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Okay there have been plenty debates about guitarists who can be recognised by their tone alone. People like Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield, BB King, Eric Clapton as the most obvious examples but also John Frusciante, Eric Johnson, Brian May, Albert Collins, Eddie Van Halen and George Harrison. Guys who's magic touch and keen sense of hearing secured them with almost superhuman tone.
But let's talk about the guitarists that DON'T have that, the ones who are quite skilled players but don't have the tone to match, let's talk about the guitarists with the WORST tone.
I'll start off with New Order's Bernard Sumner
Sumner is primarily a rythm player, hooking in (No pun intended) with Bassplayer Peter Hook's groove. About his tone, a Gibson ES 335 is a guitar known for it's fat sustaining tone and yet he makes his 335 sound really thin and sustain-less.
New Order - "Age of consent"
Then we have Duran Duran's Andy Taylor
A few months ago in the Brittish "Guitar and Bass" magazine, collumn writer and guitar salesman Phil Harris recalled that Andy Taylor sold him a number of the custom Schecter telecasters he got through the endorsement deal he had with Schecter in the eighties, in order to pay for the treatment of a termanilly ill friend of his which showed "What a nice bloke Taylor is" but he also said that the guitars themselves sounded anything BUT nice. They sounded clinical and Brittle which is evident on many Duran Duran song where Taylor used a chorus box in an effort to fatten up his sound a bit...
Duran Duran - "Union of the snake" (note also that bassplayer's John Taylor's signal falls away at sometime during this performance)
Finally (And I hate myself for putting him in my list) there's Genesis' Steve Hackett
I'll be frank with you guys I LOVE Steve Hackett's playing and I could listen to Genesis albums like "Selling England by the pound" and "A Trick of the tail" over and over again just to enjoy what he's doing but I have to be honest, his tone on those albums is ATROCIOUS. I can't put my finger on what it makes it sound so bad but there's something in his tone that always leaves me with a bad aftertaste in my mouth. After leaving Genesis, Hackett's tone improved but during his stint with one of Prog Rock's most prollific groups he had the worst tone.
Genesis - "Firth of fifth" (This is my all time favorite solo by Hackett and his tone ruins the experience)
But let's talk about the guitarists that DON'T have that, the ones who are quite skilled players but don't have the tone to match, let's talk about the guitarists with the WORST tone.
I'll start off with New Order's Bernard Sumner
Sumner is primarily a rythm player, hooking in (No pun intended) with Bassplayer Peter Hook's groove. About his tone, a Gibson ES 335 is a guitar known for it's fat sustaining tone and yet he makes his 335 sound really thin and sustain-less.
New Order - "Age of consent"
Then we have Duran Duran's Andy Taylor
A few months ago in the Brittish "Guitar and Bass" magazine, collumn writer and guitar salesman Phil Harris recalled that Andy Taylor sold him a number of the custom Schecter telecasters he got through the endorsement deal he had with Schecter in the eighties, in order to pay for the treatment of a termanilly ill friend of his which showed "What a nice bloke Taylor is" but he also said that the guitars themselves sounded anything BUT nice. They sounded clinical and Brittle which is evident on many Duran Duran song where Taylor used a chorus box in an effort to fatten up his sound a bit...
Duran Duran - "Union of the snake" (note also that bassplayer's John Taylor's signal falls away at sometime during this performance)
Finally (And I hate myself for putting him in my list) there's Genesis' Steve Hackett
I'll be frank with you guys I LOVE Steve Hackett's playing and I could listen to Genesis albums like "Selling England by the pound" and "A Trick of the tail" over and over again just to enjoy what he's doing but I have to be honest, his tone on those albums is ATROCIOUS. I can't put my finger on what it makes it sound so bad but there's something in his tone that always leaves me with a bad aftertaste in my mouth. After leaving Genesis, Hackett's tone improved but during his stint with one of Prog Rock's most prollific groups he had the worst tone.
Genesis - "Firth of fifth" (This is my all time favorite solo by Hackett and his tone ruins the experience)
(Too lazy to look up his name)
Nah..me bro!
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