Slash on Gear

[Lev]

Slash posted this on his twitter page over the weekend. I know we've discussed this topic to death before but it's interesting to hear someone who's a 'guitar hero' to many say this....

"After all these years, I've come to the conclusion: 80% of your sound is u, not your gear. For better or worse. Iii|; )'"

FWIW I think he's right. I think the ability to control sustain, precision in your technique, right hand attack, right hand rhythm, note selections etc. etc. do far more to create a tone than the gear you are playing through. Although those techniques are a little easier to execute on good gear.

[R_of_G]

"And every guitarist who has ever heard Frisell has wondered how he managed to get his guitar to produce notes that swelled in volume as they sustained, like a violinist or horn player, instead of steadily fading, like the notes on everyone else’s guitar. There was talk by the bar of a clever use of compression, echo, or volume pedals. I believed this until I heard him produce the same effect on an acoustic guitar, at which point I gave up trying to understand." - Marc Ribot

[FrankenFretter]

Yes, the unfortunate truth for some of us. No matter how spectacular my gear, I will always just sound like me. ;-)

[Eric]

You know, I agree with this somewhat, but one thing I feel these days is that it's also about how you use the gear, and I'm not just talking about guitar skill.

I am only now getting to be very good at tweaking my equipment to get the sounds I like out of it. It's not as simple as I first believed, and you can make ANY amp or guitar sound bad. At least I can. ;)

So yeah, I agree that it's mostly about the player, but gear has a definite impact on it, and how you use the gear is also very important.

[Jimi75]

Come on friends, Digitech gave us the solution with their Artist Signature Pedals....it's so easy to sound like Brian May, Jimi or Clapton now *lol* ;-)
I think Slash has a point here. But I am also with Eric, gear has definitely a deep impact on your playing and therefore on your sound.

[duhvoodooman]

Yes, the unfortunate truth for some of us. No matter how spectacular my gear, I will always just sound like me. ;-)Well, now--THERE'S a depressing thought! :rotflmao:

[Brian Krashpad]

Quote Originally Posted by FrankenFretter View Post
Yes, the unfortunate truth for some of us. No matter how spectacular my gear, I will always just sound like me. ;-)


Well, now--THERE'S a depressing thought! :rotflmao:

Keith Richards has been quoted as saying essentially the same thing Sean did above. It's true for me too. I can play through my old ss Kustom, or my hybrid-y li'l Super Champ XD, or my Fender-y Super Reverb, or my Marshall-y Sovtek, and it all still sounds like Krashpad. :thwap

[psylocke24]

Slash posted this on his twitter page over the weekend. I know we've discussed this topic to death before but it's interesting to hear someone who's a 'guitar hero' to many say this....

"After all these years, I've come to the conclusion: 80% of your sound is u, not your gear. For better or worse. Iii|; )'"

guitar music (http://takelessons.com/category/guitar-lessons)
FWIW I think he's right. I think the ability to control sustain, precision in your technique, right hand attack, right hand rhythm, note selections etc. etc. do far more to create a tone than the gear you are playing through. Although those techniques are a little easier to execute on good gear.

I agree it is still how you make the sound and how you do it. Skills is very important.

[deeaa]

That's easy...you can do the same by just fretting a note but NOT playing it, and then start to move the note with very small rapid movements to start it first sounding, then playing loud.
Just sustaining a guitar won't get minutes of legato, but by 'trembling' the string you can get it to swell in volume again and indefinitely, not that hard.