Every electric guitar has a voice...
Twenty some odd years ago, I was traveling extensively as a pro photographer and had the good fortune of jamming with people all over America that I had met on a guitar forum.
I called it, Bob's Jam Across America Tour and had the privilege of jamming with forum folks in 25 different states over a 2 year period.
During that time, I was most often traveling guitar-less, and at the mercy of playing whatever I was handed, sometimes moments before an on stage appearance/gig, or a friendly jam at the local rehearsal studio.
Some the guitars were dead stock representations of the lowest price point Squier, Epiphone, Ibanez, etc, had to offer. Others were fine examples of heavily modified high end guitars. And I was grateful for the chance to play all of them.
The point here is that, when you're handed a guitar plugged into an unknown amp, you have to make it work. There is no time for fiddling around and dreaming of installing a set of custom pickups and playing it through a Dumble amp. You need to make your rig work. NOW!
So you start playing and looking for the safest, meatiest, blending tone you can get. As the night wears on, you start to hear the strong points of the gear you're playing, along with those areas you just need to avoid. If you're fortunate enough to be playing more than one set, you get a brief chance to twist the amp knobs a bit during break, and things usually improve going into the second set.
But most importantly, you are forced to squeeze the best possible sound, (for the gig you're playing) out of the gear that was just graciously handed to you. This changes everything about your approach to getting a good tone and has often surprised me by what was actually attainable using cheap gear. But it has also surprised me by how disappointing a high end, highly modified set-up can be as well.
Play whatever is in your hands at the moment, and enjoy the surprise of discovering some great sounds you weren't expecting. Put those sounds to good use and enjoy the way you alter your playing to make those unique expressions. It's a HUGE growth and learning experience. This the kind of stuff that makes us better players and expands the variety of what we can play by taking us out of our comfort zone.
A new set of pickups is often a fun thing to explore. Just don't give up on what you're already playing too quickly. There is so much more at stake!
Twenty some odd years ago, I was traveling extensively as a pro photographer and had the good fortune of jamming with people all over America that I had met on a guitar forum.
I called it, Bob's Jam Across America Tour and had the privilege of jamming with forum folks in 25 different states over a 2 year period.
During that time, I was most often traveling guitar-less, and at the mercy of playing whatever I was handed, sometimes moments before an on stage appearance/gig, or a friendly jam at the local rehearsal studio.
Some the guitars were dead stock representations of the lowest price point Squier, Epiphone, Ibanez, etc, had to offer. Others were fine examples of heavily modified high end guitars. And I was grateful for the chance to play all of them.
The point here is that, when you're handed a guitar plugged into an unknown amp, you have to make it work. There is no time for fiddling around and dreaming of installing a set of custom pickups and playing it through a Dumble amp. You need to make your rig work. NOW!
So you start playing and looking for the safest, meatiest, blending tone you can get. As the night wears on, you start to hear the strong points of the gear you're playing, along with those areas you just need to avoid. If you're fortunate enough to be playing more than one set, you get a brief chance to twist the amp knobs a bit during break, and things usually improve going into the second set.
But most importantly, you are forced to squeeze the best possible sound, (for the gig you're playing) out of the gear that was just graciously handed to you. This changes everything about your approach to getting a good tone and has often surprised me by what was actually attainable using cheap gear. But it has also surprised me by how disappointing a high end, highly modified set-up can be as well.
Play whatever is in your hands at the moment, and enjoy the surprise of discovering some great sounds you weren't expecting. Put those sounds to good use and enjoy the way you alter your playing to make those unique expressions. It's a HUGE growth and learning experience. This the kind of stuff that makes us better players and expands the variety of what we can play by taking us out of our comfort zone.
A new set of pickups is often a fun thing to explore. Just don't give up on what you're already playing too quickly. There is so much more at stake!
