Need some help/feedback on live guitar tone


3hadowmoses
Registered User
Joined: 10/13/23
Posts: 1
3hadowmoses
Registered User
Joined: 10/13/23
Posts: 1
10/13/2023 11:04 pm

I have been playing with my band for a few years but have never achieved a good tone live, especially for taking solos. The tone I am after is something like the tone of John Mayer's "Where the Light is" album. I'll link a clip of me playing and I would really appreciate some feedback on how to improve my tone. 

When I take a solo I usually just do a light gain overdrive --> tubescreamer 

HERE IS THE CLIP

My gear:
Fender HotRot Deville


PRS Silver sky se


HX Stomp


Tube Screamer/Distortion Pedal


MXR EQ Pedal


# 1
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,360
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,360
10/18/2023 10:53 pm

Hey, there.


Mayer's tone on that album is all over the place, using different guitars, pickups & amounts of volume & gain.  If you could specify one particular solo I could try to be specific.  But in general, he's using a pretty loud tube amp (Dumble, Two-Rock, or Fender Super Reverb) cranked to get a lot of clean head room on the verge of breakup.  So he can clean the tone up by dialing down the volume on his guitar.  And when he wants sustain & bite, he turns it up & turns on a mild overdrive (TubeScreamer or similar).


This site might be helpful.


https://www.johnmayergear.com/


I think you've got the gear for it, but you need to use more volume.  Or if you need to keep the stage volume down, then add pre-amp gain until your guitar gets a little more power & edge to the natural clean tone.  You want it to have a treble chime when your guitar is on 10, clean if you strum lightly, biting if you dig in & singing overdrive sustain when you step on the TubeScreamer.  Also, a little reverb might add depth & body to your tone.  


But more importantly, work on cleaning up your vibrato.  Bend in pitch, with conviction, right on time & with the rhythmic pulse of the song.  I get that it's live & you do a good job mostly staying in the pocket & hitting the right notes.  But there is a little bit of sloppiness that could stand to be cleaned up a bit to make your playing more solid.


Hope that helps!


 


Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor

Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory
# 2

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