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OK, so Eric Johnson has impeccable technique.


honeyiscool

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I don't think it's counterproductive to obsess over tone. However, when you obsess more about the elements of tone that takes a trip to the shop to address, rather than the tone you control with your fingers, then, I agree that it is counterproductive to becoming a better musician. Nobody ever bought an album just because the guitarist uses NOS RCA tubes instead of Chinese Sovtek tubes, so spend some time writing better music and lyrics, right?

 

 

I was talking about the "incessant need for new gear/parts" sort of tone-chasing. Obviously improving your tone with good technique is vital.

Also, it's funny how many people accuse you of trolling for stating your opinion around here. People seem to confuse "I don't like his tone" with "everyone who likes his tone is an inferior human."

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Ooo luv EJ's tones...I always think of that quote about his lead tone 'sounds like a thousand pound violin'...so distinctive, maybe the best attribute you could want, you hear that sound, and you KNOW it's him. Another side that gets overlooked about his sound, is his AMAZING clean tones...I'm no expert in his setup, but I seem to remember him switching between Marshalls and a tube driver for crunch/lead sounds , and Fender..twins (?) for his cleans , with that ancient TC Electronics chorus pedal. Heavenly cleans...that song Manhattan is just so sweet for clean sounds...


The other thing, which really surprised me at the time, is his 70's recorded stuff, he was a total fusion guy.
I thought I was listening to Al Dimeola!
...then he sort of developed his solo sound, which never was a true rock based approach, it's like upper class sophisticated pop/rock/jazz brew with his own unique stamp of tone and virtuoso playing

 

 

Well I guess we all hear things differently. I don't think of DiMeola as being an influence on his Fusion playing. Especially his work while he was in The Electromagnets. I do hear a bit of early Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and Return to Forever era Bill Connors. (Hym Of the 7th Galaxy).

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I was talking about the "incessant need for new gear/parts" sort of tone-chasing. Obviously improving your tone with good technique is vital.

Also, it's funny how many people accuse you of trolling for stating your opinion around here. People seem to confuse "I don't like his tone" with "everyone who likes his tone is an inferior human."

Oh, word.

 

Haha, well, sometimes I am trolling. Usually, I make it abundantly clear when I am. :)

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I don't have the energy to get into a big internet debate about it.. I just hate logic like "delay masks poor technique" "a big pedalboard masks his true ability to play" "hi gain amps/compression mask poor technique" or whatever. It's internet logic and is completely disconnected from the reality of being a creative musician. 80's rockers didn't have long hair because it hid a birthmark on their scalp.

 

Artists make artistic choices based on their own preferences to please themselves. They aren't 10 year olds in their basements running scales to a metronome trying to play as cleanly as possible. Looking for ways to "shortcut" things and sound cleaner than they actually are technically. It's looking at music completely from the wrong perspective. Something which happens all too often on the internet. And especially with guitar.

 

They have their preferences and everyone else is entitled to theirs as well (including the OP). That part isn't in question.

 

Dave Navarro isn't someone I'd consider a "top guitarist" by any stretch but in one his interviews/lessons kept coming back to the words "desired effect". That about sums it up.

 

Bass players, singers, guitar plays, heck even chefs.. they do things, to achieve the "desired effect".. rather than to showcase technique or in this case "pure tone".

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