Tele and Strat Playing Tips

[Guitar Toad]

I hear stuff about playing guitars with single coils like strats and teles such as...you shape tones from your hands more so than on HB laden guitars. Tele's a strats make you work to earn your tones. You can get any tone you want...you just gotta know how to get it out.

I have a strat. I love it. I think I know what guys mean who say those things but I can't verbalize it. Can I get anyone to elaborate on their tele or strat playing technique? I practice a lot on bends and vibrato unplugged. I'm beginning to get where I want. This question is hard to ask and I'm sure it's a bit difficult to answer because it's so open ended...perhaps you guys who say those things will be able to chime in.

Any tips on emotive playing with single coil guitar besides the standard hit the woodshed and practice, practice, practice.

Thank you.

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find that I shape the tone with my hands on single coil and humbucker-equipped instruments about equally. While I certainly notice a difference in the sound that I'm trying to create, and thus a difference in how I'm using my hands to make those sounds...I don't really see one as being MORE dependent on my hands than the other.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Single coils to me sound more like a "real" guitar, if that makes sense. Their tone is pure and simple. Humbuckers can sound great, but somewhere along the way the clarity and subtlety of the single disappears.

With that in mind, if you want to really explore the power of a Strat or Tele (or Jazzmaster, or LP Junior, or any single-coil-equipped guitar), use the subtlety to your advantage. Listen to "Riviera Paradise" or "Lenny" by SRV - he is the master of exploring the full range of the instrument. Listen to how he can change the tone of the guitar just from the amount of force he puts on the strings. Lots of mediocre players try to replicate this by hitting stomp boxes or switching pickups, but when it comes down to it, everything you need is in your hands.

Plug into a nice, clean but juicy tube amp (or a model of one if that's what you have) and work on controlling the level of your picking attack. Play the same note over and over and over again, and while you do, gradually increase and decrease the intensity of your pick attack. Go from picking as soft as you can to picking as hard as you can, but not all at once - ideally you should be going from softest to hardest over the course of about 30 or 40 notes with a slight increase in volume each time. As you play, you are listening very carefully and learning to associate your pick attack with what comes out of the amp.

Keep doing this on different notes and strings, because it will change in each situation (open strings, low frets, high frets, size of the string). It may sound boring, but it will help your brain connect the dots between what your right hand does and what you hear. The goal is to eventually get to a point where you can think to yourself "I want a note of this intensity and attack" and your hand will do it automatically.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Plug into a nice, clean but juicy tube amp (or a model of one if that's what you have) and work on controlling the level of your picking attack. Play the same note over and over and over again, and while you do, gradually increase and decrease the intensity of your pick attack. Go from picking as soft as you can to picking as hard as you can, but not all at once - ideally you should be going from softest to hardest over the course of about 30 or 40 notes with a slight increase in volume each time. As you play, you are listening very carefully and learning to associate your pick attack with what comes out of the amp.

Keep doing this on different notes and strings, because it will change in each situation (open strings, low frets, high frets, size of the string). It may sound boring, but it will help your brain connect the dots between what your right hand does and what you hear. The goal is to eventually get to a point where you can think to yourself "I want a note of this intensity and attack" and your hand will do it automatically.

Thanks for the advice. I'll work on that pick attack exercise.

One thing that I have been doing is playing with amp setting. It's been fun and educational to work with the amp controls. Clean clean is one thing, then clean on the verge of overdrive is yet another. The with the amp vol and gain dimed, and rolling the guitars volume back is still a different but cool sound. So many different tones can be dialed in just by working the knobs. What a concept!

Thanks for your post RD.

 

[myxolidian]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I find that using a set of higher gauge strings really helps to bring out the oomph. Not only does it allow you play with a little more range of force/dynamics, but the bigger strings give a little extra pump to the single coils.

I use .011 gauge strings. I think .010 is the lightest you can get away with...009s sound sterile/weak to me. I don't know what you're using now but try the next gauge up and see if it does anything for you.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I find that using a set of higher gauge strings really helps to bring out the oomph. Not only does it allow you play with a little more range of force/dynamics, but the bigger strings give a little extra pump to the single coils.

I use .011 gauge strings. I think .010 is the lightest you can get away with. .009s sound sterile/weak to me. I don't know what you're using now but try the next gauge up and see if it does anything for you.

I've been experimenting with different strings. I started on this strat with the .009's Fender 250L's that came with the guitar. Then, I changed to Fender 10's they did sound better and more meaty. Then I tried DR Pure Blues 10's. Great strings but when I changed to a full set of Texas Hot pups the Pure Blues weren't bright enough. The last two changes have been D'Ardario 10's. Right now I have the D'Ardario Heavy Bottoms: 10's with the 52 low E. The Heavy bottoms are a bit too bassy for me. Next time I'll try the D'Ardario regular 10s set. Before trying the 11's

I have ruled out the Fender Strings on this strat. The open G with the Fenders sound way too twangy for some reason. DR and D'Ardario have cured that problem for me. If I go with 11's, I think I'll want to go back to a floating bridge to make bends a bit easier.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I would start with really concentrating on your right-hand technique. Just fret the notes and chords with your left hand. While you work on your righ hand technique, notice how you evolve from something as simple as strumnming to letting the pick flow over the strings in a way that you hear all the strings with more clarity and authority. everyone has their own right hand style; but I use the hybrid method; which isn't easy but really pays off in the end.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I've been experimenting with different strings. I started on this strat with the .009's Fender 250L's that came with the guitar. Then, I changed to Fender 10's they did sound better and more meaty. Then I tried DR Pure Blues 10's. Great strings but when I changed to a full set of Texas Hot pups the Pure Blues weren't bright enough. The last two changes have been D'Ardario 10's. Right now I have the D'Ardario Heavy Bottoms: 10's with the 52 low E. The Heavy bottoms are a bit too bassy for me. Next time I'll try the D'Ardario regular 10s set. Before trying the 11's

I have ruled out the Fender Strings on this strat. The open G with the Fenders sound way too twangy for some reason. DR and D'Ardario have cured that problem for me. If I go with 11's, I think I'll want to go back to a floating bridge to make bends a bit easier.

I have a Strat equipped with the Texas Hots also........ and I would highly recommend the xl115's (11 thru 48). I use these strings on ALL my electric guitars (the collection continues to grow). I would also be careful with a floating bridge......... It may make bending easier, but only marginal, and if you break a string your dead in the water............ the whole guitar is going out of tune. IMHO you are better off with the bridge resting on the body. You will get better sound transfer and if/when you break a string your guitar will stay in tune well enogh to get thru the song..

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I have a Strat equipped with the Texas Hots also........ and I would highly recommend the xl115's (11 thru 48). I use these strings on ALL my electric guitars (the collection continues to grow). I would also be careful with a floating bridge......... It may make bending easier, but only marginal, and if you break a string your dead in the water............ the whole guitar is going out of tune. IMHO you are better off with the bridge resting on the body. You will get better sound transfer and if/when you break a string your guitar will stay in tune well enogh to get thru the song..

Bludave, That's a good point on the floating bridge. The XL115's, are those D'Ardario's? I'll check 'em out on the next string change.

Butch, the hybrid method you speak of, is that a combination pick/finger pick technique ala SRV?
Thanks for your comments encouragement to work on the right hand technique. That appears to be my missing link or the secret that others have figured out and I have yet to develop.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Butch, the hybrid method you speak of, is that a combination pick/finger pick technique ala SRV?
Thanks for your comments encouragement to work on the right hand technique. That appears to be my missing link or the secret that others have figured out and I have yet to develop.

The rigt-hand is so overlooked in the tone and technique chains. The hybrid method is many things tomany people. For some, it's picking all solo lines with the flat pick and using the pick and fingers when doing "some" chording. To others, like me, it's using the fingers as much as the flat pick. You just use what you have to to get the job done. Plus, the fingers sound so much differetn when "clawing" the strings than a flat pick does when just picking them.

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I would start with really concentrating on your right-hand technique. Just fret the notes and chords with your left hand. While you work on your righ hand technique, notice how you evolve from something as simple as strumnming to letting the pick flow over the strings in a way that you hear all the strings with more clarity and authority. everyone has their own right hand style; but I use the hybrid method; which isn't easy but really pays off in the end.

+1 I use hybrid technique as well........fingers sound a lot different than a pick stroke and can shape the note in many ways that can't be done with a pick.

Todd, try to play the same lick with different picking attacks...closer to the bridge for a thin staccato sound or maybe over the neck pup for a fat smooth tone. Use fingerpicking...slap the strings against the fingerboard or barely brush them with the tips of your nails. Mix it up and it will become second nature.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

+1 I use hybrid technique as well........fingers sound a lot different than a pick stroke and can shape the note in many ways that can't be done with a pick.

Todd, try to play the same lick with different picking attacks...closer to the bridge for a thin staccato sound or maybe over the neck pup for a fat smooth tone. Use fingerpicking...slap the strings against the fingerboard or barely brush them with the tips of your nails. Mix it up and it will become second nature.

Joe, thanks for the post. I'll confess I'm a slave to my pick. The only thing I can comfortably fingerpick is you know, the intro to stairway. I've gotta get my fingers more active. I agree that there is significant tonal differences between fingers and flatpicking. It's just gonna take a bit to get incorporated into my playing. I've focused much of my time on fretting and getting faster and smoother with my left hand. I have a lotsa work to do.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Pick attack (not just force, but angle can change things up too), knob positioning, and something I noticed myself doing a lot more when playing on a single coil equipped axe, raking. What I mean is, say for example you're about to hit a big bend in a melody fill or solo. Instead of just plucking that note and yanking it, mute the two or three strings below it (or next biggest strings) with your fret hand and rake your pick over them, then as you hit the string you're wanting to sound let 'er rip. You'll get this ssssshhhhWAH effect that can really add tension to that note. Little things like that can really make your playing more expressive.

 

[Curly]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

touch feel is something that's hard to explain for me ... I think it comes with time and hard work, working on your vibrato ... hard to explain, but you'll know it when you hear it

I agree that technique counts no matter what guitar you play, but I think that a hotter signal - whether it's higher output from the pickups, as with humbuckers, or higher gain from an amp- tends to level out the effect of shaping notes with your hands. Single coils are just more revealing - more work, but sometimes with that, more satisfaction if you find your own tone that way.

I think of Coco Montoya and Buddy Whittington in that vein, although Lew has commented that he thinks Buddy gets his singing tone "too easily".
(I'm not quite sure what he meant by that.) :smack:

those are examples of players who sound to me like their tone is very organic -- like it's coming straight from their soul through their fingers, the guitar, the amp, all one thing

 

[BigDaddy]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I always look for what I call the cornerstone to find a philosophy.

The first thing is to find an identity. It's like you can't be everything to everyone. You have to know who you are and play like that.

If you do than it will come through in your playing.

Unless you want to be a pop star, than it's a matter of the reverse. You have to make believe.

If you play a strat, be a strat player. Same for a tele and ES-335, Lester or whatever guitar you use.

I have my own playing identity therefore I make my own guitars. There isn't anything on the market that let's me be me. The closest one's cost in the $100,000 range and even they have limits.

I use a partscaster, swamp ash body, mahogany conversion neck(fatback or boatneck profile). For pickups I use a Firebird or P-90 Antiquity neck and a CC or C5 bridge. Nobody makes anything like that, but that how I get my sound.

Same for amps, I build my own. They are basically hybrids of different era Fender's.

Once you know what you want to be it's easier to follow a path. try to master all aspects of music. The more you know about drums and rhythm the better musician you will be. Learn bass, vocals, keyboard too, you don't have to play them well but have a working knowledge of all aspects of music.

I try to make my guitar sound as close to a human voice as I can. More of a tenor and alto saxophone sound without the brassiness tone wise. I always say if you can't sing it don't play it.

You have to come up with your own approach and philosophy based on tried and true facts. Don't base it on a lot of mis-information you read about or hear from non-professionals.

After a few professional gigs you learn real fast to turn down your guitar when someone else is soloing or singing. I have yelled at (over the band at full volume "turn your guitar down!!!") some morons who did not do that at jam gigs I have played. They had no idea they were too loud.

I let a guy jam with my band at one of my gigs, he was playing leads over my vocals, I asked him what the F**k are you doing? I will never let anybody do that again, I was trying to be nice and let the guy play with us since the place was empty.

All I am saying is learn your craft the right way and learn to ignore erroneous information. A lot of people are full of bull and talk out of their behinds.

It's not just learning to vibrato or great solo's. It's everything, learn everything. The more you know lets you evolve as a musician and guitar player. If you really want to learn about vibrato listen to the great opera singers. They have a natural vibrato in their voice, try to emulate that. For phrasing I listen more to someone like Mahalia Jackson or Ray Charles singing than Eric Clapton playing guitar. Ray would bend notes past pitch and bring it back with his voice.........just fantastic.

And the more you learn the more you will realize how little you know.

 

[Voxman]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Try practice ona really bad acoustic guitar with a high action.
That will help you guys on your tone. The thing is that you`ll have to work hard to get a nice tone.Pick attack is very important but a really strong left hand certanly is too. If you can handle hammer on, pull off,bending,slides etc. on a bad acoustic you`ll rock any single coil in the world

 

[firebirdVII]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

I try to make my guitar sound as close to a human voice as I can.

I think that's what really attracted me to slide at first, not that I knew then.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

It's not just learning to vibrato or great solo's. It's everything, learn everything. The more you know lets you evolve as a musician and guitar player. If you really want to learn about vibrato listen to the great opera singers. They have a natural vibrato in their voice, try to emulate that. For phrasing I listen more to someone like Mahalia Jackson or Ray Charles singing than Eric Clapton playing guitar. Ray would bend notes past pitch and bring it back with his voice.........just fantastic.

And the more you learn the more you will realize how little you know.

Wow, Big Daddy, you gave me a lifetime of stuff to work on thank you. This will keep me busy. I like your suggestion of learning phrasing through studying some great vocalists like Mahalia and Ray Charles.

I try to make my guitar sound as close to a human voice as I can.

I love that statement. I'll definitely put in that philosophy into my playing.

The first thing is to find an identity. It's like you can't be everything to everyone. You have to know who you are and play like that.

I think that is brilliant advice. It should be obvious but it's always good to be reminded. I'm still searching for my identity as a player. I'm making good progress. So far I've concluded that I'm not SRV or Eric Clapton or EVH. I've figured out what I'm not and still defining who I am.

You offered some terrific info and advice.

Thank you.

 

[Guest]

Re: Tele and Strat Playing Tips

Lot's of great info here... These kinda threads makes the SD forum shine.

Thanks Guys!