does your guitars sound have a effect on what you

[thebluesbear( al)]

Hi

First let me explain what im on about ,in a previous thread i asked "where did this begin for you" or something like that anyway

Well this is about what keep you going , what i mean is this does any one here play differently on different guitars ?

Does the sound of your instument make you play differently ??


So here is my question id like to explore

How does the sounds of your instruments have an effect on what music you play .....?

al

[toom]

I like to play in open G on my polychrome tricone, open D on Martin EC. Both guitars are wonderful. I stick to blues and slide on the tricone. The Martin's tone is so full I play medieval classical pieces as well as slide and blues.

I'm still coming to terms with the MM blues. It's easy to play, but lacks the depth of the other 2 (costs about 1/4 of the tricone and 1/5 of the Martin, so no surprise). I prefer open D, but play different pieces than on the Martin.

I tend to play only my own stuff, though it is heavily influenced by players I like (Stefan Grossman, Bert Jansch, John Fahey).

[Michael Messer]

Hi Al,

Yes, there is no question about it. Different guitars will bring out different playing styles.

Shine On
Michael.

[thebluesbear( al)]

Hi

Thanks for that .....

al

[andys]

Oh I'd definately agree with this, and it extends to electrics as well.

Teles. Mine get used for twanging away on Stax/Cropper style stuff. Or punky indie stuff.

I have a Les Paul Junior style guitar with a lairy humbucker on it. Doesnt do much else than thrashy stuff when the mood takes me.

My Simon & Patrick dread. Lives in either standard tuning or DADGAD. Its big tone makes me play in a certain way.

I have to say my most versatile guitar in my hands is my MM Blues. It ssems to sound good playing many things. Its in Standard tuning at the moment (but tuned down to DGCFAD), but it seems happy in most tunings. I am consciously playing it without a slide at the moment, to see how it inspires me, also I have my Squier "Esquire" in open G, as I am having a bit of fun playing electric slide recently.

Its funny how when you play a different guitar, either in a music shop, or otherwise, you often try it out in the style of music that goes with the guitar. If I'm ever trying out a Tele, I often play the guitar riff to "Roxette". Or "Spanish Bombs".

MM Guitar owners. Heres a tip. Try your guitar in DADGAD. Mine sounds superb!!!

[snakehips]

Hi there !

I have one guitar that seems to have one purpose - being played in open D for Elmore James numbers :


I love how it sounds with nickel-wound strings plugged into an amp with the Dearmond pickup but it also sounded great with phosphor-bronze strings in regular tuning.

[toom]

I find where I play has an effect too. I've now got my MM Blues guitar at home so feel much more at ease with it. I was unhappy with the sound, but now that it's tuned to concert pitch it's fine. Having heard some fantastic blues last night on the Year of the Blues on a singel cone resonator (don't know who was playing unfortunately, as it was background music rather than the old bluesmen) I suddenly had floods of ideas for my own pieces.



Here's Bottleneck John on a 30s National Duolian. Looks similar to the MM Blues

[subtoxin]

I used to play only wood body acoustics, didn't care much about tone and played basic rhythm. Then I got in to resos...to me the differences in tone between various metal body resos are much more pronounced than on regular acoustics. I've grown addicted to the tone of metal resonator guitars, but it took me a while to learn to play one in terms of learning new styles, the subtleties of controlling dynamics, dampening, etc. Resos forced me to lean way more towards fingerstyle, which is really helping my songwriting...and I'm also becoming a better guitar player as a result. Furthermore, steel tone affects me differently than brass, I love having both but have a slight preference for brass. I really do appreciate a good steel body like a vintage Triolian or the MM Blues though, the latter has been one the best guitars I've owned. Guitars that truly move me inspire me to write.

[bod]

Interesting topic, Al, you've set me thinking... Seems to me there's like different levels to this, I'm not sure I can explain what I mean by this very well, but I'll have a go...

Roughly, there is what seems like a 'tool for the job' level where, say, for example, I've been listening to Frank Black's acoustic work on Christmass again and feel the need to have a go it'll be the dread' that I reach for - if there is chunky, strident strumming to be done in our house this is the tool for the job. Likewise, if I'm playing on that guitar a lot this will influence what I'm playing... But then there is, so to speak, this other level where certain qualities of an instrument seem to have a kind of gravitational pull that can capture a person and keep them orbiting around these. Does that make any sense to others?

Best example I can think of here is probably the little slotty Martin - at the 'tool for the job' level this is all about fingerstyle roots music and seems to be particularly suited to rag-type stuff... at the 'gravitational' level, get up around frets 7 - 10 on the first three strings and this thing really starts to chime, so much so that part the way through trying to get head, hands and heart around 'Saturday Night Rub' or 'Death Don't Have No Mercy' (as these appear in the Woody Mann tutorials) I sometimes get to the high part and end up just doodling around with the lovely sounds, caught in their orbit, as it were.

Actually, it's just dawned on me that the extreme example here is probably that of my youngest, who thrashes and grunges away on his Tele, but can occasionally be caught with the Martin and a face full of wonder as he toys with the harmonics - or as they toy with him - whereupon he'll grin sort of sheepishly and exclaim once more that he just can't get enough of the harmonics on this instrument...

Now it seems to me - and I know this sounds flakey, but even so it is how it seems to me (draw your own conclusions ) - that at this second level the guitars are kind of playing on or in us ("Man, it's like we're the playground that the music plays in!" ) and, to get back to the question, I feel that this is one of the ways that the particularity of particular guitars influences what we do with them, as we learn from and accommodate what they do to us.

For me this is part of the interest and (potential) joy in getting a new instrument - will it have one or more of these "gravitational pulls," how will these effect/contribute to the music, etc...? Kind of makes me wonder about the directions those new additions to the Busker range will take people in... I'm sure we'll hear about it here in due course