How to get that great Santana sound ?

[Guitardude86]

Hey dude, I'm 20 and I love Santana..
Well the pre-"smooth" stuff anyway, like I said earlier.

[VitaminG]

over 30 here. My dad would occasionally play Santana around the house (obviously this was WAAY prior to the current "duets" thing), and it was okay. I think my dad felt the same way, because Santana would only get a spin very occasionally. But his playing never grabbed me like Clapton's did on my dad's Cream records. Or like Blackmore, Iommi, Lindsey Buckingham, Todd Rundgren, Joe Walsh. I grew up listening to fairly guitar-centric music, and all the guys my dad enjoyed had a certain fire in the belly. It's still a requirement in any music I listen to, regardless of genre (or instrument, for that matter). John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, SRV, Gary Moore, Yngwie, Adrian Smith, Reb Beach all have (or had) an individual voice AND the fire.

I just never heard that in Santana. His playing always seemed so....nice

[hippietim]

I would be willing to bet that you Santana haters, are under 30!
You just needed to live back when he was one of the top 5.
Who were the other 4? Oh, just a guy named JIMI, ERIC, JIMMY,
and PETE! Man, some of you dont think anything was interesting
after 1980? LOL

Way over 30 here. I tried to get into Santana but soon discovered that he plays the same tired shit over and over. He played every lick he was ever going to play at Woodstock.

Pete? As in Townshend? I don't think so bro. He wrote some good tunes and could strum pretty fast. Try Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, George Harrison, Tommy Bolin, Tony Iommi, and so many more. Townshend wouldn't make my top 100.

[hippietim]

I think that's right as far as all his hits and those live albums, I know he used a Yamaha Gibson like guitar a lot too. He may have used Mesa Boogies earlier, wasn't he part of the start of Mesa Boogie?

He didn't start using Boogies until 73. Prior to that he used a lot of stuff. I've seen pics with all sorts of random Fender amps and a few Marshall cabs (not sure about heads though). Those first Boogies were basically insanely hot rodded Twin Reverbs in a box half the size. Except a Twin Reverb is actually lighter.

[Chad]

Oy.. Talk about sustain.. Check out this vid. About 3:40 or something.. How long does he let that note ring?? Wish I knew how to do that..
I guess he must be cranking them amps way up or somthing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym-O90uCF0E

Wow, that's one long note for the middle of a live song....almost exactly a minute too.....it's almost like he was watching a clock because he kicked back in right at the minute mark.

I can do that pretty easily if I get some volume & gain going, then stand in the right position. It's almost like getting feedback, yet the note keeps pretty much the same sustaining sound if you do it right.

[akoch]

well over 30 here. And I'm not a Santana 'hater', just don't appriciate his playing and his music very much, it is just not very intersting as far as I am concerned. But I take Blackmore, Garry Moore, Jeff Beck, Clapton.

[Shawn Lutz]

I dig his playing, I think he has a nice tone and good sense of melody. Having said that I dont own a lot of his stuff . My favorite Carlos tune the live version of Europa...btw a Mesa/Boogie DC-5 gets you real close that tone

[jgcable]

I like Carlos too but I get tired quickly because he always plays the same riffs. The thing that always amazes me is how he can make obvious mistakes in either bends or notes and they record it anyway.

[charveljunkie]

Break into his music room (House) plug up, turn it up, jam it up and Run like Hell!!

[OnlineStageGear]

I like Santana, but did anyone see that performance he did for the superbowl a few years. It was pretty clear they were just going through th motions alon with a tape but Carlos looked like he didn't even know the song.

[mjl927]

One quick and dirty way to get that tone is by using a two humbucker guitar with the switch set to both pickups on. Then roll the tone knob down until you come close to his sound. It works better on a guitar like a Les Paul with independent tone controls. Roll the bridge tone control all the way off and turn on both pickups. Comes really close to nailing his tone.

[MBreinin]

I think Carlos has an amazingly juicy tone, and he can squeeze a note with the best of them. You can get Santana tone with a Paul copy no problem. I used to get some nice Santana tone with an old Ibanez Artist.

If you don't think this is tone, well...I feel for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_8kkuekS5A

Mike

[akoch]

Well, I admit - does nothing for me. But no need to feel for me. To each his own.

[Newc]

I finally picked up that Santana's Greatest Hits CD a while back.

Apparently memories are kinder to people than reality, because he does indeed have a very limited set of riffs.

Of course, so do I, so who am I to throw rocks?

Anyhoo, a mahogany-bodied guitar with a Duncan Custom in the bridge and a JB in the neck oughta get you on the road to Santana's tone.

[Endrik]

I like this Santana tone the most http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GAneX4IB5o

his tone had more "hair" before, I love this darker, fatter and thicker tone he has now.