Gilmourish.Com – The largest David Gilmour tone resource on the net!

In this 4-part feature I’m going to look at the grandest and most difficult topic of them all – tone. Just what is tone? What is a good tone and how do you achieve it? I’m sure there are as many answers to this as there are guitarists. In this second part of the feature, we’ll look at the importance of choosing the right guitar for the tones you want.

In the first part of this Tone feature, I talked about how we perceive tone and that tone is a very subjective experience. Tone isn’t just the pedal you stomp or the string you bend but countless factors from the smallest screw to the loudest amp – not to mention the difference between the places you play, whether it’s at home or in a stadium. Read Tone part 1 here.

Guitars
A guitar, or any instrument for that matter, is an extension of you. It’s the tool that allows you to express your music, playing and feelings. Without it, you’d probably be pretty lost as a musician but the right guitar can make you play things you never though would emerge from your fingers. That’s pure inspiration – an experience that really can’t be described in words.

What’s the perfect guitar?
The perfect guitar is the one that feels right just then and there and I don’t really care whether it’s considered crap, made in China or if the electronics are barely working. If that guitar is what it takes to nail the tones I want, then the choice is simple. The perfect guitar is the one that makes you evolve your style or perhaps, slightly change your style every time you pick it up. If I’m not satisfied with a part that I’ve just recorded, I play it again with a different guitar and it always sound different because the particular guitar makes me play different.

The perfect guitar is also the one that’s been with you for years. The one that has matured along side you as you’ve grown as a musician and every time you pick it up you feel this special connection. It’s a very personal experience and for some, almost like a love story. Quality and reputation doesn’t matter, only your connection with the instrument. Mine is my very first Strat – a 1996 Japanese Fender (MIJ) Collectable 50s, the forerunner to the Mexican Classic series. Only the body (well, parts of it) is left of the original guitar after nearly two decades of countless neck, pickups and hardware changes. Not to mention all the adjustments and overhauls. Actually, it wasn’t until I owned several guitars that I realized how much this Strat meant to me and my playing.

What makes up a guitar tone?
That might be up for debate. Some would argue that a piece of wood with some electronics would do the job as long as you have pedals and a decent amp. That’s true but then you’ve also decided that that’s the guitar that works for you – perhaps without realizing that the piece of wood is a part of the tone. Every component of the guitar, down to the very last detail, is important for the tone. Tone is the subtle nuances between different types of wood, the contour and shape, thickness, radius, density, humidity and ultimately the assembly. It is the type of lacquer, the blend and number of coatings. It’s the shape, size and quality of the frets and tuning machines. Tone is the design of the bridge system and whether the strings are allowed to sustain without obstruction. The string type and gauge. Perhaps most important, and often overlooked, are the pickups. The pickups are what captures the subtle nuances in your playing, the resonance from all the components and feeding this to the pedals and amp.

Tone is also all your personal preferences. The way you’ve strung the guitar, subtle changes in the string and pickup height, whether the bridge is flush or floating, how many tremolo springs you’re using, that old volume pot that has a tendency to live its own life, the way you slightly tilt your pick for more attack, your way of altering between using the tremolo arm and bends and all those little things that only you know how to do to get the sustain you want. I could go on for ages… It is important to realize that all of this matters for your overall tone and for your pedals and amp to sound the way you want.

Buying a new guitar
There’s only one rule when it comes to buying a new or your very first guitar: patience! How wasted it is to spend a fortune on a hasty decision. The first step is to consider how you’ll be using the guitar. Is it your first? Are you about to enter the studio and need something different for that slightly heavier tone? Do you need something for your mantelpiece or one that can stand the abuse of the road?

Whatever you do, never take what neither I nor anyone else says, as the true gospel. No matter how persuasive and convincing we may sound, we’re all just biased by our own experience (some, even by financial motives). Check out user reviews and YouTube clips and ask around for recommendations and tips but ultimately, the decision is yours alone. A guitar is a musical instrument allowing you to play and write music. It’s all about inspiration and for this to happen you’ll need a guitar that you’re 100% comfortable with.

Allow yourself to be surprised and admit when you’re wrong. Try several models within different price ranges. Not because you need to buy something expensive but to broaden your mind and experience a little. Even if you’ve set on a Strat, you should try a Les Paul, Tele or even an Ibanez Steve Vai signature (or perhaps not…) just to get an idea what the differences are. And people, let us all put the US VS Japanese and Mexico issue to rest, once and for all. A stamp on the headstock doesn’t say anything about the guitar it self.

Tone is in the details
Look out for any visible signs of poor assembly and faults. Gaps, loose parts, cracks etc aren’t worth your money. A good first impression is important but it is too early to dismiss a guitar because of a bad setup. Neck curvage, string height, bridge flow etc can easily be adjusted later on and you can even ask the store to do this while you try the instrument. The more you are aware of your own preferences the more you’re able to see the potential of the guitar.

Next step is to try the guitar acoustically. This requires some experience but by comparing different guitars and models you’ll learn to recognise a rich tone from a dead. No pedal or amp will be able to enhance a guitar that doesn’t sound good acoustically.

Don’t worry too much about the pickups. It’s rare to find a guitar that scores high on all your preferences so concentrate on the overall feel and playability and replace the pickups later on with something that suits your style and tone of choice.

Sadly, some can go on for years thinking their guitar is just crap while a proper setup would have done the job. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a certified luthier but some basic knowledge and experience will at least enable you to detect any issues and describe them to your local tech. A good tip is to check YouTube for tutorials on truss-rod adjustment, string height/action, stringing and intonation, if only to be aware that these things matter for the playability and ultimately the tone.

No electric guitar will sound right without a proper companion. In Part 3 of this feature, we’ll look at how to choose the right amp for your guitar and the environment you’re playing in, whether it’s your bedroom, a studio or large concert venues. Please feel free to share your tone tips in the comments field below.

In this 4-part feature I’m going to look at the grandest and most difficult topic of them all – tone. Just what is tone? What is a good tone and how do you achieve it? I’m sure there are as many answers to this as there are guitarists. I in this first part we’ll go through the basics and look at how we perceive sound and tone.

What is tone?
I’ve been pondering over the topic for well over twenty years and I’m still not sure I’ve figured it out. One day you think you’ve nailed it and the next day everything sounds crap – or you got a new pedal that redefined all you conceptions – but tone isn’t static. You can’t just go out and buy a bunch of stuff, hit the button and expect it to sound just as you imagined. It can be incredibly frustrating but I think the reason why it is so, is because we have unrealistic expectations, we’re impatient and, dare I say, lack some basic knowledge of how things work. Electronics are stupid. It’s just a bunch of wires that can’t read your mind and you can’t force them to be anything else than what they are meant to be. Just acknowledging that makes it all a bit easier.

I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation where you’ve just bought a new pedal and it doesn’t sound anything near what you expected. The reviews were great, the YouTube clips were awesome, David has the pedal and now you got it but it’s still not right. Why is that? Throughout this site I’ve tried to put everything a bigger perspective. Endless lists of guitars, pedals, amps and settings are fine but there’s a lot more that makes up a good tone. It’s not always easy to remember though but let’s expand our mids a little…

Tone is how we define the sound coming from the pickups in your guitar, through all your pedals and cables and out of the amp. Tone is the wood and contour of the guitar, the type of lacquer on the neck, the pickups, the string gauge, the thickness of the pick you use, the quality and design of the cables, the tone of your pedals, how they’re tweaked, combined and arranged, the amount of pedals and signal loss due to too many pedals or the “wrong” combination of pedals, the amp and its tubes, transistors and transformers, the settings on your amp, the speaker cab, its construction, size and the speakers. Tone is also the way you bend the strings, your picking technique, the subtle nuances in your style and how you express yourself, the almost dying battery in your beloved vintage Big Muff, the nearly broken overdrive pedal that only you know how to operate, the way you’ve placed the amp in distance from your ears and the surrounding walls, the humidity that affects your germanium transistors and the quality of your power sources, the thick rug on your floor or the 500 screaming fans in the audience dampening the sound of your amp… I could go on forever. Tone isn’t static. It changes all the time and you always need to adjust – both your gear and your mind.

Sound and tone behaves differently in different locations and you should therefore never really compare bedroom situation with playing in a huge football arena. A good example is how David’s rig changes according to where he performs. The 1994 PULSE tour was huge both in terms of stage production and venues. David’s rig was jaw breaking but it would have been quite ridiculous to use the same rig at Royal Albert Hall in 2006 or in a studio situation. One thing is that you would never get to utilize the full potential of a stadium rig in a small studio but it would also have sounded very different. That’s why David and most other recording guitarists often use a much smaller rig during recording sessions, like a small combo amp and a handful of pedals. It’s no challenge for an engineer to make a small amp sound huge but it’s a whole different story to tame a 2 head + 4 cab set up.

Let’s say you’ve spent your savings on a set of EMG DG20 pickups and a vintage Sovtek Big Muff but it still doesn’t sound remotely close to David’s PULSE tones. But have you ever considered what you really hear on PULSE? What you hear on Comfortably Numb is:

A Fender Stratocaster with alder body (nitrocellulose lacquer), C-shape maple neck (nitrocellulose lacquer) and GHS Boomers .010-.048 fresh strings. The neck feature vintage style Gotoh tuning machines and slim frets. The body feature Fender vintage style synchronized tremolo system and EMG SA active pickups with active EQ tone controls – EXP treble and bass booster (most likely set to 0) and SPC mid range booster (most likely set to 5-7). The signal is fed via a wireless transmitter to the Cornish/Bradshaw effect and routing system where it’s routed through numerous modified pedals and effects powered by a custom power system with separately shielded supplies. It’s then fed through an Alembic tube preamp, into the delays and split stereo and fed to the Hiwatt head and 2xWEM+Marshall cabs and the Doppola custom rotating speakers. The effect setup feature custom modified Boss CS2 compressor, Sovtek Big Muff, Chandler Tube Driver, Boss CE2 (left channel only) and TC2290 digital delay. Add to this, meters upon meters of high quality cables. Mind also that each effect and amp head are carefully set and adjusted for the specific venue.

The speaker cabinets are recorded with carefully placed microphones and the signal is mixed with ambience sound taken from different sources around the venue for the right balance and natural reverb. Additional digital reverb is added in the final mix and most likely there’s also additional compression, EQ and limiting. And of course, don’t forget, David’s hands and mind. You might frown upon all this but every single thing makes up the tone you hear on the album.

What is a good tone?
Well, obviously I can’t tell you that. A good tone is defined by how you perceive sound, based on your very subjective taste and experience. Gilmourish.Com and other guitar sites, magazines, YouTube clips etc will give you valuable help in your quest for the ultimate tone but none of these should be considered as gospels. The gear and the settings I suggest are meant to be used as a guide and nothing more. I too search for the ultimate tone and I often come across these Mr. Know-It-All types. Only they have the answers and everything they don’t approve of is crap. Of course that’s just bullshit. There are jerks with too many personal issues everywhere, so never trust just one source but make sure you’ve gone through several reviews and sound clips before you make up your mind. Most importantly though – try before you buy!

Not everyone is blessed with fully stocked guitar shops and unlimited savings accounts. However, a tight budget and seemingly “boring” brands doesn’t have to be a limitation. Regardless what gear you have you should always spend some time on getting to know it. Make sure the guitar is set up just the way you want it, try different settings on your amp and find the best basis for your pedals. Try different effect combinations and settings and train your ears to hear the nuances in your tone. Whether it’s high-end boutique or the average off the shelf stuff, most equipment today is very good so it’s more a matter of utilizing its potential and having a realistic concept of what you really need. In the next parts of this feature we’ll look at ways of choosing the right gear for your desired tone.

A fun exercise is to think about why you fell in love with a certain tone. What made you notice just this specific song, album or solo? Try to describe to your self what you hear and compare that with what’s actually being used and how its recorded.

Music often evokes certain feelings and you’re mind will “trick” you into hearing and believing things that’s not that evident to others. My all time favourite Gilmour tone is from Montreal, Canada July 6th 1977. Ever since I heard that show some 15 years ago I’ve desperately been trying to replicate David’s lead tones on Pigs and Dogs especially. However, for someone who doesn’t know Pink Floyd that well and certainly doesn’t care that much for studying bootlegs, the Montreal show will just sound like a very bad day for a tired, beaten band that really didn’t want to play at all. Add to this the fact that the recording is pretty poor. However, when I put it on and sit back and listen, I hear a guitarist at the very peak of his career with a confidence and grandeur that I’ve never heard from any one else. I hear a guitar that cuts through like a knife. I “see” a tall figure with long hair at the left side of the stage playing a black Stratocaster in front of a wall of speaker cabinets. I hear the perfect combination of a Big Muff, Colorsound Powerboost, Electric Mistress, MXR delay and the Hiwatts and Yamaha rotary cab. Add to this the dark atmosphere of the show, Roger being pissed off at the audience and the rest of the band, David being angry with Roger for ruining the show and the tour, the way David’s tone is “manipulated” by where the person recording the show is standing and how the sound is echoed in the hall… This is hardly a rationalized description or a good reference for how David’s tone really sounded that night, but to me, this very show is the incarnation of Gilmour and his tone.

Studying David Gilmour, or whoever your favourite guitar player may be, has thought us a lot about techniques, gear and tone but you should never forget your self. Be inspired and learn from the masters but allow yourself to explore your own style and technique. Don’t get too caught up in the whole “I need a Black Strat, Hiwatt and Big Muff” thing but challenge yourself to discover new tones. Very few guitarists are unique but those who are have managed to create something new from the old. Hendrix took the blues and made it wild and heavy. Gilmour combined Hendrix and The Shadows and created more mellow soulful blues. Eddie Van Halen refined what Jimi Page and Richie Blackmore had done before him and combined that with a great sense of rhythm. Every one of these dared to experiment and challenge themselves but they were all inspired by someone before them. Don’t be ashamed that you sound like Gilmour but don’t forget to develop your own voice neither.

In the next segment we’ll look at guitars and amps and how to create the best basis for your tones.

I’d love to hear what’s your favourite tone! Describe it and tell us why it’s so special.

Every guitarist’s biggest fear is that you turn up at a gig and the rig you’ve borrowed is either complete shit or stone dead. The frustration and desperation flows through your head and veins as you try your best to think of a solution. Nothing kills your inspiration more but there are ways to solve this and get a decent tone for the performance.

Every week I’ll present a little tip that’ll hopefully help improve your tone and technique. Please feel to comment and share your experience on the topic.

A few weeks ago I did a show with my band Airbag. Months ahead, we sent a rider with specific requests. Knowing that few venues carry Hiwatts or Reeves, I always ask for a Mesa/Boogie Rectifier with a matching 4×12” speaker cabinet. A common choice and a very versatile amp that can produce anything from super clean to snarling metal. If this modest request can’t be met, I can settle for a Fender Bassman (stack or combo), Fender Showman or Marshall JCM800. All of these are well within what I would call acceptable Gilmourish.

Now, you may ask “why not just bring your own amp?” A good question indeed but try bringing a two ton heavy Reeves head and a 4×12 speaker cab with you on a commercial air plane and you’d be paying extra fees ‘til you drop. After all, most of us aren’t blessed with tour busses and semi-trailers to carry all the stuff. Anyway, bringing your own amps on a weekend tour is usually more hassle than you’d want to experience.

Usually this is no problem. Most venues are more than willing to accommodate any demand. However, this time turned out to be quite a challenge. It started out very promising. We entered the venue right before sound check and there, as requested, stood a Hiwatt right in my corner of the stage. Spot on! However, this was a two channel solid state Maxwatt G200 head. I’m no snob but I’m sure I looked rather displeased. At a closer look, the amp was beaten to death and sure enough, the foot switch didn’t work, which meant that the overdrive channel couldn’t be switched off. It didn’t sound all too bad with just the clean signal from the guitar but it was too aggressive with all the pedals.

Hastily and furious, I marched over to the guy in charge and demanded an answer to this outrage. He quickly apologized and like a proud magician, presented a Marshall JCM800. Although a bit too aggressive for my taste, this classic will always deliver. Naturally, I was more than surprised when the amp sounded like it had a severe and deadly cold. Useless…

Realizing that the show was hanging by a thread I began to look for the exit and a getaway car but once again, the magician turned up, this time with a Fender Twin. Far from one of my favourite amps but a decent choice nevertheless. Its bright tone and fairly aggressive character demanded some heavy tweaking of my pedals but a good hour later and a pissed off sound technician, I was ready to play.

Now, this was far from being a crisis. The show went really well and I was fairly pleased with my tone, although I had to make constant adjustments along the way. It would have been worse if the guitar went dead during a song or if I’d been electrocuted due to poor grounding. As long as things work you can always tweak your way out of the problem.

The best way to approach an unfamiliar amp is to stay calm. Don’t freak out but take your time getting to know its tone and features. Obviously, different models will sounds different to each other but an amp identical to what you’re used to may sound quite different as well. Hidden modifications, different tubes, worn out circuits or broken speakers… there could be a number of reasons why you need to make sure that the amp is working properly. And, easy to overlook, the fact that you’re playing at an unfamiliar venue will make your guitar and tone sound different to what you’re used to. The size of the stage, its construction, the layout of the whole venue etc will have an impact on your tone. Again, get to know the amp and how it behaves in the specific environment and make the needed adjustments before you dismiss it as being faulty. Read more about how to set up for a show in this feature.

I always start off by plugging the guitar straight into the amp and set it up identical to what I normally use – bass 50%, mids 40%, treble 35%, presence 40% and the master at about 1/3 of the normal volume. This will tell you whether the amp suits your pedals or not. If this sounds similar to what you’re used to, then plug the guitar into the pedal board and test your tones.

Having a typical Gilmour tone and setup in mind, a Marshall JCM800 will probably force you to roll down the gain on your overdrives and distortions. The amp has a lot of headroom but its overall more aggressive character, compared to a Hiwatt, will add to your pedals. A more modern Marshall may also have much more mid range, which can be a challenge for your fuzz and Big Muffs, so you might need to roll down the gain on these and adjust the mids and treble on the amp.

A Fender Bassman, combo or stack, has tons of headroom, so you’re set on the gain. However, the amp is fairly dark, so contrary to a Hiwatt, you might need to increase the treble just a hair. A Fender Showman would require just the opposite. I’ve always found Fender Twins, Vox AC30 and similar, challenging because they have so much character on their own. In most cases I end up using a slightly more versatile setup consisting of RAT, Tube Screamer, OCD etc, rather than the usual fuzz, Muff and Powerboost. Still, taming the treble and mids on the amp and the gain from your pedals, usually does the job.

If you have to settle with an amp without the needed headroom, or worse, one with a broken channel selector forcing you to use internal gain, then use the amp’s loop channel. This is something I normally advice against, as explained in this feature, but running your modulations and delays through an overdrive channel is not a good idea. This might require some rearranging of your pedal board but a couple of extra cables long enough to reach the amp (which you ALWAYS need to carry), should do the job. Send the first modulation to the amp and return to the last delay.

My best tip for touring is to always bring spare pedals – both for the unlikely event of your favourite Big Muff going silent and for situations were the amp just can’t handle the more demanding pedals like a Big Muff, Tube Driver or vintage fuzz. Perhaps not the most exciting pedals, but a RAT, Tube Screamer, Fulltone OCD, Boss BD2 and similar will always deliver and give you the least amount of hassle. Read more about how prepare for a show or tour in this feature.

You’re allowed to slap the rider in the sound tech’s face and stamp your feet while cursing like mad, after all you’re the lead guitarist and the star of the band but keep in mind that people have paid hard earned money to see you and you owe them you’re best performance. This means that no matter how much your rig stinks, you need to make the best of it. You’re your own worst critic and most of the people in the audience doesn’t even hear the difference between a Fender and Hiwatt or Big Muff or RAT… unless there’s a fellow Gilmourish in the audience :)

Feel free to share your own similar experience or troubleshooting tips!