totally unpopular opinions.

gball said:
There are articles/interviews out there about this and his take on it is very interesting if you care to dig them up (I'd go looking but too busy with work). He didn't switch to a Les Paul as much as back to a Les Paul, and he had some fascinating personal reasons. Now from a purely subjective point of view I think his tone is light-years better with a Les Paul (personally). Technique-wise I like both versions of Joe for different reasons. One thing for sure though is that the guy masterfully straddles the fence between Blues and Hard Rock, though if I am being honest I prefer when he's rockin' to bluesin' because mostly I just find Blues as boring as a bowl of tapioca pudding.
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I did read about his reasons for the switch, but I feel like he lost an "edge" with the Les Paul. To my ears, he plays the Stratocaster with more fury and desperation, if that makes any sense...

Agreed that he's got great tone.
 
Robert Herndon said:
I did read about his reasons for the switch, but I feel like he lost an "edge" with the Les Paul. To my ears, he plays the Stratocaster with more fury and desperation, if that makes any sense...

Agreed that he's got great tone.
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Totally agree, and I like his Strat "era" for that reason (I say era because he does, after all, pull out Strats every night in his live set). I do feel like his note selection and phrasing is better on the Les Paul. Maybe dynamics too - seems the fury overtakes restraint with the Strat, which makes sense to me since I have owned enough of them over the years to know you have to work a lot harder to get good tones out of one than a Les Paul.
 
Hey, @gball...

You know, this weekend I worked with my Les Paul on a studio production. I do like the lighter string tension of the 24.75 scale, but I find myself missing my YelloStrat for overall feel. It's like I can hit the Stratocaster really, almost ridiculously hard, and notes ring out in tune, but if I pound on a Gibson, it sounds like crap.

Does that make sense???
 
Robert Herndon said:
Hey, @gball...

You know, this weekend I worked with my Les Paul on a studio production. I do like the lighter string tension of the 24.75 scale, but I find myself missing my YelloStrat for overall feel. It's like I can hit the Stratocaster really, almost ridiculously hard, and notes ring out in tune, but if I pound on a Gibson, it sounds like crap.

Does that make sense???
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Everyone's style is different, so yeah, makes total sense to me. Strats do have that piano-like quality on the wound strings that allows you to go all Stevie-Ray on them. I find Gibsons do their best with a lighter touch and because I have primarily played them over the years my own style has developed to take as much advantage of that as my very limited skill set will allow. There's a lot more brushing of strings, hybrid picking, pivoting my picking hand on the bridge, lifting of my fretting hand away from the neck. I play Fenders really differently
 
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gball said:
Everyone's style is different, so yeah, makes total sense to me. Strats do have that piano-like quality on the wound strings that allows you to go all Stevie-Ray on them. I find Gibsons do their best with a lighter touch and because I have primarily played them over the years my own style has developed to take as much advantage of that as my very limited skill set will allow. There's a lot more brushing of strings, hybrid picking, pivoting my picking hand on the bridge, lifting of my fretting hand away from the neck. I play Fenders really differently
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I can see that for sure...
 
gball said:
Totally agree, and I like his Strat "era" for that reason (I say era because he does, after all, pull out Strats every night in his live set). I do feel like his note selection and phrasing is better on the Les Paul. Maybe dynamics too - seems the fury overtakes restraint with the Strat, which makes sense to me since I have owned enough of them over the years to know you have to work a lot harder to get good tones out of one than a Les Paul.
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This tone and phrasing is Joe Bonnamassa at his best, IMHO


I feel like a lot of the creaminess in this tone is from the tone knob position.

Impressive.
 
this is not my opinion....this is 100% fact.
the tone of a guitar doesnt come from the wood, saddles, pickups, or any of those things.
the ONLY thing that effects tone on an electric guitar is the color.
so if you want a different tone, forget about changing pickups or whatever.....simply have it painted in the tone paint of your choice.
 
heltershelton said:
this is not my opinion....this is 100% fact.
the tone of a guitar doesnt come from the wood, saddles, pickups, or any of those things.
the ONLY thing that effects tone on an electric guitar is the color.
so if you want a different tone, forget about changing pickups or whatever.....simply have it painted in the tone paint of your choice.
Click to expand...
Guitars are like Skiddles!
 
heltershelton said:
this is not my opinion....this is 100% fact.
the tone of a guitar doesnt come from the wood, saddles, pickups, or any of those things.
the ONLY thing that effects tone on an electric guitar is the color.
so if you want a different tone, forget about changing pickups or whatever.....simply have it painted in the tone paint of your choice.
Click to expand...
I’m gonna buy a box of crayons ! :rolf:
 
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