5 Tips to Get the Perfect Tone!! - Guitar Tone 101

Put that credit card down! Try these 5 tips to get great guitar tone before spending money on your guitar or amp!
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Enjoy!

[Pharix]

Your videos are so helpful, informative, and even inspiring (to pick up my guitar and work out methods for better tone!). Thanks for all of the helpful advice that can benefit newbies, intermediate, and even experienced players!

[austineberhart]

been playing acoustic for 15 years, recently got into electric
honestly feels like learning how to get good tone is harder than learning the instrument itself
I'm thankful that people like you help break this stuff down in simple ways so that people like me don't need to spend another decade trying to self-learn everything
Cheers!

[DarrellBraunGuitar]

A lot of you guys have been asking for some ideas for amp/guitar settings - so here ya go!
Hopefully you find them helpful!

[innocentoctave]

I've met so many young players who have literally no idea about the purpose of the various adjustable parts of pickups. Such a basic thing, and yet nobody seems to cover it.

Full marks for running short sound clips back to back. Our memory for sound is very fleeting, but your examples demonstrate the differences clearly, because they don't require the listener to retain a clear memory of an exact sound played two minutes before.

Next up: string types and gauges, including the effects of downtuning (even if only to Eb)?

[martyblyth]

WOW, I'm relatively new to electric guitar and I have been struggling to fine the tone I like but after watching your video it's like I have all new gear. Especially the section on amp setting, now I understand about mids my amp sounds great. Cheers

[empireentertainmentevents]

I gotta hand it to you Darrel. Your videos are always straight to the points, unbiased comparisons between all guitars and you play well too. You may not have any idea how much impact you have created to the world of guitar maniacs....but I can tell you... you rock, dude!

[MarcCoteMusic]

#4, the tone control, is the one adjustment I make that pretty much no one I know does. All of my sounds are created using the tone control at about halfway. When I change guitars I might have to move the tone control up or down a bit to compensate but at least I can do it. If your tone control is always at full you can't go any more in that direction.

[themiamatrix]

Every amp sound unique. For maximizing tone from my amps, I play while turning the tones up and down and listening to where I first hear it really kick in. Do it for each tone knob to find the amps sweet spot.

[stickman]

Tone can be affected not just by the tone control on the guitar but also the volume. One of my axes is a Les Paul Jr. and finding the balance between volume and tone knobs reveals a surprising range of sound for a single pickup guitar. Even just rolling both back from 10 to 7-8 can make a difference. I rarely run either full tilt.

[SeanDaNerd]

This taught me so much. I'm an acoustic guitar player and I asked my brother for his old strat and my dad for his old amp. I was really lost with how to customize my tone and you have this great 14 minute crash course. Thank you for that

[patrickfitzgerald]

Thanks Darrell. This video really underlines the point that everyone needs to learn how to do some basic setup work on their guitar - something many beginners are never told. It's not that difficult, and it can make a big difference in how you sound.

[kenobi]

Gonna give these tips a shot, specially the pickup stuff. I actually lowered my middle pickup on my strat about a milimeter already, as I kept hitting it with my pick while playing. Solved the issue without changing the sound noticeably at all.

[bigbokiptd]

idea for next one - really low cost mods that make huge difference - different picks, different strings.

[dillonweigel]

Hey, I've commened a few times on this video about that Tele thinline, but I just thought I'd comment once more because I'm closing up on building my own interpretation of it, that immediately became my dream guitar. I just bought a cheap one off eBay and rebuilt it, but I took it down to the bear wood, then dyed it a color called "Tantalizing Teal", then I rebound it with a white pearloid binding and I cut a custom scratchguard that matches the binding. The neck is maple as well as the fretboard, and the inlay is black dots. I converted it from a three saddle bridge to a six roller saddle bridge, and I kept it top load. No Bigsby on my version. I put locking tuners on it, and I found a set of cheap blade style, single coil sized humbuckers with ceramic magnets, but they sound amazing! I used 500k pots, and I did two tones, and one volume pot. I just want to say thank you for all your videos, they've helped me a lot in this journey, and in getting back into guitar. Keep doing what you do!

[jackcassandra]

Darrell I discovered you about 3wks ago and I am truly in love with your work! I even bought one of those $180 guitars off Monoprice because of your vids featuring their guitars (which is a pretty bad ass little gitfiddle too. A lot like an Ibanez! Very playable and setup right outta da box... Yeah!!) and plan on getting the tube amp soon too! You are very very informative. You manage your time very well and are well deliberate in your attack as to not create lulls or dull moments of boredom. You condense your subject matter well in order to economize your time factor in your vids. You break your vids up when practical into organized sections and include time signatures to give your viewers, providing watching choices and just employ a great deal of clever ways to make your productions well informative, interesting, constructive, professional and entertaining.

Now, if I had a criticism. I mean if you personally backed into a corner and put a gun to my head, and forced me to, in that event, then I would say that maybe sometimes you are a little to abbreviated on a subject and could maybe tarry a little more in order to be more comprehensive especially on the very technical points in your vids like the for instance, the one dealing with the fret maintenance. But, don't get me wrong, all your stuff is still really good, in fact fantastic, just that minor item if I was going to lend some observation from the viewers perspective. But, also, what I am sore about is all of that beautiful demonstration picking, playing and riffs that you don't segue into an added feature for your viewers. You are clearly virtuous in your playing and it would be awesome to have you segment your demonstrations off and provide downloadable TAB on your compositions. I personally really think that your viewers would respond very positively to your adding that extra dimension to your vids. Your short compositions are a way not tapped into resource in your vids that you are not really capitalizing on! I would really like to see you do this! Frankly, you are so good you could add pure teaching snippet vids to your site. Most of us are a lot like you, in that we love to tinker with our equipment and explore things that we can do to improve our tone, save money and/or improve our play, but sometimes we just wanna play the dang thing! We love to tinker with you and we would love to play with your vids too! Think about it.. I really think that you should consider it!

Thank you,

Jack Estes.

[profile]

For amp settings another good tip is to set everything (including presence if applicable) to 12 o'clock and then starting with bass move up on the dial (sometimes down) until you hear that 'sweet' spot. Each amp regardless how expensive tends to sound objectively its best in 1 maybe 2 precise settings.

[scottlocaputo]

Also, you should mention the change in tone from backing off the volume on the guitar.

[johnholloway]

Splendid, Darrell. I'll take the Treble-cut/Bass boost, Mid-cut tone, any day!

[DBSG]

Surf Green!!! Thats a beautiful Telecaster that you have there! I really appreciate this video. I learned a lot and especially appreciate how you showed the proper height for pickups. I have a tendency to want to switch out pickups immediately and you have changed my mind with videos like this (and by your comment section replies to my enquires). Thanks for the effort, I continue to learn from every video!

[hanomag]

Cant wait to try these tips.  Really like the sound when the mids are cut down.