I'm not sure whether it will prove to be a transformative experience, but I had the best time on Wed night.
My long-time band split in March, and I've had a bit of time off and have in the last 2 months been exploring some acoustic projects, so I have played electric other than at home in a while. All my previous bands have been cover bands and I've always endeavoured to get pretty close to the "right" sound for a song (at least the right ball-park for gain - delays and mods have always been more of a hassle for me), so as at March I was gigging with a huge board (fuzz, boost, three drives plus the usual non-drive suspects), channel-switching amp, at least two guitars. And I do still think that when you're doing 40 songs across a huge range that there is justification for that.
On Wednesday my old drummer called me and invited me down for a jam that night at the Viper Lounge in Glencairn (CT's deep south). Open-mike vibe. I figured I'd get up and do some 12-bar blues with randoms, but it turns out he had managed to get the whole band down as well as the bassist from another band the drummer and I were in before.
So we jumped up (drummer, that bassist and I) and did about 5 songs, and then the full lineup of the more recent band got up and did 6 or 7. Instead of grungy blues we did a fairly full range of different songs in different styles from my two most recent bands' repetoire. And this was in both a three-piece setting and in a lineup with another guitarist.
Thing is, all I took was a Les Paul, my Laney Cube and a tubescreamer. And it was marvellous. I put the Laney up behind me at a nice face level for me, got a beautiful crunchy sound with the bridge p/u volume on 8, and then just used the controls. Tubescreamer on if I needed a tiny bit more gain and compression, otherwise it was all volume/tone up or down. I spent a good 1/3 of the night in the middle position and it felt (to me only, I'm sure) that I had this glorious Mick Taylor-ish tone. It felt liquid and beautiful. I could have played all night. It made me play more sensitively and responsively, and I could find a sound for everything. It may not have been an exact match, but everything sounded great to me, and I know that loving my tone gave my playing the most unbelievable lift.
I think I've always been reasonably good about using the guitar's controls, but this was an absolute game-changer of a night. It's like I suddenly got it. Maybe it was the nostalgia of the evening, maybe it was playing in front of people for the first time in ages, whatever. I am not about to sell all my other gear, but I think this does signal a real change in the way I approach things.
My long-time band split in March, and I've had a bit of time off and have in the last 2 months been exploring some acoustic projects, so I have played electric other than at home in a while. All my previous bands have been cover bands and I've always endeavoured to get pretty close to the "right" sound for a song (at least the right ball-park for gain - delays and mods have always been more of a hassle for me), so as at March I was gigging with a huge board (fuzz, boost, three drives plus the usual non-drive suspects), channel-switching amp, at least two guitars. And I do still think that when you're doing 40 songs across a huge range that there is justification for that.
On Wednesday my old drummer called me and invited me down for a jam that night at the Viper Lounge in Glencairn (CT's deep south). Open-mike vibe. I figured I'd get up and do some 12-bar blues with randoms, but it turns out he had managed to get the whole band down as well as the bassist from another band the drummer and I were in before.
So we jumped up (drummer, that bassist and I) and did about 5 songs, and then the full lineup of the more recent band got up and did 6 or 7. Instead of grungy blues we did a fairly full range of different songs in different styles from my two most recent bands' repetoire. And this was in both a three-piece setting and in a lineup with another guitarist.
Thing is, all I took was a Les Paul, my Laney Cube and a tubescreamer. And it was marvellous. I put the Laney up behind me at a nice face level for me, got a beautiful crunchy sound with the bridge p/u volume on 8, and then just used the controls. Tubescreamer on if I needed a tiny bit more gain and compression, otherwise it was all volume/tone up or down. I spent a good 1/3 of the night in the middle position and it felt (to me only, I'm sure) that I had this glorious Mick Taylor-ish tone. It felt liquid and beautiful. I could have played all night. It made me play more sensitively and responsively, and I could find a sound for everything. It may not have been an exact match, but everything sounded great to me, and I know that loving my tone gave my playing the most unbelievable lift.
I think I've always been reasonably good about using the guitar's controls, but this was an absolute game-changer of a night. It's like I suddenly got it. Maybe it was the nostalgia of the evening, maybe it was playing in front of people for the first time in ages, whatever. I am not about to sell all my other gear, but I think this does signal a real change in the way I approach things.
