Are you looking to get inside the legendary guitar tones of your heroes? Learn how to replicate the classic Van Halen brown sound, or how to achieve the shimmery, spatial chorus tones of Andy Summers, and much more. Understanding the tone components of your favourite songs can be the first step towards greater inspiration in your own music! We’ve also got some theory tips to help you find new sounds and tonal flavours for improvisation and songwriting, as well as gear guides to help you get the most out of your effects pedal or amp.
Eruption. One of the world’s greatest guitar solos. From the debut album by Van Halen in 1978.
This solo came bursting onto the scene with its innovative tone, two-handed tapping, and extreme tremolo bar use. At the time, a young Eddie Van Halen was getting an incredible tone out of his 1968 Marshall “Plexi” Superlead Amplifier. The amount of gain coming from a supposedly “stock” Marshall didn’t make any sense to most guitarists.
Eddie had also bucked the status quo by gouging out a space for a humbucker pickup in the bridge position of his otherwise normal 3 single-coil Strat body. By any measure, it’s an awesome tone and launched Edward Van Halen to the status of Guitar Legend.
The shimmering, spatial chords from the guitar of Andy Summers, ringing out over the top of Sting’s bass line, with the side-stick reggae feel of Stewart Copeland’s drums tapping beneath. This is how the now legendary song Walking on the Moon by The Police hit the airwaves in 1979. It was the second single from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc.
Andy Summers is famous for his use of intricate and interesting chord inversions. This, along with various modulation effects and delays, created complex landscapes of tone. Although we have no absolute confirmation of what equipment Andy used for this session, (not even from him!), we do know that during this time, Andy was using Marshall stacks, his ’61 Fender Telecaster, and several modulation effects.
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is the final track on the 3rd (and, unfortunately final) 1968 studio album, Electric Ladyland, by the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix.
From the classic rocking wah fade-in, to the explosion of the whole band entering the riff, this is the sound of a guitar amplifier at full tilt! The classic fuzz tone fattening out the Strat single coils is classic Hendrix and just a great tone.
While there doesn’t seem to be an exact record of the gear that Jimi used for this recording, we can have a pretty good guess based on his live rig at the time and how his amp had been recorded previously.
To state the obvious, all of the modes have weird names. Get over it. To make it worse, if you think that you are going to impress people with your newfound big words – think again. Even accomplished musicians start glazing over when you whip out names like ‘Phrygian’ and ‘Ionian’ in conversation.
Will learning the modes bring you enlightenment? Possibly not. But they will make you think twice about defaulting to the pentatonic shapes when it’s your turn to solo.
This series of articles is designed to take the mystery out the modes and give you knowledge of the ‘whys’, not just the ‘hows’. There are loads of websites out there that list some generic rules; use Ionian mode over Major 11th chords…
The OD-200 Hybrid Drive brings together decades of experience and innovation in overdrive and distortion to create a totally new breed of pedal. The cutting edge analog + digital technology means that you get the prized organic feel of analog circuitry with the precision tone shaping of DSP – and not to mention 128 presets and full MIDI control!
With 12 primary modes, 15 boost types, series/parallel gain structures and an advanced gate for progressive playing, the OD-200 presents bold new tones with no compromise.
Let’s delve into 4 key ways that the OD-200 can help you achieve overdrive nirvana.
For over 35 years, Roland guitar synthesizers have provided guitar and bass players with the means to coax astonishing sounds from their instruments. There’s something
The BOSS ES-5 Effects Switching System is the newer, smaller brother to the remarkably successful ES-8. Since its 2015 release, the BOSS ES-8 Effects Switcher
As guitar players, our options for sonic possibilities are near infinite. Technology has reached a point where pedals, synthesis, amplification and effects can all work
Use the Science of Bass Overdrive to discover your dream bass overdrive tone! Analysing the aspects of your sound will make your bass tone take centre-stage
The Fender G-5 VG Stratocaster has the classic simplicity of a Fender Stratocaster combined with Roland’s advanced modelling technology.
There is a Roland CUBE guitar amp for every guitarist, with over 2 million amplifiers sold since 1978. So what CUBE is the one for
Contributed by Guitar Noize The BOSS OD-1X is a new special edition overdrive pedal that builds on the classic BOSS Overdrive pedals that have been
Contributed by Roland UK Team DR JONATHAN SAVAGE In a word – yes! Whatever your age, participating in music making has many benefits for your
There’s no better way to stay inspired and keep those creative juices flowing than some fun new gear! That’s why we’re bringing you the #jamlikeaBOSS
First things first. Despite the visual similarity, the MS-3 is not just a smaller version of the popular ES-5 and ES-8 effects switching systems. It’s
Waza Craft compact pedals are the high-end, premium offerings of the BOSS compact line. This treatment is a great honour reserved only for iconic pedals
Since their introduction in 2018, BOSS wireless products have quickly become a mainstay in the industry. From the easy to use bug-style WL-20 all the
BOSS delay pedals are legendary in the world of stompboxes. From the classic analog delay of the DM-2 Delay, to the world’s first digital delay
My name is Jonny Gardiner. I am the lead singer and guitar player for The Nevilles, as seen on The Footy Show. Recently, I have
The ukulele, which has never lost its popularity since its introduction by Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii in the late 1800s, is a continual best seller
An Effects Power User Dives Deep with Advanced BOSS Gear Sef, the lead guitarist for the Canadian alternative band, Your Favourite Enemies, is a pedal fanatic. His board
When it comes to pedal effects, it’s no secret that it’s a guitarist’s world. While significant advances in bass pedal effects over the years have
Guitar players today have incredible options available to them. It’s never been easier to find your perfect tone, experiment with sound or take your music
