Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: jerryme on March 12, 2008, 06:40:41 PM

Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jerryme on March 12, 2008, 06:40:41 PM: I became engaged in a conversation with one of my students today, about how certain musicians develop their own sound. Carlos Santana said that your grandmother should know it is you from one note .... I started running down my list of notable players who have achieved this...

Jerry Garcia, Carolos Santana, Mark Knophler, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Michael Houser, Trey Anastasio, Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour/Roger Waters... More to follow. Please add. Edumacation is mighty important.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: crobbins on March 12, 2008, 06:54:04 PM: Frank Zappa.(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/49467.jpg)
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: 3rd_ray on March 12, 2008, 06:54:48 PM: Here are a few on the bass side... John Patitucci, Percy Jones, Marcus Miller, and Jaco of course. On the guitar side I'd have to add Frank Zappa.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: 3rd_ray on March 12, 2008, 06:55:54 PM: Glad to see that I'm not the only Zappa fan
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: 811952 on March 12, 2008, 09:23:51 PM: Chris Squire, John Entwistle, Paul McCartney, Al DiMeola, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Keith Richards, Allan Holdsworth...
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: bsee on March 12, 2008, 09:59:04 PM: Billy Gibbons
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: darkstar01 on March 12, 2008, 10:15:22 PM: i definitely don't agree with trey anastasio. he sounds like the culmination of every other hippie jam guitar player there has been.
people that have their own sound?
fred frith, nels cline, derek bailey, elliot sharp, mary halvorson, blood ulmer, duane allman, d boone! , kurt rosenwinkel, jonathan kreisberg, JIM HALL, adam rogers, wayne krantz, oz noy, so many more.

(Message edited by darkstar01 on March 13, 2008)
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: hieronymous on March 12, 2008, 10:44:31 PM: I have to disagree with your disagreement on Trey Anastasio - I haven't been into Phish for almost 15 years, but his playing is still very melodic and special to me when I listen to old shows. To me, his compositions transcend the mere adjective hippie.

I don't have any one to add to the list, so I guess I will just second Jimi Hendrix.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: 5stringho on March 13, 2008, 04:19:52 AM: Warren Haynes. No matter who he is playing with (Gov't Mule, The Allman Bros. Band, Phil & Friends, etc) you instantly know who is playing guitar. Rock, blues, jazz, he still sounds like Warren.

Have fun, Mike, tho
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jacko on March 13, 2008, 05:45:09 AM: I can tell Steve Howe's playing anywhere (and I'm a bassist!).
On bass, percy Jones has a pretty distinctive tone as has billy sheehan.

Graeme
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jerryme on March 13, 2008, 07:33:11 AM: Phish gave hippies a bad name. I really am not too into his music anymore, but his guitar sound is pretty distinctive. I saw lots of mediocre Phish shows, but I saw maybe 12 that were pretty great. Colin
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: fmm on March 13, 2008, 08:42:58 AM: Bruce Hornsby; Gary Burton; Itzak Perlman
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: danny_bryant on March 13, 2008, 09:59:36 AM: The minute you hear the first note from that Spyder, you know WHO it is. Same goes for Clarke, McVie, and Mark King. All of these gentelman played Alembic basses but they all had there own sound.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: mcrracer on March 13, 2008, 09:59:47 AM: Stanley Clarke,Paul Jackson (Herbie Hancock) Victor Wooten
BB King, Wah Wah Watson
Lee Oskar (harmonica)
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: danny_bryant on March 13, 2008, 10:04:23 AM: Dont forget about good old Rick Danko. Even though he was not a Alembic player, he had an unmistakeable sound. The same goes for Robbie Robertson.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: crobbins on March 13, 2008, 10:07:40 AM: Dicky Betts, Duane Allman..
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: olieoliver on March 13, 2008, 10:16:53 AM: I'm not a huge fan of either but you know its them from hearing their sound right off the bat; Eddie Van Halen and Tom Scholz.

Geddy Lee you can be fairly sure its him from his tone but let him sing one note and there is NO Doubt.

A few months back I jammed at the house with Mike( from the club) his drummer Pete and my old guitar player. I remember him telling Mike and Pete that he could tell my playing from my sound right away and how no mattter what I played through. Made me feel real good to hear that from Jeff, who happens to be an awesome guitar player.

Olie
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: gtrguy on March 13, 2008, 11:11:43 AM: Gotta add the late/great Roy Buchannon (sp?).
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: funkyjazzjunky on March 13, 2008, 11:31:47 AM: Ernie Isley, Vernon Reid, Eddie Hazel on guitar.

Bootsy Collins, Larry Graham on bass
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: 3rd_ray on March 13, 2008, 11:53:03 AM: Frank Gambale on guitar, Pino Palladino on bass, Ron Carter on upright bass, how about banjo? - Bela Fleck
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: kilowatt on March 13, 2008, 01:49:02 PM: I always thought that George Harrison's slide work was very easy to distinguish from anyone else's style. He was always very underrated as a guitar player and song writer.

Regards,
Pete
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jazzyvee on March 13, 2008, 02:27:45 PM: Robert Cray deserves a mention as does Miles Davis, Augustus Pablo.

This subject got me thinking, and forgive me i'm not mad but is it possible to distinguish a dummer's sound from one beat of a drum. I can tell lenny white if he hits that kind of rim shot he does but from one beat of a drum i doubt if I could decifer any other drummer.
jazzyvee
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jbybj on March 13, 2008, 02:29:22 PM: I agree with many listed above, especially Fripp and Zappa, but I would also add Rory Gallagher and Snakefinger. Snakefinger had plenty of solo work, but may be best known ;-) for his work with the Residents. If you have never heard the Residents cover of Satisfaction, you are in for a treat. Simply the worlds greatest guitar solo, EVER. Speaking of Satisfaction covers.......

OOps, I almost forgot Gerry Casale (DEVO)
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jbybj on March 13, 2008, 02:30:54 PM: Andy Partridge.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jerryme on March 13, 2008, 03:07:17 PM: David Byrne
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: crobbins on March 13, 2008, 04:30:10 PM: Rahsaan Roland Kirk(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/49476.jpg)

(Message edited by CRobbins on March 13, 2008)
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: darkstar01 on March 13, 2008, 06:32:32 PM: i thought we were just talking about guitar players, here.
i personally think any great musician should have their own distinctive sound.
Guys like Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Peter Brotzmann, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Ornette, Ken Vandermark, Dave Holland, etc.
I can't really dig anybody that just sounds like someone else.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: elwoodblue on March 13, 2008, 07:17:54 PM: I love the residents take on Elvis...'The king and eye' is a very sublime album.

'My life in a bush of ghosts' (byrne) is a thing of beauty also.

Did anyone notice the zappa les paul on ebay uk?
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: elwoodblue on March 13, 2008, 07:20:13 PM: ...and I'm sure we've all heard Howard Roberts whether we know it or not...(gilligans island,brady bunch,...)
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: lbpesq on March 13, 2008, 07:29:13 PM: Yoko Ono.

Bill, tgo
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: edwin on March 13, 2008, 08:43:47 PM: Oh, Bill.

Alright, who here remembers the Plastic Ono Mothers?

Edwin
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: briant on March 14, 2008, 01:47:31 AM: There are several players who I can spot from a mile away.

Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Steve Vai
Hendrix
Jaco
Pat Metheny
Stevie Wonder
Frank Zappa

There are others I'm sure but those are the ones that stand firmly in my mind. Zappa especially as a guitar player was just out there in the best way. His approach to soloing was so angular and odd but just so right. He always gets so much (well deserved) credit for his writing but he rarely gets the credit he so well deserved for his guitar playing. The guy had monstrous chops and good solo ideas to spare.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: elwoodblue on March 14, 2008, 02:25:47 AM: zappa's goldtop (http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/74-Frank-Zappa-Gibson-Les-Paul-Gold-Top-Guitar_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28272QQihZ011QQitemZ320225256789QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW target=_blank)

...while I'm at it I gotta give Curtis Mayfield and his band a very honorable mentioning.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: tom_z on March 14, 2008, 06:58:53 AM: Bill Frisell, Alan Holdsworth, Thelonious Monk, Phil Lesh . . .
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: paulman on March 17, 2008, 07:26:38 AM: Man, what great list.

Darkstar01, D Boone was my first guitar hero. Talk about a specific sound!

I'd like to add Duke Robillard to the list. A blues man if I ever hoid one
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: white_cloud on March 17, 2008, 10:02:05 AM: I know he has already been mentioned a couple of times but I think Allan Holdsworths sublime sound is on a different level - totally and unmistakably unique to him!

One note of Allans playing says more than a thousand notes from most players in my opinion. John Mclaughlin is also easily identifiable from his choice of notes!

It is often easier to identify actual models/makes of basses as opposed to bassists these days. Exotic basses tend to sound unique to their creed. for example, it is often easy to identify an Alembic bass on a recording I feel!

John.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: benson_murrensun on March 18, 2008, 01:02:46 PM: JOHN W. (JACK) CASADY !!!!!
fuggetaboudit!
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: georgie_boy on March 18, 2008, 01:24:29 PM: 10 out of 10 for Holdsworth!!!!
Just amazing player
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: cozmik_cowboy on March 18, 2008, 01:33:37 PM: John Cippollina. No one else's sound is even close to his.

Peter Gerlach
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jerryme on March 19, 2008, 05:30:10 AM: What is some good John Cippollina music? I really only know of his playing throught the many Dead shows he sat in on. He was in Quicksilver Messenger Service correct? And what was the deal with the bat wing's on his SG?
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: cozmik_cowboy on March 19, 2008, 07:26:01 AM: Yes, John was in QMS. A proper introduction to them would be Happy Trails, which Mr. Garcia termed the most pschedelic album ever recorded. John did his own work on his guitar, including wiring it stereo (and building this beast (http://www.johncipollina.com/rock.html) to run it through), some nice inlay, and the famous bat-wing pick-guard.

Peter

ps - and I misspelled his name in my first post - only 1 p.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jbybj on March 19, 2008, 08:17:47 AM: When I worked at New George's in San Rafael in 85' 86', John Cipollina played there a couple of times. I didn't know anything about him then, but I often found myself sitting at the board, forgetting to mix, just lost in a state of wonder.

That was a great job............

JBY

oh yeah, back to the thread, I'd add Adrian Belew.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jerryme on March 19, 2008, 09:23:45 AM: Working in San Rafael in the mid-1980's.... So it is prolly safe to say that you ran into the boys a few times.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: elwoodblue on March 19, 2008, 10:07:22 AM: That Beast is niiiiice...thanks,I haven't been turned on to his music yet and look forward to learning and listening.
Belew is a force in nature for sure...He adds alot of soul to all the bands he's been in.

on a grace note...zappa's goldtop went for about 130,000 dollars.

my curiosity is peaked about that 'modulux' in John's rig.

cheers
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: cozmik_cowboy on March 19, 2008, 02:11:43 PM: I'm not sure, but I think the Modulux was a rotating-speaker simulation device.

Peter
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jedisan on March 19, 2008, 02:35:09 PM: How could we not forget Eric Clapton... others for me, Gary Moore, Eliot Easton, Bob Welch, Peter Green, Rory Gallagher, just to name a few. I could go on.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jbybj on March 19, 2008, 03:16:07 PM: Working in San Rafael in the mid-1980's.... So it is prolly safe to say that you ran into the boys a few times.

The boys? you mean Thin Lizzy? Nope, never met them...... ;-)

Mickey Hart was the only member of the Dead I remember playing at Georges when I was there. I don't remember the band, some collection of Marin Hippies for sure.

When Belew and Zappa shared a stage, that was mind blowing.

JBY
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jbybj on March 19, 2008, 03:20:50 PM: How could we not forget Eric Clapton

Wait, we didn't not forget him, we forgot him. I think the reason being he sounds just like all the blues players who came after him.

:-)

JBY
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: elwoodblue on March 19, 2008, 04:27:20 PM: and Joe Walsh is pretty darn distinctive...thick and ballsy...
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: lbpesq on March 19, 2008, 04:42:28 PM: Ain't no one sounds like Tom Waits!

Bill, tgo
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: hankster on March 19, 2008, 05:12:11 PM: The interesting thing to me about all of this is that we can all identify a distinctive sound when we hear one. For me, I can instantly feel the sound of the early to mid 70s guitar bands, and I can recall, a few years back when there was an anniversary concert for Queen Elizabeth II on the radio, that from the very first note of Brian May of Queen fame playing God save the Queen, I knew it was him. For those of us who like to listen, the sounds are unmistakeable, and take us to wonderful places when we hear them, even years later. that's the magic of music, for me.
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: jerryme on March 20, 2008, 05:31:11 AM: Augustus Pablo... king of the melodica!
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: rolty on April 09, 2008, 10:35:11 AM: jbybj, I dont agree about Eric being typical blues player, you can tell him straight away blindfolded for sure, definitely a top 10 place for him IMHO
Title: Searching for the Sound
Post by: bkbass on April 11, 2008, 11:33:26 AM: hankster, ya nailed it... Brian May. If there was ever one note for grandma to recognize, he's the man. If she was deaf in one ear maybe she be confused between Brian and Tom Shultz. We are talking one note tone recognition right? Who came on the scene first? The chicken or the egg?