Eric Johnson's tone?

[Vincent]

Ok I am sure this has been asked before, but how does he do it?

I understand that he plays his solos using the bridge pickup of either his ES-335 or his 58 fender strat into a bunch of pedals into fender amps (for clean) and Marshalls (rhythm and that famous violin-lead tone). Is that about right?
But ultimately, I heard that the secret to his tone (apart from his fingers) is the sheer volume at which it is played. Has anyone got anything to add to this?

 

[Ocifer]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

Volume isn't really the reason. The volume is the by-product of how hard he pushes his amps, which is the real reason for that honey tone. In fact, he had to switch to smaller heads lately because he was developing hearing problems, and he still gets that nice tone. I'd say his tone comes from his slightly modded strat, and some of the rare-ish effects, like the Chandler Tube Driver.

I recently got a copy of his Starlicks off of my guitar teacher, and it's amazing. A LOT of his tone comes from the way he plays it, and he explains it quite well. Perhaps you should look into grabbing a copy of his Starlicks DVD or VHS.

 

[HamerPlyr]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

IMO, EJ is one of the best examples of a big part of tone coming from the hands, technique, etc. Several years ago, I was walking around at the Greater Southwest Guitar Show, and I hear someone playing a couple of aisles over. The licks weren't familiar, but the tone and the style were. I walked over to see if it was a great impersonation or the real deal, and EJ had plugged into some strange amp (I don't remember which one, just that it was something that seemed strange for him to be playing through) and was checking it out. It wasn't the amp, he had no pedals, it wasn't his guitar. Still, when I heard it, it was unmistakeable who was doing the playing.

A lot of his tone is in his picking style. His "bounce technique" produces a very unique tone. If you really want to get into the details of his tone, I would suggest that you get his Starlicks video and check it out. It's several years old, but it will give you tremendous insight into why he sounds the way that he does.

 

[B2D]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

I've also found that it takes a very good-quality and very distinct fuzz pedal in order to properly cop his lead tone. I've studied EJ a lot in my guitar-playing time and while I don't sound much like him when I play I've picked up a tone/technique trick or two from him.

I was trying out a fulltone '69 fuzz pedal recently and I found that when I dimed out every control on that thing and ran it through a cranked Plexi RI with the appropriate settings it got me VERY close and possibly inside the EJ zone. It had all the characteristics of his lead tone... slight graduation on the attack, smooth thickness, blooming sustain, etc etc.

A lot of the sound IS in phrasing and tone as well. EJ is instantly recognizable from one note and I usually find that altering my style to resemble his helps more than any peice of gear could. But there are certain ingredients he uses in his chain that you can't get his tone without and a good fuzz pedal is one of them. He said in an interview once that he went through 40 or so Fuzz Faces before he found a really nice one and i think the Fulltones are a reproduction and improvement on those unique specimens.

 

[sgstrat]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

I recently got a copy of his Starlicks off of my guitar teacher, and it's amazing. A LOT of his tone comes from the way he plays it, and he explains it quite well. Perhaps you should look into grabbing a copy of his Starlicks DVD or VHS.

Eric Johnson has done two videos for Arlen Roth's Hot Licks: "Total Electric Guitar" and the two volume "Fine Art of Guitar".

They're both excellent. For more info go to:

http://www.hotlicks.com/index.htm

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

The Cheese stands alone I guess but his tone doesn't do anything for me. Distinctive? No doubt but doesn't do it for me. He also loses me a bit on his album production as well. He tries so hard to be perfect that he goes overboard. Drums over compressed, too reverb. His best sounding records are the early ones. Ah Via is just way overproduced.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

As much as I hate to admit thaqt I refer to the Musician's Friend catalog for technical info, the most recent has a write-up on the new Eric Johnson Strat. It points out something I never knew before - he rewired his Strats so he has tone controls on the neck and bridge pickups. That might explain his fat, non-stratty lead tone.

That, and holding his germanium Fuzz Face with rubber bands instead of screws. It supposedly makes a difference.

 

[Vincent]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

don't forget the duracell batteries

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

That, and holding his germanium Fuzz Face with rubber bands instead of screws. It supposedly makes a difference.

If you get really nitpicky with electrical theory, it would make a difference, on paper anyway. Whether it makes an audible difference that we'd be able to detect... well, he seems to think so, and that's all that really matters.

The (what I thought was) bullsh*t about how his pedals being at different angles to one another *could* make a difference in the tone as well, what with different transistors & whatnot being in close proximities to one another.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

i dont like people who take perfection to the extreme, just gimme my down and dirty cranked fender tone with my strat and im happy....

 

[HamerPlyr]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

he rewired his Strats so he has tone controls on the neck and bridge pickups. That might explain his fat, non-stratty lead tone.

That's the way that I wired my strat, and I promise you, try it and you'll never go back. It just makes so much more sense because it's so much more use-able.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Eric Johnson's tone?

doesnt everyone do that to their strats? where have you guys been?

I have tone for all of them-2nd knob-neck tone, 3rd knob-middle and bridge...