How to get a good guitar tone
I started learning how to play the guitar when I was thirteen years of Age. I remember this Teacher called Mrs. Kuria, who happens to be my class Teacher during those days. She was such a mentor that she wanted the best out of me. This teacher made arrangements for me to start learning how to play the guitar after discovering that hidden talent that was hiding in my shy face.
After introducing me to a local musician in the town by the name of Joel Kimeto, I began my long journey of learning how to play the guitar. In Kenya, acoustic guitars and classical guitars are not common but you will never miss seeing electric guitars being played either in a club, band, or houses of worship.
My first ever electric guitar to touch was a Fender, not sure the model but I am pretty sure it was a Fender.
This guitar was hooked to a 15 Watts combo amplifier also from Fender. My memories are still fresh when I think of the smoothness of the fretboard and the tonality that was emanating from this combo amp. The tone from the guitar was so clean and sweet to the ears, something that gave me the drive to buy my own electric guitar.
You will agree with me when you play an electric guitar, you probably expect it to sound a certain way. You expect it to give you the same impression that you got from your first guitar experience. What you come to discover when shopping for a guitar is that some guitars can be strong, loud, and depending on the type of amp, the sound can be anything from distorted to incredibly clear. We’ve all been inspired by the sounds of classic songs at some point, propelled to chase down or even buy our way to get that sound. Getting a good guitar tone is one of the most talked about subjects. Every day you can find people discussing amps, guitars, strings, cables and many other components which will give you the ultimate guitar tone. Today I’m going to tell you my story of how I learned about getting a great guitar tone.
As soon as I entered the music shop, I was met by this salesman who did not look like a musician but I guess he was there to attend to some customers and I happen to be one of them. I was the kind of a customer who did not understand exactly what I wanted. I only new guitar is a guitar nothing more than that. When I looked at the display I could not differentiate between which guitar was which and for what purpose. I just told him I was looking for an electric guitar, a good one with good sound.
I remember this guy giving me one Yamaha electric guitar, Black to be precise and still in the box. As an amateur in playing guitar, here I was confused about what to do with the guitar which was not hooked to an amplifier and at the same time not tuned. I guess the guy did not even have an idea on how to tune the guitar but all the same I wanted to buy a guitar. After hooking the guitar to one of the PA systems in the shop, finally the guitar gave out some sound, but not as same as the Fender electric guitar which I had told you earlier. So when I asked why the guitar was not producing a sound like what I had tried previously, I was told the guitar will sound best when I reach home and after tuning it. Remember those days there were no guitar tuners so you had to depend on your ear to tune the guitar string by string till you get what you wanted.
Have you ever bought your favorite guitar and when you start playing it at home you start asking yourself “Is this what I expected from this guitar?”
I am quite sure there are lots of people outside there who expected to get the best tone from a guitar but got disappointed. You expected a BB King, Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson tone but never see what went wrong?
If you want a throat-cutting guitar tone, you will need to know that great tones start by the way you play. You can tell a player from the way they play even on a cheap guitar and amp. Players normally say and I quote "better a mediocre guitar into a good amp than a good guitar into a mediocre amp".
I started learning how to get that good guitar tone when I got hired to work in a music store. When I was in Nairobi Kenya, I never had such an exposure as the one I got at the music store in Dubai. Let me confess how hard it was for me to catch up with a foreign accent in trying to understand what my customers needed. As new as I was, I embarked on a journey to explore different types of Guitar Amplifier combos and their accessories. After a few months of work, I came to understand that every guitar has its own tone, depending on the wood and pickups used. I also learned that Tube Amplifiers produce a totally different tone as compared to normal Transistor Amplifiers.
After trying out several fender guitars with Fender Amps, line 6 and others, I discovered something new. I learned that having a guitar and an amplifier is not enough. There are some gadgets you will need for your guitar gear. These gadgets are called guitar effects.
In this article, we will learn best practices for getting that sweet guitar tone.
First, you will need to do a lot of practice to familiarize yourself with the guitar fretboard. Then you will need to learn how your pickup tones sound. Once you understand how your pickup tones work then start adjusting tones on your Amplifier as you play your guitar.
By this time you will realize you have not achieved the BB King Tone you were looking for. Here is when you find that you need a guitar effect to compliment your tone.
Depending on how you count them, there are many types of guitar pedals out there that can take you from "just another guitar player" to being that guy with the definitive tone and stage presence that everyone knows of around town.
These guitar pedals are classified in different categories according to how they work.
- Filter Guitar Pedals
- Gain Guitar Pedals
- Pitch/Frequency Guitar Pedals
- Modulation Guitar Pedals
- Volume Guitar Pedals
- Timing Based Guitar Pedals
I will start explaining them one by one.
1. Filter Guitar Pedals
Filter guitar pedals can totally transform the way your guitar sounds. If you want to emphasize certain frequency areas, take a look at a filter.
Below
you can see the guitar pedals that are classed as filter effects.
Behringer BEQ700 Bass Graphic Equalizer
You’ve probably used EQ when adjusting the sound of a car stereo or home audio system before. Most of these devices allow you to adjust the presence of the low, mid, and high-end frequency ranges to tailor the overall sound.
Wah-Wah
A wah-wah pedal is a tone filter—also called an envelope filter—that a musician can control with his or her feet. Most electric guitars contain a tone knob that, depending on its position, either creates a bass-heavy timbre (think of jazz guitar tones) or a treble-focused one (think of country, surf music, and funk).
Behringer HB01 Hellbabe Optical Wah Pedal
Behringer FM600 Filter Machine Pedal
You can create new unique sounds with the Behringer Filter Machine FM600 effects pedal from classic auto-wah to nasal-like tones to other-worldly sound, the FM600 has the filter tones you've been looking for.
2. Gain
Guitar Pedals
A gain pedal is a pedal that increases the gain of the signal that your guitar produces. Gain pedals do not affect your guitar tone that much. It only boosts the signal of your guitar before it reaches the Pre Amplifier without adding any special effects.
Distortion
Distortion adds a dirty, heavy sound to your Guitar. If your amp has poor tone quality or lacks versatility in its controls and settings, a distortion pedal may be needed in order to get the desired sound levels from it. Distortion pedals give your guitar that extra edge with their crunchy sounds. Just like hard rock, metal, and classic rock. If you are a guitarist who loves crunchy tones, then Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal will be my recommendation for you. The good thing about Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal is that it is easy to use. Only three knobs and you are good to go.
Overdrive
Overdrive is called over clipping in guitarist language. The clipping is not that harsh but soft. A soft clipped guitar gives you a warmer tone during playing. Overdrive is a kind of emulation the tube amp. Feel free to try out the Behringer TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive Pedal. With this overdrive, you get a vintage smooth overdriven sustain and screaming fat tone. The best part is that it has only three knobs and runs on 9 volts battery.
3. Pitch/Frequency
Guitar Pedals
A Guitar Pedal that affects the pitch of the input signal of the guitar is called a pitch-shifting Guitar Pedal. The pedal has the capability to output either the shifted signal alone or a mix of the shifted signal and the dry signal. The pedal allows you to achieve a harmonizing effect without the need for another guitar player.
You can Create cool harmony and detune effects with the Behringer Ultra Shifter/Harmonist US600!
4. Modulation Guitar Pedals
Modulation guitar pedals are pedals that take a certain characteristic of your guitar tone and keeps on changing it until you get a fluid and engaging tone.
Behringer UC200 Ultra Chorus Pedal
Behringer FL600 Flanger Machine Pedal
Behringer UT300 Ultra Tremolo Pedal
Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser Pedal
5. Volume Guitar Pedals
They allow you to control the volume of your electric guitar by rocking the unit with your foot. Its main purpose is to attenuate the whole signal chain and allow you to do swells and similar effects.
Behringer FCV100 Dual-Mode Expression Pedal
The Behringer Foot Controller FCV100 is a dual-mode foot pedal for volume and modulation control which gives you two mono or one stereo input.
