Fave and least fave electric guitar noises?

[Barking Spiders]

At one end of the sound spectrum I'm magnetically drawn to the heavy, bowel shaking riffage from the likes of Rammstein, Slipknot and Lamb of God. On the other I'm a sucker for funky rhythm guitar as arguably heard best in Chic and also the classic chickin pickin on the Telecaster from the likes of Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Vince Gill etc. On the other hand the jangly Rickenbacker type sound you hear in Tom Petty ATH, The Byrds, Smiths, Stone Roses, REM etc is a big turn-off. Probably a key reason I don't like these groups along with the vocals with the exception of the Byrds. I actually do like their vocals.

[adamg67]

 

I like the lo fi rough sounding small vintage amp breaking up kind of sound, usually with some overdrive on it. Lots of great examples out there going back a long way but Jack White does a nice version of it on the "Icky Thump" album and elsewhere.

 

[ezbass]

The 3 different tones displayed by Eric Johnson on his track Trademark are my favourites: sparkling, airy cleans; solid, slightly overdriven crunch and that searing, violin like lead tone all do it for me.
 

At the other end of the scale, John Frusciate’s often clanky, ‘uncaring’ tone winds me up and wonder what people see in it (he does have other, more pleasing tones of course). Of course now I can’t think of the specific example I was going to post  - watch this space. 

 

[Barking Spiders]

24 minutes ago, ezbass said:

 

At the other end of the scale, John Frusciate’s often clanky, ‘uncaring’ tone winds me up and wonder what people see in it (he does have other, more pleasing tones of course). Of course now I can’t think of the specific example I was going to post  - watch this space. 

 

Yeah, I can't abide that either. Just sounds ragged and messy.

[PaulThePlug]

Likes a bit of drive, loves a bit of modulation, chorus, phaser, flanger... but subtle... less is more... just enough to keep a riff moving in space - Big Hawkwind Fan... Dont like it overdone 'underwater' sounding...

[ezbass]

Just now, Barking Spiders said:

Yeah, I can't abide that either. Just sounds ragged and messy.

I’m glad it’s not just me. I’m still wracking my brain for what I consider to be the prime example of ‘what’s all the fuss about, that’s awful’ track. Unfortunately, Lady Ez suggested Californication and now I can’t get that out of my head!*

 

 

*it isn’t that.

[TheGreek]

I can't stand heavily overdriven guitars with distortion.

Reminds me of when I started playing and guitarists would hide behind loads of effects to cover up the fact they weren't very good.

If you want to change your tone, that's fine, just make sure that we know you're actually playing a guitar still.

[upside downer]

Always loved East Bay Ray's combination of echo-laden surf guitar and spaghetti western twang for the Dead Kennedys.

 

 

And I can't leave out Steve Jones' rhythmically tight wall of guitars sound for the Sex Pistols. Simple yet so effective.

 

 

 

[TheGreek]

Keep it clean...

 

 

[Guest]

Theres a lot of brianmayerie in Metallica, and this is probably my favourite bit of it

As for least favourite.... I never understood why Robert Smith was so often drawn to lifeless plunky guitar sounds. And often felt Johnny Marr jangled a little bit more than was necessary.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[casapete]

I mainly like clean or light/medium overdriven sounds, nothing that obscures the tone of any particular guitar so you can't discern what it is. I really can't abide the crazy overdriven metal sounds that are just so anonymous and could be made with virtually any guitar / pedal / lunatic preamp, although to be fair I can't stand metal or any of it's close relations anyway (largely due to said guitar sounds coupled with the screaming vocals). The best sounds for me are when you can immediately identify the player and their tone / choice of guitar. 

 

 

 

And yes, I am getting on a bit.....🤣

Edited May 1, 2021 by casapete

[oldslapper]

Favourite guitar tone. Townsend nails it.

Least favourite: anything that sounds like a wasp in a biscuit tin....fizzy none sense. Sadly one of my favourite guitarists, Davey Johnstone is guilty of this with his lead playing back in the 70’s. ☹️

 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, oldslapper said:

 

Least favourite: anything that sounds like a wasp in a biscuit tin....fizzy none sense. Sadly one of my favourite guitarists, Davey Johnstone is guilty of this with his lead playing back in the 70’s. ☹️

 

Todd Rungren's lead tone on Bat Out Of Hell is guilty of this and makes my toes curl.

[paul_5]

I love John Frusciante’s tones - single coil pickups with a smattering of gentle compression and a valve amp just on the edge of overdrive. If it’s just the neck pickup then so much the better.

Effects wise I love the whacky stuff that Tom Morello does with his Whammy Pedal, and anything through a rotary cabinet.

The Edge made some of my favourite guitar based noises on Achtung Baby too. My philosophy is ‘if you’re going to use effects, use them ALL!!!’

 

 

Least favourite would have to be early rock and roll stuff with that god-awful delay.

Edited May 1, 2021 by paul_5

[Lozz196]

Fave - Gibson/Marshall such as AC/DC, Guns N Roses 

Least fave - that tinny weak distorted single coil-ish sound that many American bands used, such as Talking Heads, The Strokes

[Barking Spiders]

2 hours ago, casapete said:

I mainly like clean or light/medium overdriven sounds, nothing that obscures the tone of any particular guitar so you can't discern what it is. I really can't abide the crazy overdriven metal sounds that are just so anonymous and could be made with virtually any guitar / pedal / lunatic preamp, although to be fair I can't stand metal or any of it's close relations anyway (largely due to said guitar sounds coupled with the screaming vocals). The best sounds for me are when you can immediately identify the player and their tone / choice of guitar. 

 

 

 

And yes, I am getting on a bit.....🤣

Ha, I'm also getting on a bit but finding myself increasingly drawn towards the sonic assault of twin guitars crunching out riffs in drop D. I enjoy metal more now than when I was a yoot, maybe because in the 21st century there's been little of all that demons and wizards tosh. Outside of electronica and downtempo it's the only current sub-genre of rock I bother with.

[casapete]

2 hours ago, oldslapper said:

Favourite guitar tone. Townsend nails it.

Least favourite: anything that sounds like a wasp in a biscuit tin....fizzy none sense. Sadly one of my favourite guitarists, Davey Johnstone is guilty of this with his lead playing back in the 70’s. ☹️

 

Good call. I seem to remember reading somewhere that PT used a Gretsch for that track, crunchy but somehow quite clean too. I saw The Who live and his tone was amazing, ( using SGs and Les Pauls ) but still his sound.

[Bilbo]

There is a bluesy Rock guitar sound I have always loved and, in my mind, it comes out of Clem Clempson. It never sounds 'good enough' to me if it doesn't sound like that. There are other great sounds, Holdsworth, Metheny, Scofield etc that come to mind but the CC sound is home for me and the one I try to get when recording myself. 

I dislike strummy guitar players, electric strumming particularly. Seems juvenile to me. Like the player hasn't got to grips with the instrument yet. 

[Nail Soup]

I'll go for aone of each... goodie and baddie.

 

I think the band Placebo are OK.... but I love Brian Molko's guitar sound..... powerful and overdriven yet percussive:

 

 

Might be sacrilege to say it but I always thought the Clash had a bit of a lame guitar sound in their punk days compared say to the Pistols:

 

[Nail Soup]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Fave - Gibson/Marshall such as AC/DC, Guns N Roses 

Least fave - that tinny weak distorted single coil-ish sound that many American bands used, such as Talking Heads, The Strokes

I'd be more likely to say the other way round..... but then again with a bucketload of exceptions !

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Might be sacrilege to say it but I always thought the Clash had a bit of a lame guitar sound in their punk days compared say to the Pistols:

After comparing that with...

...oh yeah, definitely.

[Nail Soup]

5 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

After comparing that with...

...oh yeah, definitely.

This guy had a great punk guitar sound:

 

[Nail Soup]

Oh, go on one more then........

The Telescopes "Taste" album is a great example of wall-of-sound multitracked goodness...

(Singer Stephen Lawrie: "I asked the guitarists to lay down 8 tracks of guitar.........each")

 

Example - Violence

 

[Guest]

I've just had a very enjoyable half hour trying to decide which Jesus and Mary Chain track to post.

I think this one, tho a bit later than their classic stuff, nicely demonstrates their virtuoso control of distorted tones - so many layers of different sounds that come and go throughout the song. And a great song, too.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

Darrell Abbott was well-known for using this one: