eventually time brings life changes and dynamics and take pain for instance, it has an outlet and sometimes the great songs come from just that. In my early days I would just put on the radio and tune away until I found 'something' that caused me to pause . I found inspiration but I was not in tune. Every song is not in A 440 so you have to tune to the band . I know a no brainer to a lot , but some may find this interesting.
When I found this early on I branched out to acoustic tunings and my slide from the music store had a bunch of them . So I had adopted this new approach to learn the tunings and what songs used them . You quickly learn you have to tune off of a root string to get say ten different tunings in open chords like C, D , E or A and your off to the races . When you can tune you can rule . That develops your ear and the internal flow connects to it.
In tune is the name of the game . Even in tune to your own preference is critical . But to jam with anyone else you have to be able to tune on the fly and that's where the AHA moments happen . Your their! It allows you to find the right vibrato and the range of vibrato phrasings that work , and even half tones and moods you never knew. Tuning is your greatest launching pad. Today we have the ability to slow stuff down to real tone , but octaves need your attention. It opens the ability to find chord positions that work for you and you find your style and gravitate towards what I call roadmaps.
The fretlight guitar had a fretboard that would light up in the dark the notes on the fretboard. I wished I used it back then it was expensive though , so I used paper and just had to draw it on paper , I was an aspiring architect so I was fun. But fingerings do not match my heros. And its for the better . I could hear the strings they were playing on , but my take made it my own . Some had to be spot on , others not so.
So , just another jumping board for you all to ponder , I learned so much from blind audio and then others live. And technology passed me by . Now ten year olds are ripping on crazy train and stuff , but still they have to find their inner voice . And One of my Heros Jimmy Page made it cool for me to find the Mandolin and 12 string and my parents roots in country grew me up on Flatts and Skruggs and Willie Nelson . Just monster players . Earl Scruggs is a must visit banjo guy. The stuff outside your comfort zone like sax phrasings and vocal phrasings on guitar open another world .Guys like Satriani and Vai being non vocalists had to find 'it' in the strings without the voice so to speak and its a growing art . Speaketh .
Your soundscape will come to you , but this is the thread that helps find that stuff. We have a boatload of tech , but we can use a dreamscape bump. How far will we inspire each other , because in reality , we have not yet begun.

[JiMB]

Ed's tone






period.

HA HA! That's great!

[guitar007]

Brilliant! I'll take 2...one to overdrive the other.

[Tone Slinger]

HILARIOUS
Funny thing is, is that I'm sure somebody ( Wampler ?) Out there is trying to actually make THAT pedal. We wouldn't like it though, cause we all know that the current technology prohibits ANY pedal from doing what a 1959/1987 circuit tube amp does.

I think MY tonal aspiration is to be satisfied with the tone EVERYTIME I plug into an amp. I've got a late '80's Alvarez acoustic that ALWAY'S sounds right everytime I pick it up. Electric guitars/amps are a different story.

[efraser68]

Thanks Melody Maker ~ that made my day

[dirtycooter]

Anything that lets you roam anywhere on the neck, light and soft to full on roar with a ton of dynamic response, and it just feels right and soooo connected to YOU and your every move. Takes you directly to your ZONE and has you riding the longest wave ever like a expert surfer or on the best cruise of your life on your Harley. Like the best holey T-shirt you own that's so comfortable but probably should be thrown away. Like a great pair of leather boots, aged and worn in to perfection that you could never buy new like it off the shelf without putting them on and they feel completely wrong though they are identical really. Really it's any sound that you quit thinkin about tone completely because it just there, and all you do is just PLAY!

[fivecoyote]

Here's my interpretation of the question of my tonal aspiration:

Dirty Movies (studio) blended with a little Mean Street, Unchained, crazy exploding fretboard responsiveness of VH II, the gunshot first A chord in Fools, and the loose but meaty verse lick in Take Your Whiskey Home. What I call strong "high mids" (eg, Dance the Night Away chords) are assumed through it all.

[NY Chief]

Rory Gallagher -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJSVWY_WiOE

Check the roaring bend at 3:30. As good as anything EVH ever did.

ADMIT IT, LADIES!!!

[echoplexi1974]

The 1st guitar solo in Deep Purple's Knockin At Your Back Door:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7GERh0sQzY

It's like he slices your face off with that tone and the agression of his playing. And the little whammy phrases he does, you can tell totally inspired evh. Makes me want to play guitar RIGHT NOW!

[FL6]

The 1st guitar solo in Deep Purple's Knockin At Your Back Door:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7GERh0sQzY

It's like he slices your face off with that tone and the agression of his playing. And the little whammy phrases he does, you can tell totally inspired evh. Makes me want to play guitar RIGHT NOW!

That's one of my favourite solos ever, released in 1984.

[echoplexi1974]

FL6 wrote:

That's one of my favourite solos ever, released in 1984.

Yeah I meant Ritchie's early 70's whammy phrases inspired evh. But love the way he used it on the Perfect Strangers album too. Very non-floyd roseish, classic strat style!

[Megaro]

Tonal aspiration would be kind of what Tone Slinger described. Repeatable tone.

Tonal inspiration is different. I would say Ed's solo on One Foot Out the Door just makes me want to go grab the guitar. But what really does it for me is the Rev. Billy F. Gibbons on Just Got Paid when he whips out the slide solo. It is not so much the tone, or the notes. It is the total package. It sounds so sweet every time I play it. Everything about it is right.

[FL6]

FL6 wrote:

That's one of my favourite solos ever, released in 1984.

Yeah I meant Ritchie's early 70's whammy phrases inspired evh. But love the way he used it on the Perfect Strangers album too. Very non-floyd roseish, classic strat style!

I can't seem to find anything like knocking on your backdoor on the early records. Can you recommend something?

[echoplexi1974]

FL6 wrote:

I can't seem to find anything like knocking on your backdoor on the early records. Can you recommend something?

What do you mean? Whammy use? Made in Japan. It's all over that album. Bloodsucker off of In Rock.