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Great post,Bill.
I can't say for certain, but the tilting point for
me choosing to use and play with less distortion, was after I got into more
genres (jazz, country, bluegrass, worldbeat, etc) that used more clean tones,
and it occurred to me that distortion or high gain can easily be used as a
articulation crutch. It did not take me long to realize that, given any prior,
rippin' solo I had done using high gain and distortion, during my fusion/hard
rock/progressive rock days, if I had tried to articulate the same or similar
solo using a clean tone, it sounded like crap, sloppy, etc. I realized how much
I was relying gain to play fast and still sound good. And I have tested
this with guitarists...someone will play a really fast and impressive solo, and
then I ask them to turn to the clean channel, and the result is, most of the
time, not good. With high gain, you have this amazing compression and
sensitivity of the strings that allows you to play very fast and
fluid...mistakes in articulation are sort of "smoothed" over so that they aren't
apparent. In fact, I recall not even having to use a pick. With that much
gain, you can basically finger the runs, using hammer ons and pull offs, and it
still doesn't sound have bad.
Now, I am only speaking for myself here and not
saying that anyone who uses a lot of gain is using it as a crutch. That would be
an unfair assumption. I am not trying to start a flame war here to slam
those guitarists who like to use a lot o again. But I am stating what I think is
a fact about what high gain allows you to do on the guitar because of the
compression, overtones, sensitivity, etc, vs. if you were playing clean. And for
me, it started to feel like cheating and forced me to start practicing the
guitar clean, to see what I was really capable of in terms of my articulation
and control of the instrument. The guitarists that really gain (no pun intended)
my respect are those who can go back and forth and still main their
articulation - Nels, for instance, but also many others, like Metheny, Fripp,
Mclaughlin, Beck, and many others. That is why I promote students to
start with the acoustic guitar and gain a level of mastery on it before moving
to the electric and a lot of distortion. In fact, my father never let me
buy an electric guitar and amp, until I had taken a few years of classical
guitar lessons and proved that I could play a handful of songs with just the
acoustic guitar, with no aid of technology. I suspect that has molded my outlook
on this a bit. It was as if I heard to earn the right to play an electric
guitar and take advantage of all that technology, effects, etc.
Kris
----- Original Message -----
“The
massive distortion gets on my nerves after a while”
I agree Krispen, I find that the distortion tone is
often times the make or break point for me, of whether an artist
really speaks to me, or not. Using distortion for many guitarists
represents their lead voice, and in a way it’s analogues to what a sax player
develops, when choosing an instrument, thickness of reeds, and
embouchure. Nels Kline has a great sense of effects application, and at
the same time his heavy distortion sounds can get pretty abrasive to my
ears. Which I’m sure is the point. As they say one man’s pudding is another
man’s poison. Give me a Scott Henderson, David Gilmour, Carlos Santana or Jeff
Beck any day of the week as their tones are always stellar. I think the
danger with heavy distortion is that it can obscure a players personality and
rob them of dynamic range, not to mention making for a muddy sometimes
indistinct tone. I also realize that when you are trying to create sonic
mayhem, distortion and fuzz can be your best friends.
[snip]
Bill
From:
Krispen Hartung
[mailto:info@krispenhartung.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 4:37
PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: One Guitarist, One Drummer
was: Altered Tunings
Heh heh...yes. Sorry. John Morris
is someone I work with. That was a habit based typo. :) I meant
Joe. Damn, good catch! No one else got
that?
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