Robbiedbee
New member
Hey all.
Today, I felt like I had found a complete new side to my Strat: the neck/middle position. I always knew it was there, but to me it just sounded, meh. At one time, I'd use only the neck and bridge+middle positions, but now, I can happily say that I love all 5 positions on your average Fender Stratocaster. Last week, I only really discovered the middle pickup for the first time, and I used it for both rhythm and lead playing. It kinda has a hollow, empty, rounded sound. Hollow and empty don't sound like positive words to describe a tone, but what I have in mind is knocking on a hollowed out piece of wood. It feels so alive.
So I'm playing today, and I just realised how awesome that neck+middle position sounds. You can play single note lead lines, and they sound great, but it really sounds good with stuff like double stops, because thats one it really starts to quack and twang at you.
To really get to know the guitar, what I did was set all my amps EQ levels to neutral, gain neutral, and the slightest smattering of reverb. I listened to each position, playing the same things on each, and then playing with the tone controls, something which I rarely do. Then, start playing with the EQ settings. I find I compensate for changes in pickup with it. I have found that when I am using the neck pickup on my own, I have bass set to neutral, mids at about 3 o clock, and treble on full, compensating for the loss in treble that comes with the neck pickup.
Similarly, when playing with the bridge pickup, I take the treble down to maybe 10 o clock. I know its probably not clever to set your EQ against the characteristics of each pickup, but neck pickup sounds with full treble sound really powerful, yet so smooth. Similarly, the bridge pickup with the trebles off sound subtle, yet still having that kind of force that a rhythm tone needs.
Thanks for reading.
Today, I felt like I had found a complete new side to my Strat: the neck/middle position. I always knew it was there, but to me it just sounded, meh. At one time, I'd use only the neck and bridge+middle positions, but now, I can happily say that I love all 5 positions on your average Fender Stratocaster. Last week, I only really discovered the middle pickup for the first time, and I used it for both rhythm and lead playing. It kinda has a hollow, empty, rounded sound. Hollow and empty don't sound like positive words to describe a tone, but what I have in mind is knocking on a hollowed out piece of wood. It feels so alive.
So I'm playing today, and I just realised how awesome that neck+middle position sounds. You can play single note lead lines, and they sound great, but it really sounds good with stuff like double stops, because thats one it really starts to quack and twang at you.
To really get to know the guitar, what I did was set all my amps EQ levels to neutral, gain neutral, and the slightest smattering of reverb. I listened to each position, playing the same things on each, and then playing with the tone controls, something which I rarely do. Then, start playing with the EQ settings. I find I compensate for changes in pickup with it. I have found that when I am using the neck pickup on my own, I have bass set to neutral, mids at about 3 o clock, and treble on full, compensating for the loss in treble that comes with the neck pickup.
Similarly, when playing with the bridge pickup, I take the treble down to maybe 10 o clock. I know its probably not clever to set your EQ against the characteristics of each pickup, but neck pickup sounds with full treble sound really powerful, yet so smooth. Similarly, the bridge pickup with the trebles off sound subtle, yet still having that kind of force that a rhythm tone needs.
Thanks for reading.
