Electric Guitar Shop

Rick Washbrook Blues guitarist gives tips and experience on getting a good Blues Guitar sound

Amps and guitars combined provide sound and tone, and these are the essential elements in creating the blues experience for your listeners. A good example I find most
Fender Guitars sounds good with  Fender amps.

Playing blues guitar.  Thats what were interested in.  First listen to your great blues players and decide what kind of sound you’re going for.  Yes the sound that attracts you is your goal. In a simple way to explain its the guitar, the amp match, the amount of over drive gain ..non or a little, and the volume set on the  sweet spot. You want those blues licks, rhythm, and blues solos to sound sweet.

Realize that the guitar/amp combination is important. The way a guitar sounds with one amp will be very different with another.  I have used amps that sound great on one guitar and only use it for that guitar. Then on the other hand I have tried the same amp with my other guitar and it sounds bland with no excitement. Now this is the first essential step.  Find the amp that suites your guitar. Of course you can search your favourite players and find out what guitar they use and what amps they use. This is a great idea.
But I strongly advise you to take your guitar and play through all the amps you can find. You may come across a sound that is yours, that  excites you.
If you do you will play better, sound better, and want to learn more. Doing this Fender Deluxe Blackout Telecaster Electric Guitar. Black on your own will teach you.

As a musical art form, the blues provide a very personal, subjective way to express taste, preference, rhythm and feel when you play guitar. Everyone’s experience is different, but each depends on the tone that you get. You want to find your tone.

I truly believe that Tube Amps is the way to go. But then there are amps with tube on the input section and the amplification is solid state   They can sound really nice to.

I want to tell  you from my experience and my opinion.  The volume you put the amp on is crucial.  I slowly turn up the volume on the amp and all off a sudden you will hear the tone you like. Its magic.  Then turn it up a little louder and then you don’t like it.

You maybe be surprised at the level the volume is set on when some blues amps get a killer tone.  For example. I owned a old brown tolex 1970 Fender  Deluxe with a 12 inch speaker. The amp sounded amazing when the volume was set at 3.  Yes that was her sweet spot. If it was a night on stage I wanted just a little more edge maybe Id’ set in on 4.

Now the first thing your going to ask is.  How am I going to be heard on stage with all the big sounds of drums and the horn section ect. with my amp on 3?
You mic. the amp. If you are mixing sound on stage doing small 50 to 100 seater rooms, that is great. The bigger the audience the more you will need a sound man. He will know when your solos come and he can turn you up.  In the sound check he will find a basic level with the mic. on the amp. I have done this for years, never had a problem.

Lets think about this for a minute. There is some simple observations to be aware of. When your stage level is not to loud you play better. You can hear the nuances and the sound of the drummer, the bass, the horns ect. ect.  If you want to use a pedal for those solos with a little more dirt go ahead.  Its there for the asking.

One thing to remember when you are getting your sound check with say your amp volume on 3  ask the sound man to sweep through the different equalizations to see how it sounds in the room.  Sweep is just an expression that is used to say the sound system is sounding in the room and you bringing up or down certain frequencies with the boards equalizer on your input strip until you find the and guitar sound you like.  Most rooms you will find the 1000K  to be obnoxious. You will also find some rooms have a huge boost in 250 HZ
You have to get experienced to know to take a few DB ( thats basically volume) away from any obnoxious frequency’s that the guitar will make the room sound worse.  You will get faster at this as you do it.

If you want to learn more about getting guitar and blues sounds. I can tell you about using 2 or three amps. Steve Ray Vaughan used more than one amp playing live.

Get your sound and when rehearsing play your guitar backing tracks.  Make it fun.  

Rick Washbrook
http://www.washbrookmusic.com