What if...

[Godspeed64]

I was just wondering about a matter which occured to me this year and I wonder how you fellow softies would react.

Every week, me and a friend would bring our guitars to practise during our common lunch break. The fellow guitarist had FULLY scooped EQ, both on the amp and his pedal (this means maximum bass and treble, zero mids, like literally). The amp was a crappy 10 watter found in the music room and his pedal was a Tech 21 Sansamp GT2. And yeah, I hated his tone (trust me, the problem was not with the amp, my setup sounded normal with it). I advised him to add more mids but he said that is how he liked it. This particular experience made me reluctant to even try out the pedal at stores despite great reviews.

I managed to get hold of his gear once when he went to the toilet, () changed the EQ here and there and got a much much better and warmer tone. (Btw he did complain to me about the need to change his guitar due to the sucky tone). I told him to keep to that settings but he insisted on scooped tones, cause "all the bands did it".

Well, I'm wondering, if you played in a band with two guitarists and you're one of them, and you think the other guitarist's tone is crap and not doing his instruments justice, what would you do?

I'm aware that tone is pretty relative from one person to another, and that your favourite tone can be despised by someone else, and vice versa.

 

[Lancefury]

Hmmm... i would suggest and demonstrate my point by showing him the before and after effect of eqing.. Likewise, i need to have an open mind when someone elses show me that. Generally, i believe a good tone is a balanced tone, and scooped mids can be nice, if used properly... but i dun really think its appropriate for all genres of music.. LOL...

so far, playing with different guitarists, i've learnt how to accomodate different tastes in tone, but generally, its different, but still good tone... rather than different and horrible sounding...

 

[theunknown]

yeaaah man. when in a band, its all TEAMWORK. ure not alone. if ure not bandmates, then i'll say do whatever heck he wants. but if play together...must know how to coordinate, cooperate.

of course ppl have different taste,yes. but yeah, ppl can generally sense bad things together, but seldom sense good things together. like dumpster smell, who would say it smells good? but in perfumes, there'll be debates.

so yeah. solo guitarists have their advantage. when two guitarists collide, errr thats a different story. but careful small issues like this may turn out real bad...

 

[Ripper]

Get your co-guitarist to read what you have wrote here in the forum. He will be really touched by how serious you are in helping him to get a good tone, and hopefully, you know, do all those things he wouldnt have done!

Haha, joke aside bro, just explain nicely with demonstration lah. Can reason things out one.

 

[Godspeed64]

Lol. Blues lead with scooped tones. Well, I won't be seeing much of him anymore. He was politely asked to leave the school, if you know what I mean.

I'm sure some of you had moments where you watch a certain performance, and you realize something is a bit "off". Like too much treble to the point that its ear piercing, or too bassy that it is muddy. I'm referring to the lack of life in tone due to being devoid of the mid-range.

My band had a bad experience at a certain studio which made us, seriously, want to give up as musicians. Investing a large sum of money on our equipment which comes of as jibberish through the amps with irresponsive EQ from the studio made that happen..

Im sure we all agree that EQ is the most important part in our quest for tone (apart from skill of course). And for the record, I did demo to him, he claimed that it was my multi-effects that made it sound good.. :???:

 

[Crawldaddy]

Hmm.

Dude, as much as your intentions are good, sometimes, people just need to learn more, listen more, fiddle more for themselves in order to understand how sound works in a band situation, be it live or in the studio or unplugged.

While everybody has a friend of a friend who chooses to stick to a particular type of tone which may sound bad to us.. let that guy be and see if he grows as a player. If not.. why bother wasting your time, saliva and effort?

Initiative can only come from oneself.. you've shown yours... what about him?

 

[deathism]

ok lets see..in life there's a few types of ppl..

a particular group would be..


1) A who tries to influence B to explore possibilities, but B is uninterested.
2) A who tries to influence B and got B interested in exploring possibilities.
3) B who suddenly decideds to explore possibilities.
4) B still chooses to be in his own shell and complain about the grass being greener on the other side.
5) B explorers half heartedly but is still convinced that the grass are greener on the other side.

show them guidance..share your knowledge and experience and skills and whateva u got (except underwears)..and let them do the rest of the job.

 

[ShredCow]

Good posts... its true, you can only show and let them decide what they want to do...

However, the most important thing is really functionality.

If by using a certain tone/effect/setting, there is a compromise in the band's dynamics and sound then... he is certainly not being helpful. E.g. He can't be heard anymore since he scoops his mids so he has to up the volume but it becomes deafening... or you feel really peeved at his choice of tone, which is certainly a valid reason for you to have a talk with him.

In this case, the person has to change because he is part of the band. Unless he is the band e.g. Malmsteen, then okay, that's a different thing, otherwise, change or move out. Or you move out.

 

[Godspeed64]

True. Well, I guess most of us here would either demonstrate or tell them off..

 

[Dime]

kill him.then tell his mom he ran away from home.get a new guitarist who knows tone.best idea.haha.

okay cut the crap.yeah pretty much what the rest has said.somehow get him influenced.

 

[niteblade]

hahah personally im quite a treble junkie

my lead guitarist is treble averse. he usually max-es out his bass on his amps

we try to accomodate each other here and there. the most important thing is getting both guitars to sound good when together in a mix

 

[shredrat]

go for a gig or ask some people to watch u guys jam...then audience if they like or dislike the sound of ur other guitarist?

 

[Godspeed64]

Actually, this is just occasional jamming in school.
Which led me to thinking what if i had a bandmate like this?
My actual rhythm guitarist is cool. Our tone complements each other..

 

[im-jk]

i get what u mean. i played at a show , people were like 'you need to work on your tone with (other guitarist)'
the thing is he(other guy) doesnt really care much about what gear hes using
and its like just plug in and play. sian.

 

[shredrat]

haha i know how it feels guys. Damn sian right..its like u know something's wrong but u dont dare to say out for fear it might hurt the other party. Hmm..

 

[Ized]

i used to be pretty much of a scooped kinda guy too, until i discovered the wonders of an EQ pedal and stacking pedals. Using a tubescreamer to saturate my tone for leads really helps to smoothen out my solos and make them more dynamic, as well as cutting through the mix more audibly. If you find your solos lack balls, mids is usually the answer =P

 

[Krist]

do you have a gf?

if not, maybe thats the problem..

u need release..

like BIGTIME..

 

[xklusivly4u]

I got rejected from a band because first guitarist who is already in band plays Gibson LP and I play Ibanez, he said they are not the same. Even Staind plays with Gibson and Ibanez. Do both guitarists need to play same guitar brand?

 

[Godspeed64]

Krist

Yeas I have a gf but that is totally off the topic man!

xklusivly4u

That is a totally absurd reason man. BRANDS don't matter at all. If all he can play is Wonderwall chords when you're playing Malmsteen solos with your Ibanez it would be a total opposite. Even tone at times don't matter, as long as you guys complements each others playing. My rhythm guitarist in my band prefers a mild OD to a rock and roll kinda distortion for his progressions, while I myself prefer a fat, creamy lead as well as a high treble, heavily distorted (ala metal) distortion.
Two different worlds, one common purpose.

 

[synystersolo]

Well if you're from the same band, try to talk him to changing it. Ask him if someband ask you j ump the building will ya? Ask him to have his own choice. Scooped EQ is nice. But very metalishy. If he still refuses, Follow him on the path of scoopedness