Albert Collins sound

[wb4h]

Any ideas on how to get Alberts sound ? I heard he used some open cord tunning any idea what cord he tuned to ? any body have any GuitarPro files of his work ?

[brokenjoe]

Albert used a D minor tuning, and just capo'ed up the neck when hew wanted to switch keys. He also played with his thumb and fingers, which was a BIG part of his sound.

He'd whack that low string with his thumb while picking lead notes with his fingers in a sort of mutant banjo style.

He played through a Fender Quad Reverb wide open with everything on 10 except for the bass, which he would use as his volume control.

[wb4h]

Thanks brokenjoe

[klasaine]

Don't forget the 100 foot long cable that he'd use too (so he could walk around the club and even out the front doors). Though his sound was 'piercing' to be sure, can you imagine what it would have sounded like with just a 20 footer!?

[Larry F]

On the pitch side of things, he loved to do that fast trill into fade out between minor and major third. He also liked hemiolas, such as C Eb C Eb C Eb C Eb C Eb all as triplets. Also, if he did a run down to the major third, he usually followed it by a minor 6th up to the tonic.

[Tele-Bender]

What a sound!

[JTM45blues]

Fairly certain that Albert used Open Fm tuning. If you watch the videos and play along with the videos then realize that the capo is usually 1 fret higher. For instance, alot of time he plays in D, and is capoed at the 9th fret. He uses lots of horn keys, because he plays with horns. So lots of stuff in C, D, and Bb.

You can get pretty close to his tone with a Deluxe Reverb reissue or even a Super Reverb. Use the bridge pickup, lots of volume and a significant amount of reverb.

Don't forget the heavy vibrato at the end of phrases, and his wild slides up into notes and then quickly sliding back down. Then do some "cussing" on the low strings. Do a few trills on the 1st and 2nd strings in first position and you'll be right in Albert's neighborhood.

BTW, Anson Funderburgh can also completely dial in Albert any time he wants, check out his youtube videos, he nails that tone on his 57 strat through his old BF Super Reverb.

[Larry F]

Originally Posted by JTM45blues

Then do some "cussing" on the low strings.

What a great term. Can you describe how that is played?

[brokenjoe]

Originally Posted by Larry F

What a great term. Can you describe how that is played?

If I may be so bold as to attempt to explain.....

AC played with his fingers, and he used to have a move where he yanked the low root (Always an open note, because he capoed to his key) with his thumb, a split second before he played a higher note.

It's hard to explain, but it was sort of a da-DA sound -if that makes any sense!!

I don't play with my fingers, but I've got an AC type riff that I like to do that is inspired by that one.

Say you're playing in 'A'. Play the open G string hard, and then (really) quickly hammer on to the seventh fret, and bend up a tone. The idea is, is that the open G is inconsequential -I'll do it in any key- but it's an almost percussive 'pre-note' that adds to the effect.

It doesn't have to be the 'G' either. I'll do it on any string, but I usually prefer to use it in a riff where I have a big contrast from low to high note.

[JTM45blues]

Originally Posted by Larry F

What a great term. Can you describe how that is played?

Play your 4th, 5th and 6th strings in a staccato fashion with a popping motion to your fingers, then follow that up with some high string snaps. That's cussin' the Albert Collins way.

BTW, a master on this style, is a forum member here, Kenny Blue Ray, I believe he goes by KBR, please look him up, he's an incredible player, with phenomenal tone.

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Albert Collins was & will forever be " THE MAN "!

[backalleyblues]

Couple other details to fill out the AC sound-

That Quad Reverb had JBLs in it (I believe D120s), this made for a LOUD amp, to say the least...

His main axe was a '66 telly, he painted on the binding 'cuz he liked the look-some sort of humbucker on the neck... he always had the ashtray on as well, so any kind of muting was done with his fingertips...

Before he got the Quad Reverb, he was using a BF Bandmaster top w-2x12 cab... not sure about his early stuff, but I'll bet it probably was a 3x10 Bandmaster (tweed).

He used to use Dm, then went to Em, then finally Fm over his career. Strings were .010, .013, .017, .024, .032, .038. Capo was God-knows-what, wrapped in electrical tape, and as noted above, moved it to the key he was playing in. Albert was mostly a first-position player, and kinda like Gatemouth Brown in that regard (though Gate could play a LOT of jazz!).

+1, Albert was THE MAN!!!!

Franc Robert

[Tele-Bender]

Originally Posted by SnidelyWhiplash

Albert Collins was & will forever be " THE MAN "!

AMEN!

[Kirfew]

looks like he's got a paf in the neck, which explains why his tone sort of reminds me of the other great albert - albert king.

[black_doug]

I was just on YouTube watching him and I had thought he was using the neck pickup to get his tone. In fact it seems that it's the bridge he's using most of the time. Sometimes he starts out on the neck and then quickly switches to the bridge. It could be that the neck gets more use when he's playing rhythm, when he's jammin, I don't know.