Hi guys and gals. Pondering tone over countless hours as I have I believe I've had an epiphany when it comes to searching for and finding great tone. Let me give you a quick preface as to what led me to this moment. I spent a week in LA recently with my family, it was the longest I have been away from a guitar or an amp in a decade. On the last day we stopped into Guitar Center on Sunset just to check it out as you do. And if you haven't you really should, its amazing. Anyway, there I am, in holiday mode, completely relaxed, no stress, happy days. Now i begin to recognize the guitar tones flying around me, some good, some ok, some buzzy like bees in a bottle, but I realize i haven't even looked at what gear they're using or what they're playing through. I'm just at peace, barely listening but still taking it all in.
When I eventually looked at the stuff they were using, I was genuinely surprised.
Why did you need to know this? because tone is my life, and that life has a pressure, stress and deadlines built into it. The knowledge this life has given me has also led to a certain amount of presumption and its so clear to me now that when you're searching for that tone and you add this all together, it's the wrong head space to be in when searching for tone or trying out potential tone toys.
Anyone who's ever bought stuff because of people's rave reviews, then persevered and struggled with it, purely because if everyone is raving about it believing that it must be great if everyone is raving about it so it must be me who is using it wrong. Does this sound familiar? It certainly does for me, so why do we persist?
Because we are conditioned to believe that if its 1. Really expensive, 2. used by someone famous, 3. really pretty or 4. raved about by users on an online forum, then it must be amazing.
so I've come up with a new process for trying gear. Maybe you can add to it but so far its working really well.
1 - Ignorance is Bliss
Once you have decided to try out a new piece of gear STOP SEARCHING for info about it. All that matters is the tone, no ifs, ands or butts, this is everything. Don't ask how much it costs, (this is not always possible so go to step 2), don't ask who uses it, don't ask what's in it, just leave all that alone till you've played through the thing. You don't want any of that info influencing your decision on weather or not to buy it.
2 - I don't want your money honey, I want your love
OK, now this may sound strange but trust me, there's a reason for this. You're plugged into what ever you're going to listen to, before you start, imagine that the pedal is £20 Beringer, or the amp is a Digitech practice amp, what ever is the uncoolest thing you can imagine. It must be so uncool that you would never ever mention you own it on TheGearPage.
Take the 'cool factor' out of the picture.
3 - Relax, this won't hurt a bit
Get into a calm peaceful space, clear your head and just let the tone do its thing. Don't listen as such, just be aware, play and see what happens. How does it feel? How do you want to play with it? If you sit down and try to analyze it, rather than just experience it, it once again puts you in that strange headspace which is not conducive to making music. ' the truth is there is no spoon'
Here's the thing, rock stars who have all the money and endorsement deals in the world can basically buy and play anything they want. They don't have this 'gee my amp is cool because its so expensive' attitude because to allot of them its not. If you've ever seen a rock star audition a new piece of gear you'll know that they don't give a toss about how it looks or how much it costs, all they care about is how they connect with it and what comes out in the air. Most are not impressed by the 'boutique' signature, they just want it to sound right... period. I've seen an artist plug into what all around him would class as an amazing amp and he dismissed it as crap in 10 seconds. Same guy plugs into something off the shelf costing 1/3 the price and just wailed, didn't care who made it, or how much it cost. Just wanted the tone that worked for him.
So the next time you're trying a new piece of gear, or even the stuff you have now, get out of that pre-judging mind set. Remember we are all different, and this stuff makes NO SOUND, it only amplifies and colours what we put into it.
This approach can save you years of heartache, but even if it only saves you one disappointing gig, then my job is done.
peace
Daniel Steinhardt
http://www.thegigrig.com/
When I eventually looked at the stuff they were using, I was genuinely surprised.
Why did you need to know this? because tone is my life, and that life has a pressure, stress and deadlines built into it. The knowledge this life has given me has also led to a certain amount of presumption and its so clear to me now that when you're searching for that tone and you add this all together, it's the wrong head space to be in when searching for tone or trying out potential tone toys.
Anyone who's ever bought stuff because of people's rave reviews, then persevered and struggled with it, purely because if everyone is raving about it believing that it must be great if everyone is raving about it so it must be me who is using it wrong. Does this sound familiar? It certainly does for me, so why do we persist?
Because we are conditioned to believe that if its 1. Really expensive, 2. used by someone famous, 3. really pretty or 4. raved about by users on an online forum, then it must be amazing.
so I've come up with a new process for trying gear. Maybe you can add to it but so far its working really well.
1 - Ignorance is Bliss
Once you have decided to try out a new piece of gear STOP SEARCHING for info about it. All that matters is the tone, no ifs, ands or butts, this is everything. Don't ask how much it costs, (this is not always possible so go to step 2), don't ask who uses it, don't ask what's in it, just leave all that alone till you've played through the thing. You don't want any of that info influencing your decision on weather or not to buy it.
2 - I don't want your money honey, I want your love
OK, now this may sound strange but trust me, there's a reason for this. You're plugged into what ever you're going to listen to, before you start, imagine that the pedal is £20 Beringer, or the amp is a Digitech practice amp, what ever is the uncoolest thing you can imagine. It must be so uncool that you would never ever mention you own it on TheGearPage.
Take the 'cool factor' out of the picture.
3 - Relax, this won't hurt a bit
Get into a calm peaceful space, clear your head and just let the tone do its thing. Don't listen as such, just be aware, play and see what happens. How does it feel? How do you want to play with it? If you sit down and try to analyze it, rather than just experience it, it once again puts you in that strange headspace which is not conducive to making music. ' the truth is there is no spoon'
Here's the thing, rock stars who have all the money and endorsement deals in the world can basically buy and play anything they want. They don't have this 'gee my amp is cool because its so expensive' attitude because to allot of them its not. If you've ever seen a rock star audition a new piece of gear you'll know that they don't give a toss about how it looks or how much it costs, all they care about is how they connect with it and what comes out in the air. Most are not impressed by the 'boutique' signature, they just want it to sound right... period. I've seen an artist plug into what all around him would class as an amazing amp and he dismissed it as crap in 10 seconds. Same guy plugs into something off the shelf costing 1/3 the price and just wailed, didn't care who made it, or how much it cost. Just wanted the tone that worked for him.
So the next time you're trying a new piece of gear, or even the stuff you have now, get out of that pre-judging mind set. Remember we are all different, and this stuff makes NO SOUND, it only amplifies and colours what we put into it.
This approach can save you years of heartache, but even if it only saves you one disappointing gig, then my job is done.
peace
Daniel Steinhardt
http://www.thegigrig.com/
