Gear & Tone Talk: Blues

Gear and Gizmos is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio and is sourced from 50 Progressive Blues Licks You MUST Know

Welcome to the Gear & Gizmo section of this course! Let’s talk tone. Talking tone in the modern age doesn’t always mean that we’ll be discussing amps and pedals. Allow me to introduce the Avid Eleven Rack. I purchased the Eleven Rack a few years ago because I was involved in recording sessions where the music ranged from country to dance to blues to 50’s R&B. I used other amp modeling units before but, for my dollar the Eleven Rack does the trick. The unit “models” many popular amps and pedals. The Avid people got the unit to really “feel” like an amp when you play it. I don’t know how they do it but it works. I don’t use it live but, I know some other well-respected players that do and they achieve great tone. I spend a lot of time dialing in tone for each lick. I think it’s important to nail the sound as well as execute the lick properly. Achieving tone is part of the learning process too! You’ll probably make some great and not so great purchases on gear in your tonequest. Don’t be discouraged, tone is a journey and you’ll probably spend some serious cash getting what you want. My suggestion, work with what you have to its fullest potential. Get the best tone that you can and if you’re looking for something new, do your research! It will pay off.

I was introduced to the Evertune bridge by a producer friend of mine. I was doing some lengthy country/rock sessions that consisted of layering many guitar parts. My friend really helped to expose the tuning issues that can arise when multiple guitar parts start trying to cooperate in the mix. The Evertune doesn’t just keep your guitar in tune like locking bridge/tuner systems do. It is constantly keeping your guitar in tune “everywhere” on the neck. Odd chords with open strings are always in tune also. This can be a problem with guitars with normal bridges etc. Intonation is always perfect as well. It’s hard to explain how this works but, it just does. Truth be told, the Evertune is a commitment. A fair amount of routing needs to be done to accommodate the bridge. I would not recommend putting one of these bridges on a guitar that’s a family heirloom or a vintage instrument. I use them on guitars I play! To me, it’s becoming difficult to play without one and my ear has gotten more accustomed to all things being “in tune.” I also feel like I can hear when others are out of tune! Go try an Evertune and let me know what you think!

Special thanks to the fine folks at D’Addario, Planet Waves, and Lindy Fralin. I’m using Lindy Fralin pickups in the guitar (Reverend Charger) and all of my accessories are D’Addarrio and Planet Waves.

Robbie's Gear is a video guitar lesson presented by Robbie Calvo and is sourced from 50 R&B Licks You MUST Know

I'd like to say thank you to: Taylor Guitars, Eventide, Pedaltrain, Red Bear Picks, Swampworks Amps, L'Esperance Guitars, Nunley Pickups, Blackstar, D'Addario Strings, Intex Cables, Dunlop Pedals, Voodoo Lab, and Will Kelly/Hard Knocks Guitars.

Gear Talk is a video guitar lesson presented by Robert Renman and is sourced from Blues Booster

The gear I used in this course is very minimal. A Fender American Standard Stratocaster (2013), a Fender Princeton Reverb, and a KOi Overdrive from KO Amps at http://www.koamps.com. I like this pedal a lot, because it provides a very smooth sounding overdrive tone. The amps I use at home are either Fender style, or Marshall Plexi style. I usually set my amps to a little bit of crunch, and then add pedals between guitar and amp as needed.

Tones and Gear is a video guitar lesson presented by David Hamburger and is sourced from Focus On: Standard Tuning Slide

There are a few essential factors to a good slide tone, and they all intersect with one another when you play. You’ll need to tweak your instrument slightly in terms of string gauge and action - not a lot, just enough to get a little more resistance from the setup. You’ll need a slide that’s thick enough to provide some density - nothing super thin and plinky. And then, well, there’s your hands. With the right setup and a decent slide, the rest depends upon developing your left and right hand muting.

Tones & Gear is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain and is sourced from Focus On: British Blues

The blueprint of the British blues guitar sound (and the rock n' roll guitar sound) was created single-handedly by Eric Clapton, documented on the first John Mayall's Bluesbreakers record featuring him. This record is also known as the "Beano" record in reference to the comic book Eric Clapton is reading on the cover, which gave its name to this famous and huge guitar sound (called the Beano tone). Basically what it was is a Marshall JTM 45 2x12 combo cranked and a Gibson Les Paul. That's it! (well a 1965 Marshall and a 1959 Les Paul...) A key thing to keep in mind is that there were no channel switching amps at the time, all the tones you hear on these great recordings are from the guitar and amp. The main element is the player's hands. Work on sounding good by emulating your heroes!

Gear Rundown is a video guitar lesson presented by Robbie Calvo and is sourced from 25 Blues TurnaroundsI feel so honored to be endorsed by such wonderful companies. In these videos, you saw my Will Kelly Hard Knocks Strat. This guitar was made for me by Will and I love it. The pickups are Sliders Vintage 59's.All amp tones were created using the Line 6 Helix rack. It's a pretty simple tone using a model of an old AC15 Vox. minimal reverb and delay added as to keep the licks clean and audible for clarity in the learning process.I'm proud to be a Line 6 artist. If you use Helix, I have several really killer custom tones available on their website.I use d'Addario strings 9.5 gauge and Planet Waves cables.