Good songs, questionable guitar tone.

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

We've all heard 'em and can't imagine them sounding any other way.  Good songs, but one wonders what the guitar player was thinking.

2 that come to mind for me are Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years" and The Beatles' "Revolution."

What are yours?

 

[erogenousjones17]

Anything involving Randy Rhoads...

 

[dbw]

The Beatles' "Revolution."

+1, UGLY fuzz on this song.

 

[mayfly]

In A GoddaDavida, Baby

 

[kboman]

The Beatles' "Revolution."

+1, UGLY fuzz on this song.

I love it!

On topic: Dire Straits, "Sultans of Swing". A clean bridge pickup on a strat. The pain!

 

[Mor Paul]

I think Revolution sounds good there too. Not supposed to be pretty. Same with Sympathy for the Devil's solo.

 

[GoDrex]

On topic: Dire Straits, "Sultans of Swing". A clean bridge pickup on a strat. The pain!

I don't get it. That song is perfection.

 

[taez555]

Anything involving Randy Rhoads...

As a huge Randy Rhoads fan, I gotta say....  I've always thought that.   I know it was early in the era and people were still trying to figure out the "tone", but I've never dug it.    Sorry Randy. :-(  

 

[m4rk0]

I think he sounds great on Tribute! I actually prefer listening to Tribute instead of Blizzard..

 

[GoDrex]

I've always like Randy's tone, though it's not a tone I would use myself. It's very metallic sounding. It's hard to explain, but I always associate sounds with colors and Randy is like pure silver to me hehehe. It just works for me. It's pretty unique too. I guess no one else would want it hahaha.

 

[GoDrex]

this is really hard. generally if I like a song, I like what it sounds like so I'm having trouble thinking of a guitar sound I really don't like.  the early Ween albums have some really cheesy and bad tones on them, but it works for them. so I don't know...

ok I just thought I one - I love Zep, but I never cared for his sound on Communication Breakdown, even though I like the song.

 

[kboman]

I like many of Weezer's songs, Rivers Cuomo is a solid song writer, but I have never liked his distorted sound. That boomy, way-too-finely-grained Mesa sound does nothing for me.

Also, The Edge's tone on "Desire" from ZooTV - what the heck was he thinking? :tard:

 

[richship]

It's hard to explain, but I always associate sounds with colors and Randy is like pure silver to me hehehe.

Synesthesia. A little is cool, too much is a pathology. I tend to taste sounds myself.

On topic, I like variety. Sometimes "bad" tone is just right for the song.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Sometimes "bad" tone is just right for the song.

This is absolutely true. It's even true of what I said earlier about Randy Rhoads. By itself, the guitar tone in "Crazy train" isn't great, but it works perfectly in the context of that song.

 

[Xplorervoodoo]

I find with most songs, it's not necessarily the tone that bothers me, but the application of effects they have chosen at a particular time...

Such as the use of a phaser with distortion...  in most cases, I can't stand it.

Or random uses of the Whammy Pedal (no, I don't really mean Tom Morello - more like Billy Corgan on Cherub Rock)

things like that...

 

[big bob]

On topic: Dire Straits, "Sultans of Swing". A clean bridge pickup on a strat. The pain!

I don't get it. That song is perfection.

+1

 

[Superlizard]

I love the tone on Reelin' In The Years (tele with neck 'bucker)... it's raw and dynamic.

Let's see here...

- anything by George Lynch (fuzzy, harsh top end)
- anything by Joe Satriani (super-compressed = no dynamics)
- anything by Steve Vai (same as above)
- Stones / Sympathy For The Devil solo (anemic)
- any nu-metal/nu-crap where the guitar sounds like a bunch of angry bees buzzing around (no good songs found here, though)

 

[kboman]

On topic: Dire Straits, "Sultans of Swing". A clean bridge pickup on a strat. The pain!

I don't get it. That song is perfection.

+1

As a song it's ok, not more. The guitar sounds utterly passionless.

--

Aanyway - here's one very general thing that always makes me lose all interest: guitar solos with wah wah pedals. Seriously, it doesn't sound good. Stop doing it.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Aanyway - here's one very general thing that always makes me lose all interest: guitar solos with wah wah pedals. Seriously, it doesn't sound good. Stop doing it.

A guitarist strumming a chord and keeping the tempo with a wah urks me to know end.  IMO, if you don't use the wah for the lead where do you use it?  I like Clapton's Cream era, Zakk Wylde's Pride and Glory era, and Slash's Apetite era use of lead work with a wah.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Boston's Tom Scholz's distortion in a can isn't something I would ever try to recreate, but works perfect for them.