My Favorite Guitar Tones

Duane Allman

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:34:40 GMT

The definition of the Les Paul. Duane Allman and Dickey Bett's names should be under Gibson Les Paul in the dictionary, cause those two made you want to buy a Les Paul. Duane made you want to play with slides and the Open E tunings (as well as Open G)

Duane's tone on top is my all time favorite. He makes his guitar cry, squeal, and scream the Blues. The first 2 Allman Bros cds, the Layla album with Clapton in particular, no one can make things blend so beautiful as Duane could. I prefer his Open E tunings, and even when he's in Open G, but he played the best with the slide. There is not many that can compete with him at his young age.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:35:40 GMT

Stevie Ray is the reason I bought a Stratocaster years ago. I just had to have one after listening to him for years, and I value the guitar over the Gibsons I've played before.

Stevie's tone on the other hand is an absolute monster. I promise you, all you people that try and replicate famous tones, his is very very hard to replicate without using the same things he used. That's why I like his tone so much, it sounds like Lonnie Mack, but he went his own direction and made his own sound instead of trying to sound like someone else. He also used heavy gauge strings to get his stomping sound.

I also can credit SRV for my tuning of E Flat that I play the majority of my things in. I also loved his clean tones on the songs Lenny and his Jazz side with Riveria Paradise.

This captures my favorites of his tones in many different styles

Mick Taylor

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:39:50 GMT

When I first heard Sticky Fingers, I was obsessed with Mick Taylor's solo work in the songs Bitch, Sway, Moonlight Mile, and Dead Flowers. This is the man that kept the Rolling Stones from falling to pieces in his short 4 years in the band, he accomplished far more than anyone imagined he could.

Taylor reminds me of Allman a bit. The Les Paul, the slide on certain songs, and his acoustic tones. I learned so much from studying Taylor, but most of all his tones were awesome. Even on Exile on Main St. where most of the album is lack luster, his guitar tones sounded great. When I first bought a Gibson Les Paul, I wanted to sound like Mick and Duane, and even to this day I'd say they are my two favorites that ever picked up the Les Paul.

This is Mick doing what he does best

Jimi Hendrix

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:35:49 GMT

It's hard to not include Hendrix on a list of tones. Some people argue that he played out of tune, but how can you not love his tones? Weather it's the heavy wah wah on Voodoo Chile or the dropped down tuning on Machine Gun, Jimi Hendrix did everything you can imagine possible on the guitar, and his tone never sounded any better.

My favorite Hendrix tone however has to be the Band of Gypsys record. He could have easily fit into an Electric Miles Davis band on that album, it just screamed funky blues. There is the Berkley concerts as well where Jimi tuned in standard E tuning which show he was on top of his game as well with his tone. As much as I favor his tone, I've never attempted to sound like him on my strat.

Eric Clapton

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:34:47 GMT

Clapton has a number of tones I love. One in particular is the Cream sound. Him playing a Gibson ES-335, and using low distortion with all the wah wah gave you psychedelic wonders.

Clapton also is a master of the Strat. His tones on the Derek and the Dominos record are amazing, as well as some of his solo albums too, but I favor his hollow body sound. This is the art of British Blues, Clapton and Taylor should always be mentioned for waving the flag from the East for the Blues.

Freddie King

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:34:56 GMT

I can't forget when I first started listening to Freddie King. His tone was a straight monster...he would bend the hell out of a string and let it ring. I believe the rumors they say about Clapton wanting a Gibson ES-335 when he seen Freddie King, cause I myself was blown away by them. No one made those guitars sound sweeter than the Texas Cannonball did with his straight Blues. I would highly recommend anyone that has never heard Freddie King, go out and buy the album Getting Ready and just blow yourself away with the song Going Down.

Albert Collins

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:39:11 GMT

Start by placing a capo on the 3rd fret and then tune down into D Minor. Albert Collins Tone is the funkiest Blues you will ever hear. He knew how to master it, and the chicken pickin' too gets me everytime. They didn't call him the 'master of the Telecaster' for nothing, cause he sure made those guitars sound as good as every dime they are worth. In particular I love the echo effect his guitar had on the Showdown record, along with his album Cold Snap. Collins in the 80's was still one of the leading Blues men under the new blood of Stevie Ray and Robert Cray.

THIS is Tone!

Buddy Guy

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:42:09 GMT

When the guitar plays the Blues, it's hard to imagine without Buddy Guy all the people he's influenced. The closest thing to him was Jimi Hendrix's arrival in the 60's, and now so much of his tone has become a common thing with playing Blues and at the end of the day he's still very underrated. I prefer much of his first sounds with the Strat on the album Man and the Blues, and he also knew how to make the Gibson SG sound good.

Albert King

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:39:04 GMT

I don't care what anyone says, I think Albert King made people want to pick up a Flying V. He made them sound so bad ass, yet they are uncomfortable guitars if you're a man like me. His style and tone was a huge building block on me as a guitar player. I learned so many things about string bending, phasing and box patterns, I have to thank Albert King for a majority of that.

John McLaughlin

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:36:15 GMT

I know McLaughlin mostly from the Miles Davis albums Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. His tone on the song Right Off gets me every time, and then the heavy tone in his own title track from Bitches Brew. This man is a genius in his own style and crafting tone and worth listening to for any fan of the guitar no matter what kind of man you are.

Bb King

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:38:53 GMT

How can you not love BB's tone? He was one reason I turned the gain knob down after I quit playing Heavy Metal. I learned from his tone, and when they say Lucille is built for playing the Blues, it's the 100% truth. It's not so much of playing to sound like BB King, it's learning from him. I play the majority of my favorite BB songs tuned in E Flat, but his tone still sounds gold after all these years.

T-Bone Walker

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:37:26 GMT

You don't have to be loud, or full of all that super distortion. That's the thing I love about T-Bone Walker so much. He was the first master of the electric guitar and he wasn't loud and in your face, he simply blew you away by his masterful playing. I spent quite a while playing in a tone very similar to T-Bone's and I find it to be beautiful, but sounds so much better when you have a buddy playing with you on piano or even the saxaphone. This is like a Jazz tone that molds so well with horn instruments.

Wes Montgomery

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:37:03 GMT

A clean crisp tone that is not drowning anyone out. Wes Montgomery defined the Jazz guitar tone with his unorthodox sweet tone, that fit right into his heavy chord and octave structure over Wynton Kelly's fast riffing on the piano. I call him Boss Guitar for the band leader he was, but his tone was very amazing.

Robert Cray

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 19:09:43 GMT

Smoking Gun; that one song defined so much of Robert Cray's personality as a guitar player. The entire Strong Persuader album is fueled by this clean sound from his Stratocaster. The man knew how to beat his strat to death with solos that made the guitar cry, and it wouldn't have been possible without his heavy low gain sound. One of my favorite sounds of the 80's in guitar playing.

Chuck Berry

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:37:38 GMT

Those opening lines in Johnny B Goode, Chuck Berry pretty much started Rock and Roll from my perspective. He took Blues to the next level and his tone was something we had not heard before on the electric guitar. I used to dream of sounding like Chuck Berry, I did before in the past but that's his tone and not mine, and I will not steal from the man that made me scream hail hail Rock and roll!

David Gilmour

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:36:43 GMT

Pink Floyd as a band has always been very impressive with their experimental and progressive ways in music. I love David Gilmour for what he did to the guitar. His acoustic blends and the heavy effects he used on Animals gets me every time. What I like the most was the layered guitar tracks, songs like Wish You Were Here.

Randy Rhoads

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:40:50 GMT

This is my only inclusion of Heavy Metal on this list, and Randy Rhoads is one of the few I love that uses high distortion. Listening to him you were just blown away. SO many people after him use that same tone in heavy metal and fail to utilize it for it's brilliance, but calling RR a one dimensional player is a lie, cause he damn sure wasn't. I loved how creative he was, like listening to Ziggy Stardust and layering out the guitars, and using clean tones and the acoustic ones (Diary of a Madman). Randy Rhoads put his mark on Jackson guitars and the Les Paul forever in his short time on this planet.

Keith Richards

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:40:11 GMT

Keef is a master at rhythm, as well as crafting the back bone of the Rolling Stones. The best thing he ever did was his acoustic Open G, and Open E tunings from 1967-1974. One in particular I am going to mention is the entire Beggars Banquet album rhythms on acoustic in those open tunings. I learned many things about chords and rhythm from the Stones, but that in particular was my favorite tone. I am not a big fan of the heavy Open G tuning personally for playing myself, but no one made that stuff sound better than Keef.

Prince

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:40:29 GMT

Funky guitar, Prince was a doorway to Funk styles for me at a young age. I often am surprised how he is not credited much as a guitar player, cause the man is brilliant when he rips it up. Mostly the entire 1999 album and Purple Rain are great guitar tones for blending Synth and make you re-imagine the 1980's at the speed of light if you can re-create those tones. Besides all the credit Prince gets for writing nasty lyrics, I think he deserves some mention for his great guitar playing, cause he can do it when he wants to.

Mick Ronson

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:40:38 GMT

Ziggy Stardust and Alladin Sane would not be the same albums for Bowie without Mick Ronson. I absolutely loved his guitar tone. He was another one that made the Les Paul sound so beautiful and one of my favorite 70's guitar players of all time. I can't believe he's so underrated in today's age it's hard to believe as infleuntal he was, he's not mentioned much along the lines of the big names from the 70's when he was a top player. I also love his clean sound on the song Rock N Roll Suicide, as well as those tones he did with Bowie on Andy Warhol. If you love Randy Rhoads, you will love Ronno!

This video in 12 minutes showcases everything special about Mick Ronson and his electrifying tone