This was one of those “how did I get here?” moments. Thanks everyone, for the support of this little show over the years. We couldn’t do this without y’all!
Rhett it felt like we just listened to the Grand Zen Master of Guitar!!! Your joy and awe was written all over face as im sure was mine just watching and listening. What a gem this interview was. thanks man!
Dipped In Tone: "What would you say to people who like digital amps about tube amps" Eric Johnson: "We are all living in a digital simulation anyway, so who cares"
Eric Freakin Johnson is a MONSTER! I’ve seen him 9 times live, and each time his tone, whether acoustic, through his regular rig, or on the piano, was a lesson in what good tone is! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this interview!
I don’t want to be a hater but I found none of this to be new info or insightful Eric seemed tired the whole time. But nice that they are trying to get cool people on
Thank you for having this conversation with Eric. I first saw him in 1978...a few years before his first album (Tones) came out. What an amazing talent and great human being.
Been a chef for over 30 years.. Eric nailed the essence of the trade dead on..I've always said playing guitar is just like cooking..it's all about what you can take from the next guy..put your own spin on it and call it by a different name..🤘❤️🎸🍽️🎶
I love that comment on Tube Amps being an instrument within of itself, I thought that for so long, like when you're playing an old Plexi or something, you have to get the alchemy of all the bits of playing together, I guess that's why we think of so many of the greats as "touch" players, Learning to play the amps is part of the sound and that string contact.. Great interview guys! Big love from the UK
I watch Eric Johnson's live performances all the time, and I'm always struck by how in tune he plays. Watch the strings on his guitar. He's playing all this amazing, fast passages, and the strings aren't moving at all. He frets the notes so accurately that the strings don't even look like they're being played unless he bends. His technique is flawless. For real, after reading this go watch one of his live performances and check out his strings as he's playing
Great interview, Eric is a tone genius also the attraction in the Magic Kingdom is called Alien Encounter and it was a wild experience especially for Walt Disney World!
I'd read an article in a guitar magazine with Eric several years ago, where he made the recommendation of learning some basic piano so to better understand and improve guitar playing I liked the idea and found a used Casio CTK573. For me it was one of the best recommendations, really brought my playing and appreciation to the next level. Great podcast, awesome guest interview! Cheers
Can't agree more about guitarists knowing how to solder. It is an essential skill to do easy repairs and mods to guitars. Highly recommend Seymour Duncan's free video course on how to swap pickups in various different kinds of guitars (including active pickups). Very informative, great tips/tricks, and you can't beat the cost!
Awesome interview. EJ is probably my favorite player. I really enjoy Rhett's videos also. As someone who has recently went down the rabbit hole of electric guitar tone this video is a gem. Thank you.
EJ is right about DSP failing doing fuzz. Yes, they are fickle devices but also the direct interaction of the guitar with the fuzz circuit (because of the super low input impedance of fuzz circuits) can't be replicated by DSP for the same reason that buffered pedals or active output guitars don't always work well with fuzz. You know that magic "roll off the volume for bright cleans" trick works that works so well with fuzz circuits? You just can't do that unless you get the right combinations of guitar and device impedances.
Great interview. Shows how truly a remarkable genius Eric Johnson is. I have been chasing at least a part of his both clean and fuzz tones in my youth but man his words are right and inspiring into playing using my own sound.
Maaaaaaaan so awesome. Yes he’s an amazing player but his demeanor, how he speaks and communicates is really admirable. He’s very thoughtful and positive. I love him.
What an amazing interview! Eric is always a wonderful and humble person while remaining to be an amazing thinker on guitar and music in general. Really blown away by some of those responses. I too have to watch this again just to really internalize the insight. Great job all around. Cheers.
Exact how I feel about the digital stuff. If you have the experience to play through a real good tube amp at a certain volume it is superior in every way!
The ride was called the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, only existed in the 90's, and they altered it to become a Lilo & Stitch ride in 2003. Absolutely one of my favorite rides as a kid, and I was disappointed to hear they changed it.
I met EJ and started going to his shows at THE ROX in Lubbock TX in 1981-83 . Have been a huge fan ever since . Always a joy and privilege to go see Eric live ! I loved observing "Roy Buchannon's reaction to Eric Johnson one night . Priceless !
One of the great heartbreaks of my life - a garage studio demo project done in 1975, Eric before "Tones" and fresh out of the Electromagnets. Eric's guitar, some of my vocals. My only copy of the demo went away in 1984 when my car burned right down to the wheel wells. Sob. Now, about gear: I recall back in about '08 Eric doing a G-DEC demo, and sounded amazing. So, is it the gear or is it the player that most determines the tone? (deliberately inflammatory question)
Only Jimi played both the amp and guitar and no one since has gotten that. Listen to Tax Free or I Don’t Live Today and it’s jaw dropping the control and creative way he “Played” the amp just as he played the guitar . Eric is one of the last greats.
Eric is the best! I can remember seeing him live in '86 just after Tones came out. The audience was just "Jaw-Dropped" in his sounds and ability to tell a story on the guitar and take the listener on a complete journey. have been a fan ever since.
Eric Johnson interview = Subscribe from me. I never miss an opportunity to listen to what he has to say. He's in my top 3 favourite guitarists of all time, in any style.
All of this. I’ve been playing 30 years, and have gone on those deep dives for years at a time. But, it was all driven by a vision, which kept me from getting lost, albeit frustrated many times.
I have nothing productive to add to the Disney conversation, but I will say the only time I ever went was when I was five years old. I was terrified of every ride, including “It’s a Small World.” Maybe someday I’ll go back and try to experience it correctly 😂
I loved this interview with EJ But since it’s only Americans who pronounces Solder as Sodder. As technician in Australia. And other English speaking countries actually pronounce the “I” is not silent. Sol der. You guys are perfectionists. Cheers Dallas
24:04 - yep! Fender Bassman isn't much of a bass guitar amp Jazzmaster isn't much of a jazz guitar Leo wasn't much of a guitarist The Selmer Mark seven Saxophone wasn't as good as the Selmer mark six Etc....!
In the subject of tone , do you happen to know what the Rolling Stones used on the Guitar solo for Hot Stuff????I enjoyed this episode thanks 🙏🏼 for all you do.
Suppressed memories brought to the surface with that Disney Alien ride thing, was 8 years old when we went and even now I’m not sure I’ll sleep too easy tonight.
It's all about tone and sound these days. How about just writing a decent song for a change. Young people today forgot how to write songs. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Willie Dixon, and many others from the past knew how to write songs.
Immediacy & dynamics the words that come to mind while listening to Johnson's comments pertaining to amps, picking, etc. Obviously, these two elements are relative to one another. These elements become a form of feedback in feel to the player who manipulates response in sound with their hands. After discovering the joy of building a technique around how the gear characteristically responds based on these elements can seem stale, even disconcerting when playing through something absent of that feedback, which translates into being unable to feel the sound with the hands and through the body.
well to me fuzz is a picky subject, BUT I think its more to do with expectancy, everything your guitar, the amp used, the volume, the delay or reverb or not. Fuzz that cleans up back to drive like Boss Waza types. You wont get Big Muff on Waza but you will get some cleanup characteristics. I have purchased many fuzz then poof gone. Then I decided also use boost type circuits only with amps and even the fuzz. The average person listens to harmonics created and meh. But if shown to them they react differently. To enjoy oneself I am glad at least many different iterations exist. But fuzz is a rabbit hole.
Maximizing the tone at a prescribed allowable volume range (for hearing safety & other reasons) is a requirement for system designers. The amplification always includes speaker output. Speakers must be designed for the amplifier employed within the volume parameters. The system must be designed to adapt to a range of venues. A range of cabinets may need to be selectively paired with the amplifiers employed.
I realize this is about tone, but music itself might be more...productive? Nobody has ever gotten into "being" with him, that I know of. Rick Beato seems to have opened him up a little more.
Great episode ! EJ has one of the most articulate ways of answering gear questions. Also, a super nice guy. When I was playing guitar w Alejandro Escovedo he loaned us a chopped B3 for a SXSW show from his studio. We couldn't take the bench because Eric had a cable in a figure 8 draped over it that was doing something that probably only he could hear ! Thanks for the content.
27:20 😂lol "I could almost use that..." There ya go. I think that puts the discussion about modeling to bed. Lol Eric Johnson has to continue working with it. Not in that he's going to continue using it. He's continuing to work on making it sound right and work for his purpose. Meanwhile, he's just gonna plug a guitar into a tube amp and get it.
The player's "voice" on a stringed instrument cannot be separated from all the tactile sensations brought to bear. When I can touch the strings I am more intimately connected to the instrument. the piano always seemed to hold be at bay by a mechanical interface and not let me in. The direct caress of the string is critical to expression. Even a $20 Sears Silvertone was more pleasurable than my parent's piano. Not alone could I connect better, but I could get away and d take it with me. I try to keep that notion with me even when I play a gig with a full rhythm and horn section.
The old real estate adage "location, location, location" is also true of "the system, the system, the system". It's not just where you go but how you do what happens there.
I feel for me..the irony of this video is: any one who is a fan of EJ enough to watch this video (myself), really only wants the "EJ tone" and not their own, hahahaha.
yeah alien encounter was terrifying. my friend had gone before and made us all sit against the back wall... so that our minds would have a chance to remember that there is a wall there /// and that here couldn't possibly be an alien right behind my head.
should switch that know so the fuzz is on the left and turn up to weird?.... and your wife is a good photographer based on the gear alone! I also am not a fan of the spray and pray method.
