Another good point Joe Bonamassa has made in interviews is that early on in his career he was playing Strats and guys would come up to him and say that he reminded them a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan even though he wasn’t playing anything that resembled Stevie Ray Vaughan. He realized it was the Strat association, so when he switched to playing Les Pauls and other Gibsons no one came up to him making the SRV comparison anymore. Image matters.
I thought it was a valid point. There are loads of blues guitarists who play Stratocasters, and many are copying SRV. There are certainly ones who aren't, but a typical Stratocaster with a bluesy tone can fall into SRV territory very easily.
Ive always been a believer in the idea that when u enjoy your tone you can give a better performance. A better performance will leave the audience happier.
Well said. Over years of gigging, the three things I've learned are one, no spiky frequencies, two, the tone needs to be ballpark correct, and three, when you solo, they want to hear all the notes.
Spot on! They do care. Also a surprising number of people have had some kind of musical background that make them take note of detail in sound. Also like you said visuals count a lot. If practical, our band rigs with half stacks because it looks business. Probably could sound just as good with our small rehearsal amps… In essence, you show your audience you treat them seriously.
I was an OK player when I began giggling in the ’80s. I had OK gear. But I followed my ear and strived to get the best tone out of what I had. I remember playing at a battle of the bands in which the hands-down best local player came up to me and complimented me on my guitar sound. He didn’t have to do that, but it sure made my day!
Good video and I think a lot more guitar players need to learn to understand these things. My main point in this argument is that even when the audience might night hear the difference, if I do and it makes me play better, the audience will hear the difference in my playing. If my whole rig feels, sounds and reacts in a way that inspires me, that makes a huge difference and the audience will notice that as well. And I totally agree on the visual aspect as well. I've played with a rock band at a festival who all had modellers, so you were looking at a stage with just a drum kit, no banner, no decor. Backstage you could just hear the drums and vocals. It's a choice, but I could never go in that direction.
I think you’re right, people listen with their eyes. You have to look the part. Doesn’t have to be a fender strat or a Gibson Les paul, it can be literally any brand, most people aren’t going to know or be close enough to see the name in the headstock,but they will see the shape. As far as tone, you’re right. You can’t chug the blues or woman tone heavy metal. As far as dressing the part, BB King told Bonamassa he needed a suit (paraphrasing, of course). Thanks Jack!
You're absolutely right on all points with some allowances for deviation. Overall, I get it and it makes perfect sense. The only exception to the Bonamassa with the Squier rule: Mike Rutherford toured with a Squier on Genesis final tour a short time ago. Of course, this not entirely fair as it's apples to oranges, but an exception nonetheless. I appreciate you man, take care and be well.
Great topic, well said for sure! I've lived in HK for 40+ years and we have a couple of excellent venues that have seen some wonderful players over the years and I make a habit of getting the best seats I can. As a member of the audience I can happily say that on the various occasions Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Bill Frisell & John Scofield visited I (a) paid attention to, and (b) was blown away by . . . their playing and incredible guitar sounds which, interestingly, evolved over time along with their rigs.
Such strong points. I've always thought the first goal should to remove noticeable irritants like spiked frequencies as well as make sure the performance itself doesn't distract by poor playing. Once those are overcome you can actually cross the line to pleasing the listener/entertaining.
Totally spot on. Sometimes I play an Ibanez 335 style guitar and audience members or even band members will say, Is that a Gibson? I take such remarks as a compliment. They may not know a ton about guitars, but they know Gibsons as quality guitars, so I take such questions as a compliment. Also they definitely notice.
I think the problem is in the premise. It’s not care or don’t care about tone, it’s the level or degree of caring about your tone. So maybe tone it down a bit on the caring…the caring and obsessive tones are spiking. 😉
🎯 When you’re a performing player (size doesn’t matter) don’t find your tone in your bedroom. Find it with your band, together, both at rehearsals and on gigs (mostly for details and little tweaks with FOH). It’s all about the bandmix in every band, in any style or genre. Most issues not taken care of before a gig, like during rehearsals, no FOH can fix (in a way both you and the audience might like...). Hugely important when you’re using (new) pedals!!
I know from experience that sometimes the audience does care about tone because I saw Eric Johnson in Boston a couple years ago and before the show started the guy sitting next to me told me Eric Johnson's tone these days is really bad, when Johnson started playing electic guitar I immediately agreed with the guy next to me and during the show someone yelled "More treble!" so that's three people I know of in that audience who were dissatisfied with Eric Johnson's tone. Even if you're only playing at Wally's in Hampton, New Hampshire, if I'm there just because my dad wanted to take me out for a hamburger I'll be noticing minute details of your tone and I doubt I'm the only who would do that so I think you should put the time into making your tone sound as good as it can within the budget you're willing to set aside if for no other reason than for the benefit of the people in your audience who have an ear for a good guitar tone. But I think you got it right when you said it's like how someone who isn't particularly knowledgeable about art might like one painting but not another and not be able to explain why. As per usual you explained what I think way better than I ever could.
I remember gary clark jr talking about how early on he used an ibanez shredder-style guitar and no one wanted to take him seriously till he'd actually start playing
I used to use a black Jackson Rhoades V for my old blues band. I got it from a dude no longer interested in guitar in a trade for some other stuff... and heck, I was gona use it since it was the best guitar I had at the time. It got some questioning looks from the hardcore blues fans... until it sounded like blues guitar playing. Hahaa. It was a lot of fun to see ppl look rather quizzical at me when I'd go on stage with it... then by the end of the show being all for it! When ppl see a certian guitar, they expect a certian sound or style... and it seems to be shocking to see something else come out of it. Same thing happened many times using a stock Telecaster in a metal band... until they heard the sumbish thru my djent rig. Hahaha.
I occasionally play some songs or sections of songs from the first Van Halen record with a "wrong" sound. Too clean and not a great tone to practice them. I don't know exactly how it helps me but it does.
The only people in the audience who scrutinize your tone are guitar players, Yes, obviously no one wants to sound bad and painful. And, yes, the audience will notice if you sound absolutely appalling. But you probably have picked the wrong pursuit, guitar playing, music, if this is the case. In all other circumstances, No one is going home after the gig talking about 'your tone'. No one.
I'm always watching and listening to the guitar players in or local live bars, but nobody else at my table or in the room really cares. They would only notice guitar tone if it was bad (spikey, too lound etc.). Otherwise, they eat, dance or listen to the singer and lyrics.
Well, that's the thing. The audience cares that you sound appropriate (and the Krankenstein *does* have a clean channel, and an effects loop so you could always cheat and stick an AC30-clone preamp pedal into the return...), but they don't care which of the dozen tubescreamer clones you own which use to get there. And frankly not do I, my ears have taken enough abuse over the years that either I just can't tell the difference or there isn't one.
Jack used to pass messages which said that I deserve another guitar. Now he claims that I don't need a lot of gear to sound good and I cannot have you speak like that in front of my wife because she will just find out that I don't need to buy stuff
Agree. The audience does care about how you sound to them. What the vast majority do not know (and therefore do not care about) is how you got there. Anyone who's gigged understands that the sound guy's impact on how you sound to the audience is immeasurable...also that the audience doesn't know this. Yes, it does irritate me sometimes that to the audience there is no discernable difference between the tube amp I'm mic'ing and the digital processor the other guy is running through - but that's my problem. I've lugged the heavy tube assembly on stage for my enjoyment and we're managing the overall mix through whatever means gets us there for the audience's enjoyment. As long as I appreciate and work towards the two goals, we're all good
Most people are not even on the same Zip Code as Toan Chasers. No one gives a crap about your guitar, what strings you use, your amp.... Toan OCD leads to sausage rock
Bitter reality is that people who don't care about Stratocasters and Tube Screamers might not even show up at your gig, they would listen to smith like Spotify's top 10 instead lol. Kind of kidding, still there's really a part of your audience who are musicians just like you.
