trying to get a blues sound
2007-06-30 11:51:50 · 11 answers · asked by p8ntballboy22 2 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Music ➔ Blues
16 characters does have a point. A lot of your tone does come from your hands. It's called ''touch'' if you will. Your tone comes from a sum of all the parts. Guitar , amp , speakers , pedals etc. etc. But your touch is by far the most important and influential part of it all. But SRV was a great guitarist who really paid his dues and brought a young audience back to the blues when the blues was in a very sad state. Sure he did rehash a lot of stuff that had already been done but what blues guitarist doesn't at one time or another. As far as a good pedal I couldn't really tell you. It's up to your ears so you'll have to try some out. Personally I prefer a strat ran through a good tube amp , no gadgets or pedals. But thats all just personal preference though. Keep trying things out and you'll find what your looking for but remember , no matter what equipment your using your still gonna sound like you. Great equipment doesn't make a great player.
2007-07-04 05:22:47 · answer #1 · answered by eightbraker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not gonna lecture you on "blues players don't use effects" like some other folks did, because that's not true. The only reason the old blues players didn't use effects in the old days is because they didn't have them. I know Buddy Guy uses stompboxes and a solid state modeling amp now, and B.B. King cut a lot of his 70s material with a solid state amp. So all that stuff about "plug your Gibson guitar straight into a tube amp with no effects" is just opinion.
You probably already know that good tone starts in the player and not in the effects pedal.
If you want a good distortion for a bluesy sound, my opinion is that the ProCo Rat pedal will definitely get the job done. To my ear it sounds better than the overrated and overpriced Ibanez Tube Screamer, and it's far more adjustable and toneful.
2007-07-04 15:21:06 · answer #2 · answered by happydog 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have to experiment to get what you want. Not all pedals react the same way with different pickups or different amplifiers. The best way to get the kind of distortion you want is to overdrive a set of tubes and not use a pedal at all, unless it is a pedal designed to overdrive the tubes. The good news is that there are tons of choices and we are living in the golden age of amplifier builders - there are dozens of great ones. The bad news is that there are plenty of choices! This makes it harder to pick and choose. Try going to the Harmony Central website for reviews of the pedals you are considering, but you still have to try them out with YOUR amp and YOUR guitar to see if it is what YOU like. And don't be too concerned with the opinions of others about what constitutes blues or not - there's an old joke about how many guitar players it takes to change a light bulb (ten - one to actually do it and nine to say "I could have done it better than that"). I play blues-rock. Some guys say that you shouldn't use effects at all, but I always point out Jimi Hendrix to them. As long as you are using the effects with TASTE and to "tell the story", I think the use of effects is just fine. Can you imagine the song "Voodoo Chile" without effects? It would be nowhere near the same.
2007-07-03 21:22:55 · answer #3 · answered by Paul Hxyz 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you are trying to get a "blues" sound leave the pedals for the shredders. All you need to play the blues is a Gibson guitar, a Fender tube amp and a cord to go between them.
2007-07-01 23:12:15 · answer #4 · answered by mccoyblues 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ive heard that the boss blues driver pedal gives a really good edge to blues guitar playing
2007-07-04 11:56:49 · answer #5 · answered by poprune097 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has nothing to do with what pedal, guitar, amp, whatever. The sound you get out of a guitar comes from your hands and your guts. Study some REAL Blues guys, and I don't mean Stevie Ray, the inbred over-rated Albert King on Steroids imitator. By real, I mean Albert King, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, B.B. King; those are Blues guys. Not most of the clowns and wannabes on the scene today.
2007-07-01 00:38:52 · answer #6 · answered by Third account already! 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
i know that boss makes an actual blues driver pedal but you might just be better off with an overdriven fender amp, in my opinion fender amps have the best tone and sound great when playing the blues.
2007-07-01 14:42:29 · answer #7 · answered by alex 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thats a broad question but the Ibanez Tube Screamer is a great one and Radials Tone Bone Classic is great as well.
2007-07-04 15:37:28 · answer #8 · answered by Edko 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on the guitar. I like the Boss Overdrive or the Voodoo Sparkle drive.
2007-06-30 18:56:26 · answer #9 · answered by amandafofanda66 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
This amp... http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-Blonde-Blues-Junior-Guitar-Amp?sku=480491
Plus this pedal.... http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ibanez-TS9-Tube-Screamer-Effects-Pedal-Original-Reissue?sku=150284
Is all you really need.
And the guy who slammed Stevie Ray Vaughn is a joke.
2007-07-02 04:06:40 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋