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Originally Posted by joe2758
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12-30-2020 11:58 AM
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This
unvarnished tone
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The best jazz guitar tone I ever heard live was Kenny Burrell at Ronnie Scotts. He was playing through a truly battered-looking old Twin Reverb which I assume was just the house amp. But he sounded even better than he does on the records.
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This video highlights different concepts of guitar tone pretty well.
Personally, I like different tones at different times. I have no personal gold standard, just preferences:
- Django's late electric sound with the slightly compressed, slightly distorted Stimer pickup.
- Johnny Smith's beautifully in-tune electric guitar in the 50s
- Danny Gatton's Hi-Fi Tele tone when playing jazz
- Ernest Ranglin's popping arch top tone
- Tony Rice's floating, precise gossamer flatpack sound
- Nick Jones' string popping acoustic sound
- Kenny Burrell's beautiful, round arch top tone
- Gabor Szabo's unique tone from a Martin Dreadnaught with a DeArmond pickup
Most mainstream guitar player's tone = meh.
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Originally Posted by grahambop
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Electrics are nice and all. However..
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I love Django’s electric sound on this 1953 session:
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Originally Posted by grahambop
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It is a bit like the Catholic Church jazz guitar though; there was this whole thing with Nigel Price and Charlie Christians stool if you remember. I was very much ....’wha?’
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Originally Posted by christianm77
’wha?’
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by christianm77
The punchline is ‘So remember, it’s a good idea to inspect your stool from time to time!’
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Who has the worst tone?
I think we should be told.
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I really wouldn't know my favorite tone. Where to begin?
Anyway, I really like the clarity of Jesse van Ruller:
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Originally Posted by Litterick
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Originally Posted by BickertRules
Nailed it.
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Jonathan Kreisberg and Lorenzo Frizzera get great tones here. I love 175s
Gilad Hekselman has a very distinctive tone, no idea what make the guitar is. His notes are articulate, clear and full-sounding and his lavish use of delay doesn't bother me at all.
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How do you even make that choice? I find that any guitarist's tone is influenced by so much outside of their control including the studio, the microphones used to record, mastering, mixing, the combination of other instruments, etc. I think as long as the tone complements what's being played that's good enough. And with the guitarists who have a long career, some records have fabulous tones while on another record their tone isn't (and someone else may disagree on which is which).
That said, there are a few guitarists whose tone I tend to really like. Ed Bickert comes right away at the top of that list. Doug Raney would be another. Jim Hall in the late fifties/early 60s (with Sonny Rollins, Art Farmer, etc.) and his work with Paul Desmond, but sacrilegiously I am not enamored of his tone with the D'Aquisto or Sadowski instruments, even though his playing is a marvel. Johnny Smith on his Roost recordings. Tony Rice was mentioned upthread; not exactly jazz but wow- his duet recording with John Carlini has been on my playlist recently (RIP). Garrison Fewell had a great tone. Peter Bernstein and Jonathan Kreisberg both have sounds that I really, really like. Gene Bertoncini's tone on "Someone to Light Up My Life" is fantastic. And there are more, of course, that I am not thinking of right now.
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Originally Posted by BickertRules
Anyway. It's quite a bright tone for an ES175 but I don't mind it; actually I get a similar tone on mine with the tone control wide open. Are you sure it's the tone you don't like? :-)
Which raises an interesting question does it not?
Is there a player you like whose tone you don't like, and is there a player whose tone you love that those music you don't like?
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Originally Posted by grahambop
I've never actually been to one of his gigs all the way through (bizarrely) so I think it just filtered back to me second hand and via Facebook.
I did a session with him and we were playing Gypsy Jazz and he didn't have a gypsy style guitar. I lent him my Loar, but he couldn't get on with the weird neck.
So I said 'you fought the Loar and the Loar won?'
He didn't look very impressed. Tough crowd.
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Originally Posted by christianm77
I LOVE Wes , he's the greatest
but I don't like his tone
Sorry all
PS
While I'm at it I might as well clear the air ....
I don't like Coltraine's tone either
I must be a bit weird I guess !
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by pingu
Or is it the thumb think you don't like?
PS
While I'm at it I might as well clear the air ....
I don't like Coltraine's tone either
I must be a bit weird I guess !
Other sax players I can think of with Marmite tones; Joe Henderson, Benny Golson (I think in the high register can be quite wild and harsh), Bird for that matter... Konitz in full sharp as hell mode... Sax tones are often not beautiful but more characterful. And then of course you have Desmond, Hodges, Getz and so on who have the beautiful tone thing.
(OTOH Mike Brecker's tone is like the default sax tone, I am a child of the 80s and he was on all the records they put out that decade.)
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Originally Posted by christianm77
5 Guitars - Neck Pickup - Jazzblues: Danocaster,...
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