Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
- Thread starter Artie
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BlueSnMettle
Michaelewski
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Hey Artie,
How's it going buddy? Good luck on finding Jeff's tone, I think that's one of the great hidden mysteries. But I think both liberal whammy and use of your fingers as plectrums is the best place to start. "Dirty Mind" is on You Had It Coming, that's a wicked song. Good title for it too. You'll know what I mean after you hear it. Good luck & if you make any breakthroughs, let us in on it, or maybe just PM me. We don't want everybody to sound like Jeff. :laugh2:
Peace,
Darrin
ArtieToo said:
Hey Artie,
How's it going buddy? Good luck on finding Jeff's tone, I think that's one of the great hidden mysteries. But I think both liberal whammy and use of your fingers as plectrums is the best place to start. "Dirty Mind" is on You Had It Coming, that's a wicked song. Good title for it too. You'll know what I mean after you hear it. Good luck & if you make any breakthroughs, let us in on it, or maybe just PM me. We don't want everybody to sound like Jeff. :laugh2:
Peace,
Darrin
the guy who invented fire
Fuzzy. Guitars
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
you should see Jeff's right hand when he plays...holds the bar with his ring finger, pinky around the vol knob. and then uses the left over 2 fingers and his thumb to play...it is amazing!
you should see Jeff's right hand when he plays...holds the bar with his ring finger, pinky around the vol knob. and then uses the left over 2 fingers and his thumb to play...it is amazing!
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Beck's been my favorite guitarist for the last 35 or 40 years...ever since the Yardbird days. I think he's one of those guys who would sound like himself regardless of gear. In other words, it's not the gear. IMO, it's all in his phrasing and choice of notes and the way he plays in between the notes...not quite in tune. He's amazing. One of the few players who I can watch his hands and still not be able to make out exactly what the heck he's doing! He does so much with that HUGE CALLOUSED THUMB of his and his whammy bar...he can even up pick with his thumb. Most original guitarist on the planet, IMO.
He uses a Strat (doesn't matter which pickups), a mid 80's Ratt pedal or two, and a Marshall (doesn't matter which Marshall) through a 4 x 12 Marshall cabinet.
The right gear helps...but that's only the beginning!
Lew
Beck's been my favorite guitarist for the last 35 or 40 years...ever since the Yardbird days. I think he's one of those guys who would sound like himself regardless of gear. In other words, it's not the gear. IMO, it's all in his phrasing and choice of notes and the way he plays in between the notes...not quite in tune. He's amazing. One of the few players who I can watch his hands and still not be able to make out exactly what the heck he's doing! He does so much with that HUGE CALLOUSED THUMB of his and his whammy bar...he can even up pick with his thumb. Most original guitarist on the planet, IMO.
He uses a Strat (doesn't matter which pickups), a mid 80's Ratt pedal or two, and a Marshall (doesn't matter which Marshall) through a 4 x 12 Marshall cabinet.
The right gear helps...but that's only the beginning!
Lew
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Sounds like he's got some compression going on but not a whole lot... keep in mind he's known for playing at STUPIDLY high volume levels and a great way to get that singing sustain is to play really loud... at or near the feedback threshold.
One of the things I've been meaning to do for the longest time is rewire my 2nd tone pot to the bridge pickup... gets a more Jeff Beck/Eric Johnson sound that way.
ArtieToo said:Well, I've got the first half of the song down pretty good. I'll keep working on the rest.
I've got the "tone" in the ballpark, (sorta like how a Big Mac is in the "ballpark" for beef), but the one thing I can't nail, is that loooonnng sustain he gets. Like on the very first note he hits.
I've got compressors coming out the wazoo, and with them all turned on, and at max, I can't get my axe to hold a note for that long. :smack:
I wonder if he has the signal super-boosted, then extreme compression/limiting dialed in, so that there's more of a curve to deal with there. I tend to play a bit softer.
I'll keep working on it. Now, if there was just some way to get that backing track, without him in it.
Artie
Sounds like he's got some compression going on but not a whole lot... keep in mind he's known for playing at STUPIDLY high volume levels and a great way to get that singing sustain is to play really loud... at or near the feedback threshold.
One of the things I've been meaning to do for the longest time is rewire my 2nd tone pot to the bridge pickup... gets a more Jeff Beck/Eric Johnson sound that way.
msplines
New member
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Forgive me if there's a reason why this isn't so but I think he uses a ring slide to achieve some of the tones you're hearing there. For me he has always been a tricksy bastard and unconventional is putting it mildly!
In my yoof, I used to queue up to see him in various clubs around The Smoke and, when he actually turned up to gigs and wasn't replaced by Taste, Savoy Brown or Jethro Tull at the last moment, (he preferred watching footie on the box in the warm apparently) he used a panoply of techniques including slide to get that delightful, pooting sustain as per the clip.
Mind you, it could be.............
Forgive me if there's a reason why this isn't so but I think he uses a ring slide to achieve some of the tones you're hearing there. For me he has always been a tricksy bastard and unconventional is putting it mildly!
In my yoof, I used to queue up to see him in various clubs around The Smoke and, when he actually turned up to gigs and wasn't replaced by Taste, Savoy Brown or Jethro Tull at the last moment, (he preferred watching footie on the box in the warm apparently) he used a panoply of techniques including slide to get that delightful, pooting sustain as per the clip.
Mind you, it could be.............
Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Yup . . . I picked this song, (along with simply loving it), because it sounds easy to play. I really can't get even close! :smack:
There's a lot more going on hear than meets the ear.
Still, the song itself is so nice, I'm going to continue to learn it . . . I just won't be doing any JB imitations any time soon.
Artie
Lewguitar said:
Yup . . . I picked this song, (along with simply loving it), because it sounds easy to play. I really can't get even close! :smack:
There's a lot more going on hear than meets the ear.
Still, the song itself is so nice, I'm going to continue to learn it . . . I just won't be doing any JB imitations any time soon.
Artie
Hot _Grits
Buttery Toneologist
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
You've got the right idea.
The trick is to not get bogged down in trying to sound exactly like him. That's a route of diminishing returns, as the effort involved would be so great that you're seriously eating into time where you could be working on something more constructive, like working Beck's influence into what works for your own style.
I recently learned 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' note for note. It's the first sizeable guitar piece I've learned note-for note for probably over a decade.
When I play it, it sounds good and even 'Beck-like' (especially with my '76 strat/antiquity texas hot), but does it REALLY sound like Beck? -Naaaah.
Still, I learned heaps, and it's so much fun to play.
I recently got a Guitar Techniques magazine with a transcription and backing track of 'Nadia'. Now THERE'S a mountain to climb...
You've got the right idea.
The trick is to not get bogged down in trying to sound exactly like him. That's a route of diminishing returns, as the effort involved would be so great that you're seriously eating into time where you could be working on something more constructive, like working Beck's influence into what works for your own style.
I recently learned 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' note for note. It's the first sizeable guitar piece I've learned note-for note for probably over a decade.
When I play it, it sounds good and even 'Beck-like' (especially with my '76 strat/antiquity texas hot), but does it REALLY sound like Beck? -Naaaah.
Still, I learned heaps, and it's so much fun to play.
I recently got a Guitar Techniques magazine with a transcription and backing track of 'Nadia'. Now THERE'S a mountain to climb...
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Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Thats great advice. Funny thing is . . . its exactly what I did with Satch's ZZ's Song. I couldn't quite get it like he does, so I added my own "touch", and to some degree, rewrote the song. My phrasing is a bit different than his, and I like my version better.
I may see about posting this in the T&C section this weekend. (ZZ's Song, I mean.)
Artie
Edit above: my phrasing is a lot different than his. :laugh2:
Hot _Grits said:
Thats great advice. Funny thing is . . . its exactly what I did with Satch's ZZ's Song. I couldn't quite get it like he does, so I added my own "touch", and to some degree, rewrote the song. My phrasing is a bit different than his, and I like my version better.
I may see about posting this in the T&C section this weekend. (ZZ's Song, I mean.)
Artie
Edit above: my phrasing is a lot different than his. :laugh2:
msplines
New member
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Innerestin' about the Tele n slide post for Jeff - chuck the bloody amp out the window -Beck - it means that Savoy Brown didn't f**k my eradrums after all.
See, you are not alone in the universe! mind you, it's a right bugger getting hold of their (SB) stuff (without canyon type scratches I mean).ankalar said:
Innerestin' about the Tele n slide post for Jeff - chuck the bloody amp out the window -Beck - it means that Savoy Brown didn't f**k my eradrums after all.
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Oh man, I don't know anybody else who loves Savoy Brown like I do. It's nice to see you like them too! Kim Simmonds gets some awesome tones too. I've only got the 5 albums from Getting To The Point to Looking In, but those are their best ones.
Oh man, I don't know anybody else who loves Savoy Brown like I do. It's nice to see you like them too! Kim Simmonds gets some awesome tones too. I've only got the 5 albums from Getting To The Point to Looking In, but those are their best ones.
Curly
Moe's Bluesman
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Artie,
I don't have much to say in the way of helping, but "Footsteps" is just a great song, very magical ...
once you figure out "Footsteps", then you can move on to "Nadia" and "Blackbird" from "You Had It Coming"
those 3 songs are my favorites from his recent CDs
BTW, I saw JB with the Yardbirds on their first tour of the states. He had some old beat up Esquire.
Artie,
I don't have much to say in the way of helping, but "Footsteps" is just a great song, very magical ...
once you figure out "Footsteps", then you can move on to "Nadia" and "Blackbird" from "You Had It Coming"
those 3 songs are my favorites from his recent CDs
BTW, I saw JB with the Yardbirds on their first tour of the states. He had some old beat up Esquire.
msplines
New member
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
If you want a quick look at his nibs with the Yardbirds have a look at the film "Blow Up" with David Hemmings (I think Antonioni was the director) there's a (doctored) clip of them playing in the RickyTic club in Soho in Lunnen and yer man has a great time trashing what would appear to be a Hofner (wot?), feel the vibes, er, man!
If you want a quick look at his nibs with the Yardbirds have a look at the film "Blow Up" with David Hemmings (I think Antonioni was the director) there's a (doctored) clip of them playing in the RickyTic club in Soho in Lunnen and yer man has a great time trashing what would appear to be a Hofner (wot?), feel the vibes, er, man!
Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Thanks for the "tip" Curly. As soon as I get off work, I'm going to go find that CD.
That isn't, by any chance, McCartney's "Blackbird", is it? (If so, I'm halfway there, already.)
Artie
Curly said:Artie,
I don't have much to say in the way of helping, but "Footsteps" is just a great song, very magical ...
once you figure out "Footsteps", then you can move on to "Nadia" and "Blackbird" from "You Had It Coming"
those 3 songs are my favorites from his recent CDs
BTW, I saw JB with the Yardbirds on their first tour of the states. He had some old beat up Esquire.
Thanks for the "tip" Curly. As soon as I get off work, I'm going to go find that CD.
That isn't, by any chance, McCartney's "Blackbird", is it? (If so, I'm halfway there, already.)
Artie
BS123
New member
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Ya know, all Jeff Beck's stuff, to me, seems to be from another dimension. I love to listen to it and that's about as far as I go. I just don't have the mindstate and hands he has to play his stuff...
Beautiful tune too...
Oh and about his tone? It's all him... You could give him anyhting to play on and anything to play through and he'd still sound like Jeff Beck... I will say though that all his playing nowadays involves no pick...
Ya know, all Jeff Beck's stuff, to me, seems to be from another dimension. I love to listen to it and that's about as far as I go. I just don't have the mindstate and hands he has to play his stuff...
Beautiful tune too...
Oh and about his tone? It's all him... You could give him anyhting to play on and anything to play through and he'd still sound like Jeff Beck... I will say though that all his playing nowadays involves no pick...
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Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Yet another - Jeff Beck tone?
Yeah, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'm not gonna match his tone, or style. But I'm going to continue to learn the song, just as a challenge to myself.
Oddly enough, the hardest part is trying to remember the sequence of notes. Its not the typical 3 or 4 chord progression type thang.
Makes me wonder if JB himself plays this the same, twice in a row.
Artie
Yeah, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'm not gonna match his tone, or style. But I'm going to continue to learn the song, just as a challenge to myself.
Oddly enough, the hardest part is trying to remember the sequence of notes. Its not the typical 3 or 4 chord progression type thang.
Makes me wonder if JB himself plays this the same, twice in a row.
Artie
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